Academic Skills Tutor William Connell sits down with Specialist Study Skills and Inclusive Practice Tutor Phill Ruddock to unpack the real experiences of first-year university students. Drawing on the voices of 40 students from a recent focus group, they explore what undergraduates wish they’d known before starting university, the challenges they faced, and the support that can make a difference.

Connell, Will 0:08

Hello and welcome to the Skills for Learning Podcast in collaboration with student services. In this podcast, we want to talk to you first year undergraduates and divulge, from previous Level 4 students, their thoughts on what they wish they had known when first starting their undergraduate degree course and what support is in store for you at the university which you might not know about, especially given the amount of information you have to digest in the first few weeks of university.

Connell, Will 0:38

Hi, I'm William Connell and I'm an academic skills tutor in the library academic support team at the university. My role is to help students with all kinds of study skills related topics such as general academic writing, critical thinking & working, essay & report writing structure and all those types of things.

Ruddock, Phill 0:56

And hello, I'm Phill Ruddock. I'm one of the specialist study skills tutors, part of student services, and it's my role to work with students that may have a disability or who are neurodivergent and help them access their work, think of new strategies, and explore different ways for them to be empowered with their university work.

Connell, Will 1:22

Great. So, essentially this is designed to help new students to transition effectively into their first year of studies and signpost to where they can get support. The main themes we'll talk about today are student experiences of independent learning, how they went about managing their time, as well as some other important areas that were new to undergraduates like finding information for their assignments, referencing and academic writing. The feedback that we'll mention today was taken from a focus group of 40 students across all schools to try and develop an understanding of the academic skills experiences of Level 4 students. I’d like to reiterate as well that what we're discussing is as a result of what students said they wish they had done, rather than what us staff expect from students. So, it's not us telling you what to do, this is literally what we've heard back from students.

2:27

On to our main theme, the thing that cropped up the most was about independent learning and the potential issues or difficulties with time management. I think from the focus group, a lot of students talked about their struggles with prioritising university work and assignments, and managing their own time as well, with the main points being that low contact hours compared to school or college experience can be quite challenging. Furthermore, structuring one’s day is often difficult in this context as well, especially with the aforementioned prioritisation of what they think they should be doing with any free time.

3:09

Aligned to that was a feeling of not being pushed or chased up about work and deadlines. That, I think, can also be quite challenging in both terms of skills or keeping on top of work, and motivation. This can also be exacerbated by deadlines often being very close together and thinking how to manage that concurrent assignment work and submissions, which can be quite difficult sometimes for someone who isn't used to it.

3:41

So, one of the students on fashion course said when all the assignments are together, it's hard to know which one to start with first, and potential challenges with trying to do them all at the same time. I think this is definitely something to think about early on in your studies by trying to find out exactly when your deadlines are for all your modules and start planning your time early doors. As boring as it might sound, it's really important to try and get hold of your module handbook, make note of this information, and then go from there with how you might set about prioritising time for reading and then the write up of certain assignments, especially if those deadlines are really tied closely together.

4:28

With regards to our skills for learning website and the help that you can get the library, the skills for learning site has an entire section dedicated to independent learning and time management, with activities that can help, such as assignment calculators and other helpful kind of advice and tips.

Ruddock, Phill 4:46

One of the pieces of advice I would suggest is thinking of your work kind of like a cake, as odd as that sounds, think about your favourite type of cake. That is your assignment. If we tried to eat all that cake in one go, it's going to be too much for us. So, breaking that down into the smaller slices. From the slice, we then break down further into the bites, so being able to think about things that you can manage quite quickly, quite easily and breaking it down, because if we are feeling overwhelmed, are we dealing with the whole cake? Are we dealing with the slice?

5:27

Feelings of overwhelm, when we're dealing with the bites, tend to be a bit smaller. Being able to do that as well with giving yourself rewards. OK, so if you do quite a large piece of work, give yourself a reward. Section out some time every single day to maybe watch some Netflix, go to the gym, do something for you that keeps your motivation high, and it keeps that nice balance between academic work and time just for you.

Connell, Will 5:58

Yeah, I think that's a really great point Phill. I think more feedback from students, which is kind of aligned to that, is from one of our students in the school for business that says, “I guess it's all down to you and your lifestyle and how you approach university, so finding that balance, because it's more to life than just studying, but you need to strike that balance”. So, it's a really good way of looking at it as, of course, we all understand that all students will have different situations with things like work, activities, their social life, their home life. So, it's down to you to make sure you don't let things start to creep up on you. More importantly as well, ask for help if you need it.

6:42

I think this is the thing about independent learning as well. The onus, yes, is on you to develop your own skills, but we're also here to help as well. All university staff are here, essentially, to help you. So, either by talking to your lecturer, if you're unsure on a subject or subject content, or a particular element of an assignment, having the confidence to ask questions as well, and even in lectures and seminars early on. Obviously, I think it's very daunting for us guys to be just saying “yeah, just go and ask questions in front of all your peers!”, but most of the time, your peers will probably feel the exact same way as you and to want to know the exact same answers.

7:27

You can even ask questions by accessing academic support for any academic skills you may be struggling with. For example, booking in with someone like me from the library academic support team, or accessing any other support needs that you may have by talking to any other student services that are available, which is again, something which Phill aligned with in student support.

Ruddock, Phill 7:52

One of the other things I would suggest is on your MyBeckett pages, there tends to be discussion pages for students to ask questions, or if it's another peer that has already asked the question. Just having a look on there because, as Will said, if you ask the question, you might not be the only person wondering what the answer is. So, always use your discussion boards on MyBeckett as well, or at least have a look at them.

Connell, Will 8:19

Yeah, absolutely. So, moving on to what some students said about level 4 as a whole, and the fact that sometimes level 4 ‘doesn't count’ or ‘doesn't matter’ towards your degree classifications or the grade at the very end, can sometimes be demotivating for some students, and despite messages from lecturers about level 4 being the foundation for later success, some students have suggested that, potentially, a greater pressure or consequence at level 4 would be beneficial for motivation and professional development. I kind of see where you're coming from. But for me, I think the counter argument there, and the reason for why it's set up in the way that it is, is that if you almost coast through that first year, that in itself is not really setting you up very well for your own skills development and that further chance of success when you come into year two, as although it might not count towards your grade, it's there to help you transition and iron out any mistakes that you might have with assignments and exams, so that you're more prepared and confident take on similar situations in your second year.

9:34

This is where I'll also highlight the importance of feedback from your lecturers, it's especially important to access that feedback from first year assignments, as this is where you'll see where you can improve your grades and start aiming for those higher marks. So, essentially, students who act on that as early as possible are usually the ones who are that little bit less stressed in year 2.

Ruddock, Phill 9:59

Fully agree with that. When it comes to your first year, think of it kind of like when you want to take on a marathon and you've never been running before. You need to build yourself up. You may try to do the ‘couch to 5K’ before taking on that marathon, and that marathon might be your dissertation in your third year, but being able to build those skills, being able to develop all that knowledge and all that understanding in your first year is incredibly important. It's the same as if somebody started going to the gym. You're then having to learn how the machines work. You're then having to learn the techniques. Once we know how things work and how the technique is, our overall aims begin to increase. It's so important to be able to navigate all the different understandings because there's a lot of subtlety to academic writing.

10:52

Now my background. I'm an English teacher, so when we were teaching, we started teaching people Shakespeare a little bit in year seven and we'd get people, bit by bit, ready for Shakespeare in year 10 and 11, where we are then deep diving into it. But we've got to build those skills. We've got to build that understanding and that is why we have this first year where you can understand all the different types of academic language, what the words mean, how to access essays, because academic language is something you've never had to do before, potentially, and it's a whole different way of writing and reading, and you've got to give yourself time to develop that skill.

Yeah, another really good analogy. And I think that's really important to think about when you approach level 4, and the way that it's set up, and the reasons for why it's set up in that way. So, I think to end this short podcast, it would be remiss of me not to mention some of the other skills that students often worry about in year one, with regards to study skills and things like that. Especially referencing, which is always quite a big one for students, but also finding information, and information which is appropriate for undergraduate study. Maybe that little bit more complex compared to what you were doing before your undergraduate degree, for example, looking at journal articles and integrating those into your work, but then also those academic writing skills as well.

12:24

Having said that, we have plenty of support and resources on our skills for learning website which you can find links for on the main library homepage. The skills for learning site has numerous pages on an array of different study skill topics, such as referencing and finding information, but also pages on essay writing, report writing, critical thinking, just to name a few there. You can also watch hour long video workshops on the same topics, as well as find a link to book an appointment for one-to-one support on any aspect of academic skills. So again, if you receive feedback from a certain assignment where there is room for improvement, let’s say for example, on developing your argument in your academic writing, there's support available for you guys in the library through these different avenues. Finally, handing over to Phill, just with regards to any other support that might be available.

There's two different types of support that I can mention. So, the first type of support is a ‘walk-in’ drop in, and that is where you'll have access to a study skills tutor and also disability advice. Now those take place on a Tuesday 10:00am till 12 noon and Thursday 1:00pm until 3:00pm in the Calverley building G02.

13:48

The other form of support, if the walk-in drop in is a bit too quick and you feel like you need a little bit more in-depth help and support, you can book a 45-minute dedicated one-to-one study skills appointment through MyHub, and that can either be online or in person depending upon your preference for that. So, I would recommend that if anybody needs either of those come along and book yourself in or just pop along and get the help and advice that you may need.

That's great. Thank you. So, yeah, thank you to you guys for taking time to listen today. Hopefully, we've given you some useful tips and advice on managing your first year and more importantly highlighted the kind of avenues that that you can take to access any extra support that you may need. So, thank you very much Phill, for joining me.

Thank you for having me.

No problem at all. Hopefully see you guys soon in and around the library and other areas as well. Thank you very much.