Preparation for the final reflection session (viva voce)
Supervisors must have already read the final version of the essay, sent to them by the candidate, before this session takes place.
Students should bring the following to this session:
- extracts from their RRS that illustrate how they have grown as learners through the process of reflection
- a willingness to share their personal experience and to discuss the skills and development of conceptual understandings that they have acquired through the completion of the extended essay.
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It is important to note that students must not be allowed to make any changes to their extended essay after this meeting. Once they have submitted the essay as final to their supervisor, it is the supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that changes are not made. This is particularly important for schools who allow candidate upload of the essay.
Final reflection session (viva voce)
The viva voce is a short interview between the student and the supervisor, and is the mandatory conclusion to the extended essay process. Students who do not attend the viva voce will be disadvantaged under criterion E (engagement) as the Reflections on planning and progress form will be incomplete.
The viva voce is conducted once the student has submitted the final version of their extended essay. At this point in the process no further changes can be made to the essay. The viva voce is a celebration of the completion of the essay and a reflection on what the student has learned from the process.
The viva voce is:
- an opportunity to ask the student a variety of open-ended questions to elicit holistic evidence of the student’s learning experience.
- an opportunity for the supervisor to confirm the authenticity of the student’s ideas and sources
- an opportunity to reflect on successes and difficulties encountered in the research process
- an aid to the supervisor’s comments on the Reflections on planning and progress form.
The viva voce should last 20–30 minutes. This is included in the recommended amount of time a supervisor should spend with the student.
In conducting the viva voce and writing their comments on the Reflections on planning and progress form, supervisors should bear in mind the following.
- The form is an assessed part of the extended essay. The form must include: comments made by the supervisor that are reflective of the discussions undertaken with the student during their supervision/reflection sessions; the student’s comments; and the supervisor’s overall impression of the student’s engagement with the research process.
- An incomplete form resulting from supervisors not holding reflection sessions, or students not attending them, could lead to criterion E (engagement) being compromised.
- In assessing criterion E (engagement), examiners will take into account any information given on the form by the student about unusual intellectual inventiveness. This is especially the case if the student is able to demonstrate what has been learned as a result of this process or the skills developed.
- Examiners want to know that students understand any material (which must be properly referenced) that they have included in their essays. If the way the material is used in context in the essay does not clearly establish this, the supervisor can check the student’s understanding in the viva voce and comment on this on the Reflections on planning and progress form.
- If there appear to be major shortcomings in citations or referencing, the supervisor should investigate thoroughly. No essay should be authenticated if the supervisor believes the student may be guilty of plagiarism or some other form of academic misconduct.
- The comment made by the supervisor should not attempt to do the examiner’s job. It should refer to things, largely process-related, that may not be obvious in the essay itself.
- Unless there are particular problems, the viva voce should begin and end positively. Completion of a major piece of work such as the extended essay is a great achievement for students.
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Following this final session, the student is required to complete the last student comment section of the Reflections on planning and progress form and submit it to his or her supervisor, who must then add his or her own comments, and initial and date the form. Note that the maximum total word limit for the three reflections on the RPPF is 500. The supervisor must then upload the form into the e-coursework system, confirm the authenticity of both the form and essay, and submit them to the IB for assessment as one portfolio. Please refer to the section “Protocols for completing and submitting the Reflections on planning and progress form” for more information.
An RPPF that is blank, unsubmitted, or written in a language other than that of the essay, will be awarded a 0 for criterion E.
