You and Your Supervisor: Making the relationship work

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You and Your Supervisor Making the relationship
work

• Presented by
• Ania Zysk (Learning Connection)

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• Aims
• Clarify your expectations of yourself and your
  supervisor
• Strategies to improve communication
• Tips on what to do if problems arise

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Expectations

• Think about the following
• What level of support and guidance do you expect
  from your supervisor?
• What do you think your supervisor expects from
  you?
• Are you expectations reasonable?
• What will you do if these expectations are not
  fulfilled?

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The student supervisor relationship

• The student supervisor relationships is a
  complex and varied
• Multitude of possible roles and relationships

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• Exercise discuss in small groups

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Communicating with your supervisor
student
supervisor
My thesis
Everything else
Everything else
Students thesis
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Tips

• 1. Discuss your expectations with your supervisor
  and your supervisors expectations of you.
• 2. Make appointments to see your supervisor
• 3. Plan what you want to do during the meeting
  (Bring a written list of the issues to be
  discussed)
• 4. Ask for constructive feedback if the feedback
  offered is not helpful (i.e. could you say more
  precisely what I could do to make this chapter/
  section better?)
• 5. At the end of the meeting, agree on goals and
  indicate a date for the next meeting
• 6. Submit written work in good tome, if you want
  to get useful feedback

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• 7. Open up communication about your relationship
  if you feel it is becoming limited to strictly
  technical matters. Ask questions like
• Am I making enough use of the learning
  opportunities available?
• Do you think that I am managing to get enough
  work done in the time?
• Are you satisfied with how I use your comments?
• Are you satisfied with my attitude towards your
  supervision of me?
• How do you think we may work together more
  effectively?

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If problems arise

• Seek help/ advice early!
• Talk it thought with someone to help yourself
  decide how you will address these
• Who to talk to
• - Your supervisor think about what you want to
  say and how
• - Counsellor (confidential)
• - Research office
• - Student advocate at UniLife

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• Want to know more?
• Attend the workshop in July 2008 on critical
  issues in student / supervisor relationships