Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay Students will write a 1,500 word response to their chosen question. This will be based on seminar discussion and activities over the semester. | 50% |
| Semester Exam | 1.5 Hours Short Answer Test Students will answer a series of short answer and multiple choice questions based on module content in a live online exam. | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay Students will write a 1,500 word response to their chosen question | 50% |
| Supplementary Exam | 1.5 Hours Short Answer Test | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Read critically from multiple sources.
2. Understand the difference between good and poor arguments.
3. Critically analyse texts.
4. Assess credibility of sources and evidence.
5. Construct effective arguments using appropriate sources.
Brief description
This module is designed to give integrated Foundation Year students an in-depth introduction to the resources available to them at Aberystwyth and develop skills in critical thinking, writing and research fundamental to university level study. The students are introduced to some abstract concepts common to humanities and social science disciplines, including fundamental philosophical ideas that conceptualise ‘knowledge’. It will help students with; organising their ideas, how they communicate them, how to choose and use sources of information, and how to critically engage with debates that are focused on questions of ‘truth’. The module guides them through these ideas using a number of contemporary examples of the (mis)use of information in the world. Students will actively engage with texts of different sorts (words, images, social media, film) and develop their interpretation skills. Beginning from an assumption that we are in a ‘post-truth’ era, students will learn how to determine the source and the factualness of different texts. This will equip them with the ability to determine appropriate sources, to critically analyse texts, to understand the political context that shapes the production of knowledge and to use that understanding to develop and present coherent and convincing argument.
Aims
At the end of this course (and the wider Foundation Year) students should be in a much better position to feel in control of their own thinking about their degree subject of study and the world around them.
Content
Students will attend lectures that introduce relevant concepts to them on a weekly basis. They will participate in seminars that provide examples and discussion on relevant topics. They will learn the differences between different types of data and how they are acquired. They will be introduced to key philosophical ideas discussing the production of knowledge. They will learn that knowledge production is a political and social act. These lectures will take place from Weeks 1-11, with seminars using current events to give practical examples of the concepts introduced in the lecture. The theme can, as required, link to content of other foundation modules to provide further opportunity for learning and reflection.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | N/A |
| Communication | Students will use a range of software packages, online research tools, and develop presentation skills involving information and data. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will learn from different case studies and examples each week, drawing from different subject areas and political and social events. |
| Information Technology | Students will be making use of Microsoft software packages. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Students will develop awareness of their personal skills, beliefs and qualities in relation to course progression. They will draw links between current political and social events and the academic concepts we use to explain them. Students will reflect on the relationship between abstract concepts of knowledge production, data acquisition and the content they come across in Learning Experience I. They will reflect on their own capacity to interpret and shape knowledge. |
| Problem solving | Students will identify factors and issues relating to their chosen subjects. They will need to engage with a number of social issues and imagine creative solutions to them. |
| Research skills | Students will undertake an analysis of academic and non-academic sources and produce academically appropriate reports. They will learn how to critically analyse and verify different texts and sources. They will learn to develop an argument and interpret diverse perspectives on a chosen theme. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students will develop awareness of issues relating to the topic in the student’s chosen subject area and how issues relating to the topic in other academic areas may be relevant to their problem solving approach. |
| Team work | Students will develop an understanding of group dynamics, contribute to the setting of group goals, contribute effectively to the planning of group activities and play an active part in group activities. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 3