Unit Study Guide

UNIT GUIDES

A Handbook For Academic Staff

At London South Bank University

2009

HOW MANY UNIT GUIDES SHOULD THERE BE FOR A UNIT?......

ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR UNIT GUIDE PRODUCTION...

THE UNIT VALIDATION AND REVIEW PROCESS......

QUALITY ASSURANCE OF UNIT GUIDES......

EXPLOITING THE ELECTRONIC MEDIUM......

PRODUCTION OF THE UNIT GUIDE AND THE UNIT GUIDE TEMPLATE......

0THE FRONT COVER

1UNIT DETAILS

2SHORT DESCRIPTION

3THE AIMS OF THE UNIT

4THE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THE UNIT

5ASSESSMENT OF THE UNIT......

6FEEDBACK......

7INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING THIS UNIT......

8THE PROGRAMME OF TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT.....

9STUDENT EVALUATION

10LEARNING RESOURCES......

USING THE UNIT GUIDE TEMPLATE

PRINTING AND DIGITISATION OF UNIT GUIDES

Unit Guide Handbook 20071

The Unit Guide is intended to help students learn by providing them with information about what they are expected to achieve as a result of studying the unit. The Unit Guide is also a communication tool about the unit for staff. It has an important role to play in ensuring that all students studying the unit, regardless of course or site, have an equivalent learning experience and that standards are consistent.

This handbook is intended to help staff prepare their Unit Guides so that they meet the minimum requirements and are fit for purpose. We hope that the handbook may also stimulate innovation in design, content and delivery.

HOW MANY UNIT GUIDES SHOULD THERE BE FOR A UNIT?

The Unit Guide plays a major role in ensuring that the student learning experience on a unit is consistent across different courses and sites.

Therefore there will normally be one version of the Unit Guide for all students taking a presentation of a unit, regardless of course or location.

However the following variations may be included if they would be helpful to the students and the teaching team:

• The name of a site-specific unit co-ordinator;

• Details of classes for the unit that are held on a course specific basis e.g. separate seminar programmes that incorporate course specific material or support alternative levels of study;

• Variations in the teaching programme where a unit is presented in two semesters, for example to reflect changes in dates.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR UNIT GUIDE PRODUCTION

Unit coordinators are principally responsible for the accountability and responsibility of unit management. One aspect of unit management for which the Unit Coordinator is responsible is producing the Unit Guide.

However, academic departments and unit coordinators should all be involved in the process by which the quality of Unit Guides is assured and enhanced.

THE UNIT VALIDATION AND REVIEW PROCESS

The Unit Guide is based on the syllabus as approved at validation. The Unit Guide will contain elements that may not be changed without a formal process: the defining features.

The defining features below can only be changed following FASC approval. Contact your Faculty Quality Assurance Administrator for details.

Defining Features

This information may not be changed without a formal process involving the appropriate Faculty Academic Standards Committee.

The Unit Guide will also contain information on the unit that should be updated and improved each year as a result of unit evaluation. These improvements will be informed for example, by the teaching team’s experience of delivering the unit, by feedback from students and external examiners and from student progression and achievement statistics. Changes to the delivery of the unit will also reflect the teaching team’s awareness of new resources, research, legislation and changes in fashion and teaching and learning methods.

Unit Guides are made available to external examiners and to reviewers from the Quality Assurance Agency. Both stakeholders use the Unit Guide to evaluate the quality of the student learning experience, particularly with regard to assessment practice. We must therefore ensure that Unit Guides are “fit for purpose” for both students, staff and the wider audience.

The Unit Guide is therefore made up of two sections:

• Defining information about the unit.
• Information on the programme of teaching, learning and assessment for this presentation of the unit.
  

QUALITY ASSURANCE OF UNIT GUIDES

Standards

• The Unit Guide must meet the minimum requirements as outlined in this handbook and conform to the unit guide template.

• There should be a system in place within the subject area or academic department for verifying the quality of Unit Guides, in terms both of conforming to the University requirements and of “fitness for purpose”.
  

Unit Evaluation

• There should be a mechanism in place for obtaining student feedback on the unit (including the usefulness of the Unit Guide).
  

EXPLOITING THE ELECTRONIC MEDIUM

Unit guides will be published on the LISA web site when they have been sent to print and can be found in the unit guide finder: .

Additionally both staff and students are becoming increasingly aware of the strength of the electronic medium to deliver up-to-date and timely information. Hence, information can be updated, sorted and organised as required and when needed. Hypertext links can be inserted into documents to make explicit the relationship between different parts of the guide, without repetition. Links can also be made to School or University policies (e.g. on late submission of coursework) and to the library catalogue. Innovations on using the electronic medium are strongly encouraged as long as due regard is paid to issues of equal opportunities for both students and staff.

Ensuring equal opportunities

All students who are studying the unit (including those students who are off-site) must have timely access to a paper copy of the Unit Guide without financial disadvantage. Students should be directed to the Learning Resources Centre where they can gain access to resources and assistance if necessary to access unit guides electronically where it is essential to the study of the unit.

PRODUCTION OF THE UNIT GUIDE AND THE UNIT GUIDE TEMPLATE

The unit guide should be produced using the Unit Guide Template that can be found at: The template is formatted with the front cover layout, specific areas for the defining features and the information on the programme of teaching, learning and assessment. You can replace the content text with information specific to the unit.

The following pages of this handbook describe what you should include in the unit guide.

0THE FRONT COVER

The unit guide template file outlines the information that should be included on the front cover. The University logo is held by the printers and will be printed onto the front page by them.

1UNIT DETAILS

The unit guide template outlines the information that should be entered in this section. This section should state the defining features as stated above in the section Unit Validation and Review as well as:

• Unit co-ordinator contact details.
• The name of a site-specific unit co-ordinator with contact details (if relevant).
• Details and contact details for the teaching team.
• The subject area
• Year and semester of study

Other information that you could include here that may be useful to students and staff are:

• A list of the courses for which the unit is compulsory or offered as an option.

2SHORT DESCRIPTION

Use this section to expand on the descriptor given in the unit catalogue, to explain what the unit is about, who it is aimed at and why.

3THE AIMS OF THE UNIT

The aims of the unit are what the teaching team hope to achieve in delivering the unit. The aims are agreed at validation and are a defining feature of the unit.

4THE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THE UNIT

The learning outcomes specify what the student will be able to do on successful completion of the unit. Learning outcomes are expressed as knowledge and understanding; intellectual skills; practical skills and transferable skills.

If the unit has been validated at two adjacent levels, then separate learning outcomes are validated for each level.

The following information is from: Guidelines for Preparing Programme Specifications, QAA

4How do we expect our students to achieve and demonstrate the intended outcomes?

Consider the teaching, study and assessment methods used to promote learning. Some methods are more appropriate than others for developing particular types of learning outcome. For example:

Knowledge and understanding of a subject is often developed through lectures and seminars. Such direct teaching methods are usually supported by directed study of textbooks and journal articles (hard copy or electronic) and by assignment or project work. Knowledge and understanding is often assessed through unseen written examinations, but most if not all assessment methods will require some demonstration of knowledge and understanding.

Intellectual skills such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and problem solving may be practised and demonstrated through more active learning processes involving assignments or projects, group-learning activity such as a seminar or tutorial, laboratory, workshop, or field-based activity. Assessment of intellectual skills can utilise unseen written examinations or problem-based exercises. Independent project work or research dissertations are typically used to demonstrate capability in a range of intellectual skills linked to specialist knowledge, understanding and practical skills.

Practical skills need to be developed through opportunities to practise the activity in an appropriate learning context (eg in laboratory, field, or workplace placement). Work-books or guidance manuals may also be used to support learning. Assessment of competence in exercising a practical skill must involve practical demonstration of it.

Transferable/key skills, that are readily transferable to employment and other contexts, such as communication, teamwork etc can be developed through naturally arising opportunities within the curriculum. For example, written communication skills can be developed and assessed through essays or dissertations; oral communication skills through presentations in seminars; or team working skills through collaborative projects. Skills may be developed also through extra-curricular activities including work experience, student representative work, and social and cultural activities.

5ASSESSMENT OF THE UNIT

This section of the unit guide informs students of how the Assessment Methods will be applied for this delivery of the unit. It expands on the basic data about the unit given in the unit details. Specific details may be modified each year as a result of unit evaluation.

You should include the following information:

Specific description of each element

You should give a specific description of each element of assessment. This should state, as relevant:

• The assignment briefs for this session
  
• The format of exam papers (compulsory section, multiple choice, how many questions need to be answered from how many, open book etc).
  
• Some Unit Guides include samples of previous assessments or a link to the past exam paper finder (

Assessment criteria and feedback proforma

Students, staff and external examiners are entitled to receive clear assessment criteria and an explanation of what learning outcomes are being assessed by an element of assessment.

This section of the Unit Guide should state the assessment criteria, their relationship to the learning outcomes and the feedback that will be given on the coursework.

Some Unit Co-ordinators may prefer to give out assignment briefs and the assessment criteria separately. In that case, this section must refer to these separate handouts so that all students are aware of their existence and of where the handouts may be obtained.

Details on submission

You should include here information on submission deadlines for coursework and instructions on how the coursework should be submitted (e.g. to the Faculty Office with the room number).

Students could be reminded in the Unit Guide that the University has a policy on late submission of coursework and on claiming for mitigating circumstances. Specific details on these policies are contained in the current student handbook.

6FEEDBACK

Specify how many working days after the submission of an assignment students should expect to receive their feedback.

The default number of working days is: 15 (as specified in the staff code of conduct).

If you need to make changes to the default number, overtype the number specified under the section of the unit template.

Example of the Feedback statement as written in the unit guide template:

'Feedback will be given to students 15 working days after the submission of an assignment.'

7INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING THIS UNIT

Overview of the main content

You could give an overview of the main themes and topics to be covered with any relevant explanation about the sequence, the relationship to the student’s main field of study or any other general explanation about the content of the unit. It may be helpful to students and teaching staff to indicate the percent total student study hours allocated to each part.

Overview of types of classes

You could also state the teaching and learning methods that will be used for the unit e.g. lectures, tutorials, seminars, laboratory classes, practicals, workshops, group work sessions etc with an indicative breakdown of the contact hours for each of these classes.

Importance of student self managed learning time

You could state the level and type of student participation that is expected on the unit, particularly with regard to the students’ responsibilities to use the non class contact time.

Employability

A general statement on how the unit content enhances employability, as defined by the Higher Education Academy:

‘a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.’

This differs from enhancing ‘employment’. For clarification please see : Employability in higher education: what it is – what it is not, Higher Education Academy, 2006, ESECT publication, editor York, Mantz.[online] available from [accessed 2nd August 2006]

8THE PROGRAMME OF TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT

The programme will develop with time as a result of unit review. The programme may also vary when the same unit is used on different courses.

You must ensure, however that the programme of teaching, learning and assessment is compatible with the learning outcomes and the assessment methods as defined in the programme specification.

For each week, you should describe how the class contact time and the student study time is to be used. For each week, briefly describe:

Class contact time

• The class activities scheduled for the week.
  
• The concepts, principles or techniques to be covered.

Self managed learning

• You should emphasise the number of study hours that must be spent on student managed learning time including, preparation for assessment.

• Guidance on any specific resources the students should use to support their learning in the unit. This could include in-house resource packages; core and optional reading; self-study material and additional workshops and surgeries on offer for students experiencing difficulties.

• Information about resources that are available centrally to support student learning and that may be relevant to the unit content. For example, you could make reference to the classes and online materials available through the Learning Development Centre; Learning Information Services and Learning Resources Centre.

Presentationof information

This information may be presented in various formats, according to the structure of work in the unit. Some Unit Guides give the information for each week in a table, while others include a separate seminar or lab work programme.

The aim is to present the information to students and the teaching team in as clear a fashion as possible.

9STUDENT EVALUATION

This section should include a summary of the student evaluation of the unit by the previous cohort, including reference to any changes made as a result of their comments.

10LEARNING RESOURCES

The resources that you list here will be directly related to the subject matter of the unit, and should be expressed as reading lists or web sites as core or optional materials. The information given in each of these sections helps the Learning Information Services to plan its purchasing strategy and to assess the likely demand for equipment to support non text resources.