Overview
This is an individualized readings course. Students, with the assistance of a designated faculty member, will determine what knowledge and skills are required to be prepared to write the dissertation proposal.
Athabasca University Library: Students are encouraged to browse the Library's Web site to review the Library collection of journal databases, electronic journals, and digital reference tools: http://library.athabascau.ca.
Outline
This course is divided into 10 Weeks.
- The first two or three weeks of the course will be concentrated on matching you with an appropriate supervisor, or co-supervisors, and creating an independent study contract. Over the past year, you have already been encouraged to talk with potential supervisors at Athabasca University and look up names of potential supervisors outside the university. Some of you may have already agreed with a faculty member to become your supervisor while others are still looking and holding discussions. Regardless of your situation, in Week 1 you are asked to prepare an outline for your planned dissertation research and engage in discussion about graduate supervision. If you have already agreed with a potential supervisor, you will formalize the relationship with them. If you do not yet have reached an agreement with a supervisor, your task is to is to conclude discussions with the person(s) you wish to have supervise your dissertation and finalize a relationship with them.
- In Week 3, you will work with your supervisor(s) and the DDBA-805 instructor to develop a learning contract for the remainder of the course. This contract will specify your goals, as well as the deliverables of the course.
- In Weeks 4 through 10, you will work toward achieving your goals, and at the conclusion of the course, you should be ready to begin work on your dissertation proposal in DDBA 806.
Learning outcomes
At this stage of your DBA journey, there are two main goals: one is practical while the other is more substantive. As such, the main goals of DDBA-805 are:
- Have selected a supervisor if you have not already done so
- Have comfort level in your working relationship with your selected supervisor
- Working with your supervisor and DDBA-805 instructor, have clarity on a concrete list of learning deliverables and goals memorialized in an independent learning contract of tasks (including objectives, resources and strategies, target dates for completion, deliverables or verification of completion)
- Position yourself to be able to begin writing your dissertation proposal in DDBA-806 based on the completion of concrete tasks set out in your independent learning contract
Evaluation
This course is set as a pass/fail therefore the minimum standard to meet is:
- receive a pass on Assignment 1.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
The non-textbook readings and other resources are provided in electronic format as AU Library links or PDF files in Athabasca University's Digital Reading Room (DRR)