Transcript

ERIC ADDAE-KYEREMEH

Welcome to this new badged open course on succeeding in postgraduate study produced by the Open University. I'm Eric Addae-Kyeremeh. And I'm a Senior Lecturer and Programme Director for the Master's in Education programme at the Open University.

PAYAM REZAIE

And I'm Payam Rezaie. I'm a Reader and the Programme Director for the Science Master's programme at the OU.

ERIC ADDAE-KYEREMEH

Between us, we have more than 30 years of experience in teaching postgraduate students, producing and leading qualifications across different programmes at the OU and elsewhere.

PAYAM REZAIE

We designed this course to help students who want to pursue Master's-level study to be better prepared for success. The course serves to bridge the gap between undergraduate and postgraduate study. It also serves as a useful induction to postgraduate study.

ERIC ADDAE-KYEREMEH

It will help you to become familiar with the requirements and demands of postgraduate study and to develop the skills and confidence to pursue your learning further.

PAYAM REZAIE

The course is divided into eight, approximately three-hour sessions, so 24 hours of study in total. It broadly covers four themes. These focus on key aspects of postgraduate study, including the nature of Master's-level study, essential information and digital literacy skills for postgraduate study, understanding critical thinking, analysis and reflection, and applying critical and reflective thinking in academic and professional contexts.

ERIC ADDAE-KYEREMEH

The sessions will develop your understanding of the challenges of demonstrating critical awareness of a subject area, help you to reflect on and communicate your understanding, make use of appropriate evidence such as scholarly literature, and consider some of the conventions for critiquing academic writing. You'll understand the need to draw on theories, models, frameworks, and evidence to support your writing, compare contrasting theoretical arguments, and explain convincingly why you find an argument, a position, or standpoint particularly compelling. You'll also learn to plan and manage your studies and reflect on your own learning. Parts of this course will also introduce you to aspects of studying for a Master's by distance learning and communicating in an online learning environment.

PAYAM REZAIE

Once you successfully complete this course, you can gain a digital badge and a statement of participation as a record of your achievement. You can use this as evidence of your independent learning and commitment to continuing your personal and professional development.

Quizzes at the end of each session will help you to gauge and reflect on your learning as you make progress through the course. There are two assessment points that count towards the digital badge-- an interim assessment at the end of Session 4 and a final assessment at the end of Session 8. These badge assessments comprise two online quizzes. And you will need to score at least 50 per cent in both assessments in order to gain your badge. You can find out more details on assessment in the introduction guidance notes.

ERIC ADDAE-KYEREMEH

Throughout the course, you'll be required to read online, watch short video clips and presentations, listen to audio recording, search for information from internet sources, and reflect on your learning. It is therefore important to dedicate sufficient time for these activities.

The course is written with a worldwide audience in mind. Although we draw on UK and European higher education frameworks and standards for this course, the principles and guidelines do apply to most universities and colleges worldwide.

We've been limited in what we can cover on a 24 hour course. So we've provided a list of further reading, as well as links to various other useful resources should you want to explore these further.

PAYAM REZAIE

Succeeding in postgraduate study can be started at any time. But if you're planning to move on to postgraduate studies soon, do make sure that you complete this course well in advance of the start date for your postgraduate course. You can study the course at your own pace. But we would encourage you to maintain a study schedule and plan your study time. We've provided further guidance on this in the accompanying introductory notes, so please do have a look at those.

We hope that you find this course informative and helpful and wish you the very best with your studies.

ERIC ADDAE-KYEREMEH

All the best.

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