Come one, come all to the Dissertation Festival!

Monday 2 June – Friday 6 June, 2014

The Dissertation Festival is being held in our programme wiki space at http://holyroodpark.pbworks.com/The%20Dissertation%20Festival and in Collaborate.

The Festival is a chance for students on the programme to share their thoughts on their dissertation in the lead up to their submission date.  It’s also an opportunity to hear tales from alumni, tips from tutors and ideas from peers on how to survive and thrive through the dissertation process.

The Festival is a place for sharing ideas, issues and inspirations with each other.

All programme participants and alumni are very, very welcome!

View and feedback on student work

If you can’t make it to the synchronous sessions, you can still view students’ presentations and leave comments through the wiki (from Monday 2 June, those spaces are still under construction just now!). Feedback is greatly welcomed and will help folks refine their ideas as they grapple with the challenge of writing up their research.

Synchronous events

We  have two events with alumni and tutors looking at:

• Surviving and thriving through the dissertation process (Monday 2 June 8pm-9pm BST)
• Writing up and daring to be multimodal (Tuesday 3 June 8pm-9pm BST)

We also have two sessions chock full of students’ fascinating work on topics ranging from identity formation, collaborative authoring, art experiences, ideas of community and promoting reflection on learning.

• Work in progress dissertation presentations on Thursday 5 June (8pm-9.30pm BST)

*Nicola Ashton – Using certainty-based marking in online professional development to promote more effective post-course reflection among nurses
*Sally Dawson – Building connections: investigating expectations and experiences in distance learning:  how do connectedness and community impact on the distance experience?
*Daisy Giles – Identity Formation of Novice English as a Foreign Language Teachers in Online Discussion Forums

• Work in progress dissertation presentations on Friday 6 June (8pm-9pm BST)

*Charmaine McKenzie – How did participants’ experience on the OA11 wiki affect their views on collaborative authoring?
*Gina Fierlafjin Reddie – Are ‘Friends’ Electric: exploring social media spaces that locate and shape online art experiences

Find out more and sign up for these events at http://holyroodpark.pbworks.com/The%20Dissertation%20Festival

Please remember to check you can access Collaborate for the synchronous events (a how-to is at http://holyroodpark.pbworks.com/Checklist-for-Collaborate )

See you at the Festival!

Come one, come all to our wonderful MSc in E-Learning Dissertation Festival!

The Dissertation Festival is a chance for students on the MSc in E-Learning programme to share their thoughts on their dissertation in the lead up to their submission date: it’s a place for sharing ideas, issues and inspirations with each other.

When
All next week – Monday 30 July to Friday 3 August.  We have a range of synchronous events (using voice, so do check your setup beforehand!).  But we also have space for asynchronous activity throughout too.

Note:  all times are UK times.

Where
Everything is happening at our specially Island in Second Life at. (You can take a quick peek at the  building in process at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vue%20South/191/58/24 but we won’t have all the student materials up until the Festival start date)

Events
The Festival kicks off with a chat about the dissertation process.

Monday 30 July 2012  10:00-11:00
Pop in for a glass of champagne, a poster viewing and a chance to sit and have a chat with tutors and students about the dissertation process.  We’ll cover the more immediate concerns of those about to submit, to debriefs about the dissertation process and more general questions for those about to start their Mighty Work.

We then have a wonderfully rich range of dissertation and work-in-progress presentations throughout the week.  Come along to as many as you like!

Monday 30 July 2012
14:00-15:00

• Mark Dransfield – Exploring attitudes to and facilitating cultural change around electronic assignment submission, marking and feedback.
• Emma King – Exploring staff perceptions of e-learning: the use of e-learning, drivers and perceived barriers to its adoption

Tuesday 31 July 2012
16:00-17:00

• Nicola Osborne – Continuous professional development in collaborative social media spaces
• Paul Salaman – Blended learning for Africa: A pilot study of on-line seminars at a Tanzanian University.

Wednesday 1 August 2012
16:00-17:00

• Austin Tate – Activity in context: Planning to keep learners ‘in the zone’ for scenario-based mixed-initiative training
• Jo-Anne Murray – Students use and perception of Second Life

Thursday 2 August 2012
18:00-19:30

• Noreen Dunnett – Twitter as a place for learning: An examination of the relationship between context, technology and learning with trainee teachers on placement
• Sharon Boyd  – Green electracy: Using digital literacy tools to facilitate reflection in sustainable education
• James MacKay – implementing iPad initiatives:  Organizational considerations, student use, teacher use and pedagogical implications.

Friday 3 August 2012
16:00-17:00

• Debbie Aitken – Medical undergraduate use of smartphones on clinical placements
• Colin Peters – A study of factors affecting summative assessment performance in an online European postgraduate medical education programme

Other ways to participate
If you can’t make any of the times for presentations, you can still view the slides, posters and fabulous haikus each student has made.  These are available on the Island throughout the Festival.  Each cluster of student materials is accompanied by a comments board – so you can leave the authors your thoughts, questions and other feedback to help them on their journey.

We’re also using our #mscel twitter tag during the week – with the stream feeding through into Second Life.

And a little extra goodness
As a special treat this year we also have a display in-world of the products of our first Summer School on writing for academic publications.  So keep an eye out for those too when you’re exploring the Island!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Back due to popular demand – the MSc in E-Learning Dissertation Festival!

What is the Dissertation Festival?

The Dissertation Festival is a chance for students on the MSc in E-Learning programme to share their thoughts on their dissertation in the lead up to their submission date: it’s a place for sharing ideas, issues and inspirations with each other.

The DissFest this year will once again happen in Second Life, from Monday 30 July to Friday 3 August.  (You can check out some pics from last year at http://tinyurl.com/3ap3v32 )

There are several ways you can get involved:

Presentations

About to submit?

This is a great opportunity for those close to submission to articulate their work in different ways and to get feedback from peers and other tutors (as well as your supervisor).  The dissertation presentations have a synchronous and asynchronous component:

• *The synchronous event is a 15 minute presentation using slides and voice in Second Life, followed by around 10-15 minutes of chat with other students, tutors and guests about your presentation.
• *The asynchronous component is a display in Second Life on our Dissertation Island.  It consists of your presentation, poster and haiku alongside a comment board so that those who couldn’t make your presentation can leave feedback for you throughout the week.

We found last year that the multiple articulations of the dissertation (poster, haiku, presentation) really helped students ‘find’ their argument.  And don’t worry if you are not comfortable with Second Life.  Marshall will be taking your materials and mounting them in SL for you (all you need to be able to do is create a powerpoint/prezi) and I will be on hand if you want to do a rehearsal or just test your voice equipment prior to the presentation.  Marshall and I will both be there ‘on the night’ as well, to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Work in progress

If a full on presentation seems too much, you can always present on a ‘Work in progress’.  This is for students who want to discuss their dissertation, but are only part-way through the research process.  It’s a more informal, shorter presentation (around 10 minutes presenting and 10 minutes for chat) which can be accompanied by slides or a single graphic, but could also just be voice.

Just come along

You can also get involved in the Festival by coming along as an audience member, willing to give feedback and ask useful questions for our presenters.  If you can’t make it to the presentations, you can still visit the island in Second Life throughout the whole week and leave comments on presenters’ noteboards in-world.

We will also have an event ‘A dialogue on the dissertation process’

This is a two part synchronous voice event. The first part will be about starting the dissertation process, where we are hoping those mid and close to finding the dissertation will share their experiences with those about to kick off their dissertation study.  The second part if for those coming close to completion and is a chance to debrief the write up process and ask all those niggly questions that start to loom alongside the submission deadline.

This event will be proceeded by a champagne viewing of the displays in Second Life.

How to get involved

If you would like to be involved as a presenter, let me know – clara.oshea@ed.ac.uk.  Marshall and I will follow up with you about your topic, times that suit you, requirements for the Festival and whatever tech support you might need.

If you want to come along as an audience member, then just keep an eye out for a programme of events – that’ll be up about a fortnight before the Festival commences

Cheerio

Clara and Marshall

aka Klara and Pancha in Second Life