Virtual Working Group Sessions
COVID-19 has been a challenge on all of us for so many different reasons. It has been particularly challenging for graduate students as part of the pleasure of that experience is exchanging with other students and feeling their support. As such, ASLO would like to try to foster connections among graduate students by creating virtual student working group sessions. The sessions are also open to postdocs!
What is it?
Our idea comes from an organisation in Quebec Canada called โThรจsez-Vousโ. Loosely translated, thรจsez-vous means focus on your thesis and is a play on words for being quiet in French. These are collective writing sessions structured to support students to write their thesis and share experiences.
In this spirit, we are creating working groups over Zoom where members can meet, set-up work related goals, which would be followed by a structured session that is a mix of focused time, break time, and exchange of help time. Focused time will follow the pomodoro time management technique: participants will silence their Zoom for a set amount of time and then be called for a brief break before the next stretch of focused working time. A prolonged break and exchange time will be proposed at lunch. To create a sense of community and for participants get to know each other, groups would meet once a week over 4 weeks. Each group will be led by a facilitator who will keep time, facilitate conversations, and offer guidance on creating SMART goals.
Our hope is for these sessions to provide a means for aquatic science graduate students to engage with the ASLO community in a relaxed environment, while also gaining support from one another as they work through their studies and research.
Whatโs next?
We are planning four inaugural sessions of the virtual student working group in April. Each session will be an all-day event, one day each week. In order to fully benefit from the experience, we recommend that you attend all sessions for their complete duration. However, we wonโt record attendance and you may tailor the schedule to your needs. Specific schedules will be determined based on the participants time zones and scheduling preferences. Agendas and call-in details will be sent to the group from the facilitator prior to the session.
Submitting this form will help the organizers with scheduling and creating groups. Your response is needed by Thursday, 25 March at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.
With warm regards,
Roxane Maranger, ASLO President
Camille Gaynus, ASLO Student Board Member
Edna Fernandez-Figueroa, ASLO Student Board Member
Morgan Botrel, ASLO Student Member
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