In this blog post, Dr Rob Daley, Assistant Professor in the Learning and Teaching Academy (Edinburgh), discusses the art of effective dissertation supervision in taught courses.

Supervision as teaching

As teachers in higher education there are many different elements of practice that we need to master and at any point in time some elements seem more important, or more in focus, than others. However, one element of teaching that rarely stands in the spotlight is dissertation supervision. Unlike those elements of teaching that challenge the teacher with meeting the needs of a diverse group of students, dissertation supervision is usually enacted on a one-to-one basis and as such requires a different approach than most other teaching practice. Dissertation meetings are a key element in supporting our students’ learning journeys and are often the difference between a student struggling and flourishing. What follows is a consideration of some of the key elements of dissertation meetings and some approaches that should help to enhance the effectiveness of your student-supervisor interactions.

3Cs of dissertation supervision

There are three clear things that every student should have at the conclusion of a dissertation meeting. These are:

  1. Clarity on what they are going to do next or between now and the next meeting,
  2. Confidence that they know how to do it well and how to access any support they need,
  3. Enthusiasm about getting on with the work and progressing the project.

Our role as the supervisor is to manage the meeting discussion to achieve these three outcomes.

Clarity

In order to be clear on their next steps, a student needs to have a good understanding of what they have achieved to date, what that means for the project overall and a good understanding of what the project is aiming to achieve. A useful approach to support this is to have the student design a project plan at the start of the process and then update that plan regularly in light of progress, unexpected barriers and your discussions. By having the student take ownership of the planning, the supervisor can see clearly what path they are intending to take and can make a judgement if that is sensible or not. It is important that supervisors have a good understanding of how the student views the project and the next steps.

Confidence

As well as having clarity, the student needs to be confident that they have the skills and knowledge that they require to progress their project along the appropriate path. Part of the supervisor’s role is to help the students to gain this confidence (Roberts and Seaman 2018), supporting students to understand their own capabilities, and to reassure them that they have the skills, the knowledge and the judgement they require to successfully progress and complete the dissertation. A particularly important part of imbuing such confidence in students is the feedback provided in supervisor meetings. Providing praise and positive feedback will enhance the confidence of the students for those things that they’re already good at or gaining capability in. Also, it is important to be careful in the tone used when correcting students or identifying weaknesses in their knowledge or skill set. This should be approached in a constructive manner using language that reassures the student that while they have not yet reached the required level that they will do so soon.

Enthusiasm

The final piece of the puzzle is to ensure that students also have the required enthusiasm to complete the project well. They may have the skills required and they may have a credible plan, but if they don’t have the enthusiasm, they are unlikely to achieve a positive outcome. Similar to confidence, a student’s enthusiasm can be enhanced through the feedback they receive from the supervisor. Regular, positive, constructive feedback about the student’s capabilities and about the quality of the work will help imbue such enthusiasm in the student. If the student sees that a supervisor is excited about the work and the direction it is going in, then they are likely to share this enthusiasm. The supervisor’s approach to feedback, and the manner in which feedback is provided, is often key to the level of success achieved by the student. The supervisor is key to unlocking the potential in the student which is necessary to achieve a successful outcome.

Supervisory Approach

To achieve the three elements outlined above, the supervisor needs to have a clear plan for the session. This should include the topics they want to cover but also allow time in the plan for things that the student wants to discuss. The supervisor also needs to focus on active listening during the discussion and seeking clarification where they may not have a full understanding of what the student is trying to convey. Ensuring that the meetings are student-focused and ensuring that the student’s issues are addressed first, before those of the supervisor, will help. Similarly, using carefully considered questions that support the student to engage in active reflection will strengthen their engagement in both the discussion and in their project. This will also support them to take more ownership and self-management of their dissertation.

Starting the session (after normal pleasantries) with “What do you want to get out of this session?” (or similar) is a useful first step. Using a framework to structure the discussions (e.g. GROW see Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (no date)) will also help and will ensure that issues are fully considered and not left half-addressed or ignored. Allowing sufficient time for exploring each stage of the model being used is an important consideration.

Successful dissertations are achieved through partnership. If both the student and the supervisor are clear on their responsibilities, and meet these, success should follow.

 

References

Roberts, L.D. and Seaman, K. (2018) ‘Good undergraduate dissertation supervision: perspectives of supervisors and dissertation coordinators’, The international journal for academic development, 23(1), pp. 28–40. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2017.1412971.

Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (no date) ‘Using a Coaching Approach in Supervision”. Available at https://www.sgsss.ac.uk/files/Coaching.pdf

 

Image credit:

  1. Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash.
  2. 3C diagram by Rob Daley (c)