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, you should 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 which you can find here, 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

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 kathy.bradley@ucc.ie and 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 common 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 experienced by university students that occur 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.

Academic Integrity

The Skills Centre provides resources and trainings 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. 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.

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, and the Teaching Today with Artificial Intelligence Sharepoint page run by the Centre for Digital Education.