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Technological options in supervising remote research students

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Abstract

Students undertaking remote research degrees need special support from their supervisors, since they lack the rich environment of on-campus students and the face-to-face contact with supervisors and peers. Information Technology provides a wide variety of channels, most of them fast and relatively inexpensive, for developing and sustaining viable supervisory communication. An analysis of these options along the written/spoken and synchronous/asynchronous axes allows us to develop a useful taxonomy of communication for research supervision. Most of these options are usually regarded as second-best in comparison to face-to-face discussions with the supervisor. However, many IT media can be recorded, and so are retrievable. This feature emerges as a central component of effective supervision, and one which is not often accommodated in face-to-face supervision. A combination of media, involving maximum immediacy and personal interaction combined with recording for later review, has been shown in practice to yield the richest and most flexible supervision.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my thanks to Lily Lim and Vincent Wang, who first asked if they could record supervision sessions with me, and so started this line of enquiry; to Peter White, who commented on a previous version of this paper; to Greta Kelly, who suggested adding semi-synchronous communication and bulletin boards to the list of technologies; and to Catherine Manathunga and Alan Lawson, whose thinking on the issues of supervision have helped to sharpen my ideas.

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  1. School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane , 4072, QLD, Australia

    Roland Sussex

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  1. Roland Sussex
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Correspondence to Roland Sussex.

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Sussex, R. Technological options in supervising remote research students. High Educ 55, 121–137 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-006-9038-0

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