One way in which we aim to create conditions throughout Oxford where excellence in teaching and assessment can thrive is by bringing educators, administrators and students together through our facilitated education community. The community offers different opportunities for staff to enhance and support their practice – from open networks and user groups, to special interest groups.
One of these is the Academic Skills Special Interest Group (Academic Skills SIG). Find out about other groups in our education community.
What is the Academic Skills SIG?
The Academic Skills SIG brings together professional service and academic staff from across the collegiate University with a remit and/or shared interest in supporting students’ academic skills development.
The group is facilitated by the Centre for Teaching and Learning and organised via Teams.
Meetings are held twice a term, with a reading group mid-term, either in person or online. They provide opportunities to network, share good practice, experience and resources, and contribute to projects led by the Centre in the area of academic skills development at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Who is the Academic Skills SIG for?
The group is open to all professional services staff, academics and early-career researchers at Oxford with an active interest and/or remit in supporting students’ academic skills development.
How can I join the Academic Skills SIG?
Step 1: Make sure you are logged into MS Teams
Step 2: Click on this link. This will join you to our Education Community Team automatically and you will then be able to view the Academic Skills SIG Team Channel.
If you don’t have a SSO (Single Sign-On) account or have difficulty joining, please contact us.
How can I manage my notifications for the Education Community Team?
If you change nothing about your Teams notifications, you will receive both desktop notifications and activity feed alerts for @mentions, direct messages (chat), and all new conversations and @mentions in all channels within the Education Community Team, not just those for the Academic Skills SIG Team Channel.
If you would like to turn off notifications from any channel in the Education Community Team (ie for those groups you do not wish to follow), here is how to customise notifications in a Teams channel.
More details of how to change notifications can be found at Learn how to choose the right settings to fit your preferences.
If you have any queries, please contact us.
When are the next meetings of the Academic Skills SIG?
In 2023-24, meetings of the Academic Skills SIG will be held as below.
Calendar invitations will be posted in the Academic Skills SIG Channel in our Education Community Team.
Date, time, format
|
Theme
|
Location and booking link |
Monday 25 September (Week -1, MT23)
10-11.30am
In-person
|
(Back) into uni: Supporting student academic skills at the start of a new year.
The session will provide an opportunity to:
- explore the challenges that our students encounter at the start of a new year of study, and
- share our plans and experiences of supporting their academic skills development at this point in their journey.
Whether we support new undergraduates and postgraduates transitioning to a new programme, or returning students stepping up into a new year of study, what approaches have we found effective, and what innovations are we hoping to try out?
|
Seminar Room, Level 2, Littlegate House, 16-17 St Ebbe's Street, Oxford OX1 1PT
To register your attendance, please complete this short form (SSO required)
|
MT23 reading group
Tuesday 7 November (Week 5, MT23)
12noon-1pm
Online
|
To be advised
|
Team link to follow |
Thursday 14 December (Week 10, MT23)
2-3.30pm
In-person
|
To be advised
|
Seminar Room, Level 2, Littlegate House, 16-17 St Ebbe's Street, Oxford OX1 1PT
Booking link to follow
|
Wednesday 17 January (Week 1, HT24)
3-4pm
Online
|
To be advised
|
Teams link to follow |
HT24 reading group
Thursday 15 February (Week 5, HT24)
9-10am
Online
|
To be advised |
Teams link to follow |
Monday 18 March (Week 10, HT24)
10-11.30am
In-person
|
To be advised
|
Seminar Room, Level 2, Littlegate House, 16-17 St Ebbe's Street, Oxford OX1 1PT
Booking link to follow
|
Tuesday 16 April (Week 0, TT24)
9.30-11am
In-person
|
To be advised
|
Seminar Room, Level 2, Littlegate House, 16-17 St Ebbe's Street, Oxford OX1 1PT
Booking link to follow
|
TT24 reading group
Wednesday 22 May (Week 5, TT24)
12noon-1pm
Online
|
To be advised
|
Teams link to follow |
Can I view materials from previous meetings?
Once you have joined the Academic Skills SIG, materials from previous meetings will be available to you via the Academic Skills Special Interest Group Channel in the Education Community Team.