Support for your Studies
Supporting your Studies
Academic and Pastoral Support
What is a Lecture?
Lectures are the core teaching delivery blocks of the degree programme. They are large classes hosting all the students on the module where you receive most of the course content. In your first year these will typically be in large lecture theatres with around 300 students. To see an example of what a lecture room looks like click here to see MS.02 which is one of the lecture theatres that you'll experience in year 1.
How do lectures work and what should you bring?
- Lectures are 50 mins long starting at 5 mins past the hour and finish at 5 mins to the hour e.g. 10:05 to 10:55.
- You should bring something to make notes on. Traditionally this would be a notepad and writing instrument which is still the preferred method for most students. Students often now bring electronic devices like tablets for their note making.
- What you write down is often dictated by the style employed by the lecturer. Some will write everything on the board and you should copy and indeed make extra notes if you require them as the lecture progresses. In other modules the lecturer may provide notes with gaps that you fill in during the lecture.
- Note taking is very important for most students and helps you follow the lecture without distraction.
- Lectures are less interactive than Tutorials but students are still encouraged to ask questions if something isn't clear.
- It can be intimidating for students to ask questions in front of a whole lecture theatre. Lecturers are generally very happy to take questions at the end of the lecture if you approach them afterwards and they haven't got another meeting immediately after their lecture. Alternatively you can send a query by email or approach a lecturer during one of their weekly office hours.
What do the different module codes mean?
Your programme is being delivered by multiple departments. The way to identify the particular department a module is being delivered by is to look at the code. These may look like: ST118 or MA142 or IB104 or EC106
- Modules starting with ST are delivered by Statistics.
- Modules starting with MA are delivered by Maths.
- Modules starting with IB are delivered by WBS.
- Modules starting with EC are delivered by Economics.
- Modules starting with CS are delivered by Computer Science.
Are Lectures Recorded?
Each department has their own policies on this that are designed to suit the material and most appropriate methods of delivery.
The Statistics Department has a policy that encourages attendance and engagement with lectures so that you can develop the best possible study habits. In particular we want students to benefit from having an organised weekly structure where they meet others on their programme and feel a stronger sense of belonging.
We have strong evidence that those who do not attend and engage in their first year of study generally underperform on our programmes and so we want to discourage bad practice early on and phase in the full flexibility and benefits that lecture recordings offer once good habits are established.
As such for Statistics ST modules:
- In Year 1 you will not have the recordings during term time but they will be released at the end for revision purposes.
- In Year 2 for Term 1 the same rules as Year 1 apply. In Term 2 the recordings will be made available for a duration of 1 week after a lecture takes place. Again all recordings will be made available for revision purposes.
- In Years 3/4 recordings will be fully available as standard. At this stage in your programme you will have developed the skills needed to use lecture recordings effectively to strongly supplement the delivery of course material. Furthemore, it should open up the full optionality that our programme offers in these years by allowing you to sit modules that would have clashed.
- Important Caveats:
- We take our responsibility towards students with learning difficulties/disabilities/students with extraordinary circumstances very seriously. We understand that they may require different provision from other students and in some cases this means that the recordings are essential for them. As such we will make special allowances for those students.
Attending Lectures
One of the strongest predictors of success on our programmes is the engagement and in particular the attendance of students at lectures and tutorials. Please don't be distracted by anecdotes from friends who apparently "know somebody" who doesn't attend anything and does amazingly well. These are rarely true and most likely you are not being given the whole story.
For most students, attending lectures and tutorials is the foundational building block of being an engaged and successful student:
- Attending gives you weekly structure and keeps you organised and up to date with material that is being delivered, at a pace that it is designed to be engaged with!
- Attending helps you meet others on the course. It is much easier to face the challenge of a degree course whilst you have the shared support of peers.
- Attending allows you to ask the lecturer questions during and after a lecture!
- Improved focus. Students watching a lecture live (instead of watching recordings) are less likely to be distracted by other things like social media and streaming services.
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Success on the degree programme is strongly positively correlated with those who are engaged and attend lectures.
