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Making Expectations and Ambitions Explicit in Supervision: Two Metaphors

Making Expectations and Ambitions Explicit in Supervision: Two Metaphors. Anker Helms Jørgensen IT University of Copenhagen. Point of departure. Master Thesis exam - external examiner: "This is not a temple, its a factory!"

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Making Expectations and Ambitions Explicit in Supervision: Two Metaphors

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  1. Making Expectations and Ambitions Explicit in Supervision: Two Metaphors Anker Helms Jørgensen IT University of Copenhagen Expectations and Ambitions

  2. Point of departure • Master Thesis exam - external examiner: "This is not a temple, its a factory!" • A student”I aim for a shed, but so solid that the Big Bad Wolf can't blow it over!" • These statements made perfect sense in the universe of these metaphors Expectations and Ambitions

  3. Background • Grades • Sometimes (very) disappointing to the students • Emotionally loaded • Rikke von Müllen: between emotions and law • Students' expectations in MA theses (Harboe & von Müllen) • Avg. 10.4 in humanities, 10.2 in social science (13 scale) • Actual avg. 9.5 - my average 9.3 • Suggested remedies in the literature (Handal, Rienecker, et al.) • Make expectations re. process and product explicit early on • Make evaluation criteria explicitand use the same criteria in supervision and grading • Consistently base supervision on written materials • My approach: the above and the two metaphors Expectations and Ambitions

  4. The product metaphor • The product – the delivery: a building • size: smaller is easier than larger • complexity: more factors/aspects are at play • requires more skills and interaction btw. skills Garage House Palace Expectations and Ambitions

  5. The process metaphor • Walking on a road - how you go about building the building • middle of the road: no dangers, well trotted, a safe road • shoulder of the road: danger of falling in the ditch • explore the wilderness - danger of getting lost - find something new - find nothing Wilderness Ditch Road Ditch Wilderness Expectations and Ambitions

  6. The metaphors interact • By being innovative and courageous: students can build a trend-setting garage – high grade • By being overly traditional and cautious students can build a poor palace – low grade • A key feature in supervision • match the students' ambitions to their resources • make their resources – and ambitions - grow Expectations and Ambitions

  7. How do I do it ? • Early on • hand-out "Adjusting expectations in supervision" • early discussion about ambitions related to product and process • Later: classic academic quality criteria: • a hand-out ”Quality Criteria in University Reports”(Rienecker, Booth, ...) • Idraw on the metaphors • What's coming out of this? My view: • obvious that the students appreciate the discussion • make sense, concretise • broaden the narrow focus on emotionally loaded grades • more nuances: process-product interaction • What's coming out of this? Their view ? • an enquiry - email-questionnaire Expectations and Ambitions

  8. Survey of students’ views • Questionnaire sent to 39 students supervised in the last two years • 4 questions on the product, 4 on process • 10 minutes to answer • Respone rate telling • sent 6.01 pm • answers 6.16, 6.23, 6.36, 9.18, 9.34, ... • After 24 hours 12 anwers • 31 % • biased positively – indication Expectations and Ambitions

  9. Qualifications re. validity • I'm wearing three caps • proponent of the metaphors • have supervised the students: assymetry, authority, power, etc • doing the survey • This is not cricket ... but useful • personal level: feedback • research level: indicative • collegue: inspiration Expectations and Ambitions

  10. Quantitative results: product • Did you find it relevant to talk about the level of ambition? • Yes: 12 very, for sure, yes!, overly important • Do you remember if we used the garage-house-palace metaphor • Yes: 8 No: 3 Unsure: 1 • Do you think that the metaphor made sense ? If yes, explain. • Yes: 8 not used: 2 don't remember: 2 Expectations and Ambitions

  11. Qualitative results: product Plusses • increase understanding • establish a joint vocabulary • metaphor is deeper, think more about it: good garage vs. poor palace • nice, reassuring Minusses • more concrete • resulted in a difference of 2 grades anyway • garage metaphor appeared negative Expectations and Ambitions

  12. Quantitative results: process • Did you find it relevant to talk about the process? • Yes: 12 "very, for sure, important" • Do you remember if we used the walk-on-road metaphor • Yes: 11 no: 1 • Do you think that the metaphor made sense? If yes, explain • Yes: 10 no: 1 not used in a short project: 1 Expectations and Ambitions

  13. Qualitative results: process Plusses • clear, meaningful • understood instantly • gave peace in mind • put frustrations into words when lost in the wilderness • middle of road: earlier negative, now positive Minusses • middle of road: danger of being run down by cars Expectations and Ambitions

  14. Conclusions and discussion • All the students found it important to address ambitions and expectations in supervision • Most of the students found the two metaphors useful • Suggestion: Use more on the way Expectations and Ambitions

  15. Ample time for questions and discussion • ”This is not a temple, its a factory!” • ”I aim for a shed, but so solid that the Big Bad Wolf can't blow it over!" Expectations and Ambitions

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