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MPDSD Master thesis evaluation spring term 2014

Preparation to start thesis work

1. Did you follow Leadership for the architectural professions - master´,,s thesis preparation course? If yes, did it help you prepare for your thesis?

yes»		4		40%
no»		6		60%

Genomsnitt: 1.6

- Really good course!» (yes)
- Interesting course but I had already decided on a topic and might have gotten further by taking the theory course. » (yes)
- The course was very well structured and provided a perfect preparation for the master thesis» (yes)
- it didn´,t help me with my topic since I changed it after the course, but the excersizes were still useful.» (yes)
- i didn"t» (no)

2. Did you follow Advanced theory and methodology - master´,,s thesis preparation course? If yes, did it help you prepare for your thesis?

yes»		2		25%
no»		6		75%

Genomsnitt: 1.75

- I took a different topic than my thesis but it helped doing research and writing. » (yes)
- Yes, it defensively helped me to find my subject! and some point have been thought in writing an academic text which was so important to know! » (yes)
- i didn"t» (no)

Information

3. What is your opinion about the information and guidance before starting your thesis?

very good»		5		50%
good»		3		30%
bad»		1		10%
very bad»		0		0%
no opinion»		1		10%

Genomsnitt: 1.9

- Could have had better information on end result expectations and different types of theses - researchbased, designbased, processbased, etc.» (good)

4. What is your opinion about the information regarding the different procedures from start to final public presentation?

very good»		3		30%
good»		5		50%
bad»		1		10%
very bad»		0		0%
no opinion»		1		10%

Genomsnitt: 2.1

- Could be VERY useful to get the dates for ALL HANDINS in advance, and not one week before...» (good)
- The information was there but I sometimes reflected on that it came late (such as dates for deadlines before final seminar and a mail on a weekend asking for a final report to prove that I had completed the requirement. A report I didn"t know we were supposed to hand in before the public presentation). » (good)

5. What is your opinion about the information you have recieved, regarding the requirements of a master´,s thesis?

very good»		1		10%
good»		6		60%
bad»		2		20%
very bad»		0		0%
no opinion»		1		10%

Genomsnitt: 2.4

- The information was good but a bit "fluffy". It feel like many requirements are open for interpretation and that they differ a lot between different examiners.» (good)
- It took me some time to understand what an abstract/a summary are, even if we were asked many times to write them!» (good)
- maybe because I didn"t follow any of the preparation courses. nevertheless this information must be clear and available to everyone.» (bad)
- It"s in one word vague. It"s not necessarily a bad thing with flexibility and I think it"s impossible to set up rigid requirement in a context with such varying types of projects. What I do think is that it could be a more important part of the discussion with examiner and tutor (if the aim is to have clearer requirements). Part of it is also that the school quite naturally offers the "best" theses as examples but with the current focus on all qualities and presentation techniques in all projects is difficult to combine in a healthy way with inviting good speakers to present one year theses, show pictures of models that another person had four friends to build and display reports that either took months to prepare or were put together by relatives working with design, all in the name of good examples. Couple this with an enthusiastic approach to the exhibition and with the fact that some but not all studios have one year projects disguised as half year theses and it starts to become a little difficult to separate the ridiculous aims from requirements. Focus? Aim with the projects for the school? Is it learning, advancing the field or marketing the school? What if you could choose only one? Conclusions, exhibition or report? Choose one?» (no opinion)

Thesis work, supervision and examination

6. One of the learning objectives for the master´,,,,s thesis is stated below. Has the objective been reached?

10 svarande

yes, it has been fulfilled»		5		50%
It has mostly been fulfilled»		4		40%
It has partly been fulfilled»		1		10%
no, it has not been fulfilled»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.6

7. One of the learning objectives for the master´,,,,s thesis is stated below. Has the objective been reached?

10 svarande

yes, it has been fulfilled»		6		60%
It has mostly been fulfilled»		3		30%
It has partly been fulfilled»		1		10%
no, it has not been fulfilled»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.5

8. One of the learning objectives for the master´,,,,s thesis is stated below. Has the objective been fulfilled?

10 svarande

yes, it has been fulfilled»		6		60%
It has mostly been fulfilled»		4		40%
It has partly been fulfilled»		0		0%
no, it has not been fulfilled»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.4

9. What is your opinion about the mid-term seminar?

very good»		5		50%
good»		4		40%
bad»		1		10%
very bad»		0		0%
no opinion»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.6

- It is important to know where we are compared to the other students, and to have feedback from the examiner. It is important to know at that stage if we are goin in the right direction.» (very good)
- Good to have a chance to get feed-back before the final hand-in. Maybe a bit unclear wha the focus was on the mid-term seminar? Was it the planning/ the process, or the design? I tried to get feed-back on my planning and process - was I on the right way according to my goals, or did OI need to shift focus for example?, but I felt that my tutor only wanted to comment on the design, and I didn´,t feel that I got the feedback that I had hoped for during the mid-term seminar.» (very good)
- Liane Thuvander has made a woderful job. She gave me full feedback.» (very good)
- Good format, but would have been nice to now the date for delivery and presentation more in advance. One week before is not acceptable.» (good)
- Would have been better if there had been a short quarter-term meeting that could be followed up in the mid-term meeting. » (good)
- it could be more useful if we had a detailed presentation of how to show the work which is done and how to show the ones which is remain. specially the second one was a bit confusing!» (good)
- It was a good opportunity to check the ongoing process and methods» (good)

10. What is your opinion about the mandatory critics from your student colleagues at the midterm seminar?

very good»		2		22%
good»		4		44%
bad»		1		11%
very bad»		0		0%
no opinion»		2		22%

Genomsnitt: 2.55

- Useful to read someone elses material, but also hard not to compare it with your own work even though the subject is completely different.» (good)
- It forces us to read other thesis and have a critical point of view on external work —, and therefore on ours. » (good)
- I didn"t have any.» (no opinion)

11. What is your opinion about the final seminar (examination), and are you satisfied with the jury´,,s comments about your work?

very satisfied»		7		77%
satisfied»		1		11%
unsatisfied»		1		11%
very unsatisfied»		0		0%
no opinion»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.33

- Very good, useful critic. The internal jury were maybe a bit diffuse but the external was excellent!» (very satisfied)
- Having a relevant jury added fresh perspectives. » (very satisfied)
- We present our thesis in he best conditions (psychologically and the environment, organization, equipment is very good)» (very satisfied)
- the jury was very competent, the critique very the jury was very competent, consisting of professionals with different backgrounds, the critique very adequate» (very satisfied)
- I felt that I did no get time to comment/discuss what the jury wanted me to change and why. When the verdict was delivered the jury was dissolved very quickly and dissapered. I would have liked to have been given 5-10 min when they called me back in again, to discuss with the jury. Instead everybody but my examinor had left and my examinor was in a hurry. So, I just did what I was asked to do, to pass, even though I didn´,t agree on all the critique I received.» (unsatisfied)

12. What is your opinion about the tutoring from your supervisor?

very good»		4		44%
good»		3		33%
bad»		2		22%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.77

- My tutor was Inger Lise and she was very engaged while also leaving initiates for me to take and adding in suggestions of how to underpin ideas. It is clear however that it would not have been possible to give such good support had she limited it to the time allotted from the school. » (very good)
- First part of my thesis he didn´,t help me - he said it wasn´,t his field and that I would contact him once I had started with the design itself, which I did very late - my project was mainly research based. Anyway, once I did arrive at the design phase he was good and helpful. I think he was not the right tutor for my thesis and that is why we both felt uncomfortable with the situation - me because I didn´,t get the help I needed, and him because it wasn´,t his field so he couldn´,t help me as much as he wanted to perhaps.» (good)
- The enthusiasm were very good but he was not at all in sync with the examiner, which made my life a living hell the last few weeks (after getting tutoring from the examiner). Would have been good if they talked when the semester started and made some common guidelines.» (bad)

13. What is your opinion about the tutoring from your examinor?

very good»		6		66%
good»		3		33%
bad»		0		0%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.33

- Very engaged and had good critic. Maybe too accurant and "picky" and sometimes it was hard to know what changes were mandatory and what were personal opinions.» (very good)
- Tutoring was good but communication was difficult (and still is). I had Lisa Brunnström as examiner and although I got brilliant comments, the written comments from the mid-term seminar came one week before final seminar hand-ins (very well written though, if a little broad). I was not happy with her performance at the public presentation and many who were there has reflected on it as well. If they are to say anything at all the examiners should spur the discussion. » (good)

14. Did you experience any discrimination during your master´,,,s thesis work?

9 svarande

No, never»		8		88%
It happened»		0		0%
Sometimes»		0		0%
Very frequently»		1		11%

Genomsnitt: 1.33

- I wouldn"t say during the master thesis, but during the whole course. Specially from the Swedish students (who declare themselves free of prejudice) There were frequent moments when I had to prove I was able to do things. They didn"t believe my capacity and I had to prove myself over and over again all the time. Also they aren"t ready to receive different points of view and ways to work. If you don"t work the way they do, they judge you as lazy or incapable. In my country for example, students work and study at the same time, so we never take 8 hours per day doing school work. We learn how to optimize our time and share tasks and later on bring the work together, that wasn"t accepted at all in most groups I proposed it, and instead a whole group had to work together in each sentence written on the reports. This is unreal in real life (career) but I guess they"ll find that out later. I was extremely bored and the work was pedant, slow, uninteresting and always leaded by the swedes (and most of them were extremely authoritary and didn"t hear anyone else but other swedes since they thought the same way). I did notice a big difference of treatment between me and another girl from south america and how and american student or a new Zealander was treated. They were respected even if they did or not a good job. With me and her they for some reason believed we weren"t capable. I had to prove them wrong over and over again. I risk to say that in this master program I met the most unpleasant classmates that ever crossed my path.» (Very frequently)

Exhibition, public presentation and the role of the censors

15. What is your opinion about the organization of the exhibition?

very good»		2		22%
good»		5		55%
bad»		0		0%
very bad»		2		22%
no opinion»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 2.22

- We had very little time to prepare for the exhibition as we focused on the booklet (MPDSD)» (good)
- It was complex to plan it and make it happen the way we want (timewise). But Tabita did a fantastic job!» (good)
- too much weight was given on that» (good)
- When in MPDSD the focus is on the report/booklet and not on the exhibition. The whole exhibition is a very big source of extra stress in an already stressful working environment. Please don"t push students to have a specific plan for the exhibition right after the mid seminar and please understand that doing both a perfect booklet AND an exhibition feels like making two master thesises. (Compare to MPARC who"s "only" doing the exhibition and are working their ases of to finish in time and don"t have to worry about the booklet until after - we expected to to both!?! It"s not realistic)» (very bad)
- My work was turned to the corridor where no one went.» (very bad)

16. What is your opinion about the presence of the censor at your presentation?

very good»		1		11%
good»		6		66%
very bad»		1		11%
bad»		1		11%

Genomsnitt: 2.22

- Nice to get an overall/general/outsiders opinion of my work.» (good)
- I had more interesting perspectives from other sensors that I spoke to. » (good)
- everything lovely, but the fact that my censor dind´,t ask anything at all about Chalmers and the education, but rather gave me a second critique on my project, which I did not expect. Both good and bad. I was happy to get a Latinamerican professional to comment on my project in Latinamerica.» (good)
- They commented on things that weren"t even part of my work.» (bad)

17. What is your opinion about the value of the public presentation?

very good»		6		75%
good»		2		25%
bad»		0		0%
very bad»		0		0%
no opinion»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.25

- It feels ery mich that we graduated, it"s a celebration. » (very good)
- A nice opportunity to present for your family and friends.» (good)

18. What is your opinion about the administration and coordination of all the events from registration to final presentation?

very good»		3		33%
good»		5		55%
bad»		1		11%
very bad»		0		0%
no opinion»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.77

- The next step would be to collect all the dates in a more comprehensive way that "hundreds of mails". » (good)
- It was ok, but printing all those forms, finding the people and delivering to them was a bit confusing.» (good)
- Time schedule were not on time and this adds on stress on an alredy stressful semester. Although very helpful when in trouble and when changes needed to be made.» (bad)

Possible improvements

19. What should be preserved for the future?

20. What should be changed in the future?

21. What is your overall opinion of the master thesis work process?

very good»		5		55%
good»		3		33%
bad»		0		0%
very bad»		1		11%
no opinion»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.66

- I"m proud of what we accomplish at the school and I"m over all impressed by the efforts and engagement of the staff even in projects they are not tutoring. » (very good)
- Skulle aldrig göra om detta och jag är väldigt imponerad över mig själv för att klara mig igenom detta med hyfsad mental hälsa (förutom en ofantlig trötthet som först nu börjar ge sig). Stressnivån MÅSTE sänkas och direktiven MÅSTE bli tydligare samtidigt som ni borde se över examinatorernas och handledarnas jämnhet. Det är inte okej examinatorerna har olika "regler" (eller personliga uppfattningar?).» (very bad)