Learning and teaching
Teaching is through lectures, seminars, tutorials, laboratory classes and field work. Tutorials complement lectures by encouraging you to explore issues in small group discussion meetings (5-6 students per group). In both Cornwall and Exeter we have well-equipped laboratories with the latest scientific teaching equipment.
You’ll have 10-15 hours of direct contact time per week and will be expected to supplement your lectures with independent study. You should expect your total workload to average about 40 hours per week during term time.
We believe every student benefits from being part of a research-inspired culture and taught by experts. You will discuss the very latest ideas in seminars and tutorials and, in appropriate degree programmes, you will become an active member of a research team. We have strong links with international, national and local research projects including those in the UK and Europe, Iceland, the Middle and Far East, the Pacific Rim, the former Soviet Union and southern Africa, as well as North and South America.
All students have access to the latest geographical information systems (GIS) and mapping software. As support for lectures, seminars and tutorials, we use video-conferencing and webcasting. We’re actively engaged in introducing new methods of learning and teaching, including increased interactive computer-based approaches to learning through our virtual learning environment, where the details of all modules are stored in an easily navigable website. Students can access detailed information about modules and learning outcomes and interact through activities such as the discussion forums, blogging and virtual field trips. The virtual field trips integrate video and audio data, maps, datasets, documents and published research to help you develop field work and analytical skills that are firmly grounded in the real world.
