This module will help you to develop graduate attributes, including: - academic attributes – ability to critically appraise knowledge claims based on qualitative and quantitative methods; and - communication skills – ability to communicate research designs and findings, using evidence to illustrate and develop an argument. This module will help you develop the following employability skills: - team working - respecting others, co-operating, negotiating, contributing to discussions, and awareness of interdependence with others; - communication and literacy – application of literacy, ability to produce clear, structured written work and oral literacy – including listening and questioning; - problem solving– analysing facts, opinions, values and situations and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions; and - application of information technology – basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, presentation programmes, file management and use of internet search engines.
This module is designed to enable and encourage students to apply social psychological and related methods and theories to various aspects of sexual health, including both psychological and physical aspects.
Contemporary debate in social theory includes the claim that globalising processes have created a world that is chaotic, disorganized, and difficult to control. Exacerbated by the rise of digital technology/communications and the environmental crisis, this has generated new forms of social risk, fragmentation and powerlessness which existing governance arrangements and political/social movements are ill-suited to address. Pressing debates ask: How far are these processes rooted in the national and global inequalities of the modern era? Is globalisation primarily a neo-liberal project, the main consequence of which has been to concentrate and extend pre-existing divisions? What does social action look like in this context: must it be built on traditional sources of resistance (e.g. the labour movement, social movements etc.) or is a new intersectional and post-colonial framework needed to understand it?
The aim of this module is to introduce the fundamental concepts and computational techniques used in social computing. In a broad sense, social computing is about building computational systems that harness the collective intelligence of people, using techniques and insights from artificial intelligence and economics. More specifically, in this module we will focus on four main areas: crowdsourcing, online auctions (including online advertising), recommender systems and rank aggregation. The module has a large practical component where you will learn how to solve a real-world social computing problem and how to set up experiments in a principled manner to evaluate your system. In addition, you will learn about technologies such as auctions, algorithms for recommender systems, quality control mechanisms in crowdsourcing and incentive engineering. Note that this module does not cover social networking, as this is covered elsewhere.
This is an interactive and practical module aiming to inspire students to social enterprise and entrepreneurship by giving them an experiential introduction to human centred design processes. The emphasis in this module is on the translation of knowledge into action and the development of enterprising skills such as identifying user needs and addressing these needs through collaborative co-design and action, being resourceful and leadership. A secondary aim is to develop students’ confidence in developing a personal brand using blogging and social media. A third aim is to raise an awareness of the support available to students for social enterprise activities at the university (both financial and non-financial).
Societies are increasingly diverse nowadays. This module aims to explore the complexity of the concepts of social justice and inclusive education and how everyone can contribute towards the development of a more inclusive world. This will be achieved by exploring critically the policies and practices in relation to individuals or groups of learners who have been traditionally marginalised such as those defined as having special educational needs, ethnic minorities, travellers, those from low socioeconomic backgrounds etc. There will be a special focus on how research can promote inclusion and social justice.
The second generation of web sites that came along in the mid 2000's included many of the social media sites that are now household names (YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, etc.) These sites (known at the time as Web 2.0) focused on content that was generated by users, rather than the site's owners, and thus shifted the balance of power on the Web from a technical few to the masses. We now live in a world where social media is a powerful influence. In this course we will look at the science that is attempting to analyse its use, see how conceptualising social media as networks allows us to use techniques from network science as part of that analysis, and explore some of the personal and social issues that have arisen and the technologies that might address them. This is a course that empowers you to meaningfully engage with the many issues that we see everyday in the news and media, and we hope that it will capture the excitement and concern that exists around Social Media. This is our Guttenberg, let's make it work for us.
This module introduces students to the key theories, concepts, and research methods in social psychology. Through a combination of lectures, tutorials, and readings, students will explore both foundational studies and current developments in the field. The module emphasizes real-world application, helping students connect psychological principles to everyday life and gain deeper insight into their own behaviour and that of others. Lectures will feature interactive discussions and in-class activities, which play a vital role in shaping the learning experience. Active participation is strongly encouraged, as it enhances understanding and enriches classroom dynamics.
This module looks at the changing nature of material, social and cultural inequalities in contemporary societies, how they affect our everyday lives, and how we respond to them.
This module provides a comprehensive overview of how businesses can operate with a sustainable and socially responsible manner. The module is designed to explore what constitutes a socially responsible business, the impact of socially responsible business activities on shareholder wealth and return and the role of executive compensation.
In this module we will examine the principal themes of the political and social history of Britain during the Victorian era (c.1830-1900). We will investigate the development of new forms of political participation and examine the ways that men and women across the nation helped to shape Victorian society. While the main focus of the module will be placed on the metropolitan Britain, we will explore how ‘Britian’ and ‘empire’ were not separate or distinct entities but rather were mutually constitutive and completely interconnected. Taken as a whole, the module will interrogate how metropolitan Britain was reconfigured and reimagined in the Victorian period, always in ways that were shaped by gender, race and class.
This module introduces students to social and economic change, cultural diversity and spatial organisation in cities and western societies. The module also provides an introduction to three main fields in human geography - urban geography, social geography and cultural geography. The first part of the module examines major socio-economic change and its impact upon both the industrial and 'post-industrial' city including issues of community, inclusion, territorial conflict and segregation. The second part examines the growing cultural diversity of the advanced societies, whilst providing an introduction to key geographical ideas of culture, the body, representation and landscape. Topics for consideration include ethnic concentration, migration, LGBT communities, cultural economies, human-animal relations, social polarization, the growth of surveillance strategies in cities and changing urban landscapes.
This module introduces students to social and economic change, cultural diversity and spatial organisation in Western societies and cities. The module also provides an introduction to three main fields in human geography - social geography, cultural geography and urban geography. The first part of the module examines major socio-economic change and its impact upon both the industrial and 'post-industrial' city to discuss issues of community, inclusion, territorial conflict and segregation. The second part examines the role culture plays in advanced societies by discussing key geographical ideas of culture, representation and landscape. Indicative topics include: ethnic concentration; migration; LGBT communities; cultural economies; human-animal relations; social polarisation; the growth of surveillance strategies in cities; changing urban and cultural landscapes.
This module offers a critical perspective on the ways in which education is organised and delivered, the values and power relationships that underpin it, and the outcomes it produces. You will be introduced to a variety of sociology of education theories, enabling you to critically evaluate education systems, processes and practices. You will explore a range of current issues and debates, e.g. those relating to the (re)production of inequalities, the sociology of knowledge, and school-to-work transitions. Finally, you will investigate alternative approaches to education.
This final year module builds on the theoretical grounding students gain in LING 2011 Variation and Change in English and the instrumental analysis techniques from LING 2008 Sound and Voice. Through a series of computer, lab-based sessions, students test elements of sociolinguistic theory, specifically the Variationist Paradigm, and develop a methodological sociophonetic toolkit, which equips them to design and conduct their own small-scale sociolinguistic project.
This module gives students experience of working in a team to design and develop a significant interactive software system. This practical activity is balanced with taught material to give students a theoretical understanding of the supporting disciplines.
Conventional laboratory experiments are useful mainly to assist understanding or analysis. Because they are of necessity stereotyped, they are of limited usefulness when a circuit or system must be designed to meet a given specification. The majority of engineering tasks fall into this latter category, and therefore require design or synthesis skills, in addition to the understanding of underlying engineering principles. Students on all Biomedical Engineering pathways will work together on the main design exercises but with a particular focus or task to complete depending on their pathway; either Electronic Systems/Mechatronics for Health or Artificial Intelligence/Digital Health. In this way they will work together to produce a prototype system This module includes individual and team design exercises devised to provide a bridge between 'conventional' experiments and the project work in the third and fourth years, (which in turn provide a bridge to 'real' projects in industry). The exercise has real deadlines and concrete deliverables and students are encouraged to be creative, develop imaginative solutions and to make mistakes. Exercises share common characteristics: • Customer orientated rather than proscriptive specifications are given • Design work carried out, bringing academic knowledge to bear on practical problems • Laboratory sessions are used for development/ construction/ verification of designs • Allow students to demonstrate their communication skills in writing individual and group reports/presentations. In support of these design exercises, those on the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health pathways will be introduced to the importance of human-computer interaction in software design and computer systems. They will explore how the study of human-computer interaction affects the design of interactive systems, hardware and software and improve their awareness of the issues that determine the usability of an interactive computer system.
This modules aims to provide practical skills in how to approach the modelling and design of a large critical software project. The module covers modelling techniques from requirements analysis to design and introduces a range of tools and approaches. In particular, formal modelling and tools to support this are covered. The inclusion of these derives from the demand of critical systems for rigorous Requirements Engineering with strong Validation and Verification practice. The module is compulsory for MSc Software Engineering students. Experience of Object-Oriented programming is assumed and some familiarity with UML would be an advantage.
