Artybartfast

The idea that today’s students lack critical thinking skills isn’t a new one – but the growing abundance of poor quality and unreliable information on the web means that actively teaching these skills within our courses has become a priority (Ron Cooke, JISC Chair). I’ve recently been involved in the design of an online study skills module to support our distance learning students. It’s designed to help students to learn about all aspects of effective studying, from the basics through to higher order skills including critical analysis. I’m looking forward to finding out how the latest cohort of students used this resource, and how effective it’s been.

Today’s students are ‘digital natives’, but they’re using the available technology in an unsophisticated way, and they often lack the ability to articulate how they are learning (David Melville). The key to engaging today’s learners is tapping into what they really value in higher education that they don’t already get from tools such as facebook (Helen Beetham).