INFUSING EXTERNAL EXAMINERS’ REPORTS IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION

Abstract

In postgraduate studies an examiner’s report serves as a quality index of the supervision process and its output – the dissertation or thesis. This article reports selected findings of a qualitative interpretive analysis of examiners’ reports of Masters’ dissertations in one College at the University of South Africa. The purpose of this study was to ascertain, through a literature study and document analysis, the scholarly attributes expected by external examiners with a view to infusing these expectations in postgraduate supervision guidelines. The analysis uncovered a pattern in examiners’ quality expectations, concerns and commendations. Undergirded by social constructivism and principles of andragogy, the paper argues that supervisors should make these expectations known to students by incorporating them into the goals of postgraduate supervision. This can help minimise postgraduate supervision challenges encountered by students in Open and Distance Learning.