As mentioned in last post, we are focussing our current efforts on two strands – maintaining and promoting academic focus, and being active in student support, the second aspect being led by m’colleague Chris Mowat.
In terms of academic focus, we are moving our closed book exams to open book. Of course this seems “easier”, but I think brings new challenges for students in their study. All that study time spent learning things off doesn’t seem as important now, and we are moving our focus to asking students to think about what questions are asking, showing their understanding concisely in answers, etc. In other words, now that students have a chance to write as much as they want, the challenge instead becomes, what should they do to show they understand? (It’s like, I don’t know, closed-book exams aren’t a good way to assess or something, huh).
Anyway, to help with this I have produced the guide below for students. Hopefully it has some useful prompts in terms of getting focussed and keeping organised, thinking about “pivoting” (ugh) to the new assessment regime, along with Chris’ ongoing guidance re student support. I’ve reproduced the text below, if any of it is of use, please reproduce as you need. CC-by-CoronaVirus 4.0. (With thanks back to the internet for various bits of guidelines that fed into this.)
Text of graphic:
As we have moved quickly to online and remote learning and teaching, you may need to work to establish new study patterns. This will take a little time to get used to, so take your time, and take care of your wellbeing first.
This guide will outline how you can make a plan to adjust your studying and help you regain control of your work.
In this guide we’ll talk about:
» Staying organised
» Adjusting to new assessment protocols
» Connecting with others
» Keeping in touch with the School
You may need to adapt your study habits. Find out what works best for you and establish a regular pattern of work, ensuring you include downtime. This is a marathon, not a sprint!
1. Organise your notes and study
There has been a lot of upheaval in the last weeks of Semester. Your task is to manage your ongoing workload in an organised and coherent way. To do this you can:
make sure you know where all the materials are for each lecture course unit. Live lecture recordings will be in the Lecture Recordings area, with online classrooms in the Course Collaborate channel linked in each course;
make sure you know any revisions to the assessment protocols, so you can plan your study accordingly;
plan and keep track of your study tasks, including scheduling downtime;
note the contacts for each course lecturer;
share your plans with peers in your study group so that you can coordinate your work.
To keep your study focussed and on target, a suggestion is to divide each study day into thirds, with a study session or a scheduled downtime in each third.
In each study session, you can:
focus on reviewing the content of particular topics, drawing on lecture recordings as you need;
work through tutorial materials, discussing with peers in your study group through whatever electronic communication means you have decided on;
test out your understanding with past paper questions;
draw up a list of questions that you wish to discuss with your peers and with your lecturers.
In each session, stay focussed on one topic. Multi-tasking (or micro-tasking) is a very poor learning strategy (only about 2% of the population can multi-task). Work on one topic, wrap it up so that you can return to it easily (clear questions that need follow up), and move on.
In your study sessions, aim to establish a rhythm. Structure the time within each study session, by using, for example, the Pomodoro technique (e.g. a series of three 50 minutes on, 10 minutes break in one study session).
Remember to schedule downtime including full days away from study. Make sure you maintain your usual daily routines of personal care, eating, and social contact by phone or online.
2. Adjusting to new assessment protocols
Until recently, students’ study has been focussed on preparing for closed book exams. The new assessment protocols mean that these exams are now open book. This will mean some changes to your study requirements, but most importantly some additional focus on how you answer questions asked:
The guiding principle for closed-book exams on “making sure you answer the question asked” applies even more in open-book assessments. Students should read questions carefully and make sure that they answer what is being asked. Assessors will be looking to see whether students can concisely answer the question asked. This is the main challenge in open-book assessments.
When studying and reviewing past papers, check that you can identify exactly what is being asked. Remember, exam questions are written so that they can typically be answered in timed conditions, so assessors will look to see quality of your answers addressing the specific chemistry asked, rather than seeing all of their notes reproduced verbatim.
Continue to practice drawing chemical structures, diagrams, and any figures or graphs as you normally would. All of the work you produce for open-book assessments must be in your own hand.
Experience tells us that students often write lots of material, but don’t necessarily answer what is being asked. Make sure your study includes a focus on identifying what is being asked.
3. Connecting with others for study
Much of learning and revision is based around discussions, both among students and between students and staff. Make sure you keep connected as follows:
You should aim to contact lecturers with specific questions arising out of your study, or arising out of revision sessions and discussions with your peers. It is easier for lecturers to address specific questions. Lecturers may also be able to direct you to online reading in the face of library closure.
If you don’t understand a topic generally and don’t know where to start, even after reviewing materials, ask your lecturer for suitable reading. Reading about your topic in a wider context can often help with understanding.
Make sure to form discussion groups. If you are not already in a study group and want to be, the best person to start out with is your lab partner. From there, look to grow it to groups of 4 – 6. It is good when there is a mix of abilities—explaining something to others is very beneficial.
Working in study groups means that you can contact staff as a group with any questions emerging from study.
4. Re-invent the social space online!
One of the challenges over the coming weeks up to the assessment period will be staying focussed during periods of isolation. We’re all missing our lovely Museum, and in place of that, the School are scheduling regular online drop in sessions—these are informal and are intended for social contact as much as addressing any questions among students. Join in these sessions, even if it is only to listen.
All students should make an effort to check in on each other regularly. If someone has been absent from your group meetings or chat, check in with them to see that they are okay. If you aren’t getting responses within a day or two, let your Personal Tutor know.
Keep connected with your class, either as study groups or just social connections. Everyone will need a different level of social contact, but make sure there is someone there for you when you want to disconnect from study. Always remember that staff are available if you need someone to talk to.
5. Stay in touch with the School
If anything is troubling you, or you want to talk about how you are getting on generally, let us know. We can arrange Skype or phone calls at any time. The School’s Personal Tutor system is ready and waiting, and if you have any queries, contact your Personal Tutor, the Senior Personal Tutor (Chris Mowat), the Director of Postgraduate Teaching (Nanna Lilienkampf), or the Director of Teaching (Michael Seery).
All of us are ready to answer and address any queries you have. Even if you don’t have a specific query and just want to reach out, contact us:
Your Personal Tutor
Chris Mowat:
Nanna Lilienkampf:
Michael Seery:
General queries:
There are University resources available including student study resources in the Library and IAD and student support resources. For these, and full details of University guidance regarding COVID-19, see the website:
www.ed.ac.uk/news/covid-19/current-students