Aims

The broad aim of this module is to help prepare new colleagues to undertake the effective supervision of (mainly) postgraduate dissertations. The module will also provide an opportunity to discuss the purposes behind dissertation work, and to explore relevant policy, practice, and common issues.


Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course participants should be able to:

1 offer a critical appreciation of the role of interpersonal skills in the process of supervision, and demonstrate effective engagement with the means by which they might be enhanced;

2 with reference to relevant scholarly literature offer a systematic and critical evaluative rationale for the means that might be employed to effectively monitor student progress in the completion of a dissertation;

3 critically assess the role that supervision can play in the enhancement of a student's understanding of research skills and ethics; postgraduate skills, and forms of knowledge transfer.


Indicative Module Content

This is an optional module and is aimed at those who are new to offering support to students who are undertaking dissertation work. It is aimed mainly at those who will be working with postgraduate students, and is complemented by its sister module `Supporting Students and Guidance' (SSG). Each week will look at different themes and associated roles. 

Theme 1- Helping students manage and complete their projects:
to include discussion of what dissertations are for, and what makes a `good' student. 

Theme 2 - Developing effective tutorial skills:
to include discussion of coping strategies, defence mechanisms, and professional boundaries. 

Theme 3 - Working with postgraduate skills:
to include a discussion of transferability, and how to work with the postgraduate matrix at CCCU. 

Theme 4 - Strategies to aid effective dissemination of research knowledge:
strategies to aid effective dissemination of research knowledge, to include discussion of academic papers, publication, and knowledge-transfer. 

Theme 5 - The ethical dimensions of research work:
to include discussion of research protocols, collaborative working, standpoint research, and vested interests.

Throughout the themes a critical orientation will be maintained, and participants will be invited to articulate their own understandings of the uses and limitations of the concepts and ideas, and apply them to discussion about how to enhance their own professional practice. The module will provide explicit opportunities for participants to provide evidence of engagement with UK PSF areas of activity 1 and 4, core knowledge 2 and 4, and PSF and SEDA PDF values 3, 5 and 6. In addition the ILOs, content, and assessment are designed to meet the criteria for the SEDA PDF award `Supervising Postgraduate Research', where award recipients will be able to:

Use interpersonal, organizational and coping skills;

Use their specialist knowledge and skills appropriately in the higher education context;

Plan and implement an appropriate strategy for the supervision process;

Perform effectively their student support and academic administrative tasks;

Use an appropriate range of methods (and skills) to monitor, examine and assess student progress and attainment and give feedback on work;

Supervise production and assessment of the research project (thesis);

Enable the development in their students of key skills for lifelong learning.

N.B. The SEDA award is only available to those supporting post-graduate students.


Learning and Teaching Strategies

Each session will be andragogic in nature, inviting participants to share their knowledge and understanding of supervising and being supervised. Participants will be presented with a number of case studies through which they will explore policies, practices, and common issues. Throughout the sessions participants will be invited to seek ways in which they might enhance their own practice by consulting relevant scholarly sources, and engaging in critical discussion, and self-reflection.


Assessment

A critical narrative - in the order of 2,000 words. A critical narrative seeks to address a pedagogical issue by consulting relevant scholarly literature, and in the light of that, engaging in systematic critical discussion and personal self-reflection. It should conclude with a series of recommendations or suggestions to enhance aspects of related pedagogical practice, in the light of the previous discussion.

A critical narrative should have the following structure – but not necessarily as headings, or as separate sections:

Identification of the nature and relevance of an issue to one's own pedagogic practice;

References to relevant academic literature;

Discussion, which is systematic and critical, and personal self-reflection;

Application, and suggested enhancements, to one's own professional context. 

A critical narrative should be read in the form of: outline of an issue; discussion of that issue; resolution of that issue.


llustrative Bibliography

Beasley, N. and Taylor, S. (2005) A Handbook for Doctoral Supervisors. London: Routledge.

Delamont, S. (et al) (2004) Supervising the Doctorate. Buckingham: OpenUP.

Eley, A. and Jennings, R. (2005) Effective Postgraduate Supervision: Improving the Student/Supervisor Relationship. Buckingham: OpenUP.

MacFarlane, B. (2003) Teaching with Integrity: the ethics of higher education practice. London: Routledge.

Philips, E. and Pugh, D. S. (2004) How to get a PhD. Buckingham: OpenUP.

Wisker, G. (2004) The Good Supervisor: Supervising Postgraduate and Undergraduate Research for Doctoral Theses and Dissertations. London: Palgrave Macmillan.


Websites

http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/support/learning-teaching-enhancement-unit/|

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/ |


Journals

Educational Developments

International Journal for Academic Development

Studies in Higher Education

Teaching in Higher Education