Diagnostic testing of IT Skills is being honed to a fine art at Glasgow
University.  Biology in particular, if I recall correctly, with three
different routes available to students as appropriate to the 'diagnosis'.

Shirley Earl
Napier University, Edinburgh

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger OTTEWILL(SBF) [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 01 November 2000 08:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: Re: Intro and study support


Dear Ann

I read your email with great interest. I am becoming increasingly concerned
about the wide variations in students prior skills/knowledge in areas such
as
IT, numeracy, political literacy etc. To the best of my knowledge there is
very
little systematic diagnostic testing in most of these areas at present. The
one
exception is modern languages, where testing is used to determine the level
at
which students should enter the University wide language scheme. I have
copied
my reply to a colleague., Christine O'Leary, who knows far more about this
than
I do. Her experiences might well be of some interest with respect to
diagnostic
testing on a broader front.

Hope this is helpful

Best wishes.

Roger Ottewill
Centre for Business Education Research
Sheffield Hallam University


[log in to unmask] writes:
>I joined this discussion list only a couple weeks ago and I'm finding 
>the discussion very interesting.
>I've been a member of ILT since March and like Tom Browne would 
>be interested in knowing how many support staff are members and 
>also to what extent they are included in their institution's ILT 
>activities. If in fact their institutions have made efforts to enable 
>networking between their members.
>
>I'm the Learning Support Coordinator for Manchester Metropolitan 
>and my role includes providing study skills support for students 
>who are having difficulty with academic work as well as 
>coordinating support for students with disabilities. We have, over 
>the past three years tried to develop an integrated approach to 
>these two issues, as we have found they are closely interlinked. 
>We are finding that students do seem unprepared for independent 
>learning whether they have disabilities or not and would be inclined 
>to agree with an earlier comment on this list that there seems to be 
>a results based culture which is leading to spoon-feeding before 
>university. We're also concerned about levels of literacy particularly 
>in students who have come to us through non-traditional routes.
>
>We're currently considering diagnostic testing mechanisms which 
>would enable us to identify students needing support early in their 
>course and subsequently to tailor our support services 
>appropriately. I wondered if anyone else is using or developing such 
>materials and could give us some advice at these early stages.
>
>I look forward to reading any views on this.
>
>Ann
>
>
>
>Ann Barlow,
>Learning Support Co-ordinator,
>Student Services,
>the Manchester Metropolitan University,
>All Saints,
>MANCHESTER M15 6BH
>
>Tel 0161 247 3492
>fax 0161 247 6852
>e-mail



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