PhD supervision in the new academic environment
Wednesday 14 March 2012
13:00 to 16:00 (including lunch)
Led by Professor Les Back and Lesley Hewings
Goldsmiths venue provided on booking
Who would benefit from this workshop?
The workshop is open to all supervisors regardless of their level of experience. We are in a new kind of academic environment and we have found it is not only new supervisors who want or need support. This workshop offers an opportunity to get together and reflect on the practice of PhD supervision.
About the workshop leaders
Professor Les Back, recently appointed Dean of the Graduate School and Lesley Hewings, Head of Graduate School Office have collaborated on the development and delivery of this new programme for PhD Supervisors. They created the workshop in response to the need expressed by staff to have training that is tailored to the specifiities of Goldsmiths and that can prepare supervisors for the demands of the new academic environment.
Outline
PhD supervision is one of academic life’s year round staples but what is supervision and when do you know it is being done well? These are things that are rarely talked about on campus. Part of the problem is that supervision is an allusive skill but equally our cognizance - as either supervisors or students - of what is actually happening in the room when supervision is taking place is at best partial.
The workshop offers an opportunity to develop a space for reflection to think about the craft of supervision. It will discuss the pressures on supervision within the current academic situation (i.e. increased numbers of students and pressure to get students to complete on time) and explore how the existing structures within postgraduate governance at Goldsmiths can be used to support rather than hinder supervisors.
Outcomes
Through a series of scenarios it will aim to think about how to cope with issues ranging from:
- Facilitating intellectual development
- Assisting student progress
- Addressing difficulties in the supervision relationship
- Communication and data access
- Record keeping and the annual review of progress
It will also enable staff to bring scenarios to the workshop from their own experience as supervisors and to reflect on the specific challenges they have faced. We hope that through the workshop we will be able to share tips and strategies and open up an ongoing discussion about supervision as a particular form of academic teaching and learning.
Regulations, rights and responsibilities
College regulations relating to research students are not always as clear as they might be, indeed sometimes they are intentionally flexible to reflect the range of programmes and types of students that we have at Goldsmiths. There will also be a ‘Quick Guide to Regulations, Rights and Responsibilities’ as part of the workshop, offering the opportunity to try to clear up any thorny issues around, say, periods of registration or co-supervision.