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Module Description/Content

This module provides the opportunity to undertake a piece of education research, with one-to-one supervision by a member of UCL academic staff. The research project may involve either review of published literature on a specified topic, or a piece of empirical research, based on data collection or secondary data analysis.

All masters students are required to submit a Dissertation or Report at the end of their final year and may choose either of the two options, Report or Dissertation.

The Report introduces students to the skills and techniques required for research and writing scholarly publications. The Report provides an opportunity to explore an issue in depth, and must be based on interrogating literature to answer clear research questions. These may be practice orientated, and/ or address professional, theoretical or policy issues. Reports are based on independent study supported by supervision. You will be supported with one-to-one supervision by a UCL academic. ÌýGuided by your supervisor, you will search literature databases, read and critically evaluate published work and present a written report of the work drawing on perspectives you will have examined in the pre-requisite ‘Conducting literature reviews for health professions education projects’ module. The topic will be one of your own choosing. It could be the one for which you developed a literature searching protocol during the pre-requisite module, but this need not be the case and you are free to pursue a different area of study for your Report.

The Dissertation introduces students to the skills and techniques required for research and writing scholarly publications. The Dissertation provides an opportunity to explore an issue in depth and must be based on research, either empirical or theoretical. This can be practice orientated, and/ or address professional or policy issues. Dissertations are based on independent study supported by supervision. You will be supported with one-to-one supervision by a UCL academic. Guided by your supervisor, you will employ skills learned in the pre-requisite ‘Writing a research proposal’ module in order construct a research proposal and secure data protection and ethics clearance for your project, before collecting and analysing data relevant to your research question. The topic will be one of your own choosing. It might be similar to the one for which you developed a research proposal during the pre-requisite module, but this need not be the case and you are free to pursue a different area of study for your Dissertation.

Delivery Method:

This module will be delivered through one-to-one virtual supervision meetings with your report/dissertation supervisor. There will also be online support via live teaching days conducted on Zoom, and online learning activities using Õ¬ÄÐÊÓƵ virtual learning environment (Moodle). The live teaching days will provide the opportunity to discuss your ideas and progress with peers and tutors, providing a high level of academic support.

Formative Assessment: Students will have regular opportunities during the synchronous workshops to present their work in order to receive peer and tutor feedback.

Students will receive formative feedback on drafts from their supervisors. This will be undertaken at times pre-arranged with supervisors, according to a supervision schedule agreed between student and supervisor, at study outset. Supervisors will require a minimum of two weeks to provide formative feedback on written work, unless otherwise agreed.

Summative Assessment: This is a 60 credits module. Students will write a Report or Dissertation of 12,000 wordsÌý (+10%).

Engagement Requirements

UCL expects students to attend all the scheduled learning events which appear on their timetable as this gives students the best chance of academic success. This includes all events set out in the Programme handbook or those provided to students during a module, including personal tutorials.

Students are expected to engage fully with their online learning, both synchronous sessions and self-directed study.Ìý Faculty require a minimum of 50% attendance of all teaching events. This minimum 50% includes all compulsory synchronous sessions on the module timetable.Ìý Synchronous sessions can only be missed in exceptional circumstances. ÌýStudents are required to notify PGME in advance if they cannot attend the compulsory sessions.

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