Information on how to research all of your options before you start. Researching available optional courses and being aware of the enrolment processes in your School before you start will ensure you are ready to select your courses just before and during Welcome Week. You will likely be asked by your School to provide them with a list of your preferred courses in advance of Welcome Week. They need this information in advance so that they can correctly allocate you to courses with space. You will only become enrolled in a course when you have confirmation from your School from Welcome Week onwards. It can then take a few days for this course to show up in your timetable. Your timetableChoosing courses can be overwhelming but giving yourself time and focus to do in the the weeks leading up to starting should help you feel confident in what is available and what areas might interest you more than others. You can choose from a range of optional courses to take alongside compulsory 'core' courses for your degree programme, these can complement what you are studying or be completely different.Research your optional coursesYou can start looking through available courses on DRPS anytime from May:DRPS (Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study)DRPS is the University’s complete database of programmes and courses and includes full information on each course as well as an outline of the selection of courses that are to be taken per degree programme.Before you startFind out which School your degree programme belongs to by using the Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study website:Degree Regulations and Programmes of StudyFind out how many credits you have for optional courses (further information below) Once you have located your degree programme, under ‘year 1’ you will see a section highlighting your compulsory courses and the course options section underneath. Most degree programmes will have clear instructions in this section about how many credits you need to use on optional courses. You may be directed to look at courses in different ‘schedules’ within the DRPS Course Catalogue. Each schedule is a list of all courses offered by a School (sub-divided into subject-areas) and assigned a letter to allow cross-referencing from the individual degree programme table.When you select a School/Schedule, you will first see the list of degree programmes. When you select one of these, you will see all the courses available to that programme. If you have any questions about any courses, there will be an email contact for the Course Organiser (usually the academic who designed the courses) or the Course Secretary. Find course informationKey things to consider when looking at courses in the DRPS Course Catalogue: Check the course is the right level for you (SCQF Level 8 is for first year undergraduate and SCQF Level 11 is postgraduate) Check which semester the course is runningCheck if the course has specific entry requirements (prerequisites). Do you need to have completed another course in advance/be part of a specific degree programme? Check how the course will be delivered and the learning outcomes. Is it assessed by coursework and/or exams? Do you have a preference? Student’s Guide to the DRPSPATHAccess PATH (MyEd login required) Path is the University's helpful tool and an alternative way of viewing the same information that is shown on DRPS. Path allows you to more easily search for optional courses with useful filters and provides a more visual way of building your programme. It can also show you how your potential selections could be a pre-requisite for future course choices and how your choices at this stage could influence your future studies. It can also generate a DRAFT simulated timetable. The Course Timetable Browser (below) will give you a more accurate understanding of your optional courses would fit within your timetable Consider how courses fit into your timetableYou will be unable to see a Timetable for any course within DRPS until closer to the start of teaching. It is important to consider if there will be any clashes with your core courses and there are other helpful tools to help you. Access your Course Timetable Browser (MyEd login) Course Timetable Browser shows you a number of possible timetables and acts as an aid to plan classes and courses. It lets you explore and generate a timetable so you can see how courses will fit together and what each day will look like. Tips for navigating Course Timetable Browser: Search for your compulsory 'core' courses first as these will be set in the schedule from July onwards You can then add in any potential optional courses and view how this would look on this simulated timetable (courses will show in different colours) If you open course information on the timetable, it will bring you back to the DRPS Course Timetable Browser is a simulation only and your optional courses will only be confirmed when you start with your School. This article was published on 2024-11-12
