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Learning from Professional Placement Experience

Module description

As part of your 12-month professional placement you will have the opportunity to gain first hand experience beyond the scientific and technical experience provided within the University. You will learn skills and gain experience related to management, health and safety in the workplace and company structure, and will gain invaluable practical experience from working in a professional work place environment relevant to your degree programme. You will be expected to reflect and report upon your experiences, relating your newly-obtained skills to the processes learnt at University. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims:

• To enable you to undertake structured reflection on the professional placement experience.
• To enhance your future career development and employability.
• To develop personal and key skills through the management of your learning in the workplace, working with others, problem solving, the production of a written critique of the professional placement experience and delivery of an oral presentation.
• To enhance the skills development that you obtain from professional experience and the knowledge of how learned skills can be transferred to the academic curriculum and the University’s research environment.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Link the professional placement experience to knowledge and concepts included in the academic curriculum and the university’s research environment.
• 2. Explain your role within the organisation and describe statutory (e.g. health and safety) regulations
• 3. Apply knowledge in a work situation in a task or problem-solving context

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Discuss critically the experiential learning process and reflect on and evaluate learning from the professional placement experience
• 5. Relate the academic background to the learning you have acquired on this module
• 6. Evaluate aspects of the biosciences with reference to the professional placement experience
• 7. With minimal guidance, deploy established techniques of analysis, practical investigation, and enquiry within the biosciences-related workplace environmentWith minimal guidance, deploy established techniques of analysis, practical investigation, and enquiry within the biosciences-related workplace environment
• 8. Analyse and evaluate independently a range of research-informed literature and synthesise research-informed examples from the literature into written work
• 9. Illustrate and discuss, in detail and effectively, the contested and provisional nature of knowledge and understanding

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 10. Communicate effectively arguments, evidence and conclusions using written, oral and visual means in a manner appropriate to the intended audience
• 11. Explain the nature of continuing professional development and lifelong learning
• 12. Devise and sustain, with little guidance, a logical and reasoned argument with sound, convincing conclusions
• 13. Evaluate own strengths and weaknesses in relation to graduate-level professional and practical skills, and act autonomously to develop new areas of skills as necessary
• 14. Reflect effectively and independently on learning experiences and evaluate personal achievements
• 15. Outline what the employing organisation does, how it is managed and how it seeks to achieve its goal
• 16. Analyse and evaluate appropriate data and complete a range of research-like tasks with very limited guidance
• 17. Work in a small team and deal proficiently with the issues that teamwork requires (i.e. communication, motivation, decision-making, awareness, responsibility, and management skills, including setting and working to deadlines)

Syllabus plan

Leading up to the placement, you will be supported by both group and one-to-one meetings held with the Academic Placement Tutor and Careers Service. These meetings take place throughout Stages 1 and 2, allowing you to enhance your chance of gaining a suitable placement and making the most of the opportunity.

Introduction session and preparation for the professional placement experience. Learning and reflecting on the 12 months’ experience. Completion of reflective critique/portfolio which demonstrates the achievement of the desired outcomes. During your placement you will be supported by the Academic Placement Tutor with two visits (UK-based) or one visit and a video-conference call (overseas-based).

The reflective critique/portfolio will be written up during your placement, or during the vacation between the end of your placement and the start of your final year. The reflective critique/portfolio will be handed in during the third week of Term 1, and will be followed by an oral examination (which takes place immediately prior to the oral examination for BIO3087 and is marked by two academic assessors) of 5 minutes duration during week 7 of Term 1.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons that are approved by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. If deferred, the format and timing of the re-assessment for each of the summative assessments is detailed in the table above ('Details of re-assessment'). The mark given for a deferred assessment will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral - if you have failed the module (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) and the module cannot be condoned, you will be required to complete a re-assessment for each of the failed components on the module. The format and timing of the re-assessment for each of the summative assessments is detailed in the table above ('Details of re-assessment'). If you pass the module following re-assessment, your module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Kolb D., Experimental Learning: Experience as a source of Learning and Development, PHI, New Jersey, 1984.
• Longson S., Making Work Experience Count, How to Books, 1999.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=9255
• Your reflective writing will be based on guidance which will be available from the module coordinator. Useful material on many aspects of learning from work experience is available online at www.ex.ac.uk/employability.

Key words search

Professional placement, practical experience, industrial experience, workplace environment, industrial environment, employability