Essential Academic Skills for Degree or Masters Level Study - Level 6 and 7

Academic skills are the foundation building blocks we use to communicate our knowledge, demonstrate our understanding, and advance our thinking on any topic. This module is aimed at students who wish to develop these essential skills in order to improve their capabilities and excel at university.

Whether you are returning to university study after a break or you simply want to refine your skills for Level 6 or 7 study, this module is tailored to your needs and delivered by nurturing and caring experts in academic skills. 

What's covered in the course?

This module will explore, discuss, and practice the essential skills required for successful degree-level or masters level study. These skills include those related to general study - such as literature searching, planning and use of evidence -  to those related to assignments - such as  academic writing, critical analysis and referencing – and those related more widely to personal/professional development – such as reflection, enquiry and problem-solving.

The module is flexible however, and as such the precise content is tailored to the development needs of students, with multiple sessions being set aside for one-to-one tutorials and bespoke workshops. This approach involves students being active partners in their own development, in both directed and self-directed learning, upon which you will receive regular feedback and opportunities to discuss progression with the module team, in order to optimise the development of your academic skills.  

A blended-learning approach is adopted for this module, incorporating a mix of classroom sessions, online activities and self-directed learning. The module is also designed to be collaborative, and you will be invited to work with, encourage and share experiences with your fellow students, something the small cohort size of this module enables.

The module is delivered by a dedicated and caring team of academic skills specialists, as well as invited experts, who will support you along your development journey.  

Why Choose Us?

• The module covers the essential skills to be successful at degree level study with additional emphasis on wider skills for continuing personal and professional development
• Delivered by dedicated and caring staff who are experts in academic skills teaching
• Small cohort teaching with many opportunities for one-to-one tutorials and bespoke workshops
• Students are an active partners in their development. Content and support is tailored your needs
• Blended learning approach, utilising a range of innovative online technologies to complement in-class content

Course structure

Level 6

This module is practice-led, with most of the time and attention being paid to the practice of doing academic work and the skills required to do it successfully. This is supplemented (where appropriate) by theories and concepts related to the skills we explore.

The course is structured around the core contact session, for which there is pre-session and post-session activities to be done. Many of these will involve the completion of online activities.

The vast majority of time on this module will be spent in directed and self-directed study, rather than inside the classroom. Much of this will be based upon your own identified learning needs and tutorial support is offered by the module team to help in the progression of this development. 

Level 7

This course is tailored towards health and social care practitioners who are undertaking Masters level study and wish to develop their academic skills.

Through a programme of blended learning you will have to opportunity to develop skills of enquiry, reflection and problem solving. You will be encouraged to think critical and share in practice experiences with your fellow students, as well as engaging in both directed and self-directed learning activities.  You will be an active partner in your own learning and development and in return you will receive regular feedback and feedforward aimed at developing the academic skills require for successful study at MSc level. 

This module is particularly beneficial for international students who are undertaking MSc level study in the UK.  Practitioners working at a senior level in health and social care will also benefit from undertaking this programme of study which has a strong focus on personal and professional development.