A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

154 ❘
Teaching, supervising, learning
MAPPING THE TERRAIN
Prior to embarking on the introduction of projects or dissertations, supervisors should
review their own project management skills. There would appear to be four key questions
that supervisors need to address:
1 their own motivation in choosing a project or dissertation as a learning strategy;
2 whether to opt for a structured or unstructured project or dissertation;
3 their role as supervisor;
4 ways of broadening support for supervisees.
THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE LEARNING STRATEGY
In planning any project or dissertation, supervisors must be clear as to why they are
choosing such a method of teaching and learning to promote the aims of the learning
programme. The labour, intensity and potential for undue pressure on the supervisor
further to pursuit of the project method have been discussed elsewhere (Henry, 1994).
Cullen (2007) suggests that there is still debate about the role (and nature) of the
dissertation within courses, with a particular focus on what form the learning should
take, and how best the desired outcome can be achieved.
It is common to find that projects and dissertations form an important part of any
departmental learning and teaching strategy. Furthermore, projects and dissertations
do appear to feature as distinct evidence of a significant piece of student-centred learning
in course programmes which might otherwise appear rather traditional. There is
general agreement that projects and dissertations are best left until the latter part of the
degree programme (Jaques, 1989; Thorley and Gregory, 1994; Hammick and Acker,
1998) and, indeed, for most students, the single most significant piece of work carried
out is the final-year research project or dissertation. Not only can it assist with the
integration of subject material, but it provides an introduction to research techniques
and methods. Both Baxter Magolda (1999) and Blackmore and Cousin (2003) argue
that students involved in research-based enquiries develop more sophisticated levels
of intellectual development, with Healey (2005) suggesting that designing curricula
which develop the teaching–research nexus requires a shift from teacher focused to
students as participants in the research process. It is this unique feature of projects
and dissertations (i.e. the shift in control from supervisor to supervisee) which can offer
the greatest challenge to both student and supervisor. This shift is explored further in the
next section.