Welcome back!
We’ll start with a check-in for ten minutes, just to say hello, and to talk about how it is going, and any problems that you are having.
Some feedback
This is a list mainly for me to remember things I want to mention. I’ve read through your submissions on Canvas, and I’ve given you feedback. A few themes have come up a few times. I’ll talk through some of these:
- Time pressures, stress and time management
- Deciding on a topic
- Fear of getting it wrong
- Keeping your project focussed (you are not writing War&Peace, or building a complete template for Myanmar’s future, or writing a 4 season TV series, or a 7 volume academic monograph: this may be the start of your life’s work, but it is not the whole of it).
- Starting from what you know — your expertise and interests. A capstone is not a whole new building, it is a final stone in the great edifice you have been building.
- The IRB process
- The research diary.
Looking in More Detail at the Rubric
At this point, it may be useful to look in more detail at the rubric, so you can get an idea of what kinds of project are possible. We introduced this just a little last time, but I’m going to talk through the whole thing! Bear with me, we only have to do this once!
Any questions?
Timescale
Just so you know what timescale we’re runinng on, your first milestone, the brief project proposal, will be due around the 6th October. This gives you a month to work through ideas, so there is plenty of time—but only if you get started now, and work consistently.
Sharing your initial ideas
I asked you to bring the following to today’s class.
Despite my protests that I wouldn’t use Padlet, here we are. I’m going to get you to put these on padlet — because padlet is pretty, and a good way of visualising what everyone is up to. You have 20 minutes. Feel free to comment on other people’s posts if you have finished posting.
https://padlet.com/paramiuniversity/capstone
Discussion of Ideas
We’ll talk about these in the main group. I’m particularly interested in the projects that you admire.
Breakout Rooms
At this stage, you may be in one of three situations:
- I roughly know what I want to do for my capstone, and want to talk it through.
- I still haven’t settled on an idea.
- I have specific questions that I need to ask you!
I’ll open up rooms for 1 & 2, which you can choose to join, and I’ll be here for group 3. Again, I’ll give you 20-30 minutes.
What’s Next?
Your research diary needs to be completed by the deadline on Canvas. Please check the deadline in your time-zone. Next week, we’re going to be talking about research skills, starting with good old-fashioned on-paper research. We’ll also have plenty more time to talk about your emerging projects.
Remember the rules on the Thursday sessions. You are expected to be working on your capstone, but these classes are more free-form (and content-free) sessions for mutual help and support. Read the announcement on Canvas for how attendance monitoring is going to work here. If you do not follow the rules, you will be marked absent.