Academic skills development

Students studying at ANU come from a very diverse range of educational backgrounds. There are many new skills that they need to develop in order to succeed at their studies. The Academic Skills and Learning Centre is a central support unit here to help students to develop these fundamental academic skills. 

A key way that we assist students is by working closely with academic staff within courses. Working in this way is both meaningful and authentic for students in terms of skill development as it is contextualised rather than seen as a adjunct or "add on" to their studies. Embedding academic literacies also places the skills within the disciplinary genre.

Working within a course or program

One of our Learning Advisers will discuss with you how we can provide support to your students. This might include providing you with resources to add to your Wattle site, teaching materials or we can come into your classes and offer some teaching to your students. The Adviser can also discuss assessment tasks with you and provide advice from an academic literacies perspective.

If we provide some teaching for your course, the sessions can target a specific assignment or cover an individual skill such as referencing or academic integrity. The sessions are tailored to the discipline, specific assessment and level of the students. Sometimes the sessions are during the lecture or tutorial time, or alternatively can be an additional session for students. 

If you would like to book a workshop, organise some resources or just find out more, contact us at academicskills@anu.edu.au or phone 6125 2972. An Adviser will be assigned to discuss how we can work with you to embed academic skills in your course and help your students to succeed at their studies.

Working with research students 

We have a variety of resources and workshops that we can deliver to HDR, Honours and other students completing major research projects. When we deliver these programs, we work closely with the relevant academics to make the teaching discipline and project specific. 

A program might include early workshops on managing a research project and writing a research proposal. As the program progresses, we cover aspects of writing including thesis or exegesis writing and journal article writing. We also offer workshops on presentations and posters. Writing days or "retreats" are popular conclusion to a program.

We also offer one-to-one support for research students at any point in their project. As students are coming toward submission date, an adviser can work closely with them on their writing, helping them to communicate their research in a clear, concise and coherent manner.

More information about our work with research students can be found on our Research writing website: www.anu.edu.au/researchwriting. 

English language support

For both teaching staff and English as a second language (ESL) students, English language proficiency can be a major concern. It is important to separate issues of transition and familiarisation with new academic genres, from issues of language proficiency. Most ESL students at ANU have sufficient proficiency to succeed at their study, however many lack the confidence to use their English both in the written and spoken form. In order for students to develop the fluency needed at university level, ESL students need opportunities to use language in all four forms: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

We can help you to integrate more opportunities for ESL students to use and practice their English throughout their studies. We also have expertise in understanding the cultural difference that students experience when transitioning to study in Australia - particularly in learning the different assessment types and academic expectations. 

In our one-to-one appointments we can give personalised assistance to ESL students in their assignments and day to day studies.

Academic integrity support

Academic integrity is the foundational principle of our academic community and as such, education around academic integrity needs to be both explicit and embedded. At ASLC we have a suite of resources to assist your students to understand academic integrity and learn sound academic practice.

We can provide anything from resources for you to point your students toward to a full program including workshops, Wattle lessons and hurdle assessment tasks. New students will particularly benefit from a more comprehensive program of support.

We also work with students one-to-one to help them understand academic integrity. Sometimes students are referred to us if they have breached the rules and need assistance to understand how to modify their practices.

There are many resources that you can access, or point your students toward, on our Academic integrity website: www.anu.edu.au/students/learning-development/academic-integrity.

Turnitin is an excellent resource for students in helping them with academic integrity. We have a Turnitin Practice site for students to submit drafts through Turnitin before their final submission and learn how interpret the originality report, and quote and paraphrase correctly.

You can also import the resources from the Turnitin Practice site into your own wattle site: Turnitin teaching resources.