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Masters student

engagement with

the research

requirements of

AQF Level 9

Dr John Willison

School of Education

University of Adelaide

Many models of AQF9

• Eg 4 Semester Masters

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Content rich courses + 1 Research Methods Course

Research Capstone

Embedded Research Assignment

Embedded Research Assignment

Embedded Research Assignment

Embedded Research Assignment

Your Model?

AQF Level 9 Master (Coursework) Qualification Type Descriptor

Apply knowledge and skills:• with creativity and initiative• with high level personal autonomy• with mastery • to plan and execute a substantial research

based project, capstone experience and/or piece of scholarship

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The University of Adelaide Research requirements for Masters programs

• 3 units min of research trainingQuantitativeQualitativedevelop technical research skills

• 6 unit min of research ‘project’

• ‘Content-rich’ courses- multiple 3 unitEffective for developing research-

mindedness

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‘I looked at the movement of customers, so people that were churning, people that were disconnecting, people that were switching on, and basically I sort of plotted them all across a timeline and the way they picked them was I looked at what happens prior to competitors activating their D-slams…I looked at it basically a couple of months before they had it and a couple of months after, and then you could sort of see how they did it….It was not like a lengthy word paper, but it was a bit of research and findings.’ Monash University Masters Business Student

Reflecting on research in employment after undergraduate degree

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RSD Facets

Analysis of Masters Student’s Statement

Embark & Clarify

‘I looked at the movement of customers’

Find & generate

‘people that were churning, people that were disconnecting, people that were switching on’

Evaluate & Reflect

Insightfully reflected on process in interview

Organise & Manage

‘and basically I sort of plotted them all across a timeline’

Analyse & Synthesis

I looked at it [D-slams] basically a couple of months before they had it and a couple of months after … and then you could sort of see how they did it…’

Communi-cate & apply

It was not like a lengthy word paper, but it was a bit of research and findings.’

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Whole Degree-Program Use

Course-by-Course framing by the RSD before Capstone courses

RSD

Variety, nuances

Coherent thread fo

r students

to generalise th

e learning

experie

nce as a

whole

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in varying contexts with increasing degrees of rigour, conceptual demand

Progressive revisiting the same skills:

RSD in content-rich courses research mindedness

RSD in Research Methods Courses research techniques

RSD as a common framework across the degree research skillfullness

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