What will I learn on this module?
‘Innovation Through Occupation’ is designed to provide you with the opportunity to deepen your understanding of occupational issues through a negotiated experiential learning project. Drawing on knowledge gained during Level 4 modules – such as foundation knowledge of human occupation, of lived experience as a source of knowledge and understanding the collaborative nature of professional practice – you will workin small groups, alongside an identified community or partner organisation, to identify an innovative occupation-focused response to a need.
You will connect with a community, using principles of co-production, to identify their occupational needs. You will use a quality improvement approach to identify an evidence-informed, occupation-focused way to address an issue or challenge of importance to the community. Alongside this, you will also develop skills in entrepreneurship, service improvement, project management, leadership and teamwork. You will also be encouraged to consider the sustainability issues for your project.
People with lived experience have been involved in identifying core values. This module will help you to reflect on people within contexts and communities and you will explore a range of topics to support your project such as co-production, and strengths-based approaches.
The module is year-long to provide the time and opportunity to build the necessary connections and work collaboratively on your project.
With the identified community and alongside module tutors, you will work together in your groups and will be encouraged to reflect on and develop your ability to work in small teams.
At level 5, the use of the ePortfolio will further develop your analytical and reflective skills and help you to identify personal and group learning outcomes.
How will I learn on this module?
All learning on the BSc Occupational Therapy programme is designed to be transformative and experiential, and this module includes some taught delivery through a series of workshop sessions. In addition, small group project work with communities will be supported by regular group tutorials and self-assessment activities designed to underpin and support the process.
Working in partnership with an identified community, you will be encouraged to use theory, research and community knowledge and experience, to co-produce an occupation-focused response to an issue or challenge.
The e-learning portal will support technology enabled and research informed learning by acting as a repository for contemporary, high quality research evidence and theory. The site provides a wide variety of core and supplementary information to encourage you to engage fully in the module content and build effective academic skills.
You will have the opportunity to gather examples of activities and evidence of your learning, self-appraisal and reflection to contribute to your student ePortfolio. This aims to enhance your learning by taking you beyond the limits of the individual module, and helping foster lifelong learning, as portfolios support inquiry, reflection and integration of learning. Items for your ePortfolio could include an initial action plan for your group project or examples of co-production activities.
Guided reading will encourage you to be intellectually curious, and in class activities will encourage you to challenge ideas and concepts. Learning materials will be varied and creative, with attention to the decolonisation of the curriculum, sharing multi-voiced and non-traditional perspectives on occupation.
How will I be supported academically on this module?
The identified module tutor, alongside the module teaching team, will structure learning opportunities to support your learning and skill development within the module and to assist you to work towards the module assessment.
You will receive ongoing tutor guidance to support your journey, including a formative assessment, a group assessment tutorial and tailored feedback to help you to work towards your final assessment. This will be further supported by project tutorials to ensure progress on your project through the course of the year and address any groupwork challenges you may face.
The e-learning portal will provide a repository for all module information, including a module guide, electronic reading list, detailed assessment guidance, and a workbook of guidance on how to engage with the project and module content.
What will I be expected to read on this module?
All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)
What will I be expected to achieve?
Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Identify innovative responses to contemporary population health challenges through the use of collaboration and partnership working.
2. Address an identified need experienced by the community through the application of occupational therapy and occupational science.
Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
3. Recognise areas for quality improvement and better performance by self, others, services and systems, in order to better meet the needs of populations and consider sustainable goals.
Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
4. Demonstrate development in collaborative working skills to support partnership working with people with lived experience.
5. Demonstrate the ability to manage time, workload and resources effectively to complete project work within small groups.
How will I be assessed?
The formative and summative assessments utilise a structured reflective template designed to add depth and breadth to reflection.
Formative assessment:
You will be required to informally present your project progress, as a group, using the first section of the reflective template provided.
This section includes a discussion of the needs of the identified community and your initial ideas on an innovative occupational therapy response to a need. You will be encouraged to share details of the project process so far, identifying any critical issues and group needs.
You will receive written group feedback, which will help to identify additional support needs and develop your project idea.
Summative assessment:
You are required to complete a 2000-word reflective assessment incorporating your learning from the rest of the template.
The template will include questions exploring the project outcomes, the implications for practice and the personal learning you have gained through the project.
The work will incorporate high quality research evidence and occupational theory as well as personal reflection.
Your summative assessment mark and feedback will be returned to you within the University standard of 20 working days, normally accessed through the module eLP site.
Module abstract
‘Innovation Through Occupation’ is designed to deepen your understanding of occupational issues through a negotiated experiential learning project.
Working collaboratively in groups, you will work with an identified community or partner organisation to identify an innovative occupation-focused response to a need. You will connect with a community, using principles of co-production, to identify their occupational needs. You will use a quality improvement approach to identify an evidence-informed, occupation-focused way to address an issue or challenge of importance to the community. Alongside this, you will also develop skills in entrepreneurship, service improvement, project management, leadership and teamwork. You will also be encouraged to consider sustainability issues for your project and to reflect on your ability to work in teams.
The module will be assessed using a 2000-word written reflective assignment. This assessment will use reflective questioning to deepen your reflections and underpin with evidence and theory.
