BA Thesis Concept Seminar

BA concept seminar structure:

Instructors:

Dr Joëlle Bitton
Dr Björn Franke
Dr Antonio Scarponi
Office hours by appointment

The module takes place over 2 weeks, from 08.01.18 to 19.01.18, from Monday to Friday, 9.30-17.00 -  see timetable below for detailed hours and classrooms.
Class sessions include lectures, discussions, mentoring sessions, in-class exercises, assignments and independent study blocks.
Projects are conducted individually or with team of two students at most.

• (2) Overview and Objectives

Topic summary (a paragraph explaining the topic of the course)

Objectives set for the students: learning outcomes and expected deliverables

(1) Overview and Objectives

(2) Course Outline

Brief structure of the course or module over the semester (how the module is organised week by week or if the course is designed in 3 parts, etc)

- what does it mean to make a statement, a contribution
- thesis expansion from thesis disposition - idea generation, translation, execution
- quick prototype sessions
- prototype = pretotype
- testing out scale

(3) Expectations and Grading

See Example below:

Grades will be based on group presentations, class participation, home assignments, documentation (journal) and final work. 
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation. 
Regular attendance is required. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Final essay 30% 

Group presentations 20% 

Journal Documentation 20% 

Class participation 10% 

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.  

(5) Deliverables

See Example below:

• Oral presentations

Students must independently prepare lectures on selected texts from the week. These can be presented in different formats. 
Possible presentation formats are:

• • Live sketching
  • Demo with prototyping
  • Slides presentation
  • etc.

The presentation should include a 3-pages written discussion, made available to the class and instructor by Friday 9am, prior to the day of the class to insure a general discussion.

The paper should include title, author, date, context, summary, bibliography.

Additional sources can be added to inform the discussion if necessary.

• Final Essay

The essay is a final 2500-words essay with a diversity of sources and bibliography (classified by genre: book, book chapter, journal article, conference article, academic thesis, newspaper article, web article, etc). 

The topic of the essay is chosen by the student and proposed by Week 8 in the form of a short paragraph (100 words) explaining the topic and the questions at stake. I will inform the student if the topic is accepted in that week. The final essay has to be submitted by Week 12.

The paper should be written in English.

• Journal/Blog

A separate 'Journal' is developed by each student that reflects on learnings from the seminar. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):

• The journal should be structured in a generally comprehensible manner
• The lecture notes, including annotations, are stored
• Notes, sketches for each lesson should be included as well
  

Calendar