Course Catalogue

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Introduces students to the broad range of current research on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

10 hours over a 5 week block

Successful completion of level 3H psychology single honours.

None

Coursework 100%. This will consist of two components:

1. A 15-minute podcast or talk on an assigned topic prepared and delivered/recorded in groups of three (90%).

2. Peer assessment exercise - grading and feedback is provided by individual students randomly assigned to a podcast or talk different from their group presentation (10%).

The peer assessment will work as follows: Before the first talk is delivered, students will be aware which coursework group (of 3) they are in and which presentations they are assigned to peer assess. Upon submission, all podcasts (as well as recordings of talks with slides) will be uploaded to the Virtual Learning Environment. Students will have the same length of time as course tutors to peer assess the podcasts by uploading a mark (from 22 point scale) to Moodle along with a brief paragraph of justification/critique. The students who prepared the podcasts/talks will see this (anonymous) critique which will serve as peer feedback. In the event of there being a large discrepancy between the peer feedback and the mark from the course tutors (greater than 2 fine-grain marks) there will be an adjudication process to resolve the difference. If students do not complete or fail to deliver the peer feedback then they will lose the additional marks from their own peer assessment on a pro-rata basis. As much as possible, the peer assessment and feedback will be delivered through the Virtual Learning Environment.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

To introduce students to the broad range of current research on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

By the end of this programme students will:

1. be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of current definitions of ASD and diagnostic techniques.

2. be able to critically assess current psychological/cognitive theories of ASD.

3. be able to critically assess current neural theories of ASD.

4. have a detailed knowledge of potential causes of ASD

5. have a detailed knowledge of the social and scientific importance of ASD.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.