Modules

Module title: Academic and Professional Skills
SCQF level: 08:
SCQF credit value: 20.00
ECTS credit value: 10
Module code: TBS08101
Module leader: Shuna Marr
School The Business School
Subject area group: Generic - Business School
Prerequisites

There are no pre-requisites for this module to be added
2018/9, Trimester 1, Blended,
Occurrence: 001
Primary mode of delivery: Blended
Location of delivery: CR
Partner:
Member of staff responsible for delivering module: Shuna Marr
Module Organiser:


Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Approach:
Learning and teaching methods
Students taking this module are empowered to be responsible for their own learning outcomes and encouraged to move towards becoming self-directed learners. There is intentionally a strong element of reflexivity in the approach i.e. that they change as a result of the learning, not just to reflect upon it and remain unchanged. They will be responsible for identifying assessments suitable for analysis for their portfolio, which will form the basis of their learning plan. They may use assessments produced for other modules in year 2 and/or their previous year of study (whether within the University or at College if a direct entrant) as the basis of the portfolio assignments. This allows students to be able to directly relate the skills they are learning to the rest of their programme and equip them to look forward to the next levels to come.

A blended approach
The teaching methods adopted are blended and incorporate a flipped classroom approach. Each week, underpinning theory or contextual model appropriate to the topic will be provided in advance, in a 20-30 minute video lecture made available in Moodle. The subsequent 2 hour workshop about this topic can thus be experiential and applied, giving students the experience of developing the skills in action. The first weeks of the module focus on academic skills such as critical and reflective writing, referencing, plagiarism, presentation of written work and self management. The focus broadens in the second half of the module to incorporate broader professional skills such as group work, public speaking, research and evaluation of sources, problem solving, presenting as a professional and systems level thinking.

IT Skills are taught using online methods. Students will be provided through Moodle with instruction videos, training documents and exercises to enable them to correctly format an unformatted Word document, and set up formulae and run reports from a provided Excel spreadsheet. They will also learn how to produce an online Wiki for their portfolio. One week has been left with no face to face workshop to allow time for these activities. As Moodle is a well-used platform within the university, all students should have sufficient digital literacy to be able to interact with, navigate, understand, read and respond to these multi-modal forms of digital content. However, there will also be an interactive discussion forum within Moodle and drop in sessions provided to handle any questions.

Academic Strategy
The methods adopted have been designed to directly align with the learning outcomes. AACSB requires explicit demonstration of how students meet PLOs. The learning outcomes were designed to meet all the Benchmark Statements across all subjects in TBS and all PLO skills outcomes at level 8. It will thus satisfy all the intermediate skills levels within each degree. This will provide a consistent application of all intermediate skills for all TBS students.


Formative Assessment:
Formative feedback will be incorporated into all the practical workshops. Students will be able to directly relate the workshop to the portfolios pieces they have to do. In week 7 or 25 there are opportunities for small groups to deliver an oral presentation and gain peer and tutor feedback on their performance. There are two drop in sessions week (5 and 13) 22 and 33 available for students to bring drafts of work for feedback.
There will be a formative aspect to the first summative assessment, which is the Learning plan assessment and written feedback will be given, which will help them build on and improve their second assignment. Two drop-in sessions will be provided at key points in the trimester to allow students to get one to one verbal feedback.


Summative Assessment:
There are two summative assessments in this module.

REPORT (LEARNING PLAN)
The first assessment will be submitted in a basic REPORT format with a contents page and introduction and conclusion. It will take the form of a LEARNING PLAN, where students identify and justify their choice of which assessments or subjects will be used as the basis for each portfolio piece (past/current/future as appropriate). They will have to demonstrate self management by evaluating how they propose to manage their time and workload, and reflect on how the skills they will learn might relate to their future academic studies and career.

PORTFOLIO
The second assignment is a portfolio of pieces demonstrating their skills in each area through an analysis or reflection on their performance in an assessment for another module. Presenting the portfolio in a wiki will incorporate IT and written communication skills into the assignment. Most of the portfolio pieces will require reflection and analysis. Through using the lens of a model or other form of theoretical underpinning, students will reflect in retrospect on past performance, or where this is not appropriate, they may speculate on future performance. This will allow them to draw clear links between the skills they are learning and their own programme of study and increase its relevance. It also lightens the burdens of assessment.

Both assignments will require students to position their discussion in relation to academic literature. Allocating marks for introduction and conclusion in LP and executive summary in the Portfolio draws attention to their importance.
Student Activity (Notional Equivalent Study Hours (NESH))
Mode of activityLearning & Teaching ActivityNESH (Study Hours)
Face To Face Practical classes and workshops 24
Online On-demand Webinar 12
Independent Learning Guided independent study 164
Total Study Hours200
Expected Total Study Hours for Module200


Assessment
Type of Assessment Weighting % LOs covered Week due Length in Hours/Words
Report 10 1 5 HOURS= 0, WORDS= 500
Portfolio 90 1-5 14 HOURS= 0, WORDS= 3500
Component 1 subtotal: 10
Component 2 subtotal: 90
Module subtotal: 100
2018/9, Trimester 1, Blended,
Occurrence: 002
Primary mode of delivery: Blended
Location of delivery: CR
Partner:
Member of staff responsible for delivering module: Shuna Marr
Module Organiser:


Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Approach:
Learning and teaching methods
Students taking this module are empowered to be responsible for their own learning outcomes and encouraged to move towards becoming self-directed learners. There is intentionally a strong element of reflexivity in the approach i.e. that they change as a result of the learning, not just to reflect upon it and remain unchanged. They will be responsible for identifying assessments suitable for analysis for their portfolio, which will form the basis of their learning plan. They may use assessments produced for other modules in year 2 and/or their previous year of study (whether within the University or at College if a direct entrant) as the basis of the portfolio assignments. This allows students to be able to directly relate the skills they are learning to the rest of their programme and equip them to look forward to the next levels to come.

A blended approach
The teaching methods adopted are blended and incorporate a flipped classroom approach. Each week, underpinning theory or contextual model appropriate to the topic will be provided in advance, in a 20-30 minute video lecture made available in Moodle. The subsequent 2 hour workshop about this topic can thus be experiential and applied, giving students the experience of developing the skills in action. The first weeks of the module focus on academic skills such as critical and reflective writing, referencing, plagiarism, presentation of written work and self management. The focus broadens in the second half of the module to incorporate broader professional skills such as group work, public speaking, research and evaluation of sources, problem solving, presenting as a professional and systems level thinking.

IT Skills are taught using online methods. Students will be provided through Moodle with instruction videos, training documents and exercises to enable them to correctly format an unformatted Word document, and set up formulae and run reports from a provided Excel spreadsheet. They will also learn how to produce an online Wiki for their portfolio. One week has been left with no face to face workshop to allow time for these activities. As Moodle is a well-used platform within the university, all students should have sufficient digital literacy to be able to interact with, navigate, understand, read and respond to these multi-modal forms of digital content. However, there will also be an interactive discussion forum within Moodle and drop in sessions provided to handle any questions.

Academic Strategy
The methods adopted have been designed to directly align with the learning outcomes. AACSB requires explicit demonstration of how students meet PLOs. The learning outcomes were designed to meet all the Benchmark Statements across all subjects in TBS and all PLO skills outcomes at level 8. It will thus satisfy all the intermediate skills levels within each degree. This will provide a consistent application of all intermediate skills for all TBS students.


Formative Assessment:
Formative feedback will be incorporated into all the practical workshops. Students will be able to directly relate the workshop to the portfolios pieces they have to do. In week 7 or 25 there are opportunities for small groups to deliver an oral presentation and gain peer and tutor feedback on their performance. There are two drop in sessions week (5 and 13) 22 and 33 available for students to bring drafts of work for feedback.
There will be a formative aspect to the first summative assessment, which is the Learning plan assessment and written feedback will be given, which will help them build on and improve their second assignment. Two drop-in sessions will be provided at key points in the trimester to allow students to get one to one verbal feedback.


Summative Assessment:
There are two summative assessments in this module.

REPORT (LEARNING PLAN)
The first assessment will be submitted in a basic REPORT format with a contents page and introduction and conclusion. It will take the form of a LEARNING PLAN, where students identify and justify their choice of which assessments or subjects will be used as the basis for each portfolio piece (past/current/future as appropriate). They will have to demonstrate self management by evaluating how they propose to manage their time and workload, and reflect on how the skills they will learn might relate to their future academic studies and career.

PORTFOLIO
The second assignment is a portfolio of pieces demonstrating their skills in each area through an analysis or reflection on their performance in an assessment for another module. Presenting the portfolio in a wiki will incorporate IT and written communication skills into the assignment. Most of the portfolio pieces will require reflection and analysis. Through using the lens of a model or other form of theoretical underpinning, students will reflect in retrospect on past performance, or where this is not appropriate, they may speculate on future performance. This will allow them to draw clear links between the skills they are learning and their own programme of study and increase its relevance. It also lightens the burdens of assessment.

Both assignments will require students to position their discussion in relation to academic literature. Allocating marks for introduction and conclusion in LP and executive summary in the Portfolio draws attention to their importance.
Student Activity (Notional Equivalent Study Hours (NESH))
Mode of activityLearning & Teaching ActivityNESH (Study Hours)
Face To Face Practical classes and workshops 24
Online On-demand Webinar 12
Independent Learning Guided independent study 164
Total Study Hours200
Expected Total Study Hours for Module200


Assessment
Type of Assessment Weighting % LOs covered Week due Length in Hours/Words
Report 10 1 5 HOURS= 0, WORDS= 500
Portfolio 90 1-5 14 HOURS= 0, WORDS= 3500
Component 1 subtotal: 10
Component 2 subtotal: 90
Module subtotal: 100
2018/9, Trimester 2, Blended,
Occurrence: 001
Primary mode of delivery: Blended
Location of delivery: CR
Partner:
Member of staff responsible for delivering module: Shuna Marr
Module Organiser:


Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Approach:
Learning and teaching methods
Students taking this module are empowered to be responsible for their own learning outcomes and encouraged to move towards becoming self-directed learners. There is intentionally a strong element of reflexivity in the approach i.e. that they change as a result of the learning, not just to reflect upon it and remain unchanged. They will be responsible for identifying assessments suitable for analysis for their portfolio, which will form the basis of their learning plan. They may use assessments produced for other modules in year 2 and/or their previous year of study (whether within the University or at College if a direct entrant) as the basis of the portfolio assignments. This allows students to be able to directly relate the skills they are learning to the rest of their programme and equip them to look forward to the next levels to come.

A blended approach
The teaching methods adopted are blended and incorporate a flipped classroom approach. Each week, underpinning theory or contextual model appropriate to the topic will be provided in advance, in a 20-30 minute video lecture made available in Moodle. The subsequent 2 hour workshop about this topic can thus be experiential and applied, giving students the experience of developing the skills in action. The first weeks of the module focus on academic skills such as critical and reflective writing, referencing, plagiarism, presentation of written work and self management. The focus broadens in the second half of the module to incorporate broader professional skills such as group work, public speaking, research and evaluation of sources, problem solving, presenting as a professional and systems level thinking.

IT Skills are taught using online methods. Students will be provided through Moodle with instruction videos, training documents and exercises to enable them to correctly format an unformatted Word document, and set up formulae and run reports from a provided Excel spreadsheet. They will also learn how to produce an online Wiki for their portfolio. One week has been left with no face to face workshop to allow time for these activities. As Moodle is a well-used platform within the university, all students should have sufficient digital literacy to be able to interact with, navigate, understand, read and respond to these multi-modal forms of digital content. However, there will also be an interactive discussion forum within Moodle and drop in sessions provided to handle any questions.

Academic Strategy
The methods adopted have been designed to directly align with the learning outcomes. AACSB requires explicit demonstration of how students meet PLOs. The learning outcomes were designed to meet all the Benchmark Statements across all subjects in TBS and all PLO skills outcomes at level 8. It will thus satisfy all the intermediate skills levels within each degree. This will provide a consistent application of all intermediate skills for all TBS students.


Formative Assessment:
Formative feedback will be incorporated into all the practical workshops. Students will be able to directly relate the workshop to the portfolios pieces they have to do. In week 7 or 25 there are opportunities for small groups to deliver an oral presentation and gain peer and tutor feedback on their performance. There are two drop in sessions week (5 and 13) 22 and 33 available for students to bring drafts of work for feedback.
There will be a formative aspect to the first summative assessment, which is the Learning plan assessment and written feedback will be given, which will help them build on and improve their second assignment. Two drop-in sessions will be provided at key points in the trimester to allow students to get one to one verbal feedback.


Summative Assessment:
There are two summative assessments in this module.

REPORT (LEARNING PLAN)
The first assessment will be submitted in a basic REPORT format with a contents page and introduction and conclusion. It will take the form of a LEARNING PLAN, where students identify and justify their choice of which assessments or subjects will be used as the basis for each portfolio piece (past/current/future as appropriate). They will have to demonstrate self management by evaluating how they propose to manage their time and workload, and reflect on how the skills they will learn might relate to their future academic studies and career.

PORTFOLIO
The second assignment is a portfolio of pieces demonstrating their skills in each area through an analysis or reflection on their performance in an assessment for another module. Presenting the portfolio in a wiki will incorporate IT and written communication skills into the assignment. Most of the portfolio pieces will require reflection and analysis. Through using the lens of a model or other form of theoretical underpinning, students will reflect in retrospect on past performance, or where this is not appropriate, they may speculate on future performance. This will allow them to draw clear links between the skills they are learning and their own programme of study and increase its relevance. It also lightens the burdens of assessment.

Both assignments will require students to position their discussion in relation to academic literature. Allocating marks for introduction and conclusion in LP and executive summary in the Portfolio draws attention to their importance.
Student Activity (Notional Equivalent Study Hours (NESH))
Mode of activityLearning & Teaching ActivityNESH (Study Hours)
Face To Face Practical classes and workshops 24
Online On-demand Webinar 12
Independent Learning Guided independent study 164
Total Study Hours200
Expected Total Study Hours for Module200


Assessment
Type of Assessment Weighting % LOs covered Week due Length in Hours/Words
Report 10 1 5 HOURS= 0, WORDS= 500
Portfolio 90 1-5 14 HOURS= 0, WORDS= 3500
Component 1 subtotal: 10
Component 2 subtotal: 90
Module subtotal: 100

Description of module content:

This module enables you to develop the key academic and professional skills that you will need to not only to complete your university course successfully, but also to enable you to be successful in your life beyond university. This module gives you the tools and focus you need to become lifelong, self-directed learners. The academic and professional topics this module covers includes: Written and verbal communication skills such as critical and reflective writing and presentation skills; IT Skills in MS Office (Word, Excel) and other software packages; Research Skills including evaluation of sources and referencing (The Business School currently uses APA 6th format); Analytical and problem solving skills; Self Management skills; Group Work skills; Reflective skills; Career preparation and evaluation skills; Systems level understanding; and how to locate knowledge within an external context.
Learning Outcomes for module:

LO1: Demonstrate skills in self management, forward planning, critical thinking, written and verbal communication, problem solving and reflection.
LO2: Identify, apply, evaluate, and correctly reference appropriate sources of academic and business-related information
LO3: Identify appropriate models and techniques for measuring individual, group and systems level performance and analyse these in relation to your own performance and/or a team in which you have worked
LO4: Demonstrate ability in relation to specified IT packages and reflect on their usefulness in relation to academic studies and the wider professional environment
LO5: Analyse the link between learning and professional skills as a key component of employability and reflect on how these will apply in a professional context
Indicative References and Reading List - URL:

Please contact your Module Leader for details
Click here to view the LibrarySearch.
 

Related information