Course Title: Dissertation

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Dissertation

Credit Points: 48.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

GEOM2072

City Campus

Postgraduate

145H Mathematical & Geospatial Sciences

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2006,
Sem 1 2007,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 2 2009,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 2 2010,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015,
Sem 1 2016

GEOM2072

City Campus

Postgraduate

171H School of Science

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2017,
Sem 2 2017,
Sem 2 2018,
Sem 1 2019,
Sem 2 2019,
Sem 1 2020,
Sem 2 2020,
Sem 1 2021,
Sem 2 2021,
Sem 2 2023

Course Coordinator: Dr Amy Griffin

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 2338

Course Coordinator Email: amy.griffin@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 12, Level 12, Room 28


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Required Prior Study

You should have satisfactorily completed following course/s before you commence this course.

Alternatively, you may be able to demonstrate the required skills and knowledge before you start this course.

Contact your course coordinator if you think you may be eligible for recognition of prior learning.

Assumed Knowledge

You must also be concurrently enrolled in a course on research methods or its equivalent or have completed the research methods course.


Course Description

This course is a major component of the Master of Geospatial Science and provides you with the opportunity to develop your research expertise and knowledge in an area of geospatial science of particular interest. Your dissertation will be developed in conjunction with an assigned internal academic supervisor. It may be possible to have input or assistance from external people depending on the nature of the project. The dissertation can either be pure research, applied research, or a combination of both.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the development of the following Program Learning Outcomes in MC265 (Master of Geospatial Science):

1.3 Identify and elaborate specialist bodies of knowledge in geospatial science.
1.4 Discern research directions and advances within geospatial science.
2.1 Apply standard and advanced techniques to solve a range of measurement and data management problems.
2.3 Be proficient in the recording, storage, management and reporting of spatial information.
3.1 Design and implement solutions to complex problems in survey measurement and land development.
3.2 Interpret and critically analyse results and make informed judgments on the appropriateness of solutions.
3.3 Apply critical and analytical skills in a scientific and professional manner.
4.1 Communicate effectively by means of oral, written and graphical presentations to peers and a wider audience.
6.1 Be self-motivated and personally responsible for your actions and learning.
6.2 Professionally manage and use information.
 


Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:  

  1. Identify a suitable dissertation research topic relating to geospatial science.
  2. Clearly state and elaborate the objectives, research question/s and proposed outcomes for the dissertation.
  3. Synthesize and critically analyse existing literature on your particular project
  4. Elucidate and justify the proposed method for undertaking the dissertation.
  5. Systematically and competently implement the method identified in the dissertation.
  6. Produce final dissertation outcomes of a high professional standard.
  7. Elucidate and defend your Dissertation to a peer audience (including staff, industry representatives, and other students).


Overview of Learning Activities

You will be actively engaged in a range of learning activities such as lectorials, tutorials, practicals, laboratories, seminars, project work, class discussion, individual and group activities. Delivery may be face to face, online or a mix of both.

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course.


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.

A library subject guide is available at: http://rmit.libguides.com/geospatial


Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks 

Assessment Task 1: Submission of a 1-page project brief consisting of the dissertation topic, the student and supervisor name, a short description of the dissertation problem (~400 words), and a list of 5 relevant scientific references
Weighting 5%
This assessment task supports CLO 1

Assessment Task 2: Submission of a research proposal consisting of research project aims, research questions, literature review, methods to be adopted and rationale for their use, and references to scientific publications that inform the research
Weighting 10%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2-4

Assessment Task 3: A 10-minute oral presentation that summarises the research's aims, research questions, approach, results, and conclusions
Weighting 10%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2-7

Assessment Task 4: DissertationSubmission of the research dissertation. This can also be submitted as a research paper with approval from the student’s supervisor
Weighting 75%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2-6

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.