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Open University Geography Module Good Enough for Teaching Council?

  • 13-02-2018 11:53pm
    #1
    heart_powerful
    Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭


    Hi all,

    I am trying to find out if the following geography module meets the minimum requirements of the teaching council in order to register this as a teaching subject.

    http://www.openuniversity.edu/courses/qualifications/details/u116?orig=r16&setAcc=true

    The minimum requirements to teaching Geography (Once you are a teacher) is to study 60 credits of Geography with a minimum of 15 credits in human geography and 15 credits in physical geography. See below.

    http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/_fileupload/Subject-Declaration-Forms-Updated-July/Geography-Form-Revised-.pdf

    Now, this is where my difficulty lies. I contacted the teaching council to ask if this module was ok. They replied and said that they do not pre-assess or recommend courses:pac: This is not great when I could potentially spend 4000 and study for one year to then be told it does not meet the minimum requirements.:eek:

    After this, I asked the open university for a break down of the 60 credits.
    They replied with the following information.


    This is what would be covered in each of the assessments throughout of the module.

    TMA 01 Life in a changing world (8%)
    TMA 02 Understanding carbon footprints (12%)
    TMA 03 Understanding the Arctic (15%)
    TMA 04 Environmental issues in the Nile Basin (15%)
    TMA 05 Understanding Amazonia (15%)
    TMA 06 Understanding environmental change in China (15%)
    TMA 07 Understanding towns and cities and sustainability (20%)

    Now, when I divided the 60 credits as per the weighting of each module I came up with the following

    TMA 01 Life in a changing world (4.8 credits)
    TMA 02 Understanding carbon footprints (7.2 credits)
    TMA 03 Understanding the Arctic (9 credits)
    TMA 04 Environmental issues in the Nile Basin (9 credits)
    TMA 05 Understanding Amazonia (9 credits)
    TMA 06 Understanding environmental change in China (9 credits)
    TMA 07 Understanding towns and cities and sustainability (12 credits)

    As the teaching council won't pre-assess this module for me, and it does contain a nice mixture of physical and human geography, while also hitting 60 credits in total, can anybody help here and shed some light as to whether this module would meet the TC's minimum requirements?

    TIA
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    r93kaey5p2izun
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,962 ✭✭✭r93kaey5p2izun


    OU use CATS credits not ECTS. The above module is worth 60 CATS credits but only 30 ECTS which is what the TC reference.


  • #3
    Postgrad10
    Registered Users Posts: 2,792 ✭✭✭Postgrad10


    Arlessienne is correct. Always divide open uni credits by two to get the ECTS credits.


  • #4
    rainbowtrout
    Registered Users Posts: 15,381 ✭✭✭✭rainbowtrout


    +1 on the credits thing with OU.


    But also, as the TC have the final ruling, unless someone here has done that specific module with OU and then had it assessed by the TC, no one will be able to give you a definitive answer.


  • #5
    greenttc
    Registered Users Posts: 927 ✭✭✭greenttc


    The subject declaration form also says the qualifying degree must hold at least 180 credits. So how does that work? I ask because I am in a similar situation for another subject, I would only really need be making up a subject deficit (similar to the human/physical geography described above) but the modules I do have are part of a masters so don't reach the 180 credits. Is the 180 important when thinking if a second subject?


  • #6
    Postgrad10
    Registered Users Posts: 2,792 ✭✭✭Postgrad10


    The 180 not needed in one subject if you have another subject in your degree , credits already. E.g you might have 160 credits in History and and you took 20 credits in Geography but you want to get your Geography credits up to teach it to leaving cert level. So the Geography subject specification for teaching Geography might say you need 60 ECTS for full reg in geo so in this instance you would 40 more ECTS and 15 credits of which need to be physical geo and 15 other credits needed in human geo. hope that helps.


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  • #7
    Postgrad10
    Registered Users Posts: 2,792 ✭✭✭Postgrad10


    And they must be undergrad credits. Unless your MA let you take undergrad credits. I know one of my Masters degrees et me take 5 credits from a undergrad course as it relevant to my thesis.


  • #8
    greenttc
    Registered Users Posts: 927 ✭✭✭greenttc


    Postgrad10 wrote: »
    And they must be undergrad credits. Unless your MA let you take undergrad credits. I know one of my Masters degrees et me take 5 credits from a undergrad course as it relevant to my thesis.

    I didn't realise there was a difference between undergrad and postgraduate credits, everything says level 8 or higher. So I have an arts degree which is where my first subject comes from and have a masters in a totally different subject. Some of the modules in the masters would come to 20 credits but would cover all buy one of the subjects needed. So I would need to make up an extra 40 credits to make history and cover that missing module while doing that. Am I covered for the 180?

    It is confusing I have to say!


  • #9
    Postgrad10
    Registered Users Posts: 2,792 ✭✭✭Postgrad10


    Well for example postgraduate credits in UCD would be a level 4 ( don't confuse yourself with the levels for now )and undergraduate credits would be level 3 and under. If some of your History credits are postgraduate , then no one can say for certain. It's at the discretion of the teaching council when/if they assess it. I would recommend either approaching Ucd/ucc/nuig and doing credits from the hdip arts. Or taking History credits with oscail/ DCU to make up the shortfall. They have loads of teachers doing it there so they can best advise you.


  • #10
    Postgrad10
    Registered Users Posts: 2,792 ✭✭✭Postgrad10


    That should cover you. You may end up with over 180, no problem with that.
    The DCU option is part time so if you assess your masters and the additional 40 credits and still come up short , you can continue on with them. Expensive but worth it to know you have extra subject.


  • #11
    Leftwaffe
    Registered Users Posts: 1,548 ✭✭✭Leftwaffe


    heart_powerful wrote: »
    Hi all,

    I am trying to find out if the following geography module meets the minimum requirements of the teaching council in order to register this as a teaching subject.



    The minimum requirements to teaching Geography (Once you are a teacher) is to study 60 credits of Geography with a minimum of 15 credits in human geography and 15 credits in physical geography. See below.



    Now, this is where my difficulty lies. I contacted the teaching council to ask if this module was ok. They replied and said that they do not pre-assess or recommend courses:pac: This is not great when I could potentially spend 4000 and study for one year to then be told it does not meet the minimum requirements.:eek:

    After this, I asked the open university for a break down of the 60 credits.
    They replied with the following information.


    This is what would be covered in each of the assessments throughout of the module.

    TMA 01 Life in a changing world (8%)
    TMA 02 Understanding carbon footprints (12%)
    TMA 03 Understanding the Arctic (15%)
    TMA 04 Environmental issues in the Nile Basin (15%)
    TMA 05 Understanding Amazonia (15%)
    TMA 06 Understanding environmental change in China (15%)
    TMA 07 Understanding towns and cities and sustainability (20%)

    Now, when I divided the 60 credits as per the weighting of each module I came up with the following

    TMA 01 Life in a changing world (4.8 credits)
    TMA 02 Understanding carbon footprints (7.2 credits)
    TMA 03 Understanding the Arctic (9 credits)
    TMA 04 Environmental issues in the Nile Basin (9 credits)
    TMA 05 Understanding Amazonia (9 credits)
    TMA 06 Understanding environmental change in China (9 credits)
    TMA 07 Understanding towns and cities and sustainability (12 credits)

    As the teaching council won't pre-assess this module for me, and it does contain a nice mixture of physical and human geography, while also hitting 60 credits in total, can anybody help here and shed some light as to whether this module would meet the TC's minimum requirements?

    TIA

    Hi,

    I am wondering did you go ahead with completing these modules after? I'm also interested in adding geography as a teaching subject and this sounds like it could be a potential avenue.


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