Effective PhD Supervision – Chapter Seven – Bibliography and Recommended Reading

The books, journals and related resources listed below have played an important role in the compilation of this handbook and many have proven to be invaluable in our day-to-day interactions with postgraduate students.

Argyris, Chris; Schön, Donald A. (1974) Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. ISBN 0875892302, 9780875892306

‘This book is a landmark in two fields. It is a practical guide to the reform of professional education. It is also a beacon to theoretical thinking about human organizations, about their interdependence with the social structure of the professions, and about theory in practice.’ — Journal of Higher Education.

Badenhorst, Cecile. (2006) The Scribe’s Journey. New Voices Publishing, Cape Town, South Africa. ISBN-13: 978-1-920094-30-0

The Scribe’s Journey contains over 150 writing exercises. Each one is designed to take you away from the world of to-do lists, priorities and products, and into the realm of possibilities, exploration and colour. The writing activities will tap into your creative source and begin to free your mind from the restrictions and limitations which so often accompany writing tasks. Whether you write reports at work, or poetry, or family histories, this book will help you write with a fresh eye.

Barnett, Ronald. (1997) Higher Education: A Critical Business. Buckingham. SHRE/Open University Press. ISBN-0-335-19703-5

Current concepts of critical thinking need to be reconstructed into the much broader concept of ‘critical being’ and applied to higher education. Under this construct, critical persons (students) become more than just critical thinkers; they engage critically with the world and with themselves; they not only reflect critically on knowledge, but also develop powers of critical self-reflection and critical action. Concurrent with the concept of critical being is a form of social and personal epistemology: the belief that through higher education students can be changed as persons by their experiences.

Biggs, John (2003). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-21168-2

In the days when university classes contained highly selected students, enrolled in their faculty of choice, the traditional lecture and tutorial seemed to work well enough… Through reflective practice, teachers can then create an improved teaching environment suited to their own context.

Brockbank, Anne; McGill, Ian. (2006). Facilitating Reflective Learning through Mentoring & Coaching. Kogan Page Ltd. London & Philadelphia. ISBN-13: 978-0749444488

This book is for those who practice mentoring or coaching as well as for those clients who are interested in the mentoring and coaching process.

Carson, Richard David. (2003). Taming your gremlin: a surprisingly simple method for getting out of your own way. HarperCollins, New York. ISBN 0060520221, 9780060520229

A completely updated edition of this classic, explaining the author’s laid-back but stunningly powerful methods for taming self-defeating behaviour.

Cryer, Pat. (1997) Handling common dilemmas in supervision. SRHE/Times Higher Education Supplement (London) ISBN 10: 0946376026

Delamont, Sara; Atkinson, Paul; Parry, Odette. (2000) The Doctoral Experience: Success and Failure in Graduate School. London. Falmer Press. ISBN 0750709278

Eley, Adrian; Jennings, Roy. (2005) Effective postgraduate supervision: improving the student/supervisor relationship. Maidenhead. Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN: 9780335217083

This practical guide is based on a series of successful workshops on postgraduate supervision and presents the most frequently encountered difficulties in the student/supervisor relationship.

Foster, Peter. (1996) Observing Schools: a methodological guide. Sage (London, Chapman) ISBN 185396266X, 9781853962660

Observing Schools discusses the nature and purposes of observational research in schools. It covers the different observational techniques which can be used, and their advantages and disadvantages, bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Costa, Arthur L. (Ed) (2001) Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking. 3rd Edition. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ISBN-13: 978-0871203793

Developing Minds explores how the teaching of thinking is evolving as we strive to better understand how the brain learns, how to effectively use technology in the classroom and how to focus on assessment of student achievement.

– Jackson, Thomas E. The Art and Craft of ‘Gently Socratic’ Inquiry

– Johnson, D.W.; Johnson, R.T. Co-operation and Conflict: Effects on Cognition and Metacognition.

Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne. (1991) Situated Learning: legitimate peripheral participation (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives). Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0521423748

Laws, Sophie, Caroline Harper & Rachel Marcus. (2003) Research for Development: A Practical Guide. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 1 edition. ISBN-13: 978-0761973270

Leonard, Diana. (2001) A Woman’s Guide to Doctoral Studies. Open University Press, Buckingham. ISBN-13: 978-0335202522

This guide is designed to help women undertake and enjoy working for a doctorate as they recognize the rules of the academic game.

Mouton, Johann. (2001) How to succeed in your master’s and doctoral studies: A South African guide and resource book. Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria. ISBN: 9780627024849

A resource for students and supervisors alike, the topics covered are related to the management of postgraduate research studies: the development of a successful research proposal (with examples); research resource management; research ethics and more.

Murray, Margo. (1991) Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to Facilitate and Effective Mentoring Program. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. ISBN-13: 978-1555423339

Step-by-step guidelines for putting together cost effective mentoring programs that foster employee learning and growth

Laws, Sophie, Caroline Harper & Rachel Marcus. (2003) Research for Development: A Practical Guide. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 1 edition. ISBN-13: 978-0761973270

Leonard, Diana. (2001) A Woman’s Guide to Doctoral Studies. Open University Press, Buckingham. ISBN-13: 978-0335202522

This guide is designed to help women undertake and enjoy working for a doctorate as they recognize the rules of the academic game.

Mouton, Johann. (2001) How to succeed in your master’s and doctoral studies: A South African guide and resource book. Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria. ISBN: 9780627024849

Murray, Margo. (1991) Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to Facilitate and Effective Mentoring Program. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. ISBN-13: 978-1555423339

Step-by-step guidelines for putting together cost effective mentoring programs that foster employee learning and growth

Journals and Academic Articles

Akerlind, Gerlese S. (2004) A new dimension to understanding university teaching. Teaching in Higher Education, 9(3): 363-376

Abstract: This paper reports the outcomes of a study, undertaken from a phenomenographic perspective, of academics’ ways of experiencing or understanding being a university teacher. A range of understandings was found, representing in particular a varying focus on the experience of teaching as a: teacher transmission focused experience; teacher-student relations focused experience; student engagement focused experience; and student learning focused experience. This work builds on previous studies of university teachers’ conceptions of teaching. However, the focus taken in this study on the experience of being a teacher, rather than engaging in teaching, has highlighted new aspects of university teaching.

Akerlind, Gerlese S. (2007) Constraints on academics’ potential for developing as a teacher, Studies in Higher Education, 32(1):21-37

Abstract: This study undertook a phenomenographic analysis of academics’ ways of approaching their growth and development as a university teacher. The focus of the study is on the meanings and intentions underlying different ways of going about developing as a teacher, and how this relates to the ways in which academics understand the nature of teaching development and being a university teacher. Five different approaches to developing as a university teacher emerged, varying from a focus on building up a better knowledge of one’s content area, in order to become more familiar with what to teach, to continually increasing one’s understanding of what works and does not work for students, in order to become more effective in facilitating student learning. The approaches experienced by academics, and the meanings and intentions associated with them, are seen as constituting constraints on their potential for developing as a teacher.

Brew, Angela. (2001) Conceptions of Research: a phenomenographic study. Studies in Higher Education, 26(3): 271-285

Abstract: This article reports on an investigation into the variation in how research is experienced by established senior researchers. It provides a new, discipline-neutral, non-technical framework for interpreting how academics are responding to the challenges of the changing context of higher education. The study identified four qualitatively different ways in which research is understood. These are differentiated according to whether they have an external product orientation or an internal process orientation and whether the researchers themselves are in the forefront of their awareness or whether they appear to be incidental to their awareness. In the context of concern about the nature and role of research in the economy and about how it should be funded, and at a time when knowledge is said to be in crisis, the article suggests that the framework can contribute to rational analysis and decision-making.

Browne, M. Neil; Freeman, Karl. (2000) Distinguishing features of critical thinking classrooms. Teaching in Higher Education, 5(3): 301-309.

Abstract: Proposes that classrooms that encourage critical thinking possess distinguishing features that can assess whether critical thinking is a regular occurrence. Suggests that a critical thinking classroom commonly reflects the following attributes: frequent questions, developmental tension, fascination with the contingency of conclusions and active learning. These attributes reinforce each other to provide developmental stimuli for enhanced critical thinking.

Cousin, Glynis; Deepwell, Francis. (2005) Designs for network learning: a communities of practice perspective. Studies in Higher Education 30(1):57-66

Abstract: This article explores the relevance for network learning of themes developed by Wenger, initially with Lave and subsequently alone. While Wenger’s fieldwork is located in the workplace, he sees his theorisation on becoming a learner as applicable to any context, be it home, work or formal education. In unravelling the connectedness between learning identity and community, usefulness of Wenger’s ideas for the context of networked learning is exposed. First, the specific features of Wenger’s construct of community of practice are discussed; second, Wenger’s notions of participation and reification are explored; and, finally, his design perspective with respect to ‘facilities of engagement, imagination and alignment’ is presented. The exposition of Wenger’s (and Lave’s) ideas is interwoven with a discussion of their implications for the field of network learning.

Darling, L.A. (1984) What do nurses want in a mentor? Journal of Nursing Administration 14(10):42-44

Entwistle, Noel. (1997) Introduction: Phenomenography in Higher Education. Research and Development in Higher Education 16(2):127-134

Entwistle, N. (2007) Research into student learning and university teaching, Student Learning and University Teaching. 1-18 British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series II. 4

Ives, Glenice; Rowley, Glenn. (2005) Supervisor selection or allocation and continuity of supervision: PhD students’ progress and outcomes. Studies in Higher Education 30(5):535-555

Abstract: This article reports part of an Australian longitudinal study which examined the patterns evident in the relationships PhD students and supervisors developed and the ways they worked together. The participants were 21 Ph.D. students and their main supervisors. Data were collected via interviews conducted between 1995 and 1998. Three interviews were conducted separately for each student and supervisor. This report focuses on the allocation of supervisors to students and continuity of supervision in relation to students’ progress and satisfaction with supervision. From this small sample it appears students who felt involved in supervisor selection, whose topics were matched with their supervisors’ expertise and who developed good interpersonal working relationships with supervisors were more likely to make good progress and be satisfied. This was more likely when supervisors were experienced and senior academics or the student had two active supervisors. Disruptions caused by a temporary change of supervisor created problems and delays. Suggestions to overcome this are made.

Jacobi, Maryann. (1991) Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of Educational Research 61:505-532.

Abstract: Despite a growing body of research about mentoring, definitional, theoretical, and methodological deficiencies reduce the usefulness of existing research. This article provides a critical review of the literature on mentoring, with an emphasis on the links between mentoring and undergraduate academic success. The first section describes a variety of ways in which mentoring has been defined within higher education, management and psychology. Issues related to developing a standard operational definition of mentoring within higher education are discussed. The second section provides a critical review of empirical research about mentoring and undergraduate education. The third section describes four different theoretical perspectives that could be used in future research about mentoring. Finally, future directions for research, including methodological issues and substantive concerns, are addressed.

Johnson, W. Brad. (2002) The intentional mentor: Strategies and guidelines for the practice of mentoring. Professional psychology, research and practice 33(1): 88-96.

Abstract: How can faculty in professional psychology programs become more intentional and effective mentors? Many psychology graduate students are never mentored, and very few psychologists have ever received training in the practice of mentoring. This article briefly summarizes the nature of mentoring, the prevalence of mentoring in psychology, primary obstacles to mentoring, and some ethical concerns unique to mentoring. The article provides several strategies to enhance mentoring and guidelines for the profession, departments of psychology, and individual psychologists who serve as mentors. This article is designed to help readers take a more deliberate approach to the practice of mentoring.

Kamler, Barbara; Thomson, Pat. (2008) The failure of dissertation advice books: Towards alternative pedagogies for doctoral writing. Educational Researcher 37(8): 507-514.

Abstract: Anxious doctoral researchers can now call on a proliferation of advice books telling them how to produce their dissertations. This article analyzes some characteristics of this self-help genre, including the ways it produces an expert-novice relationship with readers, reduces dissertation writing to a series of linear steps, reveals hidden rules, and asserts a mix of certainty and fear to position readers ‘correctly’. The authors argue for a more complex view of doctoral writing both as text work/identity work and as a discursive social practice. They reject transmission pedagogies that normalize the power-saturated relations of protégé and master, and point to alternate pedagogical approaches that position doctoral researchers as colleagues engaged in a shared, unequal and changing practice.

Khan, Gillian & Lakay, Denise. (2005) Role of Postgraduate supervisors: reflections by recent graduates. Paradigms, Journal for research and debate into teaching and learning in higher education (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa), 12: 43-49.

Lee, Anne. (2007) Developing effective supervisors. South African Journal of Higher Education 21(4): 680-93

Pearson, Margot; Brew, Angela. (2002) Research Training and Supervision Development. Studies in Higher Education 27(2): 135-150.

Abstract: Research education, or training, as it is often termed, is attracting greater scrutiny as research itself is seen of greater importance in the global knowledge economy. In turn, concerns to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of research supervision are leading to the introduction and extension of programmes for supervisor development. This article presents a framework for an approach to supervisor development, based on the assumption that in order to discuss supervisor development it is important to understand what supervisors do and why. The article examines the nature of the educative process for research students in the current research environment. It articulates the generic processes supervisors need to engage in for effective supervision, if students are to develop in differing institutional, disciplinary and professional contexts the appropriate expertise and attributes for employment, and it presents an outline of what might constitute a flexible professional development programme for supervisors in this context.

Pearson, Margot; Kayrooz, Carole. (2004) Enabling critical reflection on research supervisory practice. International Journal for Academic Development 9(1): 99-116

Abstract: This paper describes the development of an instrument – The Reflective Supervisor Questionnaire (RSQ). The RSQ maps the domain of research supervisory practice as a facilitative process involving educational tasks and activities. It is designed to assist research supervisors explore, by means of self-reflection and reflection on feedback from others, how they practise supervision. In developing the RSQ 58 items were generated describing 5 hypothesised constructs derived from prior research. The resulting instrument was tested on postgraduate research students in 2 institutions. The questionnaire correlated highly with an established questionnaire supervision scale and with an overall satisfaction measure. Four factors identified in an exploratory analysis closely approximated the hypothesised constructs and extended the theoretical framework being developed. These 4 factors identified 4 subsets of facilitative supervisory practice: Progressing the Candidature, Mentoring, Coaching the Research Project, and Sponsoring Student Participation in Academic/Professional Practice. Issues in the interpretation of the findings and the possible usage in academic development programs of an instrument bas

Stevenson, P., Brand, A. (2006) Exploring the developmental impacts of completing a postgraduate certificate in learning and teaching. Educational Developments 7(3) SEDA, UK

Tuck, R. (1993) The Nature of Mentoring. SEDA Publications. The New Academic 25-6.

Wisker, Gina; Robinson, Gillian; Trafford, Vernon; Creighton, Emma; Warnes, Mark. (2003). Recognising and overcoming dissonance in postgraduate student research. Studies in Higher Education 28(1):91-105

Abstract: Most research indicating dissonant forms of student learning engagement, leading to problems in the achievement of learning outcomes, is with undergraduates. Action research at Anglia Polytechnic University involving questionnaires, focus groups and supervisory dialogues, conducted with Israeli and British postgraduate students between 1998 and 2001, indicates that dissonance in research seen as a form of learning produces potentially significant difficulties for students at different stages in their work.

Websites, Presentations and other Resources

Code of Practice for University Degrees. 2000 (Revised 2005). University of Surrey. Available at:

http://www.open.mis.surrey.ac.uk/ admin/registry/qaeo/codprd.htm

Hofstee, Erik (2006). Constructing a good dissertation. Pretoria (see: www.exactica.co.za)

Meyer, J. (2007). On the modelling of postgraduate students’ conceptions of research. Presentation to the International Conference on Postgraduate Supervision ‘State of the art and the artists’ Stellenbosch 23-26 April 2007

Fullerton, Hazel (ed.) (1996). Facets of Mentoring in Higher Education. SEDA Paper 94, SEDA Publications, Birmingham

The Centre for Right Relationship (2005). Organisational and Relationship Systems Coaching Manual. California.

Lee A. (2006). Models of Facilitation Educational Developments: Staff and Educational Developers Association. London. Issue 7.3 July

Lategan, L.O.K. (2008). An introduction to postgraduate supervision. Stellenbosch: Sun Press.

Pearson, M. (2000). Flexible postgraduate research supervision in an open system. In Kiley, M. and Mullins, G. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 2000 Quality in Postgraduate Research Conference. Adelaide. Pp 165 -177.

Zuber-Skerritt, O. and Knight, N. (1992). Helping postgraduate students overcome barriers to dissertation writing. In Zuber-Skerritt, O. (Ed). Starting Research: Supervision and Training. University of Queensland: The Tertiary Education Institute.

Zuber-Skerritt, O. and Knight, N. (1992). Problem definition and thesis writing: workshops for the postgraduate student. In Zuber-Skerritt, O. (Ed). Starting Research: Supervision and Training. University of Queensland: The Tertiary Education Institute.

Jansen, J.D. (2009). 20 Tips for effective supervision. Workshop presented at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, 20 November 2009

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Next Chapter – Chapter Eight – http://www.rozenbergquarterly.com/?p=1967