Sustaining the Momentum: A Cross-Institutional Community of Practice for Research Supervisors

Abstract

Research supervision is an important learning and teaching issue in Higher Education Institutions. This paper reports on the history and outcomes of a community of practice that has been meeting since 2009 to improve the capability of research supervisors at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Australia. The Community of Practice-Research Supervisors (CoP-RS) includes academic staff from all USQ Faculties and across all campuses. We describe the background that prompted the formation of the CoP-RS and then detail the activities undertaken to date. The outcomes and challenges are discussed with the view to identify critical success factors to ensure sustainability of the CoP. Conclusions are drawn and future research directions suggested.

A community of practice for graduate students in health sciences

“…Our participants described the CoP as useful for discussing student issues, gaining support, solving problems and socializing. Cater-Steel et al (2017) explored the usefulness of a CoP for supervisors of graduate students in all faculties at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. The CoP, which began in 2009, was formed to provide a formal social network to encourage education and promote best practice approaches to research supervision (Cater-Steel et al , 2017).…”

“…Cater-Steel et al (2017) explored the usefulness of a CoP for supervisors of graduate students in all faculties at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. The CoP, which began in 2009, was formed to provide a formal social network to encourage education and promote best practice approaches to research supervision (Cater-Steel et al , 2017). The study reported that by the end of 2015, they held a total of 47 meetings and 1,214 attendees.…”

“…Meetings focused on both administrative and academic knowledge and competencies of supervisors with a wide range of topics such as research strategies, ethics approval processes, workplace safety for students, student-supervisor relationships, development of proposal and candidature. The study found CoP useful for sharing practices, networking and developing competencies (Cater-Steel et al , 2017). The study also reported that participating in CoP increased supervisors' confidence in their abilities and provided them with ways to improve their skills.…”

Mentoring by design: Examples of effective faculty development programs

“…This contrasts with the “top‐down” model of many professional development activities, such as seminars and workshops. The theoretical goal of a Community of Practice is to invite “old‐timers” and novices to come together and learn from each other (Mercieca, 2017) and share the kinds of “tacit” institutional knowledge that experienced members of the community may be able to pass along to newcomers (Cater‐Steel et al., 2017). For the first 2 years of its existence, the MC functioned exclusively online through Microsoft Teams.…”

“…Topics have ranged from mentors presenting ongoing research to invited speakers on specific topics like developing mentoring contracts or establishing formal mentoring programs. For the first 2 years, the MC was facilitated by one person (the second author of this paper), but that has now shifted to a group facilitation model for better community sustainability (e.g., Cater‐Steel et al., 2017).…”