Tensions between the individual and the collective in group tutoring for undergraduate degrees

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the evolution of thesis advising from its individual conception to collaborative configurations, identifying the tensions that emerge between individual authorship and distributed cognition in research training processes. Methods: A qualitative study with a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach and a single-case instrumental design was conducted, involving 20 graduates and 2 faculty advisors involved in group thesis advising experiences. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews, extended participant observation, and documentary analysis of research outputs, and were examined using Colaizzi's method complemented by an analytical matrix of tensions. Results: Shifts in research mediation are evident, expressed in the transition from corrective supervision logics to shared epistemological mediations; the strengthening of distributed research agency; the emergence of dynamics of cognitive interdependence; and the configuration of supportive socio-emotional ecologies, along with structural tensions associated with authorship, evaluation, and pace of progress. Conclusions: Collaborative tutoring reorganizes university research training by inscribing authorial singularity within ecologies of shared academic production, projecting hybrid support devices that demand pedagogical and institutional adjustments.