COMPILING UNIT SPECIFICATIONS
The information in blue italics has been added to aid completion of the template. Please delete all blue text once the template has been completed. A worked example is available for reference here.
· Units should be designed to be delivered and assessed within one semester (often referred to as ‘short-fat’ units). Units may be delivered over a longer period but all exceptions must be formally approved during the internal Faculty consideration. See 2B – Programme Structure and Curriculum Design Characteristics: Procedure for more information on exceptions to the Common Academic Structure.
· Programmes may share units with other programmes, normally referred to as ‘common’ units. Such common units are characterised by having the same unit title, level, credit value, aims, intended learning outcomes (ILOs), learning and teaching methods and summative assessment methods. Although the text in these sections of the unit specification should be identical between common units, the wording of the learning, teaching and indicative assessment methods may outline different approaches. Common units must share the same number of formally stated elements of summative assessment, the type of elements (i.e. exam or coursework) and the weighting of elements. Within these restrictions, variations to the nature of the assessment may be specified to reflect different modes of study (e.g. online learning, blended learning), providing that these do not alter the number, type or weighting of the unit assessment. Further detail is available in 6C – Assessment Design, Handling and Submission: Policy and Procedure.
· Note: only certain sections can be altered without the aid of a formal modification. These are:
- indicative assessment;
- formative assessment;
- indicative unit content;
- indicative resources.
· When compiling a new unit, please complete the template below.
PLEASE COMPLETE ALL SECTIONS OR STATE N/A
UNIT SPECIFICATION TEMPLATETo be completed by the Programme/Unit Leader
Unit title Click here to enter text.
Unit titles should be unique except in generic cases such as the dissertation, work-based learning (WBL) or study skills units.
Level / Choose an item. /
Credit value
/ Choose an item.- The minimum credit value of a unit is 20 credits, above which credit values increase at 20-point intervals.
- 20 credits is the equivalent of 200 study hours required of the student, including lectures, seminars, assessment and independent reading.
- Units should record the University credit value and the equivalent European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) value in brackets. 20 University credits are equivalent to 10 ECTS credits.
Is this a common unit? (delivered in more than one programme) / Choose an item. / Expected contact hours for unit
Expected contact hours that a student should expect for the unit. Please refer to the guidance and definition in the programme specification template. / Click here to enter text.
Pre and co-requisites
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These should only be added if essential. If there are no pre-requisites or co-requisites state ‘None’.
Aims
Click here to enter text.Detail why this unit is included in the curriculum and what, in terms of academic development, it aims to achieve. This may include reference to academic and professional contexts. These aims must relate not only to the unit ILOs and assessment but also to level and programme aims.
Intended learning outcomes (ILOs)
Having completed this unit the student is expected to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
- In order to meet the aims of the unit, ILOs are framed to specify the various knowledge and skills that students should be able to demonstrate on completion of the unit.
- ILOs are always specified at threshold level.
- Typically a 20-credit unit has 4-6 ILOs, but this is not prescriptive.
- The unit ILOs must relate directly to the aims, assessment and indicative content sections of the Unit Specification. Unit ILOs must also relate to programme and level outcomes and be phrased in such way that they can be assessed.
- Unit ILOs for Foundation degrees must clearly demonstrate how work-based learning is incorporated. For more detailed guidance, refer primarily to 2B – Programme Structure and Curriculum Design Characteristics: Procedure and 6F – Generic Assessment Criteria: Procedure.
Learning and teaching methods
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- Briefly list what learning and teaching methods the student is likely to encounter in this unit. Refer to blended learning approaches, lectures, seminars, work-based learning,student-centred learning, on-line, fieldwork, lab-work, tutorials, group work etc. Identify the balance between face-to-face teaching and self-managed approaches.
- Where common units are delivered in multiple modes of delivery (i.e. online and traditional delivery), the different teaching and learning approaches should be specified in this section.
Assessment ** see additional guidance written after the unit template
Formative assessment/feedback formative assessment may be modified from time to time, to accommodate the needs of the programme
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Indicate:
- details of formative assessment/feedback
Summative assessment
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NB the summative assessment breakdown outlined below must match the Assessment Element Weightings columns in the Programme structure in the Programme Specification
Indicate:
- the number and nature of formal assessment element(s);
- the percentage weightings between formal assessment element(s);
- the ILOs addressed by each formal assessment element.
Link to assessment guidance
Example 1
ILOs 1-6 will be assessed by 100% coursework
or
Example 2
ILOs 1-3 will be assessed by coursework (50%) and ILOs 4-6 will be assessed by an examination (50%) / Indicative assessment
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Indicate:
- the nature of assessments (e.g. type of coursework/exam) if not outlined in summative assessment (see Example 2);
- any informal sub-elements of assessment (see Example 1);
- the typical size of the assessment in terms of the student workload/word equivalence.
Example 1
The coursework might comprise of a portfolio (70%) equivalent to 3000 words and a group presentation on a subject-related area (30%) equivalent to 2000 words.
or
Example 2
The coursework is a reflective report (50%) equivalent to 2500 words. The examination is an unseen paper (2 hours).Indicative unit content
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- note key areas of content which students will encounter in order to address the intended learning outcomes;
- work-based learning aspects should be stated, particularly for units on Foundation Degrees;
- this section can be subject to updates to maintain curriculum currency without requiring a formal modification.
Indicative learning resources
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- list the key learning resources available in terms of books, journals, and web-based sources;
- it is recommended that approximately ten key learning resources are listed;
- use the Harvard referencing style which is set out at http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/citing_refs_main.html;
- this section can be subject to updates when reproduced in the Student Handbook/unit information issued to students in order to maintain curriculum currency, without requiring a formal modification.
Unit number / Click here to enter text.
- refer to AAM for practice within your Faculty / Version number / Click here to enter text.
- unit specifications should provide a version number at the bottom of each unit.
- the system for versioning documents is as follows;
§ the unit should have a whole number in series following approval/review;
§ any units following modification should move to numbers (e.g. 1.1, 1.2);
§ after the first periodic review, the re-approved unit specification becomes version 2, then version 3 and so on;
§ any modified versions within the following periodic review cycles should have decimal numbers (e.g. 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2);
§ on a rare occasion, it may be necessary to introduce a third decimal number to differentiate between cohorts on different versions of the same unit.
**Assessment information to aid completion of the template (please delete)
The assessment section should be split into three sections, in the following order:
· formative assessment;
· summative assessment;
· indicative assessment.
Formative assessment
Formative assessment activities should be designed into the unit and separately specified before the summative and indicative assessment arrangements. Note: formative assessment may be modified from time to time, to accommodate the needs of the programme without the need for a formal modification.
Summative assessment
All unit ILOs must be summatively assessed. When designing assessment tasks, care should be taken to ensure clear linkages between assessment, unit aims and ILOs. The summative assessment section should list all formally defined elements of assessment, if there is more than one. These will appear on the Assessment Board report. The summative assessment section must specify:
· the number and nature of the formal assessment elements;
· the percentage weightings between the formal assessment elements;
· the ILOs addressed by each formal assessment element.
For example:
ILOs 1-6 will be assessed by 100% coursework
or
ILOs 1-3 will be assessed by coursework (50%) and ILOs 4-6 will be assessed by an examination (50%)
These formal elements of assessment may contain further sub-elements. Where this is the case, these sub-elements should be reflected in the indicative assessment information section (see below).
It is very important that the summative assessment breakdown matches the Assessment Element Weightings columns in the Programme Structure in the Programme Specification. If the Assessment Element Weightings columns are incorrect, this will impact how the unit assessment is recorded in the Student Records System.
Note: where a piece of assessment is stipulated as a formal element in the programme structure, this assessment must be passed in order for the student to pass the unit.
Indicative assessment
· unit specifications should also include a section entitled ‘Indicative Assessment’, in which further detail on the intended assessment is provided. This could indicate the nature of the exam (e.g. unseen, closed book, prior disclosure, case study) and the coursework (e.g. essays, individual and/or group reports, reviews, portfolios, presentations, log books, in-class time constrained tests, artefacts and contributions through blogs or wikis);
· word count equivalents must be included, see the Assessment workloads section below;
· when designing such assessments, academic staff must consider whether it is imperative for the student to pass all the sub-elements or whether a combined pass mark demonstrates successful completion of the formal assessment element. Where the former is required, these should be listed as formal assessment elements in the summative section rather than sub-elements. Similarly, Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) requirements may limit or prevent the use of sub-elements, or may require all sub elements to be passed;
· Note: whilst the indicative assessment may be modified from time to time, to accommodate the needs of the programme, the summative assessment should not normally be changed during a period of approval, except in exceptional circumstances. In such cases, this must be done via a formal unit modification.
Assessment workloads
· the indicative assessment section should also include the typical size of the assessment in terms of the student workload. The University guidelines on assessment workload are provided in 6C – Assessment Design, Handling and Submission: Policy and Procedure see section 5.12 and part extract below:
As a general rule, time devoted to assessment should normally represent approximately 25% of the student learning time for a unit (i.e. 50 hours for a 20-credit unit), leaving the restfor specific programme-related activities, including lectures, seminars, preparatory work, practical activities, reading, critical reflection and independent learning.
Of the time devoted to assessment, every 10 hours of student effort is equivalent to approximately 1,000 words of coursework or 1 hour of examination. Therefore, as a guideline, a 20-credit unit would normally require the equivalent of approximately 5,000 words in total (e.g. a 2,000-word written coursework and a 3-hour unseen examination). A postgraduate dissertation or project rated at 60 credits would normally require the equivalent of approximately 15,000 words and an undergraduate dissertation or project rated at 40 credits the equivalent of approximately 10,000 words. Wherever possible, units should be assessed by no more than 3 separate elements of assessment.