★ ★ PLYMOUTH AWARD
STUDENT HANDBOOK
CONTENTS Introducing the Plymouth Award Getting started Registration Creating a plan Activities Submitting your portfolio Celebrate your success Frequently asked questions Registration form
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For more information visit plymouth.ac.uk/plymouthaward
★ ★ PLYMOUTH AWARD
INTRODUCING THE PLYMOUTH AWARD The Plymouth Award is designed to recognise and celebrate student achievements outside the curriculum. Many University of Plymouth students already make significant contributions to the life of the University and the communities in which they live and work. The Plymouth Award is one way of recognising the value that we place on these contributions and the learning and personal growth that students gain from these activities. What are the benefits? Personal development. Time at university is precious and the opportunities to spend this time productively are almost endless. Not only do students have unparalleled access to formal educational opportunities, but to activities that can significantly enhance their personal development and growth. Citizens of the future. We expect our graduates to become tomorrow’s leaders. The Plymouth Award
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gives students the chance to engage in a wide range of activities and begin to build their profile as future citizens. Employability. Over 250,000 students graduate each year, and employers and postgraduate admissions tutors are bombarded with over 40 applications for every graduate place. Students who can demonstrate that they have additional achievements beyond their degree whilst at university will have an edge in the struggle to secure a worthwhile job or place on a postgraduate programme. Employers demand not only a good degree, but evidence that graduates have ‘lifewide’ experience on which they can build a successful career. Although the Award does not carry academic credits, it will appear as a separate item on the Higher Education Achievement Report from academic year 2011-12. Students who successfully complete the award will also receive a separate award certificate at their graduation. 3
Principles of the Award Inclusion The Plymouth Award is open to any student registered at the University. Time scale There is no fixed time period during which the Award must be completed; students can register any time from the first to final year of study, but must complete the activities and submit the reflective portfolio at least 4 months before graduation (in the vast majority of cases where graduation is in September this submission date deadline will be April 30th). Through-life and life-wide learning We have designed the award to encourage students to take a positive approach to life whilst at university. We believe very strongly in ‘life-wide’ experiential learning, so our award reflects this philosophy. We ask students who register for the award to complete a minimum of 20 hours of activities in each of three groups of activities chosen from the following groups: 4
• • • • •
GETTING STARTED
personal health and wellbeing working life volunteering cultural and social awareness supporting the University community
Every student will need to demonstrate at least 80 hours activity in total. Examples of typical activities are given in the section on award activities.
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The Plymouth Award is a fantastic scheme for students to engage in extra curricular learning and development. There’s no doubt that through the broad range of opportunities on offer around this great city, any graduate from Plymouth will have an extra set of strings to their bow from having achieved the Plymouth Award.
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Nick White Education Manager Theatre Royal
The award will be widely promoted at freshers’ events across the campus. There will be sign-up sheets available for you to attend an introductory talk about the award scheme. These sessions will take place throughout October and early November. Sign-up sheets will also be available in the gateway, Roland Levinsky Building, and the Students’ Union during October. If your first choice of session is full, please select an alternative one. Please make a note of the session that you have signed up for. Attending an introductory session does not commit you to taking up the award, but enables you to find out more.
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REGISTRATION All students wishing to move on to the Plymouth Award scheme need to register. Registration is simple. Go to the Plymouth Award website www.plymouth.ac.uk/plymouthaward/ and follow the link to registration. Alternatively you can complete the form at the end of this handbook and take it to the gateway, Roland Levinsky Building. Once registered and paid you now have access to the Plymouth Award TULIP site (Module Code PLYM001).
Paying your Plymouth Award fee Every student must pay a one-off fee of £25 to cover administration costs. This fee can be paid by several methods: telephone, in person or by post. Online The following link will take you to the on-line payment page: 1. Click ‘Add to Basket’. You can only pay your own fee; students must register individually. 2. Click ‘Proceed to Shopping Basket’. 3. Click ‘Proceed to Checkout’. If you are an existing customer on the store, reenter your details and proceed. If you have not used the store before you will need to register as a customer. • Click the link under ‘New Customer’.
• Enter your contact details. • Tick to say you agree to our terms and conditions. • You will be prompted to select a delivery address (nothing will be delivered in this instance).You are prompted to choose a payment option: Visa,Visa Debit, MasterCard, or PayPal. • You are prompted to select a billing address. This has to be the same address that the card/PayPal account is registered at. 4. Your payment will be processed upon completion of the correct details. If you have any queries please contact estore@plymouth.ac.uk
By telephone To pay by telephone using a credit or debit card, please call the University Treasury Service +44 (0)1752 588125. You will need to tell the Treasury Service that the payment is for the Plymouth Award. In person or by post You can pay the fee in person (cash or cheque) at the Treasury Service, Isaac Foot Building, during normal opening hours. Alternatively you can post a cheque (marked “Plymouth Award scheme” and including your full name and student ID number on the reverse) to: Treasury Services, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
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CREATING A PLAN Planning what you want to achieve is an important part of the philosophy of the award scheme. You should look at the range of qualifying activities in each group (personal health and wellbeing, working life, volunteering, cultural and social awareness, supporting the University community) and identify which three groups your chosen activities fall under. Some activities may occur in two groups (eg voluntary work with overseas students could count either as volunteering or as cultural and social awareness) but you cannot count the same activity under two headings. You should give a bit of thought to what you expect to gain from taking part in these activities. The benefits should include, but not be restricted to, personal development. For example, increasing your awareness
ACTIVITIES of environmental issues, building your confidence in working with people, working as part of a team and gaining hands-on experience, improving your customer service skills, getting real life negotiating skills, meeting tight deadlines, managing your time effectively etc. The list is endless. Each activity in which you engage should provide different contexts for learning and opportunities for developing different skills, aptitudes and dispositions. When you have identified your planned activities and considered the benefits you anticipate gaining from them, you will be required to complete a simple form which you must submit electronically to the award team, keeping a copy for yourself as a reminder. Detailed instructions on how to do this are available on the Plymouth Award TULIP site.
The Plymouth Award is all about learning from experience, encompassing a wide a range of extra-curricular activities. To do this you need to engage in the activities to get the experience from which you learn. We ask students to engage in at least three categories from the following: • • • • •
cultural and social awareness personal health and well-being supporting the University community volunteering working life.
We have listed a few examples of established activities which give an idea of the range of activities you could undertake in each category. These lists are not exhaustive and if you are engaged in extra-curricular activities that you wish to have considered as counting towards your Plymouth Award, you should contact the award management team at: plymouthaward@plymouth.ac.uk
Minimum requirements The award requires students to complete at least 20 hours in each of their three chosen areas and the total hours of activities should be no less than 80. Although no extra credit will be given for hours over and above the minimum, the quality of your learning will be significantly improved and this will show in careers interviews and in the quality of your reflective portfolio.
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Cultural and Social awareness: • sports club or SU society committee member • organising social/cultural events within the University • journalist (eg for The Knowledge) • UPSU Radio presenter • hall warden/assistant warden • Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) community projects • working with Chaplaincy. Personal health and wellbeing: • weight management programme • personal fitness programme • exercise classes (eg fit ball, circuits, pilates, aerobics, spinning, body conditioning etc) • University Health and Wellbeing Week • regular participation in any planned sporting or fitness activity (watersports, 5-a-side, sailing, rugby, hockey, surfing, etc etc).
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Supporting the University Community: • welcome week assistant / UPSU Angels • course representative • student parliamentarian (UPSU) • student ambassador scheme. Volunteering: • most volunteering activities organised through the Students Union, Widening Participation or the Community Research Programme • work with schools • Racial Equality Council • St John’s Ambulance • Barn Owl Trust • railway projects • Looe Monkey Sanctuary • Moor Trees • charity fundraising • support worker/enabler • volunteer police community officer • university officer training • volunteering within the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme • working within the Chaplaincy
Working life: • part-time work (Paid or voluntary) • vacation work • CAMP America, BUNAC and CCUSA • SU Sabbatical Officer • placement (outside of academic programme) • student intern • participation in “FLUX” and/or other businessrelated competitions • employer mentoring – 6 x 1 hour mentoring sessions plus 2 hour training, personal reflection and awards event • employer presentations / workshops • attendance at careers fairs • attendance at careers workshops • book writing (follow on from We Love Looe) • Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) • Business Ideas Challenge • participation in Global Entrepreneurship workshops • running your own business • participation in Alumni Careers Network • peer mentoring.
Retrospective counting For academic years 2010-11 and 2011-12, students will be allowed to count activities that they have previously undertaken towards their award, provided that: • the hours accumulated are verifiable by the award team • the activities have been undertaken whilst the individual was registered as a student at the University of Plymouth. Retrospective hours may partly or wholly make up the 80 hours required for the award. Individuals who wish to use retrospective hours should get in touch with the award team as early as possible to ensure they have achieved sufficient breadth of engagement as well as the appropriate number of hours of experience.
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PORTFOLIO SUBMISSION
CELEBRATE YOUR SUCCESS
As you undertake the activities that you have identified at the planning stage, take a little time to think about how you feel about each one. Here are some questions you might ask yourself : • Was it enjoyable? • Was it challenging? • Why was it enjoyable/challenging? • What didn’t you enjoy? Why? • How can I summarise my experience?
Every student who successfully completes the Plymouth Award will receive a specially designed award certificate along with their degree certificate at their graduation ceremony.
Capture these thoughts/reflections in ways that mean something to you. This may be as an email or text message to yourself, or hand-written notes in a notebook. However you choose to capture these thoughts, make sure you keep them somewhere safe. The best place to save your reflections is in your ePortfolio which is secure, can be accessed from anywhere at any time and can store any type of file.
Towards the end of your award registration you will need to begin to draw all your thoughts together into a single reflective portfolio. If you have captured these thoughts as you go along, your task will be much easier. However, we will provide help and support to guide everyone through this process. Reflective portfolios will be completed using the University ePortfolio and submitted online. In 2010-11 the portfolio must be submitted before 30 April 2011. There is no earliest date: students are encouraged to submit portfolios as early in the spring term as possible. Details of the submission process are available on the Plymouth Award TULIP site (PLYM 001). The template and guidance for these portfolios are also available on the TULIP Award module site. Your ePortfolio can be accessed at: e-portfolio.plymouth.ac.uk
As from 2012, all universities in the UK will be producing a new form of transcript called a Higher Education Achievement Report. For those who successfully complete the award, this new electronic document will include a section on the Plymouth Award, giving details of students’ achievements.
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We are interested in talented students applying to us with strong academics but just as important are employability skills. We have core competencies that we look for and it is not just the degree you can offer but also ideas and enthusiasm you can bring. As a leading employer of graduates, we recognises the important role played by the Plymouth Award in producing high-calibre, motivated individuals who are ready to enter the world of professional services.
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PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS If I do 60 hours under one activity (eg part-time work) can I count 30 hours towards part-time work and 30 towards volunteering? No. Additional hours under one category simply means that you are getting more experience (deeper learning) in that area of activity. Your initial plan should specify how you intend to accumulate hours across three categories. Do employers place value on the Plymouth Award? Yes. We have invited a wide range of organisations which regularly employ our graduates to comment on the Plymouth Award and all of them strongly endorse the scheme. Does the Plymouth Award count towards my degree? No, the Award recognises extra-curricular learning. It does not have any academic credits attached to
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it. However as from 2011-12 every University of Plymouth transcript (by then called a Higher Education Achievement Report) will show the award as a separate achievement endorsed by the University. If I am registered to take the Learning Through Volunteering (LTV 001) module, can I still count the hours of volunteering for the award as well? Yes. The LTV module is credit-bearing and subject to different regulations. You still have to cover the other two chosen areas of activity for the award and devote at least 20 hours to each one in addition to the hours of volunteering. You will submit two separate reflective portfolios: one for the LTV module and one for the award. The evidence base for the award portfolio is much wider than that for the LTV module, so the two are quite distinctive. Note: The same rule applies to students enrolled on the Student Ambassador Programme module (SAP001).
REGISTRATION FORM Please complete this form in full and return to the Plymouth Award team in the Gateway, Roland Levinsky Building.
PLYMOUTH AWARD REGISTRATION FORM
Cut along the dotted line so you don’t lose any of the important information contained within this handbook. Full Name: Student reference/ID number: Name of your Degree programme: Year of course/programme:
Plymouth Award www.plymouth.ac.uk/plymouthaward plymouthaward@plymouth.ac.uk For more information, please visit staff based in the gateway in the Roland Levinsky Building
The University is committed to providing information in accessible formats. If you require this publication in an alternative format, please contact the Teaching & Learning Directorate on +44 (0) 1752 582036