Postgraduate research supervision at a distance: a review of challenges and strategies

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on supervisory elements in distance postgraduate research programmes leading to a master's or doctoral degree. The authors first identify and review the main supervisory challenges from the perspectives of both supervisor and supervisee. This paves the path to investigate and categorise the strategies that have been put into practice in order to address these challenges. This is a first attempt to provide a structured categorisation of the strategies and solutions tailored to address these challenges. Through linking the challenges to strategies, the authors will emphasise the elements of a successful distance postgraduate research supervision experience with a set of guidelines on how to improve the overall learning in this process. The aim of this paper is to conclude by summarising the lessons learned from distance postgraduate research supervision practices and to identify the areas in need of further research.

Keywords:

• distance education
• supervision
• postgraduate research
• information technology

Acknowledgements

The authors are very much thankful to the editor and the reviewer(s) for their insightful comments and suggestions that were very helpful in improving this manuscript.

Notes

1. It should be mentioned that distance-learning options have sometimes been pursued by universities without having a proper estimation and a clear understanding of the extent of the investments (in technologies and skills) required to do it well (Guri-Rosenblit 2005; Njenga and Fourie 2010).