301 Newsletter
Welcome Week 2021/22

Level Up Your Academic Skills with 301

Visit 301’s new Level Up Your Academic Skills interactive study skills resources. Each resource is personalised to your level of study, whether you are a new undergraduate student, moving into the next level of study, entering your final year, or starting a masters programme. Academic success on your course involves a wide range of skills which you will need to develop over the coming months. Along with the subject knowledge that you will gain, you will be advancing and further refining your existing academic skills as your studies progress. The Level Up Your Skills resources will give you a head start and enable you to get the most out of yourself when undertaking the learning activities and assessments on your course.
 

The Level Up Your Academic Skills resources will support you in:
 

• Developing the skills and confidence to make a positive start to the academic year

• Reflecting on your personal strengths, gaps and challenges

• Setting skills-related goals for the academic year and work towards them

• Applying your academic skills to learning and assessments on your course
   

Use the button below to navigate to our Level Up Your Skills resource pages.
 

Join the Student Observation of Teaching (SOOT) scheme in 2021/22

This scheme is for any student, at any level of study and from any department, who is interested in having a conversation about learning and teaching outside of their programme. It is an opportunity to collaborate with academics to develop their teaching. This might be done by observing some of their teaching yourself; leading a focus group of students; talking with them about questions, challenges, or ideas they have in their teaching; or a combination of all of these. Full training and support will be given, and (for undergraduate students) involvement counts towards your HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report).  Students have consistently said they enjoyed it, found it interesting, felt it developed their relationship with academic staff, and offered them benefits in terms of thinking about their own learning. Participation in this scheme should help you reflect on your own learning, and consider how different forms of learning and teaching might help you get the best from your studies. It can also be a useful experience for your CV, especially if you are thinking about teaching as a career.

Further information about the scheme is available in a Briefing note, which sets out what is involved.  The scheme is running in both the autumn and spring semesters, and you can be involved with either or both depending on your availability; in each instance, there’s an initial training event, and ongoing workshops and support throughout the semester.  You can also take part if you’re not physically in Sheffield for the start of the year.  There is a Google Form for applications, which will be welcome by midday on Friday 1st October.