The University of Northampton launches the Skills Hub in partnership with Brooke Weston Academy

The University of Northampton has teamed up with Brooke Weston Academy in Corby to develop study skills resources to help schools and the community.

In September, the University’s Library and Learning Services launched the Skills Hub, a repository of Open Educational Resources focusing on study skills. The University is now seeking feedback so it can refine the content and make the Skills Hub more user-friendly and appealing to a greater variety of audiences. A group of sixth form students and teachers from Brooke Weston will road-test the content and submit their comments and ideas. Staff from the University’s Library and Learning Services will then work with a professional film maker to refine and develop the content for the start of the new academic year.

Georgina Dimmock, Head of Academic Liaison at the University of Northampton, commented: “The Skills Hub is a collection of online videos, tutorials and guides on skills including referencing, evaluating information, critical thinking, presentations and academic writing styles. The website content is primarily for our students, but it is equally applicable to others in the community such as sixth formers and researchers.

“We want to work with Brooke Weston students and staff to review the content and gauge their opinions. Then we will redesign and redevelop the Skills Hub content taking on board their comments to make it more relevant to a greater number of audiences. Having the input from students means that the content will be more useable, relevant and targeted. In addition to Brooke Weston students, we are also gathering feedback from a pool of undergraduates and international students so that we have a spread of views.”

Charlotte Heppell, Academic Librarian at the University of Northampton, also added: “The Skills Hub is relevant to schools and university and is a way of bridging the skills gap and giving students the skills and terminology that they will need, both now and when they study at university.”

Funding for the work with Brooke Weston and the further development of the Skills Hub has come from two University funds; the Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Fund and the Learning and Teaching Innovation Fund.