In Medical Education, MSc, University of Staffordshire

the United Kingdom

Study options for this course

The award	How you will study	Study duration	Course start	Domestic course fees	International course fees
MSc	Part-time, Distance	2 years	September	GBP 3060	GBP 3060

About In Medical Education, MSc - at University of Staffordshire

This part time distance learning award aims to enhance your skills in the facilitation of the learning of others within your own workplace setting. Completion of the Postgraduate Certificate stage provides the opportunity for accreditation as Associate Fellow with the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

The award will enable you to:

Examine, reflect upon and improve your teaching skills.
Consider the strengths, drawbacks and practical implications of different teaching methods and relate these to your own workplace setting.
Deepen your knowledge of the evidence base for some of the underpinning theory of education

The course is aimed at all medical educators, clinical and postgraduate tutors, nurses, health visitors and therapists, general practice course organisers and trainers, undergraduate tutors and all others involved in teaching in a health or social care setting. It is suitable for experienced teachers who wish to up-date or re-assess their skills as well as novice teachers looking for a 'teaching tool-box' of new skills and knowledge.

You will expect to complete the MSc between three and five years, however you may also choose to exit this course with one of the three awards, each stage being worth 60 credits of study (please see module information below) and will normally take 12 -15 months to achieve.

In order to fit in with your work commitments this is a distance learning course and you can join at any point in the academic year. Whilst you can study at your own pace, the modules run over a 12 week period. All course material necessary for the modules is available on line through Staffordshire University's virtual learning environment, 'Blackboard'. This approach to learning offers you choice and flexibility about when you access your learning materials and you are able to study at a pace that suits you.

You are expected to engage with all on-line activities in a timely manner and you should be prepared to allocate around 150 hours of independent study per module including engagement with on-line resources, reading time, and assignment preparation.

The Postgraduate Certificate stage of study comprises of 4 x 15 credit modules (see below) which provide an underpinning knowledge of educational theory, aiming to improve your teaching and learning skills with your learners / trainees in your workplace. You will consider all aspects of teaching and learning from devising a lesson plan to assessing a learner at the end of their period of study. You will consider how students learn and how you can adapt your teaching style to optimise learning; you will evaluate the effectiveness of various teaching methods and how you use the resources available to you in your own teaching practice; you will reflect upon the effectiveness of your teaching style and will analyse the assessment methods utilised in the teaching and learning process.

Completion of the Postgraduate Certificate stage provides the opportunity for accreditation as Associate Fellow with the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

The Postgraduate Diploma stage of study also comprises of 4 x 15 credit modules (see below) although it is designed to give you more flexibility in what you learn. You will consider your own workplace as a learning environment and contemplate the current practice within health education and the impact this has on your own learners / trainees. You will have the opportunity to develop your own module around an area of interest to you in relation to medical education and you will undertake a research methods module to equip you with the essential skills prior to starting your Masters stage of the award.

The final year of the MSc in Medical Education consists of a single 60 credit piece of work that may be a dissertation (desk based or empirical) or a project based change. The topic should be one that is relevant and interesting to you both personally and professionally and, in order to meet the requirements of the award, should be within the broad topic area of 'medical education'. There will be opportunity within your programme to discuss the possible focus of this stage of your study with tutors, although to help give you some ideas for a subject area, previous topics studied by students on the medical education award have included mentoring, medical students with dyslexia, e-learning, roles of staff, evaluation of training programmes, and use of students as patients in training.

You will be allocated a dissertation / project based change supervisor to guide you through this stage of your study.

Course Fees and Finance

The expected study pattern on this programme enables you to complete modules totalling 90 credits in your first year of study and the other 90 credits in your second year of study. If you follow this pattern of study you will pay a fee of £3,060 for your first year in 2017/18. The fee for your second year of study will be broadly the same, except that an inflationary uplift may apply.* You will be invoiced for the modules that you register for each year, so if your study pattern is different from the expected pattern, you will pay more or less each year accordingly.

If you would like to know more about the fees listed and what this means to you then please get in touch with our Enquiries Team.

* The fees listed are for the 2017/18 academic year only. Any subsequent years may be subject to an inflationary uplift.

Alumni Discount: If you have previously completed an undergraduate degree with us, you may be entitled to 15% off your course fee for any subsequent postgraduate taught course. For further information please contact Graduate Relations.'

Postgraduate Loans:

Providing you are studying towards a full Masters qualification you may be able to apply for a loan of up to £10,280 to help with tuition fees, maintenance and other associated costs. You won't have to start repaying the loan until you are earning more than (currently) £21,000 per year.

Course content

You will undertake a total of 180 credits to achieve the Masters in Medical Education. Each stage of the award is worth 60 credits, therefore to achieve the:

Postgraduate Certificate Medical Education you will study:

Introduction to Educational Theory (15 credits)
Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Healthcare (15 credits)
Assessment and Appraisal in Healthcare Education (15 credits)
Observation and Reflection on Healthcare Teaching (15 credits)
Successful completion of the Postgraduate Certificate will lead to accreditation as Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Postgraduate Diploma Medical Education you will go on to study:

The Culture of Education in Healthcare (15 credits)
Contemporary Issues in Healthcare Education (15 credits)
Negotiated Module (15 credits)
Research Methods and Methodologies (15 credits)

Masters in Medical Education you will go on to study:

Project Based Change (60 Credits)

Masters Dissertation (60 Credits)

Entry requirements

You must have a professional health or social care qualification, such as medicine, nursing, social work, complimentary therapies, physiotherapy, occupational therapy or podiatry, is required.

It is advisable that you are actively involved in teaching in some capacity i.e. students, colleagues or patients, as the modules are based around your own experiences of teaching in the workplace, although it is not a requirement for you to hold a formal teaching position.

Competence in the English language is essential. Applicants for whom English is not the first language must be able to demonstrate their competence, at an IELTS level of 7 or equivalent

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