MEC orientation

1. MEC orientation

2. Welcome! • MEC Executive Committee • Dr. Thomas Trappenberg (CS tt@cs.dal.ca) • Dr. Sunny March (Bus Sunny.Marche@dal.ca) • Anne Uteck LL.M. (Law anne.uteck@dal.ca) • Theo Chiasson (theo@cs.dal.ca) • Menen Teferra (Student Issues menen@cs.dal.ca) • Angie Bolivar (Admissions angie@cs.dal.ca) • Michelle Saulnier (Cont. Student Rep saulnier@cs.dal.ca) • TBA (MEC 2003 rep)

3. Issues to be discussed • MEC program outline and options • Supervisors • Program Fees & Extra Courses • Internship • Progress Reports & Program Forms

4. General • Graduate program • Interdisciplinary • Global • Professional oriented • New discipline

5. ESL writing workshop

6. Program overview Overview Module Elective Module Research Module Research Paper Internship + + 2 courses

7. Modules • Overview: • Get an overview of the fundamentals in the required disciplines and relate them. • Electives: • Choose courses for further studies of ecommerce-related topics • Has to cover at least 2 out of the 3 disciplines • Research: • Individually supervised component of the program • Internship: learn real world applications • Project/Paper/Thesis: Further deepen your specialty area under supervision of specialists in the field

8. Electives • ECMM courses • Grad CS courses • prerequisites musty be met • approval by coordinator is required • Grad Law course (max five seats) • Primary: Law and technology (Uteck), Internet and Media (Fraser), Privacy Law (Gibson) • Secondary: Information Technology Transactions (Hirschfeld), Intellectual Property (Scassa) • Grad Bus courses • prerequisites must be met • If the course is listed on the MEC web page (to be updated soon), then explicit permission is not required. • For all other courses, an executive committee member must approve the course • CS: Thomas Trappenberg, Theo Chiasson • Business: Sunny Marche • Law: Anne Uteck • Courses at other universities are typically not approved

9. Internship • All internships must have a significant portion of the job related to e-commerce. • Internship proposal and Employer form must be submitted to the executive committee for approval. • Student has to be registered in internship course • Work are not approved in retrospect as internship • Internship report is required (new guidelines effective this term) • Please read the MEC internship web page:http://www.ecomm.dal.ca/mec/internship.html • We will assist in any way we can but ultimately it is the responsibility of the student to secure an internship placement (see internship resource list; letters to employer)

10. Program Option (1) • Project (8 courses + Internship + Project) • Requires supervisor (from any institution) and a reader from one of the three faculties at Dalhousie (Law, Business, CS) who is a member of FGS • This option typically has the focus on an implementation of specific solutions or thorough analysis of a specific topic with a significant contribution. It requires a comprehensive write-up of the project, which includes literature review, research methodology, detailed description of the analysis or the implementation, and a discussion that demonstrates critical thinking and a vision for future work or directions. • Public presentation

11. Program Option (2) • Research Paper(10 courses + Internship + Research paper) • Requires a reader from one of the three faculties at Dalhousie (Law, Business, CS) who acts also as supervisor (don’t need to be FGS member). • This option requires the thorough study of a specific topic and the demonstration of critical thinking, but is not expected to generate new data or theories. The research paper must include a comprehensive literature review, detailed description of the specific research subject that demonstrate advanced knowledge in this area beyond typical textbook knowledge, and a conclusion with a vision for future directions. The student must demonstrate critical thinking. • This option must be augmented with two more courses that facilitate the specialty study of the paper subject. • No public presentation

12. Program Option (3) • Thesis (8 courses + Internship + Thesis) • Requires supervisor from one of the three faculties at Dalhousie (Law, Business, CS) who is a member of FGS, and two readers (from any institution). • Must make an original research contribution (see FGS thesis guidelines) of considerable scientific, legal, or management interest that would qualify for a publication in a major conference or professional journal. • The write-up has to take the standard form of a thesis within the faculties of the program • Thesis defense • Recommended for Ph.D.

13. Supervisor • It is the students responsibility to find a project / paper / thesis supervisor • Research what various professors are interested in and try to set up a meeting. Come with ideas in mind about a project that they might be interested in supervising. • Talk to the appropriate executive committee member for general advise.

14. Program Fees • 4 semesters full time tuition • No fees first summer BUT MUST STILL REGISTER “Graduate students in the programme-fee programmes must maintain their registration on a continuing basis (i.e. they must register for and pay the required tuition for each and every term following their official start date. If graduate students allow their registration to lapse they will be considered to have withdrawn …” Graduate Studies Calendar 2003/2004, section 4.1, page 22 • Continuing fees after 5 semesters

15. Extra Courses • “… under the programme or continuing fee, students may take only the courses approved by the department on the student program form.”Graduate Studies Calendar 2003/2004, section 1.3, page 19 • Max 8 courses for the project/thesis option and 10 courses for the paper option

16. To do list • Program Form (deadline November 15) • Progress Report (first week following term) • Internship Proposal + Employer Form (before starting Internship!) • Project/Paper/Thesis Proposal + Supervisor selection form • Register for ALL TERMS • Read announcements (deadlines)