LD6080 - Academic Skills, Career and Leadership Development with Research Informed Learning

You will learn through an approach in which your learning can be used to enhance your future learning potential on the programme and post study. Indeed, as the first module of your programme this is designed to build your confidence as a learner and make best use of the academic and practitioner learning resources available to you.



A mixture of lectures and practical seminars/workshops and the Leadership Bootcamp sessions will be delivered and supported by on-line learning materials and activities. Lectures will be used to introduce the key topics using a research led approach. These lectures will be followed by seminars in which you will apply the methods, techniques and leadership and management frameworks. Additionally, the module offers an opportunity to participate in a bootcamp to practice, experience and apply learned knowledge into real life scenarios. Thus, you will very much use ‘learn by doing’ approach in this module. You will also have opportunities to engage in discussions with your peers as well as your tutor.



An initial workshop will introduce you to the module, assessment and core topics. Key messages from these sessions will also be available by online learning materials including video/podcast to support your learning outside of the classroom.



In order to develop your capacity and confidence as an effective learner, you will also engage in directed learning. This will be supported by tutor-guided activities reflected in a learning plan, including prompted reading, activities to undertake and questions to address. However, you will also extend to advanced independent study which entails reading beyond the learning materials/reading list provided and reflecting on its potential relevance for your own development.



The virtual learning environment will be used to encourage individual and group contributions to debate on key topics and issues. Materials and discussion group work will be available on the e-learning portal to support and engage you. To support and embed the learning, provide the opportunity for reflection, and encourage effective communication, you will engage in discussion forums via the University’s e-Learning platform. This will include posing and answering topic specific questions posed by the tutor and peer group and providing peer group formative feedback. You will also be encouraged to use email and discussion board tool to clarify issues.



In addition to the above learning and support, as a part time learner, you will be in employment and as such we will have certain work-based activities which are assessed formatively. These activities would typically replace more traditional seminar activities which are often designed to simulate a workplace environment.

A range of approaches are adopted to accelerate your learning in this module.



During the first week of this module, you will receive information about the module and Teaching & Learning Plan. The teaching and learning plan (TLP) sets out:

Learning outcomes and overall module and programme aims

Teaching, learning and assessment strategy

Teaching schedule

Directed reading references (text and journals) and core texts for the module

References to data sources and details of seminar/workshop activities



Further supporting your learning journey, the first session of this module will discuss the rational and learning objectives of this module and how it contributes to your overall programme goals. The formative and summative assessment strategy will be outlined as well a refresher on key academic skills, expectations of seminar or workshop activities and resources critical to your success as a learner on this module. Usually, this session will also be available as a video/podcast for further reinforcement.



During this module, your module tutor, a specialist in leadership and management, human resource management, organisational behaviour, will provide academic support including:



Delivering seminar/practical lab-based workshops using real life case studies and industry leading and renowned psychometric tests to prepare you to take leadership and management roles in your professional career.

Providing guidance in relation to assignments

Development of key resources including lab activities, made available through the VLE

Assessing assignments and assessing or reviewing any other agreed summative or formative outputs as appropriate



You will also develop your applied leadership skills during a day long bootcamp programme.



E-Reading Lists

The module will also have an e-reading list which directs learners to specific reading for each session. This includes direct access to repositories, journal articles and other academic sources. You will also be provided with access to a significant set academic research sources via the Northumbria University library portal.



You will also have opportunities to receive formative feedback from your tutor in response to opinions you express and issues you raise during workshop sessions and face-to-face or online tutorials. These formative feedback sessions are formally scheduled at key points throughout the 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.

Knowledge & Understanding:

Demonstrate critical understanding of contemporary theories and models of leadership.

Developing leadership and management capability.

Intellectual / Professional Skills & Abilities:

Make an informed choice of a contemporary topic in leadership and management and conduct critical literature review.

Be able to critically apply reflective practices



Personal Values Attributes (Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Skills):

Demonstrate enhanced skills of self-awareness, cultural awareness, self-analysis and reflective practices to improve personal, professional and leadership competence.

This module uses a subject-based assessment approach, encouraging or directly enabling you to bring your career context or learning experience into the module.



Formative Assessment

Formative assessment of your applied skills, knowledge and understanding, as demonstrated in your submitted assignments, is a key component of the assessment strategy.



Formative assessment feedback on your learning will be provided to enable you to undertake self-reflection and to enhance your performance during final summative assessment.



Summative Assessment



You will be summatively assessed by means of a Learning Portfolio (submitted as one report 3000 words) comprised of two tasks;



1) 1000 word critical literature review of a business or management related topic which will be allocated by the module tutor. (30%)

This task assesses MLO3.

2) A 2000 words leadership self-analysis report with critical reflection (70%) This will assess MLO1, MLO2, MLO4 and MLO5.

You will be provided with written, electronic, feedback on your work.

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The module has twin aims, firstly to support your transition as a new learner to Northumbria University and develop your academic and research skills to ensure you maximise your learning and future grades potential and secondly, to equip you with leadership knowledge and skills to maximise your future employability and career development.



Indeed, in the first part of the module we will help you to enhance your academic writing and critical thinking skills and enable you to understand research processes and approaches in business and management. Overall our aim is to boost your confidence as an independent learner along with developing your academic and research capabilities. The second part of the module focuses on developing your leadership knowledge and skills so that you fully maximise your future employability and career development opportunities.

As part of this module, you will also attend one day Leadership Development bootcamp where you will be involved in a range of practical activities and deal with complex scenarios which will assist you to explore the practical implementation of the learned concepts and enhance your interpersonal and intrapersonal capabilities through expert feedback and reflective practice.



Therefore, the module emphasises a critical understanding of relevant theoretical perspectives, experiential learning and reflective practices simultaneously to develop and enhance your research, career and leadership capability to deal with contemporary issues faced by organisations.