9.2 Well, they managed

In projects which are substantial pieces of work, students find it difficult to judge accurately the scale and scope of what is required. They may lose motivation because they cannot visualise the outcome or, if they can, find the process and the required deliverables intimidating.

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This bundle offers a way to show students that other students have managed to achieve something worthwhile and that they can too, affecting confidence and motivating performance.

How it works is project reports submitted by previous cohorts are placed in the library. If you judge that a student you are supervising has motivation problems arising from an inability to visualise the outcome or by being overawed take them to the library and show them where the previous cohort's reports are kept.

Get them to take a report to read, and tell them that it will be discussed it at the next supervision meeting. At the next supervision meeting get them to talk about the project they've read, focusing the conversation on the deliverables and the processes required to achieve them. Wherever possible get the student to work out how things were done rather than telling them. Get the student to "compare and contrast" the completed project with the challenges they will face in their own project.

Students get a much clearer idea of what is expected of them and find it much easier to see themselves completing the project successfully.

It works better if the ability and diligence of the current and previous student are reasonably closely matched as this helps to give the student a realistic view of what they can expect to achieve. It works better if grades of earlier projects are also available so that their lack of confidence can be attributed to real or imagined deficiencies.

It doesn't work if reports generated by previous cohorts are not available and it will not work unless the current student perceives the report to be relevant to their work. Also, it will not work if staff merely deliver a lecture on how the previous student went about the project; the student should work out as much as possible for themselves.

See also: 7.7 Cherish it, and 7.9 Last Year's Punters

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So: use deliverables from previous years to help students get an idea of what they have to do.