An innovative web‐based approach for study skills development in higher education

It is recognised that students in higher education need to acquire and develop effective study and transferable skills in order to be successful in their study and beyond. The purpose of this paper is to describe a new custom‐built learning content management system (LCMS), which renders intelligent tutoring modules for the provision of study skills training, with emphasis on the educational pedagogies used by the system to deliver the training.

The system comprises two principal units; an administrator unit and a student‐user unit. The administrator unit is designed to enable authorised users with no prior knowledge of web application design and development to create and modify highly dynamic and engaging multimedia training modules. The student unit delivers highly interactive and user‐customised modules to help students develop their skills, using a pedagogical approach based on active, student‐centred and peer‐assisted learning.

The performance of the proposed system was subjected to a comprehensive test and evaluation process. General feedback from the users recruited to complete the subjective testing was very positive. It was generally acknowledged that the system was intuitive, the content well structured and delivered and the look and feel of the application aesthetically pleasing.

This paper highlights the use of and benefit of using technology to enhance student learning of study and other transferable skills. It also identifies the need to integrate proven educational pedagogies so as to enhance overall learning and demonstrates how to incorporate these approaches in an LCMS.