Original authors: Trevor Habeshaw, Graham Gibbs, & Sue Habeshaw.
Revised and updated by Hannah Strawson.
Outline
If you teach in higher or professional education, 53 interesting ways of helping your students to study is designed to help you. This book provides practical suggestions, each tried and tested, for helping students to improve their learning. The book is designed for dipping into to find ideas that dovetail with your own teaching approach and the needs of your students.
The topics covered are wide-ranging. They include: beginning to study; planning one’s studying; studying through reading; taking notes; writing; learning with others; using library resources; revision; and examinations.
Key terms: higher education; learning; professional education; studying; study skills; study techniques.
Contents
Front matter:
- Abstract
- Series information
- Publishers’ Foreword
Chapters:
- Beginning
- Planning
- Reading
- Taking notes
- Writing
- Learning with others
- Using resources
- Revising
- Exams
How to acquire your copy
Retailers selling the paperback include Amazon. Those selling the e-book in ePub format include WH Smith. The Kindle edition is available from Amazon. You can also read this book on the cloud at 24symbols or you can purchase a licence to print your own copy of this book at Paperight.
Our how to buy page provides fuller information.
Bibliographical information
Publication date: 12 January 2012
Edition: 2nd
Extent: 192 pp
Formats and ISBNs:
- paperback: 978-1-907076-28-2
- ePub: 978-1-907076-25-1
- PDF: 978-1-907076-26-8
- Kindle: 978-1-907076-27-5
Classification:
- BISAC Subject heading: EDU015000
- BIC subject category: JNM
- Library of Congress subclass: LB1025-1050.75 Teaching (principles and practice)
- Dewey no.: 378
From the book
Publishers’ foreword: The original edition of 53 interesting ways of helping your students to study was published in a series called ‘Interesting ways to teach’. It was written by Sue Habeshaw, Graham Gibbs and Trevor Habeshaw
– all of them experienced teachers – and published by their company, Technical and Educational Services. The book proved popular amongst peers in post-compulsory education.
Now that the original authors have retired from teaching, we are very pleased to have acquired from them the rights to this and other titles from that series. Much of the original material remains fresh and helpful. The text has, however, been revised and updated where appropriate. This task has been performed by Hannah Strawson. In four places (items 6, 21, 40 and 42), the original text has been replaced wholesale.
Anthony Haynes & Karen Haynes
The Professional and Higher Partnership Ltd
Introduction: Effective learners are autonomous: they make their own decisions about how, when and what to learn, rather than passively following general advice. Hence there are no right or wrong study techniques. Moreover, students are perfectly capable of discovering what works best for themselves through examining their own experience and that of their colleagues. Effective learning has more to do with awareness and understanding of the purpose and process of learning than with techniques or mechanical skills.
Students do not casually abandon their existing learning methods, which are often deep-rooted habits. Development consists of a gradual evolution of methods based on an understanding of past and present experience.
In these exercises, therefore, there is no attempt to tell students how to study and very little direct advice of any kind. Decision-making is left to students. The purpose of the exercises is to help students to become more reflective, more autonomous and thus more effective learners. Exercises are designed to put students into an informed position from which they can make their own
decisions about studying. Where conclusions are drawn they are the conclusions of students themselves. Where techniques are introduced the aim is to offer new experience and raise awareness rather than to advise all students to use the particular technique.
In the exercises in this book students are encouraged to become observers of their own performance. This will usually be done by their engaging in the process of reflection through thinking or writing about their experience. This personal reflection, once completed, is re-inforced if they discuss their ideas with one or more of their colleagues – a process we strongly recommend. Even when very large groups are involved, it is still important to arrange for
students to discuss their learning with each other. If students are to become autonomous learners, this discussion must be based on a student-centred approach which underplays the role of the tutor.
The group methods which are used most frequently in this book
are as follows.
PAIRS
Simply talking things through with someone else enables arguments and ideas to be rehearsed, as well as informing each person about the arguments and ideas of the other.
BUZZ GROUPS
These tend to be rather more structured than simply ‘talking things through’. Usually the discussion will concern a specific question or topic, which students are asked to consider for a couple of minutes or so. Buzz groups needn’t entail any reporting back or pooling of points.
ROUNDS
This is a simple way of ensuring that everyone speaks. In a ‘round’ everyone, including the tutor, speaks about a given topic. It is helpful if the chairs can be arranged in a circle or horseshoe shape so that everyone can see everyone else. The ground rules which apply in ‘rounds’ include the following:
⚫ people speak in turn, not out of turn;
⚫ everyone listens when it’s not their turn;
⚫ it’s OK to repeat what someone else has said.
PYRAMID
The pyramid (or ‘snowball’) method has four stages. First, students work alone. In this way individuals are able to concentrate on clarifying their own views on the matter in hand. Then, in pairs, they share their thoughts or notes with each other. This gives them the opportunity to try out their ideas on someone else. Then groups of four discuss the problems, issues, applications,
etc. which derive from the topic. This then normally leads to some pooling of ideas, conclusions or solutions.
SYNDICATE GROUPS
These are small groups of students, say four to six in number, who work on the same problem, or on different aspects of the same problem, at the same time. On completion of the task each group reports back to the tutor in the hearing of others so that they can compare other groups’ ideas with their own.
THOUGHT SHOWER
In a thought shower members of the group call out ideas which the tutor lists on a flipchart or board. The ground rules for a thought shower, which have been devised to give group members the freedom to express their ideas, are as follows:
⚫ call out suggestions in any order;
⚫ don’t explain or justify your suggestions;
⚫ don’t comment on other people’s suggestions.
Trevor Habeshaw, Graham Gibbs, & Sue Habeshaw
