Information for staff

In conjunction with the academic community, the Skills Centre facilitates student learning through the provision of customised workshops and sessions. We invite UCC students to come and improve their study skills, writing technique and presentation skills through our group sessions, one-to-one appointments and drop-in sessions. Core learning is strengthened through the delivery of study strategies, providing the scaffolding and building blocks for independent and critical thinking.

Listed below are the ways in which the Skills Centre can work with you, as a UCC staff member, to ensure that your students are connected and engaged when they need to be.

Refer a student

If you have concerns about your student’s academic progress, please contact the Skills Centre by emailing us at skillscentre@ucc.ie.

When a student begins to fall behind in their academic studies or if they are struggling with academic writing, please encourage them to avail of our services. We can assist students by providing them with writing clinics, where a tutor will review a student’s academic work and guide them on how they can improve. A student can also sit down with an academic study coach, where they will begin to work out what works well for the student and identify realistic study strategies.

 Please note, the Skills Centre does not cover course content, but rather focuses on the student’s writing style and structure.

Enquiries

If you would like to enquire about possible workshops, group sessions and services that the Skills Centre may be able to provide, please fill out our enquiry form. Once you submit the form, a member of our team will reach out to confirm details.

Please note this enquiry form is not for one-to-one appointments

Tailored skill sessions for class groups

The Skills Centre can co-ordinate with existing learning resources within the university and redeploy those services for the engagement of students from all disciplines. Peer tutors and staff members facilitate group sessions, focusing on academic writing and development. A member of staff can coordinate with us to provide tailored skill session(s) from our full listing, exclusively to your class group.

Your students may have presentations coming up. At the Skills Centre, they can take our presentation skills session or take part in our SPEAK programme to help them understand the essentials of academic presentations and public speaking which, in turn, will help them prepare for their in-class performance. Alternatively, you may want your students to become familiar with how to write an academic essay, in which case they can take sessions such as “Unpacking the Question”, “Building an Academic Argument”, and “Sourcing and Cite-seeing”. If you are interested in coordinating with us and arranging tailored skill sessions to a specific class group, we recommend that you browse our full listing to identify the sessions that will be most suitable for your needs, and email us at skillscentre@ucc.ie

Academic Integrity & Artificial Intelligence

The Skills Centre provides resources and training for our students on academic integrity and academic misconduct, including an Academic Integrity workshop that can be delivered to your cohort of students on request and the Academic Integrity Fundamentals course located in the Success Zone on Canvas. This course contains 2-3 hours of learning content on academic integrity, skills that support it, ethical vs. unethical use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), various forms of academic misconduct and associated risks, how Turnitin works, and supports available at UCC. It is recommended that all staff strongly encourage their students to engage with this course. Students who complete it will recieve a certificate that can be submitted as proof of completion should you wish to make the course a requirement for your students.

We have also worked with our colleages in the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) on a Digital Badge in Fostering Academic Integrity in Learning and Teaching that is available to all UCC staff. This short course offers staff comprehensive advice around supporting students to maintain their academic integrity and includes information on artificial intelligence in relation to academic integrity.

 Over the summer months of 2023, the (AI)²ed: Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence was run through the Skills Centre. This project used a students-as-partners approach, pairing students with academic staff across the four colleges in order to reimagine assessment in the face of ever advancing GenAI technologies. These staff-student working groups experimented with ChatGPT in relation to assessment in order to uncover approaches to mitigate against the risk of unethical GenAI use and to consider how best to integrate GenAI into learning activities and assessment design across disciplinary contexts in ways that enhance learning and maintain academic integrity.

The outcome of the (AI)²ed project is the UCC Toolkit for the Ethical Use of Generative AI in Learning and Teaching, which offers contextual information on GenAI, critical AI literacy and academic integrity that Staff can use directly with students, as well as case studies evaluating the use of GenAI in assessment and practical recommendations for how to integrate GenAI ethically into learning activities to help students develop critical AI skills.

Additional information for staff regarding artificial intelligence, one of the emerging threats to academic integrity, can be found in the CIRTL seminar series on assessment design, which includes a number of useful videos and practice examples, as well as the Short Guide on Assessment in the Age of AI.

If you have any queries on the above or other matters relating to academic integrity, please contact our Academic Integrity Education Officer, Dr Loretta Goff: loretta.goff@ucc.ie.

Digital Badge Hosting

If you are a UCC staff member and you are currently running a Digital Badge or have received approval on your application for a Digital Badge, the Skills Centre can offer you streamlined support. By hosting your Digital Badge through the Skills Centre, we can provide you with administration for the digital badge by managing student sign up and Canvas space creation/ support. We can also provide advertising streams through Skills Centre online platforms such as a registration/ informational webpage and social media adverts for students to sign up.

If you wish to avail of this, your Digital Badge will be listed with the variety of Digital Badges that we currently host. Below are some examples of Digital Badges that we have hosted in the past:

• ‘Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life’ Digital Badge for first-year undergraduate students delivered by Eithne Hunt, Lecturer, UCC Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy – read more.

• ‘Digital Badge in Independent Thinking’, for all UCC students offered by the school of Law, delivered by Patrick O’Callaghan, Lecturer, UCC School of Law – read more.

• ‘Climate Law & Governance for Engaged Citizenship’ for first-year, undergraduate students offered by the Centre for Law and the Environment, School of Law UCC – read more.

If you are interested in the Skills Centre hosting your Digital Badge, get in touch with us by emailing skillscentre@ucc.ie

Academic Resources

The Skills Centre provides a variety of learning assets and sessions to aid students in their academic development. Below is a listing of our openly available resources and sessions that may benefit your students.

• Book a session: The Skills Centre offers a virtual writing clinic service, academic study coaching sessions, group sessions and digital badges to UCC students who would like to avail of our services via Google Meet.
• Downloadable handouts on academic writing and studying: On this page, you will find a variety of downloadable handouts, covering important guidelines for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. These resources are based on frequently asked questions about academic writing, general skills and specific assignments within your course.
• Feedback on academic writing structure and style: The Skills Centre offers UCC students personalised feedback on essay structure and style as well as other queries you may have. One of our academic tutors will review your writing with you and provide you with some helpful feedback and tips on how you can improve your academic writing structure and style. 
• The ’Write Here, Write Now’ Podcast: This podcast series is structured around the theme of student literacy. Each episode explores and directly addresses recurrent issues university students experience throughout their academic career.
• Enquire about workshops, group sessions and services. If you would like to enquire about possible workshops, group sessions and services that the Skills Centre may be able to provide, please fill out the form linked. Once you submit the form, a member of our team will reach out to confirm details.