Written Report in OB

8/14/2019 Written Report in OB

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Ma. Danessa T. Bulingit

BBTE IV-1D

Dr. Milagrina A. Gomez

Observation, Participation and Community Immersion(Practicum 1)

Academic Year 2013-2014

Polytechnic University of the PhilippinesCollege of Education

Department of Business Teacher EducationAnonas St. Sta. Mesa, Manila

Written Report in Motor Learning

and Supervised Study


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Motor learning

Motor learning has been defined as a set of internal processes

associated with practice or experience leading to relatively permanent changes

in the capability for skilled behavior. In other words, motor learning is whencomplex processes in the brain occur in response to practice or experience of acertain skill resulting in changes in the central nervous system that allow for

production of a new motor skill.

Motor learning is a "relatively permanent" change, resulting frompractice or a novel experience, in the capability for responding (Guthrie, 1952).

It often involves improving the smoothness and accuracy of movements and isobviously necessary for complicated movements such asspeaking, playingthepiano, andclimbing trees; but it is also important for calibrating simplemovements likereflexes,as parameters of the body and environment change

over time. Motor learning research often considers variables that contributetomotor program formation (i.e., underlying skilled motor behavior), thesensitivity of error-detection processes (Adams, 1971; Schmidt, 1975), and the

strength of movement schemas (Schmidt, 1975). The "relatively permanent"aspect is important, as it implies the capability to respond appropriately is

acquired and retained. As a result, the temporary processes that affect behaviorduring practice or experience should not be considered learning, but rathertransient performance effects. As such, the main components underlying thebehavioral approach to motor learning are structure of practice and feedbackgiven. The former pertains to the manipulation of timing and organization ofpractice (potentially for different subtasks or variations of the task) for optimal

information retention while the latter pertains to the influence of feedback onthe preparation, anticipation, and guidance of movement.

Motor learning has been defined as a set of internal processesassociated with practice or experience leading to relatively permanent changesin the capability for skilled behavior. In other words, motor learning is whencomplex processes in the brain occur in response to practice or experience of acertain skill resulting in changes in the central nervous system that allow forproduction of a new motor skill.

Successful learning of a motor skill requires repetitive training. Once

the skill is mastered, it can be remembered for a long period of time. Thedurable memory makes motor skill learning an interesting paradigm for thestudy of learning and memory mechanisms. To gain better understanding, onescientific approach is to dissect the process into stages and to study these aswell as their interactions. This article covers the growing evidence that motorskill learning advances through stages, in which different storage mechanismspredominate. The acquisition phase is characterized by fast (within session) andslow learning (between sessions). For a short period following the initial training
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_communicationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pianohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climbinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Programhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Programhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climbinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pianohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_communication


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sessions, the skill is labile to interference by other skills and by proteinsynthesis inhibition, indicating that consolidation processes occur during restperiods between training sessions. During training as well as rest periods,

activation in different brain regions changes dynamically. Evidence for stages in

motor skill learning is provided by experiments using behavioral,electrophysiological, functional imaging, and cellular/molecular methods.

Motor Learning: Stages of Motor Learning and Strategies to Improve

Acquisition of Motor Skills

There are three stages in which motor learning occurs:

1. Cognitive Stage- For the new learner, the problem to be solved in thecognitive stage understands what to do (Schmidt & Lee, 2005). It would be

extremely difficult for someone to learn a skill without receiving any prior

knowledge about the skill, whether that knowledge is visual or verbal. Duringthis initial stage of motor learning, the goal is to develop an overallunderstanding of the skill. The learner must determine what the objective of

the skill is and begin to process environmental factors that will affect theirability to produce the skill. The teacher must do their best to provide an

optimal environment for learning, which may mean removing large distractors.During this stage, the learner mostly relies on visual input and trial and error to

guide learning. Example: Before your child masters walking, they will mostlikely look a bit awkward and will definitely stumble a few times. The reality is

that the process of learning how to walk begins way before your child actuallytakes their first assisted or independent step as they have been visually

observing others around them walking and beginning to understand thepurpose. For example, consider the butterfly stroke in swimming. It is a fairlycomplicated and somewhat unnatural stroke in which to syncopate the

movement of the arms with the kick of the legs. It would be difficult indeed fora novice swimmer to learn such a stroke without ever seeing the stroke

performed or ever receiving any declarative knowledge about how the stroke isperformed. In other words, motor learning begins with the cognitive stage and

the processing of information.Surely the swimmer could discover how to roughly perform the stroke, but it

probably would take many long hours of trial and error, experimentation, andsome creative problem solving. It is much simpler to learn a skill by first

acquiring information about the skill. So while they make look clumsy duringthis stage of learning, they are only just beginning to transition fromunderstanding the skill to executing it.

The cognitive stageis of great interest to cognitivists because this stageinvolves information processing. Also called the verbalmotor stage (Adams,1971), this stage is verbalcognitive in nature (Schmidt & Lee, 2005) because it

involves the conveyance (verbal) and acquisition (cognition) of new information.


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In this stage, the person is trying to process information in an attempt tocognitively understand the requirements and parameters of motor movement.

The cognitive stage is characterized as having large gains in

performance and inconsistent performance. During this stage instruction,guidance, slow-motion drills, video analysis, augmented feedback, and othercoaching techniques are highly effective (Schmidt & Lee, 2005). Recall the

discussion in chapter 4 regarding Adams closed-loop theory and the importanceof error-free learning in the initial learning stage. During the cognitive stage it is

important that the learner is provided with the necessary information, guidance,and time to establish sound fundamentals of movement. Sometimes making

errors and taking a constructivist approach to coaching and learning can beuseful.

2. Associative Stage The associative stage is characterized as much less

verbal information, smaller gains in performance, conscious performance,adjustment making, awkward and disjointed movement, and taking a long timeto complete. During this stage, the learner begins to demonstrate a more

refined movement through practice. Now that the learner has had some practiceand has identified various stimuli that may occur, they can focus on how to do

moving on from the what to do in the first stage. Here, visual cues becomeless important and proprioceptive cues become very important. Proprioceptivecues refer to the learner focusing more on how their body is moving in spaceand what input is being felt from their joints and muscles. The more practice,the more proprioceptive input the learner receives to aide learning. Therefore,the more practice the better! Example: Lets continue with walking. During the

initial clumsy stage your child may demonstrate small, choppy steps, wide baseof support, arms up high in a guarded position, and little to no trunk rotation.In this stage, you may see your child taking longer, more controlled steps,narrowing their base of support, and allowing their arms to relax at their sides.These behaviors indicate that your child has moved past the initial stage oflearning and has progressed to a more refined movement.

During this stage the athlete works at making movement adjustmentsand stringing together small movement skills. This stage is also called the motorstage (Adams, 1971) because the problem to be solved in the associative stageis learning how to perform the skill (Schmidt & Lee, 2005). From the cognitive

perspective, the athlete is attempting to translate declarative knowledge intoprocedural knowledge. In other words, the athlete is transforming what to dointo how to do.No diver in the history of the sport of diving has ever performed every singledive for perfect 10s in a single competition. There is always room forimprovement. This is true for all sports. For example, a baseball or softballpitcher can improve delivery and learn new pitches, a pole-vaulter can learn touse a new pole and a new technique, a gymnast can refine a routine, a


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basketball player can improve shooting technique, and a swimmer can improvestroke or flip turn technique. Highly successful athletes and highly effectivecoaches are always looking for ways to get better. Consequently, they

frequently revisit the cognitive stage and then the associative stage of motor

learning. Revisiting these stages is the relearning process.

3. Autonomous Stage During this final stage of learning, the motor skill

becomes mostly automatic. Progression to this level of learning allows thelearner to perform the skill in any environment with very little cognitive

involvement compared to the first stage. Example: Your child will now be ableto walk in a predictable environment such as your home or an unpredictable

environment such as a crowded birthday party at the park on grass withoutdifficulty.

Keep in mind that the learning process can take different lengths of time

for every individual and progression can be dependent on a variety of factorssuch as motivation of the learner, feedback received, environmental stimuli,organization of practice, and the presence of musculoskeletal or neuromuscular

impairments. Talk with your therapist for more suggestions to optimize motorlearning more specifically for your child.

According to Fitts and Posners paradigm, this is the final stage of motoracquisition. It often requires years of training to arrive at the autonomousstage. But this stage is where its at for elite athletes, where motor performancebecomes largely automatic, where cognitive processing demands are minimal,and athletes are capable of attending to and processing other information, such

as the position of defensive players, game strategy, or the form or style ofmovement (Schmidt & Lee, 2005) in sports such as ice-skating, dance, andsynchronized swimming. It is the stage where they can now respond and notthink (or think minimally), where they can grip it and rip it, look andautomatically react, and enter a state of flow.

Both good outcomes and bad outcomes are associated with theautonomous stage. The good is that performance requires much less attentionand cognitive demand, which thereby frees the performer to engage insecondary tasks, such as the concert pianist who is able to follow random digitsor perform arithmetic while simultaneously playing the piano (Shaffer, 1980), or

the quarterback who is capable of surveying the defense and detecting aneminent blitz while simultaneously calling the signals and changing the play atthe line of struggle. The bad is that since less cognitive demand exists duringperformance, it leaves ample room for irrelevant and distracting thoughts tosneak into the workshop (working memory) of the mind. The three stages ofmotor learning are summarized in Table 6.2.


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Behavioral approach

Contextual interference was originally defined "as function interference in

learning responsible for memory improvement" (Barreiros et al., 2007, p 195).Contextual interference effect is "the effect on learning of the degree offunctional interference found in a practice situation when several tasks must belearned and are practiced together" (Magilll & Hall, 1990, p 244). Variability ofpractice (orvaried practice) is an important component to contextualinterference, as it places task variations within learning. Although varied

practice may lead to poor performance throughout the acquisition phase(Moxley, as cited in Barreiros et al., 2007), it is important for the developmentof the schemata, which is responsible for the assembly and improved retentionand transfer of motor learning.

Despite the improvements in performance seen across a range of studies,one limitation of the contextual interference effect is the uncertainty with regardto the cause of performance improvements as so many variables are constantlymanipulated. In a review of literature (see Barreiros et al., 2007), the authorsidentify that there were few patterns to explain the improvements inexperiments that use the contextual interference paradigm. Although there

were no patterns in the literature, common areas and limitations that justifiedinterference effects were identified (Barreiros et al. 2007).

Although the skills being learned required whole body movements, mosttasks had a common feature they all contained components that could beisolated. Most of the studies supporting interference effect used slowmovements that enabled movement adjustments during movement execution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varied_practicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varied_practice


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According to some authors (Smith & Davies as cited in Barreiros et al.,2007) bilateral transfer may be elicited through alternate practice conditions, asa source of information can develop from both sides of the body. Despite

improvements seen in these studies, interference effects would not be

attributed to their improvements, and it would have been a coincidence of taskcharacteristics and schedule of practice.The terminology of "complex skills" has not been well defined. Procedural

manipulations, which vary between experiments (e.g., changing the similaritybetween tasks) has been cited as a contributor to skill complexity.

Feedback Given During Practice

Feedbackis regarded as a critical variable for skill acquisition and is broadlydefined as any kind of sensory information related to a response or movement(Schmidt and Wrisberg, 2004). Intrinsic feedback is response-produced it

occurs normally when a movement is made and the sources may be internal orexternal to the body. Typical sources of intrinsic feedbackincludevision,proprioception andaudition. External feedback is augmented

information provided by an external source, in addition to intrinsic feedback.Extrinsic feedback is sometimes categorized as knowledge of performance or

knowledge of results.Several studies have manipulated the presentation features of feedbackinformation (e.g., frequency, delay, interpolated activities, and precision) inorder to determine the optimal conditions for learning. See Figure 4, Figure 6,and summary Table 1 in Salmoni et al. (1984) for a detailed explanation offeedback manipulation and knowledge of results.

Knowledge of performance (KP) or kinematic feedback refers toinformation provided to a performer, indicating the quality or patterning of theirmovement (Schmidt and Wrisberg, 2004). It may include information such asdisplacement, velocity or joint motion. KP tends to be distinct from intrinsicfeedback and more useful in real-world tasks. It is a strategy often employed bycoaches or rehabilitation practitioners.

Knowledge of results (KR) is defined as extrinsic or augmented informationprovided to a performer after a response, indicating the success of their actionswith regard to an environmental goal (Salmoni et al., 1984). KR may be

redundant with intrinsic feedback, especially in real-world scenarios (Schmidtand Wrisberg, 2004). However, in experimental studies, it refers to informationprovided over and above those sources of feedback that are naturally receivedwhen a response is made (i.e., response-produced feedback; Adam,1968/1971; James, 1890). Typically, KR is also verbal or verbalizable (Schmidt,1982).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedbackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedbackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_perceptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioceptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_(sense)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_(sense)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioceptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_perceptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedback


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Experimental Design and KR. Often, experimenters fail to separate therelatively permanent aspect of change in the capability for responding (i.e.indicative of learning) from transient effects (i.e. indicative of performance). In

order to account for this, transfer designs have been created which involve two

distinct phases (Schmidt 1982).

Physiological approach

Thecerebellum andbasal ganglia are critical for motor learning. As a

result of the universal need for properly calibrated movement, it is notsurprising that the cerebellum and basal are widely conserved

acrossvertebrates fromfish tohumans.

Through motor learning the human is capable of achieving very skilledbehavior, and through repetitive training a degree of automaticity can be

expected. And although this can be a refined process much has been learnedfrom studies of simple behaviors. These behaviors includeeyeblink conditioning,motor learning in thevestibulo-ocular reflex,andbirdsong.Research onAplysia

californica, the sea slug, has yielded detailed knowledge of the cellularmechanisms of a simple form of learning.

An interesting type of motor learning occurs during operation of abrain-computer interface. For example,Mikhail Lebedev,Miguel Nicolelis and theircolleagues recently demonstratedcortical plasticity that resulted inincorporation of an external actuator controlled through abrain-machineinterface into the subject's neural representation.

At a cellular level, motor learning manifests itself in theneurons ofthemotor cortex.Usingsingle-cell recording techniques, Dr. Emilio Bizzi and hiscollaborators have shown the behavior of certain cells, known as "memorycells," can undergo lasting alteration with practice.Motor learning is also accomplished on themusculoskeletal level. Eachmotorneuron in the body innervates one or more muscle cells, and together thesecells form what is known as a motor unit. For a person to perform even thesimplest motor task, the activity of thousands of these motor units must becoordinated. It appears that the body handles this challenge by organizingmotor units into modules of units whose activity is correlated.

Disordered Motor Learning

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD).Impairments associated withDCD involve difficulty in learning new motor skills as well as limited posturalcontrol and deficits in sensorimotor coordination (Geuze, 2005). It appears thatchildren with DCD are not able to improve performance of complex motor tasksby practice alone (Marchiori et al., 1987). However, there is evidence that task-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_gangliahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyeblink_conditioninghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibulo-ocular_reflexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_vocalizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysia_californicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysia_californicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysia_californicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysia_californicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lebedevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Nicolelishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_plasticityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-machine_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-machine_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuronshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_cortexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-unit_recordinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Cells_(Motor_Cortex)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Cells_(Motor_Cortex)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musculoskeletalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_neuronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_neuronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_neuronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_neuronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musculoskeletalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Cells_(Motor_Cortex)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Cells_(Motor_Cortex)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-unit_recordinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_cortexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuronshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-machine_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-machine_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_plasticityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Nicolelishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lebedevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysia_californicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysia_californicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_vocalizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibulo-ocular_reflexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyeblink_conditioninghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_gangliahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum


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specific training can improve performance of simpler tasks (Revie and Larkin,1993). Impaired skills learning may be correlated with brain activity,particularly, a reduction of brain activity in regions associated with skilled motor

practice (Zwicker et al., 2011).

Stroke. Motor learning has been applied to stroke recovery andneurorehabilitation, as rehabilitation is generally a process of relearning lost

skills through practice and/or training (Krakauer,2006). Although rehabilitationclinicians utilize practice as a major component within an intervention, a gap

remains between motor control and motor learning research and rehabilitationpractice. Common motor learning paradigms include robot arm paradigms,

where individuals are encouraged to resist against a hand held devicethroughout specific arm movements. Another important concept to motorlearning is the amount practice implemented in an intervention. Motor learningpractice paradigms have compared the differences of different practice

schedules, and it has proposed that repetition of the same movements is notenough in order to relearn a skill, as it is unclear whether true brain recovery iselicited through repetition alone (Krakauer, 2006). It is suggested that

compensation methods develop through pure repetition and to elicit corticalchanges (true recovery), individuals should be exposed to more challenging

tasks. Research that has implemented motor learning and rehabilitation practicehas been used within the stroke population and includes arm ability training,constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT), Electromyograph-triggeredneuromuscular stimulation, interactive robot therapy and virtually reality-basedrehabilitation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Krakauerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Krakauerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Krakauerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Krakauer


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Supervised/Directed Study

A directed/supervised study is one whose purpose is to teach studentshow to study a given subject effectively. The student studies his lessons

under the guidance of the teacher who gives definite directions as to steps,

methods, and goals and supervises the individual without interfering with

the work of the rest. Supervised study directs the students in the use and

mastery of the best techniques of efficient study.

It is another method of learning for promoting optimum learning. The

main principle is the self-effort of the child, carried on independently in

learning new things under the supervision and guidance of a teacher. The

pupils are busy at work assigned to them, when they meet the difficulty thatthey cannot overcome; they ask the teacher for the direction and assistance.

The teacher, when not called upon, walks quietly up and down their work,

continually on the alert for any wrong procedure that the pupils may follow.

Supervised study is, in fact, teaching the students how to study and

guiding their study efforts in a part of the class period set aside for that

purpose. It is a process of teaching pupils how to study by studying with

them and by giving i9ndividual help in a period set apart for study. The

chief aim of the method is to help the students acquire good studytechniques and be efficient learners.

Different Plans of Supervised Study

1. The double period plan- Under this plan, one half of the time isdevoted to the class activity used for student reaction and the other

half of the period is used for the preparation of the advanced lesson

under the immediate guidance of the teacher. In this period, pupil

studies and the teacher offers assistance when required.

2. The daily extra period plan- Here one period, generally at the closeof the school day, is set aside for supervised study particularly for

those students who find their work difficult. Attempts are made,

student difficulties are located, correct method of study are suggested

and guidance is offered for completing assignment. All, except the

bright students, are required to attend the period.


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3. The library study plan-The students of all classes, by turns, cometo the library to study and use reference materials, the teacher

supervises the reading and provides help when needed.

4. The flexible supervised study- This plan is used when large unitsare taken up. In this case, supervised study extends over a period

ranging from one day to a week or more, the assignment is a sort of

an introductory phase supervised teaching which shows the

objectiv3es and outlines the mode of attack upon the unit or work.

The rest of the time is used for student study; the teacher gives

guidance to achieve the results of their study.

A Directed Study is the opportunity for you to receive credit for anindividualized investigation under the direct supervision of a current UNC

Faculty member. The investigation must be a specific topic that is not

duplicated by an existing course within the University's curriculum. The

nature of the study must involve intensive use of relevant literature,

materials, or techniques and the study report must reflect a synthesis of the

information or techniques acquired. Directed Studies cannot be used for

Liberal Arts Core credit. The following policies apply for registration in

Directed Studies courses:

A Directed Study course may be for not more than four semesterhours of credit per academic semester, with no more than six credits

of Directed Studies taken in any semester. A study may be further

limited to the maximum number of credits listed in the University

catalog.

The student should apply through the program in which he or she isdoing the study.

Permission to engage in a Directed Study for credit must be approvedby the student's program advisor, the faculty member supervising the

study and the school director of the major program. The Non-

Scheduled Course form to be presented at the Office of the Registrar

at the time of enrollment must bear the signatures of the supervising

faculty member and the school director. A rationale for course credit

form should be completed and filed in the academic program office.


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Forms are available only through the school in which the study is

supervised.

The Form Of A Directed Study

The Directed Study provides an opportunity for students to pursue a

specific interest under the guidance of a suitable supervisor. Because of the

limited time and focused nature of a Directed Study it is strongly

recommended that it does not involve research that would require ethical

approval. Thus, it might be more constructive to advise students to engage

in a theoretical project or one that examines data/material already in the

public domain. For example, content analysis of media coverage or

comparison between curricula documents. The text forms for a Directed

Study could include, but are not restricted to:

A literature review

A report

A reflective journal

A position paper

An oral presentation (note for some departments this is a

requirement)

A performance.

The Directed Study can also be a combination of the above, as long asit falls within guidelines for time and/or length (see above).

Submission for marking

Students should submit the final version of the Directed Study to their

supervisor for marking within the time allocated.

Marking of a Directed Study

Directed Studies are marked by the supervisor and are moderated by

a member of staff with appropriate expertise. Marking criteria should be

clearly articulated to the student at the commencement of the paper and

should be included in the Directed Study Paper Outline.

The moderators role is to ensure that the supervisor has marked fairly

and that the grade awarded is reasonable. If there is a significant

disagreement between the supervisors grade and the moderators


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assessment, the moderator will provide a report to the Associate Dean

Academic, whose decision is final.

A hard copy of the Directed Study will be retained by the supervisor. An

electronic copy should also be submitted to the supervisor. A Directed Studymay be published online if it is of excellent quality.

Advice for supervisors and students

Starting out. Beginning researchers often have only a vague idea of their

research topic. Therefore, it is important that the supervisor emphasizes the

creation of a realistic timeline and scope for a Directed Study and thus helps

the student to finish a good quality project in the required time.

In the beginning of the semester the supervisor and the postgraduatestudent should negotiate a timetable and assessment schedule for the

semester. The supervisor may require a number of different outcomes for

assessment, or may require drafts to be presented. In most cases the

assessment is based on written submissions, and in addition, for Sports and

Leisure Studies, an oral presentation. Students pursuing a Directed Study in

dance should consult their supervisor to determine the format for

assessment, which will differ from that described above. It is expected that

assessment will include some aspect of performance or practical activity.

Meetings Between The Supervisor And The Student

It is important that the supervisor and the student keep in contact regularly

ensuring the progression of the Directed Study. Early in the process it might

be helpful to establish a detailed timeline. Because people have difference

working habits, it is difficult to determine the frequency, duration or content

of the meetings. While some prefer weekly meetings, others like to report on

their progress in longer intervals. The Thesis Handbook suggests that

student and supervisor draw a contract between them regarding the details

of contact. It offers guidelines for such a contract.

It is suggested that the student keeps a written summary of these meetings

and emails them to the supervisor to ensure that the student has

understood the supervisors guidance, and that the student and supervisor

are both monitoring progress.


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Reading drafts. An important part of any research process is writing. Often

undergraduate students write their assignments only once before handing

them in. At the postgraduate level, however, it is important to emphasise

that part of any research process is to write several drafts before the

research is ready to be presented.

While a supervisor should guide students and assist them to structure their

research in a coherent manner, it is not the supervisors responsibility to

write it for them. Supervising postgraduate students is only one part of a

supervisors workload and therefore, students should provide, as far as

possible, well organized, grammatically correct written drafts, with correct

referencing. This way, supervisors can comment on content which is their

major area of expertise.

It is important for students to be aware of how much time is required to

comment on a draft, and for students to take this into account when

submitting drafts and waiting for feedback. Students may point out specific

aspects that they would like supervisors to comment on with their drafts.

Drafts should normally be presented at least 7 days before a meeting.

Writing drafts.Students may find it demanding to write a longer and more

sustained argument than in their previous papers. They may also find that

the Directed Study requires a greater level of information literacy skills.

Supervisors should direct students to the support of subject librarians and toStudent Learning Support for additional help.

Socialization into the Research Culture

The Directed Study is very much a bridge into the research

environment. Where possible a supervisor should encourage their students

to participate in the wider intellectual life of the university. For example,

they should encourage students to attend seminars and conferences,

present aspects of their work, attend workshops that help students to

develop necessary research skills, introduce students to visiting scholars,and encourage students to publish in appropriate journals. It is also

important to keep in mind that postgraduate students have not necessarily

been exposed to conferences and research publication, and it is the

supervisors responsibility to aid the students introduction to these parts of

the research culture.

Documents

Written Report in OB