Make a difference in the world
Learn key transferable skills that show your ability to act as a leader and effective team player
Credits: 20 Level 4 credits
Mode of study: additional part-time online study, to run alongside degree and other main courses
Notional hours: 200 hours
Schedule: from 31 October 2022 to 3 June 2023, with fortnightly synchronous sessions (see timetable below for more details)
Level: suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students of all year groups
Contact: myport-ulc@port.ac.uk
Module overview
This interdisciplinary online module allows you to gain additional University credits which demonstrate your ability to act as a leader and effective team player, with key transferable employability skills and characteristics - and the ability to make a difference in the world.
You and your fellow students will be the first to test out this new module, collaborating as partners to co-construct a version to inspire students in the future. The course will therefore be run as a piece of participant action research: you and your course cohort will join the course leaders in researching the impact of the approach to learning demonstrated in the module.
Your module credits will be earned as you build a portfolio of evidence demonstrating your ability to embrace learning challenges and critically reflect on your experiences; to work effectively in teams and working communities; and to lead others in addressing key challenges such as improving wellbeing/mental health, sustainability and social justice. Students will learn and practise the following skills:
- emotion regulation for successful learning (eg. mindfulness and self-compassion skills)
- values-led and strengths-based goal setting
- setting boundaries; assertive communication
- empathic listening; peer support
- equality, diversity and inclusion competence
- effective teamwork; inclusive community-building
- bystander intervention; antiracism and allyship
- restorative conflict resolution; sustainability activism
- critical reflection; learning co-creation and partnership
The course also offers a way for you to clearly demonstrate your development of the following hallmarks of a Portsmouth graduate:
- Be an effective team player, able to provide leadership and to support the success of others.
- Be an informed citizen, with a sense of responsibility allied to a commitment to ethical practice and social justice issues, such as equality, respect and sustainability.
- Be intellectually curious, embrace challenges and seize opportunities for development.
- Be proactive in recognising and addressing personal development needs, and able to make informed career decisions.
Please note that this is a standalone additional module - the credits do not count towards your degree course, but they are a way to demonstrate valuable additional skills and attributes.
Timetable
- 12 sessions as part of a 20 credit module at Level 4, with fortnightly sessions
- Synchronous sessions scheduled for Mondays 1.30pm-3.00pm to conclude the fortnightly session and briefly introduce the next session
- Course opening on 31 October. First synchronous session on 14 November
- Course numbers capped at 40. Participants divided into groups of up to 12 students
- Course leaders: Catherine Murgatroyd & Denise Meyer
- Course tutor: Mark Harold
- Your learning journey - Introduction to Learning Well/Emotion regulation for learning
Start date: 31 October 2022
Synchronous session date: 14 November 2022 - Facing challenges - Safety, boundaries, saying Yes and No
Start date: 14 November 2022
Synchronous session date: 28 November 2022 - Building supportive connections - Supporting self and others
Start date: 28 November 2022
Synchronous session date: 12 December 2022 - Setting your direction - Values and valued identities
Start date: 12 December 2022
Synchronous session date: 23 January 2023 - Growing your learning mindset - Personal action plans
Start date: 23 January 2023
Synchronous session date: 6 February 2023 - Deepening your understanding - Reflection, giving and receiving feedback
Start date: 6 February 2023
Synchronous session date: 20 February 2023 - Consolidation week - What is leadership?
Start date: 6 March 2023 - Sustainability and activism
Start date: 20 February 2023
Synchronous session date: 13 March 2023 - Positionality, intersectionality and ally-ship
Start date: 13 March 2023
Synchronous session date: 27 Mar 2023 - Bystander intervention and restorative practice
Start date: 27 March 2023
Synchronous session date: 24 April 2023 - Brave spaces, antiracism, and introduction to decolonising
Start date: 24 April 2023
Synchronous session date: 8 May 2023 - Co-creation and learning partnership
Start date: 8 May 2023
Synchronous session date: 22 May/5 June 2023
Assessment
Pass/fail - no grading
1. Portfolio including:
- Record of personal leadership activity and reflection on this (minimum of 5 items).
- Peer assessed share-able resource (video or other) to inspire other students, making a personal statement about a learning challenge you have faced and how you have overcome it (drawing on learning and strategies from the course).
- Final reflective piece contributing to participant action research and co-creation of the course - reviewing change in skills and confidence (reflecting on before/after measure), providing feedback on personal impact of the course including what worked best and what was less successful.
2. Participation in the final synchronous session conducted as a co-creation focus group session, including helping to review and refine course materials.
Informal co-creation and feedback throughout using digital tools such as Menti and Padlet.