Discipline-Based Study Skills Support for First-Year Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Universities are expected to align their programmes with the new Quality Assurance Agency National Qualifications framework by the start of the academic year 2003–2004 (QAA 01). QAA have identified a number of ‘intellect’ and ‘transferable’ skills in their guidelines, which they regard as essential to develop atall levels of higher education. They define ‘intellect’ skills as including analysis, synthesis, evaluation and problem-solving. Transferable skills include communication (oral and written), teamwork, research skills, etc. This article argues that these skills can be developed through study skills support and considers the potential benefits of different approaches to academic study skills support for undergraduate students.

Academic Stress: Its Causes and Results at a Ugandan University

“…It was also revealed that many undergraduates do not have the necessary study habits to achieve good marks in written assignments and examinations resulting in a low CGPA (Durkin & Main, 2002). The authors discovered that 60% of the Business Information Technology students did not have references for the essays despite the prior instructions given.…”

“…Furthermore, it was also revealed that many undergraduates do not have the necessary study habits to achieve good grades in written assignments and examinations resulting in a low CGPA (Durkin & Main, 2002). Female students were found to have better study habits (Suneeta, Muktesh, & Snehalata, 2010), especially those with higher academic ability, than their male counterparts (Elliot et al, 1990).…”

“…Abowd et al (1998) noted that there was laxity among students in note taking in anticipation of accessing the notes after class. Student may even stop attending classes on discovering the source of lecture notes given by their lecturers (Durkin & Main, 2002). Nonis and Hudson (2010) declared that access to good notes is not enough but should be complemented with better time management to yield a good CGPA.…”

Towards a team-based, collaborative approach to embedding e-learning within undergraduate nursing programmes

“…Clearly, there is potential for developing nursing students' ICT skills through blended delivery models, thereby incorporating them within the more authentic and meaningful framework of the wider nursing curriculum (Kenny, 2002). This approach is supported by research which suggests that developing students' key skills, including information literacy, is most effectively done within the context of discipline-based learning (Cottrell, 2001;Drummond et al, 1998;Durkin and Main, 2002;Wharrad et al, 2002;Wingate, 2006Wingate, , 2007. However, the struggle to integrate ICT use, coupled with nursing students' apparent ambivalence in relation to ICT skills, are likely to directly impact on the perceived usefulness or relevance of e-learning approaches.…”

SciBoost: A Collaborative Approach to Enhancing Māori and Pacific Achievement in Science and Engineering

“…The decision to utilise a thematic approach, rather than a series of stand-alone generic skills workshops also reflected a compromise between institutional demands for "bolt-on" pre-semester upskilling initiatives, and the desire to embed learning development in "built in" integrated and authentic ways (Bennett, Dunne & Carré, 2000;Richardson, 2016;Wingate, 2006). Embedded approaches are preferred by learning advisors, as experience and research highlight that students tend not to see generic "study skills" courses as relevant to their particular programmes of study, especially when learning development strategies are divorced from subject-based content and knowledge (Drummond, Nixon, & Wiltshire, 1998;Durkin & Main, 2002;Wingate, 2006).…”