Description

Professional Placement

Description - summary of the module content

Module description

Increasingly, graduate positions request that applicants have work experience applicable to the role. This year-long module will enable you to immerse yourself in a professional environment; you will learn to apply existing skills and subject-specific knowledge, improve personal and transferable skills, make new contacts, and enhance your employability. You will apply for a placement position with a relevant organisation (with the module convenor's support) and spend a minimum of nine months full-time in the workplace. Feedback and support will be provided by the module convenor and the placement host.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to better prepare you for the graduate job market by developing your overall employability and career prospects. You will research suitable organisations, consider the potential benefits of opportunities, and create a professional personal brand by crafting high-quality covering letters and CVs. Immersing yourself in a workplace will enable you to apply and develop skills and knowledge, understand your degree's full value, expand your professional network, and help guide your future career decisions.  You will be encouraged to reflect on your experience, with the help of feedback from the module convenor and placement host, to enhance your learning and future career planning.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Research suitable employers, identify an employer which suits your own skills and interests, and produce CVs and covering letters.
• 2. Interact effectively in a professional environment.
• 3. Work in a team and deal proficiently with the issues that teamwork requires (i.e. communication, motivation, decision-making, awareness, responsibility, and management skills, including setting and working to deadlines).

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Apply skills learnt during Stages 1 and 2 in a professional environment.
• 5. Learn practical and transferable skills for use in a professional environment.
• 6. Illustrate the transferable skills gained during your degree and how these can enhance future employability.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Evaluate your own performance in a role and identify skills that you would like to develop further.
• 8. Demonstrate how skills learnt during the placement are transferable to other contexts.
• 9. Evaluate own strengths and weaknesses in relation to graduate-level professional and practical skills, and act autonomously to develop new areas of skills as necessary.
• 10. Reflect effectively and independently on learning experiences, evaluate personal achievements, and articulate the importance of continued professional development.

Syllabus plan

Syllabus plan

On placement, you will gain valuable experience by spending a year working within an organisation appropriate to your degree. Research of, and submission of applications to, suitable placements will begin at the beginning of the second year. Throughout this process, support will be provided by the module convenor and by way of attendance at prearranged career development sessions.

Placements should be a minimum of nine months full-time and can begin after the release of your penultimate year grades. Annual leave can be taken when on placement according to the host organisation’s procedure. When on placement, you will be required to provide monthly progress updates via email and engage in at least one video call progress meeting attended by the module convenor and your employer. Upon completion of your placement, you will produce a report to reflect on your professional development. This should include information on skills learnt, identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and how your placement has influenced your career aims. The module will culminate in you providing an oral poster presentation on your placement experience. This will be in the form of a recorded online presentation with the opportunity to share in future career conferences and associated employability events with students, staff and employers.  

Learning and teaching

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Assessment

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Re-assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to redo the original assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 40%.

Resources

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Cottrell, S. (2021), Skills for Success: The Personal Development Handbook. Bloomsbury Academic.
• Fanthome, C. (2017) Work Placements: A survival guide for students. Bloomsbury Publishing

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: 
• www.ex.ac.uk/employability

Module has an active ELE page

Key words search

Careers, employability, CV, work experience, transferable skills, personal development