COURSE HANDBOOK 2012/13. Certificate of Higher Education in INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS

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1 COURSE HANDBOOK 2012/13 Certificate of Higher Education in INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS SEPTEMBER 2012

2 TO ALL STUDENTS Welcome to the Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck College. This booklet contains valuable information about the department and the content of the modules you may take with us, as well as details of assessment arrangements, services offered by the department and the university and many other useful bits and pieces. Keep it close to hand! You may have come to gain a certificate of higher education in order to enhance your career or expand your knowledge. Or you may have a long term goal of completing a degree. Whichever is the case, we hope you will find the experience both rewarding and enjoyable. All our modules are taught by lecturers and trainers who are committed to providing a rich and rewarding environment that will help you to learn and to engage with the diverse subject matter and theories concerned with communication. It can be difficult to juggle the pressures of work and home with the demands of studying at degree level. Our aim is to provide high-quality courses that will help you to fulfil your potential. Nonetheless, we know problems can arise which make this difficult. Birkbeck offers a wide range of support services which you should use to your advantage. Please do speak to your course tutors or to another member of staff if you have any problems which could impact your study. Please remember that as a student, you too have some responsibilities on the course. We ask you to keep up with the course by attending classes, studying outside class and taking part in the assessment process. It is also your responsibility to seek advice and help when you feel you need it. At times you may find your course/s intensive and challenging, but we also hope they will be stimulating and - most importantly - that you enjoy your time in the Department of Psychological Sciences. Jonathan Smith, Award Co-Ordinator Interpersonal Communication Skills Programme 2

3 CONTENTS PROGRAMME OF STUDY GENERAL INFORMATION TEACHING AND LEARNING ASSESSMENT COMPLETION OF AWARD FEEDBACK STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES LEARNING RESOURCES FURTHER STUDY DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES APPENDIX 1: MARKING CRITERIA (ESSAYS) APPENDIX 2: MARKING CRITERIA (PRESENTATIONS)

4 1. PROGRAMME OF STUDY Who is the Certificate for? This award is designed to give a consolidated and structured approach to the theory and application of interpersonal communication. The knowledge, skills and understanding gained from the programme will be relevant to students in terms of their work life, home life and social situations. The award will be of interest to: managers who have never formally developed their communication skills or who may want their existing skills accredited other professionals who may be qualified or experienced in their particular field and for whom communication is an important tool people working in the voluntary sector, the charitable sector, the caring professions where careful communication is an intrinsic requirement of the work those who are changing career, returning to work, embarking on personal development those who simply want to be more effective in the way in which they communicate with others in their work, domestic or social life Do I need any previous qualifications? There are no formal admission requirements and the award is open to anyone who feels they may benefit. However, the course is demanding in terms of reading, writing and oral communication and students should be prepared to participate in the practical work. Modules are taught and assessed at first year undergraduate level and an appropriate level of spoken and written English is required. Although we do not require proof that you are operating at this level, we will not be able to compensate for inadequate English skills when marking assessments. What modules are available? The Certificate of Higher Education in Interpersonal Communication Skills is made up of four core modules. Each module is worth 30 Credits at Level 4 and delivered over one term and is comprised of 42 hours course contact time. The modules are: Module 1 Module 2 Module 3 Module 4 Communication Skills: Theory and Practice Communication Skills: Self and Others Applied Communication: Health and Well-Being Applied Communication: Business and Organisations 4

5 It is recommended, but not compulsory, that you complete modules 1 and 2 before commencing modules 3 and 4. In addition to assignments for the purpose of assessment, students will be encouraged to undertake work between sessions but wherever possible this will be related to naturally occurring practical opportunities. Credits Credits for this award are as follows: 30 credits at Level 4 for each module 120 credits at Level 4 for the Certificate of Higher Education Level 4 is equivalent to first-year undergraduate study. How long does it take to complete? Students are normally expected to complete the Certificate of Higher Education in two years. However, you may take up to four years to complete your award. 5

6 2. GENERAL INFORMATION How will the department contact me? The department will normally contact students by , using the address that the College holds for you. It is therefore important that you provide an address that you are able to check regularly, and that you inform the department of any changes to your contact details. What if my class is cancelled? If for any reason one of your classes is cancelled, you will be informed by unless the cancellation occurs at short notice. If a class is cancelled on the same day that it is due to take place, we will endeavour to contact students by telephone, where possible. Again, we can only use the information that we hold for you on our system, so please do ensure that you provide us with a mobile telephone number wherever possible. 6

7 3. TEACHING AND LEARNING What type of teaching is used? The organisation of the course content offers an integrated approach to the theoretical material, the development of core skills, and the application of skills in organisational and occupational settings. This will help students to develop their interpersonal communication skills in a consolidated way, taking their individual learning styles, learning needs and specialist interest areas into account. The implications of culture, of individual needs and of the needs of society in relation to communication skills will be an integral part of the syllabus. MODULE 1: Communication Skills: Theory and Practice You will focus on communication models and processes and on developing core skills, including: models and styles of communication; language and non-verbal channels; the cultural context; diversity power, gender and race issues, cross cultural communication; perception and person perception, impression formation and attribution theory; core skill development listening, questioning, paraphrasing and feedback, writing and presentation skills. MODULE 2: Communication Skills: Self and Others You will develop the basic principles learnt in Module 1 by focusing on: the role of the self: self-image, self-presentation, self-disclosure and self-esteem; relationships attraction and liking, relationship formation and development; group processes and group dynamics; skills, including self-management, assertiveness, nonviolent communication and negotiation. MODULE 3: Applied Communication: Health and Well-Being Focuses on applications of communication that relate to health & well being, and the role of communication in contributing to life satisfaction and happiness; including a range of basic models of counselling and therapy, including psychodynamic and humanistic approaches, Transactional Analysis and Gestalt; emotional intelligence, thinking skills, mental health, conflict resolution and neuro-linguistic programming. MODULE 4: Applied Communication: Business and Organisations This module develops key communication applications relating to today s workplace and organisational contexts; topics of study include organisational culture; managing meetings and interviews effectively; coaching and developing people, high performing teams; mediation, the art of persuasive and influential communication, leadership and advanced presentation skills. Applications to other social groups will also be explored. What are the attendance requirements? 7

8 It is strongly recommended that students attend all classes because of the cumulative and interactive nature of the sessions. How much work is involved? A module worth 15 credits normally equates to a total of up to 150 hours of study. This includes time in class, time studying at home, time preparing assignments, time spent processing ideas and thinking about assignments in fact any time you spend engaged in learning related to that module. The time students will need to set aside each week will vary between students depending on how much time they need to achieve the learning outcomes. Most expect to allow from 6-12 hrs per week outside the classroom. Although this is only offered as a guide, it highlights the amount of time you should expect to plan for, given that this is an undergraduate level award and that learning will involve time within and outside of the classroom. What academic and study skills support is available? All students are encouraged to discuss their study skills needs with the course lecturer. Whilst study skills are incorporated into most courses, students who need or want more support than the course lecturer can realistically provide, may want to consider enrolling on one of the following study skills courses run by the Psychology team: Study Skills for Psychology Students Essay Writing for Psychology Students For further details, and to enrol, please visit our website: or contact the Administrator for Psychology. However, learning and study skills support is also provided centrally by the College - please see Section 7 - Student Support Services for more information. 8

9 4. ASSESSMENT For each module coursework must be submitted to the lecturer for formal assessment. All coursework submitted to the lecturer for formal assessment during the programme of study will be submitted for final assessment by internal assessors and external moderators. Coursework will carry 100% of the possible marks for each module. Formal assessment amounts to words per module or the equivalent and consists of a range of essays, reports, reviews, or other projects as may be set by the lecturers. Presentations where used will count towards the total word length. Each module will be assessed by units of assessment which may be made up of single assignments of words, double assignments of words and presentations (15 minutes equivalent to 3000 words) as follows: Module 1: Two pieces of work comprised of a double and a single assignment Module 2: Three pieces of work comprised of a double and two single assignments. Module 3: assignment Two pieces of works comprised of a presentation and a double Module 4: assignment Two pieces of works comprised of a presentation and a double Word length All work submitted for assessment must adhere to the specified word limits. Work that is significantly longer or shorter than this (more than 50 words either way) will be subject to a penalty. This penalty should be applied as follows: Work which is up to 10% too short or too long will have 5 marks deducted (ie between or for single units, or double units) Work that is more than 10% too short or too long will have 10 marks deducted. (ie less than 900 words or more than 1650 words for single units and less than 1800 words and more than 3300 words for double units). MODULE RESULTS 9

10 The final mark for Modules will be arrived at as follows: Module 1: The weighting for this module is 66.6% and 33.3%. The mark for the double essay is doubled to provide an average of three marks. Module 2: The weighting for this module is 50%, 25% and 25%. The mark for the double essay is doubled to provide an average of four marks. Module 3: The presentation and the written assignment have equal weighting and the final mark for the module will be arrived at by averaging the two marks. Students must pass the presentation in order to pass the module. Module 4: The presentation and the written assignment have equal weighting and the final mark for the module will be arrived at by averaging the two marks. Students must pass the presentation in order to pass the module. For modules 1 and 2 given that the final mark is a weighted average of the marks awarded, students may still pass the Module even if they have failed a piece of coursework. For Modules 3 and 4 students must pass the presentation to pass the module. FEEDBACK Aside from marking your work, your tutor will also give you feedback that will both explain the mark awarded and offer you advice on how to develop and improve your work next time. If you are not clear about the feedback please ask your lecturer to explain it and they will be happy to do so. MARKING CRITERIA Your work will be marked according to the published criteria for Interpersonal Communication Skills Certificate of Higher Education courses (please see Appendix 1). COURSEWORK SUBMISSION DEADLINES The regulations governing assessment conform to the Common Award Scheme, details of which are available on the College website: Key points to note are: How you submit your coursework; the range of difficulties that are acceptable as mitigating circumstances; and the number of attempts that you can have at any one module; 10

11 Submission of Coursework Under the Common Award Scheme there are strict timetables for submitting coursework at the end of the module. There are two key dates, for the Communication Skills programme: The first key submission date will be the last date of your course. Work submitted by this date will be accepted without penalty. That work submitted after the first submission date for your class (i.e. after the last session) will be capped at the 40% pass mark unless mitigating circumstances apply (please see overleaf). The second submission date will be as follows: o Modules 1 and 3: Monday 18 February 2013 o Modules 2 and 4: Monday 1 July 2013 Work submitted after the second published deadline will not be accepted and will be returned. Students should note the importance of these deadlines and the implications of missing either one or both of them. Please note: That posting of work does not constitute submission. It is your responsibility to ensure work has been received and to keep proof of postage and copies of your work. Work submitted after the first deadline should be submitted to your tutor as an electronic attachment by . You should ensure that you request and have confirmation of receipt from your tutor as proof. That it is your responsibility to be clear about the internal submission dates for your course including dates the presentations are scheduled so that you can ensure that you make necessary arrangements to meet the deadlines and attend the presentations. MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES If you feel that you have mitigating circumstances that affected your work and that you would like considered by the Sub-Board of Examiners, you should complete the appropriate form which can be downloaded from our website: umstances.doc and submit it as soon as possible and before the second submission deadline. 11

12 Please note: Not all mitigating circumstances may be considered valid. For a representative list of the kinds of mitigating circumstances that will be considered and those that won t, please visit our website: All valid mitigating circumstances will need to be supported with appropriate documentary evidence. If you are unable to submit one or more pieces of your coursework (or unable to attend a presentation) due to mitigating circumstances you may apply for a deferral of the outstanding elements of your assessment. The completed mitigating circumstances form and documentary evidence should be submitted before the second submission deadline. You should note that mitigating circumstances will only be considered where there is clear evidence that the circumstances occurred in the short period leading to or at the time of the assessment. Please note that marks awarded are normally never changed. In exceptional circumstances marks may be raised by up to 2% to secure a pass where a student has marginally failed a piece of work if there is evidence that their performance was adversely affected by the mitigating circumstances where normally their performance is of a higher standard. Where a Sub-Board of Examiners judges that a student s performance was affected by mitigating circumstances the student will be offered the option of repeating that element of the assessment. This reassessment if taken up does not count as an attempt. The dates for reassessment are as outlined below. If you are unable to meet the first deadline and the second deadlines due to mitigating circumstances relating to those periods you will have until 1 July 2013 to submit your mitigating circumstances form to apply for a deferral. FAILURE AND RE-ASSESSMENT OF A MODULE To satisfactorily complete a module, students must achieve an overall mark of 40% or more. If you fail to pass a module at your first attempt then you may be reassessed or you may be required to re-take. Re-assessment and re-takes Re-assessment is where a student will re-attempt a failed element of a failed module without attending any further classes. 12

13 A re-take requires a student to re-enrol for the module, re-attend the course and re-take the full coursework requirements. A decision on whether you will be permitted to be re-assessed in one or more elements of a module that has not been passed is at the discretion of the sub-board of examiners. As a general guide, it is expected that students who fail a module with an overall mark of between 30-39% are likely to be offered re-assessment. Those with an overall mark of 29% or less are likely to be required to re-take the module. The reassessment submission deadline for all modules will be Monday 2 September 2013 for all modules If you do not wish to take up the offer of re-assessment you must let us know in writing by responding to the offer by the specified deadline. Failure to do so will mean that you have to re-take the module. Number of attempts Students are permitted three attempts at passing a module (the original attempt plus two further attempts, of which only one may be a reassessment). An attempt constitutes: A student who completes and submits all the coursework even if they fail the module overall (such cases will be resulted with the actual mark obtained). A student who fails a module with an overall mark of 30-39% and takes up the opportunity given by the Sub-Board of Examiners to be reassessed in the failed element(s) of a module. (Students may only be reassessed once. If they subsequently fail they must retake the module) A student who chooses not to submit all pieces of coursework required but has not formally withdrawn the item(s) in question will be awarded a zero to arrive at the overall mark. Implications for completion of a module are: A student who does not complete the coursework requirements for a folder and has not formally withdrawn from assessment in writing before the first submission date will be deemed to have attempted the module. Unless mitigating circumstances are submitted and a deferral requested for the 13

14 outstanding item(s) the student will be resulted by averaging the marks based on a mark of zero for the non-submitted items. Students cannot retake a module to gain a higher mark. A student failing to complete a module satisfactorily after three attempts will not be permitted to re-enrol for the module. Where the module is a core module such a student will be unable to meet the requirements for that award. Students must complete Modules 1 and 2 before progressing to modules 3 and 4. REFERENCING AND PLAGIARISM It is an essential academic requirement that coursework is properly referenced. Referencing your written work means using an accepted system to clearly identify the source of your information. Referencing consists of both making an attribution to other authors within the body of your work and then including an organised list of those references at the end. What is plagiarism? Using other people s words or ideas in your work without properly referencing this is called plagiarism and is a very serious issue in Higher Education. According to College policy, plagiarism can take a variety of forms and can be categorised as follows: copying a whole or substantial parts of a paper from a source text (e.g. a web site, journal article, book or encyclopaedia), without proper acknowledgement; paraphrasing someone else s work closely, with minor changes but with the essential meaning, form and/or progression of ideas maintained; piecing together sections of the work of others into a new whole; procuring a paper from a company or essay bank (including Internet sites); submitting another student s work, with or without that student s knowledge submitting a paper written by someone else (e.g. a peer or relative), and passing it off as one s own representing a piece of joint or group work as one s own Both committing plagiarism and helping someone else to are both potentially very serious. 14

15 Academic declaration form When submitting coursework (e.g. essay or other coursework or dissertation), you will need to sign an academic declaration form, stating that you have read the sections of plagiarism in your Handbook and confirming that the work is your own, with the work of others fully acknowledged. Consequences of Plagiarising According to the College Policy on Assessment Offences (2008) there are two types of offences: Minor Offences - inappropriate paraphrasing, a relatively small amount of unattributed quotations, and up to several sentences of direct copying (without acknowledging sources), where these are first offences. Major Offences copying of paragraphs (without acknowledging sources), downloading essays from cheat sites on the Internet, copying much/all of the work of a fellow student, allegations of plagiarism in multiple pieces of coursework submitted by a student and examination, collusion and other offences. You need to be aware that both types of offences could lead to serious penalties. Details of this policy can be found on My Birkbeck at but it is simply much better to avoid plagiarism! Avoiding Plagiarism In essence, the most obvious way to avoid plagiarism is to close books and exit the web etc. before starting to write. This is also the best way to learn as it requires the student to internalise and then verbalise the concepts they are studying. Obviously they can then rework what they have written and add references etc. A similar strategy would be to imagine that their work is a letter to a friend: if they were to explain what they have learnt to a friend or to put their argument on a particular question to a friend - they would inevitably use their own words. Again, when they have finished they can add an appropriate introduction and conclusion, and references. More specific strategies include: always including a reference that shows the source of the material (in the body of the work and in the reference list) always using inverted commas ( ) when using a direct quote from a book, the web etc. 15

16 Keeping direct quotes to a minimum always rewriting what is taken from books etc in their own words always giving the name/s and dates linked to the theories or studies under discussion Referencing your work There are a number of different methods for referencing your work and you should use an appropriate system. As the Harvard system is one which is often used in the Social Sciences, and consequently is one which would be useful for you to become familiar with, it is the system that will be described in this guide. What to reference References are important. They enhance the credibility of your work, ensure that you avoid plagiarism by not claiming another's work as your own and they allow interested readers to use your sources for further information. It might be obvious that you must reference your source when you use the direct words of another author, but it is also important to do so when you put the information into your own words. The general rule is that if the information came from an identifiable source and is not either general knowledge or your own original idea, then you should provide a reference. This may mean that almost every paragraph in your written work may carry one or more references - this is perfectly normal and acceptable. Some sentences may even have more than one reference. In fact you should be wary of paragraphs you write that do not contain a reference. It is always safer to err on the side of caution and include a reference rather than not. Please remember that although fully referencing your work is an important aim in academic writing, it is also a skill that needs to be developed, don t worry if it takes several attempts before you feel confident in its use. How to reference Referencing within the text of your written work involves noting the author, date and sometimes the page number of the information source as shown below: Germov and Williams (1996, p.6) argue that... It also means having a Reference List at the end of your work which itemises in alphabetical order (by author's surname) the full details of the sources of information. For a book 16

17 Include the author s surname and initials, title (italicised or underlined), edition (where relevant), publisher and place. For example: Smith J., and Jones L. (1999) A Psychology of Consumerism: When enough is not enough, Oxford University Press, London. For a journal article Details should include author's surname and initials, article title (in single quotation marks), journal title (italicised or underlined), volume number and issue number (if relevant), and the page numbers of the article. For example: Ashley, J. and Tomasello, M. (1988) Cooperative problem-solving and teaching in preschoolers, Social Development, 7 (2), For a web page For web pages you should aim to include (where available) the author of the information (a person, group or organisation), date (most web pages have a date at the bottom of the page), title, URL, and the date you accessed the web page. It is important to include the access date as web information is prone to constant change and sometimes to disappear altogether. For example, the reference for a web page would appear in your Reference list as follows: Germov, J. and Williams, L. (1998) Social Appetite Web [web page] date accessed: 1 January If no author information is listed on the web page, you would simply write the reference as follows: Get Great Information Fast, [web page] (1998), date accessed: 1 January Reference list or bibliography - what's the difference? The list of information sources cited at the end of a work can be called either a Reference List or a Bibliography. In most cases the two terms are interchangeable, but some disciplines maintain a distinction between the two terms. To be specific, a Reference list is a list of the actual references cited in the text of your written work, whereas a Bibliography is a wider list of information sources related to the topic, but not specifically quoted in the text. 17

18 For Certificate of Higher Education courses a Reference List is sufficient although you can also add a bibliography detailing any further reading around the subject that informed your understanding but which you have not directly quoted from. How to use the et al. abbreviation When there are more than three authors, and only then, it is acceptable to use the Latin abbreviation et al. (short for et allii meaning 'and others') to save space. You can do this after you have written the names out in full once. Smith et al. (1988) argue that... Please note that when listing Smith in the Reference list you need to include the names of all the authors; et al. can only be used in the text. Further Information Further information on referencing and plagiarism can be obtained from the Birkbeck Library website (including a number of tutorials and more detailed guides) at Your tutor will also be able to provide you with additional advice and guidance. MODERATION All coursework is subject to the moderation procedures of the College to ensure the equity and accuracy of marking of student assessments across all modules. You should be aware that all marks awarded by tutors are provisional until confirmed by the Sub-Board of Examiners and may change during the moderation process. You must submit all of your marked assessments at the end of your module to your tutor. The work should be submitted in a flat folder (either an A4 plastic folder or envelope folder) and should include green coversheets. All coversheets must be appropriately completed and signed to confirm the work is your own. NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS AND RETURN OF COURSEWORK The Sub-Board of Examiners normally meets in the last week of July to ratify results. However, a nominated committee of the Sub-Board of Examiners will meet during the year to consider mitigating circumstances and identify students eligible for reassessment for Modules 1 and 3. 18