For the final paper, students must develop a Social Management Technology for Territorial Development (SMT.TD), using various curricular components, under guidance of a professor. The paper must be prepared throughout the course and defended before a committee.
SMT.TD is a product, process, technique or methodology of social management that presents a proposal for solving a social problems, developed by employing scientific knowledge, techniques and professional expertise.
The development and preparation of the SMT.TD involve analytical-propositional skills, valuing the principles of ethics, innovation, replicability, applicability, accessibility, sustainability, and impact.
The SMT.TD is a technical and/or technological production, with presentation in various formats: papers, patents, plans, programs, projects, manuals, protocols, guides, prototypes, audiovisual productions, websites, blogs, applications, software programs, intellectual property registrations, technological publications, didactic and instructional materials, etc.
Regardless of the format, SMT.TD integrates a basic structure that students must follow:
● Reasoned defense of the justification and relevance of the social problem faced in a territory that will be object of the research;
● Detailed and reasoned characterization of SMT.TD proposal;
● Presentation and theoretical-methodological foundation used for the preparation of the SMT.TS;
● Critical-reflective analysis on the guiding principles of analysis of the SMT.TD (ethics, innovation, replicability, applicability, accessibility, sustainability and impact), and analysis of possible impacts of SMT.TD in the territories.
The objectives of the final paper in the form of SMT.TD are:
● To provide theoretical-practical reflection, based on the conceptual and analytical foundations offered in the various components of the course and the practice of empirical research.
● To develop skills for technical-scientific work and for the preparation of technical and technological products with an impact on territorial development.
● To foster an investigative, critical, reflective, purposeful, and positioned spirit.
● To encourage the learning of social development management through practice, contributing to the master’s student dedicating themselves to their continuous education.
● To contribute to the development of solutions to face problems identified in different spheres and socio-territorial scales.
Students shall develop the SMT.TD throughout the master's degree with the support of the various curricular components. The evaluation of the SMT.TD will be carried out through oral defense, in a public session with a judging committee to be approved by the PDGS Collegiate Board. This committee will be composed of the advisor, two professors (one linked to the Program and the other external to the institution) and a professional with significant experience in the field of application of the SMT.TD proposal.
The strengths of the final paper in the form of a SMT.TD include:
● It enables the elaboration of proposals for effective solutions that can be (re)applied and promote the development of territories, based on interactions between the master’s student and the subjects who participate in the solution of the problem.
● It favors the resolution of complex social problems, as it requires an interdisciplinary application of theoretical and practical knowledge.
● It aims to improve aspects of the public-social interest.
● It stimulates significant learning of social actors to employ social management in the search for solutions to problems related to territorial development.
● It promotes the development of active professional practice, enabling researcher’s self-development through the learning of knowledge, skills and attitudes related to the social management of territorial development.
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