Using Prepare for Success: Notes for Institutions

1. Introduction

These notes offer suggestions to institutions in the use of Prepare for Success with their international students. They include information about the development and design features of the resource; suggestions for how the content of Prepare for Success might be used in conjunction with a VLE or through a university website; a full list of the contents, and a feedback form. The notes are available in two formats: as a web page or a downloadable pdf file (with a feedback form that can be printed out and returned by post).

2. Background to Development

Prepare for Success is an interactive online resource for international students. It aims to help international students prepare for academic life in the UK, particularly in terms of increasing their awareness of typical aspects of British academic culture and of the kind of academic skills needed for effective study in further or higher education in the UK. It is designed for use by international students prior to their arrival in the UK. As well as preparing students for what to expect during their studies, the activities also provides scope for language improvement. It is intended primarily for international students whose first language is not English and who have achieved an IELTS level between 5.0 and 7.5 or equivalent.

The development of Prepare for Success has been funded by the Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education through UKCISA (the UK Council for International Student Affairs). This development has been undertaken by a team based in the Centre for Language Study at the University of Southampton with expertise in the design and development of online courses and e-learning materials (created in the form of activity-based 'learning objects') including study skills toolkits.

3. Design of Prepare for Success

Prepare for Success contains 22 individual items of learning material, each of which aims to provide between 20 and 40 minutes of activity-based learning. Activities include interactive quizzes and listening tasks involving short audio and video clips of university staff and students speaking about aspects of life and study in the UK. The range of topics covered aims to familiarise students with cultural and practical matters as well as aspects of academic life in the UK.

The online learning materials in Prepare for Success have been developed as Learning Objects (LOs). LOs designed by the Centre for Language Study at the University of Southampton share some key design features. These LOs:

• Are created as self-contained html web pages
• Are stand alone, self-contained items of a similar size or granularity
• Focus on a learning point, topic or theme
• Are activity-based (students 'learn by doing')
• Contain interactive activities employing a range of typical task types (e.g. drag and drop, multiple choice)
• Combine learning material in different media (video, audio, text, image)
• Provide enhanced levels of help, feedback and review to support students' learning
• Employ a consistent style, making them easy for students to use

4. Technical Specifications and Accessibility

A computer with the following capability and (free) software installed is needed to use Prepare for Success:

• Sound
• Java Runtime Environment 5 or above
• Adobe Flash Player 6 or above
• Apple Quicktime 7 or above

These learning materials endeavour to meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines, and accessible versions are available for any activities that normally require the use of a mouse. These activities can be done using a keyboard. To open the accessible version, select the button ('Go to accessible version') at the top of the standard version. To return to the standard version, select the button ('Go to standard version') at the top of the accessible version.

5. Suggestions for Use

Prepare for Success can be used for educational purposes by UK institutions. It may be used in different ways to enhance an institution's pre-arrival support package for its international students.

Institutions can link to the whole resource or to selected parts of it (i.e. individual items from among the 22 LOs in the set) from their own VLE-based, pre-arrival support packages or website. In this way, links to individual items can sit side by side with an institution's own resources in a VLE if desired.

The resource is also suitable for self access use by students, who can be referred directly to the hosting website.

6. Prepare for Success: List of Contents

A full list of the contents of Prepare for Success can be found on the Prepare for Success home page.

7. Feedback

We would be very interested in receiving feedback from institutions about their use of Prepare for Success.

Please go to the following link to complete a short online feedback form for institutional users: Feedback form