User Documentation for the PGR Supervisory and Progression monitoring Student Data System (SDS) features Introduction This document provides user guidance for the use of the supervisory and progression monitoring development for PGR students. Supervisory Monitoring Supervisory meetings are expected to occur at least once per month as detailed in the Annex H (Supervision) of the Code of Practice for Research Programmes (http://www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/qa/index.html). It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that a supervisory record has been completed for any particular month, the process flowchart below illustrates the broad process by which a supervisory record is completed for a particular month. Process Flowchart START Student & Supervisor conduct monthly supervisory meeting Student accesses their My Supervisions feature in SDS Student clicks on the button corresponding the month the supervision meeting occurred Student populates fields on the form as per the discussion held as part of the monthly supervisory meeting Save Draft clicked? NO YES Current form saved for submission at a later date NO Submit clicked YES Supervisor receives email notifying them that a supervisory record is ready for their review and completion Supervisory completes supervisory record and submits Student receives email and completed supervisory record (including supervisor comments) is available under that record for the month STOP NJM 09/OCT/2012 Page 1 of 6
Note you will receive an email at the beginning of every month to remind you that a supervisory record will need to be completed for that month. Screenshot Log into SDS (http://sds.kent.ac.uk) using your login and password. Click on the My Supervisions button to access your supervisory records. Click on the appropriate button for the month relating to the supervisory record you wish to complete. You can see your supervisory team by clicking on the View supervisory team link at the top of the form. You can also access basic instructions and key for the statuses of the meeting buttons by clicking on the View Instructions and Key link at the top of the form. NJM 09/OCT/2012 Page 2 of 6
Screenshot The January meeting record has been selected (the month selection button is now greyed out). Please complete the sections of this form, including the date when the supervisory meeting occurred also select the Meeting Location and Meeting Method from the available options. Your supervisor will select the Student Meeting Attendance option. Click Save Draft to save this record for completion and submission at a later date. If you wish to submit the form to your supervisor please click the Submit button. Once the form has been submitted and the supervisor has completed their section of the form you will receive an email. Log back into SDS and access the relevant record. You will observe that the Supervisor Comments field is now visible. This record is now complete for the month. If you wish to have access to a printed version of this form for your records, please click on the PDF button near the top of the form to produce a pdf version of this supervisory record. NJM 09/OCT/2012 Page 3 of 6
Progression Monitoring As a PGR student you are required to undertake a number of progression review meetings as dictated by your particalar study area and discipline. Further details surrounding these progression reviews can be found in Annex K (Progression and Examination) of the Code of Practice for Research Programmes (http://www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/qa/index.html). The process by which the progression monitoring review are undertaken is suitably different from the supervisory meetings and is illustrated below Process START Student & appropriate review panel undertake the specific progression monitoring review. Supervisor completes the record for the meeting and submits to the appropriate authoriser(s) as dictated by the annex guidelines. NO Approved? YES Approved record available to the student via the My progression screen on SDS STOP NJM 09/OCT/2012 Page 4 of 6
Screenshots Log into SDS http://sds.kent.ac.uk using your login and password. Click on the My Progression button to view your scheduled progression meetings. A screen will be displayed with the scheduled dates for any progression meetings. You can see your supervisory team by clicking on the View supervisory team link at the top of the form. NJM 09/OCT/2012 Page 5 of 6
Screenshots You will receive an email when a progression record has been approved and is available to view via the My progression function within SDS. Approved records can be accessed by clicking on the appropriate button that relates to that progression record. If you wish to have access to a printed version of this form for your records, please click on the PDF button near the top of the appropriate progression form to produce a pdf version of this progression record. Email Notifications The following table illustrates when you will receive emails as part of the relevant supervisory or progression monitoring workflow. Supervisory Meetings Communication Supervision meeting (prior) Supervision (chase) Supervision ad hoc (prior) Supervision ad hoc (chase) Supervisory record approval or rejection Frequency 1 st of each month End of month if not submitted 14 days prior to eh meeting date 14 days after meeting date if not submitted Sent immediately to student Progression Monitoring Communication Induction review End of year review All other reviews (excluding induction/end of year) Frequency 2 weeks prior to meeting 2 months prior to meeting 1 month prior to meeting NJM 09/OCT/2012 Page 6 of 6