Responses to students' inquiries

Hi:

I'm glad that students are reading my blog and finding it useful. One student asked if they could get the blog sent to them as a subscription. You can join the blog through the RSS feed at the very bottom of the page. This means, as I understand it, that you will know when I've made new postings to the blog by checking the feed icon on your browser's toolbar. You can then read the new posting. Some weekly blogs take more time to write than others because of the amount of research or information in the blog. Unlike a newspaper, I don't have a small editorial staff to help me and the news doesn't really change daily. But blogs will always be weekly. The blog will go on except when the exhausted tutor takes vacation time off. These breaks will be clearly advertised in advance on the blog.

Another student asked about covering particular grammar material in an upcoming blog, I have noted their areas of interest and plan to do this as soon as our grammar blog rolls around.

I had planned to talk about stress this week. However, it has come to my attention, through a posting, that "critical appraisal of scientific materials, papers or reviews" would be a topic that would be of general interest this week for students working to deadline on assignments. Duly, this week's blog topic is how to pick and appraise research materials that can be used to the best effect in student assignments. Questions on this posting that are specific to your needs should be addressed to my email address at ulsmdltutor@le.ac.uk, unless you feel they would be of general interest to the group.

Perhaps, students should know that as the Skills Tutor, my work is somewhat different from the work of module tutors. For me, the work of the students is ongoing. There are always students in need, students who have to redo an assignment, students trying to find readings for a dissertation proposal and other students with many and varied concerns. Therefore, from my point of view, the work is not over when the module ends. Module tutors are subject experts in their specific area whether it is Finance or Management. My expertise lies in research skills, study skills and writing skills, and I approach education as from a holistic point-of-view. If we are lucky, we all remain learners for a lifetime. Until the next post,
KB

Please note: I have written this up as a blog because Google had some trouble allowing me to reply to posts in my usual way. This is my reply to last week's posts.