Stella Cottrell

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Stella Cottrell was formerly Director for Lifelong Learning [1] at the University of Leeds and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Learning, Teaching and Student Engagement at the University of East London, UK. She supports students from diverse backgrounds, such as those with dyslexia and mature, international and disabled students. [2]

Contents

Her publications for staff and students have sold more than a million copies worldwide. First published in 1999, The Study Skills Handbook is now in its 6th edition. Stella has authored a number of study skills guides as part of the Macmillan Study Skills series including Critical Thinking Skills, Skills for Success and The Macmillan Student Planner (previously published as The Palgrave Student Planner).

In the June 2011 edition of Education Bookseller, Victor Glynn characterised Cottrell's books as "concise, clearly laid out and covering a wide range of subjects." [3]

List of publications

TitleEdition numberFormatISBNPublication date
The Study Skills Handbook1Paperback978033375189312 August 1999
Teaching Study Skills and Supporting Learning1Paperback97803339212417 September 2001
The Study Skills Handbook2Paperback978140391135325 April 2003
Skills for Success1Paperback97814039113222 May 2003
Critical Thinking Skills1Paperback97814039968559 September 2005
The Study Stick1USB Flash drive97802305165958 September 2006
The Exam Skills Handbook1Paperback97802305065343 November 2006
The Study Skills Handbook3Paperback978023057305522 February 2008
Skills for Success2Paperback978023025018519 May 2010
Critical Thinking Skills2Paperback978023028529311 May 2011
Study Skills Connected, with Neil Morris1Paperback978113701945527 July 2012
You2Uni1Paperback978113702242427 July 2012
The Study Skills Handbook4Paperback97811372892549 April 2013
Dissertations and Project Reports1Paperback978113736426510 January 2014
Skills for Success3Paperback97811374265296 February 2015
Critical Thinking Skills3Paperback978113755050714 March 2017
Mindfulness for Students1Paperback978135200235511 May 2018
The Study Skills Handbook5Paperback978113761087418 March 2019
50 Ways to Succeed as an International Student1Paperback97813520057698 May 2019
50 Ways to Manage Stress1Paperback97813520057908 May 2019
50 Ways to Boost Your Grades1Paperback97813520058208 May 2019
50 Ways to Manage Time Effectively1Paperback97813520058518 May 2019
50 Ways to Excel at Writing1Paperback97813520058828 May 2019
50 Ways to Boost Your Employability1Paperback97813520059128 May 2019
The Macmillan Student Planner 2020-21*1Spiral-bound978135201006024 April 2020
The Study Skills Handbook6Paperback978135042127111 July 2024

* First published as The Palgrave Student Planner 2005-6 and every year subsequently; rebranded as The Macmillan Student Planner in 2019–20.

The Study Skills Handbook

The Study Skills Handbook was first published on 12 August 1999. The philosophy behind the book can be summarised as saying that most students could perform well in higher education with the right strategies, attitudes and pacing to suit their circumstances and previous educational background. Whether they were successful at study in the past or not, Stella contends that all students benefit from taking an individualised approach that suits them, as they are now, and looking with fresh eyes at each new challenge.

Critical self-reflection and active solution-seeking are emphasised throughout the book. Cottrell's aim is for students to personalise and contextualise strategies, rather than taking advice wholesale. [4]

Themes

Prominent themes in The Study Skills Handbook include:

The book featured activities and self-evaluations as well as cartoons intended to appeal to visual learners. Customised editions of The Study Skills Handbook have been published for Queen's University Belfast, The University of East London, Middlesex University and Coventry University.

Subsequent development

The Study Skills Handbook was developed out of Stella Cottrell's experience of working with students. Subsequent editions have been developed using feedback from students and lecturers who have used the book. [4] The current, fifth, edition of The Study Skills Handbook was published in 2019.

The Lifelong Learning Centre

Stella Cottrell was appointed as Director of the Lifelong Learning Centre (LLC) in July 2005. On her appointment the University of Leeds reported her as saying, "This is absolutely the right time for the University to be looking at its social inclusion agenda, and to build on its current innovatory work with adult learners." [5]

The objective of the centre is to deliver programmes and services that:

Philosophy

Critical thinking

According to Cottrell, students are likely to have difficulty engaging in critical analysis if:

Cottrell argues that critical thinking makes sense to the student if it is contextualised. Lecturers can encourage critical thought through the careful structuring of information and set exercises. [7]

In 2005, Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument was published. The book aimed to help readers "develop an understanding of what is meant by critical thinking, and to develop their own reasoning skills". Cottrell grounds critical thinking as an everyday activity, such as deciding whether we believe something that we're told. Within an academic context, she presents the challenge of thinking critically as rigorous verification and, if justified by the evidence, having the confidence to argue for an alternative view. [8] In 2011, Victor Glynn reviewed it as "one of the best texts for general critical thinking around at the moment" in Education Bookseller. [3] The current, third, edition of Critical Thinking Skills, published in 2017.

Personalised learning

Cottrell encourages students to personalise their learning by reflecting on the way they learn and under what circumstances this is most effective. "If you are open, flexible and creative in trying new approaches, you will develop into a more rounded personality and a more effective learner". [9]

Her books take the position that each student is unique in the particular details of:

Reflection

Stella sees reflection as a central component of study skills. Since Higher Education involves more autonomous learning than students may have experienced previously, they need to become responsible for reflecting on their own progress, strengths and areas in need of development. [11] Examples of reflective questions include:

Cottrell believes that accurate self-reflection is difficult and so includes brief structured reflective models throughout her books to help students. One such example is the Core Model for reflection, that appears in Skills for Success. [13]

Personal development planning

Cottrell sees personal development planning (PDP) as a confluence of personal improvement, greater academic performance, and planning to achieve goals, "whether academic, personal or professional". [14] For Cottrell, it is important that all students regularly reflect on how their course and extracurricular activities relate to their future ambitions: "Linking PDP, the programme of study and the student's future is especially important for younger students, who are less likely to have thought about careers." [15]

In 2003, Cottrell published Skills for Success: The Personal Development Planning Handbook. The book was structured to represent a journey from defining a personal vision of success, to developing the academic and personal skills needed, and finally bringing all this together in an effective job application. [16] The textbook design featured reflective exercises and self-evaluations, as well as cartoons similar to those seen in The Study Skills Handbook. The third edition was published in 2015.

Inclusion

The benefits and importance of social inclusion within the higher education system is a common theme in Stella Cottrell's writing. In an article written for Times Higher Education , she argued that "A variety of needs has been made manifest by larger class sizes, working students, broader social and international participation, the requirements of students with disabilities and better understanding of individual learning preferences." [17]

Cottrell's writing assumes that students are different in how they learn and what they need to learn. The aim is to encourage students to take charge of their learning and find strategies that suit them best. [10]

Skills for Study

In 2010, Palgrave Macmillan launched skills4studycampus, an online e-learning resource based on the third edition of Stella Cottrell's The Study Skills Handbook. Stella was involved in the planning of skills4studycampus and the process of adapting The Study Skills Handbook to an interactive environment. [18] skills4studycampus was updated in 2020 and relaunched as Skills for Study with additional features including articles and blogs.

Skills for Study is divided into twelve areas:

Honorary doctorate

In 2011, the University of Bedfordshire announced that an honorary doctorate was to be awarded to Stella Cottrell "in recognition of her 'outstanding contribution to lifelong learning and widening participation'". [20] On the announcement of this award, Stella summarised her work with the Lifelong Learning Centre: "I have always worked to create good educational opportunities for those who, for whatever reason, either underachieved in the past or didn't get a chance to study in higher education." [20]

Education

Dr. Cottrell completed her BA and D Phil in History at the University of Oxford, a PGCE in English also at Oxford and a BSc in Psychology at the Open University. [5]

Related Research Articles

The philosophy of education is the branch of applied philosophy that investigates the nature of education as well as its aims and problems. It also examines the concepts and presuppositions of education theories. It is an interdisciplinary field that draws inspiration from various disciplines both within and outside philosophy, like ethics, political philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Many of its theories focus specifically on education in schools but it also encompasses other forms of education. Its theories are often divided into descriptive theories, which provide a value-neutral description of what education is, and normative theories, which investigate how education should be practiced.

Social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge according to which human development is socially situated, and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others. Like social constructionism, social constructivism states that people work together to actively construct artifacts. But while social constructivism focuses on cognition, social constructionism focuses on the making of social reality.

Bloom's taxonomy is a framework for categorizing educational goals, developed by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. It was first introduced in the publication Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. The taxonomy divides learning objectives into three broad domains: cognitive (knowledge-based), affective (emotion-based), and psychomotor (action-based), each with a hierarchy of skills and abilities. These domains are used by educators to structure curricula, assessments, and teaching methods to foster different types of learning.

Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation. In modern times, the use of the phrase critical thinking can be traced to John Dewey, who used the phrase reflective thinking. The application of critical thinking includes self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective habits of the mind; thus, a critical thinker is a person who practices the skills of critical thinking or has been trained and educated in its disciplines. Philosopher Richard W. Paul said that the mind of a critical thinker engages the person's intellectual abilities and personality traits. Critical thinking presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use in effective communication and problem solving, and a commitment to overcome egocentrism and sociocentrism.

A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of general skills are time management, teamwork and leadership, and self-motivation. In contrast, domain-specific skills would be used only for a certain job, e.g. operating a sand blaster. Skill usually requires certain environmental stimuli and situations to assess the level of skill being shown and used.

Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. In original usage, student-centered learning aims to develop learner autonomy and independence by putting responsibility for the learning path in the hands of students by imparting to them skills, and the basis on how to learn a specific subject and schemata required to measure up to the specific performance requirement. Student-centered instruction focuses on skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving. Student-centered learning theory and practice are based on the constructivist learning theory that emphasizes the learner's critical role in constructing meaning from new information and prior experience.

The Association of College and Research Libraries defines information literacy as a "set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning". In the United Kingdom, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals' definition also makes reference to knowing both "when" and "why" information is needed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Service-learning</span> Pedagogy combining learning objectives with community service

Service-learning is an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service in order to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs.

Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated" pursuit of learning for either personal or professional reasons.

Soft skills, also known as power skills, common skills, essential skills, or core skills, are psychosocial skills generally applicable to all professions. These include critical thinking, problem solving, public speaking, professional writing, teamwork, digital literacy, leadership, professional attitude, work ethic, career management and intercultural fluency. This is in contrast to hard skills, which are specific to individual professions.

Noel Entwistle is a UK educational psychologist who has made significant contributions to theories of student learning in higher education. He is particularly known for identifying the characteristics of, and influences on, deep and surface approaches to learning, and developing the Approaches to Studying Inventory and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students. He also developed, with Ference Marton, the idea of 'knowledge objects' as structured understandings developed by students as they prepare for exams or writing essays. Entwistle was formerly editor of the British Journal of Education Psychology and also of the international journal Higher Education. He is a fellow of the British Psychological Society, has an Oeuvre Award from the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction, and Honorary Doctorates from the universities of Gothenburg and Turku. He has published many articles in academic journals related to both educational psychology and teaching and learning in higher education, as well as several books including Styles of Learning and Teaching (1981), Understanding Student Learning (1983), Understanding Classroom Learning (1987), and Teaching for Understanding at University (2009).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palgrave Macmillan</span> English publishing house

Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offices in London, New York, Shanghai, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Delhi and Johannesburg.

Peter Mayo is a Maltese professor, writer, and former head of the Department of Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education at the University of Malta. He is responsible for the UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education at the same university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Paul Gee</span> American linguist

James Gee is a retired American researcher who has worked in psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, bilingual education, and literacy. Gee most recently held the position as the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University, originally appointed there in the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. Gee has previously been a faculty affiliate of the Games, Learning, and Society group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is a member of the National Academy of Education.

Critical understanding is a term used commonly in education to define a mode of thinking, described as, ‘an essential tool for participating in democratic processes, at whatever level.’ It is a defensible position reached through the examination of ideas, issues or sources. It is achieved through reflecting upon, analysing and evaluating different ideas and positions, and is demonstrated through an ability to express informed responses and independent thought. Critical understanding develops through analytical and independent thought and is considered an increasingly important element of the education process as students progress to higher and further education. However it is not an easy concept to communicate for it is not a passive thing we do; it is about active engagement.

Learning development describes work with students and staff to develop academic practices, with a main focus on students developing academic practices in higher education, which assess the progress of knowledge acquired by the means of structural approaches. Learning developers are academic professionals who: teach, advise and facilitate students to develop their academic practices; create academic development learning resources; and reflect on their own academic practices through a community of practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg-John Barker</span> British writer and independent scholar

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">21st century skills</span> Skills identified as being required for success in the 21st century

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Definitions of education aim to describe the essential features of education. A great variety of definitions has been proposed. There is wide agreement that education involves, among other things, the transmission of knowledge. But there are deep disagreements about its exact nature and characteristics. Some definitions see education as a process exemplified in events like schooling, teaching, and learning. Others understand it not as a process but as the product of such processes, i.e. as what characterizes educated persons. Various attempts have been made to give precise definitions listing its necessary and sufficient conditions. The failure of such attempts, often in the form of being unable to account for various counter examples, has led many theorists to adopt less precise conceptions based on family resemblance. On this view, different forms of education are similar by having overlapping features but there is no set of features shared by all forms. Clarity about the nature of education is central for various issues, for example, to coherently talk about the subject and to determine how to achieve and measure it.

References

  1. David, Gardner. "The Lifelong Learning Centre: New Beginnings". University of Leeds. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  2. "Annual Learning and Teaching Enhancement Seminar: Developing students academically from induction to graduation". University of Bath. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  3. 1 2 Victor, Glynn (June 2011). "Quality holds its own". Education Bookseller (June 2011): 19.
  4. 1 2 3 Cottrell, Stella (2008). The Study Skills Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 1. ISBN   978-0-230-57305-5.
  5. 1 2 "University Welcomes Lifelong Learning Leader". University of Leeds. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  6. "About the Lifelong Learning Centre". University of Leeds. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  7. Harriet, Swain. "Ready to furnish tools of thought". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  8. Cottrell, Stella (2011). Critical Thinking Skills. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. viii. ISBN   978-0-230-28529-3.
  9. Cottrell, Stella (2008). The Study Skills Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave. p. 60. ISBN   978-0-230-57305-5.
  10. 1 2 Cottrell, Stella (2010). Skills for Success. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 52. ISBN   978-0-230-25018-5.
  11. Cottrell, Stella (2008). Skills for Success. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 61. ISBN   978-0-230-57305-5.
  12. Cottrell, Stella (2010). Skills for Success. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 200. ISBN   978-0-230-25018-5.
  13. Cottrell, Stella (2010). Skills for Success. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 206–9. ISBN   978-0-230-25018-5.
  14. Cottrell, Stella (2010). Skills for success. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. vii. ISBN   978-0-230-25018-5.
  15. Harriet, Swain. "Helping students prepare personal development plans". Helping students prepare personal development plans. Times Higher Education. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  16. Cottrell, Stella (2010). Skills for Success. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. v-3. ISBN   978-0-230-25018-5.
  17. Cottrell, Stella. "Take Talk to a New Level". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  18. "Meet the team". Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  19. "skills4studycampus taster". skills4studycampus. Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  20. 1 2 "Honour for Dr Stella Cottrell". University of Leeds. Retrieved 30 June 2011.