Learning Centre staff at the University of Wolverhampton generally have good awareness of disability issues and try to ensure services and facilities are accessible to a wide range of users. However, little work had been done directly with users to explore their views of our services and the problems they might face when using them. The research targeted dyslexic learners as the University has a relatively large population of students with this disability. In addition many of our services rely on an ability to cope with printed and electronic information and these might pose particular problems for users with dyslexia. The services might include apparently simple elements such as guides to particular Learning Centres through to more complex examples including the subject web pages and information skills workshops.

Technological advances by the database creators of the late 60’s and early 70’s enabled the ‘information explosion’ to be managed and accessed. Information professionals developed specialist skills to explore these bibliographic resources on-line. A decade later, as attitudes changed and resources became more accessible, a parallel agenda of user education programmes was being developed by librarians. The information skills agenda took shape across schools, colleges and Higher Education institutions and a skills hand-over began. The curriculum focussed on access to print resources initially to support the shift to resource-based and flexible learning initiatives. The rapid developments in desktop information technology in the late 80’s and 90’s brought the two developments closer together. It enabled information professionals, already supporting the development of user information skills, to include access to bibliographic databases and electronic resources on CD-ROM and on-line.

Each country has its own visual sign language used by the Deaf community; in the UK this is British Sign Language (BSL). In 1994 the University of Wolverhampton created the 1st Degree course in Europe for Interpreting (BSL/English) this course has a very high employment record. Before this research students used video cameras to record work, physically having to bring tapes in for tutorials and feedback. This research brought together an ePortfolio system – PebblePad© and web cams to offer students the opportunity to record, reflect and connect their development in their own space and time and for staff to be able to provide relevant and appropriate formative feedback. Within the University of Wolverhampton all students and staff have an ePortfolio system - PebblePad©. The software allows users to build collections of items related to their studies, personal development, continuing professional development or any event. Those items can then be published or shared with individuals, groups or to a public audience. The software promotes reflection and gathering of evidence, any digital file can be linked to the software giving the ability to add such things as video, images and sound. However, the majority of students and staff use mainly text and pictures this research has tested the ability to connect moving images through web cams. This paper will give a comprehensive view of the technical, pedagogic and support issues raised by this project.

Within the context of Lifelong Learning it has been increasingly recognised that the new constituencies of learners now entering Higher Education (HE) will place different demands than hitherto upon the institutions and the programmes delivered. In the Division of Environmental and Analytical Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton (UW), it has also been noted that the typical participant profile for some award programmes is increasingly reflecting this national trend. This has been growing particularly within the masters programmes where the significant numbers of post- experience candidates render the cohorts much more disparate than previously in their needs and demands from the course provision. The growing importance of demand-led provision has been further driven by an increase in the upskilling needs of the regional economies which, in turn, are generating an influx of new constituencies of learners into HE. For the West Midlands region, and for UW, this is a particularly important issue given their joint commitment to economic and social regeneration, and the latter’s role as a major employer in the region. Locally, this is a particularly pertinent issue for the field of Environmental Sciences where there have been clear statements of need regarding the development and management of the environmental economy. (Advantage West Midlands 2000). The project was intended, initially, to gather data, which would inform future provision for the following masters award programmes: Land Reclamation; Environmental Science; Environmental Management; Environmental Technology.

This article shares the experiences of University of Wolverhampton's pilot project into the use of Facebook pages for academic libraries.

Students at the University of Wolverhampton Business School (UWBS are given reading lists as part of their guides for each module. Learning Centre staff at Compton and Telford campuses use the reading lists as the basis for a large proportion of stock purchase decisions. However, there is little or no evidence to suggest how students utilise reading lists when selecting books. The purpose of the the project was to examine how students use reading lists to inform their information resource selections.

Since 2005 all staff and students within the University of Wolverhampton have had access to an ePortfolio system - PebblePad. In 2007 the University ran a HEA Pathfinder Project 'embedding ePortfolio at level 1' which involved 1800 level 1 learners and 31 members of staff across all academic schools. The staff development activities used to develop teacher capabilities tried to mirror the student experience to great success. The knowledge gained from this project was then taken into a University-wide impact evaluation. The evaluation identified anticipated and unanticipated outcomes of pedagogic processes for personal development planning (PDP) and e-portfolio development. This paper will deal with two key areas: 1 the early identification of risk and 2 the reduction in non-submission of work. This work now feeds into the University's Blended Learning Strategy (2008). The overarching aims of this strategy are to enhance student learning and to improve each student's learning experience. This is articulated via student entitlements of which the following are directly addressed by this work: All students should be entitled to: formative assessment/s opportunities on line with meaningful electronic assessment feedback; have the opportunity to participate in electronic Personal Development Planning (ePDP); The paper will look at how an ePortfolio system was used to develop learner skills, learner support issues and how staff from a central department worked with discipline-based staff to help support their students, finally addressing institutional strategy and support issues.

This Phase 3 (evaluation and embedding) project has been developed from a highly successful earlier project: Embedding information skills on student learning: making the difference (2006). The earlier project produced a programme of information literacy skills, based on SCONUL’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which was delivered to two modules of first year students from the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences (HLSS) in bite-sized presentations at the end of their lectures. Importantly, it found that: “an effective Information Literacy programme delivered at the very beginning of Undergraduate life can contribute significantly to students’ ability to find, use and record information and increase their confidence regarding academic performance.” Bastable and Morris (2006). Valued by students, it clearly had a part to play in the learning experience of first year undergraduates and potentially in Schools’ retention and employability strategies. This was the impetus for a Phase 3 project which would test the information literacy programme on a more diverse range of students and subjects within HLSS and provide models which would encourage further take-up within the School and other Schools in the University. Other important outcomes from the previous project also needed to be carried forward and tested in a wider context: “We as librarians have been able to assess our approaches to the design and delivery of a structured Information Literacy programme. We have had the opportunity to work collaboratively as a team of librarians with academic staff and, crucial to the embedding process, earn important space on first semester, first year modules. We now know that the bite-sized sessions of information skills which are dove-tailed into existing lectures are a successful way to deliver the programme.” Bastable and Morris (2006). It was this combination of the following three features in Phase 2 which distinguished it from any other work being conducted in the field of information literacy: the partnership between academics and librarians, a structured information literacy programme and delivery in bite-sized sessions. So, it was these three crucial areas which would be put to the test in this current project by the delivery to an extended range of students.

This project is in response to research carried out in 2007 with students who are dyslexic. This research investigated the barriers experienced by students in higher education who are dyslexic when accessing the Disabled Students’ Allowance. Reference is made to their comments throughout the text. The research identified one of the areas that they find difficult. This was the form they need to use to apply for the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The innovation has been designed to support this difficulty. An important thread running through the whole of this project is to help the student who is dyslexic to be in control, to feel valued and so to improve confidence and self-esteem.