Innovation and Improvement Science

This module is mandatory and integral to your Postgraduate Certificate Programme. It initiates your programme by facilitating activities to raise self-awareness about your strengths, development needs and the skills and knowledge you need to for your personal and professional development. This enables you to negotiate a programme of study that best fits your personal and professional development needs, with the support of a learning mentor who will support you during the length of your programme of study.

Further to designing and negotiating your programme, this module will shadow your learning journey through to completion. The module’s main purpose is to facilitate your ‘learning about learning’ and develop this critical lifelong and work-based skill. This should bring confidence to critically evaluate and challenge ideas, have a voice to make a case and communicate complex ideas to different audiences.

Duration, attendance and delivery

You will normally start this module at the beginning of your Postgraduate Certificate Programme. The module course usually lasts 12 months as it runs alongside your taught courses in the Postgraduate Certificate. There is a face-to-face workshop at the start of the module and then the module learning consists of online self-study, online group mentoring, personal mentoring, reflection activities, and completion of a learning portfolio.

Assessment

You will be assessed at the end of the module through submission of a learning portfolio that represents the progress of your learning from the beginning to the end of this module. You will be assessed against the module learning outcomes, including evidence of learning with and from others on the modules that comprise your programme.

Entry requirements

You will need to be in work (paid or unpaid) in a role which enables you to meet the requirements of the Postgraduate Certificate.

Start dates

• January
• April
• September

N.B. CETAD reserves the right to cancel or move the course to a later date if the number of students registered for the advertised course is not sufficient.

Overview

• History and development of Quality Improvement Science
• Models and techniques for Quality Improvement and Improvement Science
• Policy and context of Quality Improvement in health care
• Organisational readiness for Quality Improvement

By the end of the course, you will have developed

• A critical understanding of the role of improvement science in a healthcare context
• Knowledge and understanding of key models related to Quality and Improvement Science
• An understanding about the improvement practices in relation to your own organisational role and context.

Duration, attendance and delivery

The course usually lasts approximately 10 weeks.

The delivery of this module is through our online+model for distance learning consisting of online learning, self-study, reflection, discussion and sharing learning with and from others, application of learning to your organisational context and the completion of assessment tasks. There is also the opportunity for students who value face-to-face workshops to attend optional themed workshops.

Assessment

At the end of the course you will undertake an assessment. This is an applied work-based assessment rather than a theory-based essay. This means that typically you will be required to apply what you have learnt to your context at work, evaluating concepts for their applicability and usefulness.

The assessment format may be a reflective account, a project report, a presentation or portfolio of evidence; all being the equivalent of 2000 words in length.

Entry Requirements

You will need to be in a work role (paid or unpaid) which allows you the scope to put the concepts learned into practice. This is a core course for students enrolled on the Postgraduate Certificate in Innovation and Improvement Science (exemption may be given via APL).

There are no formal qualification requirements for entry; we assess suitability on each individual application.

Start dates

• March

N.B. CETAD reserves the right to cancel or move the course to a later date if the number of students registered for the advertised course is not sufficient.

The project syllabus will be largely determined by the focus and nature of your project and will be agreed between you and your mentor-facilitator. You will be guided, supported and encouraged to take a proactive role in designing your own learning. It is likely this learning will be located in the following areas:

• Knowledge creation - identifying potential enquiry approaches suitable for work-based projects that deliver impact
• Developing critical cognitive skills for questioning and challenging existing organisational ideas and practices
• Developing clarity and consistency in communicating with a range of organisational and academic audiences.
• Exploring social and ethical challenges in changing organisational contexts

Overview

Effective collaborations and successful team working are key features of successful organisations. This course will develop your critical understanding of the features of ‘high-performing teams’ and your skills working as a team leader or member.

You will explore key concepts, models and theories of team roles and dynamics and relate these to your own experience. You will evaluate frameworks for assessing and developing team performance and consider their usefulness and applicability to your own practice.

We will explore with you the answers to some key questions:

• What is the impact of leadership on the performance and development of teams?
• What leadership skills and strategies are effective?
• What is 'collective leadership'?
• What are the specific challenges of working with inter-agency and inter-professional teams?

You will evaluate ideas, relate them to your situation and develop practical strategies you can adopt at work.

Duration, attendance and delivery

The course usually lasts approximately 10 weeks.

The delivery of this module is through our online+model for distance learning consisting of online learning, self-study, reflection, discussion and sharing learning with and from others, application of learning to your organisational context and the completion of assessment tasks. There is also the opportunity for students who value face-to-face workshops to attend optional themed workshops.

Assessment

At the end of the course you will undertake an assessment. This is an applied work-based assessment rather than a theory-based essay. This means that typically you will be required to apply what you have learnt to your context at work, evaluating concepts for their applicability and usefulness.

The assessment format may be a reflective account, a project report, a presentation or a portfolio of evidence; all being the equivalent of 2000 words in length.

Entry requirements

You will need to be in a work role (paid or unpaid), which allows you the scope to put the concepts learned into practice. There are no formal qualification requirements for entry; we assess suitability on each individual application.

Start dates

• November
• May

N.B. CETAD reserves the right to cancel or move the course to a later date if the number of students registered for the advertised course is not sufficient.

Overview

Creative thinking is the ability to imagine or invent something new and is a powerful skill in the work context spanning the spectrum of 'brilliant ideas' to 'better ways of doing things'. It can be closely linked to problem-solving. This course will help you develop your abilities and support you to develop a creative, innovative culture in your team.

You will examine concepts and models used to stimulate creative thinking and frameworks for problem-solving and assess their applicability and usefulness to your work. For example, you might look at the work of experts such as Edward de Bono and evaluate ideas such as ‘left and right brain thinking’, ‘six thinking hats’ and a ‘solution focus rather than a problem focus’.

Duration, attendance and delivery

The course usually lasts approximately 10 weeks.

The delivery of this module is through our online+model for distance learning consisting of online learning, self-study, reflection, discussion and sharing learning with and from others, application of learning to your organisational context and the completion of assessment tasks. There is also the opportunity for students who value face-to-face workshops to attend optional themed workshops.

Assessment

At the end of the course, you will undertake an assessment. This is an applied work-based assessment rather than a theory-based essay. This means that typically, you will be required to apply what you have learnt to your context at work, evaluating concepts for their applicability and usefulness.

The assessment format may be a reflective account, a project report, a presentation or a portfolio of evidence, all being the equivalent of 2000 words in length.

Entry requirements

You will need to be in a work role (paid or unpaid), which allows you the scope to put the concepts learned into practice. There are no formal qualification requirements for entry; we assess suitability on each individual application.

Start dates

• February

• November

N.B. CETAD reserves the right to cancel or move the course to a later date if the number of students registered for the advertised course is not sufficient.

Overview

• Leadership in times of change
• Transitional to transformational leadership
• Appreciative leadership
• Stakeholder analysis
• Supporting staff in embracing change
• Capacity building to cope with uncertainty
• Achieving sustainable change
• Dealing with resistance to change
• Emotional Intelligence - self and social awareness
• Influencing skills

On completion of the course, you will have developed your understanding of a range of approaches to leading others through times of change. You will have developed your ability to understanding how to engage and influence others and how to take into account different individual’s responses to change. This learning will enhance your own capacity to lead and manage people through change.

Duration, attendance and delivery

The course usually lasts approximately 10 weeks.

The delivery of this module is through our online+model for distance learning consisting of online learning, self-study, reflection, discussion and sharing learning with and from others, application of learning to your organisational context and the completion of assessment tasks. There is also the opportunity for students who value face-to-face workshops to attend optional themed workshops.

Assessment

At the end of the course you will undertake an assessment. This is an applied work-based assessment rather than a theory-based essay. This means that typically you will be required to apply what you have learnt to your context at work, evaluating concepts for their applicability and usefulness.

The assessment format may be a reflective account, a project report, a presentation or portfolio of evidence; all being the equivalent of 2000 words in length.

Entry requirements

You will need to be in a work role (paid or unpaid) which allows you the scope to put the concepts learned into practice. There are no formal qualification requirements for entry; we assess suitability on each individual application.

Start dates

• June
• October

N.B. CETAD reserves the right to cancel or move the course to a later date if the number of students registered for the advertised course is not sufficient.

Overview

• What is leadership? What is management?
• Leadership and management: current debates and issues in relation to the challenges of your own role
• Social and ethical challenges for management and leadership in changing organisational contexts; managing with integrity
• Organisation culture, values, power – impact on expectations and behaviours of leadership and management
• Understanding your own leadership style, behaviours, habits
• Evaluating your own strengths and development needs in the context of management and leadership
• Developing authentic leadership effectiveness – aligning your approach to fit with organisational current and future needs

On completion of the course, you will understand different perceptions of effective leadership and management and be able to examine the effectiveness of leadership and management in the context of your own organisation. You will be able to devise a strategy for your own personal leadership development to help you to address the current challenges of your role.

Duration, attendance and delivery

The course usually lasts approximately 10 weeks.

The delivery of this module is through our online+model for distance learning consisting of online learning, self-study, reflection, discussion and sharing learning with and from others, application of learning to your organisational context and the completion of assessment tasks. There is also the opportunity for students who value face-to-face workshops to attend optional themed workshops.

Assessment

At the end of the course you will undertake an assessment. This is an applied work-based assessment rather than a theory-based essay. This means that typically, you will be required to apply what you have learnt to your context at work, evaluating concepts for their applicability and usefulness.

The assessment format may be a reflective account, a project report, a presentation or a portfolio of evidence; all being the equivalent of 2000 words in length.

Entry requirements

You will need to be in a work role (paid or unpaid) which allows you the scope to put the concepts learned into practice. There are no formal qualification requirements for entry; we assess suitability on each individual application.

Start dates

• January
• March
• September