Peer feedback among international PhD students

This presentation of my project mirrors my own development in thinking about feedback and formative assessment. In the first part, Problem statement and intervention design, I discuss peer feedback without defining precisely what I mean by this concept. That is done deliberately as I was not myself very precise in my thinking about feedback at the time of designing the project. In later sections I develop my thinking about feedback, to the broader concept of formative assessment

How can PhD supervisors play a role in bridging academic cultures?

PhD supervision is generally deemed a rewarding experience as supervisors and students embark on an academic journey together. Pursuing a PhD in a ‘foreign’ context inevitably brings forth distinct opportunities and challenges for students and their supervisors. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this qualitative study of supervisors and PhD students examines the cross-cultural facets of doctoral supervision in the light of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory of human development and its underpinning explanation for supervisory processes and learning orientations. Undertaken in the Danish context, our paper highlights exemplars of contrasting supervisors’ and PhD students’ experience in relation to academic and psychosocial adaptations. This research strongly endorses that supervisors’ appreciation of the intertwined link between academia and society combined with a positive view of their role in bridging academic cultures can powerfully complement students’ adjustments and subsequently make a qualitative difference towards a more fulfilling and meaningful academic journey together

Peer feedback among international PhD students

In a PhD course for new PhD students peer feedback was introduced to reduce teacher time on feedback and to enhance the learning environment. The results of the changes to the course are not conclusive with regards to teacher time, since there were also oth-er changes made to the programme, but overall teacher time on giving feedback has been reduced. Peer feedback in higher education is seen as one way to enhance the learning environment for students as it builds on principles of formative feedback dur-ing the course of study and when students give feedback it has been shown to enhance learning. The results from this study support this view, but improved learning was only observed after peer feedback was integrated in teaching and learning activities em-bedded in the course rather than as an add-on.This article describes and evaluates the introduction of an element of peer feedback in a PhD course. Peer feedback was introduced with the double goal of saving teacher time and enhancing learning outcomes. The changes made to the course were initiated as a development and learning project undertaken as part of my participation in the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Programme (Universitetspædagogikum) in 2016. The aim of the article is to share experiences that indicate that this double goal is achievable when a) assessment (or feedback) criteria are explicit and shared and b) peer feedback is an integral part of the course

Coachende vejledning – en dynamisk vejledningsstil

Artiklen bidrager med nogle bud på, hvordan ph.d.-vejledere kan gøre brug af coaching for at fremme en mere smidig og læringsfremmende vejledningsstil gennem en skærpet refleksiv forholden sig til de positioneringer, der opstår i samtalen. Litteraturen om ph.d.-vejledning og vejlederudvikling beskriver vejledningsstil som en relativt statisk størrelse, samtidigt med, at ’god’ ph.d.-vejledning beskrives som evnen til at tilpasse sin stil efter omstændighederne. Ved at benytte begreber fra ledelsesbaseret coaching sættes vejledningsstilen i relation til vejledningsfilosofi og vejledningsteknikker. Dernæst præsenteres en positionsmodel fra coaching som et tankeværktøj til, at vejleder kan bevidstgøre sig om de positioner, der indtages i samtalen. Argumentet er, at denne løbende positionering er udslagsgivende for, hvilken vejledningsstil der udfoldes.  This paper on doctoral supervision proposes how techniques used in coaching can contribute to a more adaptable supervisory style in which the reflective awareness of the positioning that emerges during the supervisory conversation can facilitate learning. Literature about doctoral supervision and supervisor development describes style as relatively static, yet the ‘good’ supervisor is expected to adapt her style to the needs of the supervisee. In this paper we frame supervisory style between supervisory philosophy and supervisory techniques. Then we present a positioning model from coaching, as a thinking tool to raise awareness about the positions one takes and gives in conversation, and which over time form the supervisory style

Coachende vejledning – en dynamisk vejledningsstil

Artiklen bidrager med nogle bud på, hvordan ph.d.-vejledere kan gøre brug af coaching for at fremme en mere smidig og læringsfremmende vejledningsstil gennem en skærpet refleksiv forholden sig til de positioneringer, der opstår i samtalen. Litteraturen om ph.d.-vejledning og vejlederudvikling beskriver vejledningsstil som en relativt statisk størrelse, samtidigt med, at ’god’ ph.d.-vejledning beskrives som evnen til at tilpasse sin stil efter omstændighederne. Ved at benytte begreber fra ledelsesbaseret coaching sættes vejledningsstilen i relation til vejledningsfilosofi og vejledningsteknikker. Dernæst præsenteres en positionsmodel fra coaching som et tankeværktøj til, at vejleder kan bevidstgøre sig om de positioner, der indtages i samtalen. Argumentet er, at denne løbende positionering er udslagsgivende for, hvilken vejledningsstil der udfoldes.  This paper on doctoral supervision proposes how techniques used in coaching can contribute to a more adaptable supervisory style in which the reflective awareness of the positioning that emerges during the supervisory conversation can facilitate learning. Literature about doctoral supervision and supervisor development describes style as relatively static, yet the ‘good’ supervisor is expected to adapt her style to the needs of the supervisee. In this paper we frame supervisory style between supervisory philosophy and supervisory techniques. Then we present a positioning model from coaching, as a thinking tool to raise awareness about the positions one takes and gives in conversation, and which over time form the supervisory style

Hvad bekymrer nye ph.d.-stipendiater?

Ph.d.-stipendiaters bekymringer, når de går i gang med deres ph.d., kan være en barriere for deres overgang fra at være studerende til at blive selvstændige forskere. Indtil nu har forskningen inden for ph.d.-uddannelse fokuseret på de vanskeligheder, som ph.d.-stipendiaterne møder gennem deres studier. Generelt ses vejledningsforholdet og forskningsmiljøet som væsentlige faktorer for et godt forløb. Denne artikel fokusererderimod på de bekymringer, som ph.d.-stipendiater har, når de starter på deres ph.d. Gennem analysen fandt vi 20 temaer, og kvantificering af data indikerer, at de hyppigste temaer er Publicere, Kompetencer, tidsfaktoren, Projektledelse og Selvtillid. Det viser sig, at det, der bekymrer ph.d.-stipendiater i starten af deres studie, i nogen grad er noget andet end de vanskeligheder, der dukker op undervejs. Denne viden kan brugesaf vejledere, ph.d.-stipendiater og forskerskoler til at adressere ph.d.-stipendiaternes bekymringer i starten af deres studie

Experiences of International PhD Students in Denmark as Quest Stories

This article explores how the metaphor of quest can be used to conceptualise PhD experience and be employed in PhD supervision practice. As part of a small-scale study of the PhD experience of international students in Denmark, whose numbers have significantly increased in recent years, we conducted narrative interviews with nine doctoral students. They were asked to select and describe up to five photo-graphs that represent what they will remember about their PhDs. These narratives were first analysed inductively and then deductively organised using the quest met-aphor. The findings indicate that the quest metaphor can capture the complexity of the PhD experience and provide a starting point for discussion. However, it also presents certain limitations, so one direction for future studies might be to com-bine ‘quest’ with other metaphors