ORIENTATION MODULE UNIT 2

Course Handbook

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Table of contents
1. Course overview 3
2. Learning outcomes 3
3. Learning times 4
4. Participation requirements 5
5. Assessment 6
6. Tech considerations 6
6.1 Accessing the Online Campus 7
6.2 Protecting your login details 7

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Learning outcomes:

LO5: Recall the grade distribution, pass requirements, tech considerations, and other
important course information.

This document provides information you need regarding the distribution of grades,
minimum pass requirements, tech considerations, and structure of the course.

1. Course overview
This eight-week LSE Real Estate Economics and Finance online certificate course
explores the foundations of real estate economics, markets, and finance. The course
combines current academic economic and financial analyses and research with an applied
study of real estate markets. The subject matter is designed to equip you with both the
theoretical understanding and practical knowledge necessary to succeed in most real
estate markets.

2. Learning outcomes
The exit-level outcomes for this course are as follows:

• Illustrate the forces that drive location decisions in urban areas and the effect of
location decisions on property prices.

• Show how changes in supply and demand influence property prices.

• Determine the stage of the real estate cycle based on identifying characteristics.

• Compare properties with different prices and characteristics to determine which

provides the better investment opportunity.

• Calculate the value of a property based on its income-generating potential.

• Recommend the most suitable method of financing the purchase of a property.

• Analyse the impact of adjusting the weighting of assets in a portfolio on its

investment performance.

• Calculate the value of investing in sustainable real estate.

• Recommend which property investment to make in order to maximise returns.

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3. Learning times
This course consists of eight modules. Each module is released on a Wednesday at
10am (10:00) Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or British Summer Time (BST), depending on
the time of year of your enrolment on the course. The deadline for your assignments for
each week is Tuesday at 11pm (23:00) GMT or BST. You can consult the course calendar
on the Online Campus for a full breakdown of your assignment due dates.

Each module is broken down into manageable chunks, or units. It is recommended that
you work through the components within these units in the order they are presented. A unit
represents a meaningful portion of work where you can work through one or two key
concepts and bring these into immediate application before progressing. To learn
effectively, it is recommended that you complete a unit in one sitting.

Each module aligns to a set of learning outcomes or learning objectives, which relate to
the specific learning goals you can hope to achieve for that module.

Note:

Should you have any additional questions regarding the structure of the course, the
assessments, or the grade distribution, please don’t hesitate to contact your Head Tutor
on the discussion forums during the week, as Head Tutors are not available over the
weekends to attend to your queries.

Each module is estimated to take between 7 and 10 hours per week. Figure 1 shows a
visual breakdown of the estimated learning times.

Important note:

These learning times are only estimates, offered as a guide. The actual time spent
working through the course material may vary per student, depending on differences
in learning styles, language proficiency, internet speed, etc.

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Figure 1: Estimated learning times per module.

4. Participation requirements
You will need to achieve an overall mark of 50% across all activities to pass this course,
as shown in the grading system in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Grading system for this course.

Your grade will be determined based on your performance in the following activities:

• Small group discussions: Your participation in the weekly discussions will count
towards your final grade. You will have one week to engage in and earn a grade
for each module's discussion, after which the discussion for that module will be
closed. If you do not make a post, you will receive a 0. To earn a 1, you are
required to make at least two posts, either in the form of a reply to the discussion
prompt, or a reply to another student’s post. Small group discussions offer an
excellent opportunity for you to grapple with key aspects of the course material
and to engage with your peers and Head Tutor to work through some of the more
complex ideas and debates around the topics in every given module.

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• Activity submissions: There will be seven activity submissions (Modules 1 to 7).

Grading of activity submissions is done by the Tutor Team and marks are awarded
at their discretion. Results and feedback will be released one week after the
assessment deadline.

• Assessment quiz: Module 8 will be graded using an online assessment quiz. The
quiz is graded automatically, and your results with feedback will be released one
week after the assessment deadline.

• Capstone project: Module 8 includes a capstone project, which is the activity

submission that you are given upfront in this Orientation Module. This project
consolidates your knowledge gained over the entire course. Grading of the
capstone project is done by the Tutor Team and marks are awarded at their
discretion.

Class-wide forums, practice quizzes, and enrichment activities are not graded.

Certificates of competence will be issued in your legal name upon successfully completing
the course according to the stipulated requirements for award of a certificate. No certificate
will be issued to you if you do not meet the stipulated requirements for the award of a
certificate.

5. Assessment
Figure 3 indicates the distribution of graded assessments throughout this course and the
individual weighting of each assessment in relation to your overall grade.

Figure 3: Grade distribution of activities per module.

6. Tech considerations
You will need the following software to make the most of this course:

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• Microsoft Word

• Microsoft Excel

• Adobe Acrobat (or similar PDF reader)

• Google Chrome or Firefox browser

For any technical queries or difficulties, please contact your Success Advisor.

6.1 Accessing the Online Campus

The Online Campus is your online learning environment where you will access your
learning content and engage in collaborative learning activities.

The Online Campus is accessible at the following URL:

https://lse.onlinecampus.getsmarter.com/

6.2 Protecting your login details

Do not divulge your login and password details to anyone. Additionally, do not leave your
computer unattended when you are securely logged in on the Online Campus.

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