Support

At the centre of our approach to distance learning are the materials that we produce. Our modules are written in a clear and straightforward style. We break up the material into easily assimilated 'chunks' and each of these is followed by activities which help you to assess your grasp of the subject.

Aberystwyth University uses Blackboard as its VLE, which has its own messaging system, along with support areas for all courses and modules, and their Aspire reading lists. This way we can keep you up to date on module amendments, availability and study school timetables. It is also easy for you to keep up with how others on your course are getting on and post questions to academic staff. We also use Blackboard for submitting assignments and distributing marks. The many discussion areas cover the social, administrative and educational aspects of your course.

Every student is assigned a Personal Tutor at the first Residential School, who can advise, inform and support them throughout their studies.

Whilst any tutor can initially be approached, each student on the programme is allocated a Personal Tutor for overall academic and pastoral counselling. The Personal Tutor will contact you periodically to check on your progress; but you should initiate contact whenever the need arises.

The Personal Tutor should be informed of any problems or circumstances, which could affect your studies and progress so that they can advise you accordingly. As well as helping directly, Personal Tutors can also refer you to other relevant services within the University as necessary.

Annual progress meetings enable us to monitor every student's progress and check that they are on track to complete their course within the given Registration Period. If students have not been able to make sufficient progress for whatever reason, staff are on hand to offer advice, which might include rescheduling study timetables or applying for a period of Temporary Withdrawal from the course.

The University collections can be searched using the Primo Library catalogue.

For further details visit Welcome to Information Services (IS) - Distance Learning Students support page.

All the electronic resources for Information Studies can be found through Primo where you can explore individual resources or cross-search a number of them at once. Primo includes key resources such as citation databases, e-journals and e-books, selected websites, subject gateways, data and media resources, news, reference materials and library catalogues. Visit the Information Studies subject page to discover how to access and get started.