125 124 Chapter Six: Supporting Postgraduate Students Chapter Six: Supporting Postgraduate Students “ As a postgraduate student, my critical thinking is well developed by the training mostly from my supervisor, who is extremely intelligent trained from the top world university and has impressive achievements in his research areas. My supervisor sometimes is too eager to argue with his students. However, the arguments inevitably make the students more confused. If my supervisor can be more patient, provide constructive criticism but not personal devaluation, and bring less negative emotions during the discussion, it will make me feel that he is thinking for and devoting himself to the education of his students and cultivation of future scholars, but not a person who only cares about what the students can do for him. In this way, although my research may not be well proceeded, I can be encouraged by his attitude and be more motivated at times of my research frustration. Although it seldom occurs, if the supervisors make mistakes, the students can accept it and learn to avoid the mistakes together. However, arrogance, which most likely accompanies with well-educated elites, makes the students feel hopeless, disappointed, and sad working with him. ” ~Anonymous Student~ Effective and Supportive Feedbacks and Constructive Criticisms Effective feedbacks inspire your students with a higher level of quality and clearer direction for development in their research or work. Criticisms that are constructive could allow students to gain insights and spark ideas without shattering their self-esteem or confidence. There are three suggested forms of feedbacks by Kumar and Stracke (2007): REFERENTIAL Editorial, organizational and content comments DIRECTIVE Suggestions for change, questions regarding change and instructions regarding change EXPRESSIVE Praises, criticism and opinions Reference Kumar, V. & Stracke, E. (2007). An analysis of written feedback on a PhD thesis. Teaching in Higher Education 12(4): 461-470.
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