Dr Ray Stoneham Dr Mary Kiernan School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences University of Greenwich

Goldilocks Principle

:

"Something must fall within certain margins, as opposed to reaching extremes"

Too laid back Just right Too demanding The Student Goldilocks Three Project Supervisors

The Challenge

 How to ensure  All students get the necessary support in a timely and appropriate manner - no "ghost students"  All supervisors provide the necessary support to all their students – no "rogue supervisors"  Administrative systems can manage the volume of data  Problems are identified early so the project coordinators can take any necessary action  Managers get Quality Assurance

The Scope

307 Greenwich Undergraduate project students – Regular project lectures throughout year – Single hand-in date (March) + resit (August) 480 Greenwich Postgraduate project students – – Focussed project lectures at beginning Hand-ins Sept, Jan, April, August

The Resources

 Supervisors at Greenwich typically have 10 project students per year  Intranet site contains supporting material  An active discussion forum  An undergraduate coordinator and postgraduate coordinator manage the process with minimal administrative support  Technical support by CMS Technicians

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The Early Stages

Student applies for a supervisor and suggests an outline topic Supervisor is allocated Student keeps online blog (diary) Supervisor records meetings eSupervision system used to record communication (not email) At any stage a student can use the Enquiries system for a general project enquiry

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The Late Stages

Student uploads documents – Project proposal, must be accepted before continuing – Ethics approval documents, if required, which must be approved – Initial report – Interim report – Final report (PDF + ZIP) Students does demonstration /viva Supervisor and second marker record comments and grade Moderation panel record decisions

The Process

• • • • • Email used to notify student or supervisor whenever there is an upload or entry Reminder emails sent to student/ supervisor All interaction is visible to CMS staff as part of the CMS Staff Intranet Student sees all their own details as part of the CMS Student Intranet Staff have a summary page for their project students

The Evaluation

• • • • • Positive feedback from external examiners Positive feedback from students and staff Online evidence is extremely useful when dealing with complaints Constant feedback is required – Summary pages for supervisors – Automated email reminders – Exception reports for Coordinators Volume means more traditional approach is not viable

Future development

 A university "Dragon's Den" project led by Dr Mona Ghassemian  Use Skype to interact with students  Record the conversation as an MP3 file  Store in the eSupervison system  Streaming the output  Add Meta data (key words, etc.)  Speech to text conversion?

 Eliminating silences