Overview
You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, group work and self-directed study. Tutorials, seminars and workshops are less formal and students will be expected to contribute to the session. Lectures are formal teaching periods that provide key content and assessment material. Group work helps to embed employability skills and it provides an opportunity to learn from each other. Blackboard is used as a virtual learning environment to support study. Each module will have its own shell and will incorporate material such as; lecture slides, tutorial solutions, assessment material, announcements and pilot examination papers.
Assessment will be through a mix of coursework and examinations. Coursework will include: presentations, academic essays, professional reports, multiple-choice tests, reflective reports and numerical computations. Some assessments will be prepared by students individually and others will be prepared in groups. Assessment is typically weighted as follows in your first year:
- Exam: 42%
- Coursework: 58%
These assessment weightings are indicative only. The exact weighting may vary depending on option modules chosen by students and teaching methods deployed by the academic member of staff each year. Indicative assessment weighting and assessment type per module are shown as part of the module information. Again these are based on the current academic session.
Contact hours
This is a full-time course and in total you should be prepared to devote approximately 38 hours a week to your studies. In the first year, you will typically have up to 14 contact hours of teaching most weeks. Teaching is through a mix of lectures, tutorials, seminars and lab sessions and the breakdown of these activity types is shown in each module description.
Other: In addition each module provides a two hour surgery each week for individual consultation with the lecturer. You will also have timetabled meetings with your personal tutor and careers and/or subject meetings scheduled throughout the year.
Self-directed study: In order to prepare for, and assimilate, the work in lectures and seminars you will be expected to use our on-line resources, participate in flipped or virtual classroom discussions on our virtual learning environment (VLE) and engage in personal study and revision for approximately 25 hours per week.
Subsequent years follow a similar pattern, however, the contact time will vary depending on your subject mix and options chosen, and the teaching methods appropriate to the module. Further details are contained in each module description.