Questions+from+resources+to+answer

I've not answered these questions, someone else has adopted red. WHY? It's so annoying. if I do answer the questions I'll use **comic sans in bold. **

Below is a list of questions we think need to be asked at the outset when designing a new course, which we present as an unprioritised list. Rank order these according to the ones you think are the ones that need to be tackled first. Include in this list any questions from your list that we have not included. > Level 5Involves an extension and reinforcement of theoretical and/or practical aspects of knowledge. > Level 6Reflects the synthesis of basic knowledge, skills and competence and equips students with tools of analysis and evaluation. Contributes to the individual‟s professional development, where appropriate. > Level 7Provides an opportunity to demonstrate the ability to reflect on the significance and inter-relationships of knowledge acquired from a variety of sources; the ability, on the basis of such reflection, to formulate original ideas and innovative proposals, and the ability to carry out these activities with a fair degree of autonomy. I keep saying i think we are pitching a level 5 course! I feel it is mixed as some elements may be level 5-6. If we require them to reflect on their observation in a work placement for instance, this will require some critical reasoning and formulate their own ideas from a variety of experiences, which is actually closer to level 7. I think we can get away with it being level 4/5 - its only first year on business... there are level descirptors somewhere on here, but I communicated with Phil Race on the level descriptors as I think they are fairly rubbish anyway, and he said yes they are rubbish and they have now proved primary school kids do what the academics describe as level 7 - anyway that's academic...but I think if this is 3/4th year they would be level 6 anyway and that is meant to be synthesis. Plus it depends what detail.
 * 1) What should be the level of the course? Is it at Foundation Level, Undergraduate level, Postgraduate level? Is there natural progression between the levels? Foundation **Why ** do we think it's foundation, surely it could be undergraduate with a few tweaks, or if we're offering our course externally does that mean it's actually post graduate? //Foundation can be the beginning of a degree, like art so you can do two years or one year foundtion at level 4 and then go on somewhere else or not to complete. But no reason it shouldn't be undergrad... //
 * 2) //There is a list of "level discriptors in the guidance see below but basically I think foundation is level 4...These are described more fully in guidance notes.. //
 * 3) Level 3Access to Higher Education
 * 4) Level 4Provides basic knowledge, skills and competence. **(foundation comes under this and you can go on to do a degree in it...so we are prob not foundation as you couldn't continue)**


 * 1) What is the timescale for the first run of the course? Is there any possibility for slippage? Next year as in sept 2013? **I don't understand this question, surely we run it from sept 2012, and because there is only 18 hours of face to face lectures it could be delayed until later in the first term, is this what they mean as slippage? We could say one year or no slippage...yes i think this is what they mean.  **
 * 2) What is the duration of the programme? Is the pace of delivery normal or accelerated? Is it possible for students to „step-on and step-off‟ as their personal needs change? 1 year...no reason it couldn't be done over longer?? **Could students step on earlier in their degree if they wanted, or do we need to keep it to 4th year students only. We need clarification here i think. I feel this particular course is more directed at the final year student who is focused on leaving and organising their career. There are elements that could be done earlier in their training but I feel that much of the thrust of this course will be lost if its diluted and spread across the four years. Perhaps at a push, some of the accounting and business planning could be done in year 3. ..........  ****The main thing to consider is how all of these new activities suggested in our new course may impact on the other possibly more pressing issues of passing FOPE, and CPA exams (core osteopathic exams - needed for progression) and how the assessments are perceived by the stuudent body. For instance, will they be motivated to do a business plan when they have just finished their dissertaion and taken their eyes of the ball clinically as happens in term 1 of year3. We must be able to discuss the impact of our new course requirements in relation to other pressures and timetable the assessments sensitively. The course will have to be 'sold' to the students in a massively positive way also. That is a difficult one, however, I am guessing they have done it anyway. You could of course do what your school has done and spread it over the 4 years or you could do it as a post-grad ad on for recent graduates. However, I don't think its MA level.  **
 * 3) Who will be contributing with me to designing and delivering the course? Do we have the necessary specialist skills and qualifications to deliverall components? Do we need to recruit or retrain any new full or part-time staff? Is there sufficient budget for this? Osteopaths, **who run their own business, social networking specialists, marketing professionals, we could get a local bank business manager to conduct a 3 hour session as a potential recruitment drive, and a web-site design company, and the chap who wrote Creating Osteopathic Values, or from the BOA to keep costs down, also the reps from Yell, BT Business, Virtual Receptionist etc would all be keen to sell their products. GOsC Accountants firms BOA **
 * 4) Does the school/faculty/university have designated course leaders or similar? If so, is it expected that, having designed the course, I will be the course leader? What does such a role entail? Osteopaths **The course leader will need to co-ordinate the delivery of the course, invite and arrange guest speakers and link with the timetabling secretary, prepare and deliver specific lectures that support the subjects. Develop relationships with local health care and chamber of commerce businesses. Use the resources available from the BOA and GOsC to prepare for re-validation and SK2000 and it's imminent replacement. The course leader may be steve Bettles VP (Osteopathic) or even Helen Jenkins (head of clinic).  **
 * 5) What market research has been done to prove that there are students who want to do this course? How robust is this? Do we know which other HE providers offer similar courses to this in the UK and internationally? Are they potential competitors or collaborators? **This is made up; We have carried out research with the current undergraduate students, there was overwhelming support for a course such as this, of 250 questionaires sent out there were 98 responses, of which 87 were positive, 2 were negative and 9 were spoiled. We have spoken to the following schools and found that the Chiropractic College AECC in Bournemouth have an integrated business programme embedded in all 4 years of their degree course, however none of the osteopathic independent colleges have anything business orientated, we spoke to BSO, BCOM, College of Osteopaths and LSO. The London College of Osteopathy felt that there students would have no use of the course as already medical doctors, and both Oxford Brookes and Leeds Metropolitan stated that there were sufficient business course opportunities within their universities easily accessed by their students, even though they don't offer a specific course for private health care practitioners, and as such are not really competitors. We also contacted the colleges of acupuncture who have expressed interest (CICM, CTA, ICOM, NCA etc) who would have an interest as collaborators as there will be areas that overlap with their graduates, but also areas of difference. **
 * 6) Is there „seed-corn‟ funding in my institution to resource new course development? If so, how can this be accessed? Do Registry (or some other centre within the institution) have ready-reckoners, proformas or other aids to calculation of costs of course design and delivery? Osteopaths **funding from whom? I asked Steve this question, he didn't understand it. The M.Ost is budgeted as a programme of study, so anything we add is incorporated within that programme. I guess if we can sell the course to outside students that may provide some funding, but how does that sit with Greenwich and government funding is anyones guess..... Not sure but it could open up a new revenue stream with mini course versions being developed for CPD and possibly the International department. may even be able to get parts of the cousre sponsored by people touting for business, Banks, Accountants etc...  **
 * 7) How much am I expected to get students be involved in commenting on draft course curriculum documentation? Would student reps from other courses be prepared to help? Is there a role for the Student Union? **Within each year there are 2 student reps, they are invited to all course development meetings and asked to give feedback and suggestions from there respective years. The student union could be recruited to introduce student banking preferences, and so business banking preferences thereafter....perhaps **
 * 8) Does my course fit in with national, regional and local imperatives? Are there stakeholders who might see themselves as having an important role in shaping the new course? What political and social factors will impact on the design of this course? ???? GOsC and BOA will be national and local imperatives. Political and Social factors, availability of associate positions, changes in Health authority funding, incorporation into the NHS. Government policy toward complementary health. Ernst and Singh and other media potentates. If students have completed this course they may be more employable to prinicipal osteopaths or people offering partnerships. The GOSc will be happy as it ticks all the boxes for improving professional attributes.
 * 9) To what extent does my new course articulate with school/Faculty/institutional priorities? How does it link in with the areas of growth outlined in the Corporate plan for the organisation? Where are my potential sources of practical and political support within the institution for this new development? Osteopaths The Trustees will champion anything which may bring in more money or will set the ESO apart from other institutions. We are looking to graduate autonomous practitoners, this course adds skills which will fullfill these desires.
 * 10) How will the course be marketed to prospective students? Will be part of programme already running with options for sister colleges to join. Will market it via ? Or is it tested at smaller level within course and then expanded depending on results to sister colleges following year. Who in the institution can help me with marketing? Melanie Lay - marketing Consultant, Michelle Leach who amends web material What are the unique and attractive features of my planned course? Osteopaths
 * 11) What specialist equipment is available for the teaching/learning support of students (lab equipment, IT, simulated work environments e.g. kitchens/ restaurant areas, hospital wards)? Osteopaths May need to attend University of Greenwich computer labs to work on spreadsheets and do some of the more IT intensive work. I think we have sufficient resources
 * 12) What rooms and facilities do we have available for general teaching? What is the capacity of each room? Do these rooms have fixed or flexible seating? Are any of them tiered? What equipment do they include as standard? Are these dedicated rooms for our subject area or are they shared? Are there any periods of the year when they are unavailable (e.g. for conferences or exams) Osteopaths Plenty of options. would need to liaise with Jacquie Harris who organises the timetabling. Room size and eqipment spec would have to be considered well in advance.
 * 13) Does the library/student learning centre have the necessary books, journals and other resources necessary to support the course? Is there budget available to support additional purchases? Who would I need to liaise with in Learning and Information Services (or similar) to discuss acquisitions? Osteopaths (Karen at Univ of Greenwich...) Yes we have Athens access and sufficient budget available, also resources are available on the internet.
 * 14) To what extent should the programme involve Work-Based learning? Can we support student placements? Is there good employer engagement in appropriate fields? Is there competition for placements/WBL opportunities with other educational providers? The school would have to actively advertise for local practitioners to accept work placements or observers. A small incentive could be offered in terms of a CPD discount. 2 years in the school clinic is work based learning.
 * 15) Will our own institution‟s partner colleges in the UK or internationally be offering this programme accredited by us? What would be the implications for the course if they did so? ? Not a major issue partner colleges decide the elements they want to include.
 * 16) What steps do I need to take to ensure my course is inclusive/SENDA compliant? What steps do I need to take to make sure that disabled students will find the course accessible? Who do I need to approach (e.g. Disability advisor) within the institution who can advise me on these and related issues? Are there any categories of disability that would exclude students from taking this course and are there any ways round this that we can devise? See specifics document re welfare department. We have Deaf students, blind would find it hard but technology may provide some solutions(certainly many blind physios post ww2. Osteopathy is a physically demanding job.
 * 17) What are the university processes that need to be followed in order to get the course validated? Proposal to Vice Principal and to be discussed at the MOst Committee. (As a completely new couse it will probably be discussed first by the senior mangement team) If agreed then onto Academic Board. At some point will need to be discussed with Link tutor at Greenwich for advice . How long will this take? Whole process could take 6-9 months hence course may not start realistically until September 2012 or even a year later . Who are the key university contacts whose guidance I can seek? Is there a handbook I need to consult? Greenwich handbook. All the QA processes this is meant to be about!
 * 18) What are the Professional or Subject Body (PSB) requirements that I need to consider? Are there fitness-to-practice requirements? Who needs to be consulted in the first instance? Is there a named contact I can talk to immediately? Will my course need to be accredited by the PSB? How does this happen? What is the timescale? Can the course be professionally accredited retrospectively? How often does periodic review by PSBs take place? Don't know Don't think so as GOSC main authority. May seek advice from the advertising standards agency (ASA) GOsC, BOA James butler and Michael Watson to advise.
 * 19) What teaching strategies would be best for the subject and context (e.g. lecturing, small group teaching, one-to-one teaching, problem-based learning, computer-assisted learning, blended learning approaches, lab work, field trips,.......) (More activities related to teaching strategies will be covered later in these course materials) Mixture of lectures, on-line, problem based activities and lab based work.
 * 20) What IT platform does the institution use to support student learning and support? Is this available in all partner colleges in which the programme will be offered? Osteopaths Moodle and ESO intranet is not operating effectively as yet. possibly a consideration for the future development of the course.  What are the best methods to assess student learning for this programme? (e.g. exams, essays, projects, dissertations, products, artefacts, computer-based assessment (these are discussed in detail in the „Learning, Teaching and Assessment‟ course). To what extent do I need to design in alternative assessment strategies for students with disabilities? Is it possible to make all assessment activities inclusive? How many assessment tasks should I include? Do I have to comply with university/PSB requirements on this? Are there practical constraints I need to bear in mind? (More activities related to assessment will be covered later in the materials). Creation of website, multiple choice exam on tax and legal??? or essay?? or one of each, viva on personal issues. Any formative? Portfolio of types of business in community? see doc.
 * 21) What would I need to include in the course handbook? Is there an institutional guideline on this? Is there common material (e.g. on student support) that the institution specifies must be included in all course handbooks? Osteopaths plus all yes re student hand book
 * 22) What will be the admissions policy for this new course? Is this a course for which we will be seeking high „A‟ level, Scottish Higher or equivalent passes for entry? What will our policy be on Access course admissions? Already studying on an approved alternative health care course.
 * 23) How far would it be possible for students to enter the course with advanced standing from other programmes e.g. at partner colleges? How applicable would Accredited Prior Learning (APL) and Accredited prior Experiential Learning (APEL) be? Not possible for the course as a whole GOsC would not allow. This module is open to other health care courses.
 * 24) How will we get feedback on how the students perceive the course? Is there a university evaluation instrument/questionnaire that must be used? Will it be possible to gain feedback from course committees and focus groups? At what intervals will it be expected that feedback is acted on to further enhance the course? Feed back can be gained from the student reps each time the staff student liaison committe meet possibly 2-3 times per year. Feedback should be gathered and discussed at the MOst programme commitee and possibly the Exams and Assessments committee (EASC) . The course can be updated year on year as necessary addressing teething problems or issues consistently emerging from feedback. This is answered in the Specifics document..
 * 25) How often will the course need to be reviewed under institutional processes? What form will this scrutiny take? Yearly and 5 Yearly as per QAA guidelines See specifics doc.
 * 26) What basic curriculum content would need to be included? How does this translate into learning outcomes? All working on these!