Academic Skills
- Following a review of 'extra-curricular' academic skills provision, we introduced a new programme of short online skills enrichment courses and one-off writing and exams skills sessions in Semester 1.
- We offered a range of flexible in-person, online and email feedback options for 1:1 writing tutorials which have received very positive student feedback.
- We broadened the scope of our 1:1 appointments to include exam skills in response to student feedback.
- We also started capturing feedback on the tutorials via MySkills, increasing response rates and allowing us to further develop our appointments based on students' needs.
We also developed a number of new online resources:
- the Transition Toolkit to support new undergraduate students with their transition to university
- Beginning at Bath to help students with disabilities and learning differences prepare for their transition to Bath
- refresher academic skills courses for students resuming their studies after a period of suspension
- a guide to Inspera to get students up to speed on the assessment platform ahead of Semester 1 exams
- a Skills Referral Guide to help staff navigate and signpost recommended academic skills resources and support.
The writing tutorial provided an opportunity for me to learn, self-reflect, work on practical advice and helped motivate me to get to the next stage.
Languages
- We successfully delivered this year's 10- and 5-week online Pre-sessional courses with all students progressing on to their chosen degree courses.
- In addition to the semester-long English and foreign language courses at different levels, we also offered short courses in some languages outside semester time to offer greater flexibility for students.
- With the SU, we relaunched the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) languages scheme to help students develop their language and intercultural skills in an informal way.
- We continued our Virtual Exchange language programme, connecting students with peers in universities around the world. We also chaired a successful Virtual Exchange event with the Centre for Learning & Teaching in June.
- We have engaged closely with CercleS, the confederation of European HE language centres, on their work exploring the impact of the pandemic on Language Teaching in HE.
- We ran three credit-bearing British Studies courses online for visiting and exchange students to deepen their knowledge of British society and culture.
I really enjoyed and benefitted from my first virtual exchange experience. I noticed a real improvement in my listening skills and confidence in speaking Chinese.
Maths and Statistics
In addition to the Mathematics Resources Centre (MASH)'s daily in-person and online drop-ins and range of workshops:
- We launched Training Space, a programme of support for students entering courses requiring A-level Maths, which allows them to practise and revise their maths skills before lectures start. 2,300 activities were completed by nearly 1,000 students.
- We are part way through a 3-year expansion and restructuring of technology enhanced learning (TEL) resources contextualised by department and level, ensuring these are fully accessible.
- To support students from widening participation groups, we are developing targeting and proactive interventions which meet Access and Participation Plan (APP) evaluation standards.
- We started work on building a new Maths and Statistics Teaching (MAST) service to collaborate with departments in supporting their students to acquire and use numerical, mathematical and statistical skills.
Operations
- We contributed to this year's Stay Connected programme of employability skills support for completing students, designed to help them transition from Bath into further study or graduate employment.
- Our communications were greatly enhanced through the input of four APP-funded student Skills Co-Creators. Their work has raised the profile of the Centre and engaged new students in skills development opportunities at particular 'touchpoints' in the academic year.
- The Academic & Employability Skills blog has been further developed to cover a broader range of academic and employability skills topics. More staff across the Centre, as well as the student Co-Creators, now contribute blog posts and traffic has increased significantly.
- We continued to develop MySkills, the 'one stop shop' for skills, creating various new 'workflows' to provide a more intuitive content journey for users.
- We increased internal communications, enhancing the Centre's monthly newsletter, running three virtual staff meetings and introducing regular 'Ask CMT' meetings where staff can ask the Centre's Management Team any questions.
- We supported staff with hybrid working and their partial move back onto campus in Semester 1.
Digital Skills
- With the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT), we ran the Jisc Digital Experience Insights Survey to help identify gaps in the University's digital skills provision.
- We started a pilot with the Department of Social & Policy Sciences to run digital skills diagnostics in Academic Year 2021-22 for first year undergraduate students. The pilot will be used to help shape future digital skills resources for students.