LAND TRANSPORT SYSTEMS - 2024/5

Module Overview

The Land Transport Systems module aims at helping students to develop an understanding of various transport systems on land, which are crucial about travel and tourism. This will offer essential background and analytical skills to understand and evaluate passenger transport demand and system requirements when developing and evaluating travel and tourism services.

We aim at offering students in-depth knowledge about motorised and non-motorised transport modes and enable them to develop relevant conceptualisation and evaluation skills required to design such travel and tourism services. These skills will be culminated through the diverse class activities offered through this module and will evolve while students prepare for the module assessment during the Semester. This module builds on previous modules including a transport component e.g. MAN1107, MAN2148, MAN2155 and offers a more in-depth exploration of relevant models, challenges and frameworks.

Based on knowledge acquired through this module and guest lecture input, students will be asked to outline a travel or tourism experience of their choice based on the so called “new mobility services” and then evaluate it using established frameworks, which they have familiarised with previously in their studies. Additional impacts will be taken into account, for example financial investment and environmental ones.

The module covers a wide range of transport modes which will be discussed using case studies and examples from diverse disciplines and countries. By covering fundamental principles of transport planning and its application in the travel and tourism industry, will offer students key skills enabling them to develop expertise in designing unique travel and tourism experiences in the future.

 

Module provider

Hospitality & Tourism Management

Module Leader

THOMOPOULOS Nikolas (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Transport and Urban Form: Smart cities and the notion of Accessibility

• Slow travel in the 21st century

• Rail transport in different continents

• Transport infrastructure investment and project evaluation in the UK

• Car and motorbike travel

• Environmental and sustainability impacts of land transport systems

• Emerging travel and transport innovations & their route to market

• Public transport and Automated Vehicles in tourism

• Active Travel and the Multi-Level Perspective

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their breadth and depth of understanding about both tourism and land transport systems within the wider sustainability agenda. Module assessment consists of formative and summative tasks. Only the summative assessment contributes towards the final grade of each student for this module.

 

Summative assessment

The summative assessment includes the required element to successfully complete this module. A coherent and balanced Academic Essay needs to be produced individually and submitted through SurreyLearn. Each student needs to submit an individual academic essay about a new mobility service linking land transport systems with tourist experiences. Students are examined on their academic and critical skills. Summative feedback is provided via SurreyLearn 3 weeks after the assignment submission. The Grade Descriptors will be used to assess all submissions.

There are a number of reasons for requiring an academic essay as a summative assessment:

•       It gives impetus to further excel academic writing.

•       Reading around the subject area helps to ensure that the topic selected is appropriate and sufficient academic literature exists.

•       Allows to put in practice previously acquired knowledge about business and management evaluation theories and frameworks.

•       Links expert knowledge acquired through class activities with practice.

 

Formative assessment

A series of formative tasks and activities through lectures, tutorials, online guided learning activities, hands on sessions or SurreyLearn will be used to test student understanding and provide feedback to the module team. Such tasks and activities could be individual or group ones and may be completed before, during or after a given session. Particular focus will be given in developing academic skills to support student preparation for the summative assessment e.g. citations and referencing. Students will receive formative feedback weekly, particularly during tutorials through a range of channels e.g. from the module team, fellow students, guest lecturers. Additionally, there are individual consultation hours with the module leader after class sessions, to support individual learning needs. Formative assessment feedback will allow students to identify weak areas where more study is required to meet the module aims and learning outcomes.

Module aims

• Investigate tourist demand for non-motorised transport and slow tourism practices
• Examine rail transport management issues at the global level
• Identify key environmental and investment evaluation challenges of transport for tourism to link with wider sustainability goals
• Understand urban public transport systems and their importance to tourism destinations
• Analyse the dominant role of road transport in domestic and international tourism
• Acquire hands-on experience to improve student employability through developing and assessing new transport services

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to enable students to gain a detailed understanding of the various land-based transport systems and their link with sustainability goals. The use of lectures, tutorials, case-study exercises, online guided learning activities, in-class group activities and industry guest speakers will provide students with the opportunity to meet the key learning outcomes of the module while enhancing their employability. The formative and summative assessments will develop the students’ critical reasoning skills and will challenge them to apply academic theory in a transport context.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Lectures and tutorials with a range of specialisms designed to provide a framework of knowledge
• In-class exercises, case studies and discussion topics will highlight contemporary issues and allow the students to form and challenge perspectives from the vested stakeholders
• Visiting speakers will ensure students appreciate the relevance of the material to the various modes of land transport

A wide range of global case studies are delivered in weekly module sessions. Case studies, frameworks and theories are based on contemporary research and projects to ensure teaching and learning via research-informed delivery. These teaching and learning methods are aligned with BSc ITMwT programme modules. This module is also offered as an optional module to other L6 School programmes, so it has been ensured that delivery methods are in-line with other School programmes too.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN3165

Other information

This module adopts the university curriculum framework which aims to develop learners with strong capabilities in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the development of the following capabilities:

Global and Cultural Capabilities: The use of a wide range of case studies and land transport examples from the UK (e.g. Infrastructure evaluation), the Global North (e.g. AVs, MaaS) and the Global South (e.g. Rail, Motorcycle, Active Travel), this modules offers a truly global perspective to all students. Individual and team-based class activities invite students to share their international experience and own cultural capabilities. Using student experiences  to illustrate in-class examples offers further exposure to diverse cultures, while equipping students with key skills to succeed in a career within a global industry such as transport and travel.

Digital Capabilities: Teaching and learning materials are provided in several formats, and students are encouraged to use discussion boards for communication e.g. formative peer review task through SurreyLearn. Students are provided with examples of how to further enhance their academic skills (e.g. referencing, academic writing) and digital skills. Online and in-person guest lectures further familiarise students’ digital capabilities particularly in relation with new mobility services e.g. automated and autonomous vehicles.

Employability: By actively participating in all module activities, students develop a range of employability skills. The external guest lectures are particularly helpful to gain direct exposure to contemporary challenges and inform students about the required skills. Working to describe and evaluate a new mobility service, students will be prepared to work in a range of sectors and industries e.g. travel and transport. The use of previously taught evaluation frameworks while preparing for the summative assessment contributes in allowing students to put theoretical knowledge into practice. Additionally, students work in pairs and in groups to complete formative assessments during the weekly tutorials.

Sustainability: Land Transport Systems has sustainability at its core. Students are taught about the different aspects of sustainability each week, in relation to a range of land transport modes and across different countries. Emerging digitally-enabled new mobility services (e.g. Mobility-as-a-Service) are linked with sustainability and students are asked to critically evaluate the contribution of such services to wider societal sustainability objectives. In such, students will be familiar with the sustainability challenges, which they are asked to apply in their summative assessment.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: Asking students to devise a new mobility service and evaluate it, challenges their resourcefulness. Drawing on global case studies and being introduced to a range of challenges faced by companies and passengers, students are expected to assess which new mobility services will be more resilient in the short- and long-term. The critical ability of students is also enhanced through relevant activities.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2024/5 academic year.