| Unit name | Exploratory Training Assignments |
|---|---|
| Unit code | PHYSM3402 |
| Credit points | 30 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Seddon |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one | |
| School/department | School of Physics |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
The Exploratory Training Assignment (ETA) is a compulsory 30 cp unit and an integral part of a 180 cp MRes programme in Functional Nanomaterials. The ETA is an innovative approach to the practical training in Functional Nanomaterials. It provides a real opportunity to put into practice both the taught material in the Functional Nanomaterials Lecture Courses unit, and the more technique-oriented courses in the Advanced Tools for Nanoscience unit. This unit is composed of two 15 cp ETA modules, one taken in weeks 1-10, and the second in weeks 11-20.
Aims:
The aim of the ETA unit is to provide thorough practical training in a manner that will stimulate true outside of the box thinking, innovative approaches to problem-solving, and emphasize mutual learning aspects of the student cohort. Of central importance is that the students experience interdisciplinarity in action .
Exposure of students to a specific short-term project with an interdisciplinary perspective will allow them to experience not only aspects of the basic science of nanomaterials, but how these might be implemented into new technologies. The students will develop an integrated and contextualised approach to research, seeing in practice how the core disciplines are expressed and developed. Students will also start to develop independent research skills beyond those they are likely to have acquired as undergraduates and gain experience that will inform their subsequent choices of both extended and PhD projects.
This task-oriented and problem-solving module will take place in research labs alongside PDRAs and students already engaged in PhD research. The students will undertake the ETA in pairs, with the pairs chosen that the students have complementary backgrounds and can thus learn from each other.
Assessment of each ETA will be by two related methods that will also contribute to the transferable skills training component. In the ETA partnership, each student will write a formal Lab Report of the work in one ETA (2500 words, 50% of the assessment), and prepare a 30 minute presentation on the second ETA (50 % of the assessment); their partner will complete the same tasks but in reverse order. The presentations and reports will be marked by the Personal Tutors and at least one of the academics involved in the ETAs.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. PHYSM3402).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
