I denne kvalitative studien undersøkes hvordan masteroppgavene kan bidra til kunnskapsbasen i helsefremmende arbeid. Studien er basert på en gjennomgang av masteroppgaver i helsefremmende arbeid fra ...perioden 2008 – 2018 ved ett universitet i Norge, samt et fokusgruppeintervju med den akademiske faggruppen tilknyttet dette masterstudiet. Data er analysert ved hjelp av innholdsanalyse. Analysen viser at masteroppgavene speiler emnet som beskrevet i internasjonale konsensusdokumenter om undervisning og forskning i helsefremmende arbeid, og svarer på forskningsbehov relatert til helsefremmende praksis. For at masteroppgavene skal kunne bidra til fagets forskningsbase, kreves fagfellevurderte publikasjoner. Slike publikasjoner forutsetter innsats fra både studenten og veilederen, noe som kan være en utfordring for begge parter på grunn av mangel på ressurser. Det er behov for organisatorisk tilrettelegging for å skape en kultur for publisering av masteroppgaver i vitenskapelige tidsskrifter. Abstract Master’s theses as important contributions to knowledge-based health promotion? This qualitative study examines how master's theses can contribute to the knowledge base of health promotion. The study is based on a review of master's theses published from 2008 – 2018 in one university in Norway, and a focus group interview with university academics working at the current health promotion program. Data were analyzed using content analysis. The analysis shows that the master's theses mirror the subject matter as described in international consensus documents on teaching and research on health promotion. In addition, they provide new knowledge about local health promotion practice and research needs. For master's theses to be able to contribute to the research base, peer-reviewed publications are required. Such publications require efforts from both the student and the supervisor and can be difficult to achieve due to lack of resources. There is a need for organizational support to create a culture for publishing master’s theses in scientific journals.
Abstract Introduction Academic failure and dropout are pervasive challenges at all levels of the education system. Research so far pointed out different aspects of this large phenomenon. On the one ...hand, some scholars have argued that social support is a key factor to foster learning and persistence. On the other hand, some other scholars have rather highlighted the role of student motivation and engagement itself in improving performance on academic tasks. In this article, we tested theoretical models that combine the two approaches in a whole process. Aims We aimed at clarifying (1) the specific contribution of several sources of perceived social support to academic performance, and (2) the mediation role of motivation and engagement in the relationships between perceived social support and performance. Method The sample consisted of 226 last year university students. Structural equation modeling analyses were used to test the hypothesized associations. Results Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that institutional and supervisor support were associated with motivation, which in turn predicted greater behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement. Further, behavioral engagement was the unique contributor of academic performance at the master's thesis. Conclusion The results clarify the specific contribution of different sources of perceived social support and underline the importance of the supervisor and the institution. They also underline the importance of considering different sources of perceived social support at the same time. Finally, theoretical assumptions concerning the mediational role of motivation were confirmed.
Background Data commentary, in-text comments on the visual presentation of data, is acknowledged as a central aspect of academic writing in many engineering disciplines. At the same time, it is a ...feature that has been shown to be challenging for students. One of the genres in which data commentary plays a significant role in many engineering disciplines is the master's thesis. Comparatively little research has been done on the process of master thesis supervision, and combining the study of data commentary and master's thesis supervision is therefore particularly interesting.
Purpose This study explores the challenges of data commentary writing through interviews with master's students and thesis supervisors of chemical engineering.
Sample and method Master's students at a Swedish university were invited to participate in a workshop about the writing of data commentary. Nine master's students and five supervisors were interviewed about what is difficult and important about writing data commentaries in their discipline as well as about decisions made in data commentaries written by the students. The interviews were divided into a semi-structured and a discourse-based part.
Results Our results indicate that data commentary comes with a variety of challenges. Among the most difficult and important aspects are selection of content and clarity. The study also indicates a close connection between data commentary and disciplinary learning in chemical engineering, suggesting that highlighting data commentary in the teaching of master's thesis writing will be time well spent.
Conclusions In order to make the teaching and learning of data commentary effective in the context investigated, we propose that important measures are: the development of a shared metalanguage among students and supervisors, a genre approach, and collaboration between engineering and communication faculty.
The article presents the Belgorod region experiment in working with gifted postgraduate students and describes the methodical support directions during their postgraduate professional activity.
This paper addresses the reasons why a growing number of students are failing to complete their final master dissertations/thesis. It analyses the final Master's Course Thesis (TFM, Trabajo Fin de ...Máster) on the Masters in Advanced Business Management Studies course (MUEADE, Máster Universitario en Estudios Avanzados en Dirección de Empresas) at the University of Seville, which has a 100% success rate (the number of passes over students who completed the Master's Thesis). However, the same is not true of the performance rate (the number of students completing the thesis over the number of students enrolled on the course), which means that a large number of students do not receive their Master's Degrees. Using results from a survey of final year TFM students and of their course supervisors, this paper seeks to better understand the reasons why students are dropping out before completing their final thesis with a view to taking corrective actions.
Constructive master's thesis work in industry Knauss, Eric
2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET),
05/2021
Conference Proceeding
Context: Software engineering researchers and practitioners rely on empirical evidence from the field. Thus, education of software engineers must include strong and applied education in empirical ...research methods. For most students, the master's thesis is the last, but also most applied form of this education in their studies.
Problem: Especially thesis work in collaboration with industry requires that concerns of stakeholders from academia and practice are carefully balanced. It is possible, yet difficult to do high-impact empirical work within the timeframe of a typical thesis. In particular, if this research aims to provide practical value to industry, academic quality can suffer. Even though constructive research methods such as Design Science Research (DSR) exist, thesis projects repeatably struggle to apply them.
Principle solution idea: DSR enables balancing such concerns by providing room both for knowledge questions and design work. Yet, only limited experience exists in our field on how to make this research method work within the context of a master's thesis. To enable running design science master's theses in collaboration with industry, this paper complements existing method descriptions and guidelines. It offers experience and pragmatic advice to students, examiners, and supervisors in academia and industry.
Method: This paper itself is based on DSR. Based on 12 design science theses over the last seven years, common pitfalls and good practices are collected from analysing the theses, the student-supervisor interaction, the supervisor-industry interaction, the examiner feedback, and, where available, reviewer comments on publications that are based on such theses.
Results: This paper provides concrete advise for framing research questions, structuring a report, as well as for planning and conducting design science research with practitioners.
This paper proposes co-designing personas with users as a strategy to overcome a challenge inherent in the design of personas or fictitious users: On one hand, personas should appear realistic and ...believable as individuals, and on the other hand, personas should represent a broader range of users. By involving empirical users in all parts of the process of persona design, the risk of creating personas that are too stereotypical is minimized, as the participating users enrich the data on which the personas are based with up-to-date and firsthand contextual knowledge. Advantages of co-designing personas with users is illustrated by a case from higher education in which personas were co-designed with students as part of a project aiming at designing a smartphone application for Master's thesis students.
La formación del profesorado en Educación Superior se fundamenta actualmente en el desarrollo de competencias, entendidas como el compendio de saberes, destrezas y recursos necesarios para ofrecer ...una respuesta adecuada ante situaciones educativas concretas. Desde esta perspectiva, y con el fin de contribuir a la mejora de la calidad formativa en los estudios de posgrado universitario en el ámbito de la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera (ELE), examinamos cien Trabajos Fin de Máster (TFM) del Máster en Lingüística Aplicada a la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera (MLAEELE) de la Universidad de Jaén con el principal objetivo de establecer la posible relación y adecuación de los temas y las líneas de investigación de los TFM con la clasificación de las competencias clave del profesorado (CCP) del Instituto Cervantes (2012). Todo ello para extraer conclusiones que puedan servir como orientación en la configuración de un currículo formativo basado en competencias docentes en otros programas de formación del profesorado de ELE. Partimos de hipótesis como la posible correlación entre las temáticas y las líneas de investigación de los TFM con las competencias clave del profesorado, la influencia de ciertas variables, como la edad, el sexo o la experiencia previa en la selección de estos temas y líneas, o la mejora del programa formativo mediante la adecuación de estas líneas y temáticas a los intereses del alumnado. En nuestro estudio, con un enfoque mixto de integración múltiple cualitativo y cuantitativo, además de dichos temas, líneas y competencias, analizamos su correlación con diversas variables, como la edad, el sexo, la nacionalidad y la experiencia previa de los alumnos. El análisis descriptivo y relacional de los datos constata evidentes tendencias y relaciones, tanto entre las competencias, temas y líneas, como entre estos y las variables consideradas.
The purpose of this article was to explain a process for embedding an article within a master student's thesis or paper. Embedding an article within the thesis or paper eliminates some of the work ...that comes with condensing and revising a master's paper into a publishable article. Once the student is aware of the format and the expectation of a publishable article, a target journal should be identified. Authorship is an element that needs to be carefully considered. This should be discussed at or before the proposal meeting and should be in the form of a written agreement. A final consideration is to determine what will happen if the graduate student does not take the initiative to publish.
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