Dissertation Replacement Simulation

The CHALLENGE With the traditional Dissertation

Most Graduate programmes still culminate in the traditional dissertation.

• Yet, students are unconvinced of its relevance to their future career paths.
• And employers don’t value it in the same way they perhaps once did.

Most students aim to go into paid employment upon completion of their Graduate degrees, leaving only a small percentage of students planning to pursue further education, research or an academic career.

This begs the question - why do most Graduate programmes still feature the dissertation, something which is so far removed from the real world of work.

A huge administrative burden for university

Due to the nature of dissertations, it can be extremely difficult from a resource and capacity viewpoint to effectively manage:

• Multiple one-to-one supervisions per student
• Huge time investment needed to mark student submissions
• Recruitment of hourly paid staff
• Weekly tutor/seminar sessions
• Staff impact - stress and time away from critical business activities

Factoring in large student cohorts, and the whole operation can be a huge administrative and financial burden.

Thinking of replacing the dissertation
with something more innovative?

Case study

At a prominent UK Business School, this issue was extremely pressing with over 2500 Graduate students taking the dissertation course over two intakes per academic year:

Each course delivered required 1500 hours of seminar time. As the course was delivered twice each year, this equated to a cost to the business school of over £160,000 in tutor pay. 

The decision was made to switch from 60 credit dissertations to 2 x 30 credit courses, with one part focussed on research methodology, and the 2nd part being a business simulation with Edumundo.

This allowed the business school to do away with the 1 to 1 supervision
(and eliminate the £160,000 spent on tutor costs).

In addition to the above cost savings, there were also additional gains (cost savings) made through time-saved in marking assessments (introduction of the simulation meant a lower word count was possible for the student assessment through an individual written reflective report).

Recommended Approach.

The Programme team (and module team) consulted in detail with Edumundo on the intended approach and delivery design. Based on this, a plan was developed for Edumundo to provide a customised version of one of its flagship simulations, with a bespoke service package created specifically to align with the unique needs of this business school:

• All customisations and set up of the simulation were carried out by Edumundo.
• Edumundo ensured that different elements of the simulation were included specifically to align with the individual programme pathways (meaning 4 x different versions were made available).
• Edumundo included a range of additional support elements, delivered on campus and online in order to ensure the students were well supported through the simulation.

How does the service differ from a standard simulation used elsewhere within a Bachelors or Graduate programme?

Edumundo provides a bespoke service and support package (based on our understanding of our clients requirements). 

As most Dissertation courses are standalone - taken after the other taught coures have finished - this typically means more credit hours are required for the dissertation course, and the students need more support. Here are some examples of what can be included with the Dissertation Simulation service:

• Live, in person (on campus) sessions of 1 hour each - by Edumundo specialists at Lectures:  Delivered at the start, halfway, and at the finale event.

•  Live-debrief sessions - 1 hour sessions held remotely via Zoom/MS-Teams in each of the remaining weeks.

• Online helpdesk: Accessible through the simulation or via email at any time 

• Completion certificates for all students - allowing students to upload these to LinkedIn to boost their online CVs