
Newsletter December 2024: TAL2024 – supervision
In its 2030 strategy, SDU aims to create even better and more stimulating research environments. The approach to supervision of Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD students should therefore be deliberate, informed, and evidence-based. This year's TAL conference provided good suggestions on approaches to supervision that can help achieve the desired development.
The topic is important and timely, especially considering SDU's 2030 strategy, where the goals include improving the quality of research and strengthening research integration in education by developing 'excellent research environments which stimulate talent development, and ambitious researchers and students'. Creating stimulating research environments for bachelor's, master's, and PhD students is also very much about being able to provide supervision, which strikes the right balance between steering the research process in a good direction, so that it results in an assignment or thesis of the highest possible quality within the given timeframe, while at the same time supporting the development of the student's independence.
The topic of the afternoon keynote was collective supervision, which, in addition to making supervision more efficient, also has the potential to promote student progression, active participation, and learning, while also being more enjoyable and less stressful for supervisors. Here, Gitte gave several examples of how supervisors can solve some of the challenges inherent in this form of supervision. She also gave us several concrete tools and resources for planning and implementing collective supervision, such as tips on how to organize supervision meetings with peer feedback, and how to align expectations with students in connection with collective supervision via a ‘supervisor letter’ (see example in the box to the right). Gitte's slides from the conference are almost self-explanatory, and they can be accessed via the box to the right.
TAL2024 – Can hands-on supervision get out of hand?
Read this important paper (in English) on authority and autonomy in supervision
TAL2024 – Supervisor letters
Find an example of a supervisor letter (in Danish) used to align expectations in connection with collective supervision
TAL2024 – Keynote slides
Find Gitte Wichmann-Hansen’s slides on authority and autonomy in supervision (opening keynote) and on collective supervision (closing keynote) here
TAL2024 – Book of Abstracts
Find the descriptions of workshops, presentations, and posters in the Book of Abstracts from the TAL2024 conference webpage.