The teaching and learning activities of the Master, developed in the distance mode, conceived and designed for the autonomous learning of the student, will use the following means and forms.

1. STUDIES OF LEARNING UNITS

The basis of distance learning is the reading, study and reflection on the learning units configured as didactic units, articles and texts, study guidelines and self-assessment tools, all of which are materials prepared and selected by teaching staff with a high level of competence and practical knowledge of the subject.

Links to texts and study materials will be included in each learning unit, grouped by thematic blocks. Many of these will be Teaching Units specifically prepared for the Master, and which are available in open access on the UNED Space Platform (Collections of the National School of Health), or in a new publication, the GAPS Journal, which will include review and dissemination articles for specialised teaching, specifically commissioned for the courses on the general subject of "Government, Administration and Health Policies" that are developed in the ENS and the UNED.  LINK LIST OF COLLECTIONS

The subject guides contain the following information for each Teaching Block: a brief introduction; an outline of the Teaching Blocks (objectives and contents), and instructions on study and evaluation. This information will be followed by an outline of the Learning Units, ordered by weeks. 

The Learning Units are built on the platform - virtual course. In each Learning Unit the teachers-coordinators of the thematic block will give a brief introduction and indicate the essential readings that enable the learning objectives to be covered; they will also provide a series of items or questions that facilitate the identification of these objectives. Finally, they will provide links and further reading, as well as open-ended self-assessment questions. All material or links necessary for learning will be specified and accessible from these units. 

Each subject may have video-lessons, dedicated to :

Introduction to the didactic block of each subject.
Synthesis of the compulsory contents.
Case studies.

2. GENERAL COURSE FORUMS

Support for the study of the Units is essential, and is developed through the Virtual Classroom of the course; in it appears a Work Plan structured in chronological sequence to stimulate the sequential monitoring of the study; there is a General Forum where students can communicate with the Academic Direction of the MUAS any doubts, questions, suggestions or issues that arise in the course. Along with this instrument, a Student Forum is provided, where students are encouraged to make a brief self-introduction at the beginning of the course, and which remains as an arena for horizontal communication of students (among themselves), and with their student representatives of the course.

3. WORK AND SUBJECT TUTORING FORUM

Within the Virtual Classroom, and in each Subject, an essential instrument of communication between students and the Professors-Coordinators of each Subject is established. In each Block there will be two Teacher-Coordinators who dynamize the Work and Tutorial Forum; these forums are much more than mere "doubt forums" and are promoted as a place where the Professors launch ideas, propose activities, bring current issues, and rely on questions or comments from students to encourage new discussions and work; the ease with which documents or links are now incorporated into these platforms and forums, creates an enormously creative and enriching dynamic.

The aLF-UNED Platform Forums are designed to send to the internal internet address of all the professors and students (and also other external addresses) immediately or periodically, the communication and transcription of new messages incorporated into the discussion threads.

From the initial impulse (as has been observed in all previous editions of the MUAS), the role of the Teacher-Coordinator becomes more of a moderator and synthesis of the contents that have emerged; the closing of the course also allows the Forums to reach some conclusions in the discussion threads and works that have been developed.

4. TUTORIALS AND DIRECT ADVICE FOR STUDENTS

Enrolled students will be provided with an official Master's email account, which will be the main means of communication with the Academic Committee and the Secretary's Office.  Detailed information on this matter will be given in the guide that will be handed out at the beginning of the course.  

5. ELABORATION OF CASES AND APPLIED EXPERIENCES FROM

This activity, which is part of subject 10 (Case studies and applied experiences), consists of students preparing a case study or applied experience on an issue related to health, health services, service organisation, management or the development of health policies that combines the student's interest with its importance from a health and management perspective and its academic projection. Specific instructions will be given in the Guide, and the first face-to-face session will provide training on how to develop a practical case study or applied experience; and finally, a collection of the best cases and experiences from previous promotions will be made available to students to serve as a guide and model for their development.

At the beginning of the course, a sequence will be established for the presentation of the cases and applied experiences, and in the Virtual Classroom there will be a tool for uploading the work, which will be located in an area of the Classroom accessible to all other classmates, so that everyone can share and learn from the work of others.

The Academic Direction of the MUAS and the Professors-Coordinators of the subject 10, will be available to support in the realization (and to evaluate through the court the cases and experiences for the purposes of the qualification of the subject).

6. ELABORATION OF THE MASTER'S THESIS (TFM)

MUAS students must develop an original work of study and research, which may take various forms: it can be an original research paper with primary or secondary information, prepared according to the usual characteristics of an article for a scientific journal; it can also be a case study of management and organisation of services, in which a management issue and its alternatives for improvement are documented in a sufficiently broad and deep way; It can also be a project for the reorganisation or transformation of a centre, service, unit, technology or service, in which the situation of a specific organisational structure is analysed and documented and the necessary transformation processes are developed (planned or carried out); an essay with a broad and in-depth review of an issue of management or research in health services can be an interesting alternative. Given the practical orientation of the Master, the course allows other TFM formats (portfolio of description and strategic analysis of a health service, map and analysis of care processes, evaluation of interventions, etc.) always with the prior agreement of the Professors-Coordinators of the subject 9 , and also of the Academic Direction of the MUAS.

7. PRESENTATION AND DEFENCE OF THE MASTER'S THESIS

The TFM will be submitted for assessment in accordance with the teaching guide for this subject; students may present and defend their work publicly in the classroom or in the offline mode (submission of the TFM and oral presentation).

The guidelines for the development of this activity of presentation and discussion of the TFM are set out more specifically in Subject 9.

FACE-TO-FACE ACTIVITIES

The activities carried out in face-to-face mode (at the headquarters of the National School of Health, or at the Faculty of the UNED, depending on the case), which involve all subjects, will be as follows

1. PRESENTATION OF THE MASTER'S DEGREE

At the beginning of the Master (first year), a session will be held at the headquarters of the National School of Health, or at one of the UNED Faculties in Madrid, to present the course, the teaching guide, the virtual classroom, the teaching dynamics, and the contact and tutoring tools.

It will also seek the mutual knowledge of the participants, as a motivating element and also as a facilitator of exchange and subsequent communication. In addition, in this session, the academic management and coordination will introduce the contents, seeking the integration of the vision of the Master as a whole, and will also give the appropriate advice for students to assume the difficulties involved in the distance study components, and to be able to programme their stable and sustained effort for the study that is programmed in the Work Plan.

2. LECTURES, ROUND TABLES AND THEORETICAL FACE-TO-FACE CLASSES

In the two-day face-to-face sessions, lectures, round tables or face-to-face classes on in-depth or updated content of the subjects already studied are incorporated, allowing new cognitive competences or the application of knowledge to be built on the basis of personal distance study, and supporting the extension or diversification of the learning carried out. The formats and contents must be adapted to the aspects developed in the subjects studied or those to be studied, and will be subject to a specific programme by the Academic Coordination of the MUAS to ensure that they are up to date and adapted to the aspects debated in the course forums, and which are of greatest academic interest.

3. FACE-TO-FACE SEMINARS

Also in the face-to-face sessions, seminars are held to coincide with the subjects (and the Thematic Blocks that comprise them) where the Lecturers-Coordinators who have led the Forums and have carried out the tutoring function have the opportunity to interact face-to-face with the students, to comment on what has been learned, to resolve doubts, and to introduce additional content for updating, application and extension; these seminars can last between one and two hours.

4. FACE-TO-FACE WORKSHOPS

The face-to-face sessions will also include workshops for the acquisition of practical skills and competences, which will complement personal study in those subjects that are not very susceptible to distance learning; practical aspects, calculation exercises, analysis of cases and issues, development and application of methods, etc. They may last between two and three hours, and students will have a high level of participation and interaction.

5. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF CASES AND EXPERIENCES .

In the second year of the Master, the Academic Direction of the MUAS will choose for each classroom session some of them, which for their quality, interest, and fit with the subjects under study, will be presented publicly through a brief presentation by the student, followed by comments from peers and faculty. This activity will be a bonus for the mark obtained in the previous activity, allowing the mark to be increased if these presentations add value to the learning process.