BSc Psychology by distance learning. Welcome to the programme

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1 BSc Psychology by distance learning Welcome to the programme Welcome Welcome to UEL s school of Psychology. This guidance is designed to help you to begin your studies and advise you on preparation and reading that we suggest you undertake before starting your studies with us. Induction Programme Your induction week will start on 16 rd September As with all of your learning, the induction is supported by information in our VLE; access to our VLE (Moodle) is described in Appendix 1. In addition, tutors are available for you online and we encourage you to post to the discussions on Moodle as soon as you re able so that the staff and other students can get to know you, and you us! You will also be introduced to Athens which you will use to access data bases containing journal articles as well as ebooks. What to expect in Semester A Each module is organised into a series of weekly learning topics with an audio recording of a lecture, powerpoint slides to accompany the lecture, additional readings, and activities to check that you have understood the material. Although you can study the material at your own pace we strongly recommend that you follow the weekly schedule to make sure that you don t fall behind and you are able to spend enough time on each topic. At the end of the semester there will be a short revision period before you sit your exams. Some modules are assessed by examination, some by coursework, and some by a mixture of the two. If your module includes an examination you will be able to nominate an examination centre near you which you will be required to attend at the date and time specified for the exam. Coursework will be submitted online. As an independent learner we expect you to be able to organise your time, undertake the activities and reading and to post to online discussions. If you have questions or comments as you go along, please post these on the discussion boards so that the staff team can respond and so your peers can see both your questions/comments and answers. We very much hope to develop a supportive community of practitioners/students who can continue to be a resource for you whilst you are studying together and afterwards. Modules At level 1, all modules on the BSc Psychology are core modules and therefore all students working towards a single honours degree in Psychology take the same six modules. Students taking a major in Psychology as part of a Combined Honours programme take four core modules in Psychology and two modules in their minor subject. Students taking a minor in Psychology take two modules in Psychology and four in their major subject.

2 Planning your time at UEL If you are enrolling as a full-time student you will be registered for three modules (areas of study) per semester. You will need to be aware of the assessments for each module and manage your study time so that you can complete the reading and independent work as required for all three modules. Full time students should expect to spend a full working week (ie approx 36 hours) on their studies throughout each semester in order to have the best chance of progressing smoothly through the programme. Those studying part-time should expect this to be pro-rata. If you are studying two instead of three modules per semester, you need to allocate two thirds of a working week to give yourself the best chance of success. Each module requires approximately 200 hours of study. This includes time listening to the lectures, completing the activities and further reading, and reading and posting to online discussions. It also includes all the preparation and time required for your assessment. A module typically contains eleven sections over eleven weeks (one a week), plus the induction week. Thus, we recommend that you allow about 12 hours each week per module (132 hours), which will leave you with about 70 hours for the assessment. Our teaching methods include audio recordings of lectures, additional readings, and activities for you to check your understanding. Our assessment methods at level 1 include a variety of coursework (essays, lab reports, quizzes) and exams (which take place in January and May). We have a student contract which sets out our responsibilities to you. For example, we will provide clear guidelines on how to complete assessments, what the markers will be looking for and when your work will be returned. In turn, students are responsible for engaging with their learning, knowing when and how to submit their work, organising their study time and ensuring their work is completed and submitted on time Our advice is that if you study regularly, complete the recommended reading, keep in contact with your tutors and make use of the support available, submit your work on time and make use of feedback, you will benefit the most from your time at University and be most likely to graduate successfully. We will help you with this transition to becoming an independent learner.

3 Reading list We suggest that you do some preliminary reading before starting your programme. The reading list below offers some suggestions. Pre-course reading will help ensure that you are prepared for your course and have the expected level of knowledge about the subject areas that will be studied in your modules. We recommend that you read / dip into a good general introductory psychology text and one that we particularly suggest you look out for is: Banyard, P., Davies, M.N.O., Norman, C., and Winder, B., (2010). Essential Psychology: A concise introduction. Sage. This is a very engaging book that will give you a thought-provoking and lively introduction to many areas of psychology which we look at in PY1103/7 and PY1104. If you read the chapter on research methods, this will also give you a foundation for PY1101. One of the key texts for PY1103/7 and PY1104 is the following: Martin, G.N., Carlson, N.R., & Buskist, W. (2007). Psychology: Third Edition. Pearson. It may be useful to become familiar with this book before you arrive and it is widely available in libraries. However, we do not recommend that you purchase this text as it will be distributed at Induction as part of your free texts package. The following book will help you develop your critical thinking skills right from the start of your programme and is particularly relevant to the semester A module, PY1105 Thinking like a psychologist. It is also a very lively and accessible book that we hope you will enjoy reading. Goldacre, B. (2009). Bad science. Harper Perennial. Important dates Semester A teaching begins on September 23 rd and continues until December13th. It is important that you study regularly and therefore we advise you not to book holidays during study weeks if at all possible. Please note that coursework deadlines and exam dates cannot be changed so it is essential that you plan around them. The dates are published well in advance to help you do so. Coursework deadlines are provided by module leaders at the start of the semester. The exam period for semester A is in January Please see the academic calendar on the UEL website for further details and dates.

4 Preparing for the programme A place to study We recommend that you plan where you will study once your programme starts. You will need somewhere comfortable, light and quiet to work and a place to store your reading materials and programme information in an organised way. If you plan to work at home, it would be useful to consider how you will ensure that you can study there without being disturbed. IT skills You will be expected to word-process your coursework assignments, so if you need to develop your keyboard skills, it would be good to work on these in advance. You could enrol on a taught course or follow an appropriate computer programme. As well as word-processing you will be using , Moodle and a programme for statistical analysis (SPSS), so any preliminary experience with these kinds of facilities will be worthwhile. The staff team Below are some of the key staff who will work with you this year, many of whom you will meet in Induction week: Head of Subject for Psychological Sciences: Elizabeth Attree BSc Psychology by distance learning Programme Leader: Dr Anna Stone Susy Ajith organises the administrative support and can be contacted at s.ajith@ue.ac.uk Module leaders for level 1: Ian Wells, Dr Paul Penn, Dr Laura McGrath and Dr Richard Ralley Tutor for part-time students: Dr Anna Stone School information If you have any questions prior to your arrival at UEL, please contact Marika Hemming, Admissions and Recruitment Officer for the School on or psychology@uel.ac.uk School Address: School of Psychology The University of East London Stratford Campus Water Lane London, E15 4LZ Visit: uel.ac.uk/psychology

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6 Appendix 1 Logging into Moodle Student guide To log into Moodle: Go to the UEL Homepage ( and select the Student Tab from the menu at the top of the screen & then UEL Direct from the Quick links on the right of screen. Enter your Username (student number) and Password as directed. Once you have logged into UEL Direct, select Moodle from the Learning Systems widget. Note: If the widget does not appear on your UEL Direct page, you can apply the widget using the Customise your homepage link at the bottom of your UEL Direct page. This shows the list of items you can add to, or remove from your UEL Direct page. Select the Learning Systems widget by clicking on the relevant tick-box, and then click Save, on the right-hand side. Your Moodle Home page will now appear