Oooh, now this is an interesting strand. No flak from me, David - I'd love to move to a model where we had a proper balance of closed confidential one-to-ones and more open access drop-ins in 'student-owned' spaces (if we had the staff resources, or the prospect of ever having them!).
But what is really interesting is the different kinds of authority we're using to validate our advice and support. I find myself increasingly moving away from flagging up my hierarchical academic authority (having a doctorate, being a subject specialist as well as a learning developer) when I'm first establishing a relationship with students, and referring more to my own experiences of study (as a Reading student, an Arts and Humanities undergrad/postgrad, or a mature student). At the same time, I'm having to be quite assertively 'academic' to be taken seriously when working with staff (both subject academics and senior admin).
The split personality of today's learning developer - no wonder I'm losing it...
Kim
________________________________
Dr Kim Shahabudin, Study Adviser & LearnHigher Research Officer
Room 107, Carrington Building, Whiteknights, University of Reading, RG6 6UA| ( 0118 378 4218|
: www.reading.ac.uk/studyadvice : www.learnhigher.ac.uk <http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/>
________________________________
From: learning development in higher education network on behalf of David Bowers
Sent: Tue 28/04/2009 11:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: listening to advice?
Dear all,
I rather suspect much of this will depend on the structure, organisation
and ethos of the department/institution. In small departments with small
class sizes (yes, I gather they do exist!) where there is an open-door
mentality among the tutors, I suspect students would be more inclined to
approach an academic tutor than in a larger, less personal organisation.
Similarly, I believe that a Learning Development Team that runs a large
number of open-access drop-in advice sessions in easily identifiable
spaces (Library, cafe etc) will engender more of an ethos of
student-staff communication than where Learning Development is run
primarily behind closed doors on the basis of one-to-one appointments
<<writer now puts on hard hat and waits for the flak following this
assertion>>.
But I think the most potentially fruitful source of insight will come
from evalcuation of PAL initiatives. Some have already been mentioned in
this thread. I would be keen to see pointers to any similar results of
PAL evaluations, not least because we are piloting PAL ourselves this
year and need plenty of supporting evidence when we propose whether (or
not) to continue the scheme.
David
David Bowers,
Head of Learning Development,
University Campus Suffolk,
Neptune Quay,
Ipswich,
IP4 1QJ,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01473 296339
Fax: 01473 343696
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michelle Verity
Sent: 28 April 2009 10:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: listening to advice?
You beat me to it Kim! In relation to information literacy practices
LearnHigher research conducted at Liverpool Hope a couple of years ago
found that students tended to use their academic tutors just as much as
their peers in finding out about which resources to use in and learning
how to access those resources for their studies. Much of the time
students are open to the most accessible study advice, whether that's
from their peers, their tutors, their handbooks etc.
Michelle
LearnHigher Manager
Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning Gateway Building Liverpool
Hope University, Hope Park Liverpool,
L16 9JD
t: 0151 291 3848 f: 0151 291 2033 m: 07917 781393
University Campus Suffolk is one the UK's newest higher education institutions and officially opened on 1 August 2007. The main campus is located in Ipswich with centres in Bury St Edmunds, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Otley. The new Waterfront building in Ipswich opened in September 2008. Visit www.ucs.ac.uk for further details.
University Campus Suffolk (UCS) is the trading name of University Campus Suffolk Ltd, a company registered in England & Wales, registered number 5078498, registered office Waterfront Building, Neptune Quay, Ipswich, IP4 1QJ
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