Module 1, Session 2: Supervision with a humanizing pedagogy

[Fiona Hagenbeek]

#5339

I would have liked definitions of what is meant with ‘ways of being/thinking/knowing’ – this was too general and vague for me to adequately reflect upon. Similarly, while this ppt gives us handholds to think about differences in expectations, it gives us no information on how to adequately identify these or how to address this. I hope this will be addressed in more detail later on, as this does not help me become a better supervisor at all, just becoming more worried about not doing it right.

[Nkatha Muriira]

#5352

Thanks for the powerful, it got me thinking deeply about how to view my students.
Expecting too much from a postgraduate student they have learnt from undergraduate may not work.
For students to get to completion of there programs they undergo varied struggles. Which may range from resources, lack of proper supervision and time constraints for those who are already in job market, which is mostly the case for my students. Therefore looking at these students as humans is important.

[Stephen Nguthi]

#5365

This presentation provides deep insights about the understanding that supervisors should have regarding their students as a way of reducing social exclusion. In particular, one factor that struck me most was funding. Funding postgraduate education is not easy particularly in the developing countries and particularly here in Kenya. Interestingly though, there are many funding opportunities available. Awareness of these funding opportunities however remains a huge challenge. The geographical setup, coupled with access to information beyond school leaves some potentially good postgraduate students out of the academy. In the contrary, the wealthy end up at the academy simply because they can pay for the education.

[George Erick Omondi]

#5366

The PowerPoint presentation on Working towards social inclusion: A humanizing pedagogy provides critical insights on postgraduate supervision. It discourages making overall and uniform assumptions on entry behaviour of postgraduate students and recommends an objective and context based view of the abilities of postgraduate students. Most importantly, it recognizes that postgraduate students are social beings with different abilities and thought patterns. They should therefore be humanized; the supervisor needs to get to the point of understanding the reasons the student is unable to do what he or she expects hence devise an action plan to ensure the candidate continues with studies without unfair exclusion.

[Edna Asesa]

#5375

Its amazing how things can be so different if you look at it from someone else’s point of view. understanding the supervisee makes the supervision journey not only exciting for the supervisee but also supervisor. Thank you

[Edna Asesa]

#5376

Its amazing how things can be so different if you look at it from someone else’s point of view. understanding the supervisee makes the supervision journey not only exciting for the supervisee but also supervisor. Thank you

[Zahda Yazid]

#5386

The PowerPoint has opened my eyes to many issues that can influence our behavior and knowledge regarding supervising people and teaching. The main challenge in my opinion is the fact Global North universities are to a large extent under the spell of one “typical knowledge” about the world, which they ironically work so hard on diffusing all over the world regardless of the existing differences between people on so many levels, cultural, historical, geographical, religious, etc while selling themselves as being open-minded, inclusive, culturally conscious of diversity in our world, and the list goes on.

[Toppo Richard]

#5388

Thank you for the presentation. It really makes one question the expectations from students at the Masters level. As a PhD researcher involved in supervising one of the Masters students at ISS, it gives me more clarity in keeping the power dynamics in check. One of the issues that I find important is making sense of the plurality of knowledge on given research, but at the same time also connecting it to the existing frames of knowledge production.

[Hellen wafula Kamwele]

#5389

Very insightful video. I do agree with the observations which are very critical in supervision journey. Lets accept people as different and respect the dissenting views so long as they contribute positively to knowledge production.

[Austine Amukayia Mulama]

#5396

The PPT slides enlights us on the importance of researchers being the experts in their area of interest rather than being just ‘technicians’

[Chantel Elston]

#5403

I agree with Fiona in that I would have liked some more definitions on the different ways of being/thinking/knowing – while this idea is brought up there are no examples to clarify and help us reflect. However, I found it helpful to think about pg studies in terms of students ‘developing their voice in a new world’, and to realise that supervisors are essentially responsible for inducting them into this new world. These worlds are often quite specialised niches and students generally cannot receive advice/support from their pre-existing community, making it quite a burden on the supervisor. It goes beyond just trying to impart skills/knowledge, but also involves trying to build confidence and independence.

[Bongiwe Xhoseni]

#5404

The PPT slides are much appreciated. I do however hope that we will get into detail on the issues raised in the presentation in our upcoming sessions

[Emily Bomet]

#5417

The future should be open to all post graduate students, in that, social exclusion should be minimized. The supervisor should allow the student to freely explore knowledge without a lot of interference. The responsibility of the supervisor is to offer guidance and allow the student to have a lot of freedom to exploit knowledge maximumly. It also involves understanding students as social beings and being allowed to express themselves the way they think and not being excluded.

[Donnie Kasyoki]

#5434

Quite interesting insights on how supervision should be handled. I have noticed that I may have witnessed some of these social exclusive in many universities. If possible this course should actually be made available to everyone in the academic world. There are many issues that supervisors assume ‘just because they can’ which sometimes punishes the student. This student will transfer the same treatment to the next generation once he also becomes a supervisor. We end up creating a new culture of supervision-sadly.

[Lilian Diana Awuor Wanzare]

#5444

I like the idea of supervision being viewed as a way of inducting students to this “new world” of knowledge community. In my experience, for many students, the main motivation of doing p/g is not joining this knowledge community but rather they see p/g as a means to an end (mostly monetary). Thus encouraging them to participate and learn about the “new world” becomes too much.
Students that actually wish to develop their voice in this new world, tend to be more engaging and willing to learn and explore.
With all the social exclusion issues that have been raised, I am asking myself as a supervisor, what role can I play, 1: to reduce these social exclusions and 2: to help students get their voice in the new world.
This lead me to the new ways of being/thinking/knowing, I hope more clarity will be given on this topic.

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