The Master of Arts thesis project is developed in the course E19.2095, Research in Educational Communication and Technology. The thesis is a requirement of all candidates for the ECT Master of Arts degree. It is a culminating project for which graduating students are expected to integrate and apply what they have learned through previous academic work and field experiences, with faculty supervision. Thesis students meet weekly as a group, reporting on the progress of their projects, discussing their research and screening prototype media for peer and faculty critique and suggestions. Thesis projects may be "new," relative to work done in previous courses; or they may be projects started in a previous course that become significantly expanded and enhanced. Students present their work to the ECT community at the end of the semester at the Master of Arts Colloquium.

Students are advised to complete all other course work prior to the "thesis semester,' and to devote their final, graduating semester exclusively to the thesis. All ECT students, including those required by sponsoring and financial aid agencies to attend school full-time (12 credits per semester), are eligible for one semester with a reduced load in order to complete the terminal experience; for this semester, students are given "full-time equivalency" status with their faculty advisor's assistance.

The ECT thesis may take these forms:

• Technology-based learning environment

  Students may choose to research, design and produce an educational multimedia environment, website, video program, or combinations/integrations of these. Students work through the instructional design process, which must be fully documented. ID Phase I, is the analysis/needs assessment, on the basis of which a theoretical framework is established and a review of relevant literature is conduced. In ID Phase II, students develop the design document. In Phase III, students produce a significant portion of their project as a prototype that clearly demonstrates key design principles. Students are encouraged to pace their work to allow for an informal formative evaluation of early design considerations. ID documentation of Phases I and II is approximately 25 pages in length, typically with attachments such as scripts, flowcharts, wireframes, etc.

• Comprehensive literature review

  This type of thesis is a paper that investigates an important and timely topic, problem or issue in the field of educational communication and technology and of particular interest to individual students. Students develop a set of major questions, from which two or three integral sub-areas of inquiry are identified, to establish direction for the review of relevant research studies, theoretical and scholarly literature, and literature concerned with practice; additional sources, such as interviews and observations, may be conducted. The paper typically includes and introduction to and background on the topic, problem or issue; definitions; the description, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of the literature (and other sources, if applicable); implications of the major work- and thinking-to-date on the topic, problem or issue, for example, for practice, policy, theory, further research. Comprehensive literature reviews are approximately 45 pages in length; specific sections and their lengths are developed in consultation with the thesis supervisor.
  
  Students who anticipate doing this kind of thesis may take ECT's doctoral course, E19.3311, Content Seminar in Research in Instructional Technology, as an elective

• Small-scale research study

  Students who anticipate doing this kind of thesis take two courses in advance of the thesis course. In ECT's doctoral course, E19.3311, Content Seminar in Research in Instructional Technology, taken as an ECT elective, students develop the research proposal and related literature review for the thesis study. Second, students take a research methods/design course, as a non-ECT elective, selected from many offerings in Steinhardt for its relevance to conducting the thesis study.

  Students start the thesis course by refining the draft of the proposal and the literature review developed in E19.3311, further developing and integrating the "methodology" section as necessary. If applicable, students submit a "human subjects" application to the Institutional Review Board (though students may begin this process while taking E19.3311). Subsequently, students conduct the study and analyze data collected. The formal paper includes a reworking of material in the proposal, including the methodology section, presentation and interpretation of findings, and a conclusion in which findings are contextualized in the literature reviewed and implications are drawn for practice, theory, and further research. Small-scale research papers are approximately 45 pages in length; specific sections and their lengths are developed in consultation with the thesis supervisor.

History of Masters Thesis Projects