• Student Skills Self-Assessment

  • Use this worksheet to assess your current student skills. Your answers and the action points will help you make an Action Plan.

  • 1) Planning and time management

    • Do you know what your next assessment is and when it is due?
    • Do you have enough time scheduled to plan and write it?

    Action: Use the Skills for Learning Assignment Calculator to help you.

  • 2) Accessing specialist support

    • Do you know what specialist support you might need, for example with a disability or specific learning difference?
    • Do you know how to access that support?

    Action: Visit the LBU Disability Advice website for more information.

  • 3) Finding information

    • Can you use Leeds Beckett’s Discover search tool?
    • Can you use other academic and professional information sources?

    Action: Find out more about Discover and how to use it on the Library website.

  • 4) Critical thinking

    • Do you evaluate what you are reading?
    • Do you connect it to your assignment topics and wider learning?

    Action: Learn about critical thinking on the Skills for Learning Critical Thinking page or book a place at an academic skills workshop.*

  • 5) Academic writing

    • Do you know the difference between essays, reports and reflective writing?
    • Do you revisit and learn from past feedback?

    Action: Learn about different types of academic writing on the Skills for Learning website or book a place at an academic skills workshop.

  • 6) Referencing

    • Are you confident in referencing correctly?
    • Do you follow reference trails to other useful information?

    Action: Visit LBU’s Quote, Unquote referencing guide on the Library website.**

  • 7) Looking after your Wellbeing

    • Do you know where you would go for support with your Wellbeing?
    • Could you make any small changes to improve your Wellbeing?

    Action: Visit LBU’s Student Wellbeing website for some tips and advice to support your wellbeing.

    In the next section, you can complete an Action Plan for the coming weeks and months to fill any gaps you have identified.

    *Workshops run during term time only.

    **If studying Law or Psychology, please visit the OSCOLA (Law) or APA (Psychology) referencing pages on the Library website.

  • Action Plan

    Now, use your answers above and the suggested actions above to write a short action plan to boost your student skills. Give yourself a loose deadline for completing these actions – e.g. ‘Next week’, ‘Next month’ or ‘By the end of the semester’. It might help to print this plan out and display it somewhere prominent in your workspace so you can refer to it.

    Finally, tick off any actions you complete to give you a sense of achievement and enable you to reflect on your development as your course progresses.

    Action Timescale Completed?
    e.g. Attend a Skills for Learning referencing workshop Next week 13.02.21
         
         
         
         
         
         
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