Didattica - Università degli Studi di Padova

Syllabus

Prerequisiti:	No pre-requirements.
Conoscenze e abilita' da acquisire:	The aim is to give students guidelines in the process of developing their MSc thesis work, from the ideation to the initial phases of activities planning. At the end of the e-course, students are expected to acquire the following skills and competences: (i) theoretical and practical knowledge on how to deal with the steps along a research development process that can help them in developing their own thesis; (ii) recognize and understand different types of research; (iii) practical knowledge and familiarity on the use of international scientific publications databases; (iv) skills on how to identify a possible thesis topic, how to structure and drafting a literature review; (v) capacity to write a short research synopsis as the basis for their own MSc thesis; (vi) awareness of the risks connected with plagiarism and knowledge of ethical codes of doing research and publishing.
Modalita' di esame:	The course is made of 4 e-modules and each e-module is made of a number of e-lessons ranging from minimum 2 to maximum 3. In order to pass the course, the student must complete at least 75% of the e-modules (3 out of 4 lessons). An e-module is completed when at least 70% of the e-lessons are completed (at least 2 out of 3 e-lessons completed). The student has to actively participate to the on-line discussion forums launched by the teacher and upload in due time the required in-course and final written assignments. The examination does take into consideration both the quality/regularity of online activities attendance and the quality of written assignments. Please look at the section "evaluation criteria" for more details.
Criteri di valutazione:	The evaluation is based on two components: 1. Completion of e-modules; 2. Completion of in-course and final assignments. 1. Completion of e-modules: In order to pass the course, the student must complete at least 75% of the e-modules (2-3 out of 3-4 lessons). An e-module is completed when at least 75% of the e-lessons are completed (at least from 2 to 3 e-lessons completed). An e-lesson is completed when ALL the following conditions are met: a) the student posts at least one message which is addressing the task within the defined deadlines; b) the post(s) is/are adding new contents/perspectives to the discussion; c) the student's post(s) contribute and stimulate a dynamic discussion (hence the student is expected to address contributions of e-fellows concerning his/her post(s)). 2. Completion of in-course and final assignments: A part from the respect of deadlines and other possible requirements defined on case by case, student's ability to correctly express concepts, to be coherent with the assigned tasks, issues and objectives, to be original in ideas, to be accurate in references reporting and citations, to be able to critically analyze key-issues and to be synthetic in writing are evaluated. A minimum number of 2 assignments out of the 3 required in total have to be completed and submitted in due time during the course. Student's performance will be evaluated on the basis of: 1) regular and active participation to the e-lessons (i.e. respect of completion requirements as stated above, included quality of posts and deadlines respect); quality of posts will be evaluated on the basis of evaluation of student's capacity of critical analysis, of bringing original perspectives into the discussion, of suggesting new sources of information about the topics under discussion; 2) quality of home assignments (contents and capacity of writing in terms of clearness, completeness, respect of assigned tasks, etc.). The completion of e-Modules (i.e. online participation) counts for 50% of the final score; the written reports (i.e. home assignments) count for 50% of the final score. A final score is assigned to both the written assignments and the whole course. The final mark on the overall performance is calculated as the average score among the two components of student's performance evaluation.
Contenuti:	The course is an e-learning activity based on the use of Moodle platform and continuos interactions between the students and the teacher as well as among students. The exam is based on the evaluation of students performance both during the online activities and the submission and discussion of a final assignment, to be completed individually. The main contents are the following: 1. Research methodology: How to select the topic of the thesis, The Research Process (types of research, research steps, etc.), What it is and how can be developed a research synopsis. 2. Thesis development and structure: How to carry out the literature review, How to access and use AIRE (the portal of the University of Padova to access the scientific literature - thousands of journals available full text) and other important forestry databases, How to organize the bibliography, Technical writing: how to structure and write the MSc thesis, from the formulation of a problem statement to the formulation of research objectives. 3. Research ethics: plagiarism, tools useful to prevent the risk of plagiarism, intellectual property rights (co-authorships, primary data collection from rural areas, ...). The e-modules are arranged as described in the following: Module 1: "Starting up!" (e-lessons: 1. Log in and answer the welcome letter; 2. Introduce yourself to the e-moderators and e-fellows by creating your own profile; 3. Don't you feel a scientist... do you?) Module 2: "Basics of research methodology" (e-lessons: 1. Which types of research do exist?; 2. How to select your own research topic!; 3. How to draft a literature review) Module 3: "First steps towards your thesis development" (e-lessons: 1. Clearness in problem statement and research objectives formulation; 2. Developing a draft of your own problem statement and thesis objectives) Module 4: "Thesis writing (in draft) and ethical code" (e-lessons: 1. Develop your own draft/preliminary research synopsis (as a basis of your MSc thesis); 2. Examples of good thesis structures; 3. Ethics in research: an overview).
Attivita' di apprendimento previste e metodologie di insegnamento:	Each e-Module runs for 1 to 4 weeks. Each e-module is divided into 2-3 e-lessons, where single specific issues are described and discussed. Objectives, tasks, useful documents and sources of information, suggested organisation of working activity (in groups or individually, for example) and deadlines are defined for each single e-module. Students are required to start by firstly reading the e-lesson's introduction, contents and structure and secondly posting comments. E-moderators (course teacher and some experts eventually invited to participate) are continuously participating by commenting students' posts, stimulating the on-line discussion forums launched for each e-lesson and providing clarifications if necessary. If necessary, at the end of each e-module, a technical sum-up is prepared by the e-moderator on the main aspects emerged during the discussion; students are expected to read through it before passing to the next e-module.
Eventuali indicazioni sui materiali di studio:	Useful documents are suggested per each single e-learning lesson. They are uploaded as PDF files in the Moodle platform. Also Power Point presentations and video prepared by the teacher or available online are made available on Moodle. Other resources (e.g. web sites or books/papers) are suggested at the end of each e-lesson. Being the course a collaborative learning tool based on continuous interactions, ideas, comments and discussion contributions of both the students and the teacher themselves have to be considered as resources to the e-course.
Testi di riferimento: