Just popping back in to say I'm basically not here any more. You can find me in the place where the sky is blue as hannahrsnyder . I've got a few invite codes (and know where there are more) if anyone needs one, and will occasionally check DMs.
I've been seeing some posts from well-intentioned faculty about eliminating all deadlines in their classes. I study
#ExecutiveFunction
,
#stress
and
#mentalhealth
in college
#students
, and I'm here to tell you this will hurt the students you are trying to help. . . 1/buckle up
@LaurenSHallion
Interestingly I went the opposite direction and it also worked-I made 15 min. bookable appointments (w/ google appointment slots), and talk up how they can reserve a time just for them to talk about anything they like.
TLDR: Please provide the structure (including deadlines) and scaffolding that students with executive functioning difficulties need to succeed. You can and should still be flexible with extensions, but lack of deadlines is not helpful for the most vulnerable students. /fin
Large tasks w/ long time horizons ("turn in all this work by the end of the semester") put max demands on EF. They require extensive planning, breaking down into steps, time management. For folks with EF difficulties they are overwhelming, lead to procrastination and anxiety 2/
As work piles up it becomes even more overwhelming, leading to more anxiety and avoidance, leading to more pile up. A vicious cycle that sets students up for failure. Structure and scaffolding of major assignments instead helps students stay on track for success. 3/
e.g., For a major term paper I assign small assignments throughout the semester that help with each step (selecting topic, lit search, outlining, writing, revising). Students always know what they should be doing now, and I know if they are off track and need help. 5/
Students who are neurodivergent, experiencing mental health issues or stressors (which affect EF), or may not have been taught how to self-direct through a US college course (e.g. 1st gen, international) benefit most from scaffolding that takes some of the burden off their EF. 4/
But everyone benefits from reducing EF demands. Making class structures and assignments more consistent with SMART goal principles (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) helps everyone succeed. (Notice the time-bound!) 6/
This does NOT mean you shouldn't offer extensions when appropriate. You can be flexible and compassionate and have part of that compassion be that you are going to help keep them on track for success. 7/
Often we do things in classes that *we* would have liked as students. Some students can self-direct through a class w/ no deadlines just fine and would love that. Many faculty *were* those students. But we are not representative. 8/
@DrStephCraig
@LaurenSHallion
That's def. part of it. Calling them "office hours" but not having bookable slots I think is also just a bad combo-like a restaurant with 1 table that doesn't take reservations. "Drop in hours"= fast casual, appointment slots=reserved table. Both>> than waiting in the hall
@colleenmfarrell
Beautiful- that's what I hope I'm doing for my students and mentees. And a LOT of high-performing students go undiagnosed- they don't realize they've been playing in hard mode the whole time.
Reviewers, kindly stop asking authors to add hypotheses. You are asking them to HARK. How is that not obvious? ARGG! Signed, A fellow reviewer who has seen this in 2 manuscripts this week alone.
#OpenScience
@DivyaRamesh11
I don't think students usually know enough to do their own scaffolding, at least with the big assignments I give. e.g., many are learning to write a research proposal for the 1st time, so they need to learn and practice each step w/ feedback. Most report this is really helpful.
@ashley_quan
Yes! This is exactly what we study- transition to college is tough for folks with EF struggles because they suddenly have a lot less structure and support. For younger kids and adolescents, adults often act as surrogate frontal-lobes.
@PsyIsNonlinear
As psychologists I think we have a responsibility to educate our colleagues on what the evidence shows *actually* supports student learning. At Brandeis, our student accessibility staff have been super receptive to that- they are great partners with faculty!
1/4 I will be considering PhD applicants for next year. If you are interested in studying links between cognition, stress and internalizing psychopathology in emerging adulthood in a *non-clinical* PhD program, check us out!
Hand-holding my A+ students through their perfectionistic panic while pleading with my D students to do something, anything, to pass this class. How's your finals going?
I have just created a folder called "tenure file" and put the instruction document in it. Can I have a cookie now? More seriously, any advice for picking "arms length" letter writers? "Loves my work but doesn't know me" seems like a tricky category.
#tenure
#AcademicTwitter
@Sakiera_Hudson
I highly recommend this writing book by Barbara Sarnecka, which she has kindly made available for free. It has great tips and examples for improving clarity at all levels from article structure, to paragraphs, to sentences, to word choice.
Why, SCID, why?? If only there was a branch of psychology that studies cognition and stuff that could have helped make your layout usable by normal humans.
Spare a thought (but only one) for the Penn communication team that had to decide how to finesse this one today. I see they decided against "scientist we demoted and forced out wins Nobel Prize for work we decided wasn't tenure worthy".
@rebeccalehmann
For current students in a situation like this PLEASE tell your advisor or another trusted person on your campus. There are often resources we can help you get. Tell us so we can help!
I'm tempted to write a review article (or maybe just a twitter thread) titled "It turns out people just don't change that much: A tale of many RI-CLPM analyses". Anyone want to contribute?
Going to be keeping this letter on hand to re-read on tough days–the support of my wonderful colleagues means so much! Now on to the ad hoc committee. . .
@barite_brandon
In my experience students treat no late penalty as no deadline. Instead, for weekly assignments I drop the lowest 2-3 so if they miss a few it doesn't hurt their grade. For big assignments there is a late penalty but they can ask for extensions for health (inc. mental health).
PhD applicants: please do yourself a favor and do at least a tiny bit of research before emailing faculty. Do not say you are applying to clinical PhD programs when emailing someone who who is not a clinical psychologist and not in a department with a clinical program.
Posted this in a reply but it deserves its own tweet- this is a great article on why students procrastinate and small classroom interventions that can help, with concrete, actionable suggestions for faculty. Planning to add more of these to my courses!
@FromPhDtoLife
Um, as a PhD mentor, PhD students' research and writing is absolutely providing training. A huge amount of my effort goes into training grad students do these things well. If I just wanted a job done I would hire more staff. A PhD is an apprenticeship, you learn by doing.
@drahilger
I ask students to send me a spreadsheet listing all their applications by due date- this is very helpful especially when an automated request email from an application fails to send or goes to spam.
@DivyaRamesh11
I don't think scaffolded assignments need to curtail creativity-- the process is scaffolded, the end product is still their own (e.g., in my seminar they can pick any topic within the scope of the course for their paper).
Clinical friends and those w/ lived experience: I'm looking for an
#ExecutiveFunction
skills/compensatory strategies book to recommend to college students that is (a) evidence-based, (b) user friendly and engaging, and (c) not condescending and over-simplified. What's good???
@NSResponder
I think most of them are! Most faculty genuinely want to help students learn and thrive, but don't always know how best to do that. Luckily there is extensive psych research to help do that, which I hope is helpful to share.
@JinXunGoh
Not true in our program- everyone gets the same funding package. It seems like a serious equity issue to me if some people are negotiating different funding packages.
PSA for the evening: I just discovered you can make
@asana
give you extra celebrations when you complete tasks, and given the current state of my to-do list I will take all the magical creatures I can get!
@Josie_26521
It’s less about practice (EF training doesn’t work) and more about finding good compensatory strategies- eg use planners, calendar reminders etc. A therapist who specializes in ADHD can teach you good strategies
@CindyBVeldhuis
What?? No! Hearing the achievements of mentees, current or past, is my vary favorite thing. Maybe there are cultural differences at play here, but I think that is much more typical than your experience.
@jacasiegel
Easier said than done, but my advice is (a) apply (b) forget you ever applied (c) be pleasantly surprised if you get an interview request. Only unhappiness comes from checking the wiki.
Me before a conference as a grad student/postdoc: obsessively preps poster/talk weeks in advance, plans schedule meticulously.
Me before a conference as faculty: lucky if I have slides made before I leave, I can look at the schedule on the flight right?
I am sorry to report that being forced to complete yearly faculty activity reports turns out to be extremely useful for writing tenure documents and I shall now have to stop whining about them. Scaffolding assignments: they aren't just for students.
Got 3 review requests from the same journal today and this isn't the 1st time with this (solid, well-respected) journal recently. I know things are bad finding reviewers & I try to do my bit, but at some point they should at least invite me to join the editorial board right?
Time for my annual grad app LoR rant:
1. Just stop it with the rating scales. There is no signal there. The choices are top 1% or I would like to doom this applicant. (Don't even get me started on the one that scrambled the order of the options on each question!!!)
@Sakiera_Hudson
@reprofan
This is a great insight and suggests a solution: record yourself narrating the paper, transcribe that and use it as the outline. Starting with an outline that has the topic and concluding sentences helps a lot for figuring out structure. Then, you can fill in the middle.
Rating PhD applications and 2 so far have told us all about how they want to be clinical psychologists. Problem is, we do NOT have a clinical program! This is abundantly clear from our website. Yet this happens every year. 🤔
@MikeyPasek
We've recently formalized a rubric for what we look for and shared it on our website. Of course, what you're looking for may differ, but could be a tool to start thinking about it:
Continually betrayed to my students as a work/life balance hypocrite by digital time stamps. ("My work hours may be different than yours" I whisper to myself while grading at 9 PM on Friday).
I think this is a major misinterpretation–intros and discussions are very important for grad students and other ECRs who are still learning the field. The recent hot takes that they aren't worth reading or even writing ignore the needs of ECRs– Severe theory of mind failure.
The longer people are in academia, the more they realize that when reading papers it's best to ignore Intro, Discussion etc. and just look at Methods and Results
@EatWithNia
A therapist who specializes in TBI or if you can’t find one in ADHD (even though that’s not the source of your EF issues) can be really helpful for teaching you compensatory strategies. Your university accommodations folks may be able to refer you and have other resources.
Can we please stop using DSM diagnoses to "validate" alternative psychopathology models that are being proposed precisely because we all agree DSM diagnoses are not very valid? Signed, a grumpy reviewer.
@aidangcw
I try mightily not to do this as a reviewer, and instead stick to the major issues. My rules for myself are (1) don't co-author, (2) don't copy edit, (3) don't editorialize.
🧵 about academic career trajectory stories–how we usually tell them in professional settings vs. how they actually happen. Inspired by a talk I had the other day with one of my lab managers about PhD application statements and why they're weird–
#AcademicChatter
#AcademicTwitter
📢Paper alert
Using the occasion of this finally being "in print" to re-share: Links between sleep disturbance, emo reg and depression in college students during the early part of the pandemic, first-authored by fab lab alum
@XinranNiu
1/6
This is not new, yet many in clinical science are still attached to the idea that cognitive training can be an effective treatment. As a cognitive person who does clinical research I am often the voice of skepticism on this. Training compensatory strategies is a better approach.
Fellow faculty, this is your beginning of the semester/grad app season time saving email hack PSA that you can make all the things you frequently need to reply into email signatures so you can just select the response, edit if needed, and send.
#AcademicTwitter
#AcademicChatter
@DivyaRamesh11
No a mix! I teach a big undergrad (mostly first year and sophomore) lecture and a mixed undergrad/grad seminar. Both get a lot of scaffolding, just for different assignments. Undergrads need scaffolding more than grads, but grads need it too!
Time for one of those "saying no to things" punch cards because I just did my to do list for the month and boy howdy did past me wildly over-commit present me.
@liz_roemer
I never ask mentees to write their own letters (shudder!), but I *do* ask for a few bullet points of things they'd like me to emphasize (and key terms to use) when it is for a non-academic job, since I don't always know what is most helpful for those.
@bergstromt_
@briemreid
@LauraStroudPhD
@NextGenPsych
It also appears these can be used for research-based masters programs and then the remaining time transferred to a PhD program, which I did not know! Many MA programs have rolling admissions and are still open (DM me if you want to hear more about our program at Brandeis).
My lab got very into playing this today. Basically a terrible version of Oregon Trail where instead of dying of dysentery your research gets scooped and you have to keep running pilot studies that fail. Got a little too real, had to stop.
📢New* publication lead by my grad student Morgan Taylor, showing differences in depression and anxiety symptoms and emo reg strategy use in emerging adults between prepandemic and early April 2020.
*Actually in press forever but finally online! 1/6
Doing a reference for a soon-to-be-PhD for a research and evaluation manager position that requires "advanced data analytic experience". Me: Great- she can do SEM, HLM, what do you need? Them: T-tests, ANOVAs and Chi-square tests. 😂
Kudos to our immensely talented students, but this is why so many of them think the world is ending when they get their first non-A in college. Can we please re-normalize Bs? GPA perfectionism is bad for mental health and disincentivizes taking academic risks.
@David_NeverDave
Exploratory research is fine! There is obviously a long tradition of exploratory research in psychology. The thing that’s not fine is adding hypotheses after the fact. That way replication crises lie.
@spyasin
Sorry I’m reviewer 2 on this question- “predict” only for longitudinal prediction, “associated with” for cross-sectional. It’s too easy otherwise to conflate statistical with actual prediction.
@kevinwongLA
@AcademicChatter
It's not really free labor if you're also submitting articles-it's a trade. Like others have mentioned, the guideline should be 2-3 reviews for each paper you submit.
@DrBenKatz
What's really messed up is that for well funded programs getting an NRSA can actually be a pay *cut*, and you aren't allowed to supplement them from federal funds.
@LB_Klein
In our program the department buys the cake (candidate chooses what kind) and the advisor provides the bubbly. Often though families attend and want to bring something too and we don't stop them. It absolutely shouldn't be on the candidate though!
@RachelRRomeo
This is absurd- for a minor revision the editor should just make a decision, or if they feel unqualified ask a qualified editorial board member to do so.
When you get a notice that there's a correction for one of your papers 😱, but it turns out the correction is that the journal forgot to display your preregistration and open data badges 😇. After that little stress test, this paper now has badges:
Annual reminder to grad programs that making your application deadline in November is an act of violence against your colleagues who really, really need Thanksgiving break to write all those letters of rec.
@grimalkina
"Cognitive" is just way too broad a term and implies a shared cognitive resource model that I don't think is supported- makes more sense to talk about e.g., attentional load or WM load.
Faculty teaching big classes using Canvas in any field: LMK if you you'd potentially be interested in having your classes participate in a study on reducing student procrastination through brief interventions automated in Canvas. This is for a grant proposal. DM for more info.
@DrStephCraig
Hope springs eternal? Honestly I think we are seeing a crop of students now who never learned to study for closed materials exams due to the pandemic and it shows. I’ve been doing lots of study skills instruction.
@FromPhDtoLife
Nothing special about me. Every single PI a know would say the same thing. I hope you can see how your tweet comes across as dismissive of how much work mentoring grad students is. If you didn't get that kind of mentoring, I'm truly sorry.
Clinical psych facility colleagues- if you’re still here I have a question from a mentee applying for clinical programs- where are you all at wrt disclosure of lived experience in the personal statement? My outsider impression is norms are changing but still might be a bit risky?
📢New postdoc opportunity! Come work with me and Rosi Kaiser on a longitudinal study on cognitive risk for internalizing psychopathology in college students. Choice of working from Boulder or Boston metro. Informal pre-application inquiries are welcome!
I co-teach a non-credit but required wellness course w/ a clinical psych from the counseling center. Final assignment is to write notes to their future self about their favorite tools from class for academic success and stress coping. These are always my favorite "grading" 1/3
Survived my first NIH reviewer experience! Aside from the pain of spending a day and a half on zoom (very early pandemic vibes) it was a really valuable and enlightening experience. And huge respect for the SROs who work really hard to keep things running smoothly and correctly.
@FromPhDtoLife
@TrumanLab
You really need to stop staying things like "most PhD students". I get the impression that you are/where not in a science field. In the sciences we work closely with our PhD students. We design and conduct studies with them. We write papers with them. We fund them.
My little speech about trying new things and places after college got my student 75% of the way to being willing to leave New England to take a post-bacc RA job offer in CA. Today's -30 windchill made the rest of my case for me. 🥶
RT
@scottbarolo
@mastodon
.social
Me, writing work emails after reading
#JaneAusten
:
“My dear Dr. Dashwood—
I trust that you and your graduate students remain in good health. Praise for your latest article is on everyone’s lips. I have not the smallest wish to vex you, but (1/2)
@ABCole25
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I don't think a student who is still so unsure about their interests is ready for a PhD program. Doesn't mean anything bad about them, just that they need more time to explore interests. I'd point them to staff RA/lab manager jobs instead.
@JnfrLTackett
One thing I think *might* help is explicitly permitting and encouraging grad students to co-review with their mentor. This could help train ECRs as reviewers and increase the reviewer pool while still providing faculty quality oversight.
Journals, you either need to (1) list the authors in the review request email or (2) never list the authors (double-blind review). If you don't do either, potential reviewers don't know they have a conflict of interest until they have accepted the review. This makes no sense!