On final year dissertation project
These days, quite a number of student treat final year dissertations as assignments; often, students said they had only 4 weeks to do a 4-month final year project (on a part-time basis). The project experience of students has often been described as stressful. There are many other problems of dissertation projects, notably the problem of plagiarism and the problem of English writing skills. Quite a number of Master Degree students also mentioned difficulties to read academic articles. Some of them reported that they could only read 1 academic article each week.. (and I could tell that they did not quite understand what the article said still.)
Back in 1986 when I was a student doing my final year project at the University of Hull for my Master Degree (Management Systems), I had a different experience. My supervisor, Mike, brought me to a company in Hull, and I was introduced to the Managing Director of a company in Hull. For around 2 weeks, I was authorized to interview the managers in the company. Most of the time, I took the initiative to explore the problem situation facing the company and I reported to my supervisor about my project status. I offered what what I was to do next. Most often, my supervisor made comments on my views but the intellectual thinking and the problem-solving process was very much based on my own initiative. At one point, my supervisor told me that Stafford Beer was a friend of the Managing Director and was interested in learning about my project. Fully confident of my intellectual ability, I did not feel excited or nervous about it at all.
I visited the company on a regularly basis, where the secretary frequently offered me coffees that I could not resisted.. I had a very fond memory of the project experience and was confident that my knowledge in systems thinking would enable me to product a report that has contribution to the company and the academic world.
Facility at the University was not that good; I used BBC computers in the computer centre and sometimes I used the IBM PC in the Management Systems department's own computer lab. I need to fight for the accessibility of the limited resources at the computer lab. At dinner time, my classmates and I sometimes went out for Indian food.. which was very delicious. University life was so pleasant, stressful and memorable in those days.
I did not have the problem of plagiarism nor difficulties to find and read academic articles. I did not seek for supervisor for help for not knowing what to do next. When I submitted my dissertation report to the client company, the Finance Director was very impressed and my supervisor also said that the report was an important piece of work for the Department. Finally, an academic articles was written and published in an academic journal [re: Ho, J.K.K. and Jackson, M.C. (1987) "Building a 'rich picture' and assessing a 'quality management' program at Thornton Printing Company", Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal 18: 381-405.]
I recount my experience here because I think this is a good example of how a dissertation project should be conducted. Throughout the process, I was confident that my University Education would enable me to address some of the company's problems competently and that my dissertation report would be of good academic quality as well. That is what I expect from my academic performance and that is what I expect from my students.
Back in 1986 when I was a student doing my final year project at the University of Hull for my Master Degree (Management Systems), I had a different experience. My supervisor, Mike, brought me to a company in Hull, and I was introduced to the Managing Director of a company in Hull. For around 2 weeks, I was authorized to interview the managers in the company. Most of the time, I took the initiative to explore the problem situation facing the company and I reported to my supervisor about my project status. I offered what what I was to do next. Most often, my supervisor made comments on my views but the intellectual thinking and the problem-solving process was very much based on my own initiative. At one point, my supervisor told me that Stafford Beer was a friend of the Managing Director and was interested in learning about my project. Fully confident of my intellectual ability, I did not feel excited or nervous about it at all.
I visited the company on a regularly basis, where the secretary frequently offered me coffees that I could not resisted.. I had a very fond memory of the project experience and was confident that my knowledge in systems thinking would enable me to product a report that has contribution to the company and the academic world.
Facility at the University was not that good; I used BBC computers in the computer centre and sometimes I used the IBM PC in the Management Systems department's own computer lab. I need to fight for the accessibility of the limited resources at the computer lab. At dinner time, my classmates and I sometimes went out for Indian food.. which was very delicious. University life was so pleasant, stressful and memorable in those days.
I did not have the problem of plagiarism nor difficulties to find and read academic articles. I did not seek for supervisor for help for not knowing what to do next. When I submitted my dissertation report to the client company, the Finance Director was very impressed and my supervisor also said that the report was an important piece of work for the Department. Finally, an academic articles was written and published in an academic journal [re: Ho, J.K.K. and Jackson, M.C. (1987) "Building a 'rich picture' and assessing a 'quality management' program at Thornton Printing Company", Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal 18: 381-405.]
I recount my experience here because I think this is a good example of how a dissertation project should be conducted. Throughout the process, I was confident that my University Education would enable me to address some of the company's problems competently and that my dissertation report would be of good academic quality as well. That is what I expect from my academic performance and that is what I expect from my students.
Comments
Post a Comment