Workshops

Supervising Postgraduate Dissertations

Overview

This 2-hour workshop is research-enlightened, and using information, discussion, and interactive activities, participants will be able to develop and share experience-informed good practice in effective postgraduate supervision. Key to the success of this workshop experience is the valuing, exploration and building upon prior knowledge and understandings of the participants. Encouraging reflective practice forms the basis of effective approaches to supervisor professional development. It is also essential that such a supervisor training programme makes the supervisor's role as explicit as possible.

Workshop process: Learning will be experiential and participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their practice, give and receive feedback, exchange ideas and consider suggestions for improving their supervision methods and strategies.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this workshop participants will have

• greater self-awareness of own conceptions of research and supervisory practice, contextualised by critical engagement with salient and emerging issues in own field of research
• understanding of what constitutes a productive research learning environment
• appreciation of a range of good practice approaches to supervision
• extended repertoire of supervisory strategies and procedures for supervisors and research students, including ethics requirements
• knowledge of institutional requirements and procedures for supervisors and research students
• practice in evaluating their efficacy and competency
• enhanced competency in interactional and communication skills e.g. negotiation, giving feedback which is supportive and challenging
• enhanced understanding and leadership skills for the facilitation of learning in one-to-one and group settings
• experience of, and familiarity with, the range of IT mediated communication strategies for supervision on/off campus e.g. chatrooms, discussion groups, email
• knowledge of the literature on the scholarship of supervision pedagogy and of relevant policy issues in research supervision
• Up-to-date knowledge of expectations of stakeholder groups and strategies for maintaining dialogue

Who is this workshop suitable for?

This workshop is suitable for all academic staff involved in supervising masters or doctoral students.

Links to DIT Institutional Objectives

This workshop is considered to support the following DIT institutional objectives:

• Develop and support teaching excellence
• Develop key skills & competencies in students

Any pre-requisites / advance preparation required?

There are no pre-requisites for this workshop. However, in advance it would be helpful if you could read: Resource pack on Supervising Postgraduate Students available from the LTTC website: http://www.dit.ie/lttc/resources/lttcresourcepacks/ .

Facilitated by?

This workshop is facilitated by Roisin Donnelly and Marian Fitzmaurice of the DIT Learning, Teaching and Technology Centre.