The University of Sheffield
MSc International Health Technology Assessment

Learning online

Online learning or e-learning offers flexibility. It enables you to study what you want, when you want, and from wherever you may be.

As there are no attendance or travel requirements you can continue to work full time or part-time, while stuyding part-time to enhance or expand your career prospects.

For overseas students, there are no visa requirements.

The Virtual Learning Environment

You will use the University's My Online Learning Environment (MOLE). A video demonstrating this environment for this programme is available to watch below. This platform enables you to access all of the course materials; to interact and collaborate with fellow students and tutors; and to complete and submit formative and summative exercises and assessments.

The majority of the materials are provided in the form of text, but this is heavily supplemented, where appropriate, with videos, screencasts, internet-based materials, and the use of interactive online tools.

Materials are provided in blocks or "sessions" of 2-3 weeks duration. We have found that this approach, rather than one requiring work every week, week-by-week, better permits the throrough and comprehensive study of materials, and completion of formative exercises by students working remotely, online, and part-time, and with other calls of their time.

Please note that, although this course is taught by distance learning, it is still necessary for students to adhere, as far as possible, to the set timetable for the course. This is partly to enable full value to be obtained from discussions, debates and other formative, participatory exercises. All students must work through particular course elements within the same timeframe.

Watch the video below on how the course is taught using My Online Learning Environment (MOLE).

Note: You can switch to full-screen view by clicking on the arrows icon in the bottom right corner.

Remember, if you want to watch in full screen on a PC or laptop, start the video, then change the resolution in the bottom right-hand corner to 480 and the viewing quality will be improved.

Social learning

Learning is social: we learn from each other as much as from purely independent study. The sharing of ideas and the opportunity to debate and discuss has been demonstrated to enhance the learning process, and is a key means of developing, refining and challenging our own evolving ideas.

For this reason, we make use of the following tools to enhance online interaction and participation between the students themselves, as well as communication with tutors:

Support and teaching

Academic, teaching and technical support is provided by University of Sheffield members of staff together with contributions, where appropriate, from other international experts in particular fields.