Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE)
Falmouth University - Offered by CEG Digital, United Kingdom
Total Course Fee
USD 4,389
Course Accredited By
PC
Develop the expertise to support you within your role in both digital and face-to-face teaching and learning contexts. Engage with your peers and scholarship and develop as a creative, confident, competent and committed practitioner, able to learn from both your own work and examples of best practice.
Benefit from our ‘learning by doing’ approach and discover through your own learning experience, what it’s like to learn and teach, both face-to-face and online.
The PGCHE has been designed in consultation with education professionals and external bodies for professional teaching and learning practice, such as the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
You will:
- Push the limits of your practice by trying new initiatives, and taking risks within a safe, supportive environment
- Become more confident in your practice and your ability to respond to the rapidly shifting HE sector and its growing emphasis on the student experience
- Benefit from studying alongside peers from different countries, disciplines and backgrounds, allowing you to interact with new perspectives
- Develop your ability to critically evaluate your practice in the light of pedagogical research, scholarship and policy
- Gain the confidence, knowledge and pedagogical fluency to be able to effectively explain your approach to colleagues, students and managers
- Gain the knowledge to be able to prepare applications for professional recognition from various professional bodies. E.g. a portfolio for Fellowship recognition (FHEA) from the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in the UK
- Gain an internationally-recognised qualification for teaching and learning in Higher Education
As the sector places more and more emphasis on the student experience, effective teaching and learning practice is taking centre stage.
This creates a need for both academics and support staff that are confident and qualified in the teaching they deliver.
You may be:
Starting a teaching career within Higher Education and wish to gain an award that is increasingly considered mandatory for applicants to jobs in the sector
- Moving into Higher Education from industry
- Relatively new to teaching at a university
- Inexperienced in e-learning and wishing to gain the knowledge and skills required to teach through blended and online approaches
- An experienced teacher looking for the time, space and support to reflect upon and evaluate your practice
- Working in a support/subsidiary role that's increasingly student facing, with elements of teaching
- Teaching in an institution outside the UK, looking to gain an internationally-recognised qualification.
With Falmouth Flexible, you access your course content, interactions with other students and tutors, and learning resources, through Canvas, an easy-to-use online platform.
You can access the course wherever you are in the world, and you can stop, pause and rewind lectures whenever you want.
Learning activities
Engaging learning activities will help you apply theory to practice. They could include:
- Online presentations to introduce key concepts
- Guided online E-seminars, forums, discussions and activities to facilitate interaction and dialogue
- Self/ peer and tutor feedback and evaluation on teaching and learning practice
- Independent study and ongoing engagement with pedagogical theory and research to develop your practice
- Practical assignments, for example a micro-teaching session and the development and use of an online learning resource.
Assessments
All assessments are taken and submitted online.
You will be assessed through written coursework and practical activities, such as:
- Work-based assignments that are grounded in your current teaching and learning practice where you apply pedagogical scholarship and best practice to develop it
- Written assessments where you design and critically evaluate your curriculum
- Practical assessments where you plan, deliver, and evaluate learning activities with your learners, in both face-to-face and online/blended learning contexts
Enrollment Cycles
- January 2024
- September 2024
- All applications are considered on an individual basis. You would normally be expected to hold an honours degree. Applicants with qualifications other than a first degree, and those without formal qualifications or accreditation but with substantial, relevant professional experience are also encouraged to apply.
- As part of the application process you will be asked to submit a description of your prior experience, motivations for studying the course and how you believe it will develop your career aspirations.
- Within your application you will be expected to demonstrate sufficient previous and current practice in supporting student learning in Higher Education (HE). As a guideline, we expect applicants to be actively engaged in supporting student learning in HE for a minimum of 50 hours over the course’s duration, and be able to evidence this.
If your first language is not English, you'll need to take one of the following tests to verify your proficiency:
- IELTS - minimum overall score of IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.0 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening
- TOEFL iBT (online test) - minimum of 88 overall and at least 21 in all 4 components
- LanguageCert (online test) - a High Pass from the ESOL B2 Communicator test in reading, writing, speaking and listening (2 parts)
We also accept a range of equivalent recognised English language qualifications. Candidates without a degree or formal qualification are still encouraged to apply.
What you’ll learn Investigate current theories, concepts and practices within higher education, and explore and develop the ways you can support student learning in a variety of different learning environments.
Course structure You will need to complete two 30-credit modules (60 credits in total). Both modules are compulsory and must be passed to complete the award.
Please note the module orders are subject to change.
Module one Supporting Student Learning (30 credits)
- Reflect on and develop different areas of your practice in teaching and/or supporting learning in Higher Education (HE).
- Investigate and apply a range of theories, concepts and practices of planning teaching, learning and assessment that are current in HE.
- Get an introduced to key areas of activity, knowledge and professional values commonly viewed as important (e.g. by professional recognition bodies such as the UK HEA) for practitioners working to support student learning in HE.
- Through online and offline activities, learning-by-doing, preparatory readings and reflective discussion, share your experience in supporting student learning.
- Demonstrate your understanding of pedagogy in your own teaching context, incorporating perspectives from sector and subject scholarship into your evaluation and development of your practice.
Module two Developing Flexible Learning Environments (30 credits)
- Further explore and develop the ways in which you can support student learning, especially via online and a mixture of blended learning environments.
- Learn from your peers and share your practice and experience of supporting learning in different environments. Discuss the relative advantages and challenges for learning offered by these.
- Engage with and apply pedagogical learning theory and scholarship to your reflection on and development of your practice.
- Engage with the design, implementation and evaluation of use of technology to enhance learning as part of a blended or online learning approach.
- Engage in reflective discussion and generation of strategies for curriculum design for supporting flexible, inclusive learning in online and/or blended learning environments.
- Evaluate and critically reflect on your practice and learning to inform your continuing professional development.