Empowering Supervisors’ Autonomy in Thesis Advising

Posted on July 13, 2023July 13, 2023 by Lais Oliveira Leite

In the realm of academia, writing a Bachelor or Master thesis is a core task that students need to go through in higher education institutions. And effective thesis advising plays a crucial role in guiding students towards successful graduation completion and education outcomes. The advent of digital platforms, such as Wihi, streamlines the supervision and management of academic projects. However, some university supervisors harbor concerns that adopting such platforms might infringe upon their autonomy in advising work. In this blog post, we will debunk this misconception and highlight how Wihi, instead of limiting supervisors’ independence, empowers them in their crucial role as mentors and guides.

Preserving Supervisors’ Autonomy

One of the main concerns expressed by supervisors is the fear that a digital platform centralizing communication between them and their students will result in undue interference by other faculty members who also have access to it, such as thesis coordinators and students’ counsellors. This misconception stems from the assumption that the platform would enable “external parties” to exert control over the advising process. However, it is essential to clarify that Wihi acts as a facilitator of the supervision process, providing tools and resources to streamline the student writing process while preserving supervisors’ autonomy.

Digitalizing thesis work does not reduce supervisor-student interaction – on the contrary!

Posted on June 22, 2023July 13, 2023 by Lais Oliveira Leite

In today’s increasingly digital world, the adoption of technology has transformed various aspects of our lives. One area that has seen a significant shift is education, particularly in the management of learning and teaching processes. However, despite increased education digitalization, supervision and management of thesis work has been one core task that is still lagging behind.

In our recent work developed in the international market, when we start having meaningful and open conversations with potential customers about Wihi, our platform for the management and supervision of thesis work, many academic staff bring us a concern, derived from digitalization misconceptions, that Wihi may decrease face-to-face (f2f) interactions between students and supervisors. In this blog post, we will debunk this assumption and explore how thesis work digitalization with Wihi actually enhances and fosters supervisor-student interactions, both f2f and remotely.

Dispelling the Misconception

Contrary to popular belief, the introduction of a platform for thesis supervision does not inherently imply that students and supervisors will limit their interactions solely to the digital interface. It is essential to understand that the platform serves as a supportive tool rather than a replacement for personal engagement. By embracing digitalization, we can address existing challenges and facilitate more effective communication and collaboration.

Developing a sustainable digital strategy for museums

Posted on May 4, 2023May 8, 2023 by Lais Oliveira Leite

About a month ago, the ReInHerit H2020 published a very informative webinar on

Collaboration in digital heritage: networks, resources, and digital strategies development

The presenter, Ass. Prof. Chiara Zuanni, introduced the main points that one needs to take into account when developing a sustainable digital strategy for museums. Her presentation goes over the topics:

Why develop a digital strategy
How to start
What to include
How to evaluate it
Where to find more resources

She focused on the process of digitizing collections and fostering digital engagements, emphasizing why this is important according to current European policies as well. I cannot over-recommend the webinar, which you can access here!

For those who prefer a textual summary of her presentation, below you find some of the main points she highlighted.

“A key feature of a good software developer: to be able to ask the right questions.”

Posted on April 26, 2023April 27, 2023 by Lais Oliveira Leite

Customer satisfaction is key to the success of any business or organization. In today’s fast-paced world, where customer expectations are high, it is important to develop systems that can handle their needs efficiently and improve their work processes. This is particularly important in work fields such as financial project management, where data accuracy is critical to make sure that the financial situation of a project is under control. In this blog post, we explore the story of Thomas Hyllested, a service and contract manager at NORDUnet, who needed a system that could handle refined data required to report monthly project cost from several Nordic organizations.

Supporting education ecosystem building with digitalisation

Posted on October 26, 2022January 11, 2023 by Lais Oliveira Leite

In October 21st 2022, I had the honour to attend the panel discussion Embracing digitalisation to improve the sustainable delivery of education and training in Africa in ADEA Trennale 2022. My topic was focused on how digitalisation can support building education ecosystems. The ADEA Triennale is one of Africa’s high-level forums for political dialogue on education. The conference focuses on critical themes that transform Africa’s educational systems for sustainable social and economic development.

The objective of the panel discussion was to share experiences and working practices around EdTech issues, share ways how African countries are supporting ICT-oriented education and explore possibilities in regional cooperation. Below you find my contribution to the panel session based on the Recommendation Paper written in collaboration with Dr. Altti Lagstedt during the Edupreneurs project.

Technology implementation in your school

Posted on February 11, 2022January 11, 2023 by Lais Oliveira Leite

Academic peer reviewing is one of the best ways there is to boost learning: although it is hard sometimes, when you are lucky, you get to read a lot of rich, useful, informative, instructive, mind changing literature that your supervisors and peers failed to recommend for you before. And I’ve been learning so much with the recommendations of one of the reviewers from a manuscript recently submitted.

The reviewer suggested guidelines, models, and plans developed by the pioneers in the field of technology implementation in schools, back in the 1990s. Although the technology has changed in so many levels, their recommendations are still as relevant as before. In addition, it’s a great pleasure to go back in memory when we read references to CD players and digital encyclopedias that people could purchase with CDs and floppy disks. Ah those times…