Abstract of Dr. Maxim Panov
Online Master Thesis Research in the Pandemic Era: Skoltech Case Study
Dr. Maxim Panov, Alexander Vaniev, Julia Mochalova, Daria Tokmeninova, Olga Ushakova
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), Moscow, Russia
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously influenced the everyday lives of most people in the world, with higher education not being an exception. Remote (online) teaching became the de-facto standard, leading to many challenges and opportunities. The attention of the educators is mainly focused on online class delivery with many tricks-of-the-trade developed and efficient tools available. However, Master thesis research plays at least as central role as coursework on the MSc level, and it is not always easy to perform online. Many research areas require on-site experiments and need a complete rethinking of the approaches to thesis writing. However, even if, in principle, a thesis can be written entirely in online mode (say in Computer Science or Math), one faces severe obstacles in this way. In this work, we analyze the Skoltech experience on online thesis research. We observe that online mode leads to a significant increase in unsuccessful theses research projects, presumably due to the deteriorated communication level between advisors and students. We also compare the quality of theses as assessed by thesis committees over several years through 10 Skoltech MSc programs.
Keywords: thesis research, online teaching, Russia, Thailand