J.D. Ensor

Doctoral supervision in virtual spaces: A review of research of web-based tools to develop collaborative supervision

ABSTRACT Supervision of doctoral students needs to be improved to increase completion rates, reduce attrition rates (estimated to be at 25% or more) and improve quality of research. The current literature review aimed to explore the contribution that technology can make to higher degree research supervision. The articles selected included empirical studies that sought to improve supervision through the use of technology. The literature search focused on technology, supervision and pedagogical supervision, and supervisor–supervisee relationships. Eighteen empirical articles, including Web 2.0 settings, were examined in relation to whether web-based tools could influence the training of doctoral students, be effective in supporting students, and reduce the breakdowns in supervisory relationships. With a few exceptions, these studies showed that Web 2.0 tools enabled greater dialogue and interaction between the student and supervisor rather than a passive viewing of content. They created virtual spaces that combined technology and pedagogy into a process where research projects could be developed in a more collegial and collaborative way. It appeared that combining technology with pedagogy translated into more innovative ways to undertake supervision, particularly participatory supervision. The need for digital pedagogies that facilitate multidimensional changes in higher degree supervision was identified for future research.

Mapping print, connecting cultures

This article discusses the potential of ‘historical bibliometric’ methodologies for understanding past cultures and offers a vision for how historical bibliometric research might be conducted on a comparative and global scale. Drawing on conceptual work being undertaken at the Western Sydney University in order to further develop and extend the widely respected ‘French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe’ (FBTEE) database project, it explores how historians might proceed to correlate, map, and analyse multiple spatially referenced data sets pertaining to the creation, publication, dissemination, ownership, consumption, reception, policing, and geographic setting of texts. While the authors recognise the many dangers and limitations inherent in reducing the cultural history of text to a set of statistical data, they observe that historians frequently use the production and circulation of texts as a useful proxy for understanding the circulation of ideas. Hence historical bibliometrics can provide measurable indicators of cultural resonance. The challenge, then, is to meaningfully integrate algorithmic abstractions with qualitative-based humanities research. This paper and the suite of projects it discusses seek to provide a way forward.