This is the second installment in Inspiration’s guest post series by Assistive Technology Consultant Andy Clarke. Enjoy!
Writing From The Student Perspective: What Is Required In Higher Education, and How Can Inspiration Help?
In my last article Exploring the Basics of Writing, I talked about how writing for me is made up of “ideas and structure” – and that the academic writer is required to make regular, pertinent and informed points, based on research and directed by a question or brief.
For a number of years now I have never let a chat with a teacher, lecturer or professor go by without asking what they believe the main challenges are for their first year students, and what if anything was evident to them from the work of students experiencing specific learning difficulties. In order to assist students, I’ve always found it useful to get a good overall picture of the challenges they face and (perhaps just as important) the expectations and observations of the academics who ultimately grade their submissions. Along the way I’ve noticed a few things and I’m going to share what I believe are the most important elements here.
Key observation 1: It is generally very difficult for academics to tell the difference between non-committed students and those with literacy difficulties. This is particularly an issue in higher education, where the lecturer is unlikely to have had regular personal contact with the student.
Students that have difficulties with reading and retaining information tend to use references from early in their research process (common signs are citations from the first few chapters of a textbook). This is typically due to the time required to reread and absorb the information. This mirrors students who do not give themselves enough time to conduct thorough research. To compound this we see a higher tendency for obvious mistakes in writing, such as incorrect or misspelled words, regularly repeating the same point, or a lack of structure which typically hints towards an absence of proofreading. Again, a mirror exists between students with proofreading difficulties due to learning disabilities and those that simply choose not to proofread.
Key observation 2: Academics in higher education are generally provided with guidance from their institution regarding the marking of work by students with a learning disability. However, so far I haven’t spoken to an academic that has been given an example pre-marked paper for their guidance.
Academics are often confused as to what they should be marking and what they should be ignoring in student submissions. Through conversation this appears to become increasingly more difficult as the student progresses to his or her final year. Many academics have noted to me that there are significant risks in either ignoring mistakes which would not be acceptable in a professional working environment, or simply attempting to interpret a meaning which may or may not be the student’s original intent.
At the end of the day, the academic is responsible for determining whether an individual student has progressed to the level required in order to obtain the institution’s qualification. In the medical professions in particular there should be little left to doubt regarding a student’s understanding of a subject. Please recall the thought above regarding references from just the first few chapters of a book and you’ll understand why some academics are nervous regarding blanket guidelines when it comes to marking student work.
But never fear! Visual structure tools such as Inspiration 9 can help students build both momentum and consistency into writing through the development of flexible and reusable study strategies. Here are a couple initial strategies for students which I have found effective:
- Use visual structure maps to inform research.
- Start ideas generation as soon as possible.
- The student may know very little about the writing subject at the beginning of researching, but that’s okay.
- Use Inspiration as a staging platform for reading and using the index of a number of publications to find specific information, rather than simply starting from the front of each book and working back. This is particularly important for students who generally avoid reading wherever possible.
- Record notes and references while researching, allowing Inspiration to serve as the organizing tool. Retaining information can be a problem for many and as such it can be a high risk strategy to try and memorize where the best references have come from.
In using a mapping tool as a companion to research, students can simply add references into a note field for gathering later. In my experience, this is critical for students with organization issues (and definitely worth considering for students with dyspraxia tendencies).
In my next article I shall be looking at why visual structure works well for people with specific learning difficulties, and how use of Inspiration 9 can be tailored to this group. There will be an accompanying video to help demonstrate helpful techniques.
Video Cast: Writing From the Student Perspective
I love the way students find personalised ways of using Inspiration. I use Inspiration every day in a variety of ways.