Group supervision

It’s not new, but I am providing postgraduate students who I am supervising over the Summer the option of having group supervision.

We had our first meeting today, and it did go well.  The students all know each other as they have been students together since last September.  So it was good for them to discuss ideas with each other, and from my side it was beneficial that I was able to be consistent in my discussion with them.

Of course it’s not all one sided, and I’ve asked students to email me with any specific query/issues that they have, and I’ll reply before my summer break.  But I did provide the option for the students to meet me individually, but they unanimously asked for group tutorials again.

What would I do differently?  Being better prepared would be useful – I had to do a fair bit of dashing from the small teaching room back to my office.  I’ll also make more use of whiteboards etc., to reinforce ideas, there’s only so much pen-waving possible to get meaning across.  I’ll also be clearer about what I expect students to bring, much as in a face-to-face tutorial I would expect them to bring work.

It’s the final exam board today, let’s hope it all goes smoothly.