Welcome Back!
By Conor O’Driscoll, UCC Skills Centre Contributor
As we ease ourselves back into the routine of university life, we at the Skills Centre would like to welcome you back with some words of encouragement and details on how you can get the most out of yourself this semester.
The Skills Centre is a learning space within UCC that is committed to providing a positive student experience across university disciplines. Our job is to facilitate your development of professional and academic skills in a collaborative peer-to-peer learning environment.
At this stage, many of you may be waiting for exam results to be released. Some of you may be in no rush to find out how you got on. And others may already know what went wrong and what went right in Semester 1. Either way, the first two weeks of the semester are the ideal time to right some of these wrongs.
Speaking on behalf of all the Skills Centre tutors, I can promise you that a significant chunk of most academic-related problems you encountered last semester stem from some lack of organisation. Be it messy note taking, improper time management, or an addiction to cramming, we provide services which introduce you to daily habits that allow you to become more efficient in the ways you work, study, and prepare assignments.
Throughout the academic year, we provide workshops and one-to-one sessions on a multitude of academic issues. We schedule our workshops in-line with the university calendar. For instance, exam-specific workshops do not usually get scheduled until later in the term. What this means is that the next two/three weeks will be full of workshops dedicated to foundational skills like note taking, reading, and organisational skills.
Our tutoring and workshop portfolio covers all academic bases. If we do not have a dedicated group workshop for the issue, students can avail of one-to-one sessions with experienced tutors to work on the problem with you. For more information on these services, simply google “UCC Skills Centre” or come and chat to us. We are based in Q-1 in the Boole Library. Just follow the yellow footsteps on the floor.
Aside from these services, we provide a multitude of virtual services, which in my opinion are totally underrated and complement our workshops. Perfect for this time of year. The most readily available service is on Canvas, which is accessible to every one of you via the “UCC Success Zone” window. Here, you will find all sorts of great stuff. Introductions to Student Services. Tips and tricks on developing Digital (IT) Skills. Information on Library Services, Exams, and UCC’s Career Services. Details on important initiatives like the Bystander Intervention and how to acquire Digital Badges in transferable skills, like public speaking. It's all there.
The Skills Centre also has a section in this window on Canvas. Here, you will find short videos on how to develop and refine your academic writing, study strategies, and professional skills while also introducing you to key concepts like critical thinking and organisational skills. Complimenting this, our website (Google: UCC Skills Centre) provides free downloadable handouts that offer advice on academic issues, such as writing assignments, working in groups, constructing arguments; the list goes on.
Similar services which we provide include the “If I Knew Then What I Know Now” blog series. This is a series of blogs whereby experienced tutors, like myself, offer advice on tackling various academic issues students may encounter, such as using the internet for academic assistance and planning assignments. We also provide audio-visual services like our “Gimme Two Minutes” video series which focuses on concepts related to academic writing and preparation skills, while our “Write Here, Right Now!” podcast focuses on student literacy and addresses recurrent issues experienced by students. All of these can be best accessed through our website. Check them out!
Finally, because The Skills Centre is dedicated to strengthening core learning as well as providing the scaffolding and building blocks for independent and critical thinking, faculty members can utilise our services to ensure that students are connected and engaged when they need to be. In this regard, you can refer a student directly, request tailored workshops for your specific classes, or we can provide you administrative support if hosting digital badges.