Examining theses
Workshop introduction
When academics are first invited to examine a thesis, they may well feel a mixture of pride and trepidation: pride because they are now considered an authority in the field, and trepidation because of uncertainty about what standards to apply and how to approach a large task that someone else's future may depend on. Even experienced supervisors agonise over 'difficult' theses and how to assess them. These four workshops address some of these uncertainties and fears about examination of theses.
The activities in these workshop plans are intended to help both experienced and inexperienced supervisors to analyse their own experiences of and approaches to examination of theses, and to place personal experience in a broader context. The activities are based on published research on examiners' reports, as well as interview data collected from experienced supervisors.
Workshop aims
The aims of these workshops are to:
- increase supervisors' understanding of the assessment of theses, in particular: the conventions of writing examination reports on theses, the approaches of experienced examiners, and the standards they apply
- improve the quality of examiners' reports
- help supervisors explain to students what examiners are looking for
Workshop options
A number of different introductory and main activities make up the three Examining Theses workshops. You may use the workshop plan options suggested below, or mix and match the activities to suit your purposes.
- Workshop plan 1a: Short discussion session for experienced examiners (PDF File 155k)
(Word File) (Approximately 1 hour)- Activity 1a: Participants discuss their own approaches to examining theses.
Professor Mark Tennant has used research conducted by Margaret Kiley and Gerry Mullins to structure a discussion for experienced supervisors. The questions posed to the group in this workshop are based on both Kiley & Mullins (2001) and Buckridge (2001)
- Activity 1a: Participants discuss their own approaches to examining theses.
- Workshop plan 1b: Discussion session based on PowerPoint presentation, for inexperienced examiners or mixed groups (PDF File 152k) (Powerpoint slides 227k) (Word File) (Approximately 1 1/2 hours)
- Activity 1b: A short presentation and discussion about the key features of being an examiner of theses and dissertations. Mainly for inexperienced examiners and supervisors, but discussion could be directed toward the concerns of experienced examiners and supervisors.
- A set of powerpoint slides is provided. This presentation emanated from recorded conversations of experienced examiners at Deakin University, talking on a series of matters facing beginning examiners.
- Activity 1b: A short presentation and discussion about the key features of being an examiner of theses and dissertations. Mainly for inexperienced examiners and supervisors, but discussion could be directed toward the concerns of experienced examiners and supervisors.
- Workshop plan 2: Study and discussion of three successful examiners' reports, for inexperienced and mixed groups of examiners (PDF File 245k) (Word File) (Approximately 3 hours)
- Introduction 1: Participants recall their own experiences of receiving examiners' reports
- Activity 2: Participants study and discuss three examiners' reports on a straightforward successful but not flawless thesis
- Activity 3: The workshop concludes with a discussion about what examiners typically say in their reports (based on publications by Sue Johnston and Peggy Nightingale)
- Introduction 1: Participants recall their own experiences of receiving examiners' reports
- Workshop plan 3: Study and discussion of a difficult examiner's report, for experienced and mixed groups of examiners (PDF File 142k) (Word File) (Approximately 2 hours)
- Introduction 2: Participants discuss their own approaches to examining theses (a short version of Activity 1).
- Activity 4: Participants study and discuss a difficult examiner's report. They then discuss their own university's procedures for deciding outcomes
(You need Acrobat Reader to open these pdf files. You can download it free from Adobe.)
- Introduction 2: Participants discuss their own approaches to examining theses (a short version of Activity 1).
Acknowledgements
These workshop plans were developed by:
Dr Peggy Nightingale, fIRST Consortium
With assistance from:
- Professor Mark Tennant, Dean, School of Graduate Studies, University of Technology, Sydney
for Activity 1a
- Professor Terry Evans, Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Education, for the PowerPoint slide presentation based on conversations about examining by experienced examiners at Deakin University (Activity 1b).
- Ms Margaret Buckridge, Griffith Institute for Higher Education, Griffith University
for providing a draft of her paper from the HERDSA conference, July 2001
- Dr Margaret Kiley, CEDAM, ANU, and
Dr Gerry Mullins, Advisory Centre University Education, University of Adelaide
for the paper they presented to the Deans & Directors of Graduate Studies, Fremantle, May 2001