Talk given at Association of Dyslexic Students in Higher Education conference

1. Access to Study SkillsOnline Study Guides Fiona White and Matthew Mobbs

2. Background AccessAbility Centre offers: Face-to-face study support for students with Specific Learning Difficulties 4 Study Advisers offering 6 x 1 hour long appointments per day 676 students with SpLDs registered with Centre University of Leicester 22,802 students in total 8,651 (38%) distance learners Only 36 distance learners with SpLDs registered with Centre

3. New Approach To engage and support DL students and a new approach for campus based students 10 Online Study Guides Designed based on ‘most frequently requested’ study support sessions

4. Pedagogical Design Multisensory approach preferred by students with SpLDs (Mortimore, 2003). Visuals – colour, images and subtitles Audio – Voice over Kinaesthetic – Interactivity Length and style Kept short to hold students’ attention. Approx 10 minutes each (Edirisingha, Salmon, Nie. 2008) Mixed approaches: interactive activities, information and guidance and informal tone (Edirisingha, Salmon, Nie. 2008)

5. The Guides

6. Example

7. How they were made PowerPoint Adobe Presenter

8. How they were made Adobe Presenter

9. How they were made http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

11. Combine Audio and visuals

13. Alternative Free Tools www.slideshare.net http://www.slideshare.net/uolssds/writing-an-essay

15. Web

16. Blackboard

17. YouTube

18. Podcasts

19. Course Handbooks

20. Direct mailing to distance learners

22. Feedback Students have been positive about the resources: appreciating different elements of the delivery depending on learning styles; using the guides in a variety of ways, ie. 1) when it was difficult to get a face to face session, 2) to prepare for a meeting with a Study Adviser, 3) as consolidation after a study advice session.

23. Feedback Some students viewed the guides a number of times. They appreciated being able to access the guides 24/7. Comments included: ‘I liked the ‘Improving Memory’ one in particular: they had a sort of practical memory test right there and then. You can see that it actually works; and it stayed in my memory for longer…’ ‘…it’s nice to have this preliminary stuff done and out of the way so you can really concentrate on a specific area…You’ve built on something so when you get to the study adviser she can push you further’.

24. Feedback – Points for improvement Students didn’t like font size and theme. There is no ability to change this on Adobe Connect. Some students wanted to be able to skip whole sections of the presentation. Students wanted more control over the pacing of the material. Some students wanted more examples. It was suggested that more in-depth presentations follow on from these ‘short intro’ guides

25. Future Developments Study guides to be signposted to every student booking a study advice session iTunesU and YouTube One to one study advice sessions to be offered remotely using web conferencing tools e.g. Skype and Elluminate.

26. Examples of study guides Improving Memory http://connect.le.ac.uk/memory Essay Writing http://connect.le.ac.uk/essaywriting

27. Contact details Fiona White Study Adviser 0116 252 5002 fmw4@le.ac.uk Matt Mobbs Learning Technologist mjm33@le.ac.uk Twitter: @mjmobbs Blog: mjmobbs.com 0116 229 7753