Your Frequently Asked Questions
CAN THE SCHOOL SUBSCRIBE JUST A FEW YEAR GROUPS OR JUST SENIOR SCHOOL ETC TO THE HANDBOOK?
No. We do not offer partial school subscriptions. We only offer whole-school subscriptions. If you wish to use the site, you need to select the category that matches the number of students you have in your school in Years 7-12. Our subscriptions are based on TOTAL secondary school enrolment numbers as the whole school (parents, teachers and students) can access the site with the generic school login details. Each month we send through a study skills tip for the newsletter with the school’s login details. Even if you only use the site at school with one year group, all other students and parents can access the site at home.
However, schools with multiple campuses located on different physical locations and separate school newsletters can and should have separate subscriptions.
WHAT AGE OF STUDENT IS THE HANDBOOK AIMED AT?
This handbook is designed for high school or secondary students. All secondary school students will find all units of the handbook valuable although juniors and seniors will experience the units at different levels of understanding and relevance. Every year when students have access to the handbook again, a different section may seem more pertinent to them based on what issues are current in their lives at that time. In addition to this, units that they have previously worked through may have greater meaning at different levels of their schooling.
WHY CAN'T INDIVIDUALS SUBSCRIBE TO THE HANDBOOK?
This is a resource that is designed to benefit the school community as a whole. It is much more effective if teachers, parents and students are all hearing the same message about study skills and it is important to ELES that access is not limited due to financial means of individuals. It is also more cost-effective, for example for the cost of 7 typical individual subscriptions, a school of 700 students can all have access!
CAN THE SCHOOL SUBSCRIBE FOR JUST PART OF THE YEAR?
No. Subscription is for a calendar year only. At times we may offer specials that allow a school to start their subscription part-way through the year.
CAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS USE THE HANDBOOK?
The handbook is designed for secondary school students. If your school has both primary and secondary students, your enrolment numbers are calculated on the secondary students only. Some schools do introduce the site to students towards the end of Year 6, but the site is really for use by secondary students. We also have a transition to high school resource for Primary schools to use with Year 6: www.preparinginprimary.com.au
WHAT IF THE SCHOOL HAS MULTIPLE CAMPUSES?
IF CAMPUSES ARE AT THE SAME PHYSICAL LOCATION
Campuses will have a joint subscription based on the combined number of students at both campuses and there will only be one set of login details. Campuses that are at the same physical locations cannot have separate subscriptions.
IF CAMPUSES ARE AT DIFFERENT PHYSICAL LOCATIONS + HAVE SEPARATE NEWSLETTERS
Each campus should subscribe separately based on the number of students at their campus and will receive login details specific to each campus. Joint subscriptions are not available for school with campuses at different physical locations and with separate newsletters.
IF CAMPUSES ARE AT DIFFERENT PHYSICAL LOCATIONS + HAVE THE SAME NEWSLETTER
Campuses will have a joint subscription based on the combined number of students at both campuses and there will only be one set of login details. Schools will need to choose a main contact from one campus to whom all information will be sent and can nominate the back-up contact from the second campus. Campuses that have a single combined school newsletter cannot have separate subscriptions.
CAN WE GET INFORMATION AS TO HOW MUCH EACH STUDENT HAS COMPLETED OR USED THE HANDBOOK?
Yes! Students sign up for the Tracking System on the handbook site. They will enter a user name and password of their choice and at the end of each unit quiz and module they save their results. The system will keep track of their results over the years until the end of Year 12 (Year 13 for overseas schools). They can check their progress at any time through the tracking system. The school contact person will also be given an administrator password which will allow schools to view the progress of any students who have signed up for the tracking system in any year group in their school.
IS THE HANDBOOK JUST FOR AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS?
No. Even in Australia there are a number of different school systems. The handbook is not curriculum specific, it can be used by any school in any system, in any country that speaks English.
JOINING FEE
Once your school is using the handbook site, if your subscription is kept current you would not need to ever pay the joining fee. If your subscription lapsed and later on you decided to join again, you would then need to pay the joining fee.
But if you subscribe now, each year you would simply pay the annual subscription fees outlined above (and you get a 10% discount each year if you pay BEFORE the end of the year when the subscription expires).
WHAT ABOUT THE STUDY SAMURAI LIBRARY?
If you are looking for both study skills AND mental health and wellbeing resources, upgrade your subscription to include the Study Samurai Library videos.
The Study Samurai Library includes 1) a subscription to the Study Skills Handbook website and 2) The Library of 75 videos (around 20 mins each) on study skills and well-being and as a bonus 3) The Human Connection’s online wellbeing course and. Click here to watch a video where I explain the difference.
Click SSH and SSL Topics to see the full list of topics and content in these online resources.
WE HAVE USED SOME OF YOUR RESOURCES OR HAD OUR STUDENTS ATTEND ONE OF YOUR STUDY SKILLS SESSIONS. WILL THIS HANDBOOK STILL BE USEFUL FOR US?
Definitely! Study skills is all about building layers of knowledge, it is about taking the information and presenting it to students in numerous and different ways. The more we can constantly expose our students to the concepts needed for academic success, and the more diverse ways we can get them to interact with the information on a regular basis, the better chance we have that they will retain it and apply it. From the other perspective, if you are using the handbook site your students will still find the sessions and resources useful.
The Study Skills Handbook is ready-to-go, comprehensive and online study skills training for Years 7-12 students created by Dr Prue Salter from Enhanced Learning Educational Services.
