National Seminar Series 2014/2015
Title: Supervising Undergraduate Dissertations –Facilitating the Transition to the Workplace or
Further Research
Theme (refer to the themes outlined on the Forum website): Transitions into the Workplace
Date: 3rd March 2015
Host institution(s): Dublin Institute of Technology
Venue: Learning Teaching and Technology Centre, Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier St.
Number of participants: 40
Institutions represented: DIT, ITTD, ITB, IT Tralee, Pulse College, IBAT College, UCD International
Study Centre.
Contact: Claire Mc Donnell, claire.mcdonnell@dit.ie
Key insights from the day (in bullets):











A good supervisor guides rather than leads. A useful metaphor is of a doctor - guidance will
be provided but the student has to implement the changes recommended
Learning agreements are good practice to allow workable expectations and relationships to
be negotiated
It is essential to build in opportunities for academic writing, enquiry and discussion before
the final year project begins
Outputs other than a dissertation could be negotiated (e.g. research paper, report plus
artefact, a literature review)
Make the skills that they will have developed by the end of the process explicit to students.
Initial questions to ask a student about a topic are; Why do it? Why do it this way? What’s
your contribution?
Research can be viewed as a journey (it looks mapped but there can be challenges, surprises
and deviations) whereas the dissertation is like a building (structured, organised, coherent,
firm foundation)
Learners need to develop their writing skills from just telling a reader about their project to
persuading and convincing them
Build in opportunities for formative feedback and for learners to self and peer assess work
Group supervision may be a useful strategy to encourage peer learning and to use time
effectively
All students learn differently and thus will have different issues
Key contributions from the seminar to the broader Forum outlined theme (Max 300 words):
The focus from both Prof Gina Wisker and Dr John Dallat was on effective and efficient supervision
of final year undergraduate research projects. One of the key aspects discussed was getting the
balance right between appropriate support and ensuring that students developed autonomy. This
aspect is fundamental to equipping learners for the transition to the workplace or further research
at the end of their studies. Learning agreements are one mechanism that can be very effective in
developing students’ responsibility for their learning. A staged process with agreed outputs at given
time intervals is also recommended to ensure that problems do not escalate.
Another area explored was the potential to negotiate alternative outputs to the traditional
dissertation (e.g. research paper, an animation or handbook, portfolio of learning, literature review,
digital resource for schools/students/employers, feasibility report, an interdisciplinary project). This
approach can accommodate a wider spectrum of learners and allows students the opportunity to
tailor their final year project to their intended career pathway. It also enables them to utilise other
communication methods and media in addition to academic writing that can allow their work to be
accessible to a wider audience.
The development of key skills that underpin the final year undergraduate project such as academic
writing, enquiry, critical thinking and analysis and time management from first year is an important
principle in terms of ensuring that graduates have had the opportunity to develop the attributes that
will allow them to transition easily to employment or further research. This personal and
professional development also needs to be made explicit within the curriculum so that learners can
see that activities during their degree programme are enabling them to foster particular key skills,
knowledge and attributes. Providing opportunities to document this development and reflect on it
accordingly is important.
What we plan to do in the future building on this event (Max 300 words):
Among the attendees at the workshops facilitated by Prof Gina Wisker and Dr John Dallat were 8
participants from a CPD module being run by the DIT Learning Teaching and Technology Centre on
Supervising Undergraduate Projects and Dissertations. These participants have since developed
tangible outputs as part of the module assessment requirements and one of these, a multimedia
resource to support students starting out on a dissertation, featured during the LTTC graduate
student conference. The resources developed will be used locally this academic year and it is hoped
that some can then be made available more widely using a creative commons licence. This CPD
module will run again in Spring 2016 and the knowledge gained from the inputs from Prof Wisker
and Dr Dallat will inform this iteration (see Key Insights from the Day above).
We also want to develop some of the themes identified in relation to optimising the capacity of
undergraduate final year projects to facilitate transition to the workplace and future research. We
intend to explore alternative outputs to traditional dissertations and to apply through the 2015-6
Seminar Series to run an event that will allow good practice and innovation in this respect to be
shared and developed. We also hope to explore enquiry-based approaches used in first year. An
attendee this year commented on the feedback form, ‘My expectations were met and I got to hear
and discuss others’ experiences of dissertation supervision’ and we want to provide more such
opportunities.
DIT will host the Living Knowledge conference in June 2016 and the main focus will be how to build
collaborative research into learning and teaching structures in Higher Education. This will provide
another means to further develop the insights on undergraduate research and transition to the
workplace that resulted from this event.