Studying is not just about learning a profession, but also about getting to know oneself. Supervising students involves more than handing them knowledge and skills; it is also about supporting their growth as individuals.

Why?

The articles about motivation and student-activating teaching methodologies describe the lecturer’s role in study success. If a student comes up to you, be open to listening to what they need; be present! It is important for students to know that someone is willing to listen to them; this has a huge impact on their motivation. We are all human beings who want to be heard and seen.

According to Biesta, education has three ‘domains of purpose’.

• Qualification: the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes.
• Socialisation: the ways in which education involves us in existing traditions and practices.
• Subjectification: emancipation and freedom, and the responsibility that comes along with this.

These three domains of purpose are described in the AUAS strategic plan.

What?

Supporting students is a responsibility shared by the entire degree programme: lecturers, academic advisers and student counsellors. Students at AUAS can also get support from student psychologists. Support for students consists of two main areas:

1. academic or professional supervision;
2. personal supervision.

The first two types of supervision can overlap, as the academic development of students is sometimes hampered by personal issues. However, problems with their academic development can also affect their self-image or even cause problems at home. Make sure you always take a student’s question seriously, and try to help them by, for example, referring them to a colleague.

How?

How can you as a lecturer fulfil your role of supporting students? Make sure you are available and involved. If needed, refer a student to the right staff members at AUAS.

Guide students on their journey of discovery and towards independence. Teach them the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in the academic learning environment. Teach them to develop the problem-solving ability needed to persevere when the going gets tough. Teach them the enthusiasm to overcome obstacles through curiosity.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
-Albert Einstein

1. Academic or professional supervision
   Instead of answering students’ questions yourself, challenge them to dig deeper into a problem in order to solve it. You can also assist them with discovering where they can find help. Problem-solving has to be learned just as much as the course material itself.

Here are some things you can do to support students in this area:

Ask students to formulate their question as specifically as possible

This gets them to think about the problem. Take into account that students may respond with, ‘I don’t understand everything we’ve studied.’ You can help by asking, ‘What part of what you’ve studied did you understand?’ This makes the question more precise and additionally emphasises what the student does know instead of what they do not know.

Link to the tutor

Couple the student with another student attending the class who does have a strong grasp of the subject matter. This not only helps the student who is looking for an answer; it also helps the student who gives the answer. If you are able to explain the material to someone else, this confirms to yourself that you have a solid grasp of it. A fellow student can probably help understand the thinking steps required by the process, while for the lecturer, these steps may go without saying.

Guessing

A small but powerful intervention consists of encouraging the student to just take a guess. Students may be so focused on giving the ‘right answer’ that this blocks their creativity. By inviting them just to guess, they can let go of the ‘right’ answer and concentrate on what they are really thinking.

Support (Scaffolding)

The newer and the more complex a subject, the harder students need to think and the more their cognitive system is challenged. The consequences can range from getting frustrated to getting stuck.

Scaffolding is a way of supervising students as they acquire knowledge. Supervision by the lecturer is gradually scaled back and adapted to students’ growing knowledge and skills. This reduces the cognitive load they experience.

Example:
Without any prior knowledge, you are asked to carry out a repair on your car. This is the only information you get. Unless you are a genius or are very good at car repairs, you probably will not get far. In the next situation, you get  identical instructions, but an experienced mechanic shows you where to find the tools and explains step by step which tools to use and how. Next time you repair a car, you will have a starting point and may not need as much help. And the more you progress, the less help you need, until you can eventually do without help.

Feedback

… Of course, feedback is an essential part of academic and professional supervision. Read more about feedback.

 

If a student comes up to you, be open to listening to what they need; be present! It is important for students to know that someone is willing to listen to them. If you are unable to free up time when a student needs your help, let them know when you will have an opportunity to talk with them. Sometimes, a situation solves itself because the student knows someone is available to listen to them.

Ultimately, it is crucial that you clearly ask the student to take responsibility for their own learning process. You can try to help as much as possible – insofar as you can – but students are responsible for their own lives. If you enable them to think about and tell you what they need, you teach them how to tackle future problems. Independence is something one has to learn first.

It is always important to refer the student to the student counsellor, their first point of contact for personal supervision at the degree programme.

Important: In case of any problems, students should contact the student counsellor. Only issues reported to the student counsellor can be considered as exceptional circumstances, for instance for the suspension of a negative study advice.

More information is available on the Student guidance (NL) website.