dear mauricio,
once, i read an account of what mentors do that resonated with my own experiences. too bad i can't find it to inspire you. but it goes in a very different direction than you try to take the process. i have colleagues who do just what you propose and generate a lot of replicas of themselves.
before i work with a student on ph.d. dissertations, honors theses, a book, or even academic advising via skype, i need to convince myself about the students' intellectual openness, how serious they are in pursuing their (initial) topic, and whether i can contribute something to their explorations. this settled means agreeing on a working relationship, regular meeting schedules, timelines to completion. only then mentoring can begin.
i have never urged students to contribute to my research projects. mentoring means creating the potential for an emerging topic to fascinate the mentee toward an imagined end, e.g. a dissertation. in the process i am asking challenging questions that the mentee has not thought of and in reverse, i accept mulling over their problems for solutions. we learn from each other. none of the dissertations i have supervised ended up the way they were proposed, i put my soul into the mentees quest, and students developed an awarding trust in me. to me dissertations are joint projects -- except that i, as mentor, stayed out of the limelight of its successful completion.
i said mentors and mentees work toward an imagined end. usually, at least for me, after reaching the agreed upon goal, the mentor-mentee relationship continues into the future. we both invested much in developing something together that, if successful, was awarding and productive of individual growth, and naturally continues to into related explorations. i learned as much from my mentees as they presumably from my shaping their quests and this is what i think makes mentoring exciting.
klaus
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of G. Mauricio Mejía
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 8:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Supervisor - graduate student research
Dear Klaus, Ken, and Soumitri,
Thanks for your replies and materials, I will review them. I figured that there is not a fixed answer for the first question (a). My basic plan right now is to present my research interests and general objectives to the students. This way they could assess whether they research interests match mines and vice versa to have a good mentoring experience.
Part of my intention in the question was to know if anyone has provided an initial research plan to a student. I have actually thought of Soumitri’s example: when a supervisor gets a research grant, he or she recruits graduate students and they do their graduate research within the grant. Here in Colombia, the national science and technology agency usually requires PIs to deliver theses or dissertations in the grants. In this case, the researcher may have to influence the student research planning more than expected.
My question regarding masters and PhD differences was about student alignment with supervisor research. My assumption is that a supervisor may influence more master’s student research planning than PhD student planning. But again, with funding the supervisor may be greater need of PhD students.
Soumitri, I looked up and it seems that you have been in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. The University of Caldas is located in the city of Manizales, province of Caldas, Colombia. You are welcome to visit us anytime!
Best,
Mauricio
G. Mauricio Mejía, PhD
Profesor Asociado Universidad de Caldas
http://twitter.com/mmejiaramirez
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