The course is designed with a practical approach, with a minimum of theoretical classes. The contact hours are distributed as follows:

• One 2-hour theoretical session to introduce the basic concepts of cartography and the organization of the course.
• 48 hours of laboratory practicals, delivered at a rate of two hours per week.
• 35 hours of fieldwork (distributed over 5 days) supervised by the teaching staff.

In addition, students will be required to complete several supervised assignments throughout the course and undertake 4 days of independent fieldwork, which will complement their training.

The face-to-face practical sessions are organized as follows:

• 8 sessions in the Geometric Problems block
• 3 sessions in the Collsacabra block
• 4 practical and review sessions in the Vallcebre block
• 7 interpretation sessions in the Geological Maps block
• 1 theoretical session prior to the field trip
• 1 follow-up session after the field trip for consultation, interpretation, and completion of the fieldwork assignment.

The fieldwork component consists of the Móra d’Ebre–La Figuera Field Camp (5 days of on-site fieldwork + 4 days of independent fieldwork).

For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed except for the fieldwork report. For this assessment, IA is permitted exclusively for support tasks (e.g., literature and information searches, text summarisation, comparison of readings, proofreading, and translation). Students must clearly identify any parts of their work that have been generated using these technologies, specify the tools employed, and include a critical reflection on how these tools influenced both the process and the outcome of the activity.

Failure to disclose the use of AI in an assessed activity will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total reduction of the grade for the activity, or, in serious cases, more severe disciplinary measures.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

To achieve the course competencies, it is important that students put in continuous effort. It is essential that students become deeply involved in solving the proposed problems and interpreting geological maps, as both are important goals of the course. For this reason, the course methodology has been designed to promote an autonomous learning environment for students.

A basic aspect of geological cartography is the understanding of geological bodies in three dimensions. It is therefore recommended that the student use both the digital resources available and the recommended bibliography in order to achieve this understanding. Special attention will be paid to the proper and accurate use of language and geological nomenclature by the students.

Normative to nonattendance at supervised activities

All supervised sessions are obligatory.

• Students will receive a mark of “fail” (i.e. 0) in the assessment of the “Geometrical Problems” block if there are more than two sessions with nonattendance. The same criteria will be applied to the assessment of the “Geological Maps” block. It will be mandatory to send an image (or scan) of the work performed during the in-person practical sessions for both blocks, "Geometrical Problems" and "Geological Maps".
• Nonattendance at a session of the “Collsacabra” or Vallcebre blocks results in a mark of “fail” (i.e., 0) for this part of the course.
• The nonattendance on any day of the field trip implies a mark of “fail” in the final grading of the course

Only students who have participated in fewer than 35% of the course's assessment activities may receive a “not assessable” grade. Otherwise, the students will receive a mark in accordance with the “assessment-grading” norms.

Assessment - Grading

The final grading of the course will be done following the next distribution:

A1. Grading of the “Geometrical Problems” Block. The assessment of this part of the course will be done from the weighted sum between the exam (75 %) and the submitted problems during practical sessions (25 %).

A2. Grading of the “Geological Maps” Block. The assessment of this part of the course will be done from the weighted sum between the exam (75 %) and the submitted problems during practical sessions (25 %).

A3. Grading of the “Collsacabra” Block

A4. Grading of the “Vallcebre” Block

A5. The grading of the field work will consist of the following sections.

A5.1 Material elaborated and delivered in the field. During fieldwork, the students will submit a copy of the working field map, and on the last day, they will submit a copy of the final working field map, the sedimentary log, and a cross-section of the studied area. In this section, the students' attitudes during fieldwork will also be considered.

A5.2 Geological report and oral examination. The student will submit a printed copy of the field report before the indicated deadline. The oral examination will consist of answering a series of questions related to the field work and report.

There are only reassessments to the activities if “Geometrical Problems” (AR.1), “Geological Maps” (AR.4) and the field report (AR.5.2). The reassessment of AR.1 and AR.4 will be done through an exam, with a maximum reassessment of the 35% of the final mark of the course.

The reassessment of AR.5.2 will be done through a new submission of the field report, with a maximum reassessment of 25% of the course's final mark.

The students who failed these activities must participate in the reassessment activities. Nonattendance at a reassessment activity will result in failing this part of the course (i.e., A1=0 or A4=0).

The final grading will be done after the reassessment activities. The calculation will be done following the next considerations,

1) Firstly, the average score from the lab blocks (i.e. Geometrical problems, Collsacabra, Vallcebre and Geological maps) will be calculated. This score will be calculated by attending the relative weighting of the different blocks following the next equation,

Q1 = 0,30·A1 + 0,30·A2 + 0,15·A3 + 0,25·A4

2) If Q1 is equal to or larger than 4, then the qualification will be calculated using the next equation,

QF = 0,175·A1 + 0,175·A2 + 0,10·A3 + 0,15·A4 + 0,20·A5.1+ 0,20·A5.2

3) In the case that Q1 is lower than 4, the qualification will be “fail”, and the score will be calculated using the equation,

QF = 0,30·A1 + 0,30·A2 + 0,15·A3 + 0,25·A4

This course do not include single assesment (i.e. avaluació única). The systematic failure to submit continuous assessment activities (i.e., submitting less than 50% of the required coursework) makes it impossible to pass the course.

Plagiarism and Inappropriate Student Conduct

Students who engage in plagiarism (in whole or in part), copying of assignments, misappropriation of other people’s work, unauthorised use of mobile devices, or any other form of academic misconduct during assessed activities will automatically receive a failing grade for the corresponding assessment. Plagiarism is defined as the total or partial reproduction of ideas, texts, data, images, or any other material obtained from a source without proper acknowledgement or referencing, and its presentation as the student’s own original work. Plagiarism constitutes a serious academic offence and may result in disciplinary proceedings. Students are therefore expected to respect intellectual property rights, properly acknowledge all sources of information used, and assume responsibility for the originality and authenticity of all submitted work.