Undergraduate Course: Psychology in Action (PSYL10150)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course will focus on putting in action both transferrable and career-specific skills possessed by graduate Psychologists. These workplace skills will be showcased on the example of four different types of careers: in research, education, organisations, and health. |
| Course description |
The course will allow the students to learn about psychological career paths (in research, education, organisation, and health) and their core knowledge and skills requirements, while simultaneously better understanding and identifying the skills they are gaining through their accredited degree. Thus, this course will highlight pathways towards employability in psychology, and help students to identify potential career options ahead of their final year.
The course will be composed of four blocks delivered throughout the entire academic year (two blocks per semester), each focusing on one of the following four career paths: research, education, organisation, and health. The latter three (education, organisational and clinical/health psychology) require an accredited undergraduate degree, as regulated by the British Psychological Society.
Each block involves a pre-recorded lecture, a set of self-study materials related to this career domain, and an Conversation With interview with a professional psychologist hosted by the Course Organiser and focused on a detailed overview of their roles and skills, followed by a Q&A session with the speaker.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should be studying Psychology as their degree major, and have completed at least 3 Psychology courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Enrolment is also at the discretion of the course organiser, and students must contact the course organiser for the course to seek their permission to enrol in the course, then send that written confirmation to the Visiting Student Office for consideration.
Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. **Please note that upper level Psychology courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces.** These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
98 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. Continuous: Four brief online MCQs (10% total)
2. Midterm: Essay professional ethics situation (40% total)
3. Final:10-minutes pre-recorded oral presentation job description (50% total)
First, each block will be concluded with a brief online MCQ, each worth 2.5% of the final grade, for a total value of the MCQs of 10% towards the final grade.
Second, at the end of Semester 1, students will be provided with a vignette and asked to discuss the choices or actions of a chartered psychologist outlined in this vignette from an ethics perspective, referring explicitly to the information from the BPS ethics guidelines. This discussion will take the form of a 600-word essay.
Third, at the end of Semester 2, the students will submit a pre-recorded 10-minutes individual oral presentation describing the job of the professional of their choosing (selected from the four careers introduced in the course) and reflecting on steps they would need to take to achieve this career. This job description will cover the core duties of the profession alongside its required training and relevant skills, while also mapping these onto the student's current skills, knowledge and experience as gained through their accredited degree. |
| Feedback |
Feedback will be given throughout the course, especially through the moderated online forum that will feed forward to the summative assessments. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand & explain training requirements for accredited psychological career path.
- Critically engage with and write about professional ethics in psychology.
- Evaluate the role of psychology in education, in clinical contexts and in relation to mental health, and in organisations.
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Reading List
| Core and optional reading for each section of the course is provided at the start of each 5 week block. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course provides students with some of the skills needed when looking for jobs and when working in certain sectors. The first assessment asks students to apply their psychology knowledge to critically evaluate a real-world psychology problem. Students will develop their ability to synthesise across multiple sources of information to make recommendations for improvement and present their verdict by writing clearly and concisely for a non-technical audience. In the second assessment, students will learn how to independently find jobs and analyse them using psychological frameworks. Students will learn how to analyse the requirements of the role using a psychological model, and use this information to self-reflect on their own strengths and areas for improvement. They will present their findings in a short, pre-recorded presentation that closely reflects current trends in interview formats. Students will develop their analytic, presentation and public speaking skills and will hopefully develop a concrete idea of what they would like to do after their degrees. In both assessments students will learn how to communicate with limited word counts or time, a key skill in the workplace, and adapt their communication style to one appropriate for a non-psychological audience. Both assessments may be different to any that students have done before and they will learn how to adjust their expectations and adapt to a new way of working.
Core skills gained on this course:
Independence, research skills, taking initiative, critical analysis, problem solving, self-reflection (identify strengths and areas for improvement), clear written communication, presentation skills, public speaking, writing, and presenting within word counts or time limits, resilience. |
| Keywords | Psychology,Science Engagement |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Muhammad Aliff Asyraff Mohd Sharif
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Anna Jarvis
Tel:
Email: |
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