The supervisor and Master’s degree student organise an online supervision plan that stretches over a year (the student and supervisor are in different countries). The supervisions are supported by a research log, which the student regularly updates with their research progress and reflections. The supervisor provides feedback on the research log and other documents within seven days of the student’s updates and hosts monthly online meetings to give the student verbal feedback.
After being transferred to Denmark, I still supervise Master’s degree students who are studying bioorganic chemistry at FCT NOVA in Portugal. Their Master’s thesis projects are research based and take place over the course of a year (60 ECTS). Due to the physical distance, I can no longer make use of my usual informal and personal open-door policy, which makes me feel as though I cannot provide the students with enough support and guidance. I have also found that online supervision often results in an overwhelming increase in the number of emails and digital messages that need to be answered, which becomes a burden to both me and the students.
THE PROCESS | |||
Initial phase | Aligning expectations. The initial phase of the project focuses on aligning expectations between the supervisory team and the student, as well as preparing various systems. It consists of the following steps:
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Planning the project. The student works independently on identifying and refining their research question, as well as preparing a literature review. The supervisory process consists of the following:
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Research phase | Working with the research log. The student updates their research log every two to three weeks, where they document their work in the laboratory and reflect on their research progress. The supervisory process consists of the following:
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The quality of the content in the research log clearly indicated that the students were thinking critically and felt a sense of ownership towards the content and process.
The students reported that they were satisfied with the prompt and useful feedback, which served as a foundation for effective communication and time management, and eased nervousness about deadlines.
The students demonstrated increasing independence in their work as the project progressed, and were able to bring up, discuss and solve academic challenges.
The monthly online meetings, as well as written feedback within seven days, were crucial to student motivation and helped students sustain their momentum.
The shared online folder was a good way to share documents that avoided sending them by email or scrambling the version history.
Overall the communication ran smoothly, and neither the supervisory team nor the student became overwhelmed by emails or online messages.
The students sometimes delivered unfinished research logs or forgot to update relevant protocols and documents, which made providing qualified supervision a challenge.
This structured approach to supervision might not suit all students’ learning and work styles, since some students prefer greater flexibility or more practical guidance.
Connection issues or hardware and software that is not updated can make remote access to laboratory equipment unreliable.
Create a clear structure for the project and the supervision to support the students’ independent work.
Share documents with cloud-based services instead of using emails.
Digital tools are a supplement to, not a replacement of, personal supervision.
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