The Specialist Project

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The Specialist Project

• NDCM

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A chance to develop your career

• Your own project that fits what you hope to do
  after Brooksby
• Either a practical thing you produce
• Or a practical research project you undertake
• Or some other research project
• Double points towards the Diploma
• ( Get Distinction on the Specialist and the
  Business units, and you only need 8 more units at
  Distinction to get DDD, ie distinction overall
  for your course)

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Examples of Practical projects

• Build or make something
• Put up an interpretative panel
• Build a gate, a bench
• Create a teaching aid for countryside
• Design..
• Build
• Make

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Examples of a Practical Research project

• Examine the trees in the Poplar plantation and
  identify why some have grown bigger than others
• Count skylark populations at 3 sites on Brooksby
  estate, record results on different occasions,
  comment on reasons for differences
• Compare soil structure etc under woodland, grass
  and arable land..
• Set up an experiment and observe the results

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Examples of other research

• Investigate recycling in Leicestershire
• Produce a report on Energy Saving buildings in
  the UK
• Investigate the issue of Badger TB and case for a
  cull
• Investigate the possible ecological impact of the
  proposed badger cull
• Find out about the benefits people gained from
  their work experience time..

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Some advice..

• Any topic is possible
• Keep the title as simple as possible,
• Clear objectives result in clear work
• Spend time researching your topic before you
  start
• Ensure you talk to me about each stage..
• Put a lot of thought into evaluating how it went

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The assessment

• Its nearly all marked on your planning and
  evaluation
• The actual write-up of the project is only one
  pass criterion ( P4)
• Use a GANTT chart to plan what you will do
• Spend quite a bit of time and thought on
  evaluating your plan and explaining what went to
  plan, what you would do differently

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Step 1 Deciding on your chosen topic

• Start with a few ideas.
• Take a few days, look into each idea
• Decide on a topic after discussion with your
  tutor
• Write up the decision
• The more detail you go to with this step
• Pass1 select a topic after considering options
• Merit 1 evaluate the options, do they fit your
  career plans ?
• Distinction 1Justify your choice based on what
  you found out

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Step 2 Planning what to do

• Once your choice is clear, plan carefully how you
  will use your time
• How long will you need for each step
• Set this out on a GANTT chart
• Describe what might go wrong with your plan, and
  what you might do about that
• Record how well you kept to your plan and comment
  on how realistic it was. Revise your plan
• Do all these things and you get P2, M2, and D2 (
  if you have explained things clearly enough)

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Step 3 The Project itself

• Carry out your project
• Keep notes or a diary as you work
• Take photographs if appropriate
• Record any changes to your plans
• Write up your project in detail
• This will meet P3 ( doing the project) and M3 (
  how you had to change your plan)

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Step 4 Write up your conclusions

• Write up your project, explaining your aims, your
  plans, and what you did P4
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the
  project ? ( M4)
• How would you do it differently if you did it
  again? What could be done to extend the project
  further ?
• That meets D3
• Theres no D4so thats it

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Some examples of Specialist Projects done in the
past

• Are there more birds on arable land, grassland or
  set aside ?
• A guided walk to learn tree names
• An interpretative panel
• A website
• Which feed gives best growth rate for these
  cattle/sheep/fish/rabbits/foals etc

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More examples

• The raptors on the Brooksby estate
• Dry stone walling styles across Northern England
• Hedgelaying practice across the Midlands

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DeadlinesAll Deadlines will be Thursday 9.30 in
the Library

• Task 1 The Topic 7 Nov 07
• Task 2 The Plan 14 and 21 Nov 07
• Task 3 The Project 10 April 08
• Task 4 The Write up 8 May 08

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