How do Summer School Courses Work?
Summer School courses are taught over an intensive three-week period on the Warwick campus. They are not accredited but many external HEIs will recognise our summer school courses and allow their students to transfer their credit back to their home institution. Courses are a mix of existing undergraduate or postgraduate modules redesigned for intensive delivery, courses designed specifically for the Summer School and courses based on market demand, new research topics or areas which departments would like to test out.
CATS
Each course should be equivalent to 15 CATs (150 learning hours) and have clear learning outcomes.
Courses Levels
Courses should be clearly labelled as:
- Introductory – no pre-requisites
- Intermediate – some pre-requisites, suitable for first and second years
- Advanced – some pre-requisites, aimed at final years or postgraduates
Teaching format
It is up to the course teaching team how to deliver the course, and this would typically be determined by what works well for a certain discipline. The only stipulations we make is that there is parity between the hours of teaching delivery across courses, and that teaching activity is aligned with the timetable.
The following models are ones that we currently have on the summer school, to give you an idea of what fits well.
Lectures and Seminars
This is currently the most popular model of delivery and a typical teaching day would entail 3 hours of lectures delivered by a lecturer(s), and a seminar delivered by a teaching assistant. The course is assessed via an examination on the final Friday of the programme. This model has the following:
- An introductory 2 hour lecture- which will include an overview of the course content, method of assessment, information about people teaching on the course, contact points, accessing online resources etc.
- 44 further hours of teaching- made up of 33 hours of lectures and 11 hours of seminars
- A 2 hour revision session -delivered by the teaching assistant on the final Thursday of the programme (before an exam on the Friday)
- 2 hours of study group each week- on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- A 2 hour 15 minute exam- scheduled for final Friday morning
Lectures and Workshops
Some courses would split the teaching so that on a typical day the first two hours of delivery were in a lecture format and then the remaining two hours were workshops. The entire course is delivered by lecturers, and is assessed via group work/presentation and/or a final exam. This model has the following:
- An introductory 2 hour lecture- which will include an overview of the course content, method of assessment, information about people teaching on the course, contact points, accessing online resources etc.
- 46 further hours of teaching- made up of lectures and workshops
- 2 hours of study group each week- on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Either 3 hours of timetabled assessment activity/a 2 hour 15 minute exam- scheduled for final Friday morning
The course team
Each course is typically managed and delivered by the following roles:
|
Role |
Responsibility |
Credentials |
|
Course Leader |
Arranges staffing for the course. Responsible for the development of module approval forms and involved in any approval processes. Reviews existing course syllabus and content and ensure it is still relevant, good quality and fit for purpose. Coordinates with teaching team about the course content to ensure delivery against the syllabus and learning outcomes, and the avoidance of duplication across lectures; oversees the exam or assessment material; manages the marking process for the assessment and ensuring results are back to the Summer School team in the timeframes allocated; coordinates with TAs and other lecturers on the course, and prepares and/or delivers the introductory lecture. This person will deliver some/all of the lectures on the course. Responsible for the provision of marketing materials as and when required. |
Ideally this person should be a member of salaried Warwick staff.
|
|
Lecturer(s) |
Produce their own teaching material for the part of the course that they are due to teach (including online teaching resources), produce problem sets/content for the seminars to pass over to the TAs, produce exam questions or assessment questions for their part of the course (including solutions) and liaise with the relevant TA(s) to ensure material is covered appropriately. Mark exam papers/assessments if required. |
These people can be, but do not necessarily need to be a members of salaried staff, but should be someone with a lasting relationship/strong affiliation with the University of Warwick. We suggest that the optimal model is to have up to three lecturers (one per week) to deliver the lectures. The majority of lectures can be delivered by FA6-FA8 teaching or academic staff. |
|
Teaching Assistant |
Adequately prepare for seminars (including liaising with lecturers about material covered in lectures to ensure consistency in approach across lectures and seminars); deliver seminars either one or two per day depending on course popularity; providing an office hour for one hour per day; liaise with course lecturers about the material to be covered in the exam; and mark exam scripts following the exams if required by the Course Co-ordinator. The teaching assistant for week 3 will deliver the revision classes and will also deliver a 1 hour study café per teaching day. |
The teaching assistants will be current PhD/Masters students across Warwick with teaching experience, in related academic field. There can be one or two Teaching Assistants per course, but there should only be one at any given time. The seminars can be delivered by an FA4 or FA5 Teaching Assistant. |
How are courses assessed?
Most courses have an end of course exam as the method of assessment. The timetable has been designed with this method of assessment in mind, and so students have extra time available in week 3 for exam revision. However, it is up to the course teachers to devise the best method of assessment, and to adapt their course timetables accordingly. Some courses include project work, presentations etc as the method of assessment and use the revision and exam slots for this.
The end of course exam is scheduled for the final Friday morning of the Summer School. This exam is optional for the students, but typically the majority do take the exam.
If your method of assessment is an exam, we ask that you follow the same format as other exams, i.e. that the exam format is 15 minutes reading time, followed by a 2 hour exam.
It is entirely down to the teaching team how you wish to structure the exam, e.g. with compulsory questions or a choice of questions. The Course Coordinator will coordinate between the lecturers on your course to ensure your exam format is confirmed, exam questions are set and checked, and that a mark scheme/solutions are provided.
The GTA(s) on the course will take the revision classes and in most cases will mark the exam, so the exam paper and solutions will be shared with them.
Please note that as the course is intensive, delivered in the style of an exam at a UK HEI and often in a students’ second language, students often suffer with exam anxiety. It is a good idea to cover the process of sitting an exam and what to expect clearly in class. We also do our best to prepare students for this with emails beforehand.
Teaching materials
All teaching resources are shared on a website which is shared with students on the first day of the course. We do not print any teaching materials and we do not require the students to purchase any text books. All summer school students are asked to bring a laptop to the programme and to take them to lectures and seminars.
What are the financial incentives?
We make direct payments based on an hourly rate to some lecturers via the University’s payroll system, and other lecturers gain credit on their departmental workload model. This depends on the arrangement in place with the particular department.
GTAs are paid hourly usually through the Sessional Teaching Payroll.
Payment information and the process used will be discussed on an individual basis.