An introduction to undergraduate supervision

Spotlight Series 3:
Translating your experience as an undergraduate supervisor to other contexts

This third instalment of the series explores the way you can reflect on and translate your experience of being an undergraduate supervisor when applying for academic positions beyond (and indeed within!) Cambridge. Many doctoral students and early-career researchers are unsure how to talk about their roles as undergraduate supervisors in applications or interviews and often undervalue this experience as a narrow or specialised form of teaching.

This article, which includes quotes from new undergraduate supervisors, highlights the ways supervision provides experience in several important dimensions of university education that go beyond mere subject teaching. The pedagogical skills developed in this setting are highly transferable to larger-scale teaching contexts such as lectures or seminars, which rest on the same core principles.

The Cambridge Centre for Teaching & Learning provide a three-part programme aimed at those new to supervising undergraduates at Cambridge and anyone who would like to revisit the fundamentals of effective supervisions: An Introduction to Undergraduate Supervision. You can learn more about the programme itself in the first article of this series exploring what the course has to offer.

The value of being an undergraduate supervisor

1. A first-hand view of student development

Few university teachers have the opportunity to observe student learning as closely as Cambridge supervisors. They directly see where misconceptions commonly emerge, the different ways understanding deepens, and which interventions or challenges help students move forward. Through regular meetings over a term or the entire academic year, supervisors witness the gradual development of students' understanding, writing or problem-solving abilities, confidence, disciplinary judgement and intellectual independence. You might also have experience of addressing accessibility concerns.

This provides rich insights into the processes and realities of learning in higher education. Such knowledge is invaluable in any educational setting, whether teaching a lecture theatre of two hundred students or a seminar group of twenty. For instance, when you are familiar with the ‘threshold concepts’ all students typically struggle with, this can inform how you design lectures. And when you have observed a variety of different ways students adapt to discursive learning, you will feel better equipped to facilitate a seminar and to design engaging discussion questions.

2. Extensive experience in discursive learning

Supervisions are dialogic environments in that they are built around questioning, discussion, explanation, challenge and collaborative exploration of ideas. Students are expected to articulate their thinking, explain or justify problem-solving choices or essay arguments, respond to feedback and critique, and refine their understanding through conversation.

As a result, supervisors gain extensive experience in facilitating intellectual and developmental discussions. They learn how to ask productive questions, how to probe student reasoning, how to encourage participation, and how to create conditions in which students actively engage with disciplinary knowledge.

These skills transfer directly to larger-scale teaching, whether lectures, seminars or classes. In all of these contexts, the underlying pedagogic challenge remains the same: creating opportunities for students to think rather than passively receive information. Furthermore, these practices that get students actively explaining and extending their reasoning will be increasingly important as the current AI-influenced landscape prompts a turn towards more oral and practical teaching practices.

3. Developing student learning through formative feedback

At the heart of the supervision system is formative feedback: supervisors regularly read essays, review problem sheets, listen to student explanations and provide detailed responses designed to improve future work. Supervisors’ written and spoken feedback helps students to clarify their subject knowledge and to develop their subject skills.  

These regular cycles of feedback on students’ supervision work give supervisors substantial experience in helping students develop their academic capabilities. Supervisors become increasingly adept at identifying strengths and weaknesses, communicating expectations clearly and concisely, and providing feedback that is intellectually rigorous, specific, actionable and developmental.

"I think the essay feedback was very well received and appreciated, and our discussions based on the essays have always been very fruitful and led to further in-depth critical discussions on the lecture material / literature."

This experience is highly relevant across higher education, whether providing feedback on essays, presentations, laboratory reports, project work or dissertations.

4. Supporting students to develop assessment literacy

Supervisors spend considerable time helping students understand what constitutes successful academic performance within their discipline. Students must learn not only content but also the standards by which academic work is judged.

In higher education, this ‘assessment literacy’ is increasingly recognised as a key component of student development, and so supervisors’ experience in this area is particularly valuable.

Through discussion of essays, problem sheets and exam preparation, supervisors help students recognise the characteristics of strong disciplinary work. They routinely explain expectations, model academic judgement, and make visible the forms of reasoning and argument valued within a field, helping students learn how to evaluate their own work against the standards they are expected to meet.

5. Experience in designing learning sessions

Although supervisions - which act as a complement to lectures usually designed and delivered by somebody else - are based around students' work and often associated with discussion, effective supervisions nevertheless require planning and design. Supervisors make decisions about learning activities to use, how to pose questions to students, approaches to facilitating student engagement, and extra resources to use. Supervisors must judge how best to use limited time to support meaningful learning.

"I've been really pleased by how students have driven the supervision conversations to meet their needs, but it's so helpful to have a rough plan (which may be different for different groups, depending on their written work) and a stock of extra materials in case we have time."

This involves many of the same course design skills that underpin seminars, workshops and other taught sessions. It also requires supervisors to be flexible and adaptive in their teaching in response to student needs and interests, often making complex pedagogical decisions in real time.

6. Facilitating peer learning

Supervisions also provide valuable experience in facilitating peer learning. Since most supervisions involve two or three students, supervisors often create opportunities for students to learn from each other. This can be from seeing how their peers approach problems, develop arguments, respond to feedback, and work through uncertainty.  Effective supervisors typically learn how to structure discussions so that students engage with each other's ideas and work rather than directing all contributions towards the supervisor.

This experience is highly transferable to other teaching formats and demonstrates an understanding that students themselves can be important resources for learning.

In my supervisions, I encourage students to explain their reasoning rather than only presenting final answers. I often ask them to solve parts of the problems on the board and discuss their approaches with the group. This helps identify misconceptions and encourages active participation."

From small-scale supervisions to teaching at scale

In conclusion, the fundamental pedagogical practices and principles developed through undergraduate supervision are not confined to small-group settings. Undergraduate supervisors have the advantage of a uniquely detailed view of student learning and progress, and experience of many teaching practices that are valuable across higher education settings, such as facilitating discussion, providing feedback and designing effective sessions.

Some further tips may help you when talking about university teaching more broadly: firstly, it can be helpful to describe your ‘educational practice’ rather than your ‘teaching experience’, as this language reflects an understanding of everything that teaching encompasses – a wider range of interconnected activities such as feedback, session design, pastoral support, project supervision and laboratory demonstration.

And finally, understand that ‘effective teaching’ is less about following ‘correct’ techniques and more about exercising judgement. Indeed, it is fundamentally about making informed choices about how to teach, being able to explain the pedagogical reasoning behind those choices, and continually evaluate their effectiveness. When discussing your educational practice, this dynamic and reflective approach signals a level of pedagogical maturity that is often highly valued.