A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

164 ❘
Teaching, supervising, learning
2 they are clearly a student-centred learning experience which requires the supervisor
to take on the role of facilitator;
3 they afford students the opportunity to make an original, intellectual or creative
contribution to knowledge.
It was argued that for supervisors to offer effective and efficient supervision of projects
and dissertations, they would have to examine and refine their own management and
interpersonal skills. In the case of the former, a range of planning tools was offered. In the
case of the latter, it was suggested that the supervisor should broaden support for the
student so that the supervisor could take on the role of facilitator, prompting and
encouraging the student to seek out his or her own solutions and strategies for moving
forward and undertaking and making sense of their own research. It is this combination
of unique features which makes projects and dissertations such a powerful learning tool.
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