Learning and assessment
How you will learn
Where it is safe to do so, we plan to deliver teaching in person. For most modules in the first year, we will use a blended approach, with a combination of digital and in-person sessions. For in-person teaching, we will put measures in place to help you stay safe. This includes teaching in smaller groups, delivering shorter sessions and/or staggering start times, where required.
Lectures
Most large-class lectures in first year will take place online, either streamed live or pre-recorded. The release of recordings or streams will be timetabled so that students have a predictable schedule of work. Whenever possible, lecture material will be interspersed with interactive activities and opportunities for questions, and there will be live wrap-up sessions to consolidate your learning.
Practical classes
While some practical classes will be replaced with online or take-home activities, we will prioritise in-person teaching of practical skills in laboratories wherever possible. To keep students and staff safe, classes will be broken up into smaller groups, and teaching of those groups will be staggered across a number of days.
How you will be assessed
Assessment varies on the module being studied but typically is a combination of:
- exams
- essays
- dissertations
- laboratory reports
- presentations
Exams happen twice a year at the end of each semester.
We have made some changes to the assessment methods for your course. Where you would have taken in-person exams in January, these will be replaced by open-book assessments and/or coursework assignments during the semester. Some assessments associated with practical classes may have to be modified where teaching cannot be performed in-person.
We will only run in-person exams in the summer if it is possible to do this safely; alternatively, these will be replaced with open-book assessments.
Contact time and study hours
Tutors
When you start your degree we will place you with a small group of other students under the pastoral and academic guidance of a tutor. Your interaction with your tutor will be especially important in the coming year, to help you feel part of a learning community, even though we will be together physically less often than planned. We will increase the frequency of tutorial interactions, and tutors will be available regularly online for virtual drop-in chats. Similarly, your degree course leads (people like me) will interact with you more frequently online, to enable you to feedback about your experiences and flag issues of concern.
Tutorials, seminars and workshops
Academic tutorials and other small-group teaching will involve a mixture of in-person sessions, socially-distanced in large meeting rooms, and live video conferences. Because of the infection risks associated with communal computer equipment, computer workshops will typically be run online, with live online support sessions. Field work will go ahead wherever possible, with additional safety precautions.
We are conscious that some students may be unable to attend in-person classes because of specific health concerns, issues with travel etc. We will ensure that these students are provided with appropriate on-line materials and recordings of in-person classes to allow them to complete their course learning outcomes. For practical work, this may necessitate modified assessments, and for project work, students in this position will be allocated projects which can be completed remotely (eg via analysis of published data).
Engagement hours
Owing to the changes made to methods of teaching described above, your engagement hours in first year will be different from planned. There will be fewer in-person contact hours per week; some of these will be replaced with live interactive sessions online, but you will also be expected to do more self-directed study using recorded online materials. These changes will not increase your overall workload or impact on your opportunities to meet learning objectives.