SSC-10001 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

This module transitions you to university scholarship and introduces the employability and professional skills that a social science degree provides through a range of action-focused activities. You will learn vital academic and professional skills and competencies that will allow you to thrive in the first year of your undergraduate studies and throughout your degree.

To introduce new undergraduate students to university as a learning environment and support them in identifying and developing the skills necessary to succeed in higher education and beyond.
To introduce students to the difference between active and passive approaches to learning and encourage them to become active learners and owners of their own education.
To enable students to develop strategies for managing a range of different forms of information, approaches to weighing evidence, and synthesising these materials in a range of forms of assessment.
To explain the meaning of learning a 'discipline' and the idea of contributing to a community of knowledge producers through different modes of expression including written and oral presentation.
To build students' confidence in identifying and outlining academic problems and thinking creatively about responding to these.
To encourage students to begin to think reflexively about their university experience as a 'project' focused upon achieving positive educational outcomes, working towards employment and career goals, but also a balanced life and wellbeing more generally.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Describe the individual, social purpose, and value of university and specifically social science education and identify the skills taught on their programmes of study.: 2
Know the difference between active and passive forms of learning and how these relate to the practice of being a student.: 2
Know the importance of time management in order to meet deadlines and maintain balance and wellbeing in the context of developing increasing independence and living in a world of distraction.: 1,2
Explain the value of using evidence and weigh the relative merits of different kinds of sources across a range of media.: 2
Demonstrate the ability to use evidence and carefully plan responses to academic questions relating to problems in a particular field.: 1
Explain the meaning of an academic discipline, why it is important to know the key elements of a particular field, and how it is possible to demonstrate knowledge of this field.: 2
Demonstrate the ability to use key academic conventions, such as citation, and understand why these are important skills.: 1
Know why it is important to be able to present and articulate ideas in a public forum and have had the opportunity to deliver an oral presentation.: 1
Know the value of analytic problem solving skills and how these relate to academic work and apply beyond the context of higher education.: 2

Study hours

Contact Time
12 x 2 hours workshops = 24 hours (6 sessions per semester)
12 x 1 hours supervised group work = 12 hours (6 hours per semester)
Independent Work
12 x 2 hours produce and maintain skills map = 24 hours
12 x 4 hours set reading = 48 hours
42 hours = portfolio writing.
Total = 150 hours

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment