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12.
A
CADEMIC
M
ATTERS
Programme Delivery and Studying
Your degree programme is delivered in a variety of ways, primarily through lectures and laboratories
with back-up through tutorials, personal supervision (projects) and exercise classes. Lecturers do
their best to teach you the material – to show you a path through advanced theories and consolidate
ideas through worked examples. It is your responsibility, however, to comprehend and learn and
assimilate the material. All students studying at university for the first time find that it is quite a
change from school or sixth-form college. You need to take much more personal responsibility for
how you learn. You will need to learn how to take good notes in lectures, how to learn by solving
problems on a regular basis, and how to get the best out of the staff by asking the right questions.
Do feel free to talk about how to study. Talk with your Academic or Personal Tutor, with student
mentors, with other students doing the same modules, or with students in the years above you.
We’ve all had problems and would all like to help. There are also various books, leaflets etc.
available providing advice. One that is quite good is “The Sciences Good Study Guide” written by
Andrew Northedge, Jeff Thomas, Andrew Lane and Alice Peasgood and published by the Open
University (ISBN Number 0 7492 3411 3).
As you move into the second year and beyond, you should be aware of a major change of emphasis
in the way that you are expected to work. In the first year there is a fairly strict routine of handing in
exercises, but in the second year you should be making the transition to taking more responsibility
yourself for how and when you do your work. You should also have begun to appreciate what extra
reading and examples you need to do on your own. This means that there will be less work which
has to be handed in, but it does not mean that you should be applying less effort! Self-motivation
and an ability to organise your own work are two of the most valuable skills you will learn. They are
necessary skills for surviving the remainder of your undergraduate studies and for your future career.
You may like to discuss this transition in work with your tutor; it is an important one, and one that
you must be able to make if you are to be successful. In the third and fourth years, you will
undertake individual projects, where you have complete responsibility for organising and executing
the work.
Lectures
About 60-70% of the teaching in the School of Physics and Astronomy is undertaken via lectures.
Lectures are a convenient way to deliver course material to large groups of students. Lecture notes
are very valuable for revision and in your preparation for examinations. Lectures also help to define
what material and processes you will be required to describe or demonstrate to show competency in
the subject.
From the student’s point of view, lectures can seem a little impersonal and an intimidating
environment in which to ask questions. To get the best out of lectures, try to anticipate what
material will be covered in the next lecture and do some reading before attending the lecture. Take
notes during the lecture. After the lecture, read through these notes again making sure that you
understand the basic principles and can follow the working of any examples. Fill in any gaps by
additional reading. If you get stuck, ask the lecturer or your tutor for help or advice. If you are
genuinely puzzled during a lecture, don’t hesitate to ask a question there and then – you will
probably find that others are similarly puzzled. Supplementary reading is essential if you are to
master the material taught on a degree programme.
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Lecture Attendance
Module Organisers give important information about the module content, continual assessment and
examinations at the first lecture of each module. Attendance at the first lecture of each module for
which you are registered is therefore compulsory. If you are unable to attend, you should make
individual contact with the Module Organiser. We recommend that you attend all lectures.
Learning Central
Most lecturers put electronic copies of exercises, exercise solutions and handout notes on Learning
Central, a web-based e-learning environment available both on and off campus. Learning Central
also has “notice board” features incorporated into it, on which Module Organisers can post
important information. Module Organisers will also return continual assessment marks via Learning
Central.
Laboratories
Experimental physics forms an important part of all degree programmes offered by the School of
Physics and Astronomy. Laboratory classes also form the basis of IT training in the School.
Attendance at all scheduled laboratory classes is compulsory. Unscheduled absence from
laboratories will lead to loss of marks and possibly failure of the module. It is not always possible to
offer summer resits in laboratory-based modules (see Appendix 1).
There are safety issues concerning work in laboratories. You will be given instruction in safe working
practices and in Risk Assessment. It is a requirement of progression that students have undertaken
safety training in Year 1. Certain laboratory modules are required modules and you will not be
allowed to progress to the next year of study unless you pass these units of study.
Exercise Classes
In some modules, particularly Year 1 and mathematics modules, exercise classes are arranged to help
you consolidate the theory which you have learned through examples. Attendance at exercise
classes is compulsory.
Academic Tutorials
Small-group tutorials offer an opportunity for you to get “individual” tuition. In Year 1 students
receive weekly tutorials. In Year 2, students meet with their Academic Tutor every other week (in
“odd-numbered” weeks). In Years 3 and 4 your project supervisor acts as your Academic Tutor.
Attendance at tutorials is compulsory.
Note that the entitlement to tutorial support for a student who has failed will not normally extend
beyond feedback on the reasons for failure.
Timetables
Timetable information for the Autumn and Spring Semester will be given to you at enrolment. They
are also available on line:
http://www.astro.cardiff.ac.uk/teachingandlearning/?page=resources