Lee Lai Fong

Exploring Supervisors’ Perspectives to Enhance Postgraduate Supervision

The advent of the Information Age leading to the democratisation and massification of higher education has led to institutions of higher learning (IHL hereafter) offering more flexible and diverse learning modes that allow adult learners to pursue their studies and upgrade their skills. Researchers note that while IHLs have witnessed a steady increase in the number of postgraduate enrolments, close to 40–50 % of these postgraduates students often leave without completing their doctoral studies. The high attrition rate coupled with the low-completion rate of research students has put a critical demand on IHL to critically examine supervision practices. Therefore, this paper puts forward the findings of an exploratory pilot study which investigated the perceptions of 32 postgraduate supervisors from two local universities in Malaysia. It explored supervisors’ perspectives from a variety of aspects ranging from their roles and responsibilities to supervisory practices and level of support they provide to postgraduate students at various stages of writing a thesis. Data were collected using a questionnaire and semi structured interviews. Initial findings revealed that a majority of the supervisors felt that the main role of a supervisor is to help, coach and keep the students on track so that they can meet the required standards and quality in producing their thesis for examination at the end of their candidature. The supervisors also highlighted that a majority of postgraduate research students not only lacked reading, writing and research skills; but also the ability to take responsibility for and ownership of their work. The implications of the study suggest that postgraduate supervisors need to re-examine their roles in today’s changing landscape of postgraduate supervision.

Inquiry-Based Instruction and Situational Interest of Students in Higher Education

Inquiry-based instruction is an approach which enhances students’ academic excellence by engaging them in the learning process through various classroom activities that build their confidence and understanding of the subject matter. Inquiry-based learning appreciates the sense of inquiry and investigation in which questions are answered and students are facilitated to memorize the information through the instructional materials. Alvarado and Herr (inquiry-based learning using everyday objects: hands-on instructional strategies that promote active learning in grades, Corwin Press, 2003) advocated that inquiry-based approach promotes intellectual engagement among students and motivates them to improve their performance. Besides that, Rotgans (Learn Instr 32(2):37–50, 2014) had also argued that student’s interest toward their studies is the core element that drives their academic performance. Since preparing the situational interest of students is deemed as an important responsibility of lecturers, hence, the objective of this study was to identify the relationship between inquiry-based instruction and situational interest of students in higher education. In this study, survey questionnaires had been administered to students from different levels of programs, namely diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate studies. Finally, a total of 470 complete questionnaires had been collected and analyzed by identifying the mean, standard deviation, and correlation between the variables. The results indicated that inquiry-based instruction has been implemented at a high level in higher education. Basically, students investigated had agreed upon their situational interest at a high level. The correlation analysis further indicated that a moderate, positive, and significant relationship between inquiry-based instruction and the situational interest of students in higher education. The findings indicated that teaching strategy adopted by lecturers is a crucial factor in improving interest in learning among students in higher education.