Library/resource centres
The role of library staff in supporting student learning is sometimes as important as the role of tutors themselves. This is because they are often more available at the time when students feel most in need of support and also because libraries are now far more than repositories of texts. While it remains the case that paper-based texts (books and journals) are the most important sources of information and knowledge, in this digital age libraries are also places where students can access electronic databases and multimedia packages.
Resource centres also provide services for students including materials for presentations, guides to the use of information technology (IT), study skills materials, learning aids for the disabled, and IT facilities.
Libraries are daunting places for many (perhaps all) students. Library staff have a special role in supporting students to help them understand not only the regulations about loans, fines and opening times, but more importantly about how to access information effectively, how to make judgements about the relevance, currency and authority of the texts they access, and how to select what they need from the vast array of resources available on any topic. All students will need support in acquiring these
skills in ‘information literacy’, not only at the introductory level but also as they progress to more sophisticated literature searches for dissertations and theses.
Information technology
While a greater numbers of students now arrive in higher education with excellent IT skills which can sometimes outstrip those of their tutors, a substantial number (particularly mature students) do not have these skills or the level of confidence in using IT that their course demands. All courses need to provide introductions to the use of basic word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation software, and using e-mail and the internet. Not all students will need introduction to all these elements. A diagnostic test may be used to determine which students need to develop their IT skills further to match the needs of the course. IT staff play an important role in supporting students throughout their studies, since the demands on students’ IT skills typically rise as they progress to using more sophisticated subject-specific software.
Increasingly important are VLEs. These provide a vehicle for online learning by enabling tutors to make learning materials, online journals and assessments available via the Web (internet) or an internal network (intranet). VLEs are also means by which students can communicate with each other and with their tutors. Tutors can trace students’ use of the VLE, while students have the advantage that they can access the course from any computer at any time. IT staff have a role in providing training, and supporting the use of VLEs for both staff and students (see Chapter 7).
Academic literacy, English language and study skills support
Different subjects make different levels of demands on students’ written and oral skills, but all programmes should make demands which require all students to develop their Supporting student learning ❘ 125
Interrogating practice
Consider how you could build into your course learning development in IT and library skills. For example:
• using students’ self-assessment of relevant IT skills – with follow-up courses for those who need them;
• requiring students to communicate using the VLE;
• searching literature that tests information skills;
• incorporating websites in your course handbook;
• including discussion of library use within seminars.
communication skills, both in writing and speaking. When students have difficulties meeting this demand, it can be for a variety of reasons. A common reason is the obvious one that English is not the students’ first or home language. Second, there are students whose first or home language is English, but whose skills in the use of English do not match those required by their course. This is not just a matter of students whose spelling or grammar is idiosyncratic, since, as we noted above, writing is a subject-specific skill.
Typically, when students exhibit poor writing skills this reflects a more general weakness in their approach to study. For this reason English language support is most effective when it is part of a holistic approach to developing students’ academic literacy and study skills.
There is an important exception to this general rule, however, namely those students who have specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia). Students with dyslexia have problems with writing which are the result of a disability rather than any reflection on their ability or grasp of the subject. Any student believed to be dyslexic needs to be professionally diagnosed and assessed, as we shall discuss in the next section.
The role of a central academic literacy service is to provide support which goes beyond anything that subject specialists can provide. Teaching English for these special purposes is a skilled matter which is best tackled outside the normal classroom. Some materials may be made available online or through multimedia language packages, but face-to-face classes are also needed. However, this specialist support needs to be provided in close collaboration with subject departments to ensure that the subject-specific requirements are adequately met.
Supporting students with disabilities
Disability may be regarded as a medical condition or a consequence of barriers created by the society we live in. Many people have some disabilities, although they may be such that they rarely prevent them doing what they want to do, or it is relatively easy to compensate for the disability (e.g. by wearing spectacles). But others have disabilities which are more significant because of the way so-called ‘normal’ life is organised; for example, steps and staircases constitute a barrier to those with mobility problems, whereas if there is a ramp or a lift the same person will no longer be disabled from getting where he or she wants to go.
The definition of a disability in UK legislation is: ‘A physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on (his/her) ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’ (DDA, 1995).
This includes:
• Learning difficulty • Blind/partial sight
• Deaf/partial hearing • Wheelchair/mobility
• Need personal care support • Autistic disorder
• Mental health difficulties • Unseen (e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, asthma) 126 ❘ Teaching, supervising, learning
Supporting student learning ❘ 127
Universities are now required to make provisions to remove the barriers which prevent students with disabilities from having an equal opportunity to succeed on their courses.
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 places duties on the bodies responsible for providing post-16 education and related services. These duties are:
• not to treat disabled people and students less favourably, without justification, than students without a disability;
• to take reasonable steps to enable disabled people and students to have full access to further and higher education.
In addition, the legislative duty (Disability Discrimination Act 2005) requires educational providers to be proactive in not discriminating against disabled people, which means we cannot wait until a disabled person applies to do a course, or tries to use a service, before thinking about what reasonable adjustments can be made.
Students with disabilities are under-represented in higher education. The reasons for this may be to do with underachievement and low aspiration as children at school, but may have as much to do with their social class, or their ethnicity or a combination of these factors. But we cannot rule out the possibility that prejudice against disabled students and ignorance about what they are capable of, with appropriate support, has also contributed to their under-representation.
Embedding disability provision is largely a matter of establishing a culture which values equality and diversity and integrates thinking about disabilities into standard procedures and thinking by all staff. Variation in support available to students persists and there continues to be a lack of awareness by staff of the special needs of certain students. There is still a stigma attached to some illnesses and disabilities – to forms of mental illness, HIV and even to dyslexia. The result is that students are sometimes reluctant to reveal their disability or have anxieties about who knows about it. However, in recent years the number of learners not disclosing any information about disability to their institution has decreased significantly. Colleges and universities have also improved methods for gathering data and nowadays provide several opportunities to disclose information (Action on Access, 2007).
Taking a proactive approach to disability support means continually anticipating the requirements of disabled people or students and the adjustments that could be made for them. Regular staff development and reviews of practice are an important aspect of this (DfES, 2002). All publicity and information about courses must be made available in alternative formats, provision must be made to ensure accessibility to university facilities if at all possible and adaptations, such as hearing loops, be provided in teaching rooms.
The Disabled Students Allowance is available in the UK to pay for study support – for example, equipment, tutorial support, personal helpers, scribes or whatever is determined to be necessary through the process of ‘assessment of needs’ and the subsequent personal learning plan.
Advice and guidance for disabled students will normally be provided through a university service which would normally offer the following:
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• coordination of the support available to students with disabilities, monitoring institutional policy and compliance with legal requirements;
• administration of needs assessments (or making provision for assessment of needs at a regional access centre) and administrative support for students claiming the Disabled Students Allowance;
• a team of specialist tutors available to provide tutorial support – particularly for students with specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia);
• clearly understood and well-publicised referral by subject tutors;
• a systematic procedure for identifying students with disabilities at enrolment and early diagnostic tests to identify unrecognised problems – particularly dyslexia;
• regular audit of accessibility to buildings, and safety procedures;
• provision of physical aids and facilities for students with disabilities, for example in libraries.
Dyslexia typically accounts for between one-third and a half of all students reporting a disability. For this reason alone it needs particular attention. Screening for students needs to be available for both students who think they may be dyslexic and those referred by their tutor. When screening suggests that a student may be dyslexic, an assessment should be conducted by a psychologist or appropriately trained person. If dyslexia is confirmed, an assessment of the student’s study needs must be administered, so that an appropriate level of tutorial support and specialist equipment or software can be provided. Adjustments to the student’s assessment regime may also be necessary. This will need to be negotiated with the student’s subject tutors. Raising tutors’ awareness of the needs of dyslexic students is an important role for the central service.
There is a growing awareness of the impact of mental health difficulties such as depression, Asperger’s Syndrome and eating disorders. The aim here must be to be supportive without necessarily labelling an individual. While some students will talk about their disability, others may be less willing, or may not perceive themselves as having a disability. Sensitivity to the individual’s feelings is essential, as it is possible to cause stress by offering assistance which is viewed as unnecessary or intrusive (Martin, 2006).
Further advice on improving provision for disabled students is available through The Disability Equality Partnership (Action on Access, the Equality Challenge Unit and the Higher Education Academy).