ABSTRACT
Student affairs professionals enhance student learning in many ways. One key teaching method that is constantly engaged but rarely critically examined is the supervisory relationship. Although learning that occurs in a classroom is obviously important, researchers have found that the learning that comes about through supervised experience in combination with classroom instruction leads to greater learning outcomes and student development. This chapter presents ways to intentionally facilitate learning through supervision. Supervisors and supervisees are sometimes close in age, but often there is a generational difference. Bernard and Goodyear conceptualized supervision as comprised of three roles and three contexts. The roles include teacher, counselor, and consultant. The contexts, or foci, as they are called, consist of interaction, conceptualization, and personalization. Their model offers perspectives new to most student affairs professionals that can enrich and enlighten the crucial student learning dynamic and potential always present in the supervisory relationship.
