Dr Amal Hanna
Managing Editor
International Journal of Research in Open Educational Resources
Amal.Hanna@ResearchOERJournal.net
Abstract
Background & Aims: Research supervision is a complex of processes that are more likely to be managing the research as a project. These complex processes requires coordination and collaboration between research students and their supervisors to manage different demands including the managing the research project, learning, publications, conferences, networking, and career development. There are many concerns have been pointed out in the previous research in relation to student-supervisor relationship. Researchers raised the issue that student-supervisor relationship is complex because gaps between experiences and expectations in relation to supervisory styles, feedback, and exposure to research & career networks. It is argued, in this paper, that using Moodle to manage student-supervisor relationship will improve the collaboration between students and their supervisors and coordination between the panel of supervisors and thus enhance the quality of and satisfaction about the relationship from the commencing to finishing the research project (and beyond).
Proposed Methods: After designing and implementing SuperVision (an adapted Moodle platform for supervision), and recruiting research participants (research supervisors, research students, learning advisors and librarians), a mixed-methods approach will be used. Activity reports analysis will be used to evaluate the activities, expectations and experiences in SuperVision. Four questionnaire will be distributed to the four types of participants to gain further insights on any differences between these experiences and their expectations. In the third stage of data collection, online focus groups will be used to collectively discuss technical features both enabling and hindering the collaboration in SuperVision in order to produce SuperVision Plus.
Expected Outcomes: It is expected that this project achieve a number of outcomes for both research supervisors such as better managing and coordinating the work in the research project, while the research students can develop their critical thinking and writing skills that enable them present conference papers and write journal articles – maximising the opportunities for future research careers after their successful graduations.
Keywords: Learning Management Systems, Research Supervision, Supervisors, Research Students, Moodle in Supervision, Communications, Pedagogy, Tracking Progress, Maintaining Activity Record, SuperVision.
Cite as: Hanna, A. 2015, ‘Enhancing collaboration between research supervisors and students using Learning Management Systems (LMS): Pedagogical perspectives’, International Journal of Research in Open Educational Resources, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 81-91, http://www.researchoerjournal.net/publications/2015/vol_02/no_02/ResearchOER_2(2)_81-91.pdf