Short Courses and Workshops

Unistart

Unistart is a free course that has been running at JCU for 20 years and improves retention and success rates of new students. Experienced students and staff will help you with your transition to university life and provide additional advice and tips not covered in O Week.

Unistart training is fun and interactive and aims to reduce anxiety levels by providing simple insights into academic writing, learning styles, time management, study skills, types of classes, and learning technologies in a supportive environment. You will also meet new students and lecturers in the same course.

Maths Refresher Short Course

This 10-hour course is held over the weekend following O Week and is designed for students who have not completed senior maths or who are returning to maths as adults.

You will be able to work through modules at your own pace with support and guidance from our experienced facilitators, who will be on hand to assist you to work through mathematical concepts.

This course is particularly helpful for students intending to study courses where mathematics and statistics are required.

Download the Maths Refresher Short Course workbooks in PDF (hard copies will be provided at the workshops):

• Maths Refresher Workbook 1 (PDF, 913 KB)
• Maths Refresher Workbook 2 (PDF, 1268 KB)

English for Academic Purposes Short Course

This half-day course is intended to assist students from diverse cultural and language backgrounds to develop English for academic purposes and to understand the Australian academic context. You will be able to participate in activities that explore key ideas such as critical thinking, academic integrity, and learning and using English for academic purposes.

If you are interested in the content of this workshop but cannot attend, see our two-part video series on active learning at JCU. See the Active learning tab at Getting Started.

Basic Statistics Short Course

Come along to this short course to revise basic statistics concepts that will support future learning throughout your degree. You will learn how to collect, organise, analyse and interpret information.

If you missed the Basic Statistics Short Course, you can download the workshop presentation slides (PDF, 7134 KB)

Academic Writing Short Course

Academic writing is very different to the writing you might be familiar with outside of university. This informative and hands-on course is designed to address the skills needed to research and write various academic texts such as essays, reports and annotated bibliographies.

Bring along your subject outline and get a head start on your assignments with help from our facilitators.

Online Academic Writing Short Course

If you are unable to attend the Academic Writing Workshop on campus on Saturday 9th March, The Learning Centre are also running a series of live online sessions in Week 1.

Upon registration, you will receive a link to participate in the online session. You will also receive a reminder email closer to the actual time of the online session.

Blackboard Collaborate will be used to facilitate the live online sessions.

To use Blackboard Collaborate you will need the following:

• Internet access (broadband recommended) and a current web browser (Chrome recommended)
• Headphones/speakers and microphone
• Webcam or inbuilt camera (if using video)
• Review the advice on getting started

Visit a student practice room before the live session.

Workshop overview

Part I: Unpacking the essay question and critical note-taking
Learn effective strategies for understanding your essay question and taking effective notes. Have a copy of your subject outline and one of your subject readings on hand for this active learning session.

Part II: Planning & Researching your assignment
Learn how to structure and organise your first academic assignment, research your topic and explore live student assignment samples.

Part III: Summarising & Paraphrasing & Referencing
One of the most important learning and assessment tools at university is the writing of essays. These essays differ from the essays you wrote at school. Firstly, they are written in an academic style, and secondly, the content is often a synthesis of ideas you have collected from a wide variety of readings. Learn how to summarise and paraphrase research and readings and reference accordingly.

Visit the JCU Writing LibGuide for additional academic writing support.

If you missed the Academic Writing Short Course, you can download the workshop presentation slides (PDF, 2974 KB), or you may be interested in the Academic Writing in the Disciplines Workshops (see below).

Masters by Coursework Orientation (TSV)

Making a Start: an orientation for Masters by coursework students

As a new student starting postgraduate studies by coursework, are you unsure what to expect? This workshop will orient you to academic expectations at postgraduate level. Topics covered include: expectations for academic writing and critical thinking; writing tips; an introduction to the range of writing genres you may encounter; how to approach writing tasks; deciphering subject outlines, task sheets and assessment rubrics/criteria, and; tips on how to approach data analysis and resources that can help.

Active Learning Workshops

Learn valuable organisation and study skills to maximise your learning, make the best use of your time and thus achieve better results.

Self-Study Workshops

• Study smarter not harder (PDF, 2339 KB)
• Effective reading (PDF, 2864 KB) and note-taking (PDF, 394 KB)
• Studying for exams (PDF, 531 KB)
• Exam tactics (PDF, 416 KB)

Getting the most from your readings

One of the most important activities you will have to do as a university student is read. You read to inform yourself about your discipline, the subjects you are studying and to inform your writing.

To become a better reader means you have to be able to gather information efficiently from what you are reading and also be able to interact creatively and critically with the information you have read.

Therefore, this workshop will focus on:

1. using the structure of the whole text to help you read more efficiently;

2. the strategies to use while reading to aid your understanding of the text

If you have a journal article to read in preparation for one of your lectures, please bring it to the workshop.

If you missed the getting the most from your readings workshop, you can download the workshop presentation slides. (PPTX, 1155 KB)

Academic Writing in the Disciplines

Develop your understanding of writing for academic purposes by learning how to organise and express your ideas. Explore a variety of assessment types to help you succeed at university and beyond. These self-study guides focus on the fundamentals of writing (paragraphing, using evidence, etc.) with reference to discipline specific typical text types / genres.

Self-Study Guides

Writing in the Sciences (PDF, 2210KB)

Writing in the Humanities (PDF, 1010KB)