Student Experience Project

The Abertay Skills Hub brings together guidance produced by Learner Development Services, Library Services and the TELS team.

This project will focus on selected LDS-led academic and study skills resources. It will not involve redesigning the Skills Hub as a whole.

Some existing LDS resources need updating, and there are also gaps in the guidance currently available. We want student co-producers to help us investigate student needs, identify priorities, improve selected existing guides and develop new resources where appropriate.

The project will build on previous student research and recent improvements to the Skills Hub. Its aim is to make LDS guidance more accessible, inclusive, relevant and useful to Abertay students at different stages of their studies.

Students will bring their experience of studying at Abertay to the project. LDS will provide regular support and retain editorial responsibility for the published guidance.

You will work with another Abertay student and the LDS project team to research, develop and test academic writing and study skills resources.

Your work is expected to include:

• becoming familiar with the current Skills Hub, previous student research and the standards used for Abertay web content;
• reviewing selected resources from a student perspective;
• using relevant evidence, student feedback and user testing to recommend improvements;
• helping to revise existing guides and develop new guidance where a need has been agreed;
• exploring how structure, language, examples and appropriate media can make guidance clearer and more engaging;
• applying inclusive-design and accessibility principles;
• helping to test whether students can find, understand and use the guidance;
• recording the reasons for significant design and content decisions;
• contributing to a student-informed framework for developing future LDS resources; and
• helping to evaluate and share the project’s findings.

You will not be expected to redesign every page in the Skills Hub or make changes without support. Proposed content and design changes will be reviewed with LDS and, where relevant, other content owners before publication.

You may use approved digital and AI tools where they are appropriate to the task and consistent with university guidance. The purpose of the role is to contribute student insight, research, judgement and creativity rather than simply automate content production.

This role offers paid experience working on a live university project in partnership with professional staff and another student.

You will have opportunities to develop experience in:

• student-staff co-production;
• research and evaluation;
• user testing;
• accessible and inclusive content design;
• web content development;
• written and visual communication;
• collaborative project work;
• presenting recommendations; and
• managing work over an extended project.

The work may provide useful evidence for your CV, professional portfolio and future job applications.

You will also be supported to reflect on your learning and contribute to an abstract about student-led service enhancement for the annual summer conference of the Scottish Higher Education Learning Developers network, ScotHELD.

If the abstract is accepted, you will have an opportunity to share the project with the wider learning-development community. You will still be able to attend the conference if the abstract is not accepted, accompanied by a member of the LDS team.

You do not need to be an expert in learning development, web design or accessibility before applying. Training and support will be provided during the project.

We are looking for students who can demonstrate:

• an interest in improving the experience of Abertay students;
• an ability to consider experiences and needs that may differ from their own;
• clear written and spoken communication;
• an ability to find, assess and use information;
• willingness to give and receive constructive feedback;
• reliability and an ability to manage agreed tasks and meet deadlines;
• willingness to collaborate with another student and university staff as well as the ability to work independently; and
• curiosity about how online guidance can be made clearer, more accessible and more useful.

Experience or an interest in one or more of the following would be helpful, but is not essential:

• academic or study skills;
• user research or user testing;
• accessible and inclusive design;
• web or digital content;
• audio, video or visual communication;
• surveys, focus groups or analysis of feedback; and
• project work or collaborative content creation.

Equality, diversity and inclusion are central to Abertay University’s purpose and values. We therefore welcome applications from all backgrounds, including international students and scholars.