Pump ‘em up: Sending Sixth Former to University with the Right Study Skills

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

© Viktor Rosenfield used under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licencewww.flickr.com

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Digital Native

Uncritical

Google Generation

Google dependent

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (11th January 2008). JISC.

How far have we come in 7 years?

• [students’] apparent facility with computers disguises some worrying problems

• …speed of web searching means that little time is spent evaluating information either for relevance, accuracy or authority

• [students’] exhibit a strong preference for natural language searching rather than analysing which key words might be more effective

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (11th January 2008). JISC.

How far have we come in 7 years?

• …young people find it difficult to access the relevance of the materials presented and often print off pages with no more than a perfunctory glance at them

Are these still the behaviours of today’s students?

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Our Experience

August 2011– What we found

Information Seeking Behaviours:

• Daunted by full texts• Lacked strategies to navigate and evaluate texts• “Everything’s on Google”• Lacked understanding of their own behaviours and how they could be

improved• Unwilling to ask for help• Shallow, iterative approach to web searching

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Our Experience

What we’ve done

Involving tutors

• INSET training on electronic resources and study skills

• Banned photocopy boxes and other secondary sources

• ‘Just in time’ study skills sessions for coursework, projects and EPQ

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Our Experience

What we’ve done

Training Students

• Study Skills/Learning to Learn sessions

• Self help tools – leaflets and guidance

• Screencasts

• Assessment questionnaires and activities

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Study Skills/Learning to Learn sessions

Approaches

• Assembly style mass instruction

• Chalk and talk sessions in small groups

• Interactive sessions delivered in LRC

• Tutorial activities written by LRC staff but delivered by tutors

• Self directed learning

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Study Skills/Learning to Learn sessions

• Interactive sessions delivered in LRC

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Self directed learning

Screencasts

Leaflets and guidance

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

The big idea:An attempt at designing a research led study skills programme

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

When I search for information I only use Google

• Discuss the filter bubble problem in relation to academic research

• Look at Boolean searching

• Effectively searching databases

• Webquests and Internet treasure hunts

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Gamifying Study Skills

Achievement Generator http://x360ag.com/

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Gamifying Study Skills

Zerg Rush!

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

I’m confident that I find the best available information when I search online

• Anatomy of a URL

• Databases vs search engines

• Books v Scholar

• Print resources – authority

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

I know which words most search engines ignore

• Stop words

• Keywords

• Reliance on natural language strings – noise?

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

I know the difference between the ‘open’ and ‘hidden’ web

• What search engines don’t index

• BL Catalogue/COPAC

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

I only use electronic resources to find information

• Is everything available digitally?

• Is it all searchable?

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

I know when information is biased

Perceived authority

~ in .ac.uk and .edu

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

I understand what plagiarism is

• Whole school gathering (assembly)

• Academic honesty and referencing sessions on demand

• Always available referencing clinics

• Support for Zotero and Word functions. Future support for Ref Me

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Future developments

• Too late by the time we get to them – needs to start in primary school

• Tutorial staff still not confident in many areas – training and support

• Consistency – Harvard? APA? Chicago? – mirrors university experience

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Future developments

• Too late by the time we get to them – needs to start in primary school

• Tutorial staff still not confident in many areas – training and support

• Consistency – Harvard? APA? Chicago? – mirrors university experience

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

ccross@lfatsf.org.uk

http://www.lfatsf.org.uk/

01827 301820