UCL CENTRE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
Learning
is
Personal
A guide
to your
personal and
professional
development
at UCL
© 2015-16 Edition. September 2015
Contents
Section 1: Introduction to Personal & Professional Development (PPD) at UCL
Introduction to PPD: learning is personal
So what do you really want to get out of university?
The process of self-reflection
2
3
4
6
Section 2: The PPD Framework
10
11
14
Section 3: Tracking your Development
16
17
18
Section 4: Personal Tutors at UCL
20
21
22
Section 5: Opportunities at UCL
24
25
26
30
32
The PPD framework
Reflective writing
PPD on Portico
MyPortfolio for Personal and Professional Development
About Personal Tutors
Planning for your tutorials
Opportunities for development
Palgrave’s Skills4Study Campus
UCL ChangeMakers
UCL Connected Curriculum
1
Section 1
Introduction
to Personal &
Professional
Development
(PPD) at UCL
2
Learning is Personal
Your years at university offer a unique chance to
explore and fulfil your interests and developmental
aspirations - academically, personally and socially.
Your individual learning journey is unique. You are
in effect leading your own expedition into unfamiliar
territory, with some travelling companions and
guides along the way. The experience and outcome
of such an exploration will depend very much on
how actively you engage with the opportunities that
you encounter along the way. Every experience,
whether formal or informal, academic or social,
offers an opportunity to enhance and develop your
knowledge, skills and clarity of purpose, as well as
the potential for enjoyment. What you learn and
develop will be useful immediately, and in your
longer-term personal and professional future.
been made available to you online at www.ucl.
ac.uk/ppd, along with every encouragement to use
them from the outset and make them an integral
part of your learning and development throughout
your degree.
PPD for You
The opportunities are everywhere, but you must
seize and engage with them pro-actively, attending
to the important things as well as reacting to
the urgent ones, like impending deadlines for
coursework or exams. And it is what is important to
you that matters - why you are taking this degree,
what it offers you now as well as what you hope
it will lead to. Think ahead, as well as for now. It
is too tempting to put off engaging with the wider
issues in your learning and development until
your final year, when the question of “What next?”
looms large. But development takes time and by
then it can be, if not too late, at least severely
compromised. That is why the PPD resources have
UCL’s commitment to you
UCL has long believed in the importance of the
personal and professional development of its
students. We recognise its relevance to all aspects
of the student experience: transition, academic
work, extra-curricular activities, as well as to
immediate and longer-term career prospects for
graduates. Its importance to a UCL education goes
beyond this. We believe that a university education
should foster not only the acquisition of subject
knowledge, but also the advanced skills, attitudes,
values and sense of purpose that will enable our
graduates to meet the significant challenges facing
individuals, communities and mankind on a global
scale.
Your Personal Tutor (more on this later)
Although it is your ultimate responsibility to think
about your personal and professional development,
you are not alone in this matter. Your Personal
Tutor will be able to offer face-to-face guidance
and support, especially in the early stages of your
learning journey. Your development plans and
progress, submitted via Portico, form a substantive
agenda item for your personal tutorials. You can
find out more about what to expect from your
Personal tutor on the PPD website (see above).
3
So what do you really
want to get out of
uni?
University is a busy time. Very soon your formal
course of study will take up a great deal of your time.
Before that happens, it is worthwhile thinking ahead
to what you want to achieve at certain milestones.
Research has shown that students who are more
clearly focused on where they want to end up are
more likely to achieve their goals and perform well at
university. Be realistic and honest with yourself. Don’t
set targets you can’t achieve but equally, make sure
you challenge yourself. The goals you set don’t have
to be anything grand, rather have them act as a focus
for your efforts.
TIP: Don’t worry if you are not
absolutely sure what you want to do,
or what you want to be. University
is a time of discovery after all.
The things you jot down here are
tentative and will inevitably change.
If you are having trouble, think about
the things you enjoy, the things that
interest you or any anxieties that you
would like to combat.
4
Where am I now?
Before you start to think about where you want to end
up, it is a good idea to be clear about where you are
now. This will help you be honest with yourself will
help you set realistic goals.
Things to think about:
• What are you proud of and why?
• What challenges have you had to overcome to
get here?
• What motivates you?
• What are you interested in?
• Is there anything you would like to do better?
• What do you enjoy? What do you not enjoy?
Where do I want to be…?
When you have some idea of where you are, it should
be easier to see not only where you want to end up
but also the steps you need to take to get there. It
is important when thinking ahead to consider what
will help you achieve the goals you set. This could
be a series of small goals, or stepping stones, but
it could also be the places or people that you need
to see to get the information you need to reach your
destination.
TIP: Your Personal Tutor should
be able to advise you on the
opportunities and services available
at UCL. See also the resources on
the PPD website (www.ucl.ac.uk/ppd).
…by the end of term?
& how can I get there?
…by the end of the year?
& how can I get there?
…by the end of my time at university?
& how can I get there?
TIP: Take this with you when you go to see your Personal Tutor for the first meeting. It will act
as a good basis for discussion.
5
The Process of Self-Reflection
What you have just been doing in the previous
section is self-reflection. It is a process that raises
awareness of ourselves by recognising what went
right or wrong. But it is also more than that. Being
reflective helps you to determine who you can
become. It is transformational.
‘Reflective practice’ is something that you might
hear a lot as you advance through university. It is
associated with a learning style that moves you
towards being a critical thinker and an autonomous
learner by relying on your own investigative, or selfquestioning, powers.
Self-reflection is also important when thinking about
your wider development. It is not just the formal
knowledge that you acquire in your academic
learning, but the personal and professional skills,
attitudes, values and sense of purpose that you
develop in the process. Knowledge can arguably
be acquired in an ‘outside in’ process, but skills,
attitudes, values and sense of purpose can only
be developed from within yourself – an ‘inside
out’ process if you like. That is why a reflective
approach is a vital element in advanced learning
and development. It can help you pinpoint what you
want to achieve in the short and long term. It makes
you more self-aware so that you are able to see and
present a balanced picture, to yourself and to others.
Being aware of your abilities - what you are good at,
what interests you, what you find easy, what you need
6
to work hard at – means that you feel more prepared
and able to confront and cope with challenges as
they arise. It also means you are more likely to see
them as just that; challenges and not obstacles
or problems. This is because your self-efficacy is
heightened, the confidence you have in your ability to
succeed at the given task.
Having said that, self-assessment is a subtle art and
takes some practice to master, since your view of
yourself is anything but objective. We have to see
past how we would like to appear to the world, and
also past the things that we would prefer the world
to not see about us, to present an authentic account
of ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, our
aspirations as well as our anxieties. We need to learn
to pay attention to the evidence supporting (or not)
our claims about ourselves, and plan on that basis.
This does not come easily and more than anything
else, it is a lifelong journey of discovery.
Exercise
Take some time now to think about some of these things
Strengths...
Weaknesses...
Aspirations...
Anxieties...
7
Now take one of the things you have identified as a strength. Write down how you think that will help you
succeed at university. How can you use it to tackle some of the challenges that you might face?
If you have written down any anxieties, think about how you might overcome them. This will help you stay in
control and not become overwhelmed. Being aware of what you want to improve will help you seek out the
opportunities that will help you develop them rather than avoid them.
8
Case Study
“I have always been nervous about public speaking.
others understood, representing the views of the group
holding me back. I’d avoid taking modules if they
with the whole class. I found I started contributing more
So much so that I’d do anything to avoid it. But it was
involved presentations, or applying for jobs if they had
any element of public speaking even if the job was
perfect for my career progression. It was crazy. My
accurately but also then engaging in wider conversations
to group discussions and letting my opinions be heard. It
felt like I was gaining in conference.
tactic of avoidance was no longer just about ducking
Reviewing my progress has helped me identify
from doing what I wanted to do. Identifying the problem,
other contexts, for example at meetings I felt happier
something I didn’t like, it was actually holding me back
though, was the first step. Now I knew that I wanted to
improve, I actually had to do it. I decided the best way
to tackle my phobia was to confront it head on…to do
some public speaking, regardless of how nervous or
uncomfortable I felt.
Having this goal in mind meant I was vigilant in
identifying opportunities that would help me achieve
where I could and was using some of these skills in
contributing my ideas because I felt I was better able
to articulate myself. Being able to succinctly sum up
discussions to present to the class could be transferred
to the briefing documents that I often get asked to write
in order to make them more pithy. I also felt like I was
more open and aware of the views of others and sought
them out more actively.
my goal. Initially this was on a smaller, less intimidating
Reviewing my progress has also helped me identify
nominate myself as the spokesperson. This was a role I
full of strangers. I think this will be a bigger step, but
stage. In group work, for my MA in Education, I would
would happily have let someone else take on previously.
It felt good doing it, I have to say. The panic that set in
quickly subsided as I began talking and, eventually, it felt
like less of a big deal.
This was a good time for me to review what I was
learning and how I was developing. It helped me
appreciate that I actually was making progress, which
motivated me to keep on at is. I realised that I was
developing a whole host of skills relating to presenting;
summarising the points we made concisely and so that
the next step that I need to take; speaking to a room
I would say I feel more able to take it because I have
developed this area in stages. I decided I wanted to talk
to someone about what else I could do to better prepare
myself for this. They suggested presentation skills
training and watching presentations from good speakers
to see what I can learn from them. They also gave me
advice from their own experience…practical tips and
stuff like that which will be really useful.”
Taught Masters Student
9
Section 2
The PPD
Framework
10
Personal & Professional Development (PPD) is the system at UCL that has been created as a lens to help you
focus on your broader progress at university. It uses a framework to help you explore the skills, knowledge
and attributes that you might need or like to develop at university. Frameworks help explain the key factors in
a given area and the relationships between them. This framework, then, is a way to orientate yourself in these
developmental processes.
The framework can be found online at: www.ucl.ac.uk/ppd/resources/framework
Academic
Learning Actively
Using Sources
Self Management
Reflecting on Learning
Assessing Oneself
Communicating
Writing
Presenting
Analysing Data
Solving Problems
Thinking Critically
Managing Time
Being Creative/Innovative
Listening
Using Information Technology
Being Independent
Communicating Globally
Working with Others
Working in Teams
Understanding Others
Negotiating
Assessing Self and Peers
Managing Projects
Managing Resources
Planning and Making Decisions
Leading
Managing Change
11
The PPD system uses these areas as the
headings under which your will be able to record
your development, logging evidence as you gain
proficiency in these areas. They are intended to
represent the areas that you will want to develop
during your degree and are aligned with the skills,
knowledge and attributes that you should possess
as a graduate. When you visit the framework on the
PPD website, you will find a comprehensive bank of
resources to help you explore and develop the areas
you are interested in. How you decide which area
to concentrate on will very much depend on your
individual needs and on the particular goals you have
set for yourself.
Graduate Attributes
Graduate attributes are the transferable skills
regarded as being important to employers. Graduates
who demonstrate some of the fundamental skills and
attributes required by employers are highly desirable
and more likely to get the jobs they want when they
graduate. The truth is that most graduate do possess
these skills, although to varying degrees. The tricky
part is being able to demonstrate them. That is
where the PPD system comes in as it makes you
aware of your capabilities, therefore enabling you to
demonstrate how you have used them successfully.
12
TIP: These development areas
are multi-faceted. There are often
mechanical and cognitive functions
to them. A good example to
explain this is ‘Using Sources’. The
mechanical aspect is the process of
referencing within a document. The
cognitive function, however, refers
to how you use sources to support
and develop your arguments. It is
the process of using and engaging
with knowledge rather than just
memorising and regurgitating it.
Exercise
•
Visit job boards and look at the sorts of
skills they ask for
•
Make a note of any areas you need to work
on
•
Give the UCL Careers website a visit to see
what advice they have to offer
www.ucl.ac.uk/careers
13
Reflective Writing
An essential tool for PPD
Writing is a reflective tool, essential for the PPD
process. Although we reflect naturally on our own,
the process of writing is more critical and analytical.
It deliberately sets out to promote change. Because
writing is a conscious process it forces you to take
time out of your busy university life, where often your
focus is on learning subject-specific content, to think
about how and why you do things the way you do.
TIP: Essentially, reflective writing is
about looking backwards to move
forwards
Learning Spirals
One thing that reflective writing makes evident is
that learning is not really a cycle, but a spiral. As you
reach a level of competency in a given area, and
document it through this process of writing evidence,
you will also be identifying other ways that you
can continue to grow and develop. There is never
really an endpoint to your development, rather it is a
continual process of growth. In essence, you are a
lifelong learner.
14
Creating a permanent record
Reflective writing creates a permanent record of
your progress, putting the information about your
development at your fingertips for when you are
called on to use it, for example, in job interviews. This
is the evidence that we referred to in the previous
section. As part of the PPD system, there are places
you can store this evidence. More on this in the next
section, ‘Tracking your Development’.
TIP: Reflective writing makes explicit
what is hidden
Getting started on reflective writing
When critically evaluating your skills, attributes
and knowledge, Graham Gibbs, an educational
researcher, offers a useful structure for framing your
writing.
Description
Feelings
TIP: We have left space for you to
make some notes under the different
heading if you would like to get
started critically reflecting on your
skills
What are you
going to reflect
on?
How did you
feel about it?
Evaluation
What was good
and bad about
the experience?
Analysis
What was really
going on?
Conclusions
(general)
What have you
learnt from this?
Conclusions
(specific)
What have you
specifically learnt
about yourself?
Personal
Action Plans
What are you going
to do differently
next time?
15
Section 3
PPD resources:
Tracking your
Development
16
Portico
Portico is the system that is used, amongst other
things, to plan and record your development in a
systematic way. It is where you make a physical
record of your activity that will help you concentrate
on how best to develop your skills, attributes and
knowledge and how you can best present them to
others. This is the basis of the all-round learning
conversation that you will have with your Personal
Tutor, who can give you guidance if you’re stuck and
encouragement as you progress. The Portico system
makes this planning and guidance process smoother
and keeps track of your achievements over time.
Getting started
On the PPD website, there is a Student User Guide,
to help you get to grips with the PPD system on
Portico (www.ucl.ac.uk/ppd/resources).
Documenting evidence of your abilities
Having concrete evidence of why you consider
something to be a personal strength will be invaluable
when you are called upon to demonstrate these
capabilities. While others are agonising over job
applications and post-graduate study submissions,
you will have easy access to detailed examples that
demonstrate how you exhibit the skills employers are
after.
As Dr Anson Mackay, Deputy Head of the Geography
Department at UCL, puts it:
“Learning to keep an update of all the skills you are
taking on board is beneficial because when you
actually start applying for jobs…you can illustrate
with actual specifics, with what you’ve done in your
university career…Employers will get hundreds of
letters with some very bland statements so if you can
pepper that with exactly the skills they are looking for
then that will make you stand out from the rest.”
Questions to ask yourself
Documenting evidence of your various proficiencies,
however, is not always an easy task. However, it is
one that is worth persevering with.
Sometimes you know you are good at something
but are not sure why. Part of the benefit of writing
about these things is to become conscious of what
is otherwise automatic and unseen. Use these
questions as a starting point for uncovering why this
is a strength:
•
•
•
•
What feedback did you receive?
What approach did you take? Why? What was
the result?
Were you happy with it? Why? What do you think
your could have done better?
Have you improved on anything since the last
time? What effect did this have?
17
MyPortfolio for Personal and
Professional Development
By Domi Sinclair, Learning Technologist, E-Learning Environments
Highlighting and demonstrating your skills and
experience to both potential and current employers can
be challenging. Stating on a piece of paper or in an
email that you have a particular talent is one thing; it is
quite another to demonstrate your talent. An e-portfolio
allows you to supplement a traditional CV and cover
letter with examples of your work and other artefacts so
that potential employers can judge for themselves how
talented you are. MyPortfolio can help you to do just this.
MyPortfolio is UCL’s e-portfolio system and is based on
Mahara software, which is used in many institutions and
organisations around the world. It allows you to plan,
record and reflect on your personal and professional
development, and to showcase it to different audiences.
You have complete control over your content and pages
– anything you put into MyPortfolio is private to you, until
you decide to put it onto a page and share it. You can
share that page with a specific person, people, group or
make it public. Anything made public will be searchable
in Google, increasing your professional online presence.
As with sharing anything online is it always important
to be careful. Make sure you have spell-checked
everything and that it presents the work and reflects
the sort of image you want others to see. For security
reasons it is important to make sure you haven’t shared
any private personal details too widely. You also may
want to consider sharing snippets of work rather than
full documents; this will reduce the chances of your work
being plagiarised by others.
18
Within MyPortfolio there are many ways to create
content, including the CV builder, plans and journal.
As well as creating content within MyPortfolio, you can
upload files such as documents, spreadsheets, images,
video and audio files. The gauge at the side of the files
area will let you know when you are approaching the
maximum file limit, which is currently 500MB. If you
have external content then this can also be added to a
page, either as a link or it could be embedded. There
is a wide range of embeddable resources, such as
YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, SlideShare and Prezi
presentations.
You can then organise content on to pages, which can
each have different layouts and sharing parameters.
Once you have created a number of pages you could
group them into a ‘collection’, producing a mini website
with either side menu or tab navigation.
Once you finish at UCL, you will lose access to your
MyPortfolio account but the good news is you can take
the content with you! You can export a single page,
collection or all of your data. There are Mahara hosting
sites available some of which are free, where you can
upload your exported data and even if you don’t want to
use one of these you can export your portfolio as a set
of web pages.
Even if you choose not to share your content with others,
MyPortfolio can be a valuable tool for storing examples
of work, logging experiences in the journal and reflecting
on your development. This can help you more easily
recount examples when applying for jobs or during an
appraisal.
Getting started with MyPortfio couldn’t be
simpler.
Log on with your UCL username and password at:
https://myportfolio.ucl.ac.uk/
If you need any support then you can find guides and
some examples to help inspire you.
The Welcome tour is a great place to start, as it will
familiarise you with the navigation in MyPortfolio, so
you can easily step your way to a great portfolio and
reflect on your skills and goals. http://bit.ly/1cZ9u6O
19
Section 4
Personal Tutors
at UCL
20
Who are Personal Tutors?
Every student at UCL is provided with a Personal
Tutor (a supervisor in research degrees), who will
normally be a member of teaching staff but not
necessarily teaching courses taken by their tutees.
What sort of things can you discuss with your
Personal Tutor?
Personal tutorial sessions should be scheduled
in both small group and one-to-one formats to
support tutees’ learning and development, as well as
considering personal welfare where needed.
This will include:
•
•
•
•
•
Facilitating personal and professional
development in all years of study
Identifying any personal difficulties prevailing and
advising or making referrals to services
Advise on course progression and options
General career advice
Recommendations for further study
Getting to know a member of academic staff
Since you will normally have the same Personal Tutor
as you progress through your degree programme, it is
common to ask them to provide a personal reference
around the time you are graduating. If you have
engaged with them consistently across the years,
they should know you quite well both academically
and personally.
Arrangements for personal tutorials
Detailed arrangements vary from department to
department, but the baseline minimum standards
are that you should have five scheduled personal
tutorial sessions in the first year, of which three are
one-to-one, and three in every subsequent year.
Tutors usually also publicise ‘office hours’, when
they are available for consultation on a drop-in
basis. If your Personal Tutor is away for a significant
length of time, alternative arrangements should be
available for the duration. The person overseeing
tutoring arrangements in each department is the
Departmental Tutor, so they would be the person to
call on if problems arise.
The more you put into it, the more you will get out
Your Personal Tutor has a wide range of professional
and academic responsibilities and may be busy at
certain times of year, sometimes unexpectedly. Don’t
let this discourage you from seeing them however
- the personal contact and mutual commitment is a
vital part of learning at UCL. By the same token, be
conscious of how you use the time in tutorials and
informal meetings and use it well. If you take on board
the advice given and realise its benefits in practice, it
is time well spent for both parties. Your Personal Tutor
can offer guidance on your personal and professional
development, via the planning and progress logging
tools in Portico as described elsewhere in this site.
This will provide a meaningful standing agenda item
for each personal tutorial and a thread of continuity
between them, particularly for the majority of times
when there are no significant difficulties arising which
might require welfare advice and guidance.
21
Planning for your tutorials
You might not get to see your personal tutor that often
or for that long. But that doesn’t matter. What does
matter is that when you do go and see them, you get
the most out of that time as possible. Tutorials are an
opportunity for you to talk to a member of academic
staff about your progress, your development and how
to go about achieving your goals.
It is important, then, to do some forward planning.
It might be that your personal tutor contacts you in
advance to ask you what you want to discuss. If not,
you probably still want to think ahead so that you
know what you want to talk about in tutorials.
TIP: See the leaflet you were given
at the Welcome Fair on Personal
Tutors for a fold out wall chart that
will help you plan your personal
tutorials. It also provides a space for
you to record key contact information
about your personal tutor. Can’t find
the leaflet? Don’t worry, you can
download an e-version on the PPD
website:
www.ucl.ac.uk/ppd
22
23
Section 5
Opportunities
at UCL
24
Opportunities for development
It is probably obvious to say that learning is not
something that only happens in a formal classroom
or a lecture theatre. However, although we are aware
that we develop both personally & professionally
all the time in all sorts of situations, we do not
necessarily really take the time to reflect on that
or give ourselves credit for it. As we said earlier,
reflecting on our capabilities is important for selfefficacy, for that internal confidence in our ability to do
well in a given task. By reflecting on what we can do
we are more aware of what we are capable of and,
therefore, more able to apply those skills to other
tasks.
Degree Programme
Lectures
Seminars
Group Work
Assignments
Projects
Practical work
Fieldwork
Extra-Curricular
Clubs & societies
Volunteering
UCL ChangeMakers projects
Summer work and internships
Attending conferences/events
Mentoring
Student Ambassador/Rep
UCL Global Citizenship programme
UCL Digifest
UCL Living Labs
Personal
Part time work
Living away from home
Organising social events
Taking responsibility for finances
Looking after yourself
Looking after others
25
Opportunities at UCL
There will be a lot of opportunities at university for you
to develop your skills. A lot of these will come through
your course of study. It is up to you to follow up on
these and make the most of them.
TIP: Talk to your Personal Tutor if
you are looking to get more involved
in your department. They might
know of some good opportunities or
summer work or at least know where
you can go to find out.
UCL does have some other schemes for you to get
involved with and they offer the perfect opportunity for
development.
UCL ChangeMakers
Supports you in running a project to enhance or
improve your learning experience at UCL
To get involved see pages 30-31 or visit:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/changemakers
UCL Global Citizenship Programme
The UCL Global Citizenship Programme is a
special feature of the UCLyear; for two weeks after
summer exams have finished, we provide a range
of opportunities to help UCL students boost their
studies, enhance their future and make an impact on
the world.
For more information visit:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-citizenship/programme
UCL Digifest
digifest is a lot of things; part unconference, part
hackfest, part showcase, part online course, where
we combine and deliver both a digital and physical
experience to everyone involved.
To get involved visit:
http://ucldigifest.org/about-us/
26
UCL Living Labs
Where possible, we encourage the use of the UCL
estate and infrastructure as a living lab to further
research and study.
For more information visit:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/greenucl/whats-happening/
programmes
UCL Public Engagement Unit
We work to support activities which encourage a
culture of two-way conversation between university
staff and students, and people outside the university.
Find out what is happening:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/public-engagement
Volunteering
The Volunteering Services Unit (VSU) is UCLU’s
dedicated facility for students who want to get
involved with volunteering projects in the local
community. You can give as much or as little time as
you can spare; learning new skills, making friends,
and contributing to other peoples’ lives.
For information visit: http://uclu.org/services/
volunteering-at-uclu
Skills4Work
Skills4Work is an initiative organised jointly by UCL
Student Union and UCL Careers Service giving you
the opportunity to meet employers and develop the
skills needed to start your career when you leave
UCL.
For more information visit: http://www.skills4work.net/
Mentoring
UCL Mentoring is an exciting programme, which
places UCL students in schools and colleges across
London. Our dedicated volunteers, who are all current
UCL students, act as mentors for gifted and talented
young people across the city. The programme
provides young people with the opportunity to spend
focused time on their studies and develop their
independent study skills.
Mentors act as sources of information and guidance
about higher education. The programme is a great
way for current UCL students to inspire and motivate
27
young people whilst expanding their CV and their own
skills set.
For more information visit: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/wp/
current-students
Student Ambassadors
The UCL Widening Participation and UK
Undergraduate Recruitment Office runs a range
of activities to promote the university and higher
education in general. They organise events for
school groups to visit UCL and we also visit schools
in the London area. In particular, we aim to raise the
aspirations of students from groups who are underrepresented at university.
Student ambassadors play a key role in our events
- offering a students’ point of view to visitors and
sharing your opinions and experience about going to
university. The Student Ambassador Scheme is an
excellent way to improve your communication and
leadership skills.
For more information visit: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/wp/
current-students
Taster Lecturer
The Widening Participation and UK Undergraduate
Recruitment Office runs a programme of visits for
young people from schools across London. As part of
these visits we offer short, interactive taster lectures
run by Masters and PhD students.
28
The aim of the lectures is to introduce students to
the range of subjects studied at UCL. We are looking
for engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking
lectures, which will inspire young people to study at
university. Joining our team of taster lecturers will
give you valuable experience communicating your
research to a new audience.
For more information visit: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/wp/
current-students
Student Union: Clubs & Societies
Clubs and societies offer an opportunity for you to
develop a wide skillset while meeting new people and
getting involved with something that you love. There
are currently over 230 clubs and societies at UCL,
run by students through the student union, so there
should be something for everyone.
You can also get involved in the campaigns run by
the Student Union or even stand for election yourself.
More information on the Student Union can be found
online at: http://uclu.org/
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
If you would like experience working in a museum,
the Petrie Museum offers volunteering opportunities
and internships for students from time to time. For
more details and current opportunities, see:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie/volunteering
Palgrave Skills4Study Campus
There are 11 interactive courses available:
Skills4Study Campus is a resource that UCL
has a subscription for so that it is available for
all UCL students. It is an interactive resource
that helps you prepare for academic study and
further enhance your skills. The full resource
is available online. You will be asked to enter
your UCL username and password before being
directed to the site.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Available at: http://www.skills4studycampus.com/
StudentHome.aspx
Getting ready for academic study
Reading & note-making
Critical thinking
Writing skills
Referencing & understanding plagiarism
Groupwork & presentations
Exam skills
Projects, dissertations and reports
Employability & personal development
Confidence with number
Time management.
29
UCL ChangeMakers
Make your mark
30
What is UCL ChangeMakers?
UCL ChangeMakers supports you in running or
getting involved with a research project to innovate,
enhance or improve your learning experience at UCL.
UCL ChangeMakers recognises the creativity and
imagination of students and their ability to think about
their education critically, propose new ideas and ways
of doing things and to take ownership of those ideas
to put them into action.
You will work in teams of students and staff partnering
up to conduct your research and making a valuable
change to the student experience for yourself and for
other students.
You will be supported throughout by central UCL staff
who help coordinate and guide the project so that it is
relevant, effective and enjoyable.
Students who complete a UCL ChangeMaker project
will receive £50 as a thank you for their crucial
contribution to UCL’s development. Students who
lead a UCL ChangeMaker project will get £150 as
well as formal recognition.
Find out more at www.ucl.ac.uk/changemakers or
email us at: changemakers@ucl.ac.uk
You have the creativity
and insight to enhance
education at UCL
You have the opportunity
to be involved in
something exciting while
at UCL…
…and to gain valuable
experience and skills
running a research
project
…and to get paid doing it
31
Connected
Curriculum
A distinctive
approach to
research-based
education
ConnectedCurriculum@ucl.ac.uk
@UCLConnectedC
www.ucl.ac.uk/connectedcurriculum
32
Connected Curriculum is an institution-wide initiative
which aims to ensure that all UCL students are able
to learn through participating in research and enquiry
at all levels of their programme of study. It’s about:
•
Educating through dialogue and active, critical
enquiry
•
Creating an inclusive research and learning
community
•
Making connections across modules,
programmes and beyond the classroom
•
Creating assessments that mirror ‘public
engagement’ in research
•
Equipping students to address interdisciplinary
challenges
•
Exploring critically the values and practices of
global citizenship
•
Engaging students as partners in their education,
and as co-producers of knowledge Improving the
experiences of both students and staff
33
“The journey of a
thousand miles must
begin with a single step”
Lao Tzu ~6000 BCE