A Chameleon Genre: an audit of the dissertation at a typical UK University Dr Nick Endacott and colleagues, Middlesex University Learner Development Unit
Undergraduate students at Middlesex are expected to complete a dissertation/research project (or equivalent ‘substantial’ piece of work) in their final year. In order to better develop/embed the required writing/linguistic/analytical/critical skills of these students, the LDU (whose remit this is) need to have a clear idea of what is expected of same students with regard to their dissertations/research projects – or whatever they may be called – and what’s in a name anyway?
Nick Endacott and colleagues in the LDU have undertaken an ambitious project to complete an ‘audit’ of all these projects in all the Schools and most of the disciplines across the University. At present their findings are descriptive, not evaluative, and are based entirely on Module Handbooks (all those that could be got hold of).
The session got underway with some very interesting questions concerning the dissertation ‘genre’. Is it a genre in the straightforward sense, or rather a ‘chameleon genre’, adapting to its environment or is it, as in Peter Medway’s phrase, a ‘fuzzy genre’ with rather blurred edges? The context of different disciplines was discussed. How can expectations of a dissertation be the same across disciplines which are cultural phenomena divided by gulfs of linguistic variation? For the LDU to support students in a discipline they need to be able to unpick the cultural and linguistic expectation (science: analytical, arts: imaginative – simplified but understandable examples).
The initial findings were presented as a series of graphs depicting commonalities and differences in nomenclature (report; essay; portfolio; dissertation; project etc.) and pathways (empirical research; journal article; artefact-based project; combinations of these, etc.) Word length requirements also varied widely which raises other challenges for the LDU – low word limit = concise writing, high word limit = expanded writing etc.
The research is only just beginning and this is the start of a larger on-going project to explore this ‘genre’ and improve the LDU’s ability to develop the students’ skills to meet the demands of the dissertation in whatever form it may take.
Report by Celia Cozens
Showing posts with label undergraduate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label undergraduate. Show all posts
Friday, 12 July 2013
Track A - Shaping dissertation research in dance & music theatre
Shaping dissertation research in dance and music theatre: critical approaches and shifting methodologies,
Lise Uytterhoeven,
Dr. Francis Yeoh,
Josephine Leask,
Laura Robinson,
Julia Gleich,
Mark Harris,
London Studio Centre
Five team members from London Studio Centre presented on a dissertation module which forms part of recently validated (Hons) Theatre Dance degree programme. They commented on a number of recent case studies in terms of the methodological challenges they pose.
The dissertation is viewed as integral to enabling students to demonstrate their graduate-ness in this programme of study, in terms of developing key graduate skills. These include organising the student’s own learning, researching and evaluating a range of information, communicating complex insights, independent working and problem solving.
The ground work to prepare students for the final year dissertation is embedded in their earlier modules through various activities - allowing the students to develop skills in areas such as, planning, translating, evaluating, editing and communicating.
Recent methodological shifts in the wider field of dance studies had encouraged students, in conjunction with their tutors, to develope tailor-made research methodologies. These methodologies however, have presented new challenges.
The points raised included: some recent developments in dance studies require insights from other disciplines such as theatre studies, cultural studies, psychology anatomy/physiology or sociology. There is a lack of well documented resources, especially in contemporary developments, which leads to some case studies not been successful.
It is hard to ensure that the research been undertaken is linked to a career path.
If you would like to see the full presentation please click here
Report by Betty Sinyinza
Five team members from London Studio Centre presented on a dissertation module which forms part of recently validated (Hons) Theatre Dance degree programme. They commented on a number of recent case studies in terms of the methodological challenges they pose.
The dissertation is viewed as integral to enabling students to demonstrate their graduate-ness in this programme of study, in terms of developing key graduate skills. These include organising the student’s own learning, researching and evaluating a range of information, communicating complex insights, independent working and problem solving.
The ground work to prepare students for the final year dissertation is embedded in their earlier modules through various activities - allowing the students to develop skills in areas such as, planning, translating, evaluating, editing and communicating.
Recent methodological shifts in the wider field of dance studies had encouraged students, in conjunction with their tutors, to develope tailor-made research methodologies. These methodologies however, have presented new challenges.
The points raised included: some recent developments in dance studies require insights from other disciplines such as theatre studies, cultural studies, psychology anatomy/physiology or sociology. There is a lack of well documented resources, especially in contemporary developments, which leads to some case studies not been successful.
It is hard to ensure that the research been undertaken is linked to a career path.
If you would like to see the full presentation please click here
Report by Betty Sinyinza
Opening keynote - Carole-Anne Upton & Ifan Shepherd
Weighing it up: Research and the Undergraduate Dissertation in Media and Performing Arts Professor Carole-Anne Upton and The Dissertation: Skylark or Albatross? Professor Ifan Shepherd
This year’s conference was opened by two keynote speakers drawn from within the University, these were Carole-Anne Upton, Professor of Theatre and Dean of the School of Media and Performing Arts and Ifan Shepherd, Professor of GeoBusiness at Middlesex University, and Director of Professional Practice Programmes in the Business School. They offered us complimentary and contrasting views and reflections on the role of the dissertation and other enquiry based modes, based the on their extensive experience of working with students in Higher Education; Carole-Anne focussed predominantly on undergraduate research and enquiry with Ifan concentrating on practice within the postgraduate area. It was clear that neither of them came to bury the dissertation but in fact, to praise the principles and values that it offered students with some caveats, words of warning and challenges to the audience.
Carole-Anne was concerned with the mystique that surrounded the dissertation with its language often residing in the language of traditional research and the ways that this impacted on both staff and students. She questioned the extent to which undergraduate research could really qualify as research and whether enquiry based learning was a more accurate title for this activity. Another challenge to teachers centred around the need and drive to increasingly support our students through the dissertation process that often meant that successful students continued to be successful but simply acted to identify failing students earlier without necessarily being able to improve their engagement. This in itself challenged the central principle of ‘extended independent enquiry’ that underpins the honours nature of the dissertation. Carole-Anne concluded that the dissertation certainly wasn’t dead but that it is possible overburdened; there is a need for us to be more explicit about its nature and role as a genuine act of research.
Ifan offered us some historical perspectives on the nature of Masters qualifications and the role of the dissertation as a ‘licence to research’, which has brought us to its current and continuing use within both practice and more theoretically driven programmes of study. He drew our attention to the consistent failure rates within Masters dissertations and questioned whether we were complicit in this failure by trying to pack mastery of subject and mastery of research within the confines of one-year Masters programmes. This was compounded by the expectations of originality that had previously been the domain of doctoral study in times gone by. Ifan offered us both sticking plasters and some more radical solutions that might help students’ approach to research; from asking students to evidence the actual impact of their reading on their dissertation rather than the generic literary review to rethinking the relationship between practice as research and the opportunities of being an insider researcher rather than an outsider looking in.
These perspectives on dissertation practices and problems offered a really useful opening to the conference that enabled conference participants to go to their workshop sessions with many of the key issues well and truly ‘outed’, in the words of Nicky Torrance and certainly at the forefront of their minds.
Report by Mike Seignor
Carole-Anne was concerned with the mystique that surrounded the dissertation with its language often residing in the language of traditional research and the ways that this impacted on both staff and students. She questioned the extent to which undergraduate research could really qualify as research and whether enquiry based learning was a more accurate title for this activity. Another challenge to teachers centred around the need and drive to increasingly support our students through the dissertation process that often meant that successful students continued to be successful but simply acted to identify failing students earlier without necessarily being able to improve their engagement. This in itself challenged the central principle of ‘extended independent enquiry’ that underpins the honours nature of the dissertation. Carole-Anne concluded that the dissertation certainly wasn’t dead but that it is possible overburdened; there is a need for us to be more explicit about its nature and role as a genuine act of research.
Ifan offered us some historical perspectives on the nature of Masters qualifications and the role of the dissertation as a ‘licence to research’, which has brought us to its current and continuing use within both practice and more theoretically driven programmes of study. He drew our attention to the consistent failure rates within Masters dissertations and questioned whether we were complicit in this failure by trying to pack mastery of subject and mastery of research within the confines of one-year Masters programmes. This was compounded by the expectations of originality that had previously been the domain of doctoral study in times gone by. Ifan offered us both sticking plasters and some more radical solutions that might help students’ approach to research; from asking students to evidence the actual impact of their reading on their dissertation rather than the generic literary review to rethinking the relationship between practice as research and the opportunities of being an insider researcher rather than an outsider looking in.
These perspectives on dissertation practices and problems offered a really useful opening to the conference that enabled conference participants to go to their workshop sessions with many of the key issues well and truly ‘outed’, in the words of Nicky Torrance and certainly at the forefront of their minds.
Report by Mike Seignor
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