KA4034 - Academic & Professional Skills

In this module, you will learn through lectures, seminars, and practical IT lab sessions. You will also have access to a range of digital learning resources, including an electronic reading list made available to you via the VLE. The lectures will set the scene for the module content, assessment, and integration with your wider study programme and covers topics related to the discipline-specific professional and numerical skills, as well as the personal attributes required for graduate employment. Seminars and practical sessions will explore key aspects of the process of transition from further to higher education, including academic and professional expectations, numerical skills, and factors influencing your levels of engagement and motivation. During seminars or practical sessions, you may interact with a small group of your peers and the academic staff member. Discussions will focus on student-centred activities relating to the above topics and associated assessment tasks, including formative feedback and how best to feed this forward into future assessments in this and other modules.

As part of the induction process in the Department, you will be assigned to a guidance/year tutor who will offer academic and pastoral support. Your guidance/year tutor will usually teach primarily within your subject area and so will be familiar with the issues and challenges that you may face. In addition to your guidance/year tutor, the academic staff member facilitating sessions will lead group sessions, guiding you through the subject content, overseeing the assessment and feedback process, and monitoring and supporting your performance and progress. They will also support your transition from a largely teacher-centred, passive approach to learning in a further education context, to a more active and reflective student-centred approach to learning in a higher education context. They will also reinforce your need to develop your skills with a view to your future professional career after graduation. Learning materials will be supported by online resources available via the VLE, including an interactive reading list, and aligned with your teaching and learning programme. You will also have access to the university-wide resources available via the University website’s ‘study’ link and the ‘Skills +’ section of the University Library link.

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.

Knowledge & Understanding:

Discuss and apply key academic and professional skills relevant to your subject discipline to address complex challenges, and effectively communicate the solutions to a diverse audience.

Identify and implement a wide range of basic numerical techniques to analyse and address, sophisticated construction problems.



Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

Demonstrate the ability to present information effectively to audiences (academic and industry) and demonstrate an understanding of the basic numeracy skills to cope with the demands of academic study and professional practice.

Communicate effectively to diverse audiences using a range of formats and media, recognising the need to justify your own opinions and to challenge your own thinking and the thinking of others.

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

Develop and apply principles of reflective practice to monitor your academic performance and progress and use these in relation to personal development planning, self-improvement and in support of your future employability and long-term career prospects.

Formative Assessment
Formative assessment will be used to allow you to build confidence and highlight any misunderstandings you may have of the theoretical and professional concepts presented in the module. Additional formative feedback shall be delivered to you verbally by academic staff during formally scheduled teaching, practical IT lab sessions, and individual or group activity-based sessions to help you learn and prepare you for the submission of your summative assessment.

Summative Assessment
Summative assessment will be by two forms of assessment, presentation and coursework that together will assess your ability to satisfy all the module learning outcomes. You will use the University’s VLE to submit your coursework digitally and will receive your feedback using appropriate digital feedback tools.

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In this module, you will develop key intellectual and discipline-specific professional and numerical skills and the personal attributes required for effective study and graduate employment. You will largely achieve these qualities through engagement in a scheduled teaching programme and academic staff-directed independent study. The academic staff member will guide you through the subject content, overseeing the assessment and feedback processes, and monitoring and supporting your performance and progress. Teaching and learning activities are tailored towards your degree programme, linking to substantive core modules; thus, providing an appropriate subject context for your studies. The module will be delivered through lectures, seminars, and practical IT labs sessions to exercise the skills acquired though the taught sessions. You will also have access to a range of digital learning resources, including an electronic reading list made available to you from the virtual learning environment (VLE).