My Learning Essentials (MLE) is the Library’s multi-award-winning skills programme, supporting FSE students during their studies across a range of topics. Through MLE, students can access face to face workshop sessions and online resources.

Following student feedback from the FSE Faculty Forum in Dec 21, students suggested ways in which the Faculty and Library could better promote and widen access to MLE. These included teaching staff embedding MLE resources on Blackboard spaces and flagging the resources during contact hours, such as lectures or seminars. Students need to be signposted to these resources at key milestones in their academic cycle to ensure resources are relevant and accessible at point of need.

Some of the more widely used MLE online resources for FSE students (although by no means an exhaustive list) are as follows:

Start to Finish: Searching

This set of resources will take you through the searching process from start to finish and help you to find high quality, relevant sources for use in your work.

Being critical: thinking, reading and writing critically

This resource explores how to be critical, highlighting practical strategies you can use in your academic reading and writing that will enable you to demonstrate critical analysis in your assignments.

Start to Finish: Writing

This set of resources will take you through the academic writing process from start to finish and help you to produce a well-structured, coherent piece of work that answers the question, evidences your own analysis and is easy for your reader to follow.

Getting started with report writing

This resource explores key elements of producing a written report. Including, structure, purpose, language and referencing; It highlights important considerations to help you write clear and concise reports.

Writing scientific reports

In this resource we explore how scientific reports differ from general report writing, including structure, conventions and other key elements.

Start to Finish: Referencing

This set of resources will show you how to reference different types of sources in your assignments. It will help you to cite, paraphrase and manage your references using tools such as EndNote, Endnote online and Mendeley.

Start to Finish: Presentations

These resources will take you through how to plan, design and deliver presentations. They will help you to produce a well-structured, coherent presentation that fulfils your brief, is visually appealing and is engaging for your audience.

Group Work

This set of resources will support you to get organised, stay on track and get the most in working with others during your assignment.

General study skills such as effective note making also prove useful.

Start to Finish: Revision

This set of resources will take you through the revision process from start to finish. It will help you to prioritise your revision effectively.

How to embed key resources in Blackboard

MLE content can be embedded at a course/programme level within Blackboard. The Library can tailor and contextualise the resources within Blackboard so that students feel like they are getting a more subject specific experience aligned to the key learning outcomes for that course.

For example, on request, the Library has embedded MLE support into the following Blackboard course areas. These embeds include multi-media content such as podcasts, downloadable files and activities for students to undertake to consolidate learning.

• MATS21220
• EART11300 part 1
• EART11300 part 2
• MACE61060/42003

MLE teaching sessions within your Programme

Library specialists can also design, develop and deliver an interactive and innovative face-face session which can be embedded in a programme of study. These sessions are intended to help students understand how the specific skills they need to develop link with the demands and tasks unique to their course programme.  These sessions can focus on finding information, critical thinking, presentations, group work, academic writing or study skills.

Get in touch

If you would like to request that MLE resources are embedded into your Blackboard space or delivered in a face to face session as part of your course, please complete this form.

Alternatively, you can contact your Faculty Engagement Librarian for your School.

School of Engineering, Gemma Smith: gemma.smith-3@manchester.ac.uk

School of Natural Sciences, Nick Campbell: nick.campbell@manchester.ac.uk