Embedding Study Skills in the Curriculum
With mass participation and widened access to HE, study skills or effective learning skills are receiving a good deal of attention. It’s no longer possible to assume that all students entering HE - whether from school, work or FE, whether part-time, full-time or distance learners - will come equipped with the full range of reading, writing, exam, time management and career/study planning skills required by HE. Many students will need support in these areas to enable them to achieve their full potential and obtain the most out of the university experience.
This signpost summarises some debate within the HE sector on how best to support ‘study skills’. Some models suggest dedicated study skills support provided by a central support service while others recommend that study skills become an integral part of the subject programme, ie, be embedded within the curriculum. At the University of the West of Scotland, primary responsibility for supporting study skills lies with the academic Schools, with the aim of focusing attention on the embedded approach, while making explicit links between skills development, effective learning, personal development planning and employability as laid out in the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy - LTAS
There are five sections to this signpost:
Section 1: Skills and the Higher Education Curriculum: background regarding study skills; what they are and how they relate to personal development planning and the SCQF.
Section 2: Models of Study Skills Provision: some models that underlie the various approaches to addressing study skills.
Section 3: Supporting Skills Development: ideas, suggestions and resources to promote the development of study skills.
Section 4: Personal Development Planning, Employability & Learning: a look in some detail at how the study skills agenda merges with these issues.
Section 5: Further Study Skills Resources: external web resources, books and articles.