Academic Staff
The Learning Skills Centre supports academic staff in a variety of ways, all designed to improve student outcomes by integrating academic skill development and course content.
Learning Pods
A learning pod is a small ad hoc learning group, often student directed, facilitated by a Learning Advisor at a time convenient for those students participating, and meeting regularly at the LSC to discuss course-specific learning skills. For example, learning pods set up for HIST136 allowed the students to discuss the planning and writing of their essays, and the Learning Advisor was provided with the course guide, marking schedule, and tutorial assignments.
Embedded Teaching
We offer embedded sessions (taking place in lecture or tutorial times) at lecturers’ requests. Embedded sessions aim to align academic skill development with course content and assessment requirements, whether in writing essays or lab reports, presenting statistical data, or giving an oral presentation. For example, LSC staff are annually invited to run four tutorials for GEOG 206 students. The sessions cover report writing conventions, the logical structuring of ideas and critical thinking. Feedback from staff suggests embedded sessions have a significant impact on student learning and performance.
Invited Workshops
Learning Skills Centre staff can offer timely workshops in generic skills. For example, during their orientation week, new Masters students in the College of Education receive tailored workshops on writing a literature review or formatting their thesis. Although similar workshops are run regularly in the LSC, invited workshops cater for students who may have scheduling clashes or are physically on a different campus.
Academic Writing Assessment
At the invitation of staff in the faculties of Commerce and Engineering, the LSC developed and graded a diagnostic assessment to identify students’ academic language needs. The assessment tasks are subject specific and aim to give departments a clear profile of each student’s literacy strengths and weaknesses. Thousands of students have sat the AWA, and many have attended the LSC’s follow-up workshops which target the problem areas this assessment identifies. For more information, see our AWA page.
If you would like the Learning Skills Centre to contribute to your class or
programme, email us. Let us know:
- The course and level
- The skills you would like us to cover (see our workshops page for a sample of what we teach)
- Some possible dates and times that would work for your class
- A good time to meet or talk with a Learning Advisor and discuss what will be taught
- Your phone and email contact details
Learning pods, embedded teaching, or invited workshops are run free-of-charge for UC staff, but LSC staff are in demand, so please try to book at least a month in advance if possible.
We have a PowerPoint slide about the LSC you can download and use as part of an introductory lecture; just click through and drag it to your desktop.