Preparing for Higher Education

Syllabus

• Week 1

  Demystifying Learning

  • Overview of Preparing for Higher Education

    We hope that this short activity provides you with a sufficient overview of what you can expect over the next few weeks and allows you to get to know some of the learners who will be undertaking this journey with you.  

  • Learning Myths

    Learning myths: what have we been told about our brains and how they learn and how much of this is true?

  • Developing a Growth Mindset

    Having a Growth Mindset encourages you to view learning as an exciting and interesting challenge where mistakes and failures are part of the learning process; where you say ‘I don’t know this YET’, rather than ‘I don’t know this!’

  • Preparing to Learn

    In order to benefit from your studies, it is helpful to make time to understand what you will be required to do, establish your own expectations of success and most importantly to decide how you will manage the learning process. 

  • Creating mind maps

    Mind maps can be used effectively to summarise information in a visual way, drawing attention to the main facts or topics and incorporating colour, shape or images for easy recall.

  • Summary of Week One

    As we draw week one to a close we hope you have found some helpful and practical tips that you can put into practice.

• Week 2

  Making Friends with Maths

  • What does a mathematician look like?

    When someone says the word ‘mathematician’ what picture do you get in your mind? In this first activity we will explore the idea that a mathematician needs to look or behave in a certain way.

  • Everyone can learn maths

    Having a Growth Mindset encourages you to view learning as an exciting and interesting challenge where mistakes and failure are part of the learning process; where you say ‘I don’t know this YET’, rather than ‘I don’t know this!’

  • Developing Resiliency

    Being resilient will help you overcome setbacks in any area of your life therefore it is vital skill for studies and beyond but how do we become resilient? In this next activity we will explore ways to develop our resiliency. 

  • Learning by mistake

    Albert Einstein, famous for his theory of relativity is quoted as having said “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” In this activity we we explore the idea of learning by and through mistakes. 

  • Want to see a mathematician? Look in the mirror!

    At the start of this week you drew what you think a mathematician looks like. We are hoping that, after this week, you realise that you too can be a mathematician or anything else you set your mind to.

• Week 3

  Collaborative Learning

  • Introduction to Week Three

    In this first activity we will explore the various ways you can contribute to and benefit from learning with others.

  • Effective Team Membership

    In this activity we will explore five essential skills for being an effective team member and you will be given an opportunity to add others that you think are important in your chosen profession.

  • Communities of Practice (CoP)

    A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who have something in common. Right now you are participating in a CoP as you engage with people from all over the world who share a common interest.

  • Constructive feedback

    Sometimes feedback can seem negative, it is hard to not take it personally and become defensive, however we cannot avoid it in work or studies. 

  • Summary of Week Three

    If you are asked to work with people you do not know or do not like think of it as practice for your future job and try to learn something from the experience or try out some of the new techniques you have learned about. 

• Week 4

  Unleash the Power of Tech in Your Learning Journey

  • Making Tech work for you

    Regardless of your mode of study, it is important that you are able to identify digital tools that can support your learning – enabling you to use your time efficiently and to develop digital skills to use in your career.

  • Digital mind mapping

    During week one we learned of the benefits of mind mapping. In this activity we are going to explore digital tools that you could use to support your creation of mind maps.

  • Digital tools to track research and support referencing

    There are many tools you could use to track your research and help you reference. In this lesson we are going to focus on using Mendeley.

  • Is there an app for that?

    There are so many digital tools available, it can become very overwhelming to decide which to use. We will share a couple of apps you can use in various learning situations.

  • Making Artificial Intelligence (AI) work for you

    I am sure you have heard a lot of negative things being said about AI but there are ethical ways to make it work for you.

  • The sun sets on Week 4

    This week we have explored various digital tools that you can use to get the most out of your learning experience. We hope that you have been thinking of novel ways to use these tools in your life and career, beyond your studies.

  • You are prepared

    We have come to the end of this short course. We hope that you have enjoyed it and that you feel better prepared to start your Higher Education Journey.

Who will you learn with?