It has been years now that the University has developed an Academic Skills Center at 301 Glossop Road. Hence the name of the service is 301 since then. The center has gathered and created a number of resources for the development of academic and transferable skills, some of them face-to-face, some one-to-one, some on-line (see https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/301 for more details):
We tried to replicate something similar locally at the International Faculty. Apart from the Academic and Transferable Skills which is offered in a variety of credit and non-credit units during level 1, we have developed a site in MOLE called IF301. In there, colleagues have developed short videos on various topics, for example: Referencing Systems, Case Study Analysis, Critical Thinking, Exam Taking Tutorial, How to use MOLE, How to write effective abstracts, Learning Styles, Using Learning Technologies, Using the Library, How to write a Literature Review, Tutorial on Plagiarism and Collusion, Understanding the Marking System etc. to name a few.
One of the reasons for IF301 was to have a repository of videos that serve the local needs, with colleagues who are known to students and therefore feel more comfortable with to ask further questions. But at the same time, we wanted to use the links while giving feedback. So, for instance, when a student had a problem with referencing, we could comment on the coursework submission and point to the relevant resource. Assuming that the students watch them on demand, that would, in principle, be quite helpful to them.
Since then, technology and tools changed a lot: it is far more easy to create and share screencast videos; the university has changed echo360 and some of the videos we created are now gone; VLEs like our MOLE are outdated and we are looking for better platforms to replace it; staff are better acquainted with on-line resources; students seem to prefer specific platforms to watch videos, more resources are available world-widely etc.
Perhaps it is time to change IF301 too. But before we discuss the technical details, such as whether it is going to be a private YouTube channel or a new site or anything else, we need to collect more material in various ways:
We tried to replicate something similar locally at the International Faculty. Apart from the Academic and Transferable Skills which is offered in a variety of credit and non-credit units during level 1, we have developed a site in MOLE called IF301. In there, colleagues have developed short videos on various topics, for example: Referencing Systems, Case Study Analysis, Critical Thinking, Exam Taking Tutorial, How to use MOLE, How to write effective abstracts, Learning Styles, Using Learning Technologies, Using the Library, How to write a Literature Review, Tutorial on Plagiarism and Collusion, Understanding the Marking System etc. to name a few.
One of the reasons for IF301 was to have a repository of videos that serve the local needs, with colleagues who are known to students and therefore feel more comfortable with to ask further questions. But at the same time, we wanted to use the links while giving feedback. So, for instance, when a student had a problem with referencing, we could comment on the coursework submission and point to the relevant resource. Assuming that the students watch them on demand, that would, in principle, be quite helpful to them.
Since then, technology and tools changed a lot: it is far more easy to create and share screencast videos; the university has changed echo360 and some of the videos we created are now gone; VLEs like our MOLE are outdated and we are looking for better platforms to replace it; staff are better acquainted with on-line resources; students seem to prefer specific platforms to watch videos, more resources are available world-widely etc.
Perhaps it is time to change IF301 too. But before we discuss the technical details, such as whether it is going to be a private YouTube channel or a new site or anything else, we need to collect more material in various ways:
- revise and update the videos we already have (if necessary);
- recover (by re-creating) the lost videos;
- create new videos that we believe they fit our local needs;
- locate useful resources that could be helpful to our students (e.g. short courses, short videos, university sites, other material etc.)
We will need your help in all the above:
- those of you who are ready or can prepare a short video on any of the academic skills students should acquire will have our full technical support;
- those of you who have other resources in mind, can you please share them with us? And finally,
- any of you who would like to volunteer in order to review those resources are welcomed to form a small working group?
The aim is to have a list of useful resources and links by the end of the Autumn Semester. We will then prepare the main resource repository (the technical stuff I mentioned above) and we will share it with all staff and students. The resource will be linked to another initiative that I will inform you about, the development of a flexible library with customisable comments that can be used in on-line feedback and assessment. A post will follow soon
If you want to contribute in any of the ways listed above, please e-mail me with intentions or resources or anything else related. Thanks.
Petros Kefalas
IFDLT, Sept 2018
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