OBBS6001 Work-based Learning Module Handbook 2026 | Oxford Brooks University

OBBS6001 Module Handbook

Purpose of this handbook

The purpose of this Module Handbook is to provide you with specific information that under- pins the design, delivery and management of this module. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with the contents of this Module Handbook and to talk to your seminar tutor if you have any questions.

This isn’t the only handbook available to you. Alongside this handbook you will also have access to the Institutional University Handbook which will provide you with information that is central to your studies, including policies and regulations, student support and wellbeing and all the services available to you through Student Support.

You will also be given a Programme Handbook which will detail the design, delivery principles and management of your programme. It will also provide you with an overview of your key contacts for your programme of study and list all the modules you will be / might be studying throughout the duration of your award.

Section 1: Module Introduction

How this module contributes to your wider programme experience

This module is one component part of a coherent package of modules that all contribute to the achievement of your programme learning outcomes (see your programme handbook for details) and to your student learning journey at Oxford Brookes.

Contribution to Education and Enterprise for Employability

As well as developing subject specific knowledge, this module contributes to one or more or our core programme design commitments as part of our Education and Enterprise Strategy, specifically, Experiential learning and Employability by offering the work based-learning opportunities for students to gain industry work experience and industry insight

Section 2: How Your Teaching and Learning is Organised

Module Aim

This module offers an opportunity to acquire academic credits for learning gained from working in industry. It serves as an optional module for final-year students, which enables students to access 100 (minimum) hours of paid work experience to develop their employability and enterprise skills and mindset as part of their degree. This would ideally be as a part-time job that spans across both semesters, rather than an intensive block of time. The module offers an inclusive opportunity for students who could not engage in the year- long placement to engage with the industry, gain work experience, build their academic and professional confidence, and apply and reflect on their academic knowledge and skills developed through their study.

Module Learning Outcomes

Module Teaching and Learning Strategy

This module requires students to conduct a work-based learning analysis that critically evaluates their experience and professional practice of the organisation they are working in. Through work-based learning in an industry sector that is related to their programme of study, students will learn from experience not only technical skills but also an appreciation of the issues affecting day-to-day operational management as well as being encouraged to take a more strategic view of the service industry in which they are working. Students will use appropriate service management theory, models, and concepts to evaluate organisational practice in functional areas such as operations, people management, marketing or finance, etc. against relevant management literature.

Module Teaching and Learning Resources

Moodle is the Oxford Brookes virtual learning environment. When you access Moodle Page for this module you will find:

• General information about the Module of OBBS 6001 Work-based Learning.
• Details of each of your modules information. This includes information about the Module Handbook, lecture and / or workshop slides, activities, reading lists, assessment briefs and submission drop boxes, recordings by module leader and additional resources.
• Digital Capabilities for Students to support your personal development, improve your digital skills and increase success at university.

Reading List and Other Resources

You are required to identify your own academic and industry sources to support your literature review and research. However, key texts, journals and database resources have been identified that may be useful for the purposes of this module. This can be found in the Reading List section of the Moodle site. You can also find the reading list of this module from Talis:
https://brookes.rl.talis.com/modules/obbs6001.html

Section 3: How Your Assessment and Feedback is Organised

Module Assessment Strategy

This module follows the principles of the University’s Assessment and feedback policy developed in conjunction with the Student Union, to ensure good practice and transparency in assessment and feedback processes. The Assessment and feedback policy can be found on your Programme’s Moodle site.

Please note: the Institutional University Handbook which will provide you with information that is central to your studies, including policies and regulations, student support and wellbeing and all the services available to you through Student Support. The core information is also available on Moodle via the drop-down menu under ‘Student Help’.

Supported by the WAVES and the career team, students on this module will complete 100 hours (minimum) of work experience with an organisation from the industry sector that is related to their programme of study.

Based on the work experience, students complete a portfolio that includes three components: 

1) a personal reflection on their work experience based on the competence framework that monitors and records their skills development through this module;

2) a critical evaluation of one management scenario that they have identified at their workplace with appropriate management solutions and/ or recommendations; 3) a working log that records the number of hours is met for this module.

Students will be supported by a tutor from the academic team who is responsible for pastoral support, encouraging critical evaluation of organisational practice and reflection on personal & professional development, and guiding their completion of the academic assessment and grading their presentation and portfolio. This approach offers support that is tailored to individual student’s needs and supports the ‘Inclusive Learning and Teaching’ approach to student support from Brookes’ IDEAS model. The module is an important component of an Oxford Brookes Business School degree as it contributes to the ‘Employability’ component and the Education and Enterprise Strategy component of the IDEAS model.

Key Dates

Please ensure you submit your assignment no later than the deadline set above (these are fixed deadlines, but students may exceptionally secure an extension if last minute untoward circumstances affect your ability to submit on time). Please see your Programme Handbook for more details. Please note the use of this extension is monitored and restrictions in place for overuse. Exceptional circumstances guidance.

If there are circumstances preventing you from being able to study and meet the ongoing requirements of this or other modules then please get in touch with your Academic Adviser of Student Support Co-ordinator for advice.

Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) arrangements

Recommendations for Reasonable Adjustments are made in accordance with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. These are detailed in Inclusive Support Plans (ISPs) and need to be implemented unless there is a clear rationale for this not being possible, in which case we are accountable as a university for this decision.
Students who have an extension because of an ISP, please contact your Module Leader if you are unclear about your revised deadlines.

If you would like to request a review of your Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) or to have your needs assessed for an ISP, contact the Inclusive Support Service.on inclusivesupport@brookes.ac.uk
The Blue Marking Card adjustment is only available to students who have an Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) specifying this adjustment. Eligible students who wish to use this adjustment must add a blue card:

Blue Card guidance

It may not be possible to give the full coursework extension period agreed in all Inclusive Support Plans for assignment xxx. If your extension will take your deadline past the University final deadline for submission of work you will not be able to use the full extension. Consideration must be given, when determining a deadline for an extension period, to allow enough time for submission of work and marking, so that the module and marks can be taken to the correct examination committee. If you have an Inclusive Support Plan you can check the full details of the adjustments, including whether you have coursework extensions in Student Self Service.

Academic Integrity

This module has a strong focus on teaching academic integrity, which will be integral to all of your studies and throughout your assignments. Academic integrity means doing your own work and giving credit to others for their work. It involves following good practice in all of your assignments and avoiding academic conduct problems such as plagiarism and other forms of cheating.

Academic integrity course

Before doing any assignments, you should complete the Brookes academic integrity course, designed for you to understand academic integrity and what it means in your approach to assessment.

Centre for Academic Development provides 1-1 support for students with understanding academic integrity issues in their work, such as when problems with plagiarism have been identified. The A-Z of online study resources is strongly recommended for guidance about academic integrity and all areas of your studies.

Library guidance

Library guidance on citing references and plagiarism.
Oxford Brookes uses CiteThemRight for automatic guidance on how to reference sources.

Referencing and understanding plagiarism

Williams, K., & Davis, M. (2017). Referencing and understanding plagiarism (2nd ed). London: Palgrave Macmillan. (library e-book).

This book provides guidance about referencing any source in any system, and guidance about understanding good practice and avoiding plagiarism.

Student Investigation and Resolution Team (SIRT)

The SIRT team are responsible for academic conduct
investigations at Oxford Brookes. Check the information about the regulations and procedure for investigations.

Academic conduct regulations

It is important to be aware of the regulations about academic conduct breaches to follow, in order to avoid problems with academic integrity.

Proofreading

Check the University Policy on proofreading and the Centre for Academic Development advice on editing and proofreading.

Backing Up Work

Generally, IT-related problems are not considered valid grounds for exceptional circumstances. This is because students are expected to back up their work regularly via their Google Drive, so that they can continue accessing their files on other devices. If you experience IT issues, you are expected to take prompt action to remedy these, for example, by raising a ticket with the IT Service Desk; taking your technology for repair or contacting your faculty if you need support with faculty-provided software.

If your own device is faulty, over 1,000 open access PCs are available for use on campus, or you may borrow a laptop for up to four hours from one of the self-service cabinets on campus.

Resit coursework requirements

Working and improving from the original submission of the portfolio, students’ resit submission will need to meet the requirements as stated in the original coursework brief and marking criteria for the portfolio. Please refer to the University Resit and Retake Policy
https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/your-studies/resits-and-retakes/

Assessment Instructions

To demonstrate that the module learning outcomes detailed above have been achieved, you are required to prepare and submit the following.

The Portfolio (following report format) must be 1,500 words in length and include the following sections:

1. Introduction (Approx. 300 words)

• Provide a brief overview of the organisation you are working in to highlight aspects like mission/vision, values, and market positioning.
• Briefly describe your role and responsibilities, and detail how you contributed to the organisation.

2. A critical reflection of your work experience and personal development (Approx. 600 words)

• Critically evaluate your personal development based on relevant reflective learning theories and cite your work experience to demonstrate and evaluate your progress.
• The discussion should be based on your competency framework (template is available on Moodle and you must attach the competency framework in the appendix.)

3. The Management Scenario (Approx. 600 words)

• Identify and discuss a specific scenario from your work experience (it can be your own experience or observation of managers, colleagues, customers or other stakeholders (whether positive or negative)) that exemplifies a particular organisational management practice (e.g. service, marketing, operation, finance, HR, etc.)
• Linking with relevant academic concepts, theories, academic debates and discussions, and industry practices to analyse the impacts of the practice and offer management solutions and recommendations to the organisation.

4. Appendix (this does not count towards the word limit of the report)

a.A competency framework (template on Moodle) to record your personal development with examples.
b.A work experience log (template on Moodle) which records your working hours (Minimum 100 hours and singed by your manager at work)

Presenting Coursework for Assessment

Your assignment when submitted should not include your name – we use a system of anonymous marking to reduce the risk of any unconscious bias. For some authentic assessments, there may be an exception to this, so please confirm with your Module Leader.

The authentic and essential requirements for this piece of assessed work are;

• It must be word-processed in 12-point Arial font and double-spaced
• It must be black text on a white background
• All pages must be numbered
• Margins must be ‘moderate’ or of sufficient size to allow in-text feedback to be given
• These formatting requirements enable your markers to read your work more easily and to provide in-text comments by way of feedback on your work.
• It is expected that the report will be written clearly, be grammatically accurate, with accurate spelling and all references in the correct format.

Assignment Length / Equivalent

Whilst we acknowledge that learners will prepare and produce assessments in different ways and at different paces, an indication as to how much time it will take you to prepare, produce, edit and submit this assessment is detailed below.

The Module Descriptor provides 23 hours for the preparation of the assignment for this module. The length of the work is limited to a maximum of 1,500 words (excluding the appendix).

Artificial Intelligence and its use in this Assessment

• All students should complete the ‘Use of Artificial Intelligence’ course available on Moodle.
• After taking it, please upload your Certificate of Completion to the submission link on:
• For hospitality and tourism students, please use the link below: https://moodle.brookes.ac.uk/mod/assign/view.php?id=2933473
• For Events and Marketing & Events students, please use the link below: https://moodle.brookes.ac.uk/mod/assign/view.php?id=2933474
• This link will take you to further guidance on the use of AI tools at Brookes. This link will take you to the Moodle course Use of Artificial Intelligence.
• For this assessment specifically, the extent you can use AI tools is detailed below,
• You must not use AI tools for this assessment.

Use of Turnitin

The new Turnitin policy effective from September 2022 can be found via this link. You are expected to be familiar with it. It is important to know that the reference list and quotations are included in the overall similarity report, and that these matches are expected and not problematic.For more information on how to interpret your similarity index report, please refer to this link.

Submission Instructions

• Please name your file OBBS6001 Assignment [student name and no.]
• There is no anonymous marking on this assignment as your work is marked by your work-based learning tutor.
• The deadline is Friday 6th March 2026 1pm (Week 6)
• Please submit your portfolio to the FINAL Turnitin drop box in the OBBS6001 Moodle Site
• A FINAL submission drop box will be opened in the Assessment section of the Moodle site.
• Students who have an ISP or other extension should use the same FINAL drop box for their submission.

How your work will be marked

Once the submission date has passed your module tutors will begin to mark your work. There are a number of phases to this which ensure fairness is maintained across the whole team including a pre-marking calibration meeting, marking and post-marking internal moderation of grades. Following internal moderation, a sample of work is reviewed by the External Examiner for the programme to ensure that the standards applied are comparable to those at other institutions. To read how your work is moderated please go to your programme handbook for details.

Feedback

Feedback on your work will be provided in a range of ways at various times throughout this module, and different feedback will serve slightly different purposes. Feedback is designed to support your learning and help you improve subsequent work, so you need to engage and get the most out of the feedback provided.

Please note that feedback is provided throughout the module not just on formally assessed tasks. It will be provided on your work and contribution in class, on the formal assessment tasks and, in some circumstances, during student office hours.

If you would like further information about feedback, or how to use it, please talk to your academic tutor on this module or your Academic Adviser or Programme Lead. You will receive the provisional mark and feedback through Turnitin on Moodle.

Assessment feedback will normally be provided within 15 working days of submission. Please note that all marks are provisional until they are ratified by an Examination Committee.

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