As a distance learning student you will be expected to study independently, but the content of the modules will be provided in a structured manner to support you through the material and to prepare you for your assessments. Support will be available when you need it and you can contact your tutor by phone, email or in person.
Our teaching is delivered through our Virtual Learning Environments. This means you can access a range of materials to support your studies wherever you are and whenever works for your. This includes notes, recorded presentations, activities and discussion forums, where you can debate subjects with your tutors and fellow students.
Assessment
During your course you will undertake two different types of assessments, informal assessments (also known as formative) and formal (also known as summative). Your formative assessments are designed to enhance your engagement with the taught content of your modules and to prepare you for your summative assessments. They also provide you with the opportunity to receive feedback on your progress. Your summative assessments contribute towards your final grade and degree classification and will assess you based on the learning outcomes of your modules. Your summative assessments could include a combination of written assignments, contributions to discussion boards, critical reviews, digital poster presentations and dissertations.
Learning support
In addition to the excellent support you will receive from your course teaching team, our central Academic Skills team provides group and one-to-one help to support your learning in a number of areas. These include study skills (including reading, note-taking and presentation skills); written English (including punctuation and grammatical accuracy); academic writing (including how to reference); research skills; critical thinking and understanding arguments; and revision, assessment and examination skills (including time management).
Additional support
Our Student Inclusion Services support students with additional needs such as sensory impairment, or learning difficulties such as dyslexia.
Feedback
We know that feedback is very important for you to be able to gauge your progress and to enable you to achieve your potential. To ensure that you can benefit from regular feedback, your tutors will provide a combination of written and verbal feedback, on both an individual and general assessment level.
We usually give you feedback on your formative assessments within 20 working days, but the format for the feedback will vary for each module.
Staff
We are a research-active department with internationally recognised expertise. This provides our students not only with world-class subject experts, but with considerable levels of research-informed teaching and pedagogical experience as well.
The curriculum design of this MA is structured around core modules which have been developed to reflect the key requirements of the subject discipline of International History as well as the research expertise of each staff member contributing to the delivery of the course.
You will also have the opportunity to undertake your dissertation under the supervision of our expert staff, which provides you an excellent chance to tailor your degree to your area of interest.