MA Research Preparation Route

The MA Sculpture course leader has been nominated as a Director of Studies to tutor and oversee the only MA Research Preparation Route project at Wimbledon. As the course leader doesn’t have any experience of formal research and this is the first time this route is offered, I was invited to be co-Director of Studies. I was delighted for a number of reasons:

- It will enhance my teaching experience
- It will help me understand MA to PhD progression better
- It will help my PGCert portfolio
- It will give me an insight on a course structured through Units, Assessment Criteria and Leaning Outcomes
- The programme is being revised as we go along: this could be an opportunity to devise a distinct and research rigorous route

I know already know the student quite well because, as a Research Preparation MA, I invited her to join the generic part of the training programme. She has been very responsive and participative (even though it must have been daunting for her) and I think she has a good grasp of essential research concepts. It is very fortunate that my first Director of Studies experience is with such an advanced level student (unlike my first supervisory experience)

Today, we had a first meeting to set up some targets and plan tutorials for the next term. I had read the handbook the night before to get familiar with the aims of the route. The course is structured through Learning Agreements with the students. I found this initiative very interesting and I am curious to see how it works. Getting report back from students and supervisors (particularly external) had been a very difficult task and I am open to new initiatives.