Programme summary for Postgraduate Certificate Narrative Research by Distance Learning

About the programme

This PG Certificate provides an overview of narrative research methodologies and approaches to analysis. It explores three key areas: oral personal narratives, written narratives and visual narratives. It addresses questions such as how people come to see themselves as distinct subjects about whom a story can be told, the role of memory in people’s accounts of their lives, and how class, ethnicity, gender and other social characteristics shape the stories people tell.

Programme structure

The Postgraduate certificate in Narrative Research is comprised of two modules, each of which will take 12-13 weeks to complete,

Narrative Research (Semester A)
Narrative Force (Semester B)

Both Narrative Research and Narrative Force are available as stand alone modules, which lead to the award of a Postgraduate Associate Certificate. Despite this, we would strongly encourage you to complete Narrative Research before enrolling on Narrative Force, unless you have significant experience of narrative research. Admission directly to Narrative Force is therefore subject to an academic decision regarding suitability and extent of experience.

Career opportunities

Using and applying narrative is a growing career field including, amongst others, academic social science and cultural studies, applied social policy areas, health services, computing (particularly in the development and theorisation of narrative-based games) and biographically based art work. The programme can assist your career development and progression in all of these fields.

Support

Given that the programme is delivered by distance mode, the learning material for each module is detailed and activity-based to encourage learners to engage with concepts and techniques. Additionally, the learning material provides links to electronic journals and websites where appropriate. UEL Plus, the platform used for the delivery of the programmes, enables online discussions between learners and UEL staff, and also facilitates the downloading of programme material.

On enrolment, you will be provided with introductory materials on the use of UEL Plus (UELPlus) and UEL Direct.

During your studies, you will be supported by specialist academic tutors from the School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies (Sociology and Innovation Studies) and our team of Distance Learning Student Advisors in the School of Distance and E-Learning. These advisors act as a first point of contact for you, addressing the majority of student queries and referring only those that relate to academic matters to the module tutor. The Student Advisors will also contact students who seem to be falling behind and will offer advice and encouragement to them.

Those who are in a position to visit the campus have full access to all books, journals, CD-ROMs, video tapes, etc. held in the Learning Resource Centre. Also, UK-based students may access other university libraries under the UK Libraries Plus scheme.

In addition, students are invited to public seminars and research workshops organised by the Centre for Narrative Research in the Social Sciences. These seminars are open to academics, students, professionals and practitioners in the narrative field. Here, students are able to place research techniques and findings in the context of the complex, and often competing, demands of the academic environment and statutory and voluntary bodies. For distance learning students who cannot attend, sound files will be posted on UEL Plus.

We also provide useful advice and information in our Student Handbook and online at http://www.uel.ac.uk/dl/index.htm

Admission

Applicants should normally hold a first class or second class honours degree in a relevant field of study such as the humanities or social sciences, however applicants holding an honours degree in a field of study which is not immediately relevant, or who have relevant research or professional experience will be considered.

All applicants with appropriate qualifications will be invited for interview. The interview can take place face to face, via telephone or video conference. Where this is not possible, applicants will be asked to provide detailed written evidence of their interest in Narrative Research and evidence of research, writing or other work of a standard sufficient for successful postgraduate study.

In the case of applicants whose first language is not English, then IELTS 7 (or equivalent) is required. International qualifications will be checked for appropriate matriculation to UK Higher Education postgraduate programmes. In the case of applicants whose first language is English, GCSE English or equivalent is required.

Students that apply to enter stages of the programme may be admitted through normal Accreditation of Certificated Learning (ACL) processes. Therefore such applicants must be able to demonstrate and evidence that they have the required learning outcomes as listed in the modules for which they are seeking exemption.

Applicants should have basic IT skills and should also be able fulfil the technical requirements of the programme:

Technical requirements

To participate in the programme you need at least:

Access to a PC or Mac with CD drive.
56K modem with Internet access. (A broadband connection is strongly recommended.)
A supported Internet browser - see UEL Plus’ tune-up page at http://www.webct.com/tuneup/viewpage?name=tuneup_browser_tuneup_information
Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or equivalent, and graphics software capable of viewing j-peg files.

The PC should be capable of running the standard MS Office suite (or equivalent) for producing word-processed documents, spreadsheets and presentations. You will be expected to spend approximately 5 hours online per week, participating in discussions and accessing additional resources. (You may find it beneficial to spend more time online to investigate more fully any areas that are of particular interest to you.)