Walking alongside: Personal reflections on supervising online graduate students

Abstract

Supervising graduate (postgraduate) students online brings several unique challenges, along with the normal routine of graduate supervision. In this article, I draw upon my own experiences at residential universities and for the past decade and a half, as an online supervisor. I begin with my time at the University of Durham, where I sat at the feet of Professor Kingsley Barrett, and where I witnessed several valuable practices related to writing and supervising theses. In this article, I avoid, where possible, the standard aspects of thesis writing, available in books for new supervisors. Instead, I deal here with topics like affirmation, encouragement, the faith of the student, the path of scholarship, and guiding students in their quest for that illusive original topic. In addition, I offer some simple guidelines to questions students often ask, such as “how many references per page?” and “how long should a quotation be?” My hope is that the ideas found here may promote good supervision and the highest standards of scholarship.