Student Negotiated Module 1

This course is intended to develop the skills of self-directed study, critical reflection and responsibility for your own learning. It provides opportunities to develop such skills while allowing you to negotiate topics you wish to study.

You can do a mini project to prepare for your dissertation, which could be a literature review, a service evaluation, a mini quality improvement or a pilot for your dissertation design.

You can also take this course as an independent course if you would like to write a paper under the supervision and support of one of our senior academics.

Who is it for?

This is suitable for qualified radiographers with at least 1 year’s clinical experience and a current clinical MRI post. This course can be taken in the 2nd year of postgraduate study as an elective or independently as a standalone course during term 2 or term 3.

Timetable

This course involves regular weekly meetings with the student and the course leader across term 2 and term 3, which can be adjusted to suit the student’s needs and schedule.

All of the material is available online and individualised per student and project by the course leader.

Benefits

This is a unique course to support progression through the programme, gaining unique expertise in topics or methods that are otherwise not available and it is suitable for students to pilot their research idea for the dissertation.

By the end of the course you will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding:

• Identify from current literature a relevant clinical question to investigate
• Apply appropriate theory to the topic being studied.

Skills:

• Justify the importance of the selected area of study
• Critically evaluate literature and other research work related to the area of study
• Discuss recommendations for future research and its benefit to clinical practice
• Demonstrate time management through organisation of the self-directed learning approach
• Construct a proposal for area of study.

Values and attitudes:

• Demonstrate respect for the intellectual work of others by accurate and appropriate referencing of published work.

Assessment

As with the topic and content you will negotiate the format for the assessment (for example a 3000 word written assignment) with your academic supervisor and course leader. Programme directors will give final approval to maintain consistency across programmes.

Teaching

Initially content will be negotiated between you and your academic supervisor. Content therefore will differ for each student undertaking the course.

You will be provided with pre-course information which will give you information on how to approach this course and how to prepare your proposal.

Your proposal will then be reviewed by your academic supervisor to ensure that the proposed content, level and amount of work is appropriate and manageable within the course timeframe.

There is no compulsory attendance for the course but you will be expected to discuss your proposal, learning plan and subsequent progress with your academic supervisor.

It is acknowledged that you may choose to use the telephone or e-mail contact for these discussions.

This course is open as CPD to everyone in the UK , Europe and beyond or as part of our Master’s programme, with certain entry conditions, as you can find below and on the website.

• Applicants will normally hold a BSc (Hons) degree (2:2 or above) in Radiography or an equivalent discipline from a UK institution
• Appropriate professional qualifications e.g. Diploma of the College of Radiographers
• International qualifications in Radiography will have to be reviewed by our international team - they may only be acceptable if equivalent to a level 6 UK degree (BSc degree). Both originals and certified translations will have to be submitted to our programme team, before your application can be considered
• A clinical placement for an average of three days per week in a clinical MRI/CT department is required. Applicants should have a minimum of one year of clinical experience in the clinical speciality in which they wish to study before starting the course and should continue in clinical practice while on the programme. A clinical experience (CE1) form will need to be emailed to our programme team, completed and signed by the department manager, before your application can be considered
• Non-standard entrants will be considered on a case-by-case basis, subject to availability of places on the programme (early application is recommended). Interviews might be arranged for these candidates, if the programme team feels necessary.

English requirements

For those students whose first language is not English the following qualification is also required:

• IELTS: 7.0.

Recommended reading will  depend  on the content  of the negotiated course and  the  subject(s) selected and will differ for  each student. When undertaking this course you must have access to a range of relevant books and professional journals appropriate to your negotiated topic(s).

You will need access to a wide range of journals and sources such as national guidelines and professional body guidance.