Professional Practice BA (Hons) Top-up Degree

Teaching

You will be allocated a personal academic tutor who will support you through tutorials as well as in support of two key modules over the year: the independent study and the specialism study.

You are taught through a combination of lectures and seminars supported by tutors. In sessions, interactive learning activities take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities.

Contact time

In a typical single module you will have 10-hours contact hours of teaching. You will be expected to complete learning activities before and between sessions.

You will have an introductory 5-hour session for the independent study and the specialism module followed by timetabled tutorials, some of which are accompanied by group seminars. The specialism module also includes online learning activities supported by an e-tutor.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 15-20 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for final assessments.

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

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 professional practitioners from across the fields of study covered by the degree programme. Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy and is based on considerable experience of practices in the field.

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 a research project, critical response report/portfolio, reflective evaluation, comparative assignment, and evaluative report.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year are set out in the module outline, the handbook for each module.

Feedback

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

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

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.