Effective Undergraduate Supervision (Life Sciences)

Prerequisites

Why this course might make a difference:

Looking back at your experience of education you can probably remember those teachers and lecturers who were excellent. We remember the ones who were good because they have left a lasting impact on us; shaping both our learning in the past and our approach to teaching at Cambridge. Supervising undergraduate students at Cambridge can be one of the most rewarding activities for PhDs and Postdocs and this course is designed to make sure that you can offer your best and hopefully be one of those memorable teachers for someone else.

A blended workshop incorporates personal reflection on teaching practice, discussion of real teaching scenarios, a chance to ask questions from an experienced supervisor and access to practical information about organising and carrying out your supervisions.

This training is required by many colleges before you can carry out supervisions and is always a popular course.

About the trainer:

The course trainer is Dr Ben Murton who has over 12 years of teaching experience in Cambridge and was an undergraduate here as well. He is now a College Teaching Associate at St John's, a tutor on the Teaching Associates Programme and offers supervision coaching for Life Sciences supervisors.

If you have any specific questions you are welcome to contact him before the course on Ben.Murton@admin.cam.ac.uk

Life Sciences PhD Students and Postdocs

Completion of Pre-Workshop Online Materials

• A short online package will be sent to all participant in advance of attending the workshop
• This on line package will provide some background information on Cambridge’s undergraduate teaching system and the role of the supervisor in enhancing student learning
• This package is interactive in nature and you will be asked to consider your own perceptions about what it means to be a supervisor of undergraduate students
• You will also be given a representative essay to read before the face-to-face session

Number of sessions: 1

By the end of this course you will know:

• the purpose of supervisions at Cambridge
• how to deal with common supervision scenarios
• how to provide effective feedback
• the practicalities of starting to supervise

Topics covered:

Stage 1 – Online

• Introduction to supervising (including what supervisions are, format, preparing for them)
• Background information for those who need it (British education system, Cambridge undergraduate system)

Stage 2 - Face-to-face workshop

• What good teaching looks like
• Role of a supervisor
• Dealing with different supervision scenarios
• The purpose of feedback
• The content of supervisions

Stage 3 – Online

• Summary of what you have learnt
• Practical tips and advice
• Resources for ongoing support and information

Interactive Workshop: A highly interactive workshop for 20 researchers involving group discussion, activities and Q&A components.
Come ready to contribute!

• After taking part in the face-to-face workshop, you will be given access to a permanent online resource which will include outputs from the workshop session, as well as more detailed information about aspects of supervision practices at the University of Cambridge.
• It will provide information on topics such as effective feedback practices, reporting to college(s) on your supervisions using CamCORS, supervising students with disabilities, and effective questioning strategies.
• In addition, the package will include links to useful discipline-specific materials such as departmental marking criteria and supervision guides.

Online sessions: about 1 hour each (Stage 1 and Stage 3)

Face-to-face workshop: 2.5 hours including a coffee break

Multiple instances each term at both the Biomedical Campus and Town Centre

• Effective Undergraduate Supervision
• Teaching and Learning