Undergraduate Final Year Project Guideline for Lecturers 2014

FYP (UG) Supervision:
Managing Preparation, Support &
Expectations
(For Engineering Students)
Professor Dr. R.Badlishah Ahmad
(UniMAP)
2014
Modification from:
Sally Cook & Wendy Saunderson

OUTLINE
●How to supervise
● EAC Expectation
● Evaluation
●Discusion

CONTEXT & PROBLEM
• Tens of thousands of UG students complete
Dissertations in UK HEIs each year (across the
Arts, Humanities, and Social, Natural and
Behavioural Sciences)
• Despite the significance of Dissertation re.
student learning & staff workload: there is a
paucity of guidelines, Supervision Sessions are
not subject to peer-review, and are rarely
observed by QAA auditors.
(Rowley and Slack, 2004; Todd et al., 2005)

VARIABLE STANDARDS &
PROVISION
• HUGE VARIATIONS in the nature,
approach, attitudes, concerns,
provision, strategies and experience of
both Supervisor and Supervisee:
But
• COMMON CHARACTERISTICS and
COMMON CHALLENGES / PROBLEMS

COMMON / KEY CHARACTERISTICS
• Student-determined topic; Self-directed learning;
• Independent/individual work + Tutor support;
• Typically includes empirical research component;
– Empirical research is a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and
indirect observation or experience. Empirical evidence (the record of
one's direct observations or experiences) can be analyzed quantitatively
or qualitatively.
• Involves prolonged & sustained engagement.
USUALLY:
• 20 credits - 200 hrs - Final year 1/6
• In UniMAP - 2 + 4 credits
• 5 – 10,000 words; No taught component
• Dissertation Handbook; Individual supervision
• No formal Supervisor training or guidance

COMMON CHALLENGES / PROBLEMS
 Delayed start/delay in choosing topic;
 Poor time management;
 Failure to fully engage with the process;
 Dissertation as ‘unknown entity’;
 Balancing workload (lectures) – 1 out of 6 modules;
 Lacking self-confidence for independent work;
 Unsure of Supervisor-Supervisee relationship;
 Unrealistic (misinformed) expectations;
 Fear of not knowing what is required, and
 Fear of being unable to meet requirements.
 Communication breakdown (a failure to exchange
information)
Risk of under-achievement
& dissatisfied students

SUPERVISOR’S ROLE
1) ACADEMIC GUIDANCE: advice on suitability, feasibility,
scale/scope of study; conceptual/ theoretical issues; ethical
issues; research methodology; structuring; presentation.
2) AS ‘MOTIVATOR’: setting tasks and deadlines;
managing expectations; providing feedback.
Do we have a clear idea of our role? Boundaries?
Time commitment? Depends on number of Supervisees?
Or our own research/workload?

BOUNDARIES & BALANCE
Where does the Supervisor Role
& Responsibility start and end?
• How much is enough?
Students do need a certain amount of guidance, support and
encouragement to gain confidence to apply their skills to complete.
• How much is too much?
Spoon-feeding infantalises (to treat (a child or adult) like an infant
or baby) students and stifles original thought:

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS (& ‘FEARS’)
• What ARE students’ expectations?
• Where do they come from?
• How realistic are they?
• How often do students expect
supervision?
• By which means? Which types do they
prefer?
• How realistic/realisable are their
expectations?
• What are students biggest fears/concerns?

What ARE their Expectations?
Fears?
Survey of 80 UG students; Starting final year;
Semi-structured questionnaire, pre-Dissertation
Special Session & pre-Supervisor contact.
64% expect Strict
Timetable of
Supervision
36% expect
Flexible
Supervision

2
4
94
Preferred TYPE of Supervision (% Ranking)
1st Preference 2nd Pref. 3rd Pref
22
73
76
22
4 2
Face-to-Face Supervision Phone Supervision

How often is private face-to-face Supervision
expected?
2
63
31
2 3
Twice per Week Every Fortnight Once per Month

Expected duration of each private face-to-face
Supervision
10-15 mins
30-60 mins
2 hrs
5
36
43
14
2
Weekly Supervision
10-15 mins
30-60 mins
2 hrs
5
13
67
10
5
Fortnightly Supervision

UG Students’ ‘Greatest Fears/Concerns’ at
start of final/Dissertation Year
Not being able to understand certain aspects of dissertation; not
having enough time or 1-to-1 sessions with Supervisor
That I won’t get a high enough grade; that I won’t pick the right dissertation
title; that I won’t get enough guidance and support from my Supervisor
Biggest fear is juggling Uni work with 2 jobs; failing; not
understanding the work; time management.
Doing something wrong in my dissertation and wasting time by not being able to
fully understand it; Not having enough one-to-one time with my Supervisor
That I will fall behind and not do my best and that my Supervisor won’t be
interested in my topic; it will be hard to balance work & Uni
Biggest fear is everything snowballing if I get stuck on one piece of work; time
management; balancing dissertation with other modules

EXPECTATION
BASED on EAC Manual

EAC Manual 2012 (page 12)
● academic programme component
minimum total of 120 credit hours
minimum of 80 credit hours engineering
courses consisting of
● engineering design/projects appropriate
to the student's field of study.
● Final year project (minimum 6 credit hours)

EAC Manual 2012 (page 13)
● Credit hours
● For a 14-week semester (not including
examination or mid-term break), one credit
hour is defined as:
● 3 hours per week of activities
involving final year project inclusive of
meeting with supervisor.

EAC Manual 2012 (page 15):
Exposure to Engineering Practice
● Exposure to engineering practice shall also be
integrated throughout the curriculum as it is a key
component through a combination of the following:
– Lectures/talks by guest lecturers from industry,
Academic staff with industrial experience,
Courses on professional ethics and conduct,
Industry visits, An industry-based final year
project, Regular use of a logbook in which
industrial experiences are recorded.

Final-Year Project
● the best means of introducing an investigative
research oriented approach to engineering studies
● required to seek individual analysis and
judgement, capable of being assessed
independently.
● expected to develop techniques in literature
review and information processing, as necessary
with all research approaches.

Final-Year Project
● final-year projects should also provide
opportunities to utilise appropriate modern
technology in some aspects of the work,
emphasizing the need for engineers to make use
of computers and multimedia technology in
everyday practice

3 Main Elements of FYP
● Investigative research
● Analysis
● Develop techniques (process information and
design)

DESIGN METHODS
● Flow Chart
● State Diagram
● Block Diagram
● Circuits/PCB Diagram
● Simulation Models (Software Tools)
● Mathematical Models

Expectation
● Semester 1:
– Literature Review
– Design
– Presentation
● Semester 2:
– Implementation
– Verification/Analysis
– Report Writing
– Presentation

WHAT ARE THE COURSE OUTCOME
(CO) ?
Have we explained this to the students?

COURSE OUTCOME (CO)
● CO1 : Ability to apply and integrate theory and
practical which has been studied to solve the
engineering problems.
● CO2 : Ability to develop the suitable research
methodology for the project.
● CO3 : Ability to present and justify/defend the
project proposal.

RUBRIC?
● Should inform them about the rubric?
● 3 Items/elements
– Project Management
– Report (Project Progress Report)
– Presentation

Undergraduate Final Year Project Guideline for Lecturers 2014

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Undergraduate Final Year Project Guideline for Lecturers 2014