Module 1, Session 3: Models of supervision

[CPC Admin]

#4843

Watch the narrated PowerPoint on models of supervision and then post your thoughts here.

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[Thivhulawi Malwela]

#5271

Yes team supervission benefits both students and facilitators. there is teaming up to fight challenges, to celebate sucess and peer review is done too. this improves the work of postgraduates, i also think it shortens the period of study.

[Phemelo Hellemann]

#5316

Looking back at my own experience as a student, I had 2 supervisors for my MA, and 1 supervisor for my PhD. For my MA, I think the supervisors took on a more team supervision approach as they were both experienced supervisors. This partnership came later in my studies, so I think it was well managed with minimal disagreements between supervisors and myself. Based on this experience, I can see the value of team supervision. For my PhD, I had a one-on-one supervisor, and because the relationship was good, I also saw the value of this approach. However, I often felt that there were areas in which my supervisor was not too knowledgeable as she admitted, this is where another supervisor or a team would have been beneficial.

I am currently a co-supervisor, and because I am a novice supervisor I do not mind this arrangement. I am learning a lot about processes and procedures that would otherwise take me too long to figure out if I wasn’t paired up with someone. As noted in the PPP, I think this approach is a good scaffolding approach for new academics like myself. But I also worry that I might be too intimidated to challenge my supervisor if we have varying views. I am yet to figure out how I would approach the issue when it arises.

The idea of panel supervision is intriguing to me. I have not witnessed it or heard of it in practice yet. There are talks in our department about possibly developing something like this, perhaps when the opportunity arises, I would join the panel. I see the value of this approach. I believe it could lessen the workload on supervisors with large numbers of students, thus improving the quality of feedback and reducing delayed feedback.

[Fiona Hagenbeek]

#5340

First: the sound on this ptt was horrible on my pc, even at 100% I barely heard a word: extremely frustrating and not conducive to the learning experience at all. Perhaps the quality would be better if this was saved as a movie and not a ptt presentation (would also allow for watching at higher speed, which is preferable when it’s not a live presentation)? In the presentation, a link is given with instructions to watch, but then she immediately discusses the video without an opportunity to watch, not that it’s too relevant, since the link doesn’t work for me anyway.
I have experienced mostly co-supervision: in both of my master internships, I had a day-to-day supervisor (postdoc or assistant/associate prof) with whom I met regularly and a full professor with whom I met on occasion to discuss general progress and who graded my performance (with input from the day-to-day supervisor). During my Ph.D. I had a complex co-supervision team: I had two full professors, with partially overlapping expertise, as promotors. I also was in frequent contact with various members of staff from within and outside of our department/university depending on which project/methods I was working. Midway through my Ph.D., my office-mate and frequent collaborator became my official co-promotor. I really liked this model, as it exposed me to a large number of different supervision styles. My experience as a supervisor is largely in a co-supervision team, where I teamed up with a PhD-holding member of staff to supervise a master’s student (as our master’s program doesn’t allow non-PhD holders as primary supervisors). Additionally, I now have collaborations with Ph.D. students in which I function as a collaborator and day-to-day supervisor both. Currently, I’m also solo supervising a master’s student for the first time, though I will frequently discuss with my own mentors to ensure my student gets the best care. This uncertainty is also why I applied to this course.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5346

My experience since I started supervision of postgraduate students it has been co-supervision. I have since graduated one PhD student where by as a novice PhD supervisor and my colleague who is an experienced professor we agreed that we look at the students work independently but as we give direction, the three of us had to together. This gave me an opportunity to learn from the advice the professor gave and similarly the professor learnt from my input. This made the student not to face contradicting advice from the two of us and this culminated in the student completing the PhD program within the stipulated time.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5348

My experience as a masters student and PhD which the two degrees were from different universities I had similar experience of being directed, advised, supported, and examined among others by two supervisors. In my masters the supervisors were from the same school but different departments. The supervisor from my department dealt with the chapter one and two part but the other one from a different department dealt with methodology. This enabled me complete my masters within the stipulated time. The only challenge I experienced was that one could easily be found and could give quick feedback than the one from the the department. For my PhD the two supervisors could not meet me individually. They had to be together while giving feedback.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5349

I must say that other types of supervision like cohort supervision is being practiced in a school in my university whereby a lecturer has many students each working on projects. The supervisor is one and the final project culminates into graduating with a masters degree. A panel of members from the school interrogates the final project report.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5350

When the student has the two supervisors from within the university but there is content area that the two supervisors do not have then it is in order for an expert to be brought on board from outside the university which in this case the student will have three supervisors. This can also help in the case where one of the supervisors is novice supervisor.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5351

project supervision is an interesting one that can be practiced in my university because it makes students socialize as opposed to a lone ranger. Even though they are many supervisors and students working on a project but each is able to share their ideas and even frustrations with the others. This way they are able to console one another and move on as a team. This type of model works well in unique circumstances where there is a project that accommodates many students and supervisors

[Richwell Mhlanga]

#5357

I have only experienced the co-supervision model, from honours up to my PhD. I feel it all depends on the professional relationship between the supervisors and how the student is able to balance views and sometimes power struggles between the supervisors. Having a single supervisor works perfectly well in most circumstances for both the supervisor and the student. While on the other hand, too many cooks may spoil the broth, obviously as the number of supervisors increases there are bound to be divergent views and ideas, which may be difficult to blend. As well as simply failing to coordinate among themselves which may disadvantage the student. In conclusion, I would say the co-supervision model, is best in my opinion as it also allows the novice supervisor to learn from the experienced supervisor.

[Kwak Seohee]

#5364

Seen from my experience as a PhD candidate, the two supervisors setting was both effective and satisfying. In terms of communications during supervision. If there had been multiple supervisors, it would have been difficult to arrange meetings and to integrate supervisors’ feedback into the dissertation.

[Stephen Nguthi]

#5367

One-on-one supervision sounds like the ideal. I haven’t experienced it though since in the institution where I did both my MSc and PhD, the practice requires that for thesis option you have a minimum of two supervisors. Around there, one can only have a single supervisor where they are taking the ‘project’ option which is not meant for scholars keen to advance their studies or work as lecturers or work in research institutions.
Co-supervision comes with its share of benefits too, For instance where supervisors complement each others knowledge in guiding the student through their studies. Challenges with this approach stem from undue competition from supervisors in at attempt to show their unmatched “expertise” to the student about a particular subject. Such instances not only slow the student down but also confuse the student in discovering who they truly are in the knowledge world.

[George Erick Omondi]

#5370

There are several models of supervision indeed. The most common one I have encountered is co-supervision. In my opinion, it is the best because it allows supervisors with the same methodological expertise to guide the student. As a result, the output is certainly devoid of errors.

[Isabella Lutzili Asamba]

#5384

As a PHD student I had the experience of working with two supervisors’ on individual, one-on-one supervision. The two acted as guides, advisors, critics, mentor all rolled up in one. Having more than one supervisor brought in different scopes of knowledge and skills in research thus enriching my research and opening new areas of knowledge for me. The process worked well because the two supervisors worked out their roles and schedules making it easier for me as a student to work through my research and writings. My interest would be to see how cohort supervision works out

[Quinter Migunde]

#5398

In my university and especially in my school, co-supervision is the most common mode of supervision. From my experience conflicts often arise between some supervisors and this sometimes affects the students and as a result the student may take longer in the program. I prefer cohort supervision since students are able to work together and navigate the different challenges they experience together. Students are also able to learn from one another and motivate each other in the course of their studies.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Quinter Migunde.

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