Category: Your studies

Team Coach: what is it and what’s in it for me?

Author Welcome Team | Posted on

Spotted Team Coach in your timetable? That’s because your programme has been selected to take part in a new initiative as part of our commitment to your self-development.

What is it?

In sport, the role of a coach is to support the people participating, reach their full potential. And when it comes to academic coaching it’s just the same!

During Block Zero you were assigned to a coaching group in Microsoft Teams, consisting of around ten other students from your course. Since the start of Teaching Block 1, you’ve been timetabled to meet up every two weeks, along with other groups of students from your programme, and one or two coaches, who are members of staff.

The sessions are facilitated by your coach(es) and based on UWE Bristol’s five secrets to success. During the sessions you’ll watch a video together and complete activities related to the week’s theme (for example: ‘Visualise your future’).

What are the benefits of Team Coach?

We trust Team Coach will:

  • Inspire you to engage in student life in all its forms
  • Empower you to make the most of the many opportunities here
  • Provide space for you to share and reflect upon your experiences
  • Increase your confidence
  • Reduce any isolation you may be feeling due to the coronavirus pandemic
  • Help you graduate successfully

By working together, you’ll be able to build on what you learnt in Block Zero and support each other to seek solutions to any issues you might be experiencing, especially in light of the pandemic.

We want you to succeed in every area of university life and hope you enjoy working with your coaching group!

Let us know what you thought about Block Zero!

Author Welcome Team | Posted on

Block Zero was designed to make sure you were ready for the academic year. We wanted to work closely with you to build up your skills and knowledge so that you were ready to hit the ground running when your programme teaching resumed.


We’re conducting a short survey for all students who took part in some or all of the elements of Block Zero to find out what you thought about it, and the start of year.

The survey asks about your experience, and should take less than 10 minutes complete.

Complete the survey online by Friday 20 November to let us know what you thought, and for your chance of winning one of two MiniRig speakers, or one of four £50 Amazon gift vouchers!

Peer Assisted Learning (PAL)

Author Welcome Team | Posted on

by Jo Lewis, PAL Manager

You’ll probably notice something called ‘PAL’ on your timetable, or maybe you heard about it during Block Zero.

Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) is a student-to-student support scheme which helps you with your transition to university, in particular:

  • engaging with your course
  • connecting with your peers
  • increasing your academic confidence and resilience
  • developing good study habits

Online PAL sessions are delivered by second and third students, known as PAL Leaders. They won’t be teaching you, but will facilitate interactive group study sessions giving you the opportunity to ask questions about university life, expectations, course content, online learning and much more!

You’ll also be able to share ideas about assignments, projects and exams – all this in a friendly and collaborative online learning environment. So don’t miss out, you never know, you may go on to be a PAL Leader in the future too!

If PAL doesn’t appear in your timetable and you would like to connect and collaborate with peers, why not attend our online Resilient U PAL sessions? For more information about these student-led sessions, view the Events Diary.

For more information, visit our PAL webpage.

Attendance and engagement with your studies

Author Welcome Team | Posted on

by Student Communications

We’re introducing a new system called MyAttendance, which will allow you to record your attendance at face-to-face teaching sessions.

Record your attendance

You won’t need to use it for online teaching, including Block Zero, but for face-to-face sessions your lecturer will provide a 6 digit code which you can use to record your attendance. If you’ve already started face-to-face teaching, you’ll be asked to start using the app this week.

You can access myAttendance via the UWE Bristol app, available on both Android and iPhone.

View your attendance data

Your attendance data will be available to view on the MyEngagement system. MyEngagement allows you to see your engagement with various learning and teaching tools such as Blackboard and the library. We’ll also be able to see this data and will use it to offer you support if your engagement is low.

One of the first signs that a student may need support is a drop of engagement with their course – for example, missing a coursework deadline or not logging on to Blackboard as much as they used to. There might be many reasons for this drop in engagement – from struggling with a study skill or time management to friendship problems or homesickness.

Support during low engagement

If you’re struggling with your studies or a personal matter, it can be hard to ask for help. By noticing low engagement early, we can reach out to you and check things are OK.

We can let you know about support you might find useful, such as study skills workshops, wellbeing support or money advice – whatever you need to help you get back on track. You’ll never be penalised for low engagement, we know that different students engage in different ways – it’s simply about offering you support.

The data MyEngagement uses is information that the university already collects, such as whether you’re logging on to Blackboard, submitting coursework or using the library. The more you use UWE Bristol systems and resources, the higher your engagement score will be.

Key members of staff will be able to see your data so that they are able to step in and provide advice and support if needed and you can view the exact same data via your personal dashboard. Don’t worry, each student can only view their own data.

If your engagement falls in one of the lower categories, you might receive an email, text or phone call from us to check if you’re OK. We can let you know about support that you might find useful and you’ll have the opportunity to ask us any questions that you have.

You can log into MyEngagement using your usual UWE Bristol username and password. (Please note that the system won’t work on Internet Explorer so you will need to use Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge.) By logging on regularly you’ll be able to see whether your engagement has changed. You may even be able to pinpoint a reason for this and learn to recognise the types of things that impact on your studies.

We want to make sure your time with us is happy, healthy and successful. Research indicates that the more students are involved in their educational experience, the better they do. See you in class!