All University of Suffolk courses are delivered in partnership between the course team and various other departments distributed around the University. In designing courses, liaising with these departments is an essential element of the process. Here we list those departments that are likely to need to be consulted, and the possible questions and issues that could be explored in these consultations.
In addition to maintaining this Blueprint and the other guidance materials, the CELT team will seek to support course teams in the development and dissemination of good practice, and the development and enhancement of their courses. CELT is a cross institutional body managed by the Director of Learning and Teaching with membership from each school and many of the professional departments of the University. CELT provides an annual programme of CDP for academic staff, and guidance and support on learning, teaching and assessment practice.
All courses should include provision to prepare students for their progression to further study or employment following graduation. This might take a variety of forms and be integral to the curriculum and learning or be more optional nature, allowing students to engage with those elements that best match with their aspirations for their future. The Careers team provide a range of supporting activities, workshops, and other opportunities such as for internships and volunteering, and also oversee the on-line FutureMe environment which contains much employment focussed content and guidance, along with links to job vacancies.
There is a careers team member allocated to each of the Ipswich Schools who would be happy to work with course teams in exploring how their provision could be integrated into course delivery.
Each existing course has an allocated academic skills advisor who will have knowledge and experience of the support students of a course's subject area have sought in recent years. For new courses, consultation with the academic skills advisors team will allow them to provide advice on the support they are able to provide (both in person and through their online learning hub, and on the areas of support that students are likely to require access to). As illustrated in the Skills and Knowledge section, academic skills advisors are also able to help in the identification of skills required by students, and support the planning of skills delivery.
Course teams are encouraged to seek opportunities for co-delivery of course curriculum with academic skills advisors, thus making use of their skills and also initiating students' knowledge of the services and enabling them to have confidence in approaching the advisors.
The Library team will be able to advise course teams on the specialist on-line and print resources available for students, and support the acquisition of key texts and access to specialist journals and professional publications. The team are also able to provide in-course workshops for students on literature review and searching skills.
All courses are expected to make a full and constructive use of Brightspace in support of their students' learning, and the learning design team are available to support teams in their design and implementation of Brightspace based learning activities. The team are also able to support teams in their consideration of other educational technology and how this might best be employed within learning and assessment practice.
Most courses will have a sense of which further study their students may progress to, being a progression route for a Foundation Degree, a PGCE or Masters provision in house or externally, or even PhD study. The design of the course should take account of such opportunities for students, seeking to ensure students are prepared for such progression opportunities, enabling them to make informed choices over the options involved, and to be able to engage with the early parts of study involved effectively. Course teams should consult with providers of progression opportunities to seek to tailor their provision, and where possible the providers should be invited to talk to students early on in the final year of study to help students form opinions on the options for progression open to them (see also notes in Alumni section)
In developing courses, there are a number of other University departments that will be able to provide support to course teams as noted or explored below.