Student Academic Success
The Centre for Learning and Teaching works mainly with academic staff to help develop teaching strategies and curriculum design to enhance student learning. We also lead a number of initiatives and student-facing activities to support their transition into and through every stage of their degree.
ASK Academic Study Kit
We developed this online resource for students to complement and extend the course-specific guidance they receive. ASK is linked from studentcentral but as a free standing website https://student.brighton.ac.uk/ask/ it is also available to all new and returning students without a university log-in. ASK offers advice on how to make the most of seminars and lectures, reading and note-making, preparing for exams, tackling stress, essay writing, oral presentations, group work and many other topics. It also includes information about the weekly study skills workshops held at all university sites, library and information skills sessions, and specialist services such as the English Language Support Programme.
PASS Peer Assisted Study Sessions
Since 2009 we have extended our student-facing work to PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions), a scheme which engages students as partners in learning. The PASS model provides enhanced study support for students; elsewhere it has been shown to help retention, motivation and achievement. PASS Leaders work in pairs to facilitate timetabled weekly or bi-weekly study groups, each involving 8 – 10 students from lower years. The sessions are intended to promote collaborative learning through exploratory discussion and provide an opportunity to share experiences, and most importantly are based on course materials already delivered through the module.
It is important to clarify that PASS Leaders do not re-teach course material but instead are trained to encourage students to compare notes, clarify what they read and hear, analyse, criticise, question and seek verification of ideas. In addition to consolidating knowledge of the subject and gaining deeper conceptual understanding, study and learning strategies are integrated in the sessions. PASS offers benefits to both student participants and the trained leaders; the latter are gaining valuable skills for their CV that may offer increased employment options such as in education and training.
PASS Video
LearnHigher
We are partners in the LearnHigher Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (HEFCE-funded from 2005-2010 and now managed by the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education, ALDinHE). For more information about these organisations, see their websites at www.learnhigher.ac.uk and www.aldinhe.ac.uk.
Contact
If you would like to discuss the ways in which we might work together to further enhance the study skills support you already provide for your students (for example through the provision of tailored workshops), or if you are interested in learning more about how PASS could work for your students, please contact Catherine McConnell - c.mcconnell@brighton.ac.uk or Lucy Chilvers - l.r.chilvers@brighton.ac.uk
