Overview

The course will enable you to develop a comprehensive understanding and critical awareness of a chosen field of your professional practice, through scholarship informed by current professional practice and research, and to apply your learning to develop your professional practice/services.

The focus of the module and the content is driven by you, with the support of an academic tutor. You will work with an academic Tutor to agree a learning contract that will focus on your attainment of specific competencies for your personal professional development.

If you are a pharmacist studying this module, you will link your learning to the Advanced Pharmacy Framework (APF) and produce evidence of achievement of your chosen competencies. Studying this module, therefore, will support you in your application for professional recognition with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Faculty.

Module aims

This module will enable you to develop a comprehensive understanding and critical awareness of a chosen field of your professional practice, through scholarship informed by current professional practice and research, and apply your learning to develop your professional practice/services.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module you should be able to:

• Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional level
• Demonstrate how you will continue to advance your knowledge and understanding, and develop new skills to a high level
• Demonstrate the qualities and transferable skills necessary for professional practice that requires:
  • the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility;
  • decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations; and
  • the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development.

Entry requirements

The Advanced Practice Development (APD) course is suitable for pharmacists and medical practitioners. It might also be suitable for other health professionals in the UK and overseas at the discretion of the Course Manager.

English language proficiency requirement

If English is not your first language, you must either:

Hold a degree from a school where English was the language of instruction

OR

Take the IELTS (average of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in all categories).

Please note that IETLS exams must be no more than two years old at the start of the course for which you have applied.

Module content

This module will be directed by you under the supervision of a Keele tutor. Since this module allows you to focus on an area of your professional practice that you have chosen, your portfolio (see Assessment) will be produced around learning outcomes, content and activities that are specific to your individual needs.

You will be provided with an induction to the module which will focus on using competency frameworks to help you develop your personal learning outcomes for the module. You will be assigned a tutor to support you in this module. You will initially ‘meet’ with your tutor either via phone call or Webinar, to discuss your initial ideas and then finalise the learning outcomes shortly after, normally by e-mail contact.

Teaching and assessment

You will complete a Reflective Portfolio that includes structured activities and evidence, and reflective commentary (~5,000 words) on these related to the specific learning outcomes that you set out to achieve. Further details are provided in the Reflective Portfolio folder that you will access electronically. The portfolio is completed and assessed electronically. You will be provided with instructions on how to access the portfolio at the start of the course.<