RSA Opening Minds Short Course

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What is it?

Opening Minds was developed by the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). It is a curriculum framework made up of five groups of competences: citizenship, learning, managing information, relating to people and managing situations. A good Opening Minds curriculum will equip students with the skills and self-awareness that will enable them to achieve their full potential at school, in FE and HE, and eventually to be successful in the workplace.

This Short Course can be completed using the student book or is available for learners to complete online through the ASDAN e-portfolio system. Learners log in to complete challenges, record skills development and upload evidence. Tutors can view learner progress and sign off work, leaving feedback as needed.

Who is it for?

Opening Minds has proved to be popular with a growing number of secondary schools because it enables them to work with students in a very different way. The emphasis in Opening Minds lessons is on students first acquiring an understanding of the competences and then developing an expertise – a competence – in these areas.

Facts and Figures

  • Flexible, multi-level programme
  • Internally moderated
  • Accredits 10-60 hours of activities
  • Can count as up to 3 of the credits needed to achieve the Personal Development Programmes
  • Can count as up to 6 of the credits needed to achieve CoPE
  • Also offers progression to AoPE and Wider Key Skills

Requirements

Learners must present evidence of their activities in an organised portfolio or e-portfolio.

This will contain:

  • a record of challenges completed, with supporting evidence for each challenge
  • recording documents, showing how learners have planned and reviewed their activities
  • summary of achievement, highlighting skills development
  • personal statement

Course Content

The Short Course is split into five modules, each relating to a different aspect of the Opening Minds curriculum:

  • Citizenship
  • Learning
  • Managing information
  • Relating to people
  • Managing situations

Each learner will need their own copy of the Short Course student book or an e-portfolio login – this contains the challenge content and recording documents.

Download sample pages from the RSA Opening Minds Short Course student book.

Supporting Resources

A quick guide to Short Courses is available to support the delivery of all ASDAN Short Courses. This document offers advice and guidance for tutors, including a step-by-step guide to delivery.

Additional resources to support Short Courses can be downloaded from theOrb – ASDAN’s Online Resource Bank. Resources available include witness statements, activity logs, lesson plans, worksheets and examples of evidence.

Getting started

For centres new to ASDAN, your first step is to complete the centre registration form. Current ASDAN centres need to ensure that the Short Courses are added to their centre's registration.

Following registration, you will be able to purchase your books and access additional resources and guidance via the members area of this website. ASDAN also provides introductory training workshops and can arrange in-house training.

ASDAN members area

Once your centre is registered with ASDAN for Short Courses, you can find further information and resources in the members area. This section of the website contains all the essential documents, forms and updates that you will need to deliver your course.

There is no limit to the number of people from a centre who can register to use the members area. You can create a new user account using the online form. 

Certification

Once students' work has been internally moderated, centres can request certificates for successful candidates from ASDAN, using the form in the members area.

There is no external moderation for this programme, although ASDAN reserves the right to request samples of candidates' work for quality assurance purposes.

Costs

All student book, certification and registration prices shown below are per learner, unless otherwise stated.


Item Price
Short Course student book (one per learner) £8.50
Short Course e-learning login (one per learner) £8.50
Short Course PDF certificate Free
Short Courses printed and foiled certificate (optional, per learner, per Short Course £2.15

 

All prices valid from 1 September 2018 until 31 August 2019. Prices are shown exclusive of VAT.

What next?

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