Towards chartership: professional development for engineers
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This course is designed for those aiming for Chartered Engineer status, via corporate membership of one of the professional engineering institutions licensed by the Engineering Council. The course extends and assesses your reflective and key skills in the context of your continuing professional development, and includes an opportunity to rehearse the professional review requirements of the institution you’ve selected. It is a resource-based course, some resources provided and others for you to supply. Although the course can be taken at any time before registering for Team engineering (T885), it is recommended for early in your postgraduate studies.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Engineering and Technology.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | T398 |
| Credits | 15 |
| OU Level | 3 |
| SCQF level | 10 |
| FHEQ level | 6 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| 2 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) |
| End-of-module assessment |
| No residential school |
Register for the course
This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.
What you will study
This course is a compulsory module of the Open University’s Master of Engineering and postgraduate Diploma in Engineering programmes if you haven’t successfully completed Key skills for professional engineers (T397) as part of your undergraduate studies.
The course will:
- promote the personal and professional skills necessary to the education and career of aspiring professional engineers
- encourage the further development of your abilities to reflect and to learn
- establish a framework based on prior experience and matched to professional aspirations and degree programme, building on any personal development planning from previous studies
- stimulate exploration of the formal requirements for Chartered Engineer status and of what is needed to satisfy them.
By the end of the course you should have shown that you are able to:
- present a current version of your own personal and career-development plan
- demonstrate a knowledge of QCA Key Skills standards and their assessment procedures at Levels 4 and 5
- describe and critically evaluate the evidence you’d need to produce to verify your own competence at Key Skills Level 4 in Communication, Working with others, Improving own learning and performance, Problem solving and ICT
- describe and critically evaluate the evidence you’d need to produce to verify your own competence at Key Skills Level 5
- debate issues relevant to the status of professional engineers in the UK, such as: public recognition; the question of licensing; sustainable development; the role of the engineering institutions and the effectiveness of their codes and rules of conduct
- demonstrate your ability to comprehend a complex document by extracting relevant information from the appropriate edition of UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC), and applying this in the context of the Engineering Council's and professional engineering institutions’ requirements for assessment of competence, for professional review and for continuing professional development (CPD)
- describe and critically evaluate the evidence you’ll need to produce when it comes to preparing your Professional Review Report for an engineering institution, identifying gaps and including draft plans for your own CPD.
The course is resource based. Some of the resources are provided as printed or electronic texts. Others are for you to supply, either from your own knowledge and experience or as a result of your own research. Access is provided to a dedicated T398 website with links to relevant sources of information. You are provided with online forums to enable you to communicate online with your tutor and with other students on the course.
Entry
The course is for postgraduate engineering students, primarily for those aiming for professional status as Chartered Engineers. There are no formal entry requirements, but you cannot study this course if you have previously studied Key skills for professional engineers (T397).
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
You will need to use a computer for conferencing and email. The study materials are available in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.
You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Study materials
What's included
Course guide, other printed materials, CD-ROMs, website.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave. Some of your course software will be provided on disk.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new Windows computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual. Please note that you cannot use an Apple Mac or Linux computer unless it is running Windows using Boot Camp or similar dual-boot system.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will be supported by a tutor who is familiar both with The Open University and its courses and with the engineering institutions and their requirements for membership. Face-to-face tutorials will probably not be available, but online forums and email will play a central role in tuition.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
The end-of-module assessment (EMA) must be submitted on paper.
Professional recognition
This course is intended to help you gain recognition from a professional engineering body. You can view or download our Recognition leaflet 3.3 Professional Engineering Institutions for further information.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course starting in October 2012. We expect it to be available once a year.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Engineering and Technology.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | T398 |
| Credits | 15 |
| OU Level | 3 |
| SCQF level | 10 |
| FHEQ level | 6 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| 2 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) |
| End-of-module assessment |
| No residential school |
Study explained
- Financial support
- - find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.
- Study explained
- - all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.
Your questions
We may have already answered it in our frequently asked questions.
Or contact an adviser in our Student Registration & Enquiry Service Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90+44(0) 845 366 60 35
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