We believe that best teaching practice involves a combination of styles of instruction. These different approaches allow you to develop flexible learning skills appropriate to each method of instruction. These flexible skills are important for subsequent employment purposes. Lectures are designed to offer a clear guide to the subject matter of a course, with particular attention to issues of debate and the identification of questions that call for further exploration. Lectures normally last an hour, during which time there are opportunities for questions and discussion.
Tutorials are a crucial element in the teaching programme of all three years.
They provide an informal and supportive setting in which small groups of students are encouraged to try out ideas, explore in detail key issues and debate alternative views on particular topics. In the first year you will have one human geography and one physical geography tutor, who you meet alternately each week. In the second year, you will have one tutor throughout the year and tutorials focus on a combination of study skills and academic issues. Fieldwork is compulsory in the second year for single honours students and is encouraged for joint honours students. Additionally it provides students with opportunities to talk informally and work with staff over an extended period.