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Teaching

You are taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars and laboratory practical activities, fieldwork, etc. Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and laboratory practical activities are focused on developing subject specific skills and applied individual and group project work.

In addition, you are assigned a personal academic tutor who will advise you throughout your course.

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services, and also the personal academic tutoring system, enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help you to flourish and be successful.

Contact time

Each module will have a weekly session of two hours. In a typical week you will have around 8 contact hours of teaching, but this might differ based on the number of modules taken in each semester if you selected the Part time study mode.

Teaching sessions will typically take place in our dedicated computer labs. We also have open access computer labs that you can use outside of scheduled teaching sessions. 

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 30 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Duration

• 1 Year full-time 
• 2 Years at least for part-time (Maximum registration 6 years)

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration.

Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments.

Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. Assessment methods include written examinations and a range of coursework assessments such as essays, reports, portfolios, performance, presentations and a final year independent studies project.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern of the course is:

• 3 x written reports
• 1 x Group project
• 2 x practical assessments
• 3 x presentation
• 2 x formal examinations of 2 hours duration
• 1 x research proposal
• Major dissertation

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We will provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners with industry experience, demonstrators and technical officers.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and many of our lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification.