DA6067 - Design Management and Interdisciplinary Design

What will I learn on this module?

In this module, you undertake a role of significant leadership in one or more design projects being undertaken in your workplace, or, exceptionally, in that of another employer participating in the Northumbria University Civil Engineering Appprenticeship Hub. You will be engaged in the full range of design processes, including evaluating client and user’s needs, researching and developing design options, communicating with stakeholders, planning and managing the design process. You will use your skills and knowledge gained earlier in the programme, and other expertise you research as you complete the module, to make specific technical contributions to the design. You will integrate knowledge and understanding from other engineering disciplines relevant to your design, for example from colleagues in a mechanical and electrical or process engineering team. Reflective participation in all these activities will allow you to develop as a designer and leader in your employer’s business.

How will I learn on this module?

Most of your learning on this degree apprenticeship module will be in your workplace. Your involvement in civil engineering tasks will enable you to put into context the theoretical material that you will study at University, thereby cementing your understanding. You will do this in conjunction with your workplace mentor/Supervising Civil Engineer, appropriate members of your team, and with the assistance of your University workplace coach.

The module will include a range of learning materials and opportunities, such as online presentations, notes, seminar/tutorial questions, video links and digital reading materials. All these resources will be arranged in a convenient learning journey, giving you a clear expectation of the content to be studied and tasks you will complete weekly.

How will I be supported academically on this module?

During your normal working day, your industrial mentor/Supervising Civil Engineer will support your learning through the allocation of appropriate work tasks relevant to the theoretical content of the module, allowing you to contextualise and cement your knowledge. The University will monitor this educational process.

University academic staff will support you in formally-scheduled teaching. This arrangement will give you ample opportunity to ask questions to clarify and deepen your understanding of the module content, as well as to seek specific help, for example, with your preparation for assessment. At other times, you will have access to University academic staff via telephone, email, and the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE). These media will allow you to access and make full use of the support and guidance available to you.

What will I be expected to read on this module?

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

What will I be expected to achieve?

Knowledge & Understanding:

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
MLO1: Evaluate business, customer and user needs.

MLO2: Synthesize engineering knowledge from earlier in the programme to develop creative and rigorous design solutions.

MLO3: Development design solutions by applying research, information retrieval and communication with others.

MLO4: Synthesize appropriate planning and management approaches for the design process, according to relevant requirements.

MLO5: Integrate knowledge and understanding of other engineering disciplines into your study of civil engineering.

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

How will I be assessed?

Summative assessment will be by coursework. It will be worth 100% of the module marks and will cover all the module learning outcomes.

Formative assessment (sometimes from occasional homework tasks) will be by verbal or written (digital) support from University academic staff. In line with the workplace approach of a degree apprenticeship, you will be expected to take on-board verbal feedback from your workplace mentor/Supervising Civil Engineer, which is the case generally with employee performance.

Assessment feedback will be mapped between summative assessments from different modules, so that you receive clear guidance on improving work, based on performance in assessments in different modules. This will be made explicit to you via digital pro-forma as well as verbally.

Pre-requisite(s)

Successful completion of Level 5 of the BEng (hons) Civil Engineering Degree Apprenticeship

Co-requisite(s)

This module can only be taken as part of Level 6 of the BEng (hons) Civil Engineering Degree Apprenticeship

Module abstract

In this module, you will apply civil engineering knowledge gained earlier in your apprenticeship or independently researched at the time to make an individual contribution to design work being carried out in the workplace. You will work as part of a team and will be involved in scoping and designing a civil or structural engineering project. Part of this will involve detailed design of structural or other components, using Eurocodes or equivalent relevant standards. You will also apply relevant modelling and calculation methods and will consider appropriate construction methods for your designs. You will evaluate the data on which your design is based and account for the uncertainties in it, considering design risks as appropriate. You will learn ‘on the job’ in your workplace, and will be assessed using a coursework.

Course info

Credits 20

Level of Study Undergraduate

Mode of Study 5 years Part Time

Department Mechanical and Construction Engineering

Location City Campus, Northumbria University

City Newcastle

Start September 2025

Fee Information

Module Information

All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

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