Developing Study Skills - Plato's Protagoras

Description

Round 1 Teaching Development Grant

The project is a tailor made module to be taken in the first term of the first year, by all new students entering for a degree in a classical discipline.

The tasks to be addressed by the module were:

* to promote reflective engagement with the learning process

* to encourage an attitude of intellectual courage and commitment to mastering challenging material,

* to nurture an appreciation of the intrinsic rewards for effort, in terms of intellectual satisfaction as well as marks

* to present a range of integrated opportunities within an single coherent thematic study, whereby the students can discover and practise the independent learning techniques and critical skills necessary for degree work in Classics and Ancient History.

The module, 'Study Skills: Plato's Protagoras' was developed over the summer of 2001. It recruited its first students in September 2001. The module was evaluated and revised in the summer of 2002 and a second version was developed and delivered in Autumn 2002.

Results of investigation

Besides the choice of text, the main innovative features of the module included:

* the assessment pattern

* design of the assignments

* the feedback sheets

* the mode of delivery

* the use of internet resources

* the module handbook

* the pastoral element

* the questionnaires

The module ran for the first time in 2001-2. It was reviewed and modified for a second session in the light of student feedback, student performance and tutors' experience.

There is evidence of some slight improvement in drop out rate with the new Study Skills module 2001 compared with Study Skills 2000, and further improvement with the second version, Study Skills 2002. Performance among those who completed and passed the module has also improved as compared with performance on the preceding (Study Skills 2000) module.

Due to the proliferation of different factors affecting student performance in the second semester and second year, there is no clear statistical evidence of a measurable improvement in the students' marks in semester 2 or in year 2. However the module contributes to pastoral and practical aspects of the students first term and supports their ability to cope, even where marks are not a direct measure of the support. Student satisfaction varied systematically with the student's degree scheme and raised some questions about differing needs and differing perceptions of needs between different groups of students, depending on their expectations of the degree course.

Feedback showed continuing problems with the module's workload, and with inadequate attention on the part of students to the tutor's comments and to revising the work for submission. The project has highlighted a number of areas of the experience of first year students that require further attention, and areas where anticipated solutions have only partially addressed the difficulties.

An exemplar of the module handbook, revised in the light of student feedback, forms an appendix to the project report.

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