Important information
Learning Advice Services have changed. New Language and Learning Services (L3) will be available to all UniSA students from Monday 13 February 2012. All L3 online resources designed to assist students with specific Language, academic Literacy and Learning skills are located on the L3 website.
Supporting assessment: Working with Learning Advisers
The Learning Advice team is located on each metropolitan campus and has a range of expertise in supporting student learning. The Learning Advisers focus on student learning and are involved in both student support and academic development. Emphasis is placed on providing support to all students through collaboration with academic staff and through teaching and learning activities embedded in courses. We acknowledge that students need to be explicitly taught these learning skills in order to be successful at university. The focus of all the work is on clarifying how to go about the activity or assessment task, and focus on the learning processes that underpin particular outcomes. This student-centred approach anticipates a range of student needs and addresses these as a normal rather than remedial part of supporting learning.
This is an outline of how academic staff can work collaboratively with Learning Advisers to support learning and to ensure demonstration of learning through assessment.
What kind of learning support is available?
Course-based face-to-face workshops
Learning Advisers provide sessions or lectures to support learning and assessment in courses as either curricular or extra-curricular activities. The sessions are negotiated with course coordinator so that they are tailored to specific expectations of assignments or on supporting unfamiliar learning experiences such as learning in groups. You will need to negotiate with a Learning Adviser on your campus. You may want a lot of involvement or very little. In either case you at least need to:
- brief the Learning Adviser about the issues and task
- provide information about the course such as assessment details
- encourage students to participate in the activity or use the resource through lectures, tutorials or other means.
Academic skills development workshops
The Learning Advisers also provide extra-curricular workshops on all campuses on academic skills like referencing and exam preparation. Students can register for these online.
Academic English language development programs
The Learning Advice team runs extra-curricular programs to develop academic English language skills during study periods 2 and 5 as well as during the April and July breaks. Students can register for these online
Academic skills development online workshops
The online workshops are designed as workshops that focus on academic skills that span the disciplines, for example writing essays or making notes while reading. Students can access these here on the Learning Advice website.
Course-specific online workshops
The generic online workshops mentioned above address the more common forms of learning and assessment. However, many learning and assessment activities have requirements which are quite specific to the field or discipline that may include, for example, particular forms of report writing or writing case studies.
The specific nature of these workshops determine that they be developed study period by study period in collaboration with the staff teaching the courses. The resources are referred to as 'Assignment Help'.
Learning resources for students
Online learning resources are available about aspects of study such as:
- doing different kinds of assignments (for example, essays, reports and oral presentations)
- learning in unfamiliar ways (for example, group work or participating in tutorials)
- learning in a university context (for example, avoiding plagiarism and taking notes)
Many of the topics are the same as those in the online workshops. They provide similar information in a way that can be read quickly, printed easily, and kept for further reference.
Why would I ask Learning Advisers to be involved in my course?
There are a number of reasons why you might invite Learning Advisers to work with you. These could include:
- introducing unfamiliar forms of teaching and learning, for example, writing collaboratively online (ie a wiki)
- introducing students to the requirements of different forms of assessment
- supporting an assignment that students find difficult
- developing strategies to address higher than usual requests by students for clarification or support in relation to particular assignments
- providing support in assessment for groups of students, for example, those with English as an additional language (EAL).
How can I arrange for Learning Advisers to participate in my course?
If you would like to discuss ways to work with a Learning Adviser you can make direct contact with a Learning Adviser or anyone else at the Learning and Teaching Unit