Professional Development: Expert Practice in Delivering Person-Centred Dementia Care PG Award

Teaching

Utilising a range of tools and features of the virtual learning environment (VLE), our teaching involves:

• Guidance to using the technology
• Regular communication with module tutors
• High quality online activities such as collaborative learning
• Constructive, formative feedback to support your learning
• A defined, regular social presence of module tutors to support continuous student/teacher communication
• Online learning is both asynchronous and synchronous with discussions via VLE to encourage critical reflection
• Active learning is facilitated through peer discussion formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities.
• Analysis of case studies and policy from health and social care and other settings relevant to your professional context.
• Critical reflective analysis of dementia practice in a range of settings.

This will facilitate an experiential learning cycle that will maintain your engagement and activity, require you to take responsibility for your own learning, and afford opportunities to relate and apply your learnings within their professional practice context.

If you register to undertake a standalone module, module leaders will generally act as your Personal Academic Tutor (PAT), this will ensure specific support.

Contact time

Synchronous contact - Scheduled/planned

There will be live tutorials and other live activities using the online learning environment.  A normal pattern of scheduled contact time will be around 1 hour per fortnight over each 12 week semester, therefore 12 hours for this 30 credit module, although additional sessions may be added if a tutor identifies a need. Scheduled online seminar classes are likely to be held in the evening to accommodate student work schedules.

Asynchronous contact - Unscheduled

Students are expected to participate fully in the programme of study, engage actively with learning opportunities including any scheduled sessions. If unable to engage with a scheduled session students would be expected to contact the module leader in advance where possible. At times engagement within modules will be monitored through the VLE. Contact time will be 2 hours per week asynchronous over 12 weeks, thus 24 hours per 15 credit module. 

Additional contact time will be through chat rooms and discussion boards which will be flexible. 

Independent self-study

In addition to the directed online study, scheduled exercises and virtual seminars within the online learning environment, you are expected to undertake around 6 hours per week per 15 credit module. Guided independent study will include students planning, design and delivery of teaching and support sessions, as well as reading journal articles, books and undertaking online research.

You will also be required to prepare coursework assignments and presentations. Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Duration

1 year part time

Timetables

The online learning environment will be available for the duration of the semester and will be available one week before the module commences. Dates for scheduled seminars will be made available prior to the course commencing.

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 lecturers,. People living with dementia and their families are involved in curriculum development and delivery.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy through a variety of academic teaching staff available to you, including a number of lecturers who have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. As part of the Association for Dementia Studies this will also include research fellows, PhD students and a Dementia Practice Development Coach. 

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments helping students to achieve the learning outcomes and provide scaffolding towards their summative assessments. Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ inclusive assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade and is an opportunity for students to apply learning into practice within their professional context.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the optional modules taken. The range of assessments within the modules represent a pedagogical approach of application of knowledge and self-directed study.

Assessment methods include:

• Practice based exercise
• Reflective practice report
• Reflective Case Study
• Action Plan
• Academic essay 

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 document.