Work Placement
Code: 43855 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4315985 Geoinformation | OB | 0 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Anna Badia Perpinyà
- Email:
- Anna.Badia@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
Prerequisites
The Work Placement module is done necessarily in the second semester, after the rest of the specialty courses had finished.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The Work Placement has an essential role in the Master’s degree as an important educational experience and a first contact with the professional world.
The goal of the Work Placement is to carry out a definite professional project, from start to end, with specific objectives and tangible results. This project has to be a proposal from an external organization (company, government or institution) with the aim of testing the student’s abilities and knowledge acquired throughout the whole Master’s programme, and also to complete the eduaction programme with specific advanced contents, added according to the needs of each particular project and organization. The ultimate goal then is to develop the student ability to think and implement methodological and technical solutions to solve specific needs of an organization in the field of geoinformation.
The Work Placement is also the basis to develop the Master Final Dissertation.
Competences
- Analyze user needs and the formal and interface requirements to define and design end- user geospatial applications in corporate environments or those open to the public.
- Apply programming methodologies and procedures, and those for implementation of geospatial applications for different types of platforms (desktop, web, mobile), using different programming paradigms and environments.
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Design and elaborate cartographic documents and, in general, geovisualization of geospatial data products, and implement the corresponding production and publication processes using analogue and digital media.
- Design and manage geospatial information systems, integrating spatial and alphanumerical, relational and object-oriented data bases, in client-server distributed architectures, or those oriented to services.
- Develop and apply geospatial and alphanumeric information analysis methodologies to resolve urban or land management problems, generating useful information for the implementation of intelligent processes and for decision making.
- Direct and manage geospatial information systems, services, products and applications projects, from a strategic, technical, economic and human resources and materials angle.
- Integrate geospatial information technologies, services and applications with the aim of providing an optimal solution to each application case.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
- Use knowledge critically and understand and take on board the ethical responsibility, legislation and social implications of the use and diffusion of geospatial information and its derived products.
Learning Outcomes
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Define technological solutions that help to develop end-user geospatial applications tailored to specific situations and requirements.
- Design and implement databases tailored to the needs of a real case.
- Develop cartographic visualisation products that respond to the specific needs of an organisation.
- Direct and manage geospatial information systems, services, products and applications projects, from a strategic, technical, economic and human resources and materials angle.
- Integrate geospatial information technologies, services and applications with the aim of providing an optimal solution to each application case.
- Programme ubiquitous and smart web or mobile applications for geospatial information that respond to the needs of an organisation.
- Satisfy spatial-analysis needs in a specific application dominion.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
- Use knowledge critically and understand and take on board the ethical responsibility, legislation and social implications of the use and diffusion of geospatial information and its derived products.
Content
The Work Placement consists in a 150 hours stage in an extermal organization (company, government or institution). The practical work develops according to a project with definined goals, schedule and results, having the aim that it cosntitutes a specific project in itself instead of a cummulative series of partial and disconnected tasks.
The Work Placement projects are proposed by the collaborative organizations so they could be real application cases, they be of interest to the organizations and involve them, and reinforce the sense of professional commitment by the student as they are in a reduced scale a professional order. Master’s coordination revises and negotiates with each organization the project proposal to ensure its quality, feasibility and proportionality with respect to the educational nature of the Work Placement.
According to this goal, the search and selection of collaborative organizations is done by the Master’s coordination. This ensures also that there will be as many organizations and projects as students in the Master’s programme. Students, therefore, do not have to search by themselves the Work Placement organization, but they can suggest organizations to the Master’s coordination if they have any.
The Work Placement is done at the second half of the second semester, so it does not interfere with the rest of courses of the Master’s programme. This ensures also that students had received most of the programme courses an therefore they have advanced skills to undertake an actual professional project. During the Work Placement each student has a superviser from the external organization and an academic tutor from the master’s teachers.
Methodology
The Work Placement involves mainly autonomous work by the student, that includes the applied activity of research and implementation, bibliographical and documental search, and report writing to document the tasks done.
Autonomous work is complemented by directed activities like tutorials and supervised activities for testing and quality control of the project results. Directed and supervised activities are carried out by the academic tutor and can involve, when needed, the supervisor from the collaborative organization.
The activities that could not be done onsite will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools. Exercises, projects and lectures will be carried out using virtual tools such as tutorials, videos, Teams sessions, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Tutorials | 8 | 0.32 | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 1, 8, 10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Results revision and quality control | 8 | 0.32 | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 1, 8, 10 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Research and development | 104 | 4.16 | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 1, 8, 10 |
Assessment
In the event that assessment activities cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
a) Evaluation procedure and activities:
Work Placement is evaluated according to three components: material results of the practical work done during the Work Placement (60% of the grading), student reports (20%) and the supervisor report (20%).
b) Evaluation schedule:
The evidences for Work Placement evaluation (material results, student reports, supervisor report) must be submitted at the end of the 2nd semester.
c) Grade revision:
Once the grades obtained are published, students will have one week to apply for a grade revision by arranging an appointment with the corresponding teachers.
d) Procedure for reassessment:
The Work Placement can not be reassessed.
e) Conditions for a ‘Not assessable’ grade:
Students will receive the grade ‘Not assessable’ instead of ‘Fail’ if they had not submited the material results of the practical work done during the Work Placement and if the supervisor's report does not prove that they completed the 150 hours of practical work.
f) UAB regulations on plagiarism and other irregularities in the assessment process:
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject..
Assessment acitivities with a zero grade because of irregularities can not be reassessed.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material results of the Work Placement project | 60 | 18 | 0.72 | 2, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 1, 8, 10 |
| Student reports | 20 | 6 | 0.24 | 2, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 1, 8, 10 |
| Supervisor report | 20 | 6 | 0.24 | 2, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 1, 8, 10 |
Bibliography
Not aplicable.