Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Course Identity
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A course should be an identifiable entity, studied by an identifiable cohort of students, and facilitated by an identifiable team because student engagement is supported through academic, social, and personal belonging to a course community.
Reflective questions for course teams
- How is the course distinctive? What do students need to know about the course before deciding to study it? What might attract students to the course, and how do you promote this to potential students (and to graduate employers)?
- Does the course have optional modules or pathways? Does the course share modules with other courses? If so, does this impact on students’ sense of identity, shared experience, and belonging to a course cohort? Does this detract from the sense of course identity or does it foster new perspectives and life skills?
- Is the course more than a collection of modules? Is assessment at module level or are there opportunities for students to bring their learning together through synoptic assessment?
- What do you do to specifically develop and strengthen a sense of course community? How do you foster a sense of social and personal belonging (particularly if the students are studying online or part-time)?
- What course communications do you have? Do your course communications clarify the course’s specific identity and the course’s professional, behavioural, social and academic expectations? Is there a strong course culture?
- Does the course have a physical and/or virtual home that is consistently used as an entry point for students on the course to interact with one another and the course team, and to access all their course related resources? If not, are there any barriers to doing this? What course social/welcome activities and networks are there?
- Is the course designed to support students to build relationships with other students on the course? What does the course team do to encourage students to see themselves as members of a cohort and members of the course? Does the course team use any targeted interventions to ensure students from non-traditional backgrounds or disadvantaged students can develop a sense of belonging?
- Do members of the course team know the names of the students on the course? If not, what are the barriers to this?
- How do the course team introduce themselves, and make themselves known, to the students?
- Does the course team feel a sense of ownership of the course? If not, what are the barriers?
- Do all staff teaching or supporting the course (including part-time and fractional staff) know who else teaches on/facilitates the course? Does the extended course team include identifiable colleagues from the library, student services, careers, and other professional services?
- Does the course team meet/communicate regularly? If not, why not? Are members of the extended course team included in course team meetings and communications? Are course team reflections captured at various points of the year and used to implement changes?
- How do staff work together? Are there any opportunities for staff collaboration across the course? Do course team members ‘team teach’ or actively observe and/or contribute to each other’s sessions?
