1. Supporting Masters Transitions, in, through and out:
diverse cohort, diverse support
Frances Parry and Donna Murray
Abstract: The lightening talk will cover the range of support for PGT students and Programmes provided by the Institute for Academic Development. We will focus on support for PGT student transitions into, through and out of university provided via our student workshops, learning resources and our staff networks.
Provision for taught postgraduate students (PGT) is a rapidly growing area for the Higher Education (HE) sector. The University and College strategic plans at Edinburgh have greatly emphasised maintaining and enhancing the quality of the learning experience for PGT students while also growing the PGT body of students (both on campus and online).
Supporting the PGT student learning experience can be challenging as the PGT cohort can be very diverse and their university journey can be very intensive whether study is fulltime, part time, on campus or online. The Institute for Academic Development (IAD) supports PGT student journeys with study and academic skills provision. This takes a variety of forms:-
Student Workshops (on campus and online)
Online resources for students
Staff support
Making the Most of Masters (work based projects)
This lightening talk will cover the range of support that the IAD provides for PGT students and will present students’ feedback.
Enhancement Themes conference, Thursday 9 June John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh

2. What do our students say?
Results from PTES1 tell us that our PGT students:
are motivated to prepare for PG study before they arrive
want to understand more clearly what is expected of them at PG level
support in academic skills, in particular academic writing
do not feel well equipped for their future career
identify strongly with their School but are also keen to feel part of a wider PG community

3. Supporting Transitions through Academic skills workshops: on-campus
Transitions Model for PGT support
~120 on-campus workshops
Generic and contextualised
IMAGE
Typical 1 year masters with dissertation in the 3rd semester

4. Supporting Transitions through Academic skills workshops: online
Wider interpretation of the
transitions model for PGT support
~60 on-line workshops
Accessible for the “busy” masters
student
ODL tailored sessions and open to
all (ODL and on-campus) sessions
Wider interpretation of the transitions model for PGT support
On-campus PT 2yr masters, CPD modules, ODL 2-6 yr masters
~60 on-campus workshops
Accessible for the “busy” masters student
ODL tailored sessions – exclusively attended by ODL students
Online sessions – open to all 50:50 split in ODL to on-campus
Easy to use for pre arrival – NB Pre-arrival pilot this year

5. Supporting Transitions through online learning resources
Pre- arrival support
Throughout the masters
Usable material
Increasing usage of pages

6. Student feedback
Over 75% agree that the workshops were at the correct academic level
75% agree that the online learning resources were at the correct academic level
Over 60 % downloaded and used our material
Top three study needs critical thinking, academic writing and time management
“If the sessions could be recorded and accessed after the event this would have been very helpful”
“one Critical Reading workshop with IAD transformed my approach to course reading and to assignments”
“writing retreats (for Master's) were incredibly helpful! I found writing in a space with other students who were working towards similar goals was motivational”
“all good quality but large volume. Perhaps a recommended top 5 to read for new students might provide a starting point as the sheer volume can be off putting”
“dissertation workshops should have been earlier in the year not during the dissertation time period”

7. Supporting transitions out: Making the Most of Masters:
Supports Work Based Projects for Masters dissertations
Opportunity to gain “real world experience”
Offers a variety of support that can be tailored to Schools’ or Programmes’ needs
Over 500 work based projects at Edinburgh
Inter- university collaboration
Open to all Schools and Programmes across the university who wish to engage with WBPs
Offers a variety of support that can be tailored to Schools’ or Programmes’ needs – workshops, 1:1s, materials, guides, toolkit
Works closely with careers service for in-house
Over 500 work based projects at Edinburgh

8. Supporting Staff 20/40 lunchtime seminars MMM WBP events
Annual administrators meeting
PGT strategy conference
PGT academic skills events
Academic development support

9. Key to the support is communication
Communication routes
Welcome /Induction
Student newsletter
Student Blog
Twitter
Pop up stands
Flyers/Pamphlets/posters
Networks
MMM Network
PGT Programme Director Network
PGT Programme Admin Support Network

10. Thank you for listening
If you require more information please feel free to contact our PGT team at
Frances Parry and Donna Murray