Doctoral development
Learn more about the training opportunities at King's.
Note: This section is relevant for external training partners of the Centre for Doctoral Studies. King’s staff should refer to King’s Teaching, learning and assessment with technology pages.
Due to the ongoing restrictions around on-site activity, we are setting out our vision online delivery of researcher development training for the new academic year.
This is guided by King’s Principles of Online Learning and contextualised by the feedback and evaluation process that we have undertaken over the previous months in the Centre for Doctoral Studies.
As a partner in delivering researcher development training, we hope that you will use the principles outlined in this guide for the design of your training session(s).
Face to face sessions do not translate directly to online delivery. The length, time-commitment, activity types, and how you engage with the participants will need careful consideration.
In most cases training and development delivery is most effective when using a 'blended' approach; a mix of both 'live' (synchronous) and 'in your own time' (asynchronous) learning.
The 'live' elements should be relatively short, focussed, and be participatory. Sessions would typically be approx. 1 hour, but longer sessions (max. 2 hours) with breakout rooms can be a valuable way to connect with participants. Synchronous learning is a great opportunity to engage with participants in discussion, feedback, Q&A, and can help to build a sense of community and belonging. Depending on the depth of the course, you may wish to run one or multiple synchronous elements.
The 'in your own time' elements should prepare learners for, or provide a follow-up from, the live elements, as well as giving an opportunity for independent, collaborative, and active learning. Asynchronous learning can be spread over several days or weeks.
Asynchronous activities can include anything that a participant should do in their own time. This may include access to resources such as:
Ensure that you scaffold the resources in a manner which encourages active acquisition of knowledge. For example, ask questions to consider whilst reading/watching the resource.
Further examples of asynchronous learning activities include:
Interaction, engagement and community can be fostered through asynchronous activities such as:
Live activities should generally be kept to 1 hour. They should encourage active participation and discussion. You should not simply ‘present’ during these activities – that could be done in the participant’s own time. Live activities allow for:
Zoom: for live elements we will provide you with a Zoom session. In general we prefer you not to use your own account or alternative software due to potential GDPR issues.
Learning platform: activities will usually be hosted by or linked from the King’s learning platform (KEATS). If you require access to KEATS this will be provided.
Other services: if you wish to use any software or platform that is not provided by King’s, please specify this in your proposal. Please pay attention to any data and privacy policy that the third-party service has, and any potential obstacles such as account sign-up, advertising, and public/private display of information.
Underpinning online learning at King’s is a set of eight principles. Whilst these are written with taught courses in mind, depending on the duration and depth of your course, you may wish to apply these principles in how you structure and design your delivery.
The activity types outlined here follow those in the ABC Learning Design framework produced by UCL Digital Education.
Principles of Online Learning at King’s [internal resource]
Learn more about the training opportunities at King's.
Training and development and careers support for health researchers.
Find out more about our Doctoral training partnerships.
About the Centre of Doctoral Studies and available student support.