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Academic Skills: Learning and student skills for university

What are these?

Academic Skills are specific approaches you will need for successful study at university level. Although the term 'study skills' is often used to describe these approaches, at the University of Dundee we prefer the term 'academic skills' because these are quite different from the interpretation of 'study skills' required for school or college level study. Generally, we find that once university students are introduced to the university interpretation of the concept of academic skills, they learn to adjust their techniques to meet the new situation of university learning. This usually is seen in the positive impact on their performance and grades for assessed work.

How we can help

The Academic Achievement Teaching Unit offers a whole range of programmes providing students with individual, small group or whole class tuition in different aspects of academic skills. For example, we can:

• give you a personal appointment with a tutor who can provide assistance with writing, grammar, learning or numerical skills as you require to help you with specific aspects of your learning;
• set up an informal tutorial group for students doing the same module to work through any difficulties with ways of learning within the module or with tackling the skills aspect of producing coursework; and
• work with other academic colleagues in Schools to provide you with whole class tuition within modules as part of in-sessional teaching.

In these ways, the training we provide in academic skills is a key element in the subject teaching for your course.

If you are finding that your approach to study and learning is not quite working for you in the university context, then the Academic Achievement Teaching Unit offers individual academic skills advice

Some common issues:

• perhaps your time management is weak
• or it could be that you feel that you're not as organised as you might be
• assessment in your written work or in exams is not achieving the marks you'd expected

It's often easier for individuals to identify these factors than it is to work out how to alter the situation. Sometimes someone else can help you to identify what's missing and our experienced Academic Skills Tutors are the specialists to help you to do this. They work with students, often on a one-to-one basis, to develop the skills needed for university level study. This can cover a whole range of issues that relate directly to your ability to achieve your full potential. The links on the sidebar will take you to more detailed information on some of the typical issues. If you cannot find what you are looking for or would like to ask a specific question, then please contact aatu@Dundee.ac.uk. No question on any aspect of effective learning is too insignificant - all you need to do is make an appointment. If it's your question, then it's important enough to ask.