Appendix 1: A step-by-step example

Step 1: Identify

Example: Walton College

Walton College hired a 2-hour Stipendiary Lecturer in Academic Skills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students found their support helpful, and the post was kept on an ongoing basis. The role initially was to support students directly, referred either by Subject Tutors, the Senior Tutor, or by the Welfare team in college.  

The Stipendiary Lecturer in Academic Skills offers revision surgeries and also put together some resources for an Academic Skills Canvas page. 

Academic skills support in college is additionally provided by the College Librarian, who is responsible for the Freshers’ Week induction, and a Royal Literary Fellow.  

JCR and MCR student representatives meet with the Senior Tutor on a termly basis.  

Table 1: An example of typical areas of academic skills provision

Step 2: Produce

Example: Walton College Academic Skills Provision Map before review

Step 3: Review

Example: Walton College Academic Skills Provision Map after review

Walton College conducted a survey, followed by a focus group, with their students – and they report finding the Canvas resources immensely useful even post the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on this comment and some specific feedback about what would be most useful, Walton decides to develop an enhanced bank of academic skills resources on Canvas. This included having their Subject Tutors and Academic Skills Lecturer collaborate on producing subject-specific resources, as well as bringing in their Librarian, who has experience with producing training resources in professional roles.

Walton also created links to university resources to provide students with more options for resources to use.