Scholarship of teaching and learning at the highest level? Experiences from a study program for doctoral supervisors
Author
Summary, in English
The Swedish HE Ordinance requires all supervisors of doctoral students to undergo introductory training. The content, goals, learning outcomes and duration is not specified by the Ordinance and thus practices vary between institutions. In 2009/2010, a new study program for doctoral supervisors was launched at Lund University. The program was designed to:
- provide research-based support for doctoral supervisors;
- create a university wide arena for collegial collaboration between doctoral supervisors and serve as a platform and source for knowledge building and organizational learning on doctoral supervision and doctoral student learning;
- contribute to cross disciplinary development of doctoral education – within the university as well as between universities, both nationally and internationally;
- contribute to and support research and development projects on doctoral education; and
- enhance the quality in doctoral education by focusing on student learning and experience, ethics, equal opportunities and widening participation.
- be aligned with existing qualification frameworks for tenure and promotion
In this paper we report on the experiences from the first module in this study program. Our data comes from three written assignments that > 100 participating supervisors have completed; reflective writing, a project on doctoral education and learning, and an assessment of the program module. At the conference we will present an analysis of: 1) what aspects of doctoral student learning and experience, doctoral education, or supervision the participants are focusing on; 2) instances of cross disciplinary learning between participants; 3) longitudinal knowledge building within the program, i.e. supervisors learning from and developing ideas from peers in previous rounds; 4) how supervisors perceive their own development, in retrospect and in the future.
Our preliminary results indicate that there is fertile ground for the dawning of a scholarship of doctoral supervision and that our study program has an important role to fill in such a development.
- provide research-based support for doctoral supervisors;
- create a university wide arena for collegial collaboration between doctoral supervisors and serve as a platform and source for knowledge building and organizational learning on doctoral supervision and doctoral student learning;
- contribute to cross disciplinary development of doctoral education – within the university as well as between universities, both nationally and internationally;
- contribute to and support research and development projects on doctoral education; and
- enhance the quality in doctoral education by focusing on student learning and experience, ethics, equal opportunities and widening participation.
- be aligned with existing qualification frameworks for tenure and promotion
In this paper we report on the experiences from the first module in this study program. Our data comes from three written assignments that > 100 participating supervisors have completed; reflective writing, a project on doctoral education and learning, and an assessment of the program module. At the conference we will present an analysis of: 1) what aspects of doctoral student learning and experience, doctoral education, or supervision the participants are focusing on; 2) instances of cross disciplinary learning between participants; 3) longitudinal knowledge building within the program, i.e. supervisors learning from and developing ideas from peers in previous rounds; 4) how supervisors perceive their own development, in retrospect and in the future.
Our preliminary results indicate that there is fertile ground for the dawning of a scholarship of doctoral supervision and that our study program has an important role to fill in such a development.
Department/s
- Division for Higher Education Development
- Academic Development Unit, LTH
Publishing year
2011
Language
English
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Document type
Conference paper: abstract
Topic
- Pedagogy
- Educational Sciences
Keywords
- Doctoral education
- Doctoral supervision
- Educational development
Conference name
International Society For The Scholarship Of Teaching & Learning
Conference date
2011-10-20 - 2011-10-23
Status
Published