Academic Skills Team
Working in partnership between the Academic Skills Team and academic colleagues to provide support for education with academic literacies and study skills
The Academic Skills Team work within the Library to support the development of academic skills that students require throughout their courses and for a wide range of assessment types. Therefore, as well as academic skills such as critical analysis and developing academic literacies, we can also support students with the development of skills required for the digital creation of resources.
Our aim is to develop and deliver interactive student-centred resources which are easily accessible through a wide range of mediums, from delivering embedded workshops, contributing to the Library’s Your Skills programme and running drop in slots, to designing short courses around video pitches and infographic posters.
Our offer includes non-synchronous learning resources such as short interactive courses, interactive quizzes and multimedia resources focusing on academic skills and the creation of digital resources. These can be embedded into Canvas or used as part of your module delivery. We can also liaise with you to create embedded content and to deliver teaching to support this, ensuring a bespoke learning experience for students taking into account the module and level of study.
Academic skills resources and teaching
In collaboration with academic staff, we have developed a range of interactive resources which can be used to support the development of various academic skills. These resources can be embedded within Canvas and we are able to develop and adapt them to the needs of your students and the subject discipline. For example:
- an interactive quiz on understanding and avoiding plagiarism for the School of Engineering
- a short course on creating and delivering video pitches for a Stage 3 course in the Business School
The Academic Skills Team are also able to offer workshops, lectures or modules of Canvas content tailored to the needs of your students.
As a team, we are here to support you and your students and welcome new ideas for resources that would be valuable for your module, course or School, as well as embedded teaching we could offer.
We have also developed multimedia resources supporting a range of academic skills, for example, an interactive motion graphic resource on practical approaches to paraphrasing and videos providing guidance on the process of writing.
Resources are provided directly to students as content on the Academic Skills Kit and can be built on or adapted to develop resources to be embedded in your Canvas courses.
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How to paraphrase
Student drop-in slots
We offer weekly drop-ins for students in order to help them address any quick queries they may have about academic skills, academic writing and research. These are offered online and slots can be booked in advance:
- Tuesday, 14:00-16:00
- Thursday, 10:00-12:00
Your Skills programme
As well as working with academics across all the faculties at Newcastle to deliver embedded sessions, we also jointly create and run sessions as part of the Your Skills programme. This co-taught approach gives a holistic and wide-ranging series of workshops and resources.
Designed to stretch and challenge as well as support, these sessions cover academic assessment from planning to feedback; including workshops focused on the skills needed to progress between different levels of study.
At present there is no limit on number of bookings a student can make, but we reserve the right to make practical logistical changes to our service if necessary. Any updates to these procedures will be clearly displayed on our webpage. If you have booked and cannot attend, we would appreciate it if you could inform us by email.
The team cannot give students predicted marks or specialist subject advice, and we do not offer a proofreading service. Instead, our remit is helping students to understand more about the expectations of academic writing and assessment. We will work with students to develop the strategies and skills they need to become an active, autonomous and analytical learner/researcher. We can look at student work at any stage, from understanding the brief to completed drafts.
The Academic Skills Development Team are learning developers, and are not trained to advise on pastoral care or disability support. We are happy to signpost students to other University support services who will be able to give expert advice and guidance. If we can’t help a student, we will do our best find someone who can.
The Academic Skills Development Team operates independently from all Schools and Faculties and is not affiliated with any department, course or programme. We will not report back to tutors or any other subject academics/teaching staff. Any information disclosed to us will be confidential. There are only two exceptions to this policy, which are necessary to ensure adequate safeguarding and adherence to University regulations. We retain the right to disclose sensitive information if one or more of the following exceptions apply:
- if we believe a student is a danger to themselves or others
- if a student discloses information regarding involvement in serious criminal activity
Our online booking system records basic information such as name and email address. This data is securely stored electronically, is password-protected, and only available to a specific cohort of relevant staff members. Anonymised demographic data such as age and postcode may be used in order to demonstrate the team’s contribution to both national and institutional strategies concerning widening access and participation in higher education. The Office for Students has made it compulsory that all UK higher education providers set out and actively contribute to its access and participation objectives, as a condition of the funding that providers receive from the UK government. We adhere to the university’s student privacy policies and procedures; a summary of which can be found here. Any demographic data will be anonymous and stored in a password protected file that can only be accessed by the three team members. We are bound by the university’s data protection policy, in addition to The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
If you have questions about any of the above, or a query that is not covered here, please let us know. The best way to contact us is by email.