Department of Science Education

Building relationships

Between supervisors and supervisees

Aim of session:Understanding of how to build a working

relationship with PhD students and how this affects success

Enhedens navn

Supervisor’s toolboxApproaches / stylesAdapting styleCo-creating style Gatfield situational leadershipTalk about the talk (Gurr’s toolkit) Practice trianglePower relationsauthentic you

Meta-communicationMarkers, control unit, levels of communication, progression within dialogue

Perspectives and CapsThe evil-minded reviewersomeone outside of the room

Themes and progressionNot only lab practice and results, but also aligning expectations, career, research competencesThe whole three-year process

Feedback and Assessment(Written) feed-back on written work – formativeBalance between formative and summative assessmentRole as assessor

Sofie Kobayashi CRS-NR

Advice to doctoral students...

Some classic ways to undermine your relationship with your supervisor

Hiding (yourself or real or imagined problems) Ignoring (advice you don’t understand or don’t like) Mixing (business with personal issues) Gossiping (about your supervisor or colleagues) Bypassing (your supervisor, by making decisions on your own) Assuming (what something meant, what you’re entitled to do) Sinning (illegal or unethical acts)

Translate into advice for supervisors... Do some points only apply to PhD students? Are other points relevant for supervisors?

Rugg, G. and M. Petre (2004) The unwritten rules of PhD research. Pp 44-45. Open University Press.

Exercise

Sofie Kobayashi CRS-NR

Building relationships

Clarify mutual expectations

Regular feedback between supervisor and PhD

Reviewing progress

Reviewing supervision – talk about the talk

Resolving conflict – before it becomes a conflict!

When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective When trust is low, even the most simple communications can feel strained

Department of Science EducationSofie Kobayashi - Graduate School of Life Sciences

Different approaches to start a new PhD Student

1) State-of-the-art descriptionread this and find out what you want to doget acquainted with the research field

3) Find out who this person isand how we can work together

2) Discuss experimental designand consult a statistician

25 June 2012

What do you do?

Sofie Kobayashi CRS-NR

Build trust in the relationship

Nurturing a good relationship is essential

initial

trust contract

Relationship develops through negotiations

what can you do to build trust?

When trust is broken only formal contracts are left

Sofie Kobayashi

Exercise: Aligning expectations

Go through the statements and mark you position

Compare with your neighbour positions and look for mismatches

Discuss your understanding of the statement and reasons for diverging positions

Exercise

Department of Science Education

Approaches to learning

Aim of session:Understanding of how ones perception of

learning can influence how one sees supervision

Department of Science Education

When do we learn?

Sted og datoDias 9

1. Individually: Reflect on what you mean by ‘learning’. When has someone learned something?

2. Exchange your reflections in groups of three

3. Try to arrange your different conceptions of learning in a hierarchy with the most simple in the bottom and the most advanced at top.

Six conceptions of learningStudents say that learning is …

1. A quantitative increase of knowledge 2. Memorising 3. The acquisition of facts and procedures for later use 4. The abstraction of meaning 5. An interpretative process for understanding reality 6. Changing as a person

The outcomes of learning

The processes of learning

There are strong connections between a person’s conceptions of learning and the person’s choice of study strategies:

The conceptions of learning co-determine the learning outcome!

Students focus their attention on the overall meaning or message in a class session, text or situation. They attempt to relate ideas together and construct their own meaning, possibly in relation to their own experience.

Students focus their attention on the details and information in a class session or text. They are trying to memorise these individual details in the form they appear in the class or text or to list the features of the situation in order to pass the examinations.

Surface approach

Deep approach

Surface vs. Deep approach towards learning

Constructivist learning

Existing knowledge New informationNew phenomenon

interpret

modify

New knowledge

Department of Science Education

Exercise: outcomes - capabilities

Sted og datoDias 13

Exercise