Introduction - about these pages

These pages are for students who are direct entrants to level 3 of the BA Education and Community Development Programme in the Cass School of Education at the University of East London (UEL).

I know that there are at least two of you but there are likely to be others. Hopefully, the site will also be useful to students joining Education International which is a level 3 only programme.

Hopefully these pages will help you understand what will be expected of you and show you how to use the summer to properly prepare yourself to achieve the degree classification you will need in order to go on to do a Post Graduate Certificate in Education to teach at primary school level or to go on to other forms of post graduate studies.

You have been offered a direct entry to level 3 of the programme, because you have qualifications that mean you should already have sufficient knowledge and skills to work at level three of the programme. This could be because you have already have a degree from another discipline or country or, you may have been offered a place because it is clear from the work you have already done, that you are capable of the standard of work required at level three. If you have been out of education or are changing disciplines or institutions however, there may be some gaps in your existing knowledge and skills which these pages are intended to help you plug.

The pages are particularly concerned to prepare you for the Independent Research double module (ED3000) because what you score for this module will have a major impact on your degree's classification. It is for this reason that the pages are focused on doing independent research but they will also try to address other relevant issues and concerns.

The pages assume that you are able to learn independently using recommended readings and online resources but you can also use the comment function to discuss the resources, to ask questions and to check your interpretations of the resources you are being introduced to.

We use a lot of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in our teaching and learning at UEL and expect level three students to be fairly competent at using personal computers for communication and learning. A good place to start learning about how to use ICT and the Internet to support your learning, particularly for doing res search online and developing critical thinking is the Internet Detective. This site should also help you to develop understandings and skills that will help you avoid plagiarism which is a common and easy pitfall.