Module Information
Module Identifier
IC07720
Module Title
Academic Skills Foundation 2
Academic Year
2020/2021
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Pre-Requisite
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Team project: Information design (750 words per team member) | 25% |
| Semester Assessment | Team presentation: Information design (750 words per team member - 5 minutes) | 25% |
| Semester Assessment | Individual essay: critical reflection on learning (1500 words) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 Written and/or oral assignments to replace failed components to a maximum of 3 assignments. Individual assignments will replace team assignments where one person has failed a team work component. | 25% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 2 Written and/or oral assignments to replace failed components to a maximum of 3 assignments. Individual assignments will replace team assignments where one person has failed a team work component. | 25% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 3 Written and/or oral assignments to replace failed components to a maximum of 3 assignments. Individual assignments will replace team assignments where one person has failed a team work component. | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Work independently and in teams to plan and draft of a range of written and oral academic assignments.
2. Identify and use differing structures, patterns of argument and language style for essays, online projects, seminars and presentations.
3. Make appropriate use of citations, quotations, summarised and paraphrased ideas, referencing and bibliographies in own oral seminars and presentations, and in written multimedia documents.
4. Deliver effective presentations and contribute effectively to seminar discussions.
Brief description
Through a range of activities and assignments students will work towards the acquisition and refinement of the specific study skills needed for their chosen degree scheme. The module will include individual work, team work and self and peer review activities. The learning units support students to develop the skills needed for effective reading, critical review, participation in seminars, note taking, planning and time management, delivering presentations, project development and assignment-brief-targeted academic writing.
Content
The themes covered in the module are set out below. Some components of the course (e.g. academic practice) may receive more extensive coverage than others, according to their importance and relevance to a given cohort of students.
Each week’s teaching will consist of one lecture to all students, plus smaller group seminars in which student teams engage in the development of online project material and associated planning and development work.
Students will be required to participate actively, engage in peer-review activities and appraise and evaluate their own learning strategies and progress. The topics covered include the following:
Each week’s teaching will consist of one lecture to all students, plus smaller group seminars in which student teams engage in the development of online project material and associated planning and development work.
Students will be required to participate actively, engage in peer-review activities and appraise and evaluate their own learning strategies and progress. The topics covered include the following:
- Identifying personal and professional interests in subject areas for the identification of project teams and topics.
- Planning and writing project proposals.
- Reviewing online information for reliability, accuracy and comparable aspects of information design.
- Working with principles of teamwork, cooperative learning and group dynamics.
- Managing project groups and collaborative and cooperative units: collective workload, individual work packages, meetings, editing and finalising.
- Writing for the web: clarity, concision and user focus.
- Working with peer review of written work and constructive critical response.
- Identifying and applying differences between writing and speaking.
- Writing for a range of audiences.
- Identifying and following a through-line in collaborative, online information design.
- Identifying presentation structures, strategies and sharing of content delivery for team-managed oral presentations.
- Developing approaches to reflexive writing in an academic context.
- Building on essential aspects of good academic practice taught in Semester 1: identifying and practising key skills including citation, quotation, referencing, bibliographies, paraphrasing and summarising. In order to make this relevant to the range of disciplines involved in the foundation schemes, a comparative analysis will be included to look at uses of Harvard, APA, MLA, MHRA, IEEE and footnote/endnote systems, among others as required. Students will be encouraged to follow and access systems used by their departments.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | This will be developed at a basic level for design, layout, image formatting, numbering and sequencing. |
| Communication | This is a core skill for all seminars, practicals and assignments 1 and 2. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will be required to reflect on learning and performance as an independent reflexive process and also as a peer review and team review process. This will be enhanced by use of video recordings of student presentations. |
| Information Technology | For successful delivery of assignments, students will need to develop word processed and presentation documents. They will also be required to develop online written and visually designed information resources. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Students will be encouraged to develop audience awareness between academic writing and spoken academic skills and how these may vary when presented to academic and public audiences. Many aspects of skills will be identified as transferable, confidence building, and outward facing to the professional community. Critical awareness of this will be reflected in the essay. |
| Problem solving | All assignments will require students to interpret guidelines and identify appropriate strategies and structures for responding to requirements. |
| Research skills | All assignments will require reading and planning that will be done through a range of academic resources. These will include the electronic reading lists provided by Information Services and carefully chosen supporting material independently identified. |
| Subject Specific Skills | This will include accuracy and appropriacy of language, writing style, generic and specific structures for texts within identified subject areas. |
| Team work | Students will engage in specific team work activities that will be accompanied by team written/prepared assignments. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 3