Lessons from Postgraduate Supervision in Two African Universities: An Autoethnographic Account
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Background and Related Work
2.1. Autoethnography
2.2. Related Work
3. Context
3.1. Institutional Contexts
3.2. Student Context
3.3. Supervisor’s Context
4. Materials and Methods
5. Results
5.1. What Are the Main Observations from My Supervision during the 12 Years? (R1)
5.1.1. All Students Are Motivated to Succeed, but for Different Reasons
5.1.2. Students Have Different Learning Needs due to the Problem of Unequal Education
5.1.3. It Is Teaching-Cum-Supervision Not Just Supervision
5.1.4. Supervisors Have Different Standards
5.1.5. Mixing Academic Rigor and Humanity Will Work
5.1.6. Some Life Coaching and Motivational Lifts Can Help Students
5.1.7. Students Need Help with Academic Writing
5.1.8. Managing Critique from Peers during Students’ Seminars Could Be Challenging
5.1.9. Student Needs to Be Trained on How to Handle Critique
5.1.10. Mutual Trust Is Critical in Student-Supervisor Relationships
5.1.11. Students Love to Work with a Supervisor That Is Ready to Learn with Them
5.1.12. Giving Up Is Not a Solution
5.1.13. Students Get Help Elsewhere If They Feel That a Supervisor Is Not Doing Enough
5.2. What Are the Good Practices in My Supervision for the Past 12 Years? (R2)
5.2.1. Clarify the Student’s Motivation
5.2.2. Help Students to Lay a Good Foundation
5.2.3. Encourage the Student to Do a Quality Literature Review
5.2.4. Link Students with the Relevant Academic Communities and Networks
5.2.5. Publish as You Go
5.2.6. Aim to Get Published in Good Journals
5.2.7. Let Students Benefit from International Exposure
5.3. What Are the Things to Avoid Based on My Experiences over the Past 12 Years?
5.3.1. Directing and Not Supervising
5.3.2. Having a Rigid Style
5.3.3. Not Giving Enough Time and Support to Students
5.4. My Supervision Process
6. Discussion
6.1. The Influences That Stimulated My Good Practices
- (i)
- The influences of supervisors and mentors that I had worked with.
- (ii)
- The constraints in the environment of my supervision
- (iii)
- The recurrent learning needs of students
- (iv) Positive feedback from supervisees
6.2. My Evolution in the Application of Good Practices
6.3. Scaling My Good Practices for Adoption by Others
6.4. Limitations
7. Conclusions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
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Daramola, O. Lessons from Postgraduate Supervision in Two African Universities: An Autoethnographic Account. Educ. Sci. 2021, 11, 345. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070345
Daramola O. Lessons from Postgraduate Supervision in Two African Universities: An Autoethnographic Account. Education Sciences. 2021; 11(7):345. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070345
Chicago/Turabian StyleDaramola, Olawande. 2021. "Lessons from Postgraduate Supervision in Two African Universities: An Autoethnographic Account" Education Sciences 11, no. 7: 345. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070345
APA StyleDaramola, O. (2021). Lessons from Postgraduate Supervision in Two African Universities: An Autoethnographic Account. Education Sciences, 11(7), 345. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070345