Notes on supervising Computer Science

Frank King – January 1995 (updated September 2008)

This document provides some general guidance on the Cambridge supervision system as it relates to supervising students reading any Part of the Computer Science Tripos.

These notes are particularly directed at potential supervisors, especially those who have not themselves been exposed to Cambridge supervisions.

Supervisors for all Parts other than Part II of the Tripos are usually engaged by a Director of Studies (quite possibly more than one) and different Directors of Studies have different requirements and views. Not all will agree with everything which is written below.

Terminology

Already several terms have been introduced with which a newcomer to Cambridge may not be familiar. Here is a preliminary glossary ...

What is a Supervision?

Like an elephant, a supervision is easy to recognise but difficult to define. Whenever you see, almost anywhere in Cambridge, three people sitting at the same side of a desk or table and the one in the middle appears to be about 25 and the other two appear to be about 20 then you are probably witnessing a supervision.

If, further, the younger ones are clutching lecture notes and old Tripos papers and the older one is holding forth (see What does a supervisor do?) then you can put your shirt (er blouse?) on this being a supervision. The one in the middle is the supervisor (formal Cambridge terminology) and the others are supervision pupils (often informally called supervisees).

All three may be in sports gear and drinking coffee. These are not contrary signs but if all three are wearing anoraks and eating strongly flavoured junk food then you have probably stumbled on some hackers in one of the computer rooms and could lose your shirt.

The Computer Science Tripos

Mainstream Computer Science undergraduates study in the Computer Laboratory for three years. They take a three-Part examination (known as the Computer Science Tripos). One Part is taken at the end of each academic year but the Parts are numbered IA, IB and II (not 1, 2 and 3).

The Computer Laboratory, as a University Department, arranges all the lectures and practical classes associated with these courses. Details of all courses are found in the syllabus booklets for the Computer Science Tripos and other documents which you can obtain from the Student Administrator of the Computer Laboratory whose office is GC04 on the ground floor of the William Gates Building.

As well as being a member of the University, each student is also a member of some College. Each College takes a strong interest in the progress of its students and the normal way a College monitors this progress and offers advice and help is through the supervision system. Accordingly, supervisions are formally a College responsibility.

Directors of Studies

Each College appoints a Director of Studies for each subject in which it has any students. Directors of Studies have two principal tasks ...

First they must ensure that each student has one or two supervisions a week. They normally give supervisions themselves but they often need to appoint other supervisors too.

Secondly, it is Directors of Studies who monitor progress. They usually see each student at the beginning and end of each Term and read supervision reports written by supervisors. It is normal for both students and supervisors to approach a Director of Studies with problems. A student may be experiencing special difficulties with a course or a supervisor may have an ill-matched pair of supervisees.

Directors of Studies distinguish three kinds of supervisor. Those who supervise across a broad range of courses are general supervisors. Others who give advice for just one or two courses are specialist supervisors. Those who supervise projects undertaken by final-year Tripos students are project supervisors.

Directors of Studies often cooperate in syndicates so that several Colleges share in the administration of supervisions. This means that as a supervisor you may be asked by one Director of Studies to supervise students from another's College.

How do you find a Director of Studies to work for?

The administrative arrangements sound very complicated even to many Cambridge graduates. If you are newly arrived in Cambridge you may find the whole business an utter mystery at first. Fortunately, if you have any thoughts on being a supervisor and haven't already been approached by a Director of Studies eager to use your services, there are some simple steps you can take:

• Visit the Student Administrator of the Computer Laboratory or send an e-mail to student-admin@cl.cam.ac.uk.
• Ask for the syllabus booklets and glance at the lists of courses.
• Explain that you would like it to be made known that you are interested in supervising.

If you are interested in supervising any Part II course, the Student Administrator will add your name to her list, because the Computer Laboratory in general arranges supervisions for the more specialist final-year courses. In the case of other courses, she will probably invite you to offer your services to Directors of Studies via e-mail.

With any luck, you will quickly find a Director of Studies to take an interest in you. If you don't, you should note that most Directors of Studies in Computer Science work in the Computer Laboratory, are friendly and probably know where there is a shortage of supervision power. Accordingly, you can approach a random Director of Studies, perhaps after consulting your immediate colleagues about whom would be good to see.

What should you ask the Director of Studies?

Once you have the ear of a Director of Studies you will have little further need of this document. The Director of Studies should explain everything you need to know. Nevertheless there are specific matters which need to be clear on both sides and are worth rehearsing here:

• Explain what your interests are and be clear about which topics you are being asked to supervise. Which year are the students in? Which courses are introductory and which follow on from earlier material?
• Ask how you can get hold of handouts provided by lecturers of courses you might supervise and ask how you can get hold of past Tripos papers.
• Ask whether it might be a good idea to attend some lectures yourself.
• Ask about project supervision. You may decide this is more to your liking than supervising ordinary course work.
• Explain how much time you are prepared to supervise. Three hours a week for each of the 20 weeks a year that courses are run is common. Don't take on too much and allow time for preparing for supervisions.
• Ask how often you are expected to supervise each group. The answer may vary from 'weekly' to 'just once, it's a very short specialist course'.
• Make sure you know whom you are supervising and which College or Colleges they come from. Ask for their e-mail addresses and be sure that you know the e-mail address of the Director of Studies too.
• Ask how best to arrange the first supervisions and where to give them. It is very important to supervise where you will not be distracted by the telephone or visitors.
• Ask about rates of pay and providing reports on students. You should use the CamCORS system for writing supervision reports and claiming for payment.
• Ask what you are expected to do. The answer may include some of what is written in the next section.

What does a Supervisor do?

Early each Michaelmas Term, the Computer Laboratory runs an informal session for new supervisors. Information about this can be obtained from the Student Administrator. In addition, the Staff Development Office of the University runs a popular course Supervising Undergraduates: An Introduction. The Student Administrator of the Computer Laboratory will give information about this course which is not, of course, run specifically with Computer Science in mind.

Just about the only thing common to almost every supervision is that they are nearly always scheduled to last an hour. Even this rule is often broken for project supervisions where 'a little and often' is sometimes appropriate. The rule should (almost) never be broken the other way; it is most unlikely to profit a supervisee if you take a supervision beyond an hour.

It is also very common to supervise two supervisees at a time. Not many supervisors like supervising three or more at once; the seating arrangements are uncomfortable and it is difficult to treat all the supervisees equally. Colleges don't like the expense of supervising single supervisees but inevitably there will be a few singleton supervisions.

A naïve bureaucrat might specify that a supervision should always run as follows:

• Begin by going through work which you set last time and that the students handed in well before the supervision and which you have carefully read and made comments on.
• Discuss any problems the students have been having with lectures on the topics you are supervising. Ideally, you should get the students to e-mail such queries in advance, perhaps giving a reference to a point in a course handout (which you should have). You may ask to see the students' own notes and if you can't solve the problem quickly don't waste time struggling in the supervision. Do not have any qualms about leaving a problem until the next supervision (alternatively you might e-mail a solution).
• At this stage you can make your own contribution to the course. Amplify some of the points given in the lectures. Go through your favourite problems. Show how the material relates to other courses and why it is considered important. Generally be enthusiastic and motivating! All this may require some thinking about before the supervision.
• Sometimes you may want to illustrate points at a workstation. This is fine but you must obviously use a venue where you can get access to one.
• Draw attention to any exercises included in the course handouts. Urge the supervisees to look at all or most of these and specify questions to be attempted whose solutions you want handed in for next time. It is perfectly in order to invent questions of your own for solving.
• Towards the end of a course, or after it has finished, you can usefully set questions from past Tripos papers. Don't set anything too frightening too early.
• Make it clear when and where the next supervision is to take place. Specify exactly what you want handed in, where to hand it in and by when. A good rule of thumb is to ask for work to be handed in 24 hours in advance. This gives you a chance to gain a feeling for how the supervisee is progressing.
• Keep a log of how many supervisions you have given and to whom. Make notes on how much progress each supervisee has made. At the end of each term you have to write a supervision report about each supervisee and you particularly have to comment on 'ability', 'industry', and 'progress'. Your notes should help you comment accurately.

In practice, it is often unrealistic or even silly to stick rigidly to a plan such as this and your Director of Studies may be the first to say so. For example, supervisees are unlikely to concentrate 100% for the whole hour and if you can predict which part of the plan is likely to be most challenging, arrange to have this early in the supervision.

You may unexpectedly find that none of your supervisees understands a particular topic and you spend the whole of a supervision covering just one point. This need not be a bad thing. It is better by far to cover a few topics well than several badly.

Supervision Nasties

Various things can go wrong. One supervisee may not speak much English, another may hand in no work, a third may turn up too tired or too drunk to take anything in or not turn up at all. You may suspect a supervisee has social or psychological problems. Quite separately, you may notice that a course seems to be badly given or is being given in a way you think could be improved.

In all these cases you should cope as best you can during the supervision but, at the first opportunity afterwards, report the matter to the Director of Studies. It is not sensible to attempt amateur psychology; Directors of Studies are paid to worry about this kind of thing and may have confidential information which they have not passed to you.

You can probably charge for a supervision which a supervisee missed but it is essential to consult the Director of Studies first.

Sometimes the problem is less immediate. You may notice over time that a supervisee simply isn't keeping up with the work. It may take two or three supervisions to spot an ill-matched pair of supervisees. Once again, let the Director of Studies know.

In practice, not much goes very wrong very often but there is one aspect of supervising which can become a great nuisance and for which your Director of Studies can offer little help. This matter is the subject of the next section.

Arranging and rearranging Supervisions

If it has been decided that you will meet a given pair of supervisees weekly (or perhaps fortnightly) for a Term there is everything to be said for fixing a specific time and sticking to it.

A student's timetable, and indeed your timetable, can easily become very full and if you can find a slot which looks like being free for all of you for a Term, then mark these slots in your diaries in high-grade concrete.

Occasionally a supervisee will have good reason to ask to rearrange a supervision and provided you are warned before the previous supervision you will probably not find it too difficult to find a time suitable to you and both supervision partners. A late warning can result in serious inconvenience; it can be surprisingly tedious to rearrange supervisions by e-mail.

Once in a while you may have to rearrange a supervision because you unexpectedly have to be away yourself. Again, with sufficient notice, a supervision (or perhaps two or three) can be rearranged without too much pain but if you leave the rearrangement too late you can cause inconvenience all round.

Final Advice

Many people find supervising a rewarding business. You can find out how a different side of the Department runs and keep up with the courses. You may find you have some particularly agreeable supervisees who invite you to parties and offer you beer and so on.

Some peripheral aspects of supervising require the exercise of common sense and good taste. If you are in a position to offer your supervisees tea or coffee, this is probably a good idea but handing round stiff gins probably isn't.

Supervisions are a proven part of the Cambridge educational process. Make your supervisions as useful as you can and take advice from your Director of Studies and other supervisors. With any luck, some of your supervisees will achieve high scores in Tripos examinations and you can justifiably claim some of the credit.

Good luck.