Class participation; the three out of seven day rule

Each study week of the module begins on Thursday and ends the following Wednesday. If something is
due on a certain day, it means by 23:59 that day in your time zone.
For example, if you have a Tuesday deadline and live in France you must submit the assignment by
Tuesday 23:59 CET, if you live in New York you must submit the assignment by Tuesday 23:59 EST, etc..
In addition to the assignments you must complete each week, your Instructor will assess and grade your
participation in the class discussions. Each week the Instructor will normally assign the class two
Discussion Questions (or 'DQs'). All the answers to these questions by students in your class can be read
in the Discussion Board for the class (you will learn all about this in the Student Readiness Course).
In addition to the grade you get for your initial answers to the Discussion Questions, you will be graded
on the quality of your participation in the discussion between students.
You must make a number of follow-on posts (the minimum number varies). Your comments must add
positively and significantly to the classroom discussion. You will need to read the answers made by
other students, and any comments made about your own answers by other students and respond
appropriately. Quality is more important than quantity; concise, relevant postings are better than long,
irrelevant ones or a greater number of short insignificant ones.
How Many Hours?

The online study programme is very challenging, as you would expect of any postgraduate programme.
You will be contributing to classroom discussions, doing background reading and research, answering
Discussion Questions, liaising with other students and in some modules undertaking projects.

On average our students report spending 23 hours each week in their studies. The exact time you need
for your studies will depend on your own background and experience, and your knowledge of the
module subject. Some modules have heavier workloads than others do, and the workload can vary from
week to week.
How Modules are graded

Each syllabus has a section called Assessment that explains the way the module is graded. Please refer
to that and to the section on grading in the Student Handbook for a detailed explanation; your Student
Support Manager will be happy to answer any questions you have.
For now it is very important that you are aware of the importance of each assignment you are given.
Some assignments contribute a lot towards your final grade, others contribute little. Knowing the
relative importance of each assignment will allow you to prioritise your time sensibly; it would be silly to
spend three hours each week on an assignment that contributed 5% of your total grade for a module
and have less time to spend on an assignment that contributed 35% of your total grade.
If you know in advance what each assignment is worth you will avoid putting too much time into
assignments that do not contribute a lot towards your final grade. This is an important part of Time
Management, and will prevent the shock of discovering at the end of a module that you have invested
too little effort in the assignments that were most important for a good final grade.
Most assignments are awarded one of the following grades:
Outstanding (O): Exceeds all requirements; significant evidence of reading/research outside the

material presented in the programme; independent thought; critical evaluation; in-depth

understanding and insight.
Good (G): Meets all requirements; exercises complete and correct in all major respects,
thoughtful and insightful contributions to discussion.
Marginal Pass (MP): Barely meets requirements; significant errors or shortcomings in answers
to exercises; perfunctory contributions to discussion.
Fail (F): Serious errors or omissions in exercises; little or no serious contribution to discussion.
Work Deadlines

One of the great features of our online study programme is its flexibility. You can plan your weekly study
schedule around your work, personal and family commitments. You can also schedule breaks inbetween Modules to fit in with busy periods at work, vacations, etc..
However, once you have started a module you must make sure you can meet the weekly work
requirements and submission deadlines.

Important Tips
If you fail to meet a deadline, and have not made contact in advance with your instructor to

explain a problem you have with meeting a deadline and provide a legitimate reason for this,
your grade for that piece of work will be a Fail.
If you get too many Fail grades it will limit your maximum grade for the module, even if all your
other work is excellent.
Fail too often and you will fail the entire Module; this means you would need to take (and pay
for) the module again, and the Failed module will appear on your degree transcript along with
all your other marks.
Instructors

In each of your modules you have an Instructor guiding and teaching you and a group of about
18 other students you share the classroom with.
They will assign you your work each week and provide detailed feedback on the assignments
you complete.
Study Skills Tutors

The Study Skills Tutor is the first member of the academic staff of the University you will meet.
They will take the three week Foundations for Academic Success module that you start your
studies with. During this they will help you refresh or develop the study skills you will need to
succeed in the rest of your studies.
Even after the end of the Foundations for Academic Success you will still have private access to
your Study Skills Tutor for the rest of your first module if you need additional support or advice.
Support

We have over a decade of experience of providing postgraduate education online, in addition

to over a century of academic expertise.
We are well aware of how demanding studying for a postgraduate studies can be, especially for
the vast majority of our students who already have demanding professional and personal
commitments.
The way we prepare you for your studies with the Student Readiness Orientation and the
Foundations for Academic Success Module ensures you have a chance to practice or refresh
the study skills you will need to succeed.
We regularly hold Student Support Webinars where we discuss subjects useful to
students. During the webinars you can listen to the discussion hosted by members of our
specialist student support staff, and view the presentation. You can also ask any questions you
have about studying online.
In addition to the academic support you will receive from your Instructor (and later on from
your Dissertation Advisor) we have several layers of non-academic support you can call on at
various points in your studies.

Your Enrolment Advisor will have helped you during the application process; they will continue
to be there to guide and assist you between your admission to the University and when you
start studying.

After you have completed the required steps for us to confirm your start date, you will be
introduced to your Student Support Manager. This will be about two weeks before you are
scheduled to start. They will normally stay with you throughout your studies.

You may be contacted by a Student Advisor if you you are experiencing problems and are not
active enough online or are not meeting deadlines. Do not worry; they are there to help you
move ahead with your studies, not to tell you off.

You also have access to more specialised non-academic support in the form of the Technical
Support Centre and the Online Librarian.

There is one more important form of support you should know about; it is one that all of our
graduates will mention when you ask them about their experience of studying. And that's the
other students.

Studying online can also leave you isolated; but not with the University of Liverpool. Each week
you are interacting with other students in your class, exchanging ideas and learning from each
others experience. You will build relationships with fellow students that carry on beyond the
module you meet them in that can extend into your life after you finish studying.

As well as learning from each other, simply being able to identify with each other because you
are all going through the same experience of fitting a rigorous academic programme into your
working and personal life is a great source of support and advice.