service within the BA Fine Art course at UCA Example of integrated service within the BA Fine Art course at UCA First a little bit of background this work involves students on the first year of the BA Fine Art course at Canterbury These students are transitioning to HE, many come from the FE courses at UCA but a large proportion are from elsewhere and as a consequence may be using a library for the first time. They are all inexperienced in finding and using academic sources. The intake is large for UCA, around 90 this year and in the past they have had issues with retention. The course had been working closely with myself and the learning development tutor in the past, but there was a new year convenor this year and they have involved us more in the planning and delivery of the course this year.

Embedded IL on course curriculum With the year convener, myself and the LDT planned out a schedule of workshops that ran alongside the traditional lectures and seminars that made up the Research 1 and Research 2 units. These units run for the duration of the students first year and encompass all of their written work, but also have studio elements as well. They are also enrolled onto Studio 1 and Studio 2 which run concurrently and focus on practical work. On the screen are the two main documents that students use when on the course: On the left is the timetable, which contains details of lectures, seminars, PASS sessions and workshops On the right are the assessment requirements for the unit For this unit, Research 2, the students have to complete a research portfolio and an essay. The research portfolio is made up of smaller tasks designed to get them used to writing, researching and referencing and it builds up to the essay. Some of the formative tasks are submitted to a course blog, where other students comment on the work. Students are then able to make improvements and submit the work at their summative deadline with the essay.

Example – review workshop Across the Research 1, September to January, unit we delivered an induction – using catalogue and academic writing, locating key terms and themes, evaluation and critiquing an artwork, referencing and bibliographies, analysing and summarising text For the Research 2 unit we delivered sessions on: exhibition reviews on writing, finding and referencing of them, academic writing and referencing, using Turnitin and PeerMark An example of one session on exhibition reviews is on the right. Students read a review, analyse it, find a review in an art journal and then reference it. The session mimics the task they have been set for the research portfolio, and the students seem to find this a good use of their time.

Impact Impact on course and students By working together we are more likely to embed our specialisms onto the course. To the academic they realise that their students need additional help to the course content provided to them through lecture and seminars, they don’t really see any distinctions between the job roles of staff in our learning enhancement office. They just come in and ask for help with things when they realise their students are experiencing problems, and they aren’t fussy who helps them as long as it has a positive impact on their studies. Through working closely with the course convener our workshops have credibility and relevance to the students. The format of the two units provides the students with a gentle introduction to studying at Higher Education and their course at the same time, building up to their first essay at the end of Research 2. The students have found this approach helpful, as they have submitted shorter pieces of writing first, and have also already submitted a draft essay and received formative feedback from their peers several weeks before the final deadline, giving them time to make alterations In comparison, the other courses at Canterbury start them off with an essay in their first term. This has led to far greater amount of stress amongst the students and a greater proportion of my time taken up with seeing students individually in tutorials, rather than teaching them in larger groups.