Status Approved 1. INTENDED AWARD 2. Award 3. MSc Professional Clinical Practice PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION(POSTGRADUATE) 4. DATE OF VALIDATION Date of most recent modification (Faculty/ADQU use only) Version Number (ADQU use only) 5. AWARDING INSTITUTION Edge Hill University 6. TEACHING INSTITUTION 10-MAY-13 22-NOV-18 3 7. ADMINISTRATIVE BASE Faculty of Health & Social Care 8. PLANNING UNIT Nurse Education 9. UNIT OF PERIODIC REVIEW Postgraduate Continuing Professional Development 10. EHU COURSE CODE MAS000090 11. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS The normal minimum requirement is a lower second class honours degree in a health or social care subject. Students must be working or have access to a suitable working environment to meet the assessments and award outcomes. Students without an honours degree who wish to access this programme, must demonstrate academic capability of writing at Masters level via successfully passing a level 7 module as standalone and working or access to a suitable working environment that enables them to achieve assessments and award outcomes. All applicants will be offered an academic interview. 12. ALTERNATIVE AWARD(S) Course Award PG Dip PG Cert Professional Clinical Practice Health and Social Care Studies 13. AVAILABLE MODES OF STUDY Mode of Study Course Duration Delivery Part Time Full Time 6 2 Classroom Classroom 14a. PRIMARY QAA SUBJECT BENCHMARK STATEMENT 14b. OTHER QAA SUBJECT BENCHMARK STATEMENT 14c. ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL BENCHMARKS 1. The Health and Social Care National Occupational Standards (NOS) (12). 2. QAA Master's degree characteristics (10): It is envisaged that this programme will be benchmarked against the description of the characteristics of Master's degree category II: specialised/advanced study. 3. QAA Quality for Higher Education: Setting and maintaining threshold academic standards (12). 4. Edge Hill's postgraduate Taught Degree Framework Handbook. The development of the programme was presented and discussed at the following Faculty fora: CPD Curriculum Development Forum. Page 1
FOHSC Service Users and Carers Forum. 15. Accreditation by Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Bodies (PSRB) Name of PSRB Nature of Accreditation / Relationship Status Date Accreditation Confirmed 16. PRIMARY SUBJECT AREA B702-Clinical practice nursing 17. SECONDARY SUBJECT AREA (if applicable) - 18. TERTIARY SUBJECT AREA - 19. PROGRAMME AIMS The programme aims are: 1. To prepare individuals to develop intellectual and professional independence commensurate with postgraduate study. 2. To develop individual's knowledge of evidence based practice, opportunity to go beyond the level of comphrension and synthesis of accepted knowledge that would enhance health and social care. 3. To provide a range of opportunities for developing clinical and professional expertise relating specifically to the individual's professional development plan.. PROGRAMME LEARNING OUTCOMES The programme learning outcomes shown here describe the knowledge, understanding and skills that students will have demonstrated on achievement of their intended level 7 qualification award. Students who do not complete their full programme of study may qualify for an alternative award and the validated exit awards for this programme are listed at the front of this programme specification. The learning outcomes of level 7 exit awards are determined by the combination of modules taken and passed and can be identified from the table below. Level 7 Knowledge and Understanding Deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences. Develop advancement of knowledge and understanding. Develop a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship. Intellectual Skills Originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline. Transferable Skills To evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline. To evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses. Practical Skills Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level. Utilising evidence based practice to advance clinical skills and service delivery. Page 2 ; ; ; ; ;
21. PROGRAMME STRUCTURE 1. Core modules are essential to learners' achievement of their target award, often in respect of meeting professional standards, and are excluded from the application of condonement by assessment boards. 2. Compulsory modules are prescribed modules but are not core and therefore are condonable. 3. Optional modules are offered within programmes to provide an element of choice and variety within the programme curriculum. They do not form part of the compulsory curriculum requirements for the programme. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year which means that not all optional modules may be available in any given year and will be subject to the module achieving minimum student numbers. Students will be required to make optional choices on an annual basis for each academic year of study. HEA4003 HEA4007 HEA4054 60 HEA90 Core: 80 ADVANCED CARDIAC CARE ADVANCED RESPIRATORY CARE PRACTICE NEGOTIATED LEARNING SHELL 7. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN PUBLIC HEALTH DISSERTATION FOR HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE PROFESSIONALS RESEARCH METHODS MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF HEART FAILURE- ADVANCING PRACTICE 22 ai. STUDENT 'LEARNING JOURNEY' Compulsory: Optional: 80 COMPULSORY CORE CORE Pathway (if applicable) This programme contains two core modules and one compulsory module = credits. The options included in this structure list are examples only. Students must choose additional optional modules up to 80 credits from CPD Postgraduate Portfolio, this is in negotiation with the Programme Leader. The student's learning journey will be mapped at the start of the programme as part of their PDP process, but there is flexibility for subsequent changes to be made should this be required. There are alternative awards if students wish to step off at certain points of their study. For Postgraduate Certificate Health and Social Care Studies, students are required to successfully pass and gain 60 credits at level 7 from the CPD Postgraduate Portfolio. For Postgraduate Diploma Professional Clinical Practice, students are required to successfully pass HEA 4444 module, HEA 4034 module, plus gain 80 credits from the CPD Postgraduate Portfolio. 23. LEARNING AND TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES The teaching and learning strategies employed within the programme are congruent with the overall philosophy of the institution, which acknowledges that each student enters the programme with different learning experiences and, therefore, recognises that each student is likely to have different learning styles and needs. As a consequence, the programme utilises a range of learning and teaching strategies relevant to the subject area involved, whilst supporting and facilitating technology enhanced learning (TeL) for each individual. At the same time, students studying at Master's level should also be able to demonstrate self-direction and take personal responsibilities for advancement of knowledge. A strong emphasis will be placed on encouraging critical level thinking and developing independent and interdependent approaches to teaching and learning to promote the growth of qualities defined as 'post-graduateness' by the QAA Qualtiy for Higher Education (12). The teaching, learning and assessment strategies employed within the programme are underpinned by the institutional Teaching and Learning Policy and Equality and Diversity Policy (EHU, 08), which ensures that every student will gain a positive learning experience based upon their individual needs, abilities and requirements. The aim is to promote deep approaches to learning (Quinn, 07) and a critical application of theory to practice, within a constructive aligned curriculum (Biggs, 1999). The programme provides a range of flexible delivery and, there is also a high degree of flexibility within the specific content of this programme, which facilitates the negotiation of study in order to maximise the interests of the student Page 3
and, where applicable, the employer. Optional modules will depend on the students' choice. They will be advised and guided accordingly, by the Programme Leader and a mapping of study will be conducted prior to commencement of the programme. In several of the optional modules, students will need to demonstrate development of key/transferable skills, such as the ability to critically reflect, the confidence and flexibility to critically appraise existing knowledge in defining selective issues, and to critically analyse, apply and to critically evaluate appropriate knowledge and skills to their solution. Thus, the bespoke nature of this programme will enable students to identify and demonstrate new knowledge and skills gained. In this way, students will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and development. This is congruent with Edge Hill University policy, graduate employability and the notion of lifelong learning. This will particularly benefit those students who have the intention of taking a specific interest, aiming to specialise within the health and social care settings. The teaching and learning in the core/compulsory elements (HEA 4444, HEA 4034, HEA 4081) of this programme will encourage students to build their academic capability and confident in evidence based practice. Students can learn via indepth discussions with their peers, in their academic writing, informal presentations, seminar presentations and self reflection. The teaching will be focusing on exploring evidence based literature, practice based enquiry, research methods and interrogation of literature. This can be conducted through classroom debates and discussion, online discussion, personal logs, seminar presentations,workplace initiatives and through their journey of completing a small piece of research of their choice. TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) All the teaching and learning will be facilitated and supported by TEL, utilising the following technologies: University VLE; online planned formative assessment activities; tutor facilitated and peer-led discussion. E-learning materials include bespoke multi-media teaching materials, which can be accessed via an internet connection anywhere, thereby, supporting independent learning 24/7. Support for the module content via the VLE allows for personalised learning with participants being able to engage with the module in a way that meets their individual needs, enabling ongoing communication with tutors who provide both academic and pastoral support. In this way, technology supports teaching and learning that is flexible and responsive to the needs of participants, whilst maximising the use of resources. Open discussion areas will enable collaborative dialogue, encouraging participants to articulate and explore personal experiences and conceptions with other professionals. Induction and ongoing support for utilisation of the VLE by students is provided by Leaders, Learning Services and the TEL team. A clear schedule of learner support workshops from Learning Services is available to students i.e. Refwork, Harvard Referencing, researching for your assignment. There are online guides of the facilities available to students undertaking study, by means of mediated learning, including IT requirements and support, will be made available. The Programme Leader and individual Co-ordinators have a responsibility to ensure that students understand their responsibilities as autonomous learners. 24. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT There are opportunities embedded within the modules for formative assessment. The course team recognise that it is an essential part of the teaching and learning strategy and, therefore, have integrated formative assessment methods throughout all of the modules within the programme such as: group presentations, personal journal entries with feedback from personal tutor, mock OSCE, assignment planning. Formative assessment is designed to be integral to the process of summative assessment and indeed, all formative exercises will 'feed forward' (Carless et al, 06) into summative assessment in some manner. 25. SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT HEA4003 HEA4007 ADVANCED CARDIAC CARE ADVANCED RESPIRATORY CARE PRACTICE 4000 Page 4
HEA4054 HEA90 NEGOTIATED LEARNING SHELL 7. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN PUBLIC HEALTH DISSERTATION FOR 60 HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE PROFESSIONALS RESEARCH METHODS MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF HEART FAILURE- ADVANCING PRACTICE Portfolio Dissertation 4,500 4,000 12,000 4500 words 4,000 26. NON-MODULAR TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES LEVEL 7 Category Hours Description Rationale Total Hours of Non-Modular Teaching & Learning Activities 27. INTENDED MARKET Home/EU and International Students Page 5