Since the establishment of the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.), students, particularly those enrolled in academic writing modules, have been utilising it to improve their communicative competence. However, the centre has recently encountered various challenges, chief among which are the lack of resources and restricted access to students, pushing the centre to the brink of obsolescence. This led to a revisioning of the centre, a central part of which is the creation of a virtual learner-driven SALC that focuses on the key areas in English and writing that students find challenging. For such a centre to be effective, it needs to be founded on students’ demographic, psychographic and behavioural traits.Using the results of a cross-sectional survey of 278 UTech, Ja. students, we present a learner profile of the typical student and the implications of such a profile for the creation of the virtual SALC. The results reveal that the typical student is teacher-dependent, extrinsically motivated and possesses low levels of academic exertion, low capacities for independent work and high levels of technology consumption. Based on this profile, heavy use of images, games and gamification elements, auto-rated activities, and interactive tutorials are central to the VSALC.

中文翻译：

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“我们的声音很重要”：UTech、牙买加学生的学习者概况以及虚拟自助学习中心的意义

自牙买加科技大学 (UTech, Ja.) 成立自主学习中心 (SALC) 以来，学生，尤其是参加学术写作模块的学生，一直在利用它来提高他们的交际能力。然而，该中心最近遇到了各种挑战，其中主要是缺乏资源和限制学生进入，将中心推向了过时的边缘。这导致了该中心的修订，其中一个核心部分是创建一个虚拟的学习者驱动的 SALC，该中心专注于学生认为具有挑战性的英语和写作的关键领域。为了使这样的中心有效，它需要建立在学生的人口统计、心理和行为特征之上。使用对 278 UTech, Ja. 学生，我们展示了典型学生的学习者档案，以及这种档案对创建虚拟 SALC 的影响。结果表明，典型的学生依赖老师，外在动机，学术努力水平低，独立工作能力低，技术消费水平高。基于此配置文件，大量使用图像、游戏和游戏化元素、自动评分活动和交互式教程是 VSALC 的核心。