Background

Postgraduate study has become progressively more important in professional life, particularly in the education sector, and Schools of Education within the university sector are looking for ways to improve provision. A key component of many Masters degrees is a work-based project or dissertation. It has been acknowledged that supervision of these projects has been under-researched (e.g. Anderson et al., 2006), although challenges associated with the supervision of international students (Brown, 2007) and those faced by new supervisors (McMichael, 1993) have been considered. In the light of renewed interest in taught postgraduate provision by the professions, along with an expansion of distance and online engagement, it is timely to re-consider the experiences of supervisors supporting Masters level research as part of taught programmes, and to review how best to support them. Increased access to study through online provision allows students to look globally for the most appropriate programme of study to suit their needs and therefore their supervisors must consider cultural aspects, time differences and diverse work and study contexts in order to provide effective support.

Schools of Education need to be creative and innovative in the ways in which support is given to Masters students and it is essential that supervisors are academically and technologically confident in order to address issues of culture and geography. Other challenges, such as increasing numbers of students, the need for flexibility to accommodate diversity, and the preparation of new supervisors also need to be addressed.  In our own context, a Scottish School of Education, as the number and range of taught postgraduate courses has increased to meet market demand, so too have the demands on staff supporting Masters level students. From an initial, relatively small, group of supervisors, the team has grown rapidly to include members of staff who have recently obtained their own postgraduate qualifications, as well as new research active personnel joining the School.  As numbers of students and supervisors grow there is a need to be increasingly proactive to ensure a worthwhile supervisory experience and a good outcome for their students.

This paper will report on research currently being undertaken to explore the experiences of supervisors in our School of Education, who work with over one hundred part-time off-campus postgraduate students undertaking dissertations and work-based projects each year. It is underpinned by a systematic review of international supervisors’ experiences. The project aims to understand the experiences of supervisors supporting students and investigate how provision should be given so they can provide appropriate supervision. The research questions are:

-          What prior experiences do supervisors have and how do they understand their role?

-          How can support be provided for a diverse group of supervisors managing an equally diverse set of student projects?

-          Can online support using a blog approach be effective?

Anderson C., Day K. & McLaughlin P (2006) Mastering the dissertation: lecturers’ representations of the purposes and processes of Master’s level dissertation supervision, Studies in Higher Education, 31:2, 149-168 Brown L. (2007) A consideration of the challenges involved in supervising international masters students Journal of Further and Higher Education, 31:3, 239-248 Brydon-Miller, M. and Maguire, P. (2009) Participatory action research: contributions to the development of practitioner inquiry in education, Educational Action Research, 17:1, 79-93 McMichael, P. (1993) Starting up as supervisors: The perceptions of newcomers in postgraduate supervision in Australia and Sri Lanka Studies in Higher Education, 18:1, 15-26 Todd M. J., Smith K. & Bannister P.(2006): Supervising a social science undergraduate dissertation: staff experiences and perceptions, Teaching in Higher Education, 11:2, 161-173