Teaching Objectives

University level Objectives

The University holds certain objectives with regard to all teaching. All degree courses in the University will:

1. Provide a broad understanding of an area of academic study.
2. Provide an opportunity to acquire detailed knowledge and an awareness of its cultural context.
3. Develop skills for the acquisition, use and evaluation of information.
4. Develop oral, written, numerical and visual presentation skills.
5. Impart subject-based skills essential for practice.
6. Enable students to identify problems, and ways of resolving them, and provide opportunities for research.
7. Develop professional values and collaborative skills.
8. Assess students in respect of the above.
9. Ensure that all students, whatever their level of competence, may avail themselves of these activities.
10. Identify and support academic excellence.

Teaching Objectives of the Department of Geography

The Department's teaching objectives cover all three years of undergraduate work. Some relate to the discipline of Geography and underpin all our teaching; others concern the skills that we wish our students to develop as a result of taking our degree programmes. Our objectives in geography are as follows:

1. To provide a broad understanding of the study of geography and of the work of geographers.
2. To demonstrate the utility of a geographical understanding of issues and problems at a variety of scales, from that of the world as a whole to that of local events and incidents.
3. To demonstrate the utility of geography in suggesting possible solutions for such problems, and in evaluating solutions and policies proposed elsewhere.
4. To develop a students’ ability to evaluate and discuss alternative viewpoints relating to geographical processes and concepts.
5. To enhance students' abilities to develop skills in the acquisition, evaluation and use of information.
6. To develop students' oral, written, numerical and visual presentation skills.
7. To develop students' abilities in field-based investigations of geographical phenomena.
8. To train students in the carrying out of personal research projects.
9. To develop transferable skills in students within a collaborative context.
10. To enhance the ability of students to present themselves in the labour market or for further training with a broad range of skills and abilities.
11. To provide students with feedback over the achievement of the aforementioned objectives through monitoring and assessment.

We see our teaching as involving student progression – in other words, what is done at higher levels builds on what has been achieved earlier. We therefore have specific objectives for each level of our courses, as follows. Each of these relates to the more general Departmental objectives above.

At Level One our objectives are:

1. To enable students to develop their understanding of physical geography, human geography or both through the examination of processes operating within the real world with an emphasis on the meso scale.
2. To provide an understanding of geographic processes operating at a variety of scales.
3. To develop students’ ability to interpret and evaluate information relating to geographical ideas.
4. To develop students’ ability to construct an argument based upon evidence.
   
5. According to student choice, to develop students’ understanding of physical systems and/or social systems.
6. To bring students from different pre-University backgrounds up to a common level of familiarity with certain basic concepts and facts.
7. To train students in the handling of quantitative geographical information.
8. To develop students’ skills in written and oral presentations and in the visual representation of geographical information.
9. To introduce students to basic elements of information technology.
10. To provide students with feedback over the achievement of the aforementioned objectives through monitoring and assessment.

At Level Two our objectives are:

1. To enable students to develop their understanding of physical geography, human geography or both through the examination of processes operating within the real world with an emphasis on the meso scale.
2. To further develop students' abiity to interpret and evaluate information derived from the academic geographical literature.
3. To further develop students' abiity to construct an argument based upon evidence.
4. (according to student choice) To develop students' awareness of the connections of geography within the environmental sciences and/or the social sciences, and to demonstrate geography’s contributions to these larger endeavours.
5. To develop students' skills in the acquisition of information, both through desk and laboratory based work and through field investigation.
6. Further to develop students' skills in the handling and analysis of geographical material by a variety of methods including (according to student choice) quantitative methods, qualitative methods, laboratory analysis.
7. Further to develop students' skills in the presentation of information and of the results of analysis through written work.
8. Further to enhance students' skills in the handling of information technology.
9. To introduce students to new skills involved in geographical research.
10. To train students in the execution of geographical research projects.
11. To provide students with feedback over the achievement of the aforementioned objectives through monitoring and assessment.

At Level Three our objectives are:

1. To enable students to carry out a personal research project under supervision.
2. To enhance students’ understanding of the value of a geographical viewpoint on issues and problems in the real world.
3. To enable students to acquire an in-depth knowledge of certain areas of geography.
4. To enhance students’ ability to analyse, criticise and evaluate alternative viewpoints and strategies within the context of substantive sub-fields of geography.
5. To develop students’ skills in discussion, oral presentation, and task achievement within a collaborative context.
6. Further to enhance students’ transferable skills, particularly with a view to future career development.
7. To provide students with feedback on the achievement of the aforementioned objectives through monitoring and assessment.

You will find that every module you take in Geography has its own clearly stated objectives.