Best Practice Guidance 2020

We are beginning to plan for welcome, induction and transition for 2021/22. A WIT21 MS Team has been set up to share plans, resources and up to date communications. If you would like to be added to this team please contact Kate Bennett by email at k.bennett@leeds.ac.uk

If you're responsible for organising taught student welcome and induction events, and supporting transition of returning students this year, please explore this site which is full of examples of best practice welcome, induction and transition activities and useful sites which will help with your planning.

The content on this site has been provided by colleagues from across the University as part of the Welcome, Induction and Transition Task & Finish Group chaired by Professor Anne Tallontire, Pro-Dean for Student Education in the Faculty of Environment. 

If you are responsible for designing and delivering induction and transition support, it will be useful to:

  • Have a set of overarching aims for your induction which can be communicated to staff and students
  • Understand how your induction fits in with the wider arrival and settling in experience of your students, and the various welcome and arrival services provided by different central teams
  • Explore the good practice guides, resources and workshops available here to help plan and deliver your induction and ongoing transition support 

Welcome and arrival

There are many ways to help students - beyond their academic engagement - to feel part of the University and the City. Helping students to build a sense of belonging will enable them to settle in to university life, meet new people, develop new skills and get involved in their local community.

Sense of belonging resources

The links below are designed for those responsible for welcome, induction and transition (WIT) and personal tutors, as well as as those involved in the teaching and support all of our students. They provide guidance and best practice intended to help everyone understand sense of belonging.

Supporting Sense of Belonging at Leeds (Powerpoint) A presentation which provides guidance to help everyone understand sense of belonging, what it means for our students and tips on how you can embed sense of belonging into your teaching and activities.

Co-curricular Activites for Sense of Belonging (Excel) There are many ways to help students - beyond their academic engagement - to feel part of the University and the City. This directory of activities will help students to build a sense of belonging, enabling them to settle into university life, meet new people, develop new skills and get involved in their local communities.

Signposting to Resources and Services (Powerpoint) A directory to help you signpost you students to relevant resources and support services.

Disability Services Induction (Powerpoint) This resource gives an overview of the work of the Disability Services team, what support they can offer and where to find this support.

‘Global’ English tips and listening strategies (Word) In our day-to-day interactions as a global community of students and staff, we all encounter different ways of using English. You can use this document (individually or as a team) to reflect on your own strategies for communicating effectively with individuals and in diverse groups.

International arrival and orientation

Our usual international welcome and orientation services have now been redesigned in response to COVID-19 and the development of the institutional welcome, induction and transition programme. Please make sure you are familiar with the new welcome and orientation services to support preparation, arrival and settling in experience for students arriving from outside the UK. The staff-facing webpage ses.leeds.ac.uk/orientation explains the new services and makes it easy to locate key information on Corporate and Students websites, and includes signposting text to use when communicating with students. 

We especially need staff to: 

  • help promote the opportunity for new and returning students to book arrival and self-isolation support in advance using the booking form on the arriving page. We need students to use this form to tell us their travel plans as soon as possible to help us manage the demand for services.   
  • signpost students to the online international orientation students.leeds.ac.uk/orientation when they arrive. This is designed to recognise international students' specific experience and help them navigate resources and tasks relevant to their student journey. Students can also sign up to one of the regular International Student Welcome Sessions – dates and times updated regularly on this page.   
  • recommend students make use of the Link to Leeds online peer support available before and after they arrive. In the context of the pandemic and particularly if they are self-isolating, international students may find it difficult to get started, feel safe and part of new communities. To help them settle in they will be able to connect with international student ambassadors from the Link to Leeds team using live chat, and they can meet other new students at online social activities hosted by the ambassadors. 

If you have any questions about international arrival and orientation, please contact internationalwelcome@leeds.ac.uk 

Induction

Transition 

Good practice guides developed by staff for returning students

Support at Leeds

Peer mentoring resources

 

Useful resources

Digital Practice website – https://digitalpractice.leeds.ac.uk a central university website run by Digital Education Service (DES) and Organisational Development & Professional Learning (OD&PL). This contains the institutional guidance and links to central training sessions.

TIPS community

Under TIPS and resources you can find details of the TIPS community. TIPS: A collection of bite-sized information, tips and tricks, shared by colleagues, for colleagues. You can join this team by:

  1. Logging in to Microsoft Teams
  2. Viewing all of the teams you’re a member of
  3. CLicking on Join or create a team
  4. Entering a code: 389w6ve

Minerva staff guides website – contains guidance on how to use Minerva and related tools such as Turnitin, Mediasite and Top Hat from a staff perspective. 
 

VLE for students website – contains guidance on how to use Minerva and related tools from a student perspective
 

 

Student and PGR communications 

Read the latest communications sent to students and PGRs. This includes emails and newsletters issued by the Student Communications team and the Doctoral College from February 2020.

Contact the Student Communication team for details on upcoming communications to taught students.

For planned PGR communications, get in touch with the Doctoral College.