Celebrating 10 years of Succeed@Tees workshops
In the beginning...
In 2011 Library and Information Services carried out a consultation with various staff from the Schools on which skills they felt students could develop in order to get the most from their studies and their student experience. In a break from the 1-2-1 support model it was decided to try generic workshops that would appeal to a broad range of students.
Small steps...
To test the waters with students, a small programme of Referencing workshops was run for a week in the February that attracted 142 attendees and generated good feedback. Emboldened by this success the range of workshops known as Succeed@Tees was created to run from the Autumn of that year:
- 13 titles were offered
- 59 sessions run
- 357 students attended
Never standing still...
Over the years we have tried more than 50 titles, some more popular than others.
Feedback is collected after every workshop as listening to the Student Voice is important to make sure the workshops are responsive to student needs. Some of the changes made in answer to feedback have been:
- Putting workshops on in the evening to allow more Part-time students to attend.
- Having rooms with flexible layouts incorporated into the Library refurbishment so that students could take notes and work in groups.
- Creating LibGuides so that the material used can be accessed asynchronously online.
- Moving from a paper-based promotion to widespread use of social media and the University events feed to advertise the programme.
- Changing the content of workshops e.g. coping with nerves and doing group presentations was added to the Presentations Skills workshop.
- New titles added due to student demand e.g. How to write a Literature Review.
A seamless pivot...
When the pandemic struck in March 2020 the rest of the face-to-face programme of workshops had to be cancelled. The Liaison and Skills Development team then worked from home (many just using iPads) to put together a short programme of online workshops to run in April and May. Over 250 students attended these. A full programme was then created to run from October 2020 using either BlackBoard Collaborate or Microsoft Teams. The workshops continued to be a blend of information, tips and practical exercises using Zeetings, Padlet and Kahoot.
We've also offered more evening workshops which have meant that students from different time zones such as Malaysia have been able to access them. The online workshops have also been recorded so that the content is available for students to access at a time that is convenient for them.
Moving forward...
Obviously there is still uncertainty over the ‘new normal’ that will be the new academic year in September but we have taken what we learnt over the last 18 months to:
- run a blended programme of workshops that include some face-to-face as well as online sessions.
- pilot additional formats including...
S@T Shorts - bitesize and Q&A sessions for students who want quick tips or refresher information.
S@T Spotlight - longer ‘bootcamp’ sessions linked to the student journey. Beginning with a half day ‘Dissertations: Deep Dive’ planned for this summer which will be aimed at postgraduate students. This will include a mix of sessions to support research, writing and reflection.
Here's some feedback we have received over the years...
Brilliant all of it. Should be compulsory
All of it, was really well presented clear & useful, good mix of learning styles. Enjoyed it, thank you I found everything useful.
I found it helpful listening to others' views. I will definitely be attending more workshops.
Here’s to another successful 10 years!
Spotlight on Retention Support Officers (RSOs)
Jo Durston, Ellen Robins and Samantha Westerburg are the Retention Support Officers. They are part of the Liaison and Skills Development team in Student and Library Services, working within individual Schools to support students with a varying range of support needs. The RSOs assist students who are experiencing issues that may be affecting their engagement with academic studies. They work with Schools and central support services to find the most appropriate support for students.
The RSOs have links with academic, administrative and support staff within Schools and can liaise with the student and staff in order to find the most suitable and timely support available, as well as discussing what academic options are available for the student. In addition, the RSOs can make referrals into central support services and advise students on what support is available throughout the University.
The RSOs can be contacted by emailing the following:
- SHLS – Samantha.Westerburg@tees.ac.uk or SHLS-Support@tees.ac.uk
- TUBS - J.Durston@tees.ac.uk
- SSSHL – J.Durston@tees.ac.uk
- SCEDT – E.Robins@tees.ac.uk
- MIMA – Mima-Support@tees.ac.uk
Newsbank
Continuing our feature on resources available from Student and Library Services. This month we are focusing on NewsBank.
What is it?
A comprehensive collection of reliable news sources. This news collection is ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Over 12,000 titles include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. Use it to explore a specific event or to compare a wide variety of viewpoints on topics such as politics, business, health, sports, cultural activities and people.
Benefits to you:
- The majority of sources are unavailable elsewhere giving you access to unique primary content.
- It's deep back files provide more local, national and international information than any other news resource.
- The resource is Mobile responsive, so that it works on all devices (ipad, smart phones, tablets).
- You are able to examine subjects geographically and over time, analyse trends and statistics, and compare perspectives.
- Add specific articles, videos or podcasts to your Reading Lists Online: .
Next month: We reflect on using Reading Lists Online and ask ‘What is a Serials Review?’
Credits:
Created with images by sanuas - "people discussion meeting discussion" • naassomz1 - "people students university" • Skitterphoto - "workshop pens post-it note" • Goumbik - "business technology notebook" • Wokandapix - "graduation diploma education" • sofisorgin - "newspapers stack reading"