Supporting part-time distance learning students in dissertation projects

1. Supporting part-time distance learning students in dissertation projects Christine Urquhart University of Wales Aberystwyth HEA-ICS workshop Managing and Assessing Final Year Projects Univ Warwick 6 January 2005 APU, Cambridge 24 February 2005 University of Wales Aberystwyth

2. Introduction • Dealing with the workplace - with the students as intermediaries • Distance learning undergraduates • mature students, usually female, older on average than PG cohort • student aim - professional qualification • HE aim - reflective professional practitioners? University of Wales Aberystwyth

3. Topics • Student (UG) views on dissertation projects • What the Department thinks about management and assessment of projects • Ethical concerns - at UG and PG level • Implications for the future University of Wales Aberystwyth

4. Students’ views on benefits • Immediate environmental ‘quick wins’ • ‘It gave me the opportunity to combine my everyday work and my studies. I did not have to do much travelling for my research. I was able to use my findings to benefit my own work and to benefit the workplace in general’ • Tackling an area of uncertainty - I wonder if? • ‘Enormous. I feel now I understand my role much better. Reading up around my subject confirmed a lot of facts which were just notional before I undertook the research. It really “firmed up” what I had known previously’ University of Wales Aberystwyth

5. Does their workplace benefit? • Saves time and money on consultancy? • ‘Working in a very specialist environment means there is not a lot of knowledge and skills on the ground.’ • ‘Saves on employing outside consultants to carry out such research’ • Insider problems - personal • ‘I felt I never got a break from it and my work day spilled over into my private time’ • Insider problems - research objectivity • ‘Some people may be hesitant in providing accurate information, for example, they may say what they think you want to hear’ University of Wales Aberystwyth

6. Any organisational drawbacks? • Assuming support is in place? • ‘In my case I can see no drawbacks as the library has benefited greatly from my work’ • For the independent learner - self-funding, support may be more limited? • course viewed as a ‘private course of study’ • some support to go to a relevant conference but little interest from workplace colleagues in the project - or findings University of Wales Aberystwyth

7. Departmental perspective • Change in focus of dissertation • more empirical research encouraged • Supervision process of ‘guidance’ for UG • informal proposal discussion, study school session • proposal submission, supervisor allocated • outline, with literature review • and then…depends on supervisor/student until final draft milestone… after nearly 6 months in total • Only 20 credit at UG module - not a thesis! University of Wales Aberystwyth

8. External examiner views • Comments that students (UG) tend to reflect mostly on the needs of their workplace in their assignments? • For the dissertation - implication for the supervisor is that students need encouragement to: • appraise other relevant research when deciding on their research approach • discuss how their findings relate to work previously published - to see the bigger picture • discuss the generalisability of their findings University of Wales Aberystwyth

9. Ethical aspects (UG) • Increasing emphasis - NHS related projects requiring ethical approval unless purely ‘audit’ • Have new guidelines in place for students on the Masters programmes, policy in UG and PG handbooks • Implications for project management (UG) • time scale - ethical approval procedures need to go ahead as the outline proposal being ‘approved’ • assumptions that students are routinely asking permission to use workplace data in previous assignments University of Wales Aberystwyth

10. Ethical aspects (PG) • Developing new procedures - new proposal form deliberately asks students to consider the ethical aspects • Ethics checklist to be completed by staff (to approve, send on to higher level committee etc.) • Longer process than UG but even so… • NHS research ethics committees require research instruments at the proposal stage - not ideal from the departmental perspective • Much more discussion between supervisor and student at an earlier stage required - more difficult with distance learning students? University of Wales Aberystwyth

11. Implications for UG dissertation management CURRENT Staff Student Student ‘PASS THE PARCEL’ IDEAL Discussion of plans for workplace project, gaining permissions, and some interest from employer! Student Staff Active intervention at discussion stage University of Wales Aberystwyth

12. Implications for PG dissertation management • Dissertation tracking database • with milestones - essentially given the longer timescales for completion, number of students per supervisor, continuous throughout the year • Ethical approval procedures • need to take account of parallel ethics approval procedures in the workplace • Ideal outcome - something that is ‘publishable’ (some UG dissertations also) • more incentive for supervisor to guide student in the right direction? University of Wales Aberystwyth

13. Conclusions • Undergraduates • Staff wish students to reflect on, but also BEYOND the workplace • Students’ concern - to do something useful that will be ‘recognised’, and valuable in career progression • Therefore need more active intervention in the planning and discussion stages • Postgraduates • once ethical hurdles over - getting them to stay on course - tracking system essential University of Wales Aberystwyth