Managing a Small & Sustainable Business H5 Semester 1 Module Handbook 2024-25 | LBU

Module Handbook

Module Aims

Through connecting theory to reflective practice, students will critically analyse, acquire, develop, and apply skills, knowledge and understanding to reconcile contemporary sustainability challenges facing new business enterprises.

Module Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate knowledge of key theories, with an understanding of their relevance to the practice of sustainable development
• Critically develop creative solutions to the sustainability challenges faced by contemporary new business enterprises
• Research, develop and propose a sustainable new business enterprise to ethical investors

Module Learning Activities

Module learning activities will help support self-directed learning, which is expected in greater depth in these students’ second year of Higher Education. These activities will include:

• Weekly Lectures introducing the topics to help signpost how to use the readings in the assignments,
• Weekly Practical Workshops to explain and offer the opportunity to learn how to undertake the skills and knowledge necessary to pass the assessment components for this module.
• Participatory learning environment, both online and face-to-face
• Blended learning via regular and integrated use of VLE
• Working as a group to explore sustainable business ideas through a series of in-class group activities.
• Non-timetabled drop-ins with tutors may also be used to provide an opportunity for groups to gain formative feedback on the work they prepare for assessment

Students should note that practicals offer the opportunity to complete the same activities they must complete on their own for the assessment. They provide students with a chance to make mistakes, not to repeat these in their assignment, and achieve a better final mark for this module.

Graduate Attributes Developed and Assessed

Communication

If you have any questions about any aspect of the module, you should raise these either during or at the end of classes. Your module team will also be happy to meet with you in person, online or via hybrid drop-in sessions. You can also contact members of the module team throughout the semester via email during normal working hours (see MyBeckett for contact details). MyBeckett will be used outside of lectures and tutorials to communicate any further information to you.

You must notify your Course Administrator if you are absent for more than one day (for example, for an interview, emergency, unforeseen circumstances, or for compassionate leave). If you are going to apply for mitigation, you will need to provide written evidence of the reason for your absence (see Extenuating Circumstances and Mitigation for further information).

Contact Hours

Studying at University is a very different experience and will be challenging at times. We are here to help you. If you are struggling, resources are available to support you, and you will receive support to get things back on track. Not asking for help, however, will be unhelpful to you in the long run and, as indicated, will also have an impact on others. Again, taking responsibility is therefore key.
There will be classes for all 12 weeks of this module. The following classes will appear on your timetable:

• Timetabled Lectures: 12 hours
• Timetabled Practical classes: 24 hours.

Committing to being on campus in classrooms is a similar expectation to being at work, as per contractual arrangements with an employer. Students are expected to attend all 12 weeks and all 36 hours of timetabled classes. Your Business School expects high standards of employability from its students to be achieved before and not after, graduation.

Drop-ins are not timetabled classes but a separate opportunity to meet with the module team outside of classrooms. You will find a list of all of the drop-in times for tutors teaching this module on MyBeckett.

Goals of The Lecture Programme

Copies of the slides for all of the lectures will be made accessible on MyBeckett before the module starts. The lectures run online and are then repeated live in person. You should take notes during the lectures, all of which will be recorded to enable you to clarify your understanding.

Essential Readings

In the weekly schedule, you’ll also see links to the Essential readings. Your knowledge, understanding and ability to apply these is tested by both assignments for this module and will reflect your final grades. Higher marks will be awarded to students who can incorporate the additional (or recommended) readings provided.

Different Goals of The Practice Programme

There isn’t time in class for staff to go over the above learning in practice classes, nor will staff repeat these activities in the limited time available. Students are expected to cover this learning outside of class time. Practical classes will focus on allowing students to practice delivering the skills necessary to apply the learning to the assessment tasks to the expected pass standards. To make mistakes and correct these in class (rather than in their submissions where no such opportunity is available), and to provide plenty of formative feedback throughout these classes that will help students achieve better progression outcomes for this module.

Key Resources to Support Learning

In addition to the practical worksheets provided in this handbook, students will find all the resources they need for their learning on this module on the module’s virtual learning environment, MyBeckett. These resources are organised and include the following:

• How to contact the module team (Drop-in times and email)
• How this module is assessed (Assessment instructions, The Assessment Rationale and Marking Criteria, Assessment Domains, and Feedback Proforma with details of how to improve).
• The Module Curriculum – (What we cover each week with links to each of the Essential & Recommended Readings for each of the Topics)
• The Learning Materials – (Lectures Slides and Recordings, Practical Worksheets, and Assessment Practice Activity Handouts)
• The Reading List- (All the readings are provided for this module via the linked module reading list page within our library, students don’t need to buy any of the books, and they should and must not search the internet for their own resources – increasingly AI services can do this and often these are not relevant, easy to spot, and ultimately not worth the time and cost involved in using).
• This Module Handbook.

Weekly Schedule

Module Assessment

Assessment Summary

There are two assignments for this module. All students must attempt both assessment components for this module.

The first assignment is a group assignment. Groups of students will make four presentations fulfilling the four specified tasks for Assessment 1, each of which is worth 20% of the final marks for this module (80% in total). Each assessed group presentation must be made live ‘in-person’ during specified timetabled classes and will be recorded by tutors using Panopto for the purposes of internal and external moderation and to provide summative feedback.

The second is an individual assignment. Individual students will prepare and submit a reflective report fulfilling the specified tasks for Assessment 2, worth 20% of the final marks for this module. Individual students must submit their reflective reports via Turnitin using the link provided on MyBeckett before the assessment deadline for Assessment 2.

Assessment 1: The Four Group Presentations

Assessment 2: The Individual Reflective Report

The Aim of Module Assessment

The aim of this module is for groups of students to develop a proposed sustainable small business venture. This could be articulated as a in number of contexts: for example, a sustainable product or service, a sustainable process, a sustainable paradigm, a sustainable position or a sustainable business.

The Two Assignments Explained

For the first assignment (80% of module marks) groups of students must attempt to raise crowdfunding finance by presenting their proposed sustainable small business venture to representatives of an ethical investment bank. The bank has specified that all groups tendering for financial support must present their business proposals in four parts ‘live in-person’ in four timetabled classes as follows:

For the second assignment (20% of module marks) individual students will report on what teamworking challenges they faced in throughout the business proposal. Teamwork presents challenges and opportunities for continuing professional development for individuals within all organisations. A reflective approach must be used throughout the second assignment detailing the skills and resources developed’ throughout the proposal and plans for continuing professional development of these in the future. As the marking criteria indicates both assignments specifically focus testing creative, theoretical, analytical and specific communication skills, knowledge and understanding with respect to the above learning outcomes. The different modes of assessment (verbal and reflective writing) allow different students to play to the range of inherent skills and abilities, dynamics and learning modes within project work teams.

Instructions to Students

Assessment 1: (Group Presentations - 80%)

Who will you work with: Students will be put into groups by the module team before the start of teaching. A list of these groups will be provided via MyBeckett. Students may not choose their own groups, nor may they change groups.

Students must only use the University Software Platforms via their student login credentials to communicate and collaborate with other students on this module.

Non-University platforms (e.g. Snapchat, WhatsApp, text message, etc) must not be used. Any attempt to do so by one or more students will be taken as non-inclusive behaviour and will be investigated by our student code of conduct.

MS Teams must be used to meet, share and collaborate outside of class (meetings should be recorded). Collaborative documents must be created via Microsoft 365 and must be stored using OneDrive. All these Apps must be used via Leeds Beckett login credentials to allow all students on this module to have access to the opportunity to collaboratively work with each other on the same terms as each other.
 
What you need to do to pass: The marking criteria provide details of what students are expected to deliver in all four assessed group presentations; the ‘assessment domains’, and the extent to which they deliver these will be used to determine their mark for each submission.

1. Knowledge and Understanding of Theory & Concepts: The application of knowledge and understanding of sustainability and enterprise concepts and theories is core to this task. How well groups can demonstrate they understand the essential and recommended readings is therefore a primary determinant of the final grade awarded for each presentation. Some evidence of understanding of the essential readings must therefore be provided in all of the presentations for a group’s presentation to achieve a pass mark.

2. Analysis: [Application] of Knowledge & Understanding: Students must research the sustainability problem they intend to reconcile and then ‘evaluate’ this using the above concepts to formulate their ‘proposed’ solutions. This process of evaluation follows a set number of stages and in the case of this module, must be undertaken according to a set number of processes presented according to prescribed templates. Some evidence of analytical skills and techniques, and adherence to the processes expected, must also be provided in all the presentations for a group’s presentation to achieve a pass mark.

We often use the word ‘critical’ in combination with analysis. Critical thinking or analysis is a key expectation of the ‘levelness’ of your H5 [second year] studies at university. But what does this mean, and what does it entail? Fisher and Scriven (1997) define critical analysis as a process of questioning, interpreting, and evaluating information, actions or claims. The term evaluation is important in the context of this assignment as it relates to the ‘value or worth of something’ (Saunders, 2011). So, this suggests that when approaching the assessment tasks, you should question the theories and concepts presented and compare and contrast the value or worth of each of these with respect to each other and with respect to your practice of them.

3. Creativity skills are a core element taught and assessed by this assignment.

4. Communication skills: are also assessed within all four presentations; the extent to which groups concisely and compelling present evidence, and this is convincing to the audience, accordingly to the academic standards expected in their second year or an undergraduate degree. Our library again has resources on offer to help improve presentation skills and help you work better in teams and you are encouraged to make use of these to improve your final marks for both this and the previous components - Presentations and Group Work - Presentations & Group Work - The Library at Leeds Beckett University

‘Non-Contribution’ Marks: All students in a group will get the same mark for each component of the assessment. However, students must prepare their presentations in timetabled practice classes. Students who don’t come to or participate in these practice classes will receive a ‘non-contribution’ (non-submission) mark for the relevant presentation.
 
Extenuating or Mitigating Circumstances: The University recognises that several students may have extenuating circumstances that prevent them from participating in their studies from time to time. Therefore, students who have extenuating circumstances that have prevented them from contributing to the preparation of one or more of the presentations must apply for mitigating circumstances. If successful, they will be entitled to resubmit the assessment component during the resit period and the full range of marks.

‘Peer Assessment’ Marks: Students will get the opportunity to decide if members of their group (who have contributed in class to the preparation of presentations) can be awarded different individual marks, but only during the practice classes and as agreed with all students in the group and with tutors.
Having prepared and presented practice presentations to tutors, students will then have the opportunity to use the assessment criteria to ‘co-create’ a predictive grade for the group and individuals in their groups with their tutor. Essentially a form of ‘peer assessment’, students will be provided with the assessment rubric and then encouraged by their tutor to provide evidence that explains why the submission should be awarded a specified mark concerning each of the assessment domains and what they feel could be done to improve on this. Where they feel different members of the group should receive different marks, evidence to support this should also be provided.

Feedback is an important element of learning, and it is anticipated that with help in orienting their understanding of the assessment of the learning outcomes for this module, students will be able to use this indicative feedback to achieve (and improve on) the outcomes of peer assessment of draft submissions in practice classes.

How to prepare the four presentations: In Lectures and through the use of the Essential and recommended readings students are tasked with learning how sustainability presents businesses with problems and what the solutions to these might be. Collectively, these learning materials will allow students to develop their opportunities and ideas for a small and sustainable new business enterprise.

Students will additionally learn through lectures and the essential and recommended reading about the four key elements of new business enterprise proposals: specifically, the opportunity & idea, the feasibility analysis, the competitor analysis and the business model.

Receiving Feedback on Draft/Practice Presentations: Having studied the learning materials, groups of students will then develop their proposals in timetabled classes. Classes will provide students additionally with an opportunity to present a practice presentation to tutor to receive summative feedback on key areas that need development before delivering their finished presentation for assessment (practice classes are one week before the assessment class giving students time to work on their drafts and implement feedback recommendations before the submission deadlines).

Submission of the Four Presentations (First sit only): Following practice classes, it is anticipated that students will meet and finalise their presentation according to the detailed feedback they received. Feedback on drafts can only be provided in these practice classes and as indicated students (or groups of students) who choose not to participate in the classes provided with opportunities not available to other students unless evidence of extenuating circumstances can be provided (according to the mitigating circumstances procedure the University requires all students to follow).
 
Groups of students will submit their presentations in class the week following practice classes. As indicated in the assessment summary, presentations must be no more than 10 minutes to allow all groups to present and tutors to subsequently provide groups with feedback and provisional final grades before the end of the timetabled class.

To remain eligible to receive a mark, students who participated in the preparation of presentations in practice classes must also be in attendance during the presentations (unless extenuating circumstances apply, in which case mitigating circumstances must be applied for).

Late attendance of The Four Presentations: Students who arrive more than 30 minutes late for their assessed presentation (25% of the allocated class time) will not be eligible to receive a mark for the submission (see extenuating circumstances information above).

Feedback on Presentations: Having made their presentation, groups of students will receive immediate feedback and their provisional final grade. Feedback will be recorded using Panopto, and students will be provided with access to this recording no later than 2 working days following their presentation.

The Re-sit for Assessment 1: (Individual Presentations - 80%)

The resit for assessment 1 is individual. Students must ‘make good’ on the first sit instructions individually and submit their four presentations before the resit deadline.

Under the University’s Assessment Regulations, with respect to academic honesty, students may not submit the same presentation(s) as other students for the resit.

Students will pre-record a video of their four resit presentations using Panopto under Digital Learning’s recommended submission method for video assignments.

Four video files must be submitted using the links provided in the reassessment folder on MyBeckett before the resit deadline.

PowerPoint slides may of course be used for all four presentations however, by our assessment regulations students must be identifiable throughout the presentation; specifically the face of the student presenting should be visible throughout the presentation and the student should clearly show their student ID at the start of the presentation (full name and student ID number).

Assessment 2: (Individual Reflective Report - 20%)

What you need to do to pass: The marking criteria provide details of what students are expected to deliver for the reflective report; the ‘assessment domains’, and the extent to which they deliver these will be used to determine their mark. As indicated, different skills, knowledge and understanding and essential readings must be applied to the task, evidenced, and communicated.

What is the task for the second assignment? The second assignment is a reflective report, not a report; you must use a reflective approach throughout your entire assignment. The assessment task is:

Using a reflective approach, report on what teamworking challenges you faced in developing your proposal, what resources you sought to overcome these, and how you will continue to develop your teamworking skills going forward.

How to Write ‘Reflectively’: Your writing throughout this assignment must use a style of ‘reflective writing’. Several approaches can be used to write reflectively. The reflective practice approach (Moon, 2004) is familiar to most organisations and seeks to help provide access to training and resources in response to individuals' self-prescribed goals and professional development needs. Jenny writes that ‘we reflect to learn something. Or we learn as a result of reflecting.’ ‘The content of reflective writing is not a direct mirror of what happens in the head but is a representation of the process within a chosen medium’, writing. ‘In making a representation of personal reflection, we shape and model the content of our reflection in different ways and learn also from the process itself. In other words, there is secondary learning’ (ibid., p. 70).

With the generic approach to reflective writing, you would first ‘record’ your current day-to-day practices of sustainable development for the module topics chosen. What things did you do and who was involved, when and what happened? For example, if you chose ‘food’, this may be (but not limited to) what food do you buy, when and where does this come from (think of the whole supply chain), perhaps document this for friends and family if they connect with these practices too.

Keeping your discussion short and relevant is key to the record stage.

Next you reflect on these current practices. Why do you do them? How do you feel about them and why? What are the pluses and minus of each, and how do these inform your actions?

Critical questioning is key to the reflect stage.

For record and reflect you are looking at yourself currently, or more specifically before you started to study the concepts and theories of sustainable development as provided in the Assessment Resources Folders on MyBeckett. This separation, before the module concepts, during and after is key to the process.

It’s key that your reflections fit this timeline so that your account is an accurate and honest representation of your learning and assessment journey.

Next you critically analyse these reflections. Here you start to make connections with the concepts and theories of sustainable development provided in the relevant Assessment Resources Folders. You use these
to interpret your reflections and critically discuss this process. How do the practices inherent in these theories and concepts compare with your practices? To what extent do these theories and concepts help you unpick the situations or experiences you have recorded and reflected on? Thinking about these connections, how might these inform your future practices? What might you do differently next time and why?

It is crucial that you critically connect the records you have collected of your practices of sustainable development with the concepts and theories we have provided you with as this forms the crux of the reflective process and is the aim of this assignment.

Finally, you act. You formulate a plan for changing your practices in response to the critical analysis of your reflections. What actions will you take in the future and why? How could you put these into practice?

Making this plan Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed or S.M.A.R.T. is key to this final stage of the generic approach to reflective writing.

Kolb (1984) describes reflection as a continuous process. Having made your plan, try repeating the process and documenting this second journey too. Reflection is a practical exercise, but one that often takes practice. In engaging in these materials and this assessment, your relationship with sustainable development will change, and it is your reflection on this process of change, (about your knowledge and understanding of the materials within this module) that is the aim of this assignment.

You could additionally document your reflections by including evidence of this journey. This evidence could be diary entries or reflective notes you kept whilst compiling this assignment. You could reference these documents as you would any other piece of evidence and include them in the appendices of your report.

You can evidence how your skills have changed by including examples of these in your appendices (e.g. see reflective diary page 2 in Appendix B). You should provide evidence of what you have read that has prompted change in your practices using normal Harvard Referencing.

Submission of the Individual Reflective Report: You MUST submit your reflective report through MyBeckett using the link set up by the tutor. Receipt of your work will be recorded. The "Turnitin assignment" in MyBeckett will be set up so that you can check your assignment yourself as you submit it. This checking is done by creating a "Similarity Report". 

The Re-sit for Assessment 2: (Individual Reflective Report - 20%)

The Task: For the resit, students must make good on the feedback provided on their first attempt for the reflective report to achieve a pass grade as determined by the assessment criteria provided (see below).

Submission of Resit Reflective Report: You MUST submit your resit reflective report through My Beckett using the link set up by the tutor. Receipt of your work will be recorded.

Assessment Grade Using Marking Criteria

Marking Criteria

Feedback on Your Assessments

Feedback forms a large part of your learning experience and is vital to your personal and professional development.

Whatever your academic level, building on your feedback is vital. Noting and acting on feedback is key to independent learning, continued progress and long-term success.

Throughout the module, you will be provided with formative feedback opportunities on the extent to which you have demonstrated achievement of the learning outcomes for this module; the appropriate ‘levelness’ of your skills, knowledge and understanding. In classes, you will have the opportunity to discuss the readings and then apply theories within these to practice case studies, explaining changes in their institutional environment. Throughout these classes, the teaching team will use the feedback proforma to provide you with formative feedback. You’ll also note that additional guidance sessions have been timetabled to clarify your understanding in advance of assessment, and ‘mock’ assessment opportunities have also been provided to help you predict your level of achievement and adjust your learning accordingly.

Having spent time reflecting on formative feedback and adjusting your learning accordingly you will receive summative feedback on overall achievement of the learning outcomes for this module in the form of a final grade and indicative guidance that will explain what could be done in future to improve learning and assessment outcomes. The marking criteria provided previously will help you quantify these changes. The feedback will be in the form of a Panopto Recording. Watching this will allow you to see examples of good practice in your work and examples of areas where changes should be made you could achieve better outcomes in the future.

Understanding Your Assessment Responsibilities

Please check the latest information relating to things like Extenuating Circumstances, Academic Honesty and late submission penalties.