Academic Skills Advisor Library Services Birmingham 2023

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Background

The Academic Skills Centre (ASC) is based in Library Services and supports undergraduate and postgraduate taught students with the development of their academic and digital skills. Services provided by the ASC include training workshops, 1-to-1 appointments, drop-ins, Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), and a wide range of online resources including our online Academic Skills Gateway. The ASC also works closely with academic staff in Colleges and Schools to embed the development of academic and digital skills within the curriculum.

The ASC is currently operating a hybrid working model of both on campus and home working.

Role Summary

The Academic Skills Advisor will directly contribute to the University’s Education Strategy by supporting a positive student learning experience and successful outcomes. The role will provide support for student academic attainment across a diverse student population, and foster the development of key transferable skills for employability. The post holder will develop, deliver and evaluate a central and embedded offering of academic skills, information literacy and digital literacy support services for taught students, from pre-sessional through to undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels.

The Learning Enhancement Team will support the objectives of all divisions within Library Services: Academic & Digital Skills Centre; Collections, Discovery & Research Communications; Library Customer Support; and Special Collections. Collaborative working across teams is expected. The post holder will also be expected to collaborate closely with stakeholders across Professional Services, including Student Services, The Higher Education Futures Institute (HEFi) and the Careers Network, as well as engage with key College stakeholders involved in student support.

Academic Skills Advisors are required to show strong capabilities in the areas of organisational understanding and communication.

Main Duties

To provide expert advice, support and training on a range of academic skills, including academic writing, core academic skills, information and digital literacy. This will done by, for example:

• Supporting the implementation of Library Services policy frameworks and service levels relating to academic skills delivery. This will include delivering both central and embedded training sessions, producing guides and learning materials using current and appropriate pedagogic principles.
• Ensuring that academic skills provision is inclusive of the needs of all students. This includes ensuring the requirements of under-represented groups, widening participation students, and those with specific learning needs are met.
• Supporting skills mapping, skills curriculum design and review activities relating to taught students.
• Taking responsibility for designated areas of activity, as directed, including planning and managing programmes of academic support in conjunction with others in the team.
• Contribute to the design and maintenance of online academic skills support content to taught students, re-using, adapting, sharing and repurposing materials to ensure effective use of resources, where appropriate.
• As directed, evaluating and monitoring programmes and online and printed resources.
• Contributing as directed to providing an enquiries service to complement frontline Customer Support provision.

Development of Library Academic Skills Services through, for example:

• Developing knowledge and understanding of the University’s strategies and corporate plans, including those relating to Education, in order to contextualise academic skills support.
• Supporting the Head of Learning Enhancement (Student Success) and the Head of Learning Enhancement (Academic Skills) to ensure the Learning Enhancement Team’s activities effectively align with broader strategic priorities.
• Working in close partnership with a designated College to support student success for taught students, and in particular for under-represented student groups identified in the University’s Access and Participation Plan.
• Supporting the Head of Learning Enhancement (Academic Skills) with monitoring service demand and quality, and planning for sustainable service development accordingly.
• Contributing to the evaluation and monitoring of the impact of academic skills training on student progression and retention through the collection of usage data and reporting on this data.
• Undertaking evaluation and monitoring of the Service through the development and implementation of pre and post attendance diagnostic testing and feedback; monitoring of student attendance at activities, including online, face-to-face, and group resources/ activities etc. This will include ensuring that attendance figures are captured and recorded in central systems.
• Maintaining a good knowledge of broader education developments within the University, and how they impact on the needs of students.
• Contributing to, and where appropriate to role, leading approved projects, to time and within budget.
• Maintaining knowledge and understanding of good practice and service developments nationally in Library services, through membership of appropriate professional bodies and networks, and contributing this awareness to planning within the University of Birmingham’s Library Services.

Other Duties

• To represent Library Services both inside and outside the University as required, including occasional participation in University Open Days which may include evening and weekend events.
• Promoting equality and valuing diversity including: (a) actively acting as a role model in own behaviour and fostering a non-discriminatory culture; (b) actively applying internal processes in a fair and equal way.
• Undertaking other such duties as may be required from time to time in furtherance of the work of Library Services.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Essential

• Formal education to degree level or equivalent.
• Experience gained in a skills development role, with a demonstrable ability to plan and develop learning activities, adapting to suit different discipline requirements, undergraduate levels and learning requirements, evaluating activity, and responding to feedback.
• Experience of service development.
• A proven track record in the provision of quality services to a diverse range of end users within a framework of accountability.
• Experience of service planning at an operational level.
• Customer-oriented approach to design and delivery of services.
• Good information technology skills, including familiarity with the MS Office suite.
• An awareness of and skill in applying appropriate technology to service delivery.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, preferably with experience of communicating with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders with diverse professional and academic backgrounds.
• An ability to prioritise and to schedule workloads in the face of conflicting demands.
• An awareness of wider developments in library and information services which might enhance academic skills services at the University of Birmingham.
• Evidence of familiarity of the changing culture of Higher Education, including the importance of the teaching quality agendas.
• An understanding of pedagogic issues as applied to Higher Education.

Desirable

• A teaching qualification, e.g. full or Associate membership of the Higher Education Academy, or another relevant professional body.
• A postgraduate qualification in Library and/or Information Science.
• Experience of project management would be an advantage.
• An understanding of how Virtual Learning Environments, Managed Learning Environments and institutional portals can be used to support academic skills development would be an advantage.
• Familiarity with a library management system.

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.