Final year projects – trying to keep everyone happy

Dr John MaskallSchool of Geography, Earth and

Environmental SciencesUniversity of Plymouth

Project Choice

Allocation Model

Allocation Model

• Perceived disadvantages were:– ‘Ownership’ of projects– Range of titles– Oversubscription and reallocation– Student preference for particular staff

Theme-based model

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

Staff Confidence

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

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

Student PerceptionsStrongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Neutral

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”

Staff Perceptions

5 = Strongly Agree 3 = Neutral 1 = Strongly Disagree

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

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

Any Questions or Comments?