Planning for the dissertation: a research project; aka the home stretch

The research situation is 56 Chinese aeronautical and turbine engineers on a three week (in effect) pre-sessional course at a private University which specialises in courses for the aircraft industries. My brief is to get them acculturated, to UK academic mores, as well as the UK generally, and “to get them talking”.

The course-design is already well under way. Mornings will be taught around a conventional commercial text, but the afternoons (and the evenings) will be TBL, using a number of projects or “skills assignments”, some of which will involve trips out. There’ll be three classes and three teachers, and we’ll shuffle the classes around so we get to know them all.

So, for the research I need comprehensive before and after testing and questionnaires – I can put to good use the limitations I found with my last research in Libya, when I wasn’t involved from the start so there was no comprehensive early data, and my end-questionnaire was a rather “blunt little knife”.

All of this, mind, against the background of the fact that I'm miles off finishing the Mod5 assignment, especially in light of the recent change of tack.

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