APOLOGIES if you've already had the messages below.
At this time of the year and with such busy-ness and stress in the air, I hesitate to send people another email - but if you aren't an ISLer you might want to see the message from Trevor (reproduced first) and a response from me (underneath).
Best
John
-----Original Message-----
From: Trevor Habeshaw [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 30 September 2003 10:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Study skills
Dear all,
I've been interested for some time in what happens in 'study skills' and
'learning assistance' programmes which are run for new u/g's and also for
overseas p/g students in our universities. In particular, I'm interested I'm
interested in how these courses are designed (e.g. do the have any theoretical
grounding?), if they are evaluated and (of course) 'do they 'work'? I've been
running workshops on the theme of 'improving the quality of student writing' for
example for many years and I have asked these questions of the participants on
many occasions. Usually the courses have no theoretical rationale, though I have
heard the words 'discourse analysis' from time to time, but as yet I have
no-one has told me that their courses are publicly evaluated and reported in
terms of improved learning effectiveness.
A huge amount of energy from caring and dedicated teachers (often on limited
contracts or fractional appointments) has been applied to this process over
the years and many books have been written about 'helping students to study'
(including ours - 53 Interesting ways of helping students to study [first
published in 1987]) - which sold close to 10,000 copies and which is now,
thankfully, out of print). My guess is that in the very large majority of cases, the
impact of all this work has been at best minimal, and generally 'non-stick'. It
is also generally agreed that study-skills courses which have been designed
to provide a series of 'teaching/learning fixes' commonly succeed only in
developing in their clients a surface approach to learning. I'm disappointed to see
that much of this has now been 'sexed-up' and dumped onto the web in many
institutions though of course I'll change my mind if subsequent rigourous
evaluation shows that such programmes actually work, i.e. that they help students to
achieve more effective learning.
One course I saw advertised recently in a pre-1992 university offered the
following as a number of 2-hour lectures running through the first semester. The
'facilitators' were hired in from outside the university.
Study-skills programme for 2003
• Listening
• Reading
• Note-taking
• Academic writing
• Oral presentation
• Seminar skills
• Study skills
• Exams
Of course, I've no idea what 'went on' in these sessions but I'm pretty
clear what the students who attended these sessions were expecting to get out of
them - a whole bunch of technical fixes. The picture does not look any rosier
with the addition of the governments 'inclusivity agenda'. Many teachers
throughout the country have told me that they are faced, on day one, with too
large a number of students who are not in a position, academically or
intellectually, to start the course for which they have been enroled.
I have some suggestions for the 'course content' of a study-skills programme
which would meet some of my concerns .....
'New Study Skills for Meaningful Learning'
At the end of this series of sessions, which will run through the full
undergraduate programme, participants will be able to:
• undertake a detailed and accurate 'precis and comprehension' of a
discipline-related text, and develop/enhance the following specific skills:
- summarising
- reflecting
- paraphrasing
- interpreting
• use the SOLO taxonomy to analyse, critique and improve the quality of their
own academic written work
• interrogate your teacher about a range of aspects of your academic work
• collaborate effectively with other students in discipline-based teams and
in self-help groups
• be more aware of yourself as learner, thinker, 'feeler' and‘doer’,
especially in the context of your chosen discipline
• exert more conscious self-control, self-management and self-regulation over
your own learning in your chosen discipline
• demonstrate the effective use of a wide range of personal and interpersonal
skills, including the ability to:
- be more assertive in a range of educational and social settings
within the university
- give accurate and appropriate advice when required to do so
- give accurate and appropriate information when required to do so
- challenge your teachers, your fellow students and yourself when
appropriate
- express your feelings when appropriate and be comfortable when
accepting and responding to the strong feelings of others
- use effective questioning skills to elicit information and ideas from
others
- support yourself, your friends and classmates in the achievement of
more effective learning
- relax
..... and I'd be interested to hear what others think.
Trevor
Trevor Habeshaw
37 Ravenswood Road
Bristol BS6 6BW,
tel: +44 (0) 117 924 5446
fax: +44 (0) 117 924 4969
and
Dol-bont,
Abermeurig, Lampeter
Ceredigion SA48 8PP
tel: +44 (0) 1570 471 213
Web: www.53books.co.uk
Dear Trevor
It was interesting to get your messages, on return from a morning helping to teach a session called "Concepts of Teaching and Learning" with our new 'Learning and Teaching in Higher Education' programme cohort!
It's mostly Trevor's second message I'm interested in - though both are relevant to current concerns here. ISL members may recall that I mailed the list earlier this year to ask about the roles, activities and services of other practitioners like myself involved in helping students to develop study skills in various ways. The resulting correspondence led to the launch a group which is now a JISC list called LDHEN (Learning Development in Higher Education Network).
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/LDHEN.html
We are holding an inaugural Symposium at London Metropolitan University on Friday 24th October and will be considering issues around such themes as 'embedding' learning development and the implications for our work of 'academic literacies'.
It is clear that Trevor's questions; about the existence (or not) of theoretical underpinnings for study skills work, and the evaluation of such work in terms of things like transferability, and students' success and achievement, are all likely to be pertinent to the LDHEN group.
Trevor's 'New Study Skills for Meaningful Learning' gave me some ideas! It sounds like a programme of learning I'd like to be involved with - although it would, of course, make better sense if it were integrated into a study programme rather than offered as a 'bolt-on'. As Muir points out, the 'stand-alone' approach is at last being superseded in many institutions. Anika's question about what would constitute an effective form of evaluation is a crucial one - and I hope the LDHEN group may begin formulating potential answers - but advice and contributions from ISLers would be most welcome.
I agree that many students attending study skills workshops may do so, at least initially, because they are seeking instant 'solutions' ("a whole bunch of technical fixes" as you put it) but their participation in such sessions, if they are encouraged to focus on their own and their peers' experiences, and to examine their motivations and expectations of learning in higher education, can lead (in my own experience) to a shift from the surface, quick-fix to a deeper, developmental attitude to the business of study and learning.
It sounds to me as if there is great scope for dialogue and collaboration between those of us with study skills 'delivery' roles and those keen to use phenomenographic and other research paradigms to investigate the efficacy of the various kinds of learning development initiative current in HE.
There are still places available on the Symposium if anyone would like to come. (Can you make it Trevor?)
Best wishes
John
John Hilsdon
Co-ordinator, Learning Development
Educational Development
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth
PL4 8AA
01752 232276
[log in to unmask]
www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn
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