Teaching and assessment for Business Administration (Professional Doctorate) DBA

Teaching will be delivered in a blended learning format during years one and two of the four year programme. At the beginning of each academic year in September, you will be required to attend a one-week, face-to-face, induction period, when you will meet other students and staff teaching and supervising on the DBA. For the remainder of the time, you will engage in online teaching and learning, and self-directed study.

There will be emphasis on active learning, using participatory approaches, such as interactive workshops, seminars, group work, one-to-one supervision (in the thesis stage), and web conferences.

The DBA has been designed to enhance your professional development and enable you to further progress as 'reflective practitioners' within your own setting. To achieve this, we deploy a range of innovative teaching and learning activities that draw on the experience of the group to share learning about key business and management problems.

Each module assessment includes subject-specific components to evaluate your knowledge and understanding of the module topics. This is achieved through a range of methods appropriate techniques, including:

• written coursework
• continuous assessment
• blog entries and wikis
• oral individual and group presentations
• peer / self-review
• group projects

You are also expected to develop core programme skills throughout your studies and some of these, including digital literacy, critical thinking, and writing, are tested across all modules. Others, such as applying the principles of strategic thinking, action learning and honing your dissemination and implementation skills, are linked to specific modules.

The thesis is the culmination of the DBA programme in years three and four of the programme. It tests your intellectual skills, creativity, problem-solving, and ability to manage a complex and challenging piece of work.

In all written assessment work, you are expected to use a wide range of academic concepts and evidence to support your work.

Core Modules

These modules are an essential part of your course

RD51002 - Leading Strategic and Organisational change

RD51003 - The Research Proposal

RD52002 - Research Methodology and Reviewing the Literature in Business and Management

RD52003 - Qualitative Methods in Business and Management Research

RD52004 - Quantitative Methods in Business and Management Research