Creating Postgraduate Collaborations › Forums › CPC Supervision Development Course › Module 5 › Module 5, Session 1: Project Management and Time Planning
Tagged: planning, postgraduate project, supervision, time mamagement
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Managing time is important if students are to graduate in time. My institution has laid down mechanisms for managing postgraduate projects. However, the process of ensuring that the mechanisms are strictly adhered to by both supervisors and students is rather weak. For this reason, some students simply disappear without trace. Some turn up at their convenience. This means that a supervisor would wait until his/her student appears. Part of the problem in my institution is that there seems to be a disconnect between what supervisors need to do for each student and availability of information/documentation from the School of Graduate Studies. Whereas the institution has Rules and Regulations for students, supervisors have little or no guidelines. The only document I have signed in the past is Student’s Progress Report. But my worst observation is lack of proper orientation of postgraduate students.
The PPT on Project Management and Time Planning adds yet another useful point for reflection on my work as an academic and supervisor. While I acknowledge that all along I have encouraged students to develop time plans, we use the Gannt Chart format almost all the time, in all fairness I have not been very strict on adherence to the set out time plans! Maybe, in part, it’s out of my postgraduate studentship experiences – both Masters and Ph D were completed this way after the scheduled time frames! Following this presentation, however, and in tandem with the dynamic circumstances of the postgraduate studies at my institution and the world at large, my moment of ‘business unusual’ must kick in!
I can now relate with the notion of supervision as a project management endeavour more readily! In addition to the streamlined structural imperatives that must be attended by both parties, student and supervisor, I also see this as offering an opportunity to transfer the model to the processes of our engagement with the academic/scholarly tasks of the thesis report, initiation, sustenance and completion! But as I think about this, I will need to further refine what will be needed in my dissection of the details of academic/scholarly activities to be done! For instance, what needs to be done, by each of the parties, at which stage/phase? What realistic time should be involved? Etc!
In short, as my ideas on how to deal with my supervision pedagogy continue to evolve, this presentation will continue to serve as an important catalyst to my thinking!Thanks for this presentation, Colette.
The questions and presentation made me aware about my tendency of underestimating the time I take completing tasks and projects. I am good materializing ideas and projects, but I typically feel behind. Likewise, I am not good at delegating and I frequently perceive myself drained, by having taken more responsibility than is possible to fit in a 24-hours day. I know that I am not alone on this :)
I understand that an important part of “becoming” a doctoral supervisor will be associated with managing time and resources and my capacity to being precise and clear about the responsibilities that PhD scholars are in charge of.
The other reflection I gained after seeing the video is the importance of establishing a memorandum of understanding. As a PhD scholar, I never signed off any memorandum of understanding, but my adviser set very clear commitments and rules from the beginning. Honesty and clear expectation throughout the PhD journey were key to keep a healthy relationship. I hope to honor that style of supervision.I respect deadlines very much, and always ensure that I am able to meet almost all those that are set for various tasks. I often keep a diary, and that helps me to know tasks that are overlapping. Sometimes activities/tasks are fixed and you have no control over adjusting the deadline. So in such a case, I try very much to divide my time between the overlapping tasks so that I meet the deadlines. Once in a while I find myself behind on an activity, particularly responding to some emails on time.
I am able to plan my time well, and I do this on a weekly basis. However, I sometimes don’t stick to the schedule because of other issues that may arise, i.e., being exhausted and impromptu meetings/activities. My experience supervising different students is varied. I make a short term plans with a student on what, how, and when an activity is to be done. The short term planning is based on the different stages of research. In as much as this short term planning is done, challenges in following that plan arise when the student and I fail to meet the timelines because of other constraints like delays in getting research funds, especially for the self-sponsored student, or a student’s absenteeism that is caused by personal engagements. The thing that surprises me most is when a student goes ahead of a schedule and carries out a task, like field experiment, without informing me.
The idea of equating the postgraduate study process to a project is good because, first and foremost, it denotes that some discipline must be applied in the entire process. Projects are well thought out through all the stages with outputs/outcomes. This, therefore, requires that the stakeholders (the student and the supervisor) adhere to the project life cycle (hence proper project management). Taking from this perspective means that the process begins with some form of agreement from both stakeholders in how they want to run the project from start to finish. Such questions as what are the expectations from both sides, and, what are the responsibilities, though ignored many times, are important.
An important note would be that although PM and tools such as the MoU are important in PG studies, it must be emphasized that the PG journey is often a ‘chaotic’ and ‘messy’ one. The agreements are not to be seen as rigid contracts I would argue, but as flexible and open for discussion, ‘re-negotiation’ and revision if necessary and if stimulating progress.
It has interesting to view post graduate supervision as a project with a beginning and an end (time frame), and with specific deliverables and outputs. It is only in seeing this that a supervisor can work towards the achieving the desired end.
The gnat chart presented was not new to me as i have always insisted for students to draw it up but I have not been keen enough to follow it through and made the student accountable according to the activities and time against the gnat chart.The new bit among the tools was the ready made softwares (especially Microsoft project), which I downloaded a free 2020 version and easy to use. I intent to use it with my students in the near future.
The other bit was on having contracts/MoU with students. I have had verbal contract with students that I supervise, but not written contracts. With the template given of an MoU, I wish to adapt that into my supervisory practice, of course, considering national and institutional policy and beneficial institutional culture.
Lastly, on management of post graduate workloads, my department and school has a requirement for submission of post graduates’ supervision reports quarterly. In my experience, this has mostly been done to help the graduate committees monitor the supervisors. However, I now see it as a tool to help the supervisor also to develop a productive working relationship with the student. In addition, the student being supervised need to give also a report, which help monitor himself. Post graduate project management is dual responsibility of the supervisor(s) and the student.
Hmmmm! Time management is an issue for both supervisors and students at my institution. Not because there are no guidelines (Lucas mentioned above that there are) but adherence due to different reasons becomes a problem.
For the supervisors for instance, teaching is a big part of their daily lives, not to mention departmental meetings and other activities. One would think that a diary would come in handy here but in most cases meetings are on short notice or impromptu, which means EVERYTHING in the diary has to be moved around.
For the students, I think the main thing they have to contend with is juggling work, family life and their research. Most times the former take precedence over the latter.
I therefore very much like the idea of an MOU. Once signed, if there is an adjustment or a breach…there is an explanation as to why what happened did. And like explained in the video, this may be critical for conflict resolution and tracking progress.post graduate project and time management are crucial for any successful supervision. Much of what i have been doing may not necessarily be outlined on MOU document but entails the different stages of supervision. I however find it necessary to adopt the document guided by the institutions supervisory requirement. it makes it more clearly for both the supervisor and the student of their scheduled engagements which makes the process more friendly and achievable.
post graduate project and time management are crucial for any successful supervision. Much of what i have been doing may not necessarily be outlined on MOU document but entails the different stages of supervision. I however find it necessary to adopt the document guided by the institutions supervisory requirement. it makes it more clearly for both the supervisor and the student of their scheduled engagements which makes the process more friendly and achievable.
Seeing PG studies in the light of project management is very good. Clear cut objectives with specific timelines will no doubt keep the research on course in a timely manner. However, it demands a lot of commitment on the side of both the student and supervisor to keep the vision going and realised.
I found the tool for project management to be instrumental in outlining work to be done. It requires one to be highly disciplined to finish everything according to the plan. I am learning a lot in this supervision development course.
I already have the memorandum of understanding with my students because it is a requirement in my department. We had to change the strategy because of the COVID 19 pandemic, we now communicate via email or WhatsApp. The challenge is that some just disappear no matter how hard you try to keep in touch. I have not dealt with any budgetary issues because I am new to supervision, I also don’t have a PhD student.Likening a Thesis with a project is indeed a good idea. Then you are sure you have a start and end time; you even know what you are expected to produce at given time points. In my School the student attaches a work-plan as an appendix in the proposal. Usually this is not in consultation with the supervisor, but the student can stick to it. They are also required to submit progress reports every three months. I certainly can improve on this by preparing the work-plan with my students. It will give us a chance to discuss what is viable.
Project management and planning need to be done at the beginning and becomes a checklist of things to do. My department requires students to present their project management and planning, all staff members can advise.
Although there are guidelines and time frames, it sometimes become difficult to strictly adhere to them due to impromptu meetings or activities within the institution. However, keeping a diary and strictly follow it can help both the supervisor and the students. when things are planned, it becomes easy to follow them up.
There should be a committee that generally monitors supervisor-student progress. it should not be left between the supervisor and the student. -
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