Master’s supervision at a distance

As the LSE moves towards the end of online teaching, the focus of Master’s students is now shifting towards the completion of their assessments and work on their dissertation. With so many countries in lock down, students may need to make changes to their original research plans. This may be a stressful experience for some students as they may have had particular ideas for a dissertation in mind when they first arrived at LSE, or feel that a particular focus for their dissertation will provide them with better opportunities for further study or employment. Doing a dissertation can be quite an isolating experience at any time, and this will be exacerbated by the current situation with students trying to focus on their dissertation in circumstances that are far from ideal. Your role as a supervisor can therefore make a huge difference to the experience of your Master’s students.

This guide is intended to highlight some of the key factors to consider in supporting your Master’s students at this current time. They are:

• Treating students equitably

• Enabling students to meet learning outcomes

• Maintaining regular contact with students

Treating students equitably

The fundamental consideration in making decisions about the dissertation project is the equitable treatment of students. This applies both to what they are expected to have done by a particular point in the Term and also the opportunities they have for data collection.

Departments will have different expectations about the progress students are expected to have made towards their dissertation by the end of Lent Term. In some Departments this may mean that students may still be in the process of preparing their research proposals, or have submitted and received feedback on their proposals. In other Departments students are already expected to have started data collection. Whatever the individual Departmental requirements, students should not be advantaged because they are ahead of other students or disadvantaged because they are not.

Some students may be returning to countries and communities without the same restrictions on movement as applies in the UK and may wish to continue with their empirical research in a way, such as face to face interviews, that is not open to other students. This has led to a number of LSE Departments banning all students from conducting face to face empirical research. There are also ethical and health issues around students returning from a Covid-19 hotspot such as London and engaging freely with participants. However, considerations such as access to technology also need to be taken into account. Do those students no longer able to do face to face research have access to the appropriate technology to enable them to conduct their research online or remotely?

As well as making efforts to establish a level playing field for students, it is also important to ascertain from students what barriers they have faced during their dissertation.

Enabling students to meet learning outcomes

Students need to be provided with an opportunity to demonstrate the learning outcomes of their course or degree. For example, do the learning outcomes refer to empirical research? If this is the case, then this will necessarily inform the steps you take.

Being pragmatic about dissertation focus

If empirical research is a learning outcome, or part of the student’s project proposal, can their existing research question be addressed by making adaptations to their research project? There is plenty of guidance about conducting research online, including the practicalities of conducting interviews or analysing forums or discussion boards, as well as the ethical considerations.

If data collection methods cannot be adapted, and where the learning outcomes allow it, you may want to discuss with your student(s) whether there is another research question which will be more manageable. For example, is there a project they can do which makes use of existing or archived data?

The Library has prepared guidance for students on doing Primary Research Online, which is hosted on the LSE Life Moodle site.

Alternatives to dissertation

Where dissertations are not practical, and where the learning outcomes allow, an option is to alter the nature of the assessment to reflect either what students have already been working on towards their dissertation, or what students would have done had they been able to continue with their research plan. This could include:

• A reflective account of the activities already undertaken for the dissertation and an summary of what would have followed

• A literature review

• A proposal outlining the nature of the project and justifying choices made

In all cases, it is important that the method or methods chosen meet the course learning outcomes and are of equal weighting to the dissertation.

Procedural changes to assessment

Any changes to assessment will require the sign-off of the Department Teaching Committee Chair or the Chair of the Sub-exam Board. This includes altering the method of assessment and making alterations to the weighting attached to each method. The School will advise Departments of any regulatory issues relating to changes in assessment.

Deferring the dissertation

A final recourse is to allow students to defer submission of their dissertation until the Covid-19 situation eases. Again, the School will advise Departments of the implications for marking and completion of the Master’s programme

Maintaining regular contact with students

Using the tools you know

All the tools that you currently use to support your Masters students whilst they are completing their taught programmes can also be used to support and supervise them during their dissertations. It is recommended that you use existing tools supported by the LSE. This ensures that students can still access them easily irrespective of where they are currently living. For guidance on how to use tools such as Zoom, please refer to the Eden Digital resources, which are updated daily.

Please avoid YouTube and Facebook as they not permitted in some countries. You should also consider different time zones if you are arranging synchronous or real-time support. Internet speed may also be an issue for some students.

General support for students

It is important to ensure that students are kept up to date with developments in relation to Covid-19 and how it might affect the submission and assessment of their dissertations. They may also require more pastoral support than is usually the case. As well as individual supervision, therefore, it is important that Departments communicate with students with on a regular basis. This could be individually for certain students, as a programme cohort, or as a group with the same supervisor. Some departments are exploring possible provision for dissertation support such as through weekly surgeries. Group or cohort communication could be particularly helpful in smaller Departments, where supervisors may not be able to provide any additional support. As ever it is important to try to ensure equity of provision.

Zoom can be used for hosting synchronous meetings of up to 300 students. Microsoft Teams is also an option as it enables both asynchronous and synchronous communication with students, and separate channels can be set up for a specific course or courses. There is general advice on supporting students at a distance, including guidance to students on how to plan their time and maintain motivation, on the LSE Teaching Online Moodle site.

Specialist support

It is also important to make sure that students are aware of the academic, skills and pastoral support which continues to be offered.

LSE Life is offering individual appointments and online webinars, as well as comprehensive resources for both dissertation research and writing through their Moodle site. This support continues across Summer Term and the Summer Break.

The Library has considerable guidance for Master’s students wishing to conduct research, including:

• A new guidance document for students who wish to conduct primary research online has been made available on the LSE Moodle site, with practical tips for doing interviews, surveys and other research with personal data (such as social media or internet forums) online. 

• Please direct students to the guidance document and also advise them to write a data management plan via DMP Online. Students can also consult our Writing a Data Management Slides to help them get started. Plans should be submitted to datalibrary@lse.ac.uk and the Library can provide feedback and support. 

Research Ethics has also revised their guidance in light of Covid-19. Students should complete an ethics review in the usual way (‘Research ethics review in a nutshell’), and students can contact Lyn Grove research.ethics@lse.ac.uk with any questions. The team can also offer individual appointments if necessary.

The Careers Service is also offering individual appointments and webinars in addition to their usual online provision.  Pastoral support is still being provided online by Student Wellbeing Service, although with a slightly longer delay for appointments.

Supervision

For individual supervision, it is important that you maintain regular contact with your students and that you provide assistance, advice and guidance on any changes they might need to make to their project and as their dissertation progresses.

This could include comments on drafts by email and individual meetings with students, either in Zoom, Teams or Skype depending on departmental practice. Zoom is recommended as it is supported by Eden Digital. As mentioned above, please ensure that your student is able to access the particular tool you are using, and any meeting is at a suitable time. It may also be helpful, with agreement of your student, to record your supervision meeting. This can be done easily in Zoom. If this is not practical, please ask your students to provide a summary of what they have understood from your meeting.

Above all, you need to make sure that you communicate with your students when you will be available and how long it will take you to respond to emails, and also the feedback they can expect from you on their evolving project. It would be good to check in with your students before the end of Summer Term and direct them towards any support that may be available to them over the Summer.

Creating a sense of community amongst students

As students can no longer drop by the Department or meet up with other Masters students, it is a good idea to create opportunities for less formal meet ups. Microsoft Teams can be used to enable Master’s students to communicate with each other asynchronously. Coffee mornings or other get-togethers can also be timetabled in Zoom or Teams or, so that students can talk to and support each other in real-time. This could be arranged by students, rather than relying on Department staff or supervisors to do it.