Study Skills for Higher Education: An Individual Essay and Report

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Study Skills for Higher Education
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Table of Contents
Assignment 1...................................................................................................................................3
Individual Essay...............................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main reasons for studying a degree at university............................................................................3
The core academic skills that can be developed and their importance............................................4
A study plan that includes short term and long term goals that will help in acquiring and
developing the skills and knowledge...............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Assignment 2...................................................................................................................................7
Individual Report.............................................................................................................................7
Introduction......................................................................................................................................7
Identification of the importance of the foundation year for students from wide participation
backgrounds and explain why it is important..................................................................................7
Explanation of the key challenges facing foundation year students................................................9
How study skills in higher education can help foundation year students overcome some of these
challenges......................................................................................................................................10
Conclusions....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13
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Assignment 1
Individual Essay
Introduction
The increasing need for education is synergic with the scientific, technological and social
advancements all over the world. It is prominent that to cope up with the enhanced demand, the
educational institutions have improved the quality of the instruments and instruction. There are
many reasons for students to go for higher education which drive them to take admission in the
universities which are subject of this essay. Students can develop various academic skills that are
important for fulfilling their individual goals. However, it is necessary to plan short term as well
as long term goals for development and acquisition of knowledge and skills in an effective way.
Main reasons for studying a degree at university
After completion of the education at school, the main question that arrives in the mindset of the
students is that should they proceed with higher education or not. For proceeding with the higher
education, students must have to take admissions in the University for gaining a degree. Many
students think that it is not essential to study further and they proceed with something else in
their life (Marris, 2018). However, the students who proceed with higher education may or may
not have firm goals.
Gaining knowledge about a specific subject is the main reason that drives students to take
admissions in the universities. In a recent research of Cooperative Institutional Research
Program in which data was collected from 192,000 U.S through survey, it is observed that which
74% students have agreed that they have joined the course to learn about the subjects that are
interesting to them. Universities give the students the opportunity to focus on a single subject of
their choice. Apart from that research opportunities are also provided to the students. Better
career opportunity is another major reason for which a greater number of students study in
universities (Akçayır and Akçayır, 2017). Many students aim to do a better job and it is also their
aim to earn more money from their existing job by progressing in their career. Thus they proceed
with Vocational training for improving their skills through learning more languages, internship
programmes, data processing, accounting skills, business skills, practical skills and many more.
Enhancing communication skills is another reason and students mainly require improving their
oral and writing abilities. There are few students who seek to study in the universities as they
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want to enjoy an active social life by meeting with peoples from different backgrounds and for
making more friends (Marginson, 2016).
The core academic skills that can be developed and their importance
Each student attends university for fulfilling a particular goal that can differ from the goal of
other students in a greater aspect, however, in a University; they can learn an array of academic
skills apart from the subjects they want to learn (O'Flaherty, and Phillips, 2015). The following
skills are developed by students while continuing higher education in universities.
Academic writing can be defined by the style of writing that is utilized by the researchers or
scholars to express and define the rational limits of the regulations and their particular fields of
expertise. In academic writing, the formal tone is used to concentrate on the problem that is
under investigation. The skill of academic writing helps students to understand the assessment
brief in a better way and produce material that is structured, focused and planned, evidenced and
formal (Bok, 2015).
Learning styles can be defined by an accumulation of particular physiological, effective, and
cognitive factors that serve as nearly firm signs of how a student learns, communicates and reacts
to the environment of learning. There are different learning styles such as the social, verbal,
visual, physical, logical and solitary learning styles. A learning style helps the students to
respond to the environment of learning in an effective way.
Paraphrasing is the key approach to express the notion or thoughts of other researchers or
scholars through own words. Students learn to paraphrase the thoughts of others in such a way in
which the meaning of the original source is maintained.
Note taking is another academic skill that relates to the method of reviewing, correlating and
integrating concepts from the speeches or lectures and reading resources. Taking notes can help
learners to stay active and be committed to the class, interpret the lectures, identify key aspects
and to organise their thoughts. It also helps students to effectively revise the subjects before the
examination.
Digital skills such as IT skills, technical abilities, automation, and ability to operate computer
software are gained during studying in the universities. Such abilities help the learners in future
at the workplace to effectively perform (Jonassen and Hung, 2015).
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Referencing is used in academic writing and it allows the writer to cite the sources from which
the writer has incorporated the thoughts or literature in his own paper. In Universities students
can learn the different styles of referencing which also helps them to provide credit to the sources
of the ideas they have used to produce their own paper.
A study plan that includes short term and long term goals that will help in acquiring and
developing the skills and knowledge
In order to develop the skills and knowledge mentioned above the following plan can be
followed:
Goals Priority level Time-bound Details
Short term goals
Language and
communication
course
High 1 year Improving the writing
and listening ability to
interpret the lectures
and take notes
efficiently.
Understand the
difference between
different types of
academic articles
such as the Reports
and essays and
formatting
High 1 month Effective writing
ability.
Learning an array of
synonyms for
different words and
enhancing the
vocabulary
High 6 month Increased vocabulary
and synonyms for
implementation in the
academic writing with
paraphrasing.
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Long term goals
Course on
Networking and
telecommunication
course, Cloud
computing, Database
management system
High 2 years Enhancing the Digital
skills for the purpose
of getting jobs in
companies in the IT
sector.
Reading research
papers and journal
articles
High 2 year Gaining practical idea
about the writing
styles and the formal
tone of language to
have strength over
academic writing.
Learning about APA,
Harvard, MLA and
Vancouver
referencing systems
Table.1: Study plan with short term and long term goals
(Source: Developed by the learner)
Conclusion
It is observed that Higher education is not only essential for getting good jobs and earn more
money but also to enhance an array of academic skills that could be learnt from the regular
attempt of the lectures at universities. There is a range of reasons that forces the learners to study
further in the universities and the main reason among them is gaining a depth of knowledge in a
particular subject.
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Assignment 2
Individual Report
Introduction
A foundation year can be defined by an additional year of education at the beginning of a course
at a university. A foundation year enables learners who do not fulfil the requirements of the
university that is needed to get an entry into a particular course. It helps them to fill the gaps and
continue with a full degree course. However different key difficulties are also experienced by
them in their foundation year in a university which can be eliminated by different study skills in
higher education. This report identifies the significance of the foundation year in the career
progress of the students who belong to the wide participating background. It also explains the
key difficulties that the students of the foundation year of a university can face and how those
challenges can be overcome by skills learnt in Higher education.
Identification of the importance of the foundation year for students from wide
participation backgrounds and explain why it is important.
Widening participation:
The term Widening Participation (WP) is related to entry into higher education and it can be
defined by the strategic advantage that intends to address the disparities in the intake of students
in higher education courses among various groups of the society for the Scottish and UK
students (Daniel, 2015). The aim of Widening Participation is the groups of students that are
either from the lower socio-economic background or having low participation in the schools.
Different universities of UK thus offers a foundation year to those students who do not fulfil the
criteria that is essential for getting an entry in the higher education for the students from wide
participating background (Krutkowski, 2017).
Foundation Year and its goals:
The programme of foundation year is an opinion that was proposed in the year 2011 and the goal
of this year was to improve the access of the students to higher education. Foundation years is
there for those students who think that they are not yet ready for getting an entry into the
university for higher education (Masika and Jones, 2016). It is the gaps in their knowledge and
skills which prevent them to meet the demands and requirements of the destined course.
Foundation year offers a student an option of preparatory study that may range from keeping the
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focus on a particular area of specialization and offering a long term course for getting an entry
into a specific degree course.
Importance of the foundation year for students:
According to Huda et al., (2017), the students having gaps in knowledge and with lack of
qualification may find out what the major weaknesses that they have are and how to utilize the
strengths to eliminate those weaknesses. However, it is also evident that if students spend their
valuable time in finding out their weakness the process of learning can become messy. Learners
from the level of widening-participation have to fight a lot with the challenging shift to higher
education. As opined by Kruss et al., (2015), every student possess unique talents regardless of
their background and those talents help the student to achieve better things in higher education.
Students from the wide participating background can take advantage of the foundation year for
many reasons. The importance of a foundation year for students from a wide participating
background is discussed below:
Gaining the relevant qualifications essential for higher education- The foundation year is
efficient in identifying the areas of gaps in the knowledge and skills of the students and it offers a
particular set of course that helps the student to gain knowledge and skills that are essential to
enter in the university for higher education (Gregory and Lodge, 2015). The students from wide
participation background it is a great chance for getting an advantage over the other students that
have followed a traditional way to enter into the university.
Better proficiency in the languages- foundation year allows the students to learn the language
that is necessary to be learnt for proceeding with a course, especially for the international
students. In this way, the students can improve their proficiency in the language which they can
utilize in future in academic writing and during communication.
The shock of culture that students may face entering into higher education- The students from
widening participation background may face cultural shock if directly admitted to the university
and the foundation year allow them to understand the culture of the university and prepares them
to interact with people.
Improvement of academic skills- Foundation years allow learners to strengthen the skills they
would require to progress for the transition into higher education. The skills range from skills
regarding general studies like academic writing, paraphrasing, referencing, independent research,
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time management and note-taking in the particular fields associated with the chosen field of the
students.
Importance of the foundation year for universities: Foundation year not only benefits the
students but also offer the universities a range of advantages. As per Reed et al. (2015), those
students who take entry into higher education with qualifications that are lower than other
students are also able to perform well if given a chance to study. It is also evident that learners,
who have secured a space in the university with weaker entry qualifications after completion of
the foundation year, can have as greater possibility to succeed and effectively compete by
performing at a similar level with the students who have good background as well good
qualifications. Hence it could be said that if universities focus too much on taking up students
having greater qualification and good traditional backgrounds, there is an enhanced chance that
they can miss out a large amount of potential students who need the chance to proceed further
with education at university as they are unable to find a better career opportunity without a
degree.
Explanation of the key challenges facing foundation year students
Although foundation year is important for enhancing the strength of the students from wide
participating background it also cause the students to tackle major challenges which are
described below:
New skills can be challenging: It is evidenced by many students who have joined a foundation
course that a broad array of new skills had been introduced to them which was subjected to be
learnt within a short time bound. This is a great challenge for the students of the foundation year
and particularly for those who have come from the wide participating background. New skills
such as digital and technological skills need much time to be learnt and it is often impossible for
the weaker students to be achieved in a short time. The lack of proper guidance in foundation
course also maximizes this issue by retaining the problem unsolved.
Different unfamiliar teaching methods: The students of the foundation course admits that the
unfamiliar teaching methods of the tutors in the foundation year is very challenging for them in
order to complete the complete the course in a while. The learning activities are not guided and
scheduled. The students may feel uncomfortable or puzzled in the class which may lead to a
resistant condition sometimes with an unfamiliar teaching approach. Most of the students need a
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familiar approach of teaching so that they can prepare effectively and participate in the course in
a more active way.
Different strategies for teaching that may not work: There are many teaching strategies that a
teacher or lecturer follows (Harrison and Waller, 2017). It is sometimes experienced by the
students of the foundation that the teaching strategy of the course is not so effective that can lead
them to perform in a better way.
Fewer facilities in the classroom: in the foundation years of many universities it is observed that
the equipments of the classroom is not very efficient and sometimes do not work properly.
Inadequate facility in the classroom prevents the tutors to teach the students effectively. Such an
environment is sometimes not accepted by the students and it hampers their concentration on the
subject and proficiency (McCaig, 2016).
Surface learning: Due to the short time bound the lecturers and teachers of foundation course
depend on surface learning of the students in which students just get a little knowledge about the
subject by concentrating on the requirements of the assessment, passive acceptance of the
information and remembering those facts. In surface learning the reflection of the knowledge
gained is lacking.
Lack of practical applications for the knowledge gained: In the foundation course the practical
classes are often not implemented and as a result of this the students remain unaware about the
practical application of the knowledge they have gained theoretically.
How study skills in higher education can help foundation year students overcome some of
these challenges.
Higher education can be defined by the tertiary education that spares beyond the level of
secondary education and is gained through attending classes in the colleges or universities
(Wilkins and Burke, 2015). The outcome of the higher education is a degree on a particular field
of interest. Higher education offers the student to gain knowledge in an advanced environment of
learning. It helps the students not only to gather theoretical knowledge but also to learn how to
apply them practically. In the environment of higher education effective and strong materials are
provided to the student and they are also able to access the library that helps them to find out
relevant books and articles related to their subject.
The Higher education helps students who have done a foundation course to cope up with the
challenges that they have come across during the foundation course by allowing them to be
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involved in the advanced learning environment of Higher education. The different attributes of
Higher education are described below:
Allowance to deep learning environment- In higher education students are allowed to reach to
the deep of the subject by enabling them to understand and interpret the material by their own
self (Pucciarelli and Kaplan, 2016). The deep learning enables students to relate the thoughts to
already existing thoughts and experiences and relate the evidences for reaching to a firm
conclusion. This approach of learning helps the student overcome the situation that they have
previously experienced at foundation course by surface learning.
Advanced technological equipments in the classroom- The advanced equipments such as the
audio visual equipments and computers in the classroom allow the student to learn the subjects in
a more interesting way (Benton and Johnson, 2015).
Effective teaching strategy of the professors and lecturers- the effective teaching approaches
and strategy of the teachers at university help the students from foundation course, overcome the
challenges faced in unfamiliar way of teaching. In universities the students are transformed into
independent learners. Different types of learning attributes are utilized by the students in higher
education that help them to go to the root of the subject of their interest.
Practical and laboratory classes- The environment of higher education is although characterized
by lectures, tutorials, seminars, conferences, it also include practical and laboratory classes that
help the students to achieve real experience by implementation of their knowledge practically in
the laboratory which was lacking in the foundation course (Aithal and Kumar, 2016).
Greater time scale for learning- Unlike the foundation course, in university students are allowed
more time to complete the course which lessens the pressure to some extent. It allows the
students to learn the skills more effectively.
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Conclusion
Foundation course is an additional course attempted by students before entrance to the
universities, is an effective approach to fill the gaps in the knowledge of the students from wide
participating background. The students of wide participating background belong to lower socio-
economic background and sometimes they lack proper qualification that is needed for being
selected into degree courses at universities. Thus, the foundation course is indeed an appraisable
approach taken by universities not to ignore students from non traditional background. However,
this study have identified some challenges that could be faced by the learners during their study
in foundation year such as lack of practical classes, lack of advanced technological equipments
in class room, and motivation toward surface learning. The challenges are crucial to be
eliminated and the teaching strategies and environment of Higher education are efficient in
mitigation of those challenges.
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