The teaching style at Leeds Beckett

When applying to university, I had no idea what to expect from academics and whether it would be like how it is in the movies. The thought of lectures and seminars with people I didn’t know seemed nerve-racking. 

Assessment styles

One of the main factors that stood out to me about LBU was the course assessment styles and how the aim of them was to mainly assess you on your strengths rather than testing your memory (which isn’t always that relevant). I’ve never been the best at exams and quite honestly struggle to stay focused and anxiety-free in an exam hall. From personal experience, I knew that I didn’t perform my best under pressure and seeing mainly coursework and presentations as my assessments in first year put me at ease and motivated me. Being assessed through coursework enables me to stay on top of my lectures while revising week by week. This worked a lot better for me, as cramming months of new information into a two hour exam slot seemed more stressful.

Classroom interactions

My first ever assessment was a group campaign pitch via a classroom presentation. As much as this seemed intimidating at first, presentations are the best for encouraging teamwork and improving communication skills and is a great opportunity to make friends too.

Group work is generally good fun and less pressure as you can split the workload. On my course, seminars are highly interactive, and all our lecturers know us by name which makes learning enjoyable. It also adds a more personal approach to the teaching, which in my opinion helps students do better as you never feel ashamed to ask for guidance or support.

Employability focus

As much as all universities focus highly on academic development, Leeds Beckett have been outstanding with their motivation for making students employable after they finish their degree. As well as coursework and presentations, on my course I was also marked on things such as vlogs, infographic making, LinkedIn posts, Press Releases, Personal Branding and the rest. 

As well as this, Leeds Beckett also offer student placements which help massively in securing a grad job after you finish your degree. I am currently on placement as an events and conference coordinator and can already feel the difference in my approach to learning and taking responsibility in both my academic and personal development. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to do a sandwich year. It’s something that I wouldn’t have considered if my lecturers and other academic staff didn’t put time and effort into sharing their expertise and preparing me for this next step.

I believe that the teaching style here at LBU massively helps students in staying motivated throughout their academic journey and emphasises the importance of experiencing the journey rather than focusing on the end goal of finishing the degree and leaving. Many of my lecturers have positively influenced many of my decisions during my first two years of university and I am looking forward to continuing my study in my final year in September. 

I really do believe that how you learn can majorly impact what you learn and walk away with at the end of your three university years, and I have been super lucky with how I am taught here at LBU!