A MOOC to reflect on your career plans at your own pace? This is what UCLouvain offers you!
Stepping in a doctorate is challenging but preparing of your post-thesis early is essential.
A team of doctors and doctoral students has designed the MOOC "PhD and career development" with this objective in mind. This innovative training allows doctoral students to learn, think about and prepare for their future, thanks in particular to the intervention of experts in supporting professional integration of doctoral candidates.
This training will take place between January 17 and February 28, 2023. It is aimed at all doctoral students of all disciplines. You can follow the training in French or in English.
By registering through UCLouvain, you will be able to obtain a certificate of achievement which can be submitted to your CDD for valuation within your doctoral training.
ATTENTION: To obtain the certificate, you must make a double registration WITH THE SAME EMAIL ADDRESS
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On the CIO website
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AND on the MOOC's platform PhDOOC
During this training, participants will gain the following skills:
- Identify, value and develop their skills/competencies
- Develop their professional development project
- Use/Create communication tools/support materials
- Discover or optimise the use of professional social networks
- Apply for targeted job offers and send unsolicited applications
- Master new digital and collaborative tools
- Promote the creation/Be part of a community of PhD students and holders based on sharing, collaboration and mutual aid.
Description (content, organisation, program)
The "PhD and Career Development" MOOC takes place from January 13th to February 28th 2021. This is the fifth edition of the MOOC, which has been enriched and builds on the experience gained during the four previous editions that were released between 2016 and 2020. Each participant can follow the MOOC at his or her own pace, between the start date and the end date, but a timetable is proposed for those who wish to participate with the PhDDOC team facilitation of the MOOC. The training is divided into weekly sequences based on resources and activities organised on the following topics:
Week 1: PhD and Career Development - an overview
Week 2: Skills & Competencies
Week 3: Career paths and your Professional Development Plan
Week 4: Networking
Week 5: Applying for a job (even unsolicited ones!)
Week 6: Extra time to complete the training
An optional unit with resources and activities on the topic of entrepreneurship, the academic career path, and social innovation is included.
Each sequence includes various resources and individual and collaborative activities. Experts will also give webinars on each of the weekly topics. Exchanges between participants are encouraged via thematic discussion threads. The sequences remain open and the resources accessible online after the animation time. Additional time at the end of the training course may allow participants to complete their training. This way, everyone can follow the course at their own pace.
Starting this year, all the contents and activities are proposed in French and English, to allow the greatest number of participants to take and complete this MOOC successfully.
Also, an optional unit has been created that contains resources and activities built in partnership with experts in entrepreneurship, social innovation and academic careers, to allow participants to explore other potential career paths open to PhDs.
Validation and duration of this training
The "PhD and Career Development" MOOC is an online, free and open training (MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course). The MOOC offers two learning pathways spread over 6 weeks:
- The "basic" learning pathways requires approximately 2 hours of work per week (i.e. 12 hours of training). This pathway is validated upon completion of quizzes and collaborative activities.
- The "advanced" learning pathway requires roughly 4 hours per week (i.e. 24 hours of training).
In addition to the quizzes and collaborative activities required for the basic learning pathway, the participant must complete two peer reviewed activities and participate in complementary collaborative activities to validate this pathway. Participants can obtain a certificate for the pathway of their choice, upon successful completion . Two types of certificates will thus be delivered: one for the "basic learning pathway" and another one for the "advanced learning pathway".