Transition to Living and Learning Workshop: Academic Skills, Humanities

Prof Adrian Smith (Faculty Director of Undergraduate Studies)Prof Alex Neill (Associate Dean Education and Student Experience)26 June 2012

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TLLP and Humanities partnership…• prompted by the 2010 pilot skills module in Social

Sciences, hence close collaboration with its instigator Russell Bentley (Politics/IR);

• Sarah Rogers and TLLP colleagues keen to extrapolate from the transitional experience of Humanities ’ Year 1 students lessons for the University as a whole;

• Sensitive to the change in the fees regime, the Faculty of Humanities keen to gain a greater insight into the needs, expectations, and concerns of its Year 1 students, including prior to their arrival;

• Humanities funded to run its own pilot skills component (HUMA1027), using the Social Sciences module as a model;

• HUMA1027 envisaged as complementing each discipline’s skills training, but would it be financially and pedagogically justifiable as a permanent fixture within the faculty curriculum?

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Outline of HUMA1027…• Humanities skills component based upon Social Sciences’

autumn 2010 pilot scheme, and intended to complement not duplicate disciplines’ cultivation of advanced study skills;

• training of PGTAs in conjunction with Social Sciences;

• module content, PGTA guide and student workbook adapted to Humanities’ needs by project administrator Dr Sara Perry;

• weeks 2 to 5 four workshops with PGTAs;

• Blackboard support site and eight on-line lectures linked to the workshops;

• not compulsory but all Year 1 students urged during induction to attend;

• 10 Graduate Passport points for students that attended every session.

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HUMA1027 structure (compared to SSs)Topic Lecture Workshop QuizAccessing support and what to expect

X X

Effective use of lectures X XTime management and effective reading

X X

Research practice and referencing, incl. academic integrity

X X

Good essay writing practice X XManaging qualitative challengesGroup work and presentations X XExam technique and revision methods

X X

Making the most out of feedback X XCareers for Humanities students, and the Graduate Passport

HUMA1027 feedback…

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Key questions in survey of 206 respondents:  Q2: Have you found the module useful? 3.4/5 Q3: Have you enjoyed the module workshops? 3.5/5 Q4: Did you find the workbook used in the workshops useful?

3.2/5

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Feedback on HUMA1027…– roughly consistent with the approval rating in the

broader autumn 2011 Year 1 Transition survey

– 50:50 approval:disapproval not that surprising for a fresh initiative, but disappointing when compared with the more favourable response generated by Social Sciences’ 2010 pilot;

– based only on 206 UGs after the final session, but a harsh observation would be that the other students had already voted with their feet;

– a second survey, following an amended Mk 2 HUMA1027 in 2012, would provide a more revealing insight into students’ views of a generic skills module.

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Evaluation…• students valued:

– above all, the interaction with the PGTAs (as an alternative to lecturers, who initially were perceived as distant and unapproachable);

– the opportunity to work informally in a group and as a group (as a learning experience and an opportunity to socialise);

– an early opportunity to become acquainted with Blackboard;

– advice and reassurance regarding presentations;

– an early insight into the nature of exam and essay marking at university level;

– the review of marking criteria as a means of gaining an insight into how assessment operates beyond A-level/IB.

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Evaluation…• students identified significant areas in need of improvement:

– content and approach should signal more clearly post-A-level/IB study skills (some complained of being patronised, e.g. advice on note-taking);

– each workshop crowded and seeking to do too much, not least because of the initial viewing of the online lecture (if online, why watch it in class?);

– the videoed lectures poorly shot, too crowded re advice, and comprised solely of a ‘talking head’;

– the timing in the term and the length of the workshops [but mixed signals];

– not enough detailed advice, e.g. re essay writing and referencing;

– overlap and duplication with discipline-based advice on study skills;

– no credits awarded for the module.

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The future…

• an initial assumption that, with considerable modification, HUMA1027 would run again, and that the module could be delivered on a more modest budget;

• an alternative view that the necessary resource allocation from within the Faculty has an opportunity cost;

• the seven disciplines helpful in the delivery of HUMA1027 but wary of skills duplication;

• a faculty decision not to support a skills component for Humanities Year 1 students in 2012-13, although Social Sciences will continue fine-tuning Russell Bentley’s original conception;

• the absence of HUMA1027 reinforces the importance of Humanities’ component disciplines fine-tuning the subject skills components of their Year 1 Semester 1 compulsory modules:

• it would be ironic if, at the very moment student expectations are raised as a consequence of the new fees regime, Humanities disciplines failed to learn from the lessons learned of the 2011-12 pilot.

For further information…

Prof Adrian Smith

Director of Undergraduate Studies,

Faculty of Humanities:

as5@soton.ac.uk

“Congratulations on

completing your skills

training, Jonny”

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