What specific skills are required to study successfully? In most cases you will simply need to further develop skills you already have: •
Planning your workload and managing your time
•
Reading and listening so that you can take in information effectively.
•
Analysing so that you can see constituent parts of theories and concepts and synthesising so you can combine information from different sources to answer a question.
•
Working well in groups so that you can learn from your fellow students as well as your lecturers.
•
Developing good research skills to find and select information that is relevant to a task. This means reading widely and deciding which of the views you have read best represents your own conclusions on a topic. You must also acknowledge the source of any ideas to which you refer, in order to show that you clearly understand the issue of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of cheating which the University views very seriously (detailed information on what constitutes plagiarism can be found in the School’s Undergraduate Student Handbook.
MANAGING YOUR STUDIES
What to do if you have any queries or problems If you experience any problems in finding a suitable balance between your studies and other aspects of student life, in the first instance you should always get in touch with your academic mentor or with the staff member who is your year group coordinator.
More detailed information following on from this leaflet can be found on the School of Management and Languages website at: www.sml.hw.ac.uk/undergraduate/studyskills Your lecturers will provide you with additional, more specific instructions for individual exercises.
© School of Management and Languages 2008
www.sml.hw.ac.uk
MANAGING YOUR STUDIES
How much individual study time is required? Your degree is full-time and you are expected to contribute full-time hours to your studies. Below is an outline of a typical timetable. Year 1, Semester 1 Timetable School of Management and Languages (4 modules) Let’s say you are taking the following 4 modules:
The Staff of the School of Management and Languages welcome you as a student at Heriot-Watt University. We hope your time here will be productive, successful, and above all enjoyable. This leaflet is designed to encourage you to develop a scholarly attitude to your studies and an academic approach to analysis and debate. It combines general information on the types of classes you will attend with a more specific example of a possible course combination, followed by suggestions for time management. At university level the exercise of information gathering creates a foundation for understanding, analysing and interpreting
different kinds of knowledge. This will involve assessing and sometimes questioning the views of others, both orally in class and in written exercises such as essays and dissertations. A lecturer’s role is to show uncertainties and complexities of a subject and to help students deal with theory and abstraction. Lectures are designed to highlight key points for further study. In tutorials and seminars, discussions guide students towards understanding a topic for themselves. Workshops often involve pair or group work, whereas in essays or examinations students are expected to develop and justify their own personal ideas and interpretations.
Introduction to Accounting (C37FA1) Introductory Microeconomics (C27AA1) French Post –Beginners Elective (C47FX1) •
All four of these modules are taught via 3 contact hours per week during weeks 1 to 11 (usually 2 lectures and a tutorial per week).
•
For each module you will receive at least 33 hours of tuition. You will also have an exam usually lasting one or two hours.
Adopting a scholarly attitude
•
•
Prepare for tutorials, seminars and workshops by completing reading and other specified tasks beforehand. Participate actively and cooperate with fellow students, especially in joint presentations and group work.
•
Meet deadlines for submission of coursework, taking account of the regulations for late submission which are clearly laid out in the School’s Undergraduate Student Handbook
To do this successfully you will need to allocate a certain amount of your time to private study in addition to your timetabled hours.
However, you are expected to study for a total of 150 hours per module. Therefore your own contribution to your learning is around 115 - 120 hours of independent study for each module you take.
•
This means in one semester you are expected to contribute around 470 hours of independent study in total.
•
How you distribute these independent study hours is entirely up to you, but a good suggestion is to include roughly 8 hours per week per module during weeks 1 – 11, increasing to 10 hours per week during week 12 and the assessment weeks to allow for revision and exams.
Introduction to Management (C17MD1)
Weeks 1-11
You will be expected to: • Attend all classes arriving on time and giving your full attention to the lectures, seminars or tutorials.
•
This would mean that your timetable might look like this:
Module
Tuition
Private study
Total hours
Introduction to Accounting
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
Introduction to Management
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
Introductory Microeconomics
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
French Post-Beginners Elective
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
12 hours
32 hours
44 per week
TOTAL
Weeks 1 – 11 Total = 132 hours tuition + 352 hours of private study Week 12 + Semester 1 assessment weeks
TOTAL
Introduction to Accounting
10 hours
10 per week
Introduction to Management
Exams
10 hours
10 per week
Introductory Microeconomics
10 hours
10 per week
French Post-Beginners Elective
10 hours
10 per week
40 hours
40 per week
Week 12 + Semester 1 Assessment Weeks Total = 120 hours of private study
MANAGING YOUR STUDIES
How much individual study time is required? Your degree is full-time and you are expected to contribute full-time hours to your studies. Below is an outline of a typical timetable. Year 1, Semester 1 Timetable School of Management and Languages (4 modules) Let’s say you are taking the following 4 modules:
The Staff of the School of Management and Languages welcome you as a student at Heriot-Watt University. We hope your time here will be productive, successful, and above all enjoyable. This leaflet is designed to encourage you to develop a scholarly attitude to your studies and an academic approach to analysis and debate. It combines general information on the types of classes you will attend with a more specific example of a possible course combination, followed by suggestions for time management. At university level the exercise of information gathering creates a foundation for understanding, analysing and interpreting
different kinds of knowledge. This will involve assessing and sometimes questioning the views of others, both orally in class and in written exercises such as essays and dissertations. A lecturer’s role is to show uncertainties and complexities of a subject and to help students deal with theory and abstraction. Lectures are designed to highlight key points for further study. In tutorials and seminars, discussions guide students towards understanding a topic for themselves. Workshops often involve pair or group work, whereas in essays or examinations students are expected to develop and justify their own personal ideas and interpretations.
Introduction to Accounting (C37FA1) Introductory Microeconomics (C27AA1) French Post –Beginners Elective (C47FX1) •
All four of these modules are taught via 3 contact hours per week during weeks 1 to 11 (usually 2 lectures and a tutorial per week).
•
For each module you will receive at least 33 hours of tuition. You will also have an exam usually lasting one or two hours.
Adopting a scholarly attitude
•
•
Prepare for tutorials, seminars and workshops by completing reading and other specified tasks beforehand. Participate actively and cooperate with fellow students, especially in joint presentations and group work.
•
Meet deadlines for submission of coursework, taking account of the regulations for late submission which are clearly laid out in the School’s Undergraduate Student Handbook
To do this successfully you will need to allocate a certain amount of your time to private study in addition to your timetabled hours.
However, you are expected to study for a total of 150 hours per module. Therefore your own contribution to your learning is around 115 - 120 hours of independent study for each module you take.
•
This means in one semester you are expected to contribute around 470 hours of independent study in total.
•
How you distribute these independent study hours is entirely up to you, but a good suggestion is to include roughly 8 hours per week per module during weeks 1 – 11, increasing to 10 hours per week during week 12 and the assessment weeks to allow for revision and exams.
Introduction to Management (C17MD1)
Weeks 1-11
You will be expected to: • Attend all classes arriving on time and giving your full attention to the lectures, seminars or tutorials.
•
This would mean that your timetable might look like this:
Module
Tuition
Private study
Total hours
Introduction to Accounting
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
Introduction to Management
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
Introductory Microeconomics
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
French Post-Beginners Elective
3 hours
8 hours
11 per week
12 hours
32 hours
44 per week
TOTAL
Weeks 1 – 11 Total = 132 hours tuition + 352 hours of private study Week 12 + Semester 1 assessment weeks
TOTAL
Introduction to Accounting
10 hours
10 per week
Introduction to Management
Exams
10 hours
10 per week
Introductory Microeconomics
10 hours
10 per week
French Post-Beginners Elective
10 hours
10 per week
40 hours
40 per week
Week 12 + Semester 1 Assessment Weeks Total = 120 hours of private study
What specific skills are required to study successfully? In most cases you will simply need to further develop skills you already have: •
Planning your workload and managing your time
•
Reading and listening so that you can take in information effectively.
•
Analysing so that you can see constituent parts of theories and concepts and synthesising so you can combine information from different sources to answer a question.
•
Working well in groups so that you can learn from your fellow students as well as your lecturers.
•
Developing good research skills to find and select information that is relevant to a task. This means reading widely and deciding which of the views you have read best represents your own conclusions on a topic. You must also acknowledge the source of any ideas to which you refer, in order to show that you clearly understand the issue of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of cheating which the University views very seriously (detailed information on what constitutes plagiarism can be found in the School’s Undergraduate Student Handbook.
MANAGING YOUR STUDIES
What to do if you have any queries or problems If you experience any problems in finding a suitable balance between your studies and other aspects of student life, in the first instance you should always get in touch with your academic mentor or with the staff member who is your year group coordinator.
More detailed information following on from this leaflet can be found on the School of Management and Languages website at: www.sml.hw.ac.uk/undergraduate/studyskills Your lecturers will provide you with additional, more specific instructions for individual exercises.
© School of Management and Languages 2008
www.sml.hw.ac.uk