This document outlines how to facilitate academic communities of practice around research supervision. It proposes 5 conversations to structure participation: discussing identity, prior knowledge, good supervision, resources for improvement, and assessing progress. It also lists facilitation skills like reflective listening and open questions. The goal is to cooperatively interrogate the practice of research supervision through participation and reflection.

1. Facilitating Academic
Communities of Practice
(around Research Supervision)
Geof Hill
November 17th 2017

2. The Community of Practice
around Research Supervision
Conversation 1 Who am I as a participant of this community of
practice?
Conversation 2 What prior knowledge do I bring to the practice of
research supervision?
Conversation 3 What is good research supervision?
Conversation 4 What resources can I use to support my aim of
improving my research
supervision?
Conversation 5 How will I know when I have achieved my aim of
improving my research
supervision?

3. Facilitation Skills
 Reflective Listening (Nelson-Jones, 1986, 168)
 Facilitated silence (Hill, 1995, 129)
 Open Questions (Egan, 1976, 125)
 Reframing (Goffman, 1971)
 Speaking for Self (Nelson-Jones, 1986, 263)
 Establishing Protocols (http://edglossary.org/protocols/)
 Enabling Inclusivity
 ‘Framing’ (Schön, D., 1983, 42)
 Naming

4. An approach to co-operatively
interrogating a practice.
Hill and Lloyd, 2015

5. References
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development of practitioner inquiry in education. Educational Action Research. 17(1), 79-93.
 Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. (2009) A handbook for teaching and learning in Higher
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 Hill, G. (1995). An inquiry into 'Human Sculpture' as a tool for use in the Dramatistic
Approach to Organisational Communication. Social Ecology, Sydney, Australia: University of
Western Sydney.
 Hill, G. and Lloyd, C. (2015). A practice-led inquiry into the use of still images as a tool for
reflective practice and organisational inquiry. International Journal of Professional
Management, 10(2).
 Kerno, S. Jr. (2008). Limitations of Communities of Practice: A Consideration of Unresolved
Issues and Difficulties in the Approach. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. 15
(1), 69-78.
 Nelson-Jones, R. (1986). Human Relationship Skills: Training and Self Help, Sydney, Australia:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
 Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. U.S.A.: Basic
Books.
 Stenhouse, L. (1981). What counts as research? British Journal of Educational Studies. 29 (2),
13-114.
 Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of practice and social learning systems: the career of a
concept. In C. Blackmore, (ed). Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice
(pp.179-198). London: Springer-Verlag.