Teaching and learning approach

Expectations and study commitment

Postgraduate students are expected to be self directed and motivated. You are responsible for organising your time and making sure you meet assessment deadlines and any other requirements.

What we expect from you

It is your responsibility to access the learning environment, Moodle, a minimum of three times a week during term time; most students log in early in the week, or the previous weekend, to access the week’s core materials and then again later on in the week as time allows. There is often activity on the discussion board over the weekend as many people find this a convenient time to reflect on the task they have been asked to consider and work on during the week.

You should read each course planner at the beginning of term. You are expected to read and reflect on the readings provided and to engage in the course activities and discussions with other students, the teaching staff and experts within the specific field of study on the discussion board. The ethos of this programme is that students should contribute fully and freely during the course; this is a participant-centred, interactive form of education where learners share their knowledge, problems, and experiences with other group members while discussing specific topics. This means we expect everyone to be sensitive to the different ethnic, cultural, religious and language backgrounds of those taking the programme.

Each course is assessed by a minimum of one form of assessment. Assignments must be submitted by the stated deadline and penalties will be applied if assignments are submitted late, in accordance with the University’s regulations. If you are unable to submit the assignment by the stated deadline due to unexpected circumstances (e.g. health or personal issues), you must get in touch with the Course Organiser before the assignment deadline to request an extension or to request special circumstances (see the section Interruptions, Extensions and Special Circumstances). Your request will be considered by the Course Organiser. If it is approved it is your responsibility to complete the extension request form on Learn to ensure no late penalties are applied. Please note that extensions can only be up to one week long – if a longer extension is required students should submit a special circumstances form.

A question that we are often asked is “How much time should I spend studying?” A 20 credit course carries a notional time commitment of 200 hours over ten weeks; for a 10 credit course this is 100 hours over five weeks. This includes the time you would spend reflecting on or applying knowledge to, real life situations, and the time working on your final assignments. We normally expect students to spend between 10 and 15 hours each week participating in each course; this may be in the form of a discussion activity, recommended reading, preparation of assignments, etc. This may also include reviewing resources from the University’s Institute of Academic Development or taking part in sessions to help you develop your academic skills. Some weeks will obviously catch your interest more than others, so the time you spend is very much driven by your level of interest and engagement with the course content. Students normally devote more hours at the end of the course to work on their final assignment.

Reflecting on your feedback and incorporating what you learn from it into future assignments is the most effective way to improve your academic performance. If after reading the feedback, you have questions, please discuss these with the Course Organiser if they are course-specific questions, or with your Personal Tutor if they are more general questions.

If you find at any point that you are struggling with managing your studies, don’t struggle alone – do speak to a member of the programme team or to your Personal Tutor as soon as you can. It is perfectly understandable to have concerns about workload – please do not worry that anyone will think any less of you if you have to raise difficulties like this with the programme team.

What you can expect from us

You can expect that the teaching staff will visit the online learning environment, Moodle, regularly between the working hours of Monday to Friday and they will be on hand to answer your questions. The emphasis in the teaching approach is to promote discussion between participants therefore you can often receive an open-ended answer rather than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response when asking a specific question. Our policy is that the majority of questions will be answered or responded to on the discussion board rather than via email, as it is our experience that other students are likely to have similar questions and everyone will benefit from the response. Obviously this does not include any issues of a more personal nature – if you are having any personal or academic difficulties please contact the Course Organiser or contact your Personal Tutor.

To the best of our abilities we will keep you informed of any disruptions that may affect your studies; such as delays in the release of course materials, staff holidays, Moodle downtime and service interruptions. When you contact us you can expect a response to an email correspondence to the programme email address within 3 working days during term time.

Provisional grades and feedback will be released to you no later than three weeks after the last submission of a particular assignment. Note that any extensions granted will delay the last submission and may result in a delay to returning marks and feedback.

You can expect us to monitor your progress and present your work to the programme Board of Examiners meeting in August/September each year. Following this meeting the final marks and progression decisions will be available on your student record on EUCLID.

The programme team, teaching staff and Personal Tutors are here to support you in your learning and your academic development throughout your time on the programme. If you are facing difficulties that are affecting your studies, whether these are related to academic, health or personal matters, please do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of the programme team for help or advice.