CENTRE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING - FLEXIBLE ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

The course presents students with a general introduction to understanding the unique manner in which sociologists seek to understand contemporary societies from an objective and scientific standpoint. Students are presented with current and classical approaches to understanding the social process that underlie self construction, group formation and social interaction within an urbanising and globalising social milieu.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week (with additional guest lectures and alternative exercises) and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment, one 1,500 word essay; (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mrs E Curtis

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

At the heart of this course are considerations of the ways in which ideas of gender, power relations, belief and family structures contribute to how we understand what it is to be human and the impact of such understandings on the ways in which people develop as human beings and how they are treated in society.

Structure

2 one-hour lecture per week Mon, Thurs at 10, one 90 minute tutorial per week, lectures and tutorials will be supplemented by tutor directed learning and discussion using WebCT. Tutorials will be student led using a Philosophy for Learning approach.

Assessment

1st Attempt: This involves a 2,000 word essay which has the following specific requirements:

• Demonstrates understanding of issues of What Makes us Human?


• Demonstrates the contribution of different influences in the development of ideas by a range of relevant references to the course reader and other academic texts.


• Makes reference to lectures and tutorial discussions.


• Offers reasoned conclusions about the experiences of being human.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course offers an introduction to the language and practice of formal film analysis. Each week we will explore a different element of film form and analyze the ways in which it shapes the moving image. Rather than offering a survey of film history or a small collection of classics, this course invites students to think about formal elements within and across a wide range of genres, styles, historical moments, and national contexts. By the end of this course, the successful FS1505 student will have acquired the necessary tools to continue coursework in film studies. Students will be able to recognize and communicate the ways in which meaning is made in cinema.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures (made available on-line), 1 one-hour tutorial per week, and 1 three-hour screening.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 Essay 1,500-2,000 words (40%); 1 two-hour Final Cumulative Exam (40%); Tutorial Assessment (20%).
Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Feedback

Short writing assignments (including responses papers, shot-by-analyses, and screening reports) will be submitted and discussed in tutorial groups.

Written and/or oral feedback will be offered on short tutorial assignments (see above) and essays.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will run in the first half-session in 2011/12.

Overview

This course introduces students to Scottish Criminal Law, providing an understanding of various aspects of this area of law including the anatomy of a criminal offence, offences against the person, offences against property interests and sexual offences. Additionally inchoate offences, art and part guilt and general defences to crimes will be explored.

The course aims to introduce students to:

• the notion of "crime";


• the sources of Scots Criminal Law;


• the essential elements of criminal liability and the general principles of criminal law;


• some of the major common law and statutory crimes in Scots law;


• the general defences found in Scots Criminal law;


• the highly individual nature of Scots criminal law in the modern legal world;


• the definitions of a range of criminal offences;


• the defences which persons chargeable with criminal offences may have;


• readily identifying the criminal liability of persons involved in particular factual situations;


• retrieving primary and secondary material using traditional and/or electronic sources;


• planning, undertaking and producing an appropriately researched piece of work in written form.

The recommended textbook is:
T.H. Jones & M.G.A. Christie, "Criminal Law", (W. Green, 4th ed. 2008)

You may also wish to consult Gane and Stoddart, “A Casebook on Scottish Criminal Law” (W. Green, 4th ed. 2009 by C.H.W. Gane, C.N. Stoddart, and J. Chalmers).

Structure

3 one‐hour lectures per week and a total of 4 tutorials, each 1 hour long.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two‐hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will run in the first half-session 2011/12.

Overview

This course provides students with a basic introduction to the business world with respect to business planning, teams, marketing, products, ownership structures, finance, accounting, performance measurement and an introduction to business and corporate ethics.

The course explores the following concepts and skills:

• The nature of business


• The essentials of creating a business plan


• The issues of business ethics and corporate social responsibility


• The value of the different types that compose a team


• The recording and interpretation of basic financial statements


• The meaning of accounting and finance terms and concepts


• The basics of cash-flow budgeting and forecasting


• The relationship between costs, volume and profit


• The business potential though market research


• The difference between sales and marketing.


• Preparing a basic business plan


• Identifying different personality types and considering the differences in how they like to act


• Identify the appropriate way to prepare and present the financial performance and position of a business


• Assess the impact of different management decisions on financial performance


• Prepare simple cash-flow forecasts and cash budget


• Analyse the market in order to understand accessibility, profitability and sustainability to a business


• Identify trends and events that will change and create sustainable demand for new products or provide opportunity for new product positioning

Structure

2 one-hour lectures every week from weeks 1-11 and 8 one-hour tutorials during the course.

Assessment

1st Attempt: The course is assessed by a closed-book two-hour written examination (60%) and a continuous assessment (40%) consisting of an individual report.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

The course covers a broad range of historical events ranging from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. It introduces students to the development of International Relations as a discipline, but also to key concepts and analytical skills required to study the subject at a higher level.

Subjects studied include:
19th Century and Balance of Power
Imperialism and Colonialism
Early 20th Century
World Wars and Cold War
East-West Confrontation
Détente and Contemporary Theories of IR
Nuclear Proliferation
IR as a Discipline

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One online quiz (5%), one bibliography test (10%), one 1,500 word essay (25%) and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Feedback

Feedback will be provided

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr S Alcobia-Murphy

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

Literature can provoke, offend and disturb as well as entertain. This course considers some of the most powerful and controversial works of modern literature. It examines the circumstances of publication, the nature of the controversy, and the cultural and critical impact of each work. The course shows how poems, plays and novels can raise searching questions about national, racial and personal identity, and looks at the methods used by writers to challenge their readers, as well the responses of readers to such challenges. Included are texts such as: Vladimir Nabokov’s (i)Lolita, Art Spiegelman's Maus and Seamus Heaney's North.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures (Tue and Thur at 12) and 1 one-hour tutorial (to be arranged) per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (50%): 1,000 word essay (15%); 1,500 word essay (25%); Tutorial Assessment Mark (10%). 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Durham and Dr R McColl Millar

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

An understanding of the way language is structured is an invaluable tool to discuss and analyse English and other languages. This course provides students with an introduction to the main aspects of English linguistics. Students will learn how to identify and analyse the major "building blocks" of language through an introduction to phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, as well as sociolinguistics. Examples for illustration and discussion will be drawn from varieties of English spoken in the British Isles and world-wide. Lectures and tutorials will be geared to providing students with an active vocabulary with which to discuss language and essential analytical tools with which to analyse its structure and function.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 3 on-line assessments (20% each); one 1,500-2,000 word paper (30%); Tutorial Assessment Mark (10%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr C Brittain

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

To introduce students to practical theology and Christian ethics. This is accomplished by demonstrating how theological issues arise out of human contextual experience, and how theologians respond to specific historical events. Some familiarity with issues that arise in Christian ethics will be accomplished through attention to the debate over the question of a “Just War” in Christian thought.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One essay of 1,200-1,500 words (30%); 2 short tutorials papers (5% each); final exam (60%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

It is likely that most students in university today will experience several career changes in their working lives, including a period of either self employment or venture creation. This course explores the twin elements of commercial understanding and understanding of self and human factors that underpin entrepreneurial competence.

Course aims
This course aims to develop the student’s conceptual and practical knowledge of entrepreneurship, analytical skills and the understanding of enterprise and entrepreneurship. It works on building excellence individually and in teams.

The course explores the following concepts and skills:

• Understand the commercial side to running a business creating ventures and developing ideas.


• Recognise the powerful impact of learning from failure, double loop learning and the value of trust.


• Understand the relevance of success in entrepreneurial mindset and behaviour by identifying key signature strengths, shaping opportunities and recognising excellence in themselves and others.


• Develop knowledge and skills set to enable personal development throughout individual and team work.


• Design, develop and present effective presentations.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week plus on line film screenings.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment: Individual reflection (10%), Group presentation (10%), Project (20%), Examination (60%).

Feedback

Feedback will be provided

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course will identify the core issues and debates at the heart of political discourse and further train students in the basic tools for analyzing political questions and communicating their answers to a variety of audiences. To that aim, a mixture of substantive political science topics and training in analytical and presentational skills will be provided. The course will tackle a number of specific questions: What is politics? What is political science? How shall political decisions be made? By whom? And at what level (local, national or international)? How is public policy made by governments, and how do lobbyists and political parties influence the process?

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and associated tutorial teaching.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%). Breakdown of continuous assessment: online quiz (10%), essay (30%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%), to be carried over from 1st attempt.

Feedback

Feedback will be provided