Successful Relationships With Academic Supervisors

Strategies for managing expectations, good communication, and setting boundaries with supervisors

What you'll learn

The importance of healthy supervisory relationships for your academic success

How to set reasonable expectations of the student-supervisor relationship

Strategies for improving communication with your supervisor(s)

How to set and maintain healthy boundaries for yourself and your supervisor(s)

Requirements

A willingness to learn.

Description

A healthy relationship with your academic supervisor(s) is one of the most important factors in your academic success. Despite this, many students and researchers feel do not know what to expect of their supervisor, or may be unsure of their supervisor's expectations of them. There are often challenges around maintaining good communication and setting healthy boundaries. Drawing on our combined decade in higher education, extensive research, and numerous consultations with academic supervisors and students, we’ve created a comprehensive lecture series on how to create and maintain a healthy relationship with your supervisor.Whether you’re just thinking of applying for grad school, or you’ve just begun, or even if you’re nearing the end of your academic career, you’ll find the content of this course to be informative and practical. The course has five modules, including understanding the importance of supervisory relationships; understanding expectations- both your own and those of your supervisor; developing good communication techniques; and how to set and keep healthy boundaries.The course includes downloadable resources that you can download and use in your supervisory interactions, interactive activities, and a certificate of completion. By the time you finish the course, you’ll be much more confident in ways to curate and maintain a healthy and productive relationship with your supervisor to ensure your academic experience is as positive as possible.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Introduction

Lecture 2 Objectives & Overview

Section 2: Module 1: Context

Lecture 3 Supervisory relationships: Why should we care?

Section 3: Module 2: Expectations

Lecture 4 Expectations of a "good" supervisor

Lecture 5 Expectations of a "good" supervisor, cont.

Lecture 6 'My Expectations' Exercise

Lecture 7 What your supervisor expects

Lecture 8 Things to know about your supervisor(s)

Lecture 9 Things to know about your supervisor(s), cont.

Lecture 10 More things to know about your supervisor(s)

Lecture 11 What to tell your supervisor(s)

Lecture 12 'Things to Discuss' Exercise

Section 4: Module 3: Communication

Lecture 13 Meeting your supervisor for the first time

Lecture 14 Questions to ask your supervisor

Lecture 15 Communication styles

Lecture 16 Communicating via email

Lecture 17 Planning your meetings: Agenda

Lecture 18 Agenda template

Lecture 19 Taking minutes

Lecture 20 Virtual meetings

Lecture 21 Navigating conflict

Lecture 22 Navigating conflict, cont.

Lecture 23 Receiving feedback

Lecture 24 Dealing with constructive criticism

Lecture 25 Receiving conflicting advice

Section 5: Module 4: Boundaries

Lecture 26 Defining and exploring boundaries

Lecture 27 Academic bullying; changing supervisors

Section 6: Module 5: Closing

Lecture 28 Closing remarks; how to stay in touch

Studies show that a positive supervisory relationship is one of the most significant factors in a student's success and wellbeing in their programme of study/research. Graduate and postgraduate students are often unprepared for how to navigate complex relationships with their academic supervisor(s), resulting in them feeling discouraged or overwhelmed. This course aims to overcome this challenge by equipping you with research-informed and practical strategies for managing expectations of the student-supervisor role, developing good communication skills, and setting healthy boundaries.