‘Getting dissertation ready’ – taking a collaborative and innovative approach to events

This poster aimed to illustrate and highlight the collaborative and creative approach we have taken to evolve student engagement through provision of Learning Development events, specifically related to dissertations. The innovative approach has streamlined and enhanced flexibility and accessibility to LD events for our diverse population of students, as well as promoting creative collaboration across a range of expertise within Learning Development (LD), paving the way for new possibilities for future events and collaborations. Our ‘Getting dissertation ready’ day-long event built on the success of an earlier pilot event, ‘Mastering your Dissertation’ in June 2024. This week-long programme of dissertation specific sessions for Masters students was inspired by a model developed by University of Reading (Koromila and Hood, 2023). Key to success of this Masters event, was the bringing together of the diverse skills and expertise of the LD team (Advisers, Librarians, Maths and Statistics specialists, Foundation Year LD lecturers and Learning Technologist) and Careers staff, to successfully provide a range of holistic and bespoke sessions. Reflecting on this experience allowed us to further adapt the approach for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. Adapting this to a day-long event involved actively reflecting on and evolving several key factors: analysing and evaluating statistics and student feedback and utilising, as appropriate, the skillset of LD team members (e.g. applying past marketing and event management experiences, statistics background and design expertise). The poster will illustrate our experiences and outcomes from the hosting this successful ‘Getting dissertation ready’ event, a day before the start of winter vacation, which resulted in our highest ever event attendance by students. By sharing our experience and findings in this poster we hoped to inspire, and potentially instigate, innovation collaborations with our fellow Learning Developers in their provision of events within their own institutions.