Help students to Study Smart

Colleagues can help set up our new students for success by recommending our Study Smart course.

New first year and Foundation students coming to study at Reading will receive their invitation to take Study Smart this week.

This online transition to university course, developed exclusively for our students by the Study Advice and Online Courses team, is now in its seventh year.

The course includes videos, quizzes, and resources on academic integrity, communicating at university, and independent learning. These activities and resources have been designed to help students with the transition to university-level study and, once enrolled, students retain access to these resources for their entire time with us.

Feedback shows that the course is successful because of staff endorsement, so course tutors and other academic staff working with new students are encouraged to help them to sign up.

Incoming students are often concerned that they may lack some of the study skills for university-level learning, and confidence for some may have been impacted over recent years because of disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The course will also support students with the ways they will be learning and includes advice on critical thinking, getting the most out of seminars, and organising their study time.

They will also benefit from the experience of our current students who are on discussion boards answering students’ questions.

How to recommend Study Smart

Study Smart is open to all new Foundation and first year students at the University of Reading.

The Study Advice team has developed a set of slides with all the information students need to enrol, which can be embedded into induction sessions.

Students can access a certificate at the end of the course, which could be shared with Academic Tutors or uploaded into Blackboard.

For more information about Study Smart, see the staff-facing Tutors’ Guide or email Dr Sonia Hood, Study Advice manager, on s.hood@reading.ac.uk.