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Thesis Planning
Courses Doctor's Degree in Digital Media Arts
Cod: 23055
Department: DCET
ECTS: 5
Scientific area: Digital Media Art
Total working hours: 130
Total contact time: 30

This learning unit aims at providing students an opportunity to identify the problems related with the realization of a doctorate thesis in the area of digital media art, while specifying a work plan for the two years of preparation of the doctorate thesis.

Doctorate Work Planning
Thesis Planning
Doctoral Thesis

When concluding this learning unit students shall be able to:
 - Identify the problems related with a doctorate work on digital media art;
 - Specify in detail the state of the art of a specific sub-domain of digital media art;
 - Specify a doctorate working proposal that includes the research question(s) or the problem to be solved, the motivation, and a detailed and justified plan of the activities to be undertaken

1) Doctorate work: major phases, its implementation and related issues;
 2) Studies of different sub-domains of digital media art: visual, sound/music, performing, immersive, web, multisensory, digital communication arts, etc. 
3) Doctorate planning: elements to present, format, argument support, time and resource planning, defense preparation. 
4) Elaboration of a doctorate plan in a subarea of digital media art, including the respective state of the art study and exhibition of an artifact that shall be presented and defended in public before a jury.

• Alves, M. (2013). Como escrever teses e monografias: um roteiro passo a passo (Vol. 2). Elsevier Brasil. 
• Fortin, S., & Gosselin, P. (2014). Considerações metodológicas para a pesquisa em arte no meio acadêmico. ARJ–Art Research Journal/Revista de Pesquisa em Artes, 1(1), 1-17 
• Gray, C., & Malins, J. (2016). Visualizing research: A guide to the research process in art and design. Routledge. 
• Irwin, R. L., LeBlanc, N., Ryu, J. Y., & Belliveau, G. (2018).  A/r/tography as Living Inquiry. Handbook of arts-based research, New York: The Guilford Press, 37-53.
• Skains, R. L. (2018). Creative practice as research: discourse on methodology. Media Practice and Education, 19(1), 82-97. 
• Turabian, K. L. (2018). A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers. University of Chicago Press.

The evaluation of this learning unit encompasses a dimension of continuous nature based on the quality of the questions and problems that the student puts to the teacher/class; of the doctorate plan and a related artifact exhibition; and of its defense before an interim jury that will evaluate the relevance and feasibility of the proposed plan and its theme as well also the artefact developed and exhibited. The weighting factors and criteria of evaluation of the learning outcomes will be subject of negotiation between teacher and students

Given the theoretical nature of the learning unit, the teaching/learning process should follow an approach based on individual work assignments in the form of an intensive study of the area and its respective state of the art, and the participation, in virtual classroom, in the online collaborative learning process based on the discussion and critical analysis of the various topics of study. The teacher conducts online tutoring orientation sessions to focus the study effort.