The Learning Web

The incorporation of undergraduate key skills programmes has been a major concern for some years now, recently given added impetus by the Dearing (1997) report.This article discusses the development, implementation and evaluation of electronically disseminated key skills materials at the University of North London. Take up of these was positively correlated with academicsuccess, although misuse of on-line discussion fora was evident. Lecturers and students differed markedly in their perception and evaluation of the system. Many of the advantages trumpetedby academics were dismissed by learners, who felt that material posted on-line gave them extrawork; represented an abrogation of lecturers’ teaching duties and shifted printingcosts from the institution to the student. Network and other access problems caused further disenchantment. The article concludes that more attention needs to be paid both to student needsand attitudes, and to the resource implications of running such a system.