Teaching methods
Teaching methods vary for different courses and different teachers have their own preferences or innovations. The most common methods are lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops.
Lectures
In a lecture, a relatively large audience is addressed by a lecturer who speaks for most of the time, often using visual aids to provide illustrations or show data, and to summarise key points. It usually lasts a little under an hour. You are expected to take notes.
Seminars
A seminar is a smaller group, anything from 12 students and, although it is led by a tutor, active participation in discussion is expected, informed by your reading on the relevant topic. Sometimes a student is asked to start the discussion by making a presentation on an agreed topic. The seminar usually lasts for an hour.
Tutorials and supervision
A tutorial or supervision usually involves one or two students, meeting in a tutor's office, and may involve discussing your plans for an essay, written work or project progress, lasting as long as that requires.
Workshops
A workshop is a practical hands-on session of teaching and trying out skills that you are learning, often in a computer room or the library. It usually has 15-20 students and lasts for one to three hours.
Assessment
Different courses are assessed in different ways. These are chosen to be appropriate to the content and aims of your courses, and to allow for varied skills and styles of work.
First-year work does not count towards your final degree classification; you need simply to pass it in order to continue into the second year. Often assessment is by coursework; written work submitted during the course. This may be combined with other forms of assessment for the same course, an exam for example. Some courses require written exercises on the skills taught. In some parts of the degree we assess students' oral presentations. We also assess some courses by extended essays of 4,000 words or dissertations of 6,000-8,000 words, handed in at the end of the year after the course has been completed. The final-year project is assessed in part by a report on the research that has been done.