Personal Academic Support System Plus Pilot exercise for improving the Student Support System at MSoP

Current PASS system comprises Personal tutors (Academic advisers) Year tutors Pharmacy Administration Office Head of Examinations and Assessments Director of Research Director of Learning and Teaching Head of School Student adviser (located in the Gillingham Building)

Why do we need personal tutorials? 1.Student demand 2.Keeping up with the competition 3.Recommendation letters 4.Limitations in the current system – Multiple individual meetings – Variable and not integrated – Seen as formality only

Outline of new system Overseen by a Senior Tutor System of compulsory structured tutorials Continued improvement of the list of tutorial topics Timetable tutorials First year – 3 (induction, learning skills, PDP) Second year – 2 (feedback from exams, progress review) Third year – 2 (progress review) Fourth year – 2 (progress review) Systematically track tutorials In addition…. Use tutors’ participation to assess workload accurately Use students’ attendance for borderline decisions

Developing independent learning skills First Year tutorials Attending lectures & note taking Time management & independent learning Plagiarism Personal Development Plans – ePortfolio Revising for exams & answering exam questions Maths tutorial Oral presentations Writing (essays, scientific reports) Internet resources/ejournals/online books Examination feedback (compulsory individual tutorials)

Developing independent learning skills Second/later Year tutorials Examination feedback (compulsory individual tutorials) Personal Development Plan – ePortfolio Experimental design / lab protocols Grant writing & peer review Science in the news & media CV writing / job application Laboratory Tour/Safety Online databases/using PubMed/Internet Writing (reports/placements/dissertation)

Time management and Independent Learning Objectives To point out the challenges that students face in learning lecture material To promote good time management as a necessary skill to achieving well, particularly in examinations To explain the transition from dependent learner when students arrive at MSoP, to independent learner when they leave To point out the need for independent study as a necessary pre-requisite for good achievement with reference to the requirement for outside reading in the assessment criteria To explain the need for good time management and record keeping in pharmacy practice and in pharmacological research Example

Time management and Independent Learning Resources Concentration and Time Management from Southampton – Virginia Tech Study Skills – Time Management schedules from Ohio University – LearnHigher – Study Guides & Strategies – Skills4Study from Palgrave – Managing your time from PORT –

Time management and Independent Learning Suggested activities Have students fill out a simple timetable. Discuss this in the tutorial. Discuss the amount of hours expected for independent study in each of the courses Explain the need for lifelong independent learning in pharmacy and relate this to the school-to-university transition of dependent to independent learner Have students prepare a timetabled plan for a particular laboratory practical and compare this to the actual time taken Ask students to discuss what is meant by outside reading with reference to the assessment criteria. Point out how important this is to obtaining a good understanding and how this relates to good exam performance

Maintenance tasksTime Eating Sleeping Cleaning, shopping Committed tasks Paid employment Travel Timetabled hours Social Relaxing (television, reading) Private study Unaccounted hours Total168 hours