Our Work

Personalised, Integrated, Learning Support Centre (PILS)

Description

This CETl aimed to embed into the University an holistic model of learner support to enable students to manage their own learning effectively.

Contact: Pat Atkins, Director

Email: PILS-Centre@open.ac.uk

Telephone: 01908 655952

Summary Aims:

The PILS Centre built on excellence in order to personalise and integrate learning support within the curriculum.

Support was tailored or personalised to the needs, interests, strengths and weaknesses of individual students. The Associate Lecturer was key to enabling students to identify their own learning needs; advisory staff, on-line and printed resources supplement this process.

Integration was achieved through:

• Ensuring that Associate Lecturers bring together curriculum and educational support for students in a seamless manner in a sound pedagogic design.
• Ensuring that academic and educational support staff are drawn together in learning focused teams to inform and align learner support with the curriculum process.
• Bringing together the information, advice, guidance and support available to learners in various media to achieve consistency of support.

Learners were supported with information, advice and guidance through people and resources to ensure individual students:

• Make informed course choices and plan a programme of study effectively.
• Increase their competence as learners and take responsibility for their own progress.
• Identify with their chosen programme of study.

Projects:

The focus of development work was in three key areas:

• Programme planning and Identification
  - Identification of student needs/strengths/weaknesses
  - Provision of information, advice and guidance
• Supporting success
  Studentship and learning skills
  - Monitoring student progress
  - Proactive intervention
• Supporting employability
  - Career guidance
  - Employability

Face to face and web-based information and support was tailored to these courses.

50 Associate Lecturers developed programme based material on course choice information and careers advice, also piloted regional activities such as guest lecturers and career workshop.

The emphasis was on integration and personalisation with activities being designed to allow students to interact with each other and develop a sense of belonging to a 'Psychology community' or a 'Molecular community'.
What was being offered to the wider teaching/subject community:

Dissemination of findings and experiences of action research was a feature of the work of PILS from the end of 2006.

Organisations / Institutions

The Open University

Related documents/URLs

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