CLaSS offers support for students undertaking taught Master's programmes in a variety of ways; these include:
What is the Postgraduate Group Online?
The Postgraduate Group Online (or ‘Pogo’) is an opportunity for taught postgraduates and postgraduate research students to meet one another online to talk about aspects of postgraduate study and scholarship. The focus will be on academic reading and writing, good academic practices, the link between theory and practice, and the exchange of research, ideas and approaches with an inter-disciplinary focus. The aim of the group is to provide a scholarly forum for postgraduate students to engage with others beyond their course of study, to share practices, and to cross-pollinate ideas.
Who is if for?
Pogo is open to all Postgraduate Students (including Research Students and Taught Postgraduates), along with DMU academic staff who teach on Postgraduate courses.
The Postgraduate Group Online is designed for those postgrad students who want to look beyond the confines of their discipline/profession/programme of study to learn from and share with other scholars across DMU.
What happens in a Pogo session?
Postgraduate study and scholarship is at the cutting edge of human knowledge.
Each session is split into two parts: Talking and Doing. In the Talking part, we will get to know one another a little, and get a sense of our varied interests, before talking in a little more depth about a particular theme or topic. In the Doing part, we will share our goals and then engage in either some reading or writing – whatever the participant wants to get on with.
Meeting and greeting (Talking) – very brief introductions/updates from each participant: name; course/subject area; academic interests; and current focus. We don’t want to spend too long on this, so focusing on those four areas is appreciated.
Discussion/sharing (Talking) – this will be around a particular theme, either one that emerges organically from the meeting and greeting, or something that has been pre-arranged by the facilitator and participants prior to the session. Prospective topics include: the role of theory in academic work; the significance of discipline/profession identity; challenges and approaches to academic reading; reliable sources of information and the knowledge ecosystem; cross-cultural understandings of scholarship; the art of conversation; how we can change the world for the better. Other topics or themes can be suggested by participants.
Goal-setting (Talking/Doing) – group members will be encouraged to set goals relating to the theme of the discussion and/or what they need to get done. This can be very broad and is determined solely by the participants themselves.
Getting things done (Doing) – the remainder of the session will be devoted to whatever writing/reading task the participants wish to engage in – typically some reading or writing activity. We will work in intensive 25 minute ‘pomodoro’ bursts for both reading and writing.
To find out when pogo takes place and how to join please go to our blog.
The CLaSS Dissertation Toolkit is an interactive resource to help anyone working on large assignments such as:
Final Year Dissertations
Final Year Projects or Extended Reports
Masters Dissertations
You can dip into the toolkit for Ideas and Resources about many aspects of academic study, including Referencing, Critical Writing, Proofreading and more. There are videos, quizzes, checklists and much more.
Click here or on the image to access the toolkit
