Here are some suggestions on running your own online PhD Stay On Track group.
Forming a group
1. Find a few other PhD students who are keen to join.
PhD Stay On Track groups run best with 3-6 members. If you have more than 6 people keen to join, split into two groups. Any more than 6 and you won’t have time to discuss all the issues people raise. If you need to find others to join you in a group, you could ask your Faculty/ Department / School’s higher degree research office staff to circulate an email from you to the PhD student body, seeking those interested in joining a Stay On Track group.
2. Get in contact with each other.
Emailing may be the easiest way to make first contact with everyone. Introduce yourself, remind people of the purpose of the group, and schedule an initial meeting using Skype or another online conferencing tool. If you need instructions on how to make a group call in Skype, see Making a Skype Group Call Instructions (Remember to get everyone’s Skype ID!)
3. Have an initial meeting to discuss logistics and agree on ‘ground rules’:
a. Find a regular, mutually convenient meeting time.
We suggest meeting weekly or fortnightly so that you can actually see goals being reached. Allow 45 minutes for each meeting
b. Make sure everyone is committed to attending all meetings. Accountability groups like PhD Stay On Tracks succeed when everyone expects everyone else to be at the meeting. This is another reason we suggest keeping your group small!
c. Agree on minimum commitment to the group.
We suggest a minimum commitment of 4 months, but the longer your group meets, the better.
d. Discuss whether and how you’ll accommodate new members to the group
e. Agree on the date of the next meeting, and who will be initiating the call (we call them the Meeting Initiator).
PhD Stay On Track groups run best with 3-6 members. If you have more than 6 people keen to join, split into two groups. Any more than 6 and you won’t have time to discuss all the issues people raise. If you need to find others to join you in a group, you could ask your Faculty/ Department / School’s higher degree research office staff to circulate an email from you to the PhD student body, seeking those interested in joining a Stay On Track group.
2. Get in contact with each other.
Emailing may be the easiest way to make first contact with everyone. Introduce yourself, remind people of the purpose of the group, and schedule an initial meeting using Skype or another online conferencing tool. If you need instructions on how to make a group call in Skype, see Making a Skype Group Call Instructions (Remember to get everyone’s Skype ID!)
3. Have an initial meeting to discuss logistics and agree on ‘ground rules’:
a. Find a regular, mutually convenient meeting time.
We suggest meeting weekly or fortnightly so that you can actually see goals being reached. Allow 45 minutes for each meeting
b. Make sure everyone is committed to attending all meetings. Accountability groups like PhD Stay On Tracks succeed when everyone expects everyone else to be at the meeting. This is another reason we suggest keeping your group small!
c. Agree on minimum commitment to the group.
We suggest a minimum commitment of 4 months, but the longer your group meets, the better.
d. Discuss whether and how you’ll accommodate new members to the group
e. Agree on the date of the next meeting, and who will be initiating the call (we call them the Meeting Initiator).
Running your meeting
Before each meeting, each member should decide what his/her own goals are for the coming week/fortnight. Members can record their own goals using our Individual Tracking Record
There are three important roles in the meeting: the Meeting Initiator, the Facilitator and the Scribe.
The Meeting Initiator
(If you are using online conferencing software in which individuals simply “join” the meeting, this role is not necessary.)
The Meeting Initiator is responsible for calling all the group members at the meeting start time. Each member needs to ensure that s/he is contactable at that time, i.e logged into the software.
The Facilitator
As well as participating as a regular member, the Facilitator makes sure each member gets to share his/her accomplishments and goals, intervenes if the discussion moves away from the PhD Stay On Track purpose, and ensures that the meeting finishes on time.
It is possible for the Meeting Initiator to be the Facilitator. We recommend rotating the role of Facilitator for each meeting, so that different members have a turn, but this is up to the group to decide.
The Scribe
As well as participating as a regular member, the Scribe types everyone’s accomplishments and goals into a Meeting Report, which could look like this:
The Meeting Initiator
(If you are using online conferencing software in which individuals simply “join” the meeting, this role is not necessary.)
The Meeting Initiator is responsible for calling all the group members at the meeting start time. Each member needs to ensure that s/he is contactable at that time, i.e logged into the software.
The Facilitator
As well as participating as a regular member, the Facilitator makes sure each member gets to share his/her accomplishments and goals, intervenes if the discussion moves away from the PhD Stay On Track purpose, and ensures that the meeting finishes on time.
It is possible for the Meeting Initiator to be the Facilitator. We recommend rotating the role of Facilitator for each meeting, so that different members have a turn, but this is up to the group to decide.
The Scribe
As well as participating as a regular member, the Scribe types everyone’s accomplishments and goals into a Meeting Report, which could look like this:
(If you want to use our PhD Stay On Track Meeting Report, you can download the template here)
The Scribe emails the completed Meeting Report to all group members shortly after the meeting. Alternatively, s/he could save the meeting report – include the meeting date in the filename – in a folder shared with the group (eg using Dropbox, Google drive or similar).
What happens in a meetinG?
Opening (2 minutes):
Connect everyone and say hi. If not determined at previous meeting, decide on a Scribe for the meeting. The Scribe opens the Meeting Report Template and saves it with the meeting date in the filename. (If circulating the report via Dropbox/Google Drive, save it to the shared folder. Otherwise, email to all members at the end of the meeting.)
Goal Reporting (5-10 minutes):
Go around the group, getting the week’s or fortnight’s “accomplishments” from each member. The Scribe records each accomplishment on the Meeting Report. (You may need to skip this step for the first meeting.)
Discussion (10-20 minutes):
Anyone who has a question for the group can raise it here. If there are many questions, the group can decide what is discussed in this meeting, and what is deferred to the next meeting. (The Scribe will note the latter on the Meeting Report).
The Facilitator keeps an eye on the time, ensuring that all agreed-on topics are discussed and the discussion stays on track.
Goal Setting (10 minutes):
Go around the group, getting each member’s goal for the next week/fortnight. The Scribe records each goal on the Meeting Report.
Closing (2 minutes):
Agree on next meeting time, and who will be the next Meeting Initiator and Scribe. Farewells.
Connect everyone and say hi. If not determined at previous meeting, decide on a Scribe for the meeting. The Scribe opens the Meeting Report Template and saves it with the meeting date in the filename. (If circulating the report via Dropbox/Google Drive, save it to the shared folder. Otherwise, email to all members at the end of the meeting.)
Goal Reporting (5-10 minutes):
Go around the group, getting the week’s or fortnight’s “accomplishments” from each member. The Scribe records each accomplishment on the Meeting Report. (You may need to skip this step for the first meeting.)
Discussion (10-20 minutes):
Anyone who has a question for the group can raise it here. If there are many questions, the group can decide what is discussed in this meeting, and what is deferred to the next meeting. (The Scribe will note the latter on the Meeting Report).
The Facilitator keeps an eye on the time, ensuring that all agreed-on topics are discussed and the discussion stays on track.
Goal Setting (10 minutes):
Go around the group, getting each member’s goal for the next week/fortnight. The Scribe records each goal on the Meeting Report.
Closing (2 minutes):
Agree on next meeting time, and who will be the next Meeting Initiator and Scribe. Farewells.