Student Supervision - Science topic

Dissertation is a process. The process starts with the first year in which it is important to give a broad understanding of different topics within the specialty and the student can pick 2-3 topics that they find interesting. I usually discuss in detail with the students about a few topics that they like and suggest good sources to perform additional search and identify the questions they cannot find an answer to. in this way, helping their critical thinking skills enables them to identify a research topic which can be discussed and modified according to the research and clinical capabilities in the institute.

Topic selection for thesis is one of the major problem of the students. I myself faced this problem.

I took help from my seniors and faculty members for selecting the thesis topic. Candidate's interest plays major role in selecting the thesis topic. However, I would suggest to select a topic which should be related to MDGs and SDGs especially. Addition to this, candidate should search suggested areas for future research in different journals based on the interested area. According to me, the person who selects thesis area, he/she has to take this to whole life and work more on the topic using SWOT analysis technique. So, Select topic wisely based on your interest, scope, future research, government's future plans for the area and how maximum people will get benefit from the researched area.

I hope these things will help you

Hello Fida - The attached paper has some useful insights.

My list would include:

- Get to know your students, respect them, what makes them tick;

- Yes - assistance research design including theoretical framework, research questions and appropriate methodology(ies);

- Reading/lit review suggestions

- Short-term target-setting

- Encouraging

- Prompt, balanced, constructive (but honest) feedback

- Meeting regularly (but negotiated)

- Wider support with academic development e.g. conference attendance; article writing

- Administering the candidature appropriately

- Towards end, quality assuring, constructive feedback on final thesis drafts (can be intensive)

- Appropriate, thoughtful suggestions for external examiners

- Maintaining a respectful post-doctoral relationship.

Peter

http://elar.uspu.ru/bitstream/uspu/1840/1/povr-2014-12-06.pdf

I hope You will find your answers here.

Dear Osarumwense,

A three year period passes by pretty quickly and so does 1 hour.

But one hour a month can only be effective if it is just meant to focus on issues which were not clear in your previous interactions, otherwise it is woefully inadequate for getting a face-to-face feedback on issues at a deeper level.

A PhD is an original contribution to knowledge, and critical/independent thinking and working are the hallmarks of it. However, in today’s knowledge production, collaboration matters. If your supervisor is a collaborator, then fine. Otherwise the world is full of nice people and you can see the situation as an opportunity to build your own network among peers and other seasoned scholars. But always remember the art of listening selectively because there are bad opinions, too.

If for example you are discussing a paper, it takes a lot more time to dig deeper. Despite that, there are a few tips for maximizing that one hour a month if asking for more time may even jeopardize your relationship with the (supposed busy) supervisor. This is important especially if they are the less friendly type who believes your induction into academia must pass through hell. Of course supervision is different in every discipline and even on the individual level.

Here’s what I think a student can do in such a situation.

(i) Own your research by making sure that your supervisor is only a guide to a forest where the biodiversity keeps changing; neither you nor him has the answers to everything. You are on a journey of discovery.

(ii) Prepare your questions before the meeting.

(iii) If you are writing a paper, it might be a good idea to discuss the crucial aspects such as framing/research question, methods and sources of data with him/her in the beginning. After that hit the road using your own network to get what you want including feedback(s).

(iv) Send him a draft when you have one.

(v) When you have doubts about his comments, send him an email.

(vi) Play this Ping-Pong in a strategic way. Send him/a kind reminder if it is taking forever to respond. Keep records of your interactions.

(vii) The nature of your research will dictate the amount of freedom. If you are working on a project, then you may depend a lot on him to agree or disagree and give instructions. If however you have your research plan approved and you have a lot of freedom, then do your courses as you do your research. Read extensively, experiment creatively with different ideas and ask around. Best wishes!

This is a very interesting question but I would like to post back for clarity. How do you envision victimization? Are we discussing H student faculty relationship in which sexual improprieties have occurred, academic improprieties, a hostile environment within the work/academic setting or all of the above? I have seen situations in which students became the pond between rival faculty members and were often caught in the middle before they realized the difficulty of the situation. We stayed in place. I've also seen students and exploited by faculty members for the purpose of, on the part of the faculty member, gaining additional publications primarily off the back of students. We've all seen the unfortunate results of inappropriate faculty student relationships. For some of the students they will take steps to get issues resolved within the University setting. For others, they have often the part of the institution before the real situations of their departure is understood. When I served as chair of academic departments. I tried to maintain an open door policy to assist students and faculty, where appropriate. In some cases, I would prefer them to other resources within the University setting, but I always documented the encounter and maintained it in a confidential file. Where appropriate follow-up attempt to ensure the issues or concerns would be addressed.

There are many good responses here. One that I did not see in the thread is that to increase student motivation we must acknowledge improvement at any level. When we limit ourselves to rewarding for ability, we reach no one but the top students. As educators, our job it to move all students forward. I have 26 years experience and of the multitude of "motivation" systems I have tried, none works as well as rewarding for improvement. These improvements might be academic, social, or behavioral - I focus on what the child needs most to be a contributing member of our group. In my classroom I use stars as acknowledgment and a simple color system where students move up levels as they earn their stars (I teach elementary.) Motivation needs to be intrinsic therefore there are no extrinsic rewards in my classroom. I urge you to look at the work of Daniel Pink - specifically his video or book called Drive (available on YouTube). It gives great information about motivation, reward systems, and human nature. 

Thanks Luka!

Have you attempted to use the Student Involved Data Use-SIDU? I am in the process of putting up a data wall in my classroom and I am going to give my students a number rather than their name. They will have a visual of what their strengths and weaknesses are and hopefully take responsibility on focusing on what they need to work on.

Here is a nice paper to help you out as you explore this further - put together by Ontario's government.

LINK: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/StudentSelfAssessment.pdf 

Additionally, in my own classroom I use student inventory assessments frequently to check students' perceived comprehension and areas of challenge as compared with actual comprehension and areas of challenge based on cognitive assessments.  This comparison helps in coaching students to improve their own ability to direct their learning, rather than to be guided all the time.

Yes, you have a point. Even you apply to the letter Han Ping Fung's suggestion and  achieve two exactly homogeneous groups, you are still to overcome the Pygmalion effect.

Thaks for your reply Prof. mahajan..iam looking for effect pe to healt active life style..esp3cially for college student. Thank you..i really appreciate your help.

Thankz for your reply Prof  Szabo...your journal is very good refference for me. May I have your e-mail?.

Thanks Debra

Cheers

Lynne

Several of the universities I work with are happy for doctoral students to work with companies, and students are often also happy, particularly if the company is paying their fees. This can be anything from a great partnership to a disaster. In my experience, problems most commonly arise when (a) different partners have different expectations and communication is not good, (b) a student agrees to investigate a research question which is not sufficiently close to their heart to carry them through the lengthy and complex doctoral process, or (c) changes within the company or in the wider world cause the company to lose interest in the student's research during the process. Match My Thesis looks like a potentially useful starting point, though I haven't been able to check it out thoroughly as I don't want to register on the site.  But I think support during the whole process might also be useful. The doctoral student-supervisor relationship can be difficult to manage in itself, and when you throw a company into the mix, whose main interest is its bottom line, that adds a whole new layer of complexity. I have heard a great deal more about problems than about positive experiences, though that may be because people talk more about their problems than about their positive experiences. The positive experiences I've heard about have been those where there has been some measure of support throughout, such as through Knowledge Exchange Partnerships in the UK.

There are countries and cultures, institutions and societies where the supervisor's word is not to be challenged. This creates problems in getting the student to be a creative, efficient self-starter and an independent, critical researcher.

My key argument always is that the supervisor and supervisee need to discuss the expected relationship beforehand. Clear the air.

Certainly the supervisor-supervisee relationship must be rewarding both ways to be effective, satisfying and continuing. I would hazard a guess that misunderstandings and mistaken expectations about roles are the major cause of research student burn-out and drop-out.

To stop cheating in exams, you have to think like a criminal: What is the weakest link that a criminal would take advantage of? Talking? tossing notes to each other? Taking unsupervised toilet breaks? Taking crib notes into the exam hall? Taking the exam on behalf of a friend? Touching different things to indicate A) B) C) D) or E) to the student behind?

Assume that all students know how to Google and have found cheating sites. A million students have seen this site:

It seems as though IT will not help the weakest link! However, I would propose on-line exams that generate and give different questions to each student to reduce the chances of cheating.

The obvious variability is:

*Student's research and writing ability.

*Student's independence.

*Student and supervisor's familiarity with the topic.

*Strength of relationship between supervisor and student.

My actual figures:

From 52 hours for supervision including help in panel-beating the

thesis-book, down to 10 hours for helping only with the panel-beating.

So if the student was an excellent writer, then the research-only part would amount to 42 hours.

A university that I once worked for allowed a nominal, round number of

50 hours of supervision time per year per full-time Masters by dissertation student, plus 20 hours for examining the thesis-book.

For a full-time student finishing in the minimum time of 2 years, then

the grand total per masters student would nominally be 120 hours.

I hope this helps.