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Teaching

You will be taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars, laboratory practical sessions, practical activities, etc. Some examples include:

• Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities and can incorporate short lectures, worksheets and tutor-supported activities.
• Flipped lectures where lecture content and activities are provided prior to an interactive workshop to provide background and context to the sessions.
• Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and laboratory practical sessions are focused on developing subject-specific skills and applied individual and group project work.

We also make use of real-world case studies, oral presentations, mock examinations, hands on experience working with contemporary data analytic tools and programming environments, guest speaker inputs, and self-directed research. You do not merely learn in isolation and using the university's Virtual Learning Environment allows for online collaborative activities to take place. 

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least four occasions during your first year.

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop 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

In a typical week students will have 12 contact hours of timetabled teaching in lectures, seminars and small-group work. This is in the form of on campus face-face teaching in groups of around 30 students. In the final year there is normally slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study. 

Typically, class contact time will be structured around:

• Information giving, facilitated discussions, small group work, presentations
• Practical skills – the opportunity to practise group facilitation, presentation, communication and listening skills
• Visiting speakers and opportunities to visit other settings are regular features of the course.
• Most teaching will take place in state-of-the-art PC labs using a variety of software specific to each module

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, full-time students are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week, plus additional preparation for assessments and examinations. Typically, this will involve meeting with individual tutors to discuss progress and feedback, completing activities, creating and testing artefacts, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online.

These activities, challenges and further reading are posed via the University Virtual Learning Environment. Students will also have access to software and other services required for independent studies available for use on University lab machines or for download for home use where possible.

In addition to this, students will spend time sharing ideas with fellow students, taking part in extra-curricular learning activities and engaging with external employers.

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 as well as our network of employers and entrepreneurs. 

Duration

• 3 years full-time
• 4 years full-time including one year placement
• 4-6 years part-time

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

All modules have both formative and summative assessment elements. Formative assessment allows tutors and students to recognise strengths and weaknesses in learning and to address those issues immediately. Summative assessments are graded and count towards the final module grade, and they are assessed against the specific module learning outcomes.

Typically 15 credit/one semester modules will have 1-2 assessment items. 30 credit/two semester modules will have 2-3 assessments.

Across each individual year and cumulatively across all three years the concept of continuous assessment and/or building up expertise in different assessment types applies. This includes expanding upon and enhancing previous artefacts culminating in a final year project.

Different types of employability skills are embedded in all modules including technical presentation, problem decomposition and design, build and test skills. A variety of assessment types (reports, portfolios, presentations, essays and a final year research or consultancy project) are designed to suit different learning styles 

The typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1 

• 1 x Essay
• 1 x Practical Assessment
• 2 x Report (1500 – 2000 word)
• 2 x Presentation
• 2 x Unseen Examination (1hr)
• 1 x Project
• 3 x Portfolio of work 

Year 2

• 1 x Report (2000 word)
• 1 x Presentation
• 1 x Unseen Examination (1hr)
• 2 x Project
• 4 x Portfolio of work
• 1 x Case Study 

Year 3

• 3 x Practical Assessment
• 4 x Report (1500 - 3000 words)
• 3 x Presentation
• 1 x Dissertation
• 1 x Portfolio of work 

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 .