Access to Study Skills Online Study Guides
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www.le.ac.uk/accessability AccessAbility Centre Access to Study Skills Online Study Guides Fiona White and Matthew Mobbs
description
Access to Study Skills Online Study Guides. Fiona White and Matthew Mobbs. Background. AccessAbility Centre offers: Face-to-face study support for students with Specific Learning Difficulties 4 Study Advisers offering 6 x 1 hour long appointments per day - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Access to Study Skills Online Study Guides
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AccessAbility Centre
Access to Study SkillsOnline Study Guides
Fiona White and Matthew Mobbs
www.le.ac.uk/accessability
BackgroundAccessAbility Centre offers:
• Face-to-face study support for students with Specific Learning Difficulties
• 4 Study Advisers offering 6 x 1 hour long appointments per day
• 676 students with SpLDs registered with Centre
University of Leicester
• 22,802 students in total
• 8,651 (38%) distance learners
• Only 36 distance learners with SpLDs registered with Centre
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New Approach
To engage and support DL students and a new approach for campus based students
• 10 Online Study Guides
•Designed based on ‘most frequently requested’ study support sessions
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Pedagogical Design• Multisensory approach preferred by students with SpLDs
(Mortimore, 2003). – Visuals – colour, images and subtitles
– Audio – Voice over
– Kinaesthetic – Interactivity
• Length and style– Kept short to hold students’ attention. Approx 10 minutes each
(Edirisingha, Salmon, Nie. 2008)
– Mixed approaches: interactive activities, information and guidance and informal tone (Edirisingha, Salmon, Nie. 2008)
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The GuidesWriting an Essay 710 hits
Active Reading 505
Time Management and Organisation 414
Writing a Dissertation 413
Improving Concentration 356
Exam Skills 345
Improving Memory 308
Note Taking Skills 271
Spelling Strategies 238
Making Notes 206
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How they were made
PowerPoint
Adobe Presenter
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How they were made
PowerPoint
Adobe Presenter
www.le.ac.uk/accessability
How they were made
PowerPoint
Adobe Presenterhttp://audacity.sourceforge.net/
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How they were made
PowerPoint
Adobe Presenter
Adobe Presenter• PowerPoint Plugin• Combine Audio and visuals• Published to the Web
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Alternative Free Tools
www.screenr.com
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Alternative Free Tools
www.slideshare.net
http://www.slideshare.net/uolssds/writing-an-essay
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Raising Awareness• Cards - posters• Web • Blackboard• YouTube• Podcasts• Course Handbooks• Direct mailing to distance learners• Email to all dyslexic students
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Feedback Methodology• Monitoring hits
– 3766 in total by June 2011
– Indication of support needs
– Patterns of use (seasonal and time of day)
• Survey (online)– Capturing learner type (distance or campus-based)
– Qualitative written feedback
• Focus Groups– 2 focus groups
• Formal Student interview
• Informal feedback via study advice sessions
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Feedback• Students have been positive about the resources:
• appreciating different elements of the delivery depending on learning styles;
• using the guides in a variety of ways, ie.
1) when it was difficult to get a face to face session,
2) to prepare for a meeting with a Study Adviser,
3) as consolidation after a study advice session.
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Feedback• Some students viewed the guides a number of times.
• They appreciated being able to access the guides 24/7.
Comments included:
‘I liked the ‘Improving Memory’ one in particular: they had a sort of practical memory test right there and then. You can see that it actually works; and it stayed in my memory for longer…’
‘…it’s nice to have this preliminary stuff done and out of the way so you can really concentrate on a specific area…You’ve built on something so when you get to the study adviser she can push you further’.
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Feedback – Points for improvement• Students didn’t like font size and theme. There is no
ability to change this on Adobe Connect.
• Some students wanted to be able to skip whole sections of the presentation.
• Students wanted more control over the pacing of the material.
• Some students wanted more examples.
• It was suggested that more in-depth presentations follow on from these ‘short intro’ guides
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Future Developments
• Study guides to be signposted to every student booking a study advice session
• iTunesU and YouTube
• One to one study advice sessions to be offered remotely using web conferencing tools e.g. Skype and Elluminate.
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Examples of study guides
Improving Memory
http://connect.le.ac.uk/memory
Essay Writing
http://connect.le.ac.uk/essaywriting
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Contact details
Fiona White
Study Adviser
0116 252 5002
Matt Mobbs
Learning Technologist
Twitter: @mjmobbs Blog: mjmobbs.com
0116 229 7753
