NX0329 - Supporting Study

This module will be developed to you as a continuous process supporting the programme (and module) delivery. It will facilitate a forum for you and the programme management team to interact, discuss and review over the duration of the programme in specified timetabled sessions.

The module is scheduled throughout the year, by your Programme Team and NBS staff, to include 12 hours Personal Support and 20 hours Academic Support in language and study skills . Depending on ‘need at point of time’ this model may be adapted to two hour blocks determined by what is required and who is facilitating the sessions.

A wide variety of teaching methods will be used over your development process. These will include programme seminars, workshops and directed learning. The emphasis will be on the transferability of programme induction activities to support your academic and personal development. Thus the induction activities are to support the underlying learning needs from the programme modules.

Your programme leader will facilitate the induction and on-going personal development process. In order to build up and re-enforce your programme cohesion, for both programme wide academic and social development, you will be taught alongside fellow members from your particular programme. This will also provide a suitable forum for programme wide issues and programme feedback to be addressed over the two semesters.

For generic cross programme aspects of induction, standard NBS material will be utilised, although this will be delivered on a programme by programme basis to re-enforce the development of programme identity. The module could also accommodate additional materials where appropriate i.e. assessment briefs, reviewing articles, developing an understanding plagiarism and referencing etc. All of these resources will be stored in an e-learning portal (blackboard), which acts as a central directory for the support materials, such as the Teaching and Learning Plan, class slides, seminar exercises, alongside other relevant internet resources and multimedia support information.

You will also be provided with a wide-ranging electronic reading list that comprises of various academic reports, conference papers and journal articles that presented in the module. This list will help you to prioritise those materials, and divide them into topics by core reading and further reading.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk

(Reading List service online guide for academic staff, this contains contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
• Understand the available resources to support the process transition directly to the final year. [MLO1]

• Understand the programme framework for ongoing academic and personal development. [MLO2]

• Acquire and critically apply academic reading and writing skills to support independent learning over the programme. [MLO3]

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• Demonstrate the ability to work in diverse groups and teams. [MLO4]

• Demonstrate the skills to write assignment, analyse the task, plan, identify information sources, identify key ideas, write drafts, review and edit work, present, submit and use feedback. [MLO5]

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

This is a non-credit bearing module, hence there will be no assessment.

None.

None.

This module is a non-credit bearing module and forms an extension to the 120 module credit point on the top up programmes. It is designed to facilitate the development of your learning experience over the course of one-year academic programme. The module aims to provide a programme framework for orientation and ongoing programme of induction / academic and personal development and to support you in the transition process of learning experience in the UK.

You will be introduced the available resources to support your process of transition directly to the final year. You will also be introduced the key skills to seek learning resources and study support, including academic and social integration. You will work with diverse groups and teams from the programme to build up and re-enforce your programme cohesion, for both programme wide academic and social development. This module is not assessed.

The research embedded into this particular module is research oriented, where you will learn how to research through the development of academic reading skills (reading techniques, scanning, skimming, deep reading, critical reading and strategies for effective reading), writing skills (writing assignment, analysing the task, planning, identifying information sources, identifying key ideas, writing drafts, reviewing and editing work, presenting, submission and using feedback) and note reading and taking skills.
There is a reading list covering each of the topics presented in the module. It comprises of various academic reports, conference papers and journal. You are also encouraged to read, analyse and discuss recent published journal, alongside trade magazines and news media that illustrate a range of practical skills and knowledge to ‘real life’ scenarios of the module content. This additional reading, based on research, will help you develop an understanding into how research is conducted and how the content of this module supports this work. Your additional reading further supports your knowledge generation across the subject discipline.