Workshop details
This workshop does not have set dates. If you are interested in running the workshop for a group of people on a by-request basis, please complete the workshop by-request online form. If you require some personal advice on the subject area concerned, please use our consultancy service.
Tutor
This is a two-stage ‘by-request’ workshop delivered jointly by the EDU and Graduate school. As such the details will be tailored to individual needs after consultation with key individuals with a role in postgraduate education within departments.
Generally this takes the form of a pair of workshops delivered about 2-3 weeks apart. The first is a student forum run by the Graduate School that aims to sample the student’s views of any issues and aspects of good practice. This informs the second workshop, run by the EDU, for supervisors, which samples their perspectives, discusses some practical techniques for effective supervision and shares good practice and experience amongst the group.
Typical workshop details
Stage 1 - Student forum
Up to 1.5 hours
The student forum is an essential element of this two stage process. It builds upon existing feedback data (including PRES), it allows an open discussion of any concerns about supervision, facilitating the identification and sharing of aspects of good practice from the students’ perspective. Active engagement of students in this process ensures supervisors gain a more accurate understanding of the students’ point of view of supervisory issues. This in turn maximises the return on the investment of supervisors’ time.
The student forum is facilitated by Graduate School staff not connected with the department. In this way it offers:
- A safe and confidential environment where students may raise concerns
- A way of further probing issues that may have been raised by other feedback (eg. PRES)
- An opportunity for informal benchmarking with other departments which helps in understanding and contextualising local issues
Stage 2 - supervisor workshop
Up to 3 hours
The workshop is organised in conjunction with the department and uses department specific student feedback data plus discussion with senior staff and supervisors to identify specific issues and particular aspects of good practice. The workshop considers the issues from College, departmental, supervisor and student perspectives and provides an opportunity to discuss and share good disciplinary practice and suggests possible solutions and strategies to deal with any issues that arise.
The workshop is facilitated by EDU staff with input from the department and offers an opportunity to:
- Consider PhD supervision in a departmental and/or disciplinary context
- Explore issues and good practice as identified from both the supervisors’ and students’ perspectives
- Discuss possible solutions to any problems that are identified and to make explicit and share examples of good practice
- Update supervisors on current practice and departmental and College expectations
- Share experience and good practice and help supervisors build a community of support with others in the department that have similar roles
This workshop is designed to share best practice in a way that is tailored to an individual department’s needs; the workshops are designed in conjunction with key individuals within a department, such as the Director of Postgraduate studies. Please contact us for more details.