Staging the final countdown: how the 'whole-task' approach can be applied in the organization of teaching and assessment of MA thesis drafting

The paper discusses the application of a novel instruction design model – the ‘whole task approach’ (WTA) by Marienboer et al. (2003) – in the preparation for the master thesis writing of students from a professional MA programme in European Studies of Maastricht University (the Netherlands). Given that the drafting of the MA thesis in Political Science and Public Administration involves complex learning i.e. aims at the integration of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, the cognitive load is very high. This high cognitive load combined with the pressure to graduate on time creates stress among the students and calls for the organisation of the learning environment in such a way that balance is achieved between gradual cognitive load, assessment that stimulates enhanced learning and individual self-assurance in own achievements. The empirical part of the paper outlines how the WTA provides a solution in this regard because it combines authentic learning tasks with staged just-in-time instruction. The examples from the practical application in the context of the MA thesis course will highlight the gradual increase in the complexity of the required deliverables and will illustrate how the cognitive load is controlled effectively. The paper will dive also in the choice of assessment methods and will discuss the rationale and effects of the applied combination of two times summative and two times formative assessment in the duration of the course (7 months).