UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE

Unit Information Form (UIF): Guidance notes on completionUIF0708

The University is changing to a non-semesterised basis of course delivery across all its provision from September 2008 (courses at the Polhill campus are already de-semesterised). A revised curriculum framework (CRe8) is being phased in over the period to September 2010 and the University has devised specifications for units (represented by the UIF) and courses (represented by the CIF) incorporating the key elements of CRe8.

This document provides guidance to staff on the completion of the UIF. The UIF provides essential information to students, staff teams and others on a particular unit.

Notes:

  • All unitsapproved by theUniversity of Bedfordshire award should have a UIF.
  • UIFs incorporate the University’s distinctive wider educational principles and structures developed through the CRe8 (Revised Curriculum Framework 2008) process and thus feature ‘realistic learning’ and a distinctive set of core skills areas (See further details on CRe8).
  • UIFs are written primarily for students and the language should reflect this;UIFs may need to be supplemented by additional information for approval.
  • UIFs should be made available to students via their unit handbook or by other appropriate means.
  • The UIF has been structured and sectioned to indicate the level of approval required for changes once a UIF has been approved. For further queries on changing UIFs, please contact your faculty Sub Dean (Quality Enhancement).
  • UIFs are approved by the University through the validation or subject review process or by faculties through the appropriate approval process.
  • If you have any queries about completing the UIF, it is worth initially checking the FAQs on and if your queries are not resolved, contact your faculty Sub Dean (Quality Enhancement).

SECTION 1 Changes made to Section 1 of the UIF will requireFaculty level approval. If substantial changes to Units/Courses are required, consult with Sub Dean (Quality Enhancement) for advice

Unit Name

This is the name that appears on a student’s transcript and hence it should indicate the broad topic covered.

  • The name should succinctly cover the focus of the unit.
  • The maximum number of characters allowable (for purposes of SITS) is 120 though names shorter than this are to be encouraged.
  • Acronyms such as PPAD and PDP should be avoided as should the designations 1 and 2 such as Biochemistry 1 and Biochemistry 2.
  • ‘Jokey’ titles should be avoided.

Unit Code

You should leave blank if a new unit.

Level

The University may be moving to a system of different leveldesignations for the 2008-2009 academic year i.e. the current Level 1 will become Level 4; Level 2=Level 5; Level 3=Level 6; M level=Level 7. For the purposes of this form, you should continue to use current levels in this section.

Credit Value

The normal credit value for a year-long unit is 30 credits. Other values are possible and will be determined at the point of validation of the unit. A separate justification for non-30 credit units should be provided.

Location of Delivery

You should indicate the main teaching location. It should indicate which of the University’s campuses the unit will be primarily taught at, or the name of any partner institution that will be the main location of students.

Summary/Overview

This section should provide a descriptive overview of the unit (typically around 100 – 200 words) and should give students a picture of what the unitis aboutand how it will be taught.

Aims

In this section you should give a succinct definition of what the unit aims to achieve.

  • Normally 5-6 aims are expected and there should be a maximumof eight.
  • The aims should be provided as a bulleted list.
  • The aims should address knowledge, skills and attitudes as appropriate.
  • They may identify the relationship to other activities/units or courses.

Core Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this unit you should be able to: / Assessment Criteria
To achieve the learning outcome you must demonstrate the ability to:
LO1
LO2
LO3 / etc etc.

In this table you need to identify the core learning outcomes for the unit andidentify for each learning outcome the criteria that will be used in assessing the outcomes:

  • A learning outcome is a clear statement of what a learner is expected to know, understand, and/or be able to do at the end of the unit, and thus these core learning outcomes are central to the unit.
  • Normally 5-6 learning outcomes are expected with a maximumof eight. The temptation is often to identify many more learning outcomes than this. Rather, the intention should be to identify the core outcomes that the unit will develop and which should be achieved by the students, emphasising the ones the students need to concentrate on demonstrating.
  • There will be many unplanned learning outcomes – these can be assessed by performance above the threshold level.
  • The University’s curriculum framework (CRe8) is based upon four strands: subject knowledge; skills; personal development; and the professional student. In developing your core learning outcomes, you should try to reflect these strands in your learning outcomes if applicable.
  • Where skills are concerned, the University expects all courses to emphasise and focus upon (having developed from the CRe8 process) four core skills areas: communication; information literacy; research and evaluation; and creativity and critical thinking. These have to be articulated within CIFs within the course learning outcomes;at the unit level, consideration should be given to these four when developing any skills-related unit learning outcomes that are core to the unit. There may be other skills-based unit learning outcomes that you wish to emphasise in the UIF.
  • Learning outcomes provide the link between the academic level, as described in the University’s level descriptors ( and the assessment process.
  • The unit assessment should aim to measure the extent to which the learning outcomes have been achieved and thus it is important to define assessments that are assessable. Avoid words and concepts that are difficult to measure such as understand, appreciate, feel confident, acquire a feeling for etc.
  • The wording used should reflect the academic level of the work. Try not to demonstrate this at different levels by for example using phrases such as ‘have an understanding’ and then ‘have a deeper understanding’ – how to do you measure depth? (For further discussion of the language of learning outcomes see
  • The assessment criteria provide clarification of the minimum threshold standards expected of students when demonstrating each learning outcome – i.e. they give additional information on the standard of work expected
  • The use of assessment criteria is also intended to make the assessment process more transparent to students and thus another reason why the language should be appropriate and understandable to students.
  • Each learning outcome may be associated with 1 – 3 associated criteria definingwhat is needed to complete the assessment successfully.

SECTION2 Any changes made to Section 2 of the UIF will normally requireFaculty level approval

Period of Delivery

You should indicate the period of delivery. Course teams are free to design units to be run in any appropriate period as justified by the needs of the students and of the course of which the unit is a part. However, the following should be noted:

  • Where units are not year long, then unit teams will be responsible for the assessment arrangements – there will be only one assessment period where there are university invigilated examinations and all results will not be ratified until after this assessment period.
  • Units will need to meet the requirements of all students who are taking them – timetabling requirements may constrain design.
  • Each unit will have a home department/school/division, but if the unit is delivered in more than one course, at the development stage, implications of this should be considered (see Section 5 for administrative requirements).
  • Approving the period of operation is part of the approval process and changes cannot be made without authorisation.

Pre-requisites/Restrictions

You should identify any required or recommended pre-requisites and/or any banned combinations.

Student Activity

The purpose of the ‘Student Activity’ section is to indicate to students the range of activities that they will be engaged in on this unit in order for the learning outcomes and content to be delivered, and to indicate the amount of work expected of them outside of normal ‘timetabled’ activities.

You should complete the indicative table in the UIF and delete activities that are not relevant, prefacing the table by a statement such as: ‘In this unit you will be expected to spend time engaging in the following:’

Activity / Notional Learning Hours
Lectures
Lab/Field work
etc etc
Total ( normally a 30 credit unit) / Normally 300 hours
  • Hours are indicative only and are those expected of an average student completing all of the reading and other activities to the best of their ability.
  • The credits/hours equation is based upon the national definition that one credit is typically represented by ten hours of notional student learning. Normally units will be 30 credit units thus equating to 300 hours. Other unit sizes e.g. 15 or 45 should equate with 150 and 450 hours respectively.
  • Activities not relevant to the unit should be deleted from the list and other, more subject specific activities can be added.
  • The assessment category includes preparation and completion.

Approach to Learning

‘Realistic learning’ is the term used to describe the broad experience of students studying at the University of Bedfordshire (from CRe8). Realistic learning provides a focus around which the associated curriculum infrastructure is developing, since it has implications, for example, in the sort of learning spaces we create, how support structures work, the skills we expect of students and how we promote the curriculum to students.

There are five dimensions to realistic learning, the purpose of this section being to describe the way in which the unit supports learning which is:

  • Meaningful – [the curriculum must have personal, social, intellectual or practical relevance].
  • Active– [students should be engaged in the learning process not passive recipients of it].
  • Reflective– [the curriculum aids reflective processes which assist with the internalisation of students’ experiences and their ability to make connections across boundaries (for example between units, and between the curriculum and the outside world)].
  • Challenging– [learning comes from working creatively with new and demanding material and experiences which challenge existing constructs, knowledge and understanding as well as cultural and other assumptions].
  • Collaborative– [learning is a collaborative and supportive social process and involves students learning from other students as well as from tutors and other key staff].

Not all units will emphasise all of these in depth, butyou should give some indication of how the unit will address each.

In order to give students a greater feel for the sorts of learning activities they will be engaged in (other than the student activity table above) and how they relate to each other, you should include a brief description of the approach being taken to deliver the learning outcomes and content.

Skills Development

There are four core skills areas at the core of ‘graduateness’ and employability that the University expects all courses to emphasise (having developed from the CRe8 process): communication; information literacy; research and evaluation; and creativity and critical thinking.

A description of how the unit contributes to the development of each of the core areas in the University’s curriculum framework should be provided.

  • As with ‘realistic learning’, not all units will emphasise all of these in depth but some indication should be given as to how the unit will address each. Put ‘not applicable’ if any particular core skill area is not being emphasised in the unit.
  • There may be other skills that you also wish to identify and highlight in the UIF other than the four core skills areas above.
  • For those of you who have completed ModInfs previously, please note that there is now no expectation that the QCA key skills be adopted by course teams in units and courses.

Communication skills

To help with the development of this you will ….

Information literacy skills

To help with the development this you will …

Research and evaluation skills

To help with the development of this you will …

Creativity and critical thinking skills

To help with the development of this you will ….

Assessment Strategy

There are two assessment sections to be completed. This initialsection should be descriptive explaining the purpose of assessment in the unit and the choice of particular methods.

  • You should cover the role of diagnostic, formative and summative assessment elements in the unit.
  • Will the unit be purely tutor assessed or will there be opportunities for self and/or peer assessment?
  • If moving to year long units e.g. from a 15 to 30 credit unit, do not be tempted to increase the number of assessment points and thus over-assess students in the unit – 3 is the maximum number, though normally 2 would be expected.
  • The terminology used should be clear and intelligible to students.

Assessment Details

The second assessment section in the UIF entails you giving more specific details of the assessment methods being used in a table.

  • Where more than one assessment method contributes to a single assessment point, record on separate lines and bracket together.
  • The codes you should use for ‘Assessment Methods’ are listed on the UIF form following the table.
  • In the ‘Assessment methods description’column of the table, you should give a fuller explanation of what the assessment methods entail – this might include length of essay or hours, if CBA.
  • Alternative methods should be indicated for students whose disabilities would disadvantage them in the standard assessment requirements.
  • The ‘Learning outcomes assessed’ column in the table refers back to those learning outcomes you have identified in Section 1 of the UIF.

No / Assessmentmethod * / Description of assessment methods / Weight (%) / Learning outcomes assessed / Submission week (assignments) or length (exam)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
etc
* The following codes apply (assessment methods)
AR / artefact / PC / practical
CB / computer-based / PF / performance
CS / case study / PL / Placement etc etc

SECTION 3 Once initial approval of the unit has been given, the Unit Coordinatormay make changes to this section, following appropriate consultation

Outline Teaching Schedule

Here you should provide either a week by week tabular summary and/ or a thematic textual summary of the curriculum content.

Recommended Resources

You should first specify resources that areessential – this should be kept to theminimum e.g. could be restricted to a set text that students would be expected to buy. Then list any background resources; again, for the purposes of the UIF this should be a reasonable number and can be split into different sources e.g. texts, journals, websites or other sources. Whilst resources will usually mean anticipated reading material, if your course is distance learning, for example, you will need to note Internet and PC access expectations.

SECTION 4Administrative Information

This section contains administrative information that needs to be completed:

Faculty

Field – if applicable.

Department/School/Division

Unit Co-ordinator

Version number – indicate number/academic year – this shows the version of the UIF e.g. this might be - 1/07 or 2/07 or 3/08. Every time there is a change in the form, there should be a new version number/year.

Body approving this version – e.g. FTQS Committee, University validation.

Date of University approval of this version - indicate when the unit was formally approved by the University.

Shared Units – name all courseswhich include this unit in their diet.

Form completed by – name and date (dd/mm/yyyy).

Authorisation on behalf of the Faculty Teaching Quality and Standards Committee (FTQSC) – the Chair of the FTQSC signs and dates (dd/mm/yyyy).

Unit updates - following approval of the change by the Committee, the FTQSC secretary completes the table on the UIF, indicating date (dd/mm/yyyy) and the nature of any update, cross-referencing with the TQSC minute reference.

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