Hello, my name is Malcolm Chalmers and I'm the Communication Specialist for the International Education and Lifelong Learning Institute, or IELLI for short.
This short video is to give you some examples of how we can help you to get the most out of your studies here at St Andrews.
IELLI is a new institute at St Andrews, formed last year from the merger of two existing units.
The Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development, or SEED for short, provided a wide range of support for staff and students, such as maths and stats guidance, English for academic purposes, assistance with technology and more.
The International Education Institute, or IE, ran the university foundation programmes as well as postgraduate courses in TESOL and international and digital education, the summer academic experience courses and much more.
While IELLI is now the official umbrella term for all of this work, you may still see the name SEED or IE in use in some places.
IELLI provides joined-up learning and teaching support to staff and students, combining educational development and pedagogical workshops alongside technology-enhanced learning and IT skills, academic and study skills support, evening language classes and more.
So what specific support is available for students?
Let's look at our three main categories – study and academic skills, IT skills and other IELLI initiatives.
Our academic and study skills support is available to all students at the university – foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate.
You can book a free one-to-one study skills appointment with one of our experienced tutors through our Learning and Writing Centre website.
These can be carried out online or in person and are run by postgraduate tutors.
They are non-subject specific and free and confidential as per the university confidentiality guidance.
For one-to-one appointments, tutors can cover a range of different topics including but not limited to planning and writing essays, reading for comprehension, note-taking, studying for exams, writing reports, citing and referencing, managing time and writing critical reviews.
We also provide the study skills resource hub on Moodle, which has an extensive range of online resources including short video guides and downloadable handouts on key study skills.
Through IELLI, you can also access a range of pocket study skills guides.
These are available to collect for free during office hours but are also available as e-books through the university library.
For maths support, we also provide a range of online resources to help with maths, stats and numeracy.
You can find more information on the Learning and Writing Centre website.
Our IT skills and technology-enhanced learning support is open to all students.
IT skills are skills which all students will use at university and in their future career.
Through IELLI, you can have access to the Microsoft Imagine IT Academy.
The academy can be used by anyone looking to improve their skills in the Microsoft Office suite, Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint.
These courses can be studied online at your own pace and can be a vital addition to your CV.
It's fine to just complete these courses, but if you would like official recognition of your skills, you can also complete the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification, or MOS for short.
This is a globally recognised IT qualification where you use online resources to sit an exam for which you receive a qualification.
Despite usually costing a fee, this qualification is free for St Andrews students, and so definitely something to take advantage of while you study here.
We also offer more ad-hoc support, workshops and training materials in other technology and software packages throughout the year, such as some of the Adobe suite including Photoshop and text tools such as Latex.
Our Technology Enhanced Learning team is also here to support you and have a wide range of resources that may be useful to you during your studies.
You can access the useful guides to using software for education on the TEL dashboard linked here, alongside the resources available through IELLI.
You may also find the student education pages a useful starting point for informing your approach to learning at St Andrews.
From this page, you'll find a range of links to content that will help you with your studies.
This year, IELLI also provides a variety of other initiatives, including contributions to a range of support housed in other departments.
In particular, our M Skills and Grad Skills programmes offer bespoke development programmes for Master's students and PhD students respectively, run through St Leonard's College.
For undergraduates, we offer Saints professional development workshops.
More information on these can be found online.
We are home to the Laidlaw Scholars Programme, a two-year leadership development programme which is open to current students.
We provide the Summer Teams Enterprise Programme or STEP, an online skills development programme where students work on real-life projects designed and supported by university staff.
We run affordable evening language classes in a range of languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Scots, Gaelic, German, Japanese, Spanish and more.
We can also assist with coaching and mentoring, as well as running a range of workshops and other events throughout the year.
You'll find links to all of these pages on the IELLI website.
Just click Support and the button which is relevant to your level of study.
Finally, if you would like to see us in person, you can visit our office on campus.
We can be found in the former IE offices in Kinnesburn on Kennedy Gardens, overlooking the North Hall.
The full address is on the screen right now.
Thank you for watching.
We wish you all the best for your studies this year.
If you have any further questions, you can contact us at the email address on screen.
