Feedback from thesis supervision

As part of my undergraduate research, I assisted with the qualitative data coding for “Safe Sexting: The Advice and Support Adolescents Receive from Peers Regarding Online Sexual Risks”. This was my first time participating in any kind of research or data coding and I was nervous, but Heidi was so helpful throughout the process. She was approachable, patient, and knowledgeable, and I felt confident that I could approach her with any questions I had. She was quick to respond and had great feedback. I truly enjoyed my time working under Heidi’s guidance, and could not recommend her more highly.

Gabriel Laaroussi, October 2024

My bachelor’s thesis topic was “Sharenting – Advantages and disadvantages of the phenomenon and its effects on the child-parent relationship“. I got a recommendation from another supervisor about Heidi and ended up contacting her because she seemed like an excellent supervisor for my thesis. From the very beginning, Heidi was interested in my topic and was very approachable, and I didn’t need to hesitate to ask anything. She quickly responded to my messages and gave really good and necessary improvement suggestions for my thesis. Heidi’s perspectives made me reflect on the contents of my work, and the praise she gave in turn brought confidence to the writing process. Many thanks to Heidi for super good supporting and guiding. I would warmly recommend Heidi as a supervisor!

Taija Sirviö, June 2023

I did my bachelor’s thesis on ”The negative effects of social media use on university students’ attention span and academic performance”. When I first contacted Heidi about supervising my thesis work, she was right away interested, and I got quickly feedback on the first version of my thesis. Heidi gave excellent comments and improvement suggestions regarding my work. This was a huge help in writing the thesis. Also, if I had any questions about the process or writing, I got answers very quickly and all problematic situations were solved so that I could complete my work and graduate as a Bachelor of Science. All in all, Heidi was a great supervisor and the process was a lot easier with her help and guidance.

Julia Heikkilä, May 2023

I did my bachelor’s thesis on Information security behaviour on smartphones and was struggling to find a supervisor. Once I contacted Heidi, I got answer quickly and gained the best supervisor for my topic. I felt like Heidi was interested about the topic I chose and had good insights on what kind of point of view I should take. Also, I felt like Heidi actually wanted to help and wanted me to succeed. I got great comments quickly and efficiently. With the help from Heidi, I wrote my thesis on time and was very proud of my work. For that huge thanks to Heidi for guiding me and supporting me.  

Anniina Salow, May 2023

I did my bachelor’s thesis on social media marketing and its effects on small businesses in 2022-2023. I was originally nervous about who I’d get as my supervisor and how the whole process would go, but that feeling quickly went away when we started working together. Heidi is easily approachable, and I never had to hesitate to contact her with any questions or thoughts I had in mind: I always knew she would do her absolute best to help me. If she didn’t have an answer to my question, we would work together to find answers. I think that the supervisor plays a huge part in making the process go by as smoothly and enjoyably as possible and I know that Heidi absolutely succeeded in doing that with me too.

Siiri Taskila, May 2023

My Master’s thesis topic was “Unsafe interactions in dating apps“, and I had the pleasure of being supervised by one of the best teachers I have ever encountered. My supervisor was consistently available and ensured that communication was never a problem. Her patience and willingness to provide constructive feedback not only helped me improve my writing, but also enhanced my presentation skills. Working under her supervision made the thesis writing process seamless and enjoyable. I am truly grateful for her guidance and mentorship and could not have asked for a better supervisor.

                                                                                                M.Nabeel Ali, April 2023

Topic of my master’s thesis was “Cyberbullying on World of Warcraft – Experiences of Finnish Gamers” and Heidi was supervisor of the thesis in 2019-2020. During the first meeting, where we planned and Heidi clarified what I should start to do, I felt that Heidi was truly interested in the topic and I felt that she will be really good supervisor for me. She really helped me during every step and was willing to help with any kind of problems I had during the master’s thesis. All in all, the whole thesis process was easy to go through under her supervision.

Ville Valanne, April 2021

I did my master’s thesis titled “Instagram use of Finnish teenagers: A qualitative inquiry concerning their sharing habits and privacy” in 2018-2019 under Heidi’s supervision. Right away after our first meeting I felt good that I got Heidi as my supervisor. She’s truly interested in the given themes of teens and children using the internet and social media etc. As a supervisor she was really hands on in helping me complete every part of my thesis as good as possible and offered lots of easy to understand tips and guidelines. Heidi’s also very approachable and easy to work with as a person, which made the communication very pleasant. Finishing my thesis under Heidi’s supervision was a nice experience and I couldn’t really have asked for a better supervisor.

Juha Haipus, May 2019

Lecture: Tutoring a Student Online

The lecture on how to tutor a student online was prepared in collaboration with two other teachers during studies at the university pedagogic course at University of Oulu, and held in March 2019. It consisted of a small introduction to the topic, a snowball exercise, and a concluding discussion.

The following quotes are a sample of feedback that was collected straight after the event, and translated to English:

• Simple and clear structure, worked well. Great open exercise – The snowball method worked and fit the theme well. Good use of time, no signs of hurry.
• Good motivation and setting of goals. The instructions for the group work were clear. The snowball method seems to work well in group exercises. You were real and easygoing teachers.
• Nice and clear introduction to the topic. All of the teachers had a clear delivery, good voice and eye contact to the class. The snowball method worked well, starting out in pairs gave everyone a chance to bring out their own views before joining a bigger group.
• Good presentation! I got a lot of ideas about tools that I could use to tutor student online, you had listed many that I had never even heard of. The snowball method was an interesting way of working, in our group we uncovered a lot of different views on the topic which was really useful.

Course: Information systems planning

I worked as the course tutor in 2015. My responsibilities included preparing and holding exercises where the students prepared flow models, sequence models, cultural models etc of a selected information system they aimed to find improvements for.

The following quotes are samples of feedback that was collected on site after exercises, and translated to English:

• I liked the fact that the groups got the freedom to work in a way they wanted. We got answers to all of our questions either from the weekly exercises or through Optima. A nice Tutor holding the exercises 🙂
• A positive in the instructions was that on one page it was always listed what we need to produce each time. This gave us a clear picture of what we need to do and it helped us plan. I also liked that we were not forced to present what we did each time, instead it was prioritized we get feedback and instructions for our own work.
• I liked it that we got to do things on our own. The tasks supported my learning. Some things felt to be without reason. For example the affinity model was really hard.
• The exercise groups were well organized. Our team liked the fact that we got to work independently and then report our progress, but we could also work during the exercises if there was a need for that