Academic Skills in Higher Education

Academic Skills: The Key to Meaningful Learning inHigher Education-An Action ResearchAnat Raviv, Tel-Hai Academic College, Israel

Abstract: Learning in the 21st century requires different skills and abilities from the students in orderto keep in pace with the intense information revolution. In a society that is characterized by a plethoraof information, the student’s skills are becoming increasingly important (Beyth-Marom et al., 1987).The goal of the study is to examine how the teaching of academic skills influences the improvement ofthe learning processes of the students at the Tel-Hai Academic College and their development as inde-pendent learners. The present study is based on the examination of students’ learning processes inorder to examine their ability to choose the appropriate combination of information and skills andapply it in problem solving in different situations. The current research study addresses twomain aspectsthat are related to this course and will be the basis for the research questions. The contribution of thecourse to the students in developing learning and exploration skills, and the extent to which the acquiredskills were implemented in research courses during the 2nd and 3rd years of college. Optimal designand planning of the “Academic Skills” course to fulfill optimally the needs of the college students andprofessors in disciplinary and research courses. The study population consisted of 88 students, andthe method was action research. Each stage examined the following parameters: The contribution ofthe course “Academic skills” to the development of the learning and exploration skills of the students.The utilization of the academic skills in other courses during there study in the college. The study hy-potheses were: Following the learning and experiencing processes, the students will be capable of:transferring and using learning and exploration skills acquired in the course, and apply it. Thepresentation will present the findings of the first stage of this action research as well as insights andchanges that occurred in the course teaching plan according to the study findings.

Keywords: Academic Literacy, Research Skills, Cognitive Processes, Learning Process, Problem-solving

CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY IS characterized by rapid technological and organ-izational changes that require fast adaptation and independent learning. We at Tel-Hai Academic College believe that developing students’ learning and thinking skillswill improve their abilities to cope with these demands. High school studies do not

equip the students with adequate learning and independent thinking skills. Therefore, oneof the goals of higher education is to impart learning and information processing skills, inaddition to professional-disciplinary knowledge. In light of this perception, the collegeformed a strategic program, which serves as a basis for developing a non disciplinary coursecalled “Academic Skills”, whose goal is to train the students in fostering their learning andthinking abilities as a basis for better integration in research and work at the end of theiracademic studies.

The current research study addresses two main aspects that are related to this course:

The International Journal of LearningVolume 16, Number 8, 2009, http://www.Learning-Journal.com, ISSN 1447-9494© Common Ground, Anat Raviv, All Rights Reserved, Permissions:[email protected]

1. The contribution of the course to the students in developing learning and research skills,and the extent to which these acquired skills were implemented in research coursesduring the 2nd and 3rd years of college.

2. Redesign and planning of the “Academic Skills” course to fulfill optimally the needsof the college students and professors in disciplinary and research-based courses.

Learning Skills and Academic Literacy in the 21st CenturyThe 21st century is characterized as a dynamic era of incessant changes in all fields of life.The amount of knowledge in all areas of study is increasingly growing in an enormous way.New knowledge is not only accumulating continuously, but often replaces previous know-ledge. Knowledge is thus becoming obsolete at an ever faster pace. No one today is able toembrace in his/her mind all the existing knowledge, even in a single content area. In lightof this, the traditional approach, according to which the main role of education is to equiplearners with information that they might need in the future, is no longer valid. There ishardly any prospect of encompassing all (or even most) of the knowledge learners will needin the future. Also, it can be assumed that, in many subjects, the details learned by studentstoday will no longer be relevant within a few years. (Perkins, 1985, Salomon, 1997).

In order to cop with this problem Jacobs (2008) suggests a synthesis: General and special-ized knowledge function in close partnership. Hence, the role of the education system inhigher education is to focus on both approaches: Imparting students with the skills they requirein order to be able to cope independently with new knowledge, along with the relevantknowledge of the subject, in an effort to shape an autonomous student who is capable oflearning through self-direction.

In the 21 century knowledge is available on the web to any person.A society that is characterized by a plethora of information, rapid pace of renewal and by

a high level of accessibility to information, requires different skills and abilities of learningfrom students. The learning skills that are needed in order to keep up with the intense inform-ation revolution flow are the kind of literacy that guides the student’s self-direction formeaningful learning. Although the revolution of knowledge most of the information is rep-resented in written text, therefore using texts as instruments for learning is one of the mostimportant skills that students need in there academic life. Writing skills engaged with complexideas and information, critiquing, and extrapolating knowledge, weighing its merits, andutilizing the information are the skills that students need to acquire in the 21 century (Perkins,1986; Passig, 2000) .

The concept of meaningful learning is related to the Constructivist approach, as well asto the cognitive approach of knowledge construction.

The Constructivist approach challenges the traditional philosophical debate concerningthe essence of knowledge. According to this approach, meaningful learning occurs whenlearners take an active part in constructing their own knowledge, applying learning strategiesthat are known as meaningful tools of learning. Using these tools influence the student’sinformation processing of data and help them to learn, solve problems and complete tasksindependently (Bulgren, Deshler & Schumaker, 1997; Deshler, 1996 ; Perkins 1985, 1986).

Contemporary theories of learning and teaching encourage the shift from the model“teacher at the center of teaching” to active learning that emphasizes the processes of

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knowledge construction according to the constructivist approach in the psychology oflearning.

The Constructivist approach has influenced the design of a new literacy for students (Sa-lomon 1994, 1997, 2000) as well as the learning environments in higher education (Papert1980, 1993, Perkins 1985, 1986, Salomon 1994, 1997, 2000, Jonnassen 2000).

One of the main goals of teaching through learning skills is to impart to the student theability to apply knowledge in more than one learning environment (Lidor, 1996). Accordingto Pasig (2006), the ability of transferring skills from one subject to another will probablybe the skills required of any person who wishes to function successfully in the 21st century.

It was found that good learning strategies have a positive influence on the academicachievements of students (Schwarts, 1986). In a study by Meltzer et al. (1988), a significantrelation was found between the students’ report on using learning strategies and high aca-demic performance. A considerable number of studies support the finding that students wholearned how to apply learning strategies have reached higher achievements than those whodid not acquire any such strategy (Melitz and Melitz, 1993; Weinstein & Mayer, 1986).

Wise implementation of learning strategies was found in many studies to be the differen-tiating factor between skilled students with high achievements and students who experiencedifficulties. Hence, intensive and direct teaching of learning strategies in higher educationinstitutions, including practice and training in the use of those tools, could help the studentsto succeed in their studies in the higher education system.

The transference of learning from the classroom to new situations and/or contexts (for thelearner) does not occur spontaneously. In most cases, deliberate teaching interventions areneeded in order to increase the probability of such a transference occurring (e.g., Perkins &Salomon, 1998). At present, there are very few curricula in higher education that deal withthis transference and encourage students to do it.

The “Academic Skills” CourseThis course is a yearly mandatory course of 2 weekly hours for all of the college’s 2nd yearstudents.

The design of the learning environment and the course assignments was based on thefollowing principles Passig (2000):

• Providing necessary information;• Emphasizing performance principles;• Repeated training in different situations;• Practice in real-life situations;• Encouraging learning by doing; and• Developing a reflective thinking style.

The course of 2007-2008 was designed, based on a pilot research conducted at Tel- HaiCollege during 2007, which examined the academic demands of professors of differentcourses and the student’s needs. The course included a theoretical part that deals with thestructure of research, research types and an experiential part that includes 5 main parts:

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• Introduction to the structure of the positivistic and naturalistic research in relation tosocial sciences.

• Formulating a research question around a topic that was chosen from the student’s fieldof interest and which is related to his/her studies in the school of education.

• Knowledgeable choice of information sources related to the research question; readingand integrating information from several sources, constructing internal and externallinkages between the different sources of information.

• Academic writing skills: the rules of academic writing and use of information sources.This part deals with basic writing skills like: integration of information sources, writingthe research theoretical introduction, presenting data in the research body, and a conclud-ing chapter which involves debate and conclusions. Bibliographic citing and a producinga bibliographic list.

• Structure a research: conducting a personal research on a chosen topic. Collecting dataand using research tools, analyzing data.

A pre-exercise conducted at the beginning of the year examines the students’ base line aca-demic skills it influenced the final design of the course.

The learning and teaching processes in the course included lectures, individual instructionand individual student exercises. The course included various tasks that were spreadthroughout the whole year and several intermediate exercises.

During the first semester, the students experimented with sorting research questions intodifferent research types (quantitative, qualitative, and combined), in analyzing two articlesand identifying focal information and writing an integrative conclusion from two informationsources.

The 2nd semester was designated to constructing a research process around a main topic.This assignment was carried out according to the following stages:

Stage1. Choosing a topic: the students chose a topic relevant to their field of study inthe education department. They presented the subject and the problem they would liketo research in this area. In order to execute the task, the students were required to conductan educated search in databases in order to locate 7-10 articles as a base for understand-ing the subject and expanding their knowledge of the researched issue. The chosenarticles, as well as others that will be chosen later according to the subject and the need,will form the basis for writing the theoretical framework of the research. This processincludes an exercise in educated reading, extracting the main ideas from what they read,and collecting information from different aspects.Stage 2. Constructing a research question: rely on the reading process, the studentspropose a research question and presented hypotheses according to the chosen topic.At the end of the process an outline for the work was constructed.Stage 3.Writing the review of literature chapter, this part included several exercisesin which the students experienced different models of academic writing as a basis forwriting the theoretical introduction of their research project.Stage 4. Constructing the research layout: following the design of the research layoutand the suggested research population, a program for data collection was devised. It isimportant to point out that existing research tools were used and no new tools weredeveloped for this research, the existing tools were modified for the research purposes.

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This process develops the students’ ability to cope with solving authentic problemsfrom their life by identifying the proper tools, examining them, and adapting them tothe needs of the research they chose. For instance, during a research study dealing withthe integration of children with learning disabilities in regular classes, the students useda questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire was distributed by the students to41 elementary and middle school teachers, who were also interviewed by the studentsin semi-structured interviews.Stage 5. Data collection. This requires practical experimentation and coping with dif-ferent issues, some logistical and some practical, which bring the student to practicaland authentic studying- practice in real life.Stage 6. An exercise in analyzing quantitative and qualitative finding: displayingthe data in the research body using diagrams and charts, including verbal explanationof the findings, creates an actual significant learning process- encouraging leaning bydoing.Stage 7. Writing the complete research report. At the end of the process, the studentis required to write the research report, summary and conclusions deducted from theresearch process he presented. This writing develops higher thinking skills that involveconclusion-drawing while analyzing and generalizing the findings with the theoreticalmaterial.

The research report includes an integration of quantitative and qualitative data, thuscreating a combined research layout. This research calls for dealing with the followingthinking skills, which are an inseparable part of the scientific research and writingprocess:

1. Clear and implied identification of the research hypotheses2. Isolating variables3. Testing hypotheses4. Identifying relevant information5. Cross referencing quantitative and qualitative findings6. Using the findings of the research as a base for writing the discussion and conclusions

chapters of the research report.7. In addition, the students were required to write a reflection on their study process during

the course and its contribution to their development as students in the academy. Thislearning process is a holistic experience for the students in developing learning and re-search skills.

8. The present study is based on the examination of students’ learning processes in orderto examine their ability to choose the appropriate combination of information and skillsand apply it in academic assignments.

Figure No 1: “Academic Skills Course” Structure

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Figure No. 1: Emphasis the Main Subjects that were Taught in the Course and the Time thatwas Dedicated to each Subject

Research Questions

1. How does the “academic skills course” contribute to learning and research skills of in-dividual students

2. Are these skills transferred and used in other learning areas during their studies at theCollege?

Methodology: Action ResearchThe study is conducted as an action research in several stages by the researcher that was thelecturer of the course. On of the by products of this research is to redesign the course to anoptimal structure. The action research serves this purpose

The Research stages were:

1. Planning the “academic skills” course (based on the findings of the pilot research studythat was conducted in 2007 at the college). Developing a rubric for evaluating the tasksof the course as a tool to evaluate the students’ mastery of the acquired skills.

2. Teaching the course e during the academic year of 2007-2008 (according to the describedabove) .

3. Collecting and analyzing the data throughout the year4. Gathering and documenting personal insights about the course’s teaching process and

the students learning by the lecturer/ researcher of the course throughout the year..5. Changing and improving the course in accordance with the findings and insights collec-

ted throughout 2007- 2008.

The ParticipantsThe participants are 88 students, 15 men and 73 women that learned in two groups, studyingfor the second year at the school of education at Tel Hai College. The participants’ ageranged between 22 and 45. Out of the 88 students, three dropped out during the year due topersonal and health reasons. As a result, the study population is N = 85.

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MethodsThe study combines quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and analysis:

A. Evaluation Rubric- In order to evaluate the students’ mastery and development ofacademic skills, a detailed evaluation rubric was developed, which includes the academicskills acquired during the course.The rubric included four major areas:

1. Academic literacy: eloquent academic writing, the ability to analyze academic text, theability to synthesize different texts.

2. Research skills and scientific writing: drafting a broad and productive research question,presenting the findings of statistics (in tables and graphs) and their verbal description,using the findings generated by different tools and cross-checking of the informationobtained (combining quantitative and qualitative findings).

3. The structure of academic papers: organizing the paper’s chapters according to academicrules, drafting and writing at different levels, numeration of the paper’s chapters andsubchapters. Constructing a graded and logical table of contents according to the paper’schapters.

4. Usage of information sources: proper bibliographic list, written according to the APArules. Introducing references into the paper according to the APA rules.

This rubric was used for two purposes:First, to evaluate the course’s assignments at 3 time points during the course (table No1). A repeated Anova test was used in order to find differences in mean scores duringthe learning process.Second, to evaluate a final assignment in another course that the students took in theeducation department.Transferring the skills gained in the “academic skills” course to other fields of study:this was tested in papers in a different course taken by the students who participated inthe “academic skills” course during the second semester of the school year 2007- 2008.The course was a research- based course in special education emphasizing psychologicalaspects.

The final papers of the other course were checked twice, once by the course’s pro-fessor and again by the researcher, using this evaluation rubric. Pearson’s correlationwas calculated for the mean scores of both courses.B. Focus group –35 students who took the academic skills course, took part in a focusgroup discussion at the end of the year conducted by two research assistances.The students reflected on the learning methods that were used during the course, theassignments, and the benefit of the course for them in further learning. The transcriptof the discussion was analyzed using qualitative tools by grouping into categories andconstructing a hierarchic category tree.C. Close questionnaire: In the last lesson of the course eighty five students filled outa questionnaire that consisted of twelve closed items (on a scale of 1-4) and two openitems. This questionnaire examined the contribution of the course to the students’ de-velopment and their mastery of the academic skills learned during the year.

Triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative data was used for validity.

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EthicsDue to the fact that the researcher was also the course’s professor, the following ethical ruleswere strictly followed:

1. All of the tasks and exercises given throughout the course were designed to advancethe students in the studied field.

2. All of the students were informed that the data from this course would also be used fora research study whose purpose was to improve the course and construct it in a betterway. They all agreed to participate.

3. Throughout the research process anonymity was maintained regarding data and identi-fying details of the participants.

4. All of the students’ work during the course was evaluated by two external tutors usingthe rubric. Several papers were examined by the professor to authenticate the evaluationprocess and identify the weak points in the student’s learning process.

FindingsThe findings will be presented according to the research questions. Triangulation betweenstudent’s marks, findings from closed attitude questionnaire and qualitative findings receivedfrom focus group, and open questions in the questionnaire were done in order to answer theresearch questions.1. How does the “academic skills course” contribute to learning and research skills of indi-vidual students?To estimate the development of the students’ learning and research skills over the year, thestudents’ scores were collected throughout the year at three time points: the scores of thepre-exercise done by the students in the first lesson, before they took the academic skillscourse; the scores of the mid-year exercise at the end of the first term and the scores of thefinal assignment at the end of the school year.

Table 1 presents the students’ mean scores in 4 major academic skills during three timepoints along the year. N=85 (The grades for the all ex. are calculated for 100 points)

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Table1: Average Grades and SD of 3 Assignments and their Repeated Measures Tests

Academic skillsPre Ex no.1Mid year Ex .End year Ex .FAssignment

no.5Assignment

no.7A general score forM= 25M= 65M= 79(2,73)

603.00** all the skillsS.D=12.6S.D= 8.17S.D= 11.52

The assignment structureM= 14.78M= 56.31M= 74.85(2,58) 60.395*S.D= 11.072S.D= 19.911S.D= 12.785

Academic literacyM= 47M= 76M= 83(2.60)54.472** – writing skillsS.D= 21.95S.D= 17.83S.D= 15.45

Reading skills: masteringanalyzing & integrationbetween academic texts

(2,82)502.00**M= 24S.D= 23.17

M= 68S.D= 26.32

M= 76(2,82)502.00**

S.D= 25.33(2,55) 72.00*Research skillsM= 22.09not examined

in this exerciseM= 75.16S.D= 2.188

(2,75)428.00** S.D= 2.459

The findings from a variance test with repeated measurements indicate that the increase inthe students’ grades is consistent and significant. This is also supported by the findings ofthe attitude questionnaire that the students filled out at the end of the year.

Figure No. 1: Close Questionnaire Findings Presents the Findings of the Questionnaire,N=85

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The questionnaire’s findings indicate that the most significant skills, the students believedto be acquired are: Assignment structure (M= 3.94; S.D 0.078), Research skills (M= 3.41;S.D 0.279) and Academic literacy-writing skills (M=3.33; S.D 0.44).

Qualitative support for the quantitative findings was obtained from 2 open questions inthe attitude questionnaire and from focus group discussion.

“How does the academic skills course contribute to develop you as a skilled student (inacademic skills required in college)? Analysis of the open statements reveals that more then80% of the participants in the focus groups and 78% of the total students who responded tothe attitude questionnaires indicated that this course is very important for their developmentas learners in the college.

What are your suggestion for improving the course?More then 50% of the students suggested that it is very important to teach this course in

the first year in college, and not, as it is done today, in the second year.They feel that they could already have written much better papers in the first year if they

had not lacked the skills taught in the course in the second year.What was the contribution of the “Academic skills course” to the development of your

academic skills? This question was the leading question in the focus group and one of thequestions in the closed questionnaire.

The main category that was extracted from the student’s answers was: the contributionof the course to my academic learning skills. 80% percent of the participants in the focusgroup (28/35) indicated that the course greatly improved their academic skills like: assignmentstructure, academic literacy- writing skills.

One of the students wrote in the open answers at the end of the attitude questionnaire that“the course on academic skills provided me with tools to structure papers that includestructured writing processes, based on clear principles. I learned to combine different inform-ation sources, to fuse them and create a uniform paragraph.”

In the focus groups, another student said “the course was a nice surprise. It was interestingand it can be said that it gave me as many tools as possible to study in the college.” Anotherstudent said “the tools that I acquired for writing papers are very helpful. The process becameeasier, structured and ordered. I suddenly discovered that I’m able to master the writingprocess, which seemed once to be impossible.”

In the same category that was obtained from the student’s answers was: slight contribution.20% of the students that participated in the focus group remark that the course was not veryefficient for them. “ I have a lot of difficulties in writing an academic paper, I know that Ihave to practice it more but during the course I couldn’t do it and now I fell that I didn’tobtain all the academic skills that I need”

The second category was: the contribution of the course to my research skills. Most ofthe students indicated that the course highly contribute to improve there research skills like:,data collecting, presenting productive research question, presenting the findings of statistics(in tables and graphs) and their verbal description.

“The assignments along the year help me to better understand how to conduct a miniresearch, how to collect data from deferent sources and how to present it in the researchreport”

2. Are the skills transferred and used in other learning areas?

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The rubric used to assess the “Academic skills course” was used to assess a high levelassignment that was done by the same students at the end of the second year in anothercourse. The assignment was a mini research project based on several academic sources andcollecting and analyzing data. The assignment was evaluated twice by the lecturer of thecourse and by the researcher using the rubric.

Pearson’s test found a medium positive correlation between the scores given by the lecturerof the course and the researcher (r = 0.538): p<0.05, N=85}.

This suggestion is supported by the findings of the attitude questionnaire. In response tothe statement “I used the skills (research, writing and text analysis) acquired in the coursefor writing papers for other courses in the college” 45% replied great degree (no. 4 in thequestionnaire) , 33% replied some degree (no. 3 in the questionnaire), and only 22% wroteonly a little (no. 2 in the questionnaire).

An analysis of the findings from 2 questions in the closed questionnaire (Q No 11” I haveused the academic skills that I have required in the “Academic course” in other academicassignments.” And Q No 12 “I have used the research skills that I have required in the“Academic course” in other academic assignments.”) regarding the transfer of skills andused in other learning areas (M=3.50; S.D= 0.078), the findings indicates that skills weretransferred among most of the students and were used during their studies in other courses.

The open statements collected from the focus group were analyzed and categorized:“Transfer of learning skills and research skills were the main 2 categories that was abstractfrom the student’s answers , for example: “In total, I feel that the course was enriching. Iacquired tools and I am more ready for next year, when I will be required to write seminarresearch papers.” Another student noted in one of the focus groups “I find that this courseis very important to my continued studies in college and it imparted to me skills that I willhave to use throughout my studies”;

“The course gave me many tools to construct an academic paper through all its stages,beginning with the location of and search for materials, through the exploratory processand writing the paper. We implemented these tools during the course, in the exercises andthe papers we wrote, and especially in the assignments I did in other courses.”

Analysis of the qualitative findings of the open attitude question in the questionnaire andfocus group about the question “suggestions for improving and changing the course” producedthe following categories:

1. The course’s workload: the students mentioned that the course was very loaded withexercises, especially during the first semester.

2. The connection between exercises was not clear, and therefore an organizing subjectand reducing the workload is required. “The course dedicated more time to exercisesin the first semester and less time to implementing the work itself. During the secondsemester, I think it’s important to dedicate more time to implementing the work, andconstruct all exercises around one main topic.” “I think that the massive pressure wewere under during the course didn’t contribute to developing our writing and researchskills, quite to the contrary.”

3. Increasing the extent of individual guidance for writing the paper: many students (73%)mentioned having great difficulty in dealing with the writing assignments, and the needfor individual guidance. “More individual attention to the student and his needs, col-

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laborative work of the lecturer and the student can bear greater results in the develop-ment of writing skills and constructing the paper.”

4. Difficulty in dealing with verbal analysis of the data and its presentation in the paper:about half the students (54%) mentioned that more practice in presenting the qualitativeand quantitative data in the body of the work was required. “I’m still struggling withwriting the research findings chapter and displaying the combination of qualitativeand quantitative findings in the results chapter.”

DiscussionIn the 21st century, academic skills are the major learning tools used in the student’s learningprocess. The present study sheds light on the need for these skills as a basis for learning inhigher education. The study findings show that most of the students arriving at the collegedo not master these skills and need a regular, structured and in-depth study of this area, in-cluding practice and experience.

In research literature, a direct relation between significant learning and effective educatedusage of learning strategies is found (Perkins, 1985, Salomon, 1997).

This research study deals with this issue through an effort to find an answer to the question:“How does the ‘academic skills course’ influence the learning and exploration processes ofindividual students and their application in practice during their studies at the College?”

The research findings show that taking a yearly course in academic skills as an integralpart of the college curriculum significantly influences the development of the student’sacademic literacy.

These findings strengthen and support studies conducted by researchers in Israel andabroad (Perkins, 1985, Salomon, 1997; Melzer at all 1998) indicating that the developmentof learning skills is the product of direct and intentional learning of these skills and theirimplementation through exercises.

Jacobs(2008) notes that the academy has a double role in nurturing the student’s abilitiesboth in the academic content field and in the personal field, where one should emphasizethe student’s development as an individual learner who is able to deal successfully with newknowledge.

Good learning strategies have a positive influence on the academic achievements of students(Schwarts, 1986). Thus, the significant improvement of the students’ grades in the researchand learning skills, writing and reading skills of the students during the “academic skills”course, indicate that the students who accomplished the course have developed such learningstrategies.

The use of learning strategies and their effect on the student’s learning at the college wastested by the second research question that examines the transference and implementationof the strategies acquired in the academic skills course to other fields of study.

The findings indicate correlation between the marks of the students in the academic skillscourse and the anther one. This correlation even thaw is not very high, it is significant. Indeedit’s possible to say that the reason for the correlation invoke from the same requirements inboth courses. Still, it is possible that the students used the academic skills they required inthe Academic skills course they have learned before, for writing the assignment in the othercourse. Support for these findings was found in the qualitative findings in which 80% of thestudents mentioned the course’s contribution to developing their studying and research skills.

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In a closed attitude questionnaire, the issue of transferring the learning and research skillsacquired during the course to other courses was tested. 78% of the students answered thatthey used the skills acquired in the academic skills course in different fields to a great degree,and to some degree.

As can be seen from the studies conducted by Perkins and Solomon (1998), for suchprocesses to be created, a strict curricular planning in the academy is required, which createsconditions for studying research and learning skills and then implementing them in real lifesituations.

The transference of learning from the classroom to new situations and/or contexts (for thelearner) does not occur spontaneously. In most cases, deliberate teaching interventions areneeded in order to increase the probability of such a transference occurring (e.g., Perkins &Salomon, 1998). At present, there are very few curricula in higher education that deal withthis transference, this strength the argument that there is a need for an Academic skills coursein the high education system.

The difficulties that the students cope during the course and arise during the focus grouplike: workload, individual guidance, verbal analysis of the data and its presentation, togetherwith my insights as the lecturer of the course were the basis for redesigning the course tothe academic year 2008-2009, and to the second stage of the action.

The main changes that were implemented in light of the conclusions drawn from theteaching and learning processes of the course in the school year of 2007-2008 were:

• It was decided to reduce the number of exercises during the course and to focus all ofthem on one central research topic, to be selected by the students according to their aca-demic specialization. This decision is base one a suggestion that the students recommen-ded in the focus group in order to focus the study on academic literacy and research skillsduring the course.

• A maim topic along the academic year that accompanies the student throughout the yearand serves to construct all the research assignments: beginning with the finding of relevantinformation sources, developing research questions, writing the review of literature,collecting data through different tools, data analysis and writing the research report.

This process, serves the students as a model for a higher assignment in the third year.The data collected from the first stage of the action research (2007-2008) guided me as

the lecturer and the researcher to redesign the course format. The study hours were dividedaccording to the emphasis given to the four domains of literacy.

The course assignments were changed and adjusted to strengthen the main skills that wereidentified in the first stage of the study as meaningful to the student’s further learning process.

Personal and individual guidance and support was implemented in the course schedule,three workshops were added in which the students received individual guidance and support.

In the second cycle of the action research, another two aspects will be examined:

1. The transference of the learning skills acquired by the students and their implementationin writing a seminar paper in their third year at the college.

2. The rubric as an evaluation tool of the course: Is it able to predict the student’s successat college? This subject will be examined during the next two years by comparing themean of the students’ scores at their graduation with their scores in the course “Academic

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skills”. Through these findings, I would like to improve and validate the rubric not onlyas an evaluation tool of the course of academic skills but also as a tool for predictingthe student’s success in his/her academic studies at the college.

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About the AuthorDr. Anat RavivDr. Anat Raviv serves as a lecturer at Tel-Hai Academic College at the education departmentand also as a free lancer lecturer for the Ministry of Education in the field of in serviceteacher’s continuing education program expert in teaching/learning and evaluation strategies.Dr. Anat Raviv is the general manager of Revivm ltd, a company. Research areas: teachingand learning strategies, classroom instruction and interaction, cooperative learning, formativeassessment methods, projects evaluation, developing in school holistic evaluation programs.Dr. Anat Raviv was nominated as an expert of teaching / learning and evaluation strategies,designing curricula for the Israeli ministry of education in 2003, working as an expert adviserin these subjects at some teacher’s centres.

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