Student's skills gaps are identified

Why should we identify students' skills gaps?

• Students often complain that Information Skills courses teach them skills they already have.
• Student populations are more diverse than ever before- we can no longer guess or anticipate need- we need to ask students what they want.
• Traditionally, students over or under estimate their abilities when asked to self assess, but new technologies allow easy testing of students skills.
• Identifying genuine skill gaps ensures that students see real benefits from their training- and gives LRC staff evidence of students' needs to take to curriculum and strategy meetings

How can we identify the skills that students lack?

• Ask students to formally assess their skills prior to training
• Test students prior to training- technologies such as VLEs can be used to simplify and speed this process
• Test students after training to assess what they still need to learn (or what areas current training programmes are missing)
• Talk to tutors/academic staff to find out what skills they want their students to acquire

Skills in Practice: Examples from the Case Studies

The institutions below have used a variety of methods to assess students skills:

• Tamworth and Lichfield College have piloted use of the Learnwise VLE to deliver induction sessions. A test at the end of the course allows students to test their learning. Click here to read the full case study.
• At University of Aberdeen, students use a questionnaire to assess their abilities as either beginner, intermediate or advanced in five skills. After working through an Information Skills module they are asked to assess what they have learned.Click here to read the full case study.