• Offered for Year: 2024/25

• Module Leader(s): Mr Darrin Beattie
• Lecturer: Dr Jessica Jung, Mrs Salome Bolton

• Owning School: Careers Service
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

• Capacity limit: 176 student places

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

To develop students’ self-awareness and the ability to self-manage, proactively interact and ethically apply knowledge and skills in a work-related context.

The Career Development module offers students the opportunity to undertake work-related learning in a variety of environments, both on and off the University campus. Through engagement with the module, students will learn about themselves, enhancing their employability and personal enterprise skills as well as contributing towards meeting the aims of the host organisation.

Outline Of Syllabus

Successful graduates are equipped with the necessary skills to perform and an ability to plan and manage their portfolio career, which is likely to be varied. The 3rd stage Career Development module therefore offers students the opportunity to learn about their skills and attributes and how they might apply these in future roles upon graduation. To aid this learning and development, they undertake work-related learning in a variety of different environments, both on and off the University campus. See http://www.ncl.ac.uk/careers/modules/cdm/ for more information.

Supported by module tutors, students will reflect on and manage their own learning and development through a series of workshops, seminars and lectures, both on campus and online. Through engagement with both a professional experience and module teaching, students will enhance their employability and career readiness.

Students will join the module at the start of semester one and are expected to balance their work for the module, including engagement with their placement/professional experience, across the academic year.

At the start of the academic year students are expected to:
•       confirm that all pre-requisites have been met;
•       attend teaching/seminars and complete related engagement tasks;
•       negotiate calendar of activity and duties with their host organisation (placement) or the Careers Service (other professional experience) to meet module requirements.

Teaching for the 2022/23 academic year will be arranged in two-week Learning Units with a thematic focus which will unite teaching sessions, online content and module engagement tasks to be completed by students via Canvas. Engaging with all content across the thematic blocks will ensure students meet all of the module learning outcomes. Most Learning Units include a synchronous online (lecture) session and a small group seminar which is planned to take place in person on campus.

Semester 1 themes will be: Induction/orientation; goal-setting, action planning and reflection; graduate skills and attributes; and career planning (exploration and research). Semester 2 themes will be: Giving and receiving feedback; networking (in person and online); engagement with employers; career planning (decision making and applications). Sessions focused on preparing for module assessments will also be available.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Successful graduates are equipped with the necessary skills to perform and an ability to plan and manage their careers, which are likely to be varied. The 3rd stage Career Development module therefore offers students the opportunity to learn about their skills and attributes and how they might apply these in future roles upon graduation. To aid this learning and development, they undertake work-related learning in a variety of different environments, both on and off the University campus. See http://www.ncl.ac.uk/careers/modules/cdm/ for more information.

Supported by module tutors, students will reflect on and manage their own learning and development through a series of workshops, seminars and lectures, both on campus and online. Through engagement with both a professional experience and module teaching, students will enhance their employability and career readiness.

Students will join the module at the start of semester one and are expected to balance their work for the module, including engagement with their placement/professional experience, across the academic year.

At the start of the academic year students are expected to:
• confirm that all pre-requisites have been met;
• attend teaching/seminars and complete related engagement tasks;
• negotiate calendar of activity and duties with their host organisation (placement) or the Careers Service (other professional experience) to meet module requirements.

Students must complete a minimum of 50 hours of professional experience activity between October and May in the context of one of the routes detailed above (see pre-requisites). This can be exceeded in agreement with placement supervisors. Students should carry out at least 30 of their 50 hours in semester 2, to enable them to meet the learning outcomes of this module and ensure they can succeed in both module assessments. The professional experience hours must be carried out over a period of no less than 8 weeks to ensure that students are able to engage with the reflective practice that is central their personal and professional development on the module.

Where exceptional circumstances occur e.g. national pandemic, the minimum expected hours will be reviewed and alterative arrangements made as needed to ensure students can still meet the expected learning outcomes of this module.

Teaching for the 2021/22 academic year will be arranged in two-week Learning Units with a thematic focus which will unite teaching sessions, online content and module engagement tasks to be completed by students via Canvas. Engaging with all content across the thematic blocks will ensure students meet all of the module learning outcomes. Most Learning Units include a synchronous online (lecture) session and a small group seminar which is planned to take place in person on campus.

Semester 1 themes will be: Induction/orientation; goal-setting, action planning and reflection; graduate skills and attributes; and career planning (exploration and research). Semester 2 themes will be: Giving and receiving feedback; networking (in person and online); engagement with employers; career planning (decision making and applications). Sessions focused on preparing for module assessments will also be available.

The aims of the module are drawn from the Newcastle University Graduate Framework and informed by current Graduate recruitment guidance. The intended skills outcomes aim to equip students with the ability to articulate how they have developed and learned from a professional experience to make them more employable. Students will achieve the learning outcomes for the module through full engagement with the activities indicated above.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The module assessments are designed to develop and reward effective performance as described in the Newcastle University Graduate Framework provided for the students (linked to definitions of employability in Newcastle University and sources such as www.prospects.ac.uk).

Students are expected to set personal goals that relate how they will demonstrate the module learning outcomes, and to maintain a dialogue with their module tutor and colleagues at their placement or through the professional experience they will undertake as they plan and implement actions for progressing towards these goals.

Module assessment will take the form of a ‘professional portfolio’, designed to encourage and record student planning and reflection upon progress through the module and towards chosen future careers. The portfolio will be assessed at two points in the year: towards the end of semester 1 (focusing on planning) and the end of semester 2 (focusing on reflection). Students will be encouraged to keep, use and add to the contents of their portfolio to use when making applications and transitioning into a future professional context after graduation.

Portfolio assessment 1 will take the form of a plan for students’ development through the professional experience they will undertake for the module, including personal goals and action plans and a rationale for how and why these have been developed in line with students’ existing strengths and weaknesses and their career aspirations and plans. The plan will be 1750 words in length.

Portfolio assessment 2 will take the form of a reflective piece, to be presented as a PowerPoint file with recorded voiceover or a video, describing students’ progress and development through the module and including evidence of this (to include feedback gained from others on their performance). The reflective piece will be equivalent to writing 1750 words.

There will be a series of short tasks for students to complete between seminars, related to each of the core curricular themes. These will be uploaded to Canvas and will assess understanding of theories and concepts to ensure seminars are practice and discussion focused. The overall completion of these tasks is equivalent to writing 500 words or less as these will come in the form of e.g. answering multiple choice questions. The outcomes of these tasks will be included and reflected upon in both parts of the assessment of the portfolio.

Reading Lists

• NCL3007's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• NCL3007's Timetable