Hello,

Here at the University of Bristol we have no centralised study skills 
support system at all.  As a Skills Development Officer (with a specific 
remit for developing academic skills in students and teaching skills with 
staff) I am located in our Teaching Support Unit and have to work very 
broadly across the institution.  I offer the following 'services' and try 
to publicise them through emails to all our departmental Learning & 
Teaching Advisers, at our annual Learning & Teaching Exhibition and through 
various academic committees and fora:

- workshops on essay and report writing skills, critical analysis, reading 
and note making skills, and PDP and reflective learning delivered within 
academic departments which are developed (and occasionally delivered) with 
a member of academic staff.  This more collaborative approach tries to 
ensure that my materials are tailored to specific student cohorts.

- workshops on the same topics as above delivered by me at the Student 
Development Unit at the Students' Union. These are particularly popular 
with international and mature students, as well as students who want to 
discuss study skills issues outside of their departments.  These are free 
of charge and open to any student on any course.  We usually get between 
10-20 students per session, and they are best attended in the autumn term.

- occasional referrals from academic departments for one-to-one 
consultations with students who are really struggling. These amount to less 
than ten a year.  I don't have a private room in which to do this, so I 
usually have to ask the member of staff doing the referring to book me a 
room in their department, or sometimes they let me use their own office for 
an hour.

I would say that apart from the individual referrals, the response from 
academic staff suggests that they see what's on offer as enhancement and 
not as remedial assistance.  I also have an academic background myself as a 
lecturer in English; academic staff have cited this as a real plus point 
because I have assessed and examined student work in the past.  We also 
have an Access Unit for Deaf and Disabled Students based in the Students' 
Union, which supports students who fall within their remit.

With best wishes,
Tracy Johnson

--On 19 February 2007 10:30 +0000 Ben Yudkin <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> While physical location within the campus is undoubtedly very important
> in  creating an impression of what we do, I see this as being a
> marketing/branding question too. Does anyone out there have experience of
> ways of getting academics and students to see LDers as enhancing learning
> rather than plugging deficiencies, other than just by being located in
> the  right place?
>
> Oxford is at the stage where the entire service doesn't really exist yet
> and, because there's only one of me, the actual provision of support will
> have to be undertaken by tutors and students within existing modes of
> teaching/learning. So for me the aim is to let people know that advice is
> available on applying the same scholarly and reflective standards to
> their  teaching and learning as they do to the subject content of their
> academic  work.
>
> It doesn't come naturally to me to talk in the language of advertising,
> marketing and branding; nevertheless, this is in effect what I want to do.
>
> Ben Yudkin



----------------------
Dr Tracy Johnson
Teaching Support Unit
University of Bristol
[log in to unmask]
0117 331 7168 (x17168)