The document presents RedeSIDEdu, a network aimed at facilitating supervision of postgraduate research processes. The network allows for optimization of research supervision, individualized support for developing research competencies, and improving quality of supervision. It is in the early development stage, with an online platform launched in 2011 that hosts resources and sees over 100 average daily page views with 75% of visitors returning. Further developments include increasing member involvement, expanding the network, and improving the online platform.

1. M. José Loureiro, M. João Loureiro, M. Paço, M. Gonçalves, L. Pombo, P. Santos, D. Neri de Souza, F. Neri de Souza
Visitors per location between Oct 2011 and May 2012.
Aim
Present a network – RedeSIDEdu which aims to facilitate supervision of research processes, involving actors of postgraduate studies, both
students and supervisors – e.g., the network context, objectives, development stage, acceptance and future steps.
Context
1) growing demands of the so-called information society led to the restructuration of Higher Education – Bologna Declaration – aiming
to improve both postgraduate students’ education and research;
2) large variety of curricula constitutes a challenge for the evaluation of postgraduate study programs (Bitusikova et al., 2010), including the
research competences postgraduate students should develop and how they should be promoted and assessed (Catterall et al., 2011);
3) to increase the quality of postgraduate education efforts need to be focused on the study of innovative approaches to the
development and assessment of those competences (Loureiro and Caixinha, 2011).
Project
Objectives: to create an online community of research that allows: 1) The optimization of synergies to support research supervision processes,
creating environments that facilitate interaction and relationship between those involved. 2) The individualized support for the development of
generic research competences (e.g. information literacy, methods and research, communication, collaboration...). 3) The improvement of
research supervision’s quality and, hopefully, the postgraduate training and research.
Stage: early stage of development – existential stage – members involved in definition of identity, development of sense of
community, discussion of perceived Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT analysis). Online platform
launched in September 2011 (http://cms.ua.pt/RedeSIDEdu). Several resources already available (bibliography, video recorded sessions,
discussion forums, groups…).
Online Resources Online Data Indicators
Good acceptance:
Figure above shows that the
platform was visited from
diverse countries.
The average number of visits
per day is around 105 pages.
Figure 2. Page views between Oct 2011 and May 2012.
75% of the visitors return to the platform,
which reveals a high interest on the
Figure 3. Visitors overview between Oct 2011 and May 2012.
available tools and content.
* Image icons from http://www.iconfinder.com
Further developments
1) promote a greater involvement of the network members; 2) enlarge the network to new participants namely in the Portuguese speaking
countries; 3) improve and assess the online platform, to fulfil its members’ needs and thus achieving its sustainability.
References:
Bitusikova, A., Bohrer, J., Borosic, I., Costes, N., Edinsel, K., Hollander, Jacobsson, G., Jakopovic, I., Kearney, M., K., Mulder, F. (2010). Quality
Assurance in Postgraduate Education. ENQA Workshop Report 12. ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education), 76.
Retrieved from http://www.enqa.eu.
Catterall, J., Ross, P., Aitchison, C. & Burgin, S. (2011). Pedagogical Approaches that Facilitate Writing in Postgraduate Research Candidature in
Science and Technology. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 8(2). Retrieved from http://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol8/iss2/7.
Loureiro, Mª João and Caixinha, S. (2011). Workshop at the ICEM&SIIE 2011, University of Aveiro