Desperately Seeking Skills Online academic and Employability skills

Desperately Seeking Skills: Online academic and Employability skills support for staff and students Presented by: Mary Mc. Cauley and Karen Mc. Court Hertfordshire Business School Academic Skills Unit (ASU)

Overview 1. What is ASU? What we will cover today: 5. ASU in the future 4. Creating material Academic Skills Unit (ASU) 2. About the Website 3. Demo of the site 2

1. What is ASU? That’s us! Academic Skills Unit (ASU) supports HBS students & staff with academic work. Through weekly workshops, individual/group consultation service for students, telephone and e-support. Working with staff on module specific skills issues. Assisting with academic misconduct & plagiarism issues, and much more…. See our website for further info! We cover a variety of topics including: academic expectations, writing and referencing, dissertations and projects, groupwork, presentations, international students, personal effectiveness, industry practice, numeracy and statistics, technology, and revision and exams. Academic Skills Unit (ASU) 3

2. About the Website • Our previous website was confusing, hard to find, and had only 1 administrator. • On the new site - Unique homepage hits: Sept ’ 10 to Sept ’ 11 = 27, 900 Sept ’ 11 to (June ’ 12) = 29, 753 • “ASU” in top 10 most searched term on Study. Net! (UH Managed Learning Environment MLE) Thanks to Paul Hudson and the Study. Net team for making ASU more visible to HBS students. • The site is growing all the time… it’s constantly being updated. Academic Skills Unit (ASU) 4

3. Demo of the Site : s s e c c a y l n o UH u s a / o g / k u. c a. rts e h. t e yn d u t s. www Academic Skills Unit (ASU) 5

4. Creating Material • Creating e-resources that support all HBS students and staff. Supports UH strategic target - meeting the distance & flexible learning agenda. • More Inclusive support & adds value to the student experience: meeting the needs of students with special needs & learning difficulties, different learning styles & International students. • Regular consultation with HBS staff & students to create new guides, variety of workshops & develop updated grading criteria for assessments/feedback. Academic Skills Unit (ASU) 6

5. ASU in the Future • • • Content: Create more e-resources. Edit/adapt materials to suit distance/flexible learning students. Continue to work closely with Dean L&T, HBS staff & students to address & meet their needs in academic & employability skills. • • • Website: Improve the look and feel of the site. Gain feedback from staff and students. Incorporate appropriate technologies (including more videos and podcasts). Academic Skills Unit (ASU) 7

Thank you! We hope we’ve given you an overview of how we work in the ASU. For More Information: Mary Mc. Cauley: m. mccauley@herts. ac. uk Karen Mc. Court: k. mccourt@herts. ac. uk Any Questions? Academic Skills Unit (ASU) 8