Three Questions for Evaluation of Practice in Research Supervision

The inspiration for developing this evaluation of supervisor practice questions was my engagement in the Teaching Excellence Program.

One of the assignments based on evaluation of practice made me realise that a students' research journey can be a solo and sometimes isolated experience. They are often working alone and not as part of a team, especially if they are part time students that cannot be fully involved in the university. This was further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when supervision meetings and engagement with research students have primarily been via Zoom.

Reflecting on my own experiences as a research student, I was not always confident enough to ask my supervisors to provide additional explanations of concepts. I was inspired to equip my students with a tool that allowed them to provide constructive feedback to their Supervisor that would inevitably better their learning journey.

The challenge was to develop short, engaging and relevant questions that would encourage students to provide timely and constructive feedback to their supervisor.

I incorporated Brookfield’s critically reflective lens (2002) to guide development of three questions to assess the effectiveness of my teaching directly from the students I supervise.

I created the following evaluation questions to combat the feeling of isolation sometimes felt as a student:

	Do I explain research concepts in a way that is relevant and effective to support your learning?
	Do I make effective use of the online platform (such as zoom) to engage you during the online supervision meeting?
	Do I provide timely and constructive feedback which you are able to effectively use to further develop your work?

The questions are short, and written in the first person to elicit a better feedback response. There is also an opportunity for the student to provide additional qualitative comments to assist with identifying strengths and areas for the supervisor to improve their practice.

Since developing these questions, I have used them with three research students and it has been great, albeit humbling. I have been able to use the student's responses to tailor how I can effectively provide feedback. The student's confirmation of the value of my feedback is a measure of the effectiveness of these questions.

I have adapted my feedback and engagement with each student based on their responses to the questions. For example, when providing feedback on the student's draft document I used abbreviations without considering if the student was aware of the meaning.

It is important for supervisors to understand early if their approach to providing feedback to research students is useful, effective and beneficial to their students.

As the research student-supervisor engagement is an ongoing relationship, supervisors could invite their students to provide regular feedback every few weeks or months.

I would strongly encourage supervisors to use these questions to evaluate the effectiveness of their supervision practice. The questions are engaging, non-threatening and developed to elicit valuable feedback from students.

Supervisors can also use additional information to triangulate the results to evaluate their supervision practice. For example, regular informal ‘check-in conversations’ with the student to ascertain their perceptions of the supervisor’s practice. The student’s work can also be used as  a measure of their understanding and effectiveness of supervision practice.