Teaching and Learning
In order to meet the required programme learning outcomes students will effectively be engaged in active learning and research.
Different types of learning outcome pursued by the programme are each associated with particular teaching/learning and assessment activities.
Contents
Knowledge and understanding
Knowledge and understanding is developed through active learning strategies (role play, problem based learning) within teaching sessions, voluntary internship experience, supported by reading suggestions and other activities. Assessment is by essays, problem based learning tasks and classroom assignments.
Students will also develop subject specific intellectual skills, with learning implicit in the reading, discussion and reflection expected during the programme, as well as through advice and feedback supplied via supervision.
Students will be encouraged to develop subject specific practical skills through setting up voluntary internships of at least fifteen days duration.
Research and enquiry skills
Students will also be supported in developing key knowledge of research design, data collection and analysis appropriate to producing an evidence base to guide professional practice. The skills gained will also inform practice through the fostering of critical thinking in relation to empirical findings.
Generic or transferable skills
These are demonstrated where skills of general utility beyond the specific professional focus are acquired, through experiential requirements and formative feedback. They are implicitly assessed in the written assignments and practical experiences prescribed in the programme and include, for example, the development of interpersonal communication, conciliation and negotiation, verbal and written presentation, project work and report writing. http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/toolkit.htm
Generic Skills Training: The Researcher Development and Graduate Centre (RDGC)
The RDGC was formally set up in August 2011. It represents an initiative to pull together previous schemes to provide a comprehensive programme of workshops that enable graduate students across the University to increase their research and personal development skills. Its specific aims are summarised to:
Enhance the research-centred learning and personal development of postgraduate students, through promotion of shared opportunities for learning and generic skills training, to meet current needs and prepare for future careers;
Foster best practice and to provide a focus for dissemination, debate and engagement in local, national and international developments in postgraduate research.
Training opportunities within the RDGC fit within four key themes that link to the Researcher Development Framework (RDF). The RDF represents a new UK approach to the development of research skills that focuses on expanding the research base for graduate students leading to the development of “world class” researchers. Working within the RDF framework to identify what makes an excellent researcher, the RDGC highlights a comprehensive set of opportunities to develop skills related to:
Knowledge, Intellectual Abilities, Techniques
Personal Effectiveness
Research Governance & Organisation
Engagement, Influence & Impact
Students can sign up for courses through an online booking service: the Training Directory and Gradbook at http://www.southampton.ac.uk/gradschools/graddev/graduatedevelopment_index.html