Information Skills are adapted to meet the needs of different student groups

Why adapt?

Changing employment patterns and government initiatives to increase participation in higher and post-16 education are just two of the factors that have led to a change in the profile of students. Increasing numbers of part-time students, distance learners and students from non-traditional backgrounds means that different approaches to meeting their needs have to be adopted.

Skills in practice: Examples from the Case Studies

The project case studies include examples of Information Skills programmes which have been adapted to meet the needs of different student groups.

The Inhale Project at the University of Huddersfield is developing a model for Information Skills training which will be transferable across a range of subject areas and VLEs. Initial work has been aimed at students enrolled on nursing courses and business studies students. Materials are drawn from a number of sources including the DNER. Read the case study.
At the University of Aberdeen, student feedback recommended that existing generic content should be supplemented by relevant subject specific sources. Several departments have taken up this suggestion and the Department of English has developed a module which explores knowledge and use of information sources within first year English courses. Read the case study.
Manchester Metropolitan University has developed an online Information Skills module for postgraduate law students on legal practitioner courses which has been integrated into the curriculum. This was developed partly in response to the needs of part-time and distance students. Read the case study.

Methods of adapting Information Skills

Generic Information Skills programmes may need to be supplemented by subject specific training enabling students to see the relevance of Information Skills training and apply it more successfully to their studies. Online Information Skills packages or workbooks allow students the flexibility to concentrate on areas where they may be experiencing difficulties. They can provide a useful point of reference which students may use throughout their academic careers. See Toolkit page "New technologies are used to progress Information Skills".

The University of Leicester has developed a programme designed specifically for distance learners. This incorporates tutorials on information retrieval skills and using electronic journals as well as links to other resources such as the RDN Virtual Training Suite and TONIC.
A programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students at Leicester is also available at which incorporates subject specific information retrieval skills tutorials with generic online resources.

Support for students with disabilities

Disabled students may require specialist software to enable them to access and read materials provided in an online environment. Other strategies may include workbooks or other paper-based resources printed on different coloured paper, in large print, in braille or on disk to be used with speech reading software. Additional information may be found at TechDis.

Toolkit | Back to Top

Updated Monday, 20 July, 2009 11:23