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 2016 John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh

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

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

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

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

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”

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

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

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

Thank you for listening If you require more information please feel free to contact our PGT team at iad.masters@ed.ac.uk Frances Parry and Donna Murray