Beginning the Supervisory Relationship
Consider the following elements that can inform what supervision will look like for that student. The content below is most typically discussed in recurring supervision sessions.
Complete a Learning Agreement | Determine the Frequency of Supervision | Determine the Structure of Supervision | Typical Supervision Content
Complete a Learning Agreement
We highly encourage you to create a learning agreement after hiring your new student.
A learning agreement prompts a discussion between the student and supervisor about their goals for their growth and development. This is a document you can revisit throughout the experience to discuss progress towards the learning goals and tweak the experience accordingly to ensure the learning goals are ultimately met by the end of the experience.
Consider using our template or developing your own.
Determine the Frequency of Supervision
Plan to meet once per week at a consistent time, between 30 minutes-1 hour depending on your goals.
If you are supervising a large number of students, consider weekly group sessions focused on professional development alongside individual meetings on a monthly basis. Provide students an opportunity to lead or co-lead these sessions as a part of their own professional development.
While supervision is highly recommended for paid experiential learning opportunities, it is a requirement for unpaid experiential learning opportunities.
Determine the Structure of Supervision
Your supervisory/leadership and communication styles will influence the way you approach supervision. We encourage you to reflect on how you plan to structure each supervision session. Below are questions to ask yourself as you plan your structure. We encourage you to create and share the initial structure while enabling students to have autonomy in the process.
- Who will lead the session? We recommend that you provide the early structure, and that as the student grows, they begin to lead with their questions/concerns.
- How should the student prepare? Be clear about how they should approach supervision. If you want them to bring questions, make sure this has been clearly communicated.
- How do you share the agenda? We highly recommend using UC Santa Cruz’s free Asana account for our on-campus partners as a great way to share and crowdsource agendas on a weekly basis.
Typical Supervision Content
Supervision is a flexible period for you and the student to discuss project progress, their growth and development, and how you can support them in their role. Because this time can be used in a variety of ways, here are some typical topics discussed during supervision:
- Project progress check-ins
- Troubleshooting and support
- Review/update learning agreement
- Reflect on growth/development
- Discuss career goals
- Share additional professional development opportunities
