Abstract:

Throughout times students’ thesis guidance has largely remained in its traditional, conservative, unchanged form in respect to content, evaluation and approach. Covid-19 has resulted in all forms of teaching and learning being reviewed, and this has pushed for thesis guidance to be adapted and revised. Following the action research approach, the authors planned and implemented a novel pedagogical method of student guidance during their Master Thesis writing in the virtual learning environment. With the overall sample size of 23 students, the experiment included four student groups, two of which were led in English and two in Finnish language, over the course of three to four months. The students were in the master degree program of a Finnish higher education institute, came from various backgrounds, with multiple cultural and professional reference points.

The aim of the project was to test and conceptualize a new approach that better serve:
(1) students' engagement and project management skills,
(2) helps to achieve results short-term, and
(3) offers sufficient sense of well-being and support in virtual setting.

The results of the experiment were measurable and excellent, as demonstrated by significantly reduced time in completion Master Thesis as well as student feedback and students’ factual progress in their thesis writing.

As an outcome, the authors propose and conceptualize the developed and tested model of the “Master Thesis Train”, especially adapted to the environment of virtual guidance, where students receive relevant content, support and structure to complete the thesis process effectively. The “Master Thesis Train” concept is built around targeted group guidance and personal guidance – both of which run side-by-side with the student’s actual advancement of the thesis project, with personalized and clear deliverables.

The implications of the novel pedagogical method “Master Thesis Train” are numerous. First, the research makes it possible to reinvent the approach to students’ thesis guidance and align it with the contemporary needs of students for balancing their work and life priorities with those of thesis writing. From the student perspective, reinventing the approach to thesis guidance opens up more space for their own experimentation of new research and thesis writing methods – more diverse and flexible. Second, the “Master Thesis Train” highlights and brings to front stage the influence of group interaction as a part of what is traditionally viewed as isolated and independent process of writing a Master Thesis. Third, the high-quality steering process expands the boundaries of a professor and thesis supervisor to the roles of a virtual personal trainer and supporter. Fourth, higher education institutions benefit from the application of the “Master Thesis Train” in terms of such institutional outcomes as resource efficiency and reduced time of students in completing their theses and graduating. Fifth, “Master Thesis Train” was carried out during May-November 2020, the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak, and was designed to address the challenge of effective and result-oriented thesis guidance carried out in full in the virtual environment. Due to the excellent received outcomes in testing the pedagogical innovation, there is strong evidence that “Master Thesis Train” may be successfully replicated and remain in the permanent toolkit for students’ Master Thesis guidance in higher education institutions internationally.

Keywords:

Student guidance, virtual guidance, pedagogical innovation, higher education.