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Final year projects – trying to keep everyone happy
Dr John MaskallSchool of Geography, Earth and
Environmental SciencesUniversity of Plymouth
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Project Choice
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Allocation Model
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Allocation Model
• Perceived disadvantages were:– ‘Ownership’ of projects– Range of titles– Oversubscription and reallocation– Student preference for particular staff
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Theme-based model
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Environmental Science Themes
• Water Quality (Freshwater)
• Water Quality (Coastal and Marine)
• Land Quality• Air Quality• Ecology (Terrestrial)• Ecology (Coastal and
Marine)• Climate Change
• Contaminated Land Management
• Waste Management• Environmental Impact
Assessment• Nature Conservation
(Terrestrial)• Nature Conservation
(Coastal and Marine)• Environmental
Management Systems• Carbon Abatement
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Staff Confidence
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Demand versus Supply
Theme
• Relative demand based on total number of first choices for each theme• Relative supply based on sum of confidence scores for each theme
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Outcome
• All 78 students received their first choice of theme
• High proportion of projects were allocated to staff with a high confidence score
• Mean score = 4.5
Staff Confidence Score
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Student PerceptionsStrongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
Neutral
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Student Perceptions
• “not enough contact time with lecturers and perhaps previous students”
• “I really didn’t know where to start in picking a topic”
• “an opportunity to see previous dissertation projects would have been a great help”
• “I would additionally appreciate project ideas”
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Staff Perceptions
5 = Strongly Agree 3 = Neutral 1 = Strongly Disagree
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Staff Perceptions
Advantages of theme-based• High potential for students
to have a significant influence on project design
• Illustrates the broad range of topics available
• Offers more flexibility for matching students with staff experienced in certain areas
• Eliminates choice based on preference for particular staff member
Disadvantages of theme-based
• Can require considerable staff effort to help develop student’s ideas
• Students may be unfamiliar with some topics at time of project choice
• Limited opportunity to offer projects related to staff research interests
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Conclusions
• Theme-based approach addresses most negative issues identified with allocation system.
• Flexibility of theme-based approach helps with alleviating mismatches in supply and demand
• Theme-based approach requires some support for students at time of project choice e.g. elaborating themes
• Staff can use negotiation phase to:– adopt a more interventionist approach with weaker
students– offer projects based on their research interests where
appropriate and if desired
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Any Questions or Comments?