Outdoor Adventure Leadership and Management BSc (Hons)

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of workshops, lectures, seminars, outdoor and laboratory practicals. Workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and laboratory practicals are focused on developing subject specific skills and applied individual and group project work. The outdoor focussed practicals will be based in a variety of locations, locally and further afield, and are focussed on developing the skills and knowledge required to safely and effectively lead and coach a variety of adventurous activities. In the first two years, you will develop an understanding of the scientific and professional context of outdoor adventure activities, with the chance to gain skills and experience in both water and land-based activities.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course. You have an opportunity to undertake a work based placement during the summer break in-between years 1 & 2, and a further placement module in year 3. There are opportunities for a semester overseas during year 2, Minnesota in semester 1 and Norway in semester 2. In the final year, you will conduct an Expedition Studies module and a research project in an area of your choice, as well as choosing from a range of modules to suit your interests in areas such as environmental approaches, working with diverse populations, understanding contemporary issues as well as specialist modules in adventure tourism, forest schools and advanced approaches to facilitation.

Opportunities exist to gain additional, optional, National Governing Body Awards in a range of adventurous activities.

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Contact time

In a typical week you will have around 12-16 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study. Throughout year 1 and semester 2 of year 2 there are full day off-site practical modules, which will include overnight trips away. In year 3 there is a 5 day expedition.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 24-28 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, undertaking further adventurous activity practice and preparing for examinations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Teaching staff

Students will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics and professional practitioners with industry experience,Teaching is informed by the research, consultancy, and majority of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The assessment strategy for Outdoor Adventure Leadership and Management is designed to assess the students' knowledge and skills across practical, theoretical and work based learning. The strategy at all levels includes written assessments to assess subject knowledge and the exploration of ideas; reflective assignments to enable students to engage with and lead their own learning and personal development; and presentations to support student development in terms of delivery skills and sharing of knowledge. In addition there are practical assessments throughout the programme of study that assess personal ability, leadership and coaching across a range of outdoor adventure activities. There are opportunities at level 5 and 6 for students to undertake a work based placement, where students are assessed on their ability to apply knowledge and skills developed through the programme of study to reflect on professional practice.

At level 4 the assessment is weighted towards personal skill based practical assessments; individual written assignments; reflective writing with a focus on skill development; and group presentations. At level 5 the practical assessments are focused on delivery and leadership of outdoor adventure activities, written assignments that require application of a wider range of knowledge, paired or individual presentations and reflective writing with a focus on professional practice. At level 6 there are a wide variety of assessment options with a strong focus on research based written work and individual presentations.

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics and professional practitioners with industry experience.

Teaching is informed by the research, consultancy, and the majority of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.