Bridging the Gap

Monday, 13 April 2015 1

an outreach project

Ellie Roberts

Heather Barker

Simon Lambe

Vivien Sieber

Overview

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Bridging the Gap I:

2011/12

Attitudes to HE

Bridging the Gap II: 2013

Create classroom resources

Information literacy

WP workshops

Follow-on activities:

2014/15

Recruiting Learning Advisor (Outreach)

Bridging the Gap I (BtG I)

What are the study and academic skills pupils need to develop for university-level study?

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A pathfinder project

BtG I Objectives

1. Student aspiration and understanding

2. Insight into progression in an academic environment

3. Information literacy and study skills: expectations and experience of academic staff

4. Collaborative approaches to online support for students in WP categories

5. Skills development for transition: explore and developOER resources for VLE platforms

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Participants BtG I

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School/College Year groups

The Warwick School Years 7-11

Godalming College 6th Form

BtG I Methodologies1. Online surveys:

• ‘Attitudes to HE’

• ‘Technology experience’

2. Development of resources and methods for collaboration via school VLE:

• Live chat; Wiki; Forum

• Links to online resources

3. Academic staff & undergraduate student perspectives on transition issues:

• Focus groups

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Surveys & Student views

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0 5 10 15 20 25

Expand knowledge/learning/thinking/study

Prepare career/get job

Qualification (Degree, master's, PhD)

FE

Get HE

Study specific subjects/specialise/depth knowledge

Cost/bankrupt

Prepare for career (subject specific study)

Prepare for real world/life skills

Social

Contacts

Aspirational e.g. "make world a better place"

Grow up/learn important stuff of life

Confidence

Number of Responses

What do you think university is for?

Godalming College The Warwick School

BtG I Findings

Pupils had limited understanding of: • information literacy, search skills • independent study • need for support with basic life and study skills

Pupils wanted e-learning to be:• interactive/engaging • short blocks of activity • limited text with pictures and videos

Teachers:• limited experience using technology in teaching • needed support and ideas for use of OERs

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Bridging the Gap II (BtG II)

Create online resources,

with a focus on Open Educational Resources (OERs),

to help school and college students

develop independent learning skills for study at university.

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A continuation project

Participants BtG II

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School/College Year groups

Ashcombe School 6th Form

Esher CofE High School Mixed

The Warwick School Years 9 and 10

Methodologies

1. Develop, pilot, evaluate and modify online resources; principally OERs

2. Learning Sequences

3. Teacher Toolkits

4. Develop Information Literacy materials and workshop

for Extended Project Qualification (EPQ)

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Learning Sequences & Toolkits

Image!

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http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/Skills/BtG/index.html

Independent Learning Toolkit

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Mini Lecture

Multiple Choice

questions

Time Maths!

Time Audit

To do lists

Learning Sequence

Testing understanding

Reviewing time spent on tasks

Skills development: Keeping track of time

Planning and evaluation

Time Management

Adapted from Time Management by Nadia Rattoo; UCLAN; E-VOLVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales

License. Based on a work at open.jorum.ac.uk.

Information Literacy Toolkit

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http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/Skills/BtG/Information%20literacy%20-%20teachers'%20toolkit.pdf

Findings from younger students

“I find it very useful because I didn’t know you could do some of those things. It’s really helpful”

“It shows you step by step how to do the work”

“…learning how to search and use reliable sources”

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Survey responses from 13 – 16 year olds:

Information Literacy Extended

“Extended Project Qualification” (EPQ)

• Recently introduced into the ‘A’ Level curriculum

• Identify research topic

• Research skills: finding and evaluating

• Dissertation; composition; report; artefact

Information literacy intervention opportunity identified with partner schools

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Information Literacy for EPQ

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EPQ for research = Evaluate, Process, Quality

Quality

ProcessEvaluate

EPQ Workshop

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Case study: Ashcombe School (6th form students)

Keywords Evaluating sources

Reproduced, with permission from: Hill, V. & Edwards, E. (2013). Games usedin teaching information literacy skills. Middlesex Universityhttp://dspace.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/export?itemID=20754

Reproduced, with permission from: Hill, V. & Edwards, E. (2013). Games used in teaching information literacy skills. Middlesex Universityhttp://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18121

Recommendations

• Relevance

• EPQ: first independent research project

• Guidance on classroom use

• Teacher support with e-learning

– Continued specialist support for remote teaching

– Offer teacher training sessions

• Resources potentially useful to undergraduates

• Resources need to be maintained

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Impacts of BtG

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Bridging the Gap

Recruitment

Transitions

Lifelong Learning

What next?

• Liaise with librarians in schools

• Speak with students in their first year at University

• Work with widening participation & outreach to evolve resources

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Wider participation

Bridging the Gap

Monday, 13 April 2015 22

an outreach project

Vivien Sieber v.sieber@surrey.ac.ukHeather Barker h.barker@surrey.ac.ukSimon Lambe s.lambe@surrey.ac.ukEllie Roberts e.j.roberts@surrey.ac.uk

Project participants, BtG I & II

Vivien Sieber, Head of Learning Research Support & Development

Steven Rolt, Assistant Head, The Warwick School

Simon Lambe, Learning Advisor

Sharon Markless, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education

Roberto Di Napoli, Associate Dean Learning & Teaching

Renata Eyres, Widening Participation and Outreach

Morag Walling, Careers Advisor, Warwick School

Keira Sawyer, English teacher, Warwick School

Jane Savidge, Director, Library & Learning Support

Joe McCarthy-Holand, Teacher, Godalming College

Julia Anthoney, Project Officer

Heather Barker, Senior Project Librarian (Widening Access)

Gill Downham, Academic Liaison Librarian

Evi Tramantza, Academic Liaison Librarian

Ellie Roberts, Academic Liaison Librarian

Caroline Cooper, Project Administrator, BtGII

Alistair Morey, Learning Development Co-ordinator

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References:

Library & Learning Support Services, University of Surrey (2012) Bridging the Gap: From School to University, collaborative approaches to study skills development to address the needs of students in widening participation categories. Internal University of Surrey report. Unpublished.

Library & Learning Support Services, University of Surrey (2013)

Bridging the Gap II. Internal University of Surrey report. Unpublished.

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