Welcome. In this week’s sessions, we’re going to start thinking about the capstone, and how to carry out a project of which you are truly proud.
Today we’ll be doing the following:
- Checking in, and getting to know each other
- Looking at the syllabus and talking about the capstone course
- Talking about how we’re going to work in these sessions — they are collective workshops, so this is not a taught course.
- Exploring the rubric (which is only a draft) to think about the range of possible projects that are open to you.
- Sketching out some initial ideas
Checking In
How are you all? I’ll give you a chance to check in with each other in small groups. You can chat informally about anything. You have around six minutes. If you have any questions about the course that come up in the group, you can note them down.
Getting to Know Each Other
Let’s go round and introduce. We’re going to form a community of research, reflection and practice over the coming year, so the more we can connect, the better. So, for now, I want you to tell me the following:
- Your preferred name
- Your full name registered with Parami (if it is Burmese, please type the Burmese in the chat… It’ll help me learn)
- Any preferred pronouns
- Where you are in the world
- What you had for lunch today
- What is one of your greatest obsessions?
- Anything else you want to tell us!
Any Questions?
Any questions so far?
Syllabus
Let’s now look through the syllabus, as a way to introduce the course!
These sessions
These sessions are going to be collaborative. We’ll be honing some of your research and writing skills in the first part of the first semester, and after that, we’ll be giving more and more time to collaborative work. Here are a few things to bear in mind:
- These sessions will be very collaborative. This isn’t a class where I tell you what is what. Instead, it’s a forum where you can bring your research questions, ideas, thoughts, problems and questions, and we can together help you navigate through these.
- There will be a RESEARCH DIARY on the Canvas discussion board. This will be WEEKLY, and will count for your participation grade, so it will directly impact your final grade. There is a HARD deadline for this. The diary must be completed by 5pm ICT on every Friday (except the semester breaks). I will not allow any extensions, so please let me know in advance if there are going to be any issues. If you are in an area with poor internet, get into the habit of posting 24 hours in advance, so you can catch any problems early.
- Your faculty advisor will grade your final capstone, which will be double-graded by one of the capstone course instructors. This double-grading is to ensure fairness.
- We’ll talk more about the faculty advisors later in the semester, but the idea is that you have one faculty member who you work with to get advice and direction on your project. This doesn’t prevent you getting advice from elsewhere. So the way it works is this:
a) Faculty advisors give advice on individual projects
b) Capstone course instructors are responsible for overall delivery of the course, and for working with the cohort as a whole to support the capstone process.
5. We’ll start this semester with some exploration of the following, before moving into the research phase:
a) shaping our ideas
b) research skills
c) approaches to writing
Exploring the Rubric
So, what can you do for a capstone? Perhaps the best way of getting an idea of this, and of what the expectations are, is by exploring the rubric. This is only a draft, but it’s a good enough draft to get us started. Let’s have a read through together.
Ideas
Let’s talk about some ideas.
- What ideas do you have that you think are sensible and “safe”?
- What wild ideas do you have that you might be tempted to file as “too crazy”?
- What are you been interested in exploring in your university career, but you haven’t yet had a chance to explore fully?
For next time
Bring:
- One or two ideas for your capstone
- At least two questions that you have about the capstone course / process
Your Research Diary
The first deadline to fill in your research diary is Friday 4th September at 5pm ICT. I’ll provide the template for you to fill in.