Major Project Teaching...or Lack of It?

The Major Project module is the last of my Master's module and just like with the rest of my module's I wanted to share a little review of the teaching, however this module was very different. In all honesty, it felt like the teaching was very much missing, but on reflection it's probably very much how a master's degree module should be. Instead of being spoon fed information, it was very much a guided teaching, with the independent time to apply the skills in practice, which felt quite daunting but very much more rewarding. 

The module was supported by just 3 taught study days. These all took place online on MS Teams and consisted of 2, 2 to 3 hour lectures, with one in the morning and one in the afternoon. A couple of them, even overran into the lunch break. The topics of these were split into:

• Explanation of the Major Project
• Ethics and the Major Project
• Library session and Literature Searching

The first day was basically a run through of the assessment, requirements of the module and expectations of outcomes. It was a lot to consider, but also a little overwhelming at the time and the majority of it went over my head. I think it would have been better to have a short 1 hour session on it, and then the rest of the topic towards the end of the teaching, when I was actually thinking about writing the dissertation. The good news is the session is recorded, so I can re-watch it! 

The second session was on ethics and that would have been useful, had I not just done the research module. I felt like the majority of the teaching was very similar and therefore didn't add much, but nevertheless, it was a nice reminder. 

Similarly, the last module was on library skills, with searching for literature, referencing etc. would have been incredibly useful, however I've now done a different module for the last 5 terms so it seems a little unnecessary, but again, somewhat a nice reminder. 

Since the taught sessions, towards the start of the year, there's been monthly 2 hour seminars which are mainly question and answer sessions, but incredibly useful and nice to know where we should be and live updates of each aspect. The module lead is also incredible and on hand to answer questions any time. A quick email, and he replies within literally 24 hours, no matter what the day is. He's very helpful and overall, despite the main teaching being a little pointless at times, it's been really enjoyable.