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Master thesis evaluation spring 2015 MPARC, ARKX03

Preparation to start thesis work

1. Did you follow the master"s thesis preparation course ARK316 Leadership for the architectural professions? Did it help you prepare for your thesis work or how do you think the course could improve?

yes»		13		61%
no»		8		38%

Genomsnitt: 1.38

- It was addressing some general philosophical questions which is a good thing. It would be stronger if those philosophical questions would be discussed through professional philosophy literature. It helps to pick a thesis topic.» (yes)
- It was very helpful to develop a project plan. Other comments were left in the evaluation of that course.» (yes)
- The course was good to start the process in your mind. Maybe the connection between project plan and leadership is not very clear, and leadership should be more incorporated earlier in the education. » (yes)
- I did not follow the preparation course.» (no)

Information

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

very good»		4		19%
good»		13		61%
bad»		3		14%
very bad»		1		4%

Genomsnitt: 2.04

- a bit late sometimes...» (good)
- I would like to know more about the teachers at Chalmers in order to choose an appropriate supervisor » (good)
- Too much different information from different sources. It seems that the staff are not on one with what a master thesis is and should contain. » (bad)
- I had a break before the thesis which led to some problems with the email-lists at Chalmers. I missed all info about the registration but was able to do it after the original deadline.» (very bad)

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

very good»		4		19%
good»		12		57%
bad»		5		23%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 2.04

- I would like to suggest to have one more seminar before the Mid-term, actually most of us have found we did too much research at the mid-term seminar, and too less design. So I suggest maybe we could have one more seminar or critique before the real mid-trem.» (very good)
- Overall it is good but the clarity on differences between the studios could improve.» (good)
- the information came a bit late...» (good)
- What one needs to produce for the different mile stones during the master thesis is well explained, however it differs from person to person - again, the staff is not on the same page with what a master thesis is and should contain. » (good)
- I do not really want to call it bad - but not good either. Rather "messy". Keep all information i ONE Place and keep it short. Now information is scattered all over the place and a lot of it is hidden in long rantings in various documents. When stressed, that is not helpful. And you are stressed when writing your thesis.» (bad)
- all the information are here, but they are not always forwarded to the teachers/students, it is sometimes hard to find them. Maybe it would be good to gather them to be able to find them in a unique place (website) » (bad)

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

very good»		4		19%
good»		14		66%
bad»		2		9%
very bad»		1		4%

Genomsnitt: 2

- it is not very consistent, it depends on who you are talking to. Maybe the staff should be more united in their opinions. » (good)
- You really should have a "no opinion-button". I knew how to write a thesis before writing my final one - so no information was needed (more than knowing what information that should go on the front cover).» (good)
- There was a lack of communication between examiner, tutor and co-ordinator. Examiner and tutor need more prep into specific roles» (bad)

Thesis work, supervision and examination

5. One of the learning objectives for the master"s thesis is stated below. Has the objective been reached?

21 svarande

yes, it has been fulfilled»		13		61%
It has mostly been fulfilled»		5		23%
It has partly been fulfilled»		1		4%
no, it has not been fulfilled»		2		9%

Genomsnitt: 1.61

- the MT is a good work to learn about yourself, methodology and organizational skills... » (yes, it has been fulfilled)
- missed scientific lectures» (It has partly been fulfilled)
- I don"t understand the question» (no, it has not been fulfilled)

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

21 svarande

yes, it has been fulfilled»		15		71%
It has mostly been fulfilled»		4		19%
It has partly been fulfilled»		1		4%
no, it has not been fulfilled»		1		4%

Genomsnitt: 1.42

- Technical and planning issues are addressed but aesthetic side in many projects receives less attention. » (It has mostly been fulfilled)
- too much focus explaining the process and "selling" the project. far too little focus on technical and architectural solutions» (It has partly been fulfilled)

7. One of the learning objectives for the master"s thesis is stated below. Has the objective been fulfilled?

21 svarande

yes, it has been fulfilled»		14		66%
It has mostly been fulfilled»		4		19%
It has partly been fulfilled»		2		9%
no, it has not been fulfilled»		1		4%

Genomsnitt: 1.52

- Some thesis projects received critique that the initial concept is more or less wrong or that the project is not relying on it"s findings in a research. I think this could be more criticized by the tutors in the process - if the conceptual problem remains project should not proceed further until problem is solved. » (It has partly been fulfilled)
- missed scientific lectures» (It has partly been fulfilled)

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

very good»		9		45%
good»		10		50%
bad»		1		5%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.6

- Being in the Matter Space Structure studio our mid-critiques were different but nonetheless very good.» (very good)
- It is good to present, both so you get an overwiew yourself, but also be able to get feedback. Maybe it could be one more occasion when you get to meet your examiner» (very good)
- should be a bit more sketchy, we loose to much time working on “,nice documents“, to present that will be modified » (good)
- room was in basement when there were free rooms far closer to studio, this meant hassle moving models. There were varying expectations to what a midcrit should be. Whether you should have a complete(ish) project or an idea or concept of where you are going. This also varied greatly between studios» (bad)

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

very good»		8		42%
good»		8		42%
bad»		3		15%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.73

- very helpful as a student critique to see someone elses work» (very good)
- It is good both to get feedback from more people, but also to read other people"s thesis. » (very good)
- Very good, however I am not sure if it fully serves its purpose or is needed. In the end, it is only the examinator and supervisors thoughts and ideas that you want and need to hear. » (good)
- not useful» (bad)
- it is a good exercice but the critics should come from somebody outside the studio. Students from the studio are friends and already know the project so well that the critics are less interesting as we"ve previously discussed about it» (bad)

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

very good»		15		71%
good»		6		28%
bad»		0		0%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.28

- I appreciated they had some time to study my work before I presented so we could get down to details quicker. good varied comments from jury. constructive criticism » (very good)
- very interesting jury members! I"m glad they took the time to get familiar with the thesis work prior to the presentation and therefore knew the point they wanted us to elaborate on! » (very good)
- Here the examinator and jury focused on the written work, the booklet, which is all good. But during the final presentation, the censors focused only on the presentation having little or no understanding of the subject, the project or the studio - which made students feel underprepared, doubting themselves and their project. » (very good)
- I wish they would have a little bit more time to read about the projects.» (good)
- External crit was very good,» (good)
- I think the critique of my thesis was correct. It would have been better though if my critics actually had read my WHOLE thesis (the theoretical part was imoprtant). It was now obvious that at least one of my critics had had too many reports to read, and just skipped large parts of them.» (good)

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

very good»		15		71%
good»		4		19%
bad»		1		4%
very bad»		1		4%

Genomsnitt: 1.42

- Björn Gross är en mentor som på ett inspirerande sätt driver processen.» (very good)
- Only negative comment is he couldn"t attend to the final seminar or public presentations, due to other commitments at school (Jonas Lundgren).» (very good)
- Always enthusiastic and pushing things forward. Excellent advice offered» (very good)
- I have had very little tutoring - but what I got was very helpful and useful. I got enough tutoring for my work.» (very good)
- All supervisors should also push a little bit harder on the design and the written word, question the student and push them to produce! » (good)
- didn"t work well, focused too much on how to explain and show the process, often things turned out to be irrelevant for the project but on his demand too much time was wasted to make him understand, almost no help for the design process» (bad)

12. What is your opinion about your examinor"s work to evaluate and give criteria for your thesis?

very good»		13		61%
good»		4		19%
bad»		4		19%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.57

- Morten Lund was very present and encouraging which I appreciated.» (very good)
- should be much more» (very good)
- It felt like examiner is mostly relying on the comments of tutor and critics, his own comments were very general and sometimes hard to relate to the discussion. » (bad)
- I had a mainly negative mid-critique as it felt like i needed to have a final project by this stage when I had mainly focused on analysis. This set me back as I began to feel negative about the project. By the final critique the evaluation was much more positive.» (bad)

13. How did the tutor and examinor function together? How would you have liked their roles to have been?

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

21 svarande

No, never»		20		95%
It happened»		1		4%
Sometimes»		0		0%
Very frequently»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.04

- No discrimination, on the other hand a great lack of diversity among examiners and tutors, most are white, middle aged men.» (No, never)
- I feel like I was discriminated because my supervisor did not like me as a person and it and it permeated the tutorials.» (It happened)

Exhibition, public presentation and the role of the censors

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

very good»		10		47%
good»		9		42%
bad»		2		9%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.61

- The organization of the exhibition was very, very good! However, since the different studios produce different amount of stuff the exhibition loses its power a bit. We should all be given one/two weeks to only work on the exhibition, if the exhibition is of such importance. Or we should all be producing the same amount of things for the final seminar. » (very good)
- The wall exhibition. The wood behind the material, all nails and pins should have been removed before we had to pin up» (good)
- maybe it could be more time for presentation and less time for comments. maybe at least 50%/50%» (good)
- The preparation was a bit confusing, but worked out well, I think.» (good)
- very good work of tabita, less good opening, bad location (should be downtown), podium discussion killed the opening, kind of boring» (good)
- I answered bad only because of the speech at the exhibition vernissage about the role of the Master Thesis work, which killed the night! Many people attending the vernissage weren"t familiar with architecture and 75% of the crowd vanished during the speech. » (bad)

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

very good»		9		42%
good»		9		42%
bad»		2		9%
very bad»		1		4%

Genomsnitt: 1.76

- I think I got a more interesting discussion from the censor than I got from my examination critic. I was very impressed with both my examiner and the censor, actually. They both contributed to the discussion and my final presentation was a very good experiance. » (very good)
- Censor was not very proficient in the field i was working on but it was not the problem to understand the project. » (good)
- bad/good. A lot of the comments are about things that are missing in the presentation. But of course you can"t present a whole MT in 20 min. Maybe the censors need to have a greater understanding of that. » (good)
- except for not having any interesting comment about the work which has been done and validated by the Chalmers jury.. » (good)
- This is something I want to say, as my censor has very limited knowledge about healthcare design, so I have to explain many basic knowledge during the presentation. And the censor has not previewed my report neither my topic, so I have not received many effective feedback during the process.» (bad)
- There were mainly good comments but I often had to go back and say something that I had already explained because the censor was writing something down the first time round. The censor really should spend more time with the projects before hand, flicking through the booklets to get a better feel of the project» (bad)
- They arrive late, uninterested, not prepared - they do not know the program, studio or project of the student which presentation they are attending - resulting in irrelevant critique. And then they give praise, during the last seminar, to different students from all studios when we are told they are not there to evaluate students work but the schools - which sends mixed signals. » (very bad)

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

very good»		7		33%
good»		11		52%
bad»		3		14%
very bad»		0		0%

Genomsnitt: 1.8

- It is a important moment that signifies the end of the thesis» (good)
- I really do not know how valuble it is, but it was fun. » (good)
- The only value I see is the evaluation of the censor.» (bad)
- was there public?» (bad)
- I do not see the point. And it takes aways time one can put down for the exhibition. » (bad)

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

very good»		6		28%
good»		10		47%
bad»		3		14%
very bad»		2		9%

Genomsnitt: 2.04

- sometimes the info is late...» (good)
- The site where we were supposed to book and so on was not functioning well. Info in emails was sometimes lacking or misleading.» (bad)
- It didn"t work. No one had responsibility for anything and you had no idea who to contact. Hard to get to the coordination, not answering the phone and mail. Confusing.» (very 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?

Work environment: time planning

22. How many hours per week have you in average been engaged in your thesis work?

51-60 h/week»		12		57%
41-50 h/week»		6		28%
30-40 h/week»		2		9%
Less than 30 h/week»		1		4%

Genomsnitt: 1.61

- Maybe more the ladt month, 70-80 h/w » (51-60 h/week)
- It changes along the process, but overall more than 60h/week Thank you for giving us access 24/7 to the school » (51-60 h/week)
- We put to much hours into this work without feeling any satisfaction or happiness afterwards. All we see is what we could have done better, what we should have thought about etc. Which is sad! » (41-50 h/week)
- My private life asks of me to be VERY vell organized in school. (But I do do my thinking inbetween workhours - counting them I probably did a lot more than 30h/week) » (Less than 30 h/week)

Work environment: other side commitments during the course, eg employment, attended other course etc

23. Enter the approximate amount of hours per week that you worked during your studies or how many hours you have spent on other commitments (excluding leisure activities)

1-5 h/week»		10		52%
6-10 h/week»		5		26%
11-15 h/week»		0		0%
16-20 h/week»		1		5%
More than 20 h/week»		3		15%

Genomsnitt: 2.05

- 0 hours» (?)
- 0 hours not an option?» (1-5 h/week)
- no other commitment during the thesis period» (1-5 h/week)
- I havn´,t done anything else but school. » (1-5 h/week)
- Kids and part time work.(Yes, I have been exhausted at times.)» (More than 20 h/week)

24. If you have not felt well during the course due to stress-related reasons: Describe your problems briefly. Please suggest measures for improvement of the work environment.