Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences
School of VocationalTeacherEducation
Diary Thesis – Master level
Background
The objective of the diary thesis is to develop and demonstrate the students´ readiness to apply their knowledge and skills in expert-level work related to professional studies.
A model for the diary thesis has been designed to serve this objective. This model is based on the following preconditions:
- The diary covers 50 work days
- The total length of the written document is 50-80 pages
- The timeline will be agreed when starting the thesis work
- The competence criteria of the curriculum are met(decree of Universities of Applied Sciences 18.12.2014/1129 § 5):
The objective of Master level studies is for the graduate to possess:
1) extensive practical basic knowledge and skills and a theoretical foundation for working in expert tasks in his or her field
2) capabilities for following and promoting the development of his or her professional field
3) capabilities for developing his or her vocational skills and for lifelong learning
4) adequate communication and linguistic skills for tasks in his or her field as well as international activities and cooperation.
- Diary thesis is based on the strong research diary tradition
- Diary thesis follows the autoetnographic thinking where the writer applies her/his own experience in understanding the field of phenomena better
Diary thesis process
1 Introduction
Describe the timespan of the diary (start and end date)
The diary thesis is written every day by describing the daily work practices and their development and analysing weekly the work done.
The knowledge basis needed at work: the focal professional concepts, content and work practices that are required to excel in this work position. Introduction of the company and work community.
2 Current state description
2.1 Current work analysis:
Describe your work assignments, especially those that need to be improved:
- List your different work assignments.
- Describe and classify what you concretely do in your work assignments.
- Identify what kind of competence is needed in your work.
- What kind of knowledge do you need to understand what you do?
- What kind of skills do you need to manage with your work?
- What kind of competence have you gainedin your work?
- What kind of special, industry-specific competence do you need in your work?
- Describe the key concepts, work methods and knowledge plus the competence that is needed as the basis of your work
- How do you use oral and written communication in your work?
- How can you develop your language skills at work?
- How do you apply your language skills at work?
- How do you develop your work?
- How does developing your work connect with the development in your work community?
- Hoe does developing your work connect with the strategy development of your workplace?
- Why is it important to develop your work in the way you do it?
- Which factors in your work community enhance or slow down the development of your work?
Assessment
Assess your competence level in regard to the competence requirements of your workplace or work assignment. How welldoyoumanage in yourwork?
- Actor: You have an understanding of your workand you manage it independently.
- Specialist: You have in-depth understanding of your work in the operating environment of your organisation,you are able to guide others in their work.
- Developer: You can develop operational models required in your work, justify the changes to your superiors and enhance the development in your team/work community.
Justify your assessment.
Development
At what stage are you in your professional development?
How can it be seen in your activities?
What areas do you have to pay attention to in the future?
What do you have to learn?
What kind of questions concerning industry and
cross-industry knowledge do you recognise
in your work? Justify your opinion.
2.2 Stakeholders at the workplace
Write down all possible stakeholders you have contact with in your work.
Classify the internal and external stakeholders, such as partners, customers, authorities, etc.
Draw a chart of the different stakeholders.
Define your workplace organisation and your position in it.
Which opinions and interests of the stakeholders are focal in your work.
Who do you cooperate with to develop your work (colleagues, superior, management team, partners etc.)?
Which are the concrete actions to anchor the development of your work and its results in your work community?
a)in management planning and practices
b)in your everyday work
c)in co-operation with partners
d)Which are the environments where you work? What kind of spaces (physical, virtual) and time do you have to reflect on the development work?
2.3 Communication skills at the workplace
What kind of interaction regarding your work do you have with your colleagues?
What kind of interaction in customer service and with stakeholders do you have in your work?
What kind of competence challenges do you have in these interactions? Justify.
3 Diary reporting
Daily:
What objectives do you set for today?
Describe your tasks for today before the day starts.
Assess, at the end of the day, how the objectives and tasks for the day were realised.
How do you assess the competence gained during that day.
Weekly:
Read the texts you wrote during the week.
How do you assess the competence you developed during the week?
What issues did you have to clarify?
What problems came up during the week and how did you solve them?
Based on literature, consider the work done during the week:
- From literature, introduce good practices that can be applied to your work assignments. Discuss what you could have done in some other manner.
- Evaluate different options and justify the model you chose or introduce an alternative model you are going to use in the future.
4Discussion
Compare the initial current-state analysis with the analysis you have written in your daily and weekly diary reporting. Evaluate it also from the perspective of professional and research literature.
How have you developed?
What kinds of new solution models or methods for solutions have you found in your work?
What kind of new knowledge of different industries have you applied and combine in your work?
What kind of unpredictable situations did you have to face and how did you solve them?
What did you learn about managing people?
What did you learn about developing your work?
What did you learn about the methods of developing your work?
How do you accumulate the knowledge and practices of your industry?How do you describe the nature of expertise of your work?
How do you describe the evolution/change of your expertise?
What did you learn during the thesis writing process?
What new interesting topics did you find out and how can you benefit from them in the future? Any further development ideas?
How do you benefit from analysing your work?