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AWARD and ROUTE TITLE / MSc in Advancing Professional Practice
MSc in Advancing Professional Practice (Nursing)
MSc in Advancing Professional Practice (Leadership)
MSc in Advancing Professional Practice (Paediatrics)
MSc in Advancing Professional Practice (Vocational Rehabilitation)
MSc in Advancing Professional Practice (Social Work)
MSc in Advancing Professional Practice (Medicine)
INTERMEDIATE AWARD TITLES / Postgraduate Certificate in Advancing Professional Practice
Postgraduate Diploma in Advancing Professional Practice
Name of the Teaching Institution / Sheffield Hallam University
Mode(s) of Attendance
(eg. FT/PT/SW/DL) / Part time
UCAS CODE / N/A
Professional/Statutory/Regulatory Body Recognising this Programme / N/A
QAA Subject Benchmark Statement or other relevant external reference point / QAA academic benchmarks for postgraduate study
Date of Validation / 23 May 2011
The information provided within the programme specification relates and applies to all target
awards contained in this document. Successful completion of the requirements of any of the
target awards ensures you will have met the programme aims and outcomes within this
programme specification.
1 PROGRAMME AIMS
This programme aims to:
· meet the current policy agenda for advancing professional roles in the sectors served by the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing
· provide you with an individualised programme of learning which meets your professional development needs, supports and develops you in your advancing professional roles enhancing your employability
· provide a programme of learning which is flexible and maximises inter-professional and work-based learning opportunities
· equip you with the skills and knowledge to address complex problems, both systematically and creatively, and as a result to improve service delivery in the sectors served by the Faculty.
· enhance lifelong learning skills and personal development so that you will be able to work with self-direction and originality. This will facilitate effective working within your organisations and their wider social and professional communities.
2 PROGRAMME LEARNING OUTCOMES
The richness and diversity of the modules within the Advancing Professional Practice (APP) awards are such that a generic approach has been taken in addressing the programme learning outcomes.
2.1 Knowledge and understanding covered within the Programme. With reference to your targeted award, by the end of the programme you will be able to: -
· select and critically analyse concepts, theories, research and policy, their underpinning values and beliefs, relevant to advancing professional development. This will include some aspects that are at the forefront of knowledge and which are complex and conceptually challenging.
· critically discuss the reciprocal relationship between theory and practice and how it might be used to enhance your professional development and inform service development within your area of work.
· locate and critically appraise your advancing role and that of others within the wider professional, political and social context.
· critically evaluate how profession-specific knowledge is constructed and contested, identifying and analysing ambiguities and contradictions within the literature.
2.2 Intellectual/Subject/Professional/Key skills covered within the Programme. With reference to your targeted award, by the end of the programme you will be able to:
· provide evidence of your ability to combine critical thinking with creativity
· reflect critically on and evaluate changes in practice and organisations
· access, select and evaluate academic literature and other appropriate sources and present your findings in a variety of forms
· analyse problems systematically and develop decision-making skills in complex and unpredictable situations to deal with challenging issues
· critically reflect on and evaluate your practice and that of others in order to develop self-awareness, improve interpersonal skills and foster ethically sound behaviour
· communicate effectively using a range of media, to enhance understanding and engagement by a wide range of stakeholders.
· evaluate your personal IT and numeracy skills and identify development needs and strategies as appropriate
· continue to reflect on your personal and professional development and learning, monitoring progress (where appropriate) via your professional development portfolio or progress file
· be self-directed and able to act autonomously in the planning and implementation of your professional development.
3 LEARNING, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT
3.1 The approach to Learning and Teaching within the Programme
The philosophy and approach to learning and teaching for this programme is informed by the University's Learning and Teaching Strategy (2006 - 10) alongside The Assessment for Learning Initiative (TALI, 2008) and aims to:
· foster collaborative partnerships between you and your teaching staff to ensure learning takes place in a diverse and vibrant learning community
· ensure flexible delivery with time, pace and increasingly place, chosen by you
· enable you to acquire high level critical abilities and both key and professional skills
· support and facilitate you in becoming a more self-directed, independent life-long learner
· provide you with enhanced study skills support and guidance, appropriate for postgraduate students
· provide you with a variety of vibrant learning opportunities as you progress through your studies, in order to develop and demonstrate advancing skills of critical thinking, problem solving abilities, creativity and innovation
· provide aligned learning, teaching and assessment opportunities that allow you to continuously develop and enhance your progress and attainment
· ensure your learning experience enhances your employability and career prospects.
Specific details of the approach to learning and teaching may be found in each of the descriptors of modules available to the programme. These modules are maintained as part of the portfolios of the Departments within the Faculty. This ensures modules available to the programme are contemporary and the ‘menu’ of modules available develops over time. There may be occasions where certain modules are not able to run due to viability issues. Should this occur, the module may run at a later time, or you may be advised regarding the selection of an alternative appropriate module. The provision which forms part of the awards for Advancing Professional Practice will seek to:
· provide learning opportunities that integrate e-learning, the use of the University's virtual learning environment, promote learner autonomy and embed employability and personal development planning into the programme
· maximise the opportunity for interprofessional learning, by the design of the programme pathways and individual learning plans for students
· maximise opportunities for work-based and experiential learning, through the design of modules, learning materials, activities and assessment tools which focus on the work place and experiences of professionals employed there
· provide personal support to plan learning pathways to ensure relevance and congruence with an appropriate learning and teaching approach
· continue to work closely with external partner organisations at all levels, to ensure that the design of modules, learning materials, activities and assessment opportunities continue to be driven by critical policy and professional agendas.
· a wide variety of teaching methods are part of the modules available to the programme. These include: seminars; lectures; practical sessions; peer learning; action learning; group work and independent study.
Student Support
Students undertaking provision on the Advancing Professional Practice awards, although employed or considering employment in advancing roles, may be returning to learning after taking a break in pursuing their academic studies. In addition, as already outlined above, they may be studying one or a number of modules. Therefore a robust system of support for students has been designed. It incorporates a number of features, which include;
· a specially designed website, which may be accessed by individuals from the start of their initial interest in the provision.
· robust administrative tracing systems, which build upon existing good practice for Post-Experienced and Postgraduate provision, using dedicated administrative support from members of the Post-Experienced and Postgraduate office.
· e-versions of award and module handbooks. The information contained within these communications meet Faculty and University requirements; additional information such as induction material will also be included, to ensure that students undertaking the provision are not disadvantaged.
· an Advancing Professional Practice Blackboard site, onto which key information will be posted. This will be updated on a regular basis by the administrator for the Advancing Professional Practice Awards.
· a specially designed package of study skills to facilitate student's transition to Postgraduate study, details of which are given below.
Introduction to Post Graduate Study
This is an e resource for students who are doing a post graduate module for the first time. The resource will be placed on a new Organisational Blackboard site for The Advancing Professional Practice awards in Health and Wellbeing. The resource will be accessible to students once they have been accepted onto a module. The resource will allow early access to the notion of postgraduate study in the expectation that when they commence their modules their anxieties are allayed. Furthermore their perceptions and expectations for study and the skills needed will become more apparent.
This interactive resource will be made available to them. It covers the following areas:
· Introduce students to the concept of studying at postgraduate level
· Explain the process for developing and maintaining a personal and professional development portfolio
· Raise awareness of the academic study skills they will develop and need to use
· Introduce them to some key study support resources
Resources utilise a 'talking heads' approach; that is, students who have studied at post graduate level will explore not only what they have gained from their learning but also their expectations and the support and study skills which they subsequently accessed and achieved.
An e-lecture will outline what post graduate study is and will direct students to the relevant study skills needed.
3.2 The approach to Assessment and Feedback within the Programme
Similarly, the approach to assessment and feedback for the programme is also informed by the University's Learning and Teaching Strategy (2006 - 10) alongside The Assessment for Learning Initiative (TALI, 2008) and the SHU Assessment & Feedback Policy (2008). It is designed to:
· ensure that assessment enhances your learning, attainment and progression
· offer you a practical and balanced assessment schedule aligned to your individual learning plans that will enhance your learning, attainment and progression
· ensure that the assessment of student learning outcomes is based on clear criteria
· provide appropriate and timely feedback, which is both balanced and coherent
· ensure that you receive prompt and constructive feedback which is useful and informative and that both assessment and feedback is effective and efficient within the context of different modes of learning
The strategy will include a wide range of both formative and summative assessment strategies, such as poster production; essay; Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) and group presentations. It is designed to give you the opportunity to develop and demonstrate, as appropriate, your knowledge, understanding, intellectual, subject, professional and key skills, as covered within this programme. In addition, assessment tools will reflect current policy and professional imperatives at local, regional and national levels.
Formative feedback, incorporating a variety of evidence, including tutor, peer and self assessment, will be provided at appropriate times within your learning in each module. Written summative feedback will be given by module leaders at the end of each assessment period, using a standardised pro-forma.
Specific details of the methods of assessment and feedback are available within descriptors of individual modules that you select as part of your learning pathway.
4 PROGRAMME DESIGN AND STRUCTURE
The programme is designed to support your acquisition of professional development which fits with your specific needs. The Advancing Professional Practice programme incorporates elements of the three types of modules below:
· modules which are mandatory and include a dissertation module; a research methods module and a module focused on the topic of safeguarding.
· modules which are elective and are specific to the subject of bracketed awards within the programme
· modules which are optional - these include modules that provide the
required numbers of credit remaining for your award.
MSc Advancing Professional Practice
Of the 180 credits required for a master’s degree, a dissertation module (mandatory module) of either 45 or 60 credits must be taken. Also mandatory are a 15 credit safeguarding module and a 15 or 30 credit research method module. The remaining 75 to 105 credits required to amount to a total of 180 credits for the degree may be taken from either elective or optional modules.
MSc Advancing Professional Practice (in-parenthesis award)
Of the 180 credits required for a master’s degree, an in-parenthesis award requires to have 120 of those credits in topics specific to the in-parenthesis award. Of those 120 credits a dissertation module (mandatory module) of either 45 or 60 credits must be taken. The student needs, therefore, to acquire a further 60 or 75 credits from elective modules to ensure the 120 specific credits. Also mandatory are a 15 credit safeguarding module and a 15 or 30 mandatory research method module, thus accruing a further 150 or 165 credits. The remaining 15 or 30 credits leading to a total of 180 credits for the degree may be taken from either elective or optional modules.
The current list of modules available can be located in section F of the validation document. New modules specific to this award can be found in section G.
When you register for modules within the Advancing Professional Practice awards, you will have access to support materials including the opportunity to meet with the programme leader which will help you prepare for postgraduate study. The underlying principle is that you take ownership of the process of defining your own route through the Advancing Professional Practice programme, selecting modules on the basis of your specific professional development needs. This will be agreed in consultation with module leaders, who will confirm that you are aware of any pre-requisites or professional conditions which might apply to particular modules. This information will also be on the website. You should also discuss your module selection with your workplace line manager or development lead to ensure that there is compatibility with organisational role requirements. The Programme Leader for the Advancing Professional Practice awards will monitor and approve student progression routes.