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Higher Education Learning Support

As well as being exciting, we know that studying at university level can also be daunting. That's why we have support available in the form of Higher Education Learning Mentors to ensure that whatever issues you face, we can direct you to a suitable source of help to allow you to make the best of your time with us.

 

As a student, we will do all we can to help if one or more of the following may apply to you, which could be perceived as a barrier to achieving your goals:

  • You have a learning difficulty or disability
  • You have a learning difference
  • You are a Care Leaver
  • You are estranged from family
  • You are a carer
  • You have not studied in a while
  • You have moved away from home to study
  • You are juggling study with other commitments such as work and family

 

How we support higher education students

Progressing from further to higher education can be a challenging time for any student.

We offer a range of services to support you across all areas of student life, with specialist support available for students with disabilities.

 

Flying Start programme

Get your degree off to a flying start with one of our 'pre-degree' sessions available in the summer.

Flying Start sessions are half-day workshops to help you prepare for your new degree-level course. Open to all students who have enrolled on a level 4 course, they include tips on how to learn independently, and how to research and manage your time effectively.

The sessions are a great way to meet other new students, get to know your surroundings and generally get a head start on your studies. All students who attended Flying Start 2019 said they would recommend these sessions. 

For more details about the programme, please visit our dedicated Flying Start page or:

Email: helminfo@blackpool.ac.uk

 

One-to-one advice

We will contact anyone who declares a disability on their UCAS application and offer an interview to discuss any learning needs.

We will help to identify any additional support requirements, liaise with course tutors and offer advice on applying for Disabled Student Allowances.

 

Study skills support

The Higher Education Learning Mentor (HELM) team provides a range of study skills support to degree-level students.

Whether you need to make sense of referencing or you haven’t been in a classroom in years, or you simply want to improve your grades, we’re here to help.

We offer one-to-one sessions to support you in areas such as assignment planning, researching and surviving exams.

We also run group sessions on topics such as referencing, revision and reflective writing. 

If you’d rather send your work to us and discuss it via email, phone or Skype we can arrange this for you too.

As well as providing ongoing planned guidance, we can also help if your situation changes and/or you experience difficulties that impact on your studies.

We’ll let you know more about the HELM service once you enrol.

 

Information Technology (IT) support

The Higher Education Learning Support Team offers a range of IT support that allows you to refresh or develop skills specific to studying a higher education course.

Examples of the support we offer include:

  • Basic support with Microsoft applications such as Word, Publisher and PowerPoint
  • Support with College-specific programs such as the College email, Moodle and library databases
  • Support with internet searches and internet safety
  • Development of digital literacy skills such as communicating in different media

 

We also offer help with networked literacy support software, including:

  • texthelp, a reading and writing tool for PC and MAC users, which reads most typed information aloud from the computer to help identify grammatical errors and proof read written work. The software also includes an advanced spell-checker, dictionary, thesaurus and many other features along with ‘how to use’ tutorials.
  • Mindview, a networked visual learning tool to enable you to organise ideas graphically, ideal for planning and organisation/project management.
  • Essay Writer, an essay writing guide with animated tutorials and user guides for essay creation. Features include essays/maps, subject dictionaries and bibliographic references with built-in Text-to-Speech.

 

Contact us

Need more information?

For queries about disability and additional diversity support:

Email: dsainfo@blackpool.ac.uk

 

For queries about study skills/wellbeing support/Flying Start:

Email: helminfo@blackpool.ac.uk

 

View our Non Medical Helper (NMH) Disabled Students' Allowance Charge rates.

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