UNSW develop online resource that lets students learn academic language and research skills at their own pace
By Dr Neda Chepinchikj, Rupal Tyagi, William Scates Frances and Benjamin Kelly | Published 16 October 2024
Students often feel at a loss when entering academia for the first time when they realise that they need to research and write according to a whole new set of rules. It can be a challenge to get these rules explained clearly, and to practice them in a low-stress, low-stakes setting that lets students learn at their own pace. Moreover, teachers can often despair of finding the time in already-full teaching sessions to add instruction in academic writing.
Although UNSW had been using Communication Coach (an online academic-language tool developed by US publisher McGraw-Hill Education) to address some of these demands for some time, there was a need for an interactive, easy-to-use resource that fit better with Australian and UNSW writing and research conventions, and that could be adapted to individual courses.
In response to these needs, UNSW has developed Academic Confidence Essentials (ACE), a set of online modules to help new (as well as returning) students learn the conventions of academic language and writing and research skills.
Each self-contained, self-paced module addresses a single concept or skill through interactive activities, explanations and relevant examples. The modules contain essential information on specific academic concepts (such as paragraphs, essay structure, or critical thinking) and interactive activities that let students assess their own competence. Students can revisit key concepts and reinforce their understanding through practice.
For academics who wish to integrate key research and writing skills in their course but don’t have the class time to teach them directly, ACE offers an easy way to integrate skills development with their subject-matter teaching. Modules can be embedded seamlessly within courses that use Moodle as a learning environment. This lets students easily transition between their course materials and interactive lessons, allowing for a cohesive and integrated approach to learning. Lecturers, tutors, and course designers can decide on the most appropriate level of engagement for their students and integrate the corresponding modules within various assessments according to their needs. For academics who wish to integrate key skills in their course – essay writing, integrating evidence and so on – but don’t have the class time to teach them directly, ACE is an optimal solution.
ACE was first piloted in Term 1 2024, both as an adjunct resource, through the self-access Moodle page, and as an embedded resource in one of 20 courses across faculties. A total of 822 students engaged with ACE during the pilot phase.
Ben Kelly, a Senior Lecturer at Nura Gili, had been among the early adopters of Communication Coach for his first-year courses, but he agreed to help pilot ACE as soon as it became available. He wanted the lessons to be an integral part of the course so that they would be less daunting and, perhaps, less likely to evoke a sense of “remedial” stigma; ACE’s capacity to integrate modules into Moodle course materials was a significant benefit for him.
Ben’s first thought when reviewing ACE was that it was far better suited to his purpose than Communication Coach had been, particularly as he found it much easier to navigate and its advice more consistent with Australian academic customs and UNSW guidelines and services. To gauge how useful it would be for his students, he set one of the ACE lessons as a participation activity in one of his courses and asked his students for feedback in the form of a Moodle blog entry sharing what they had learned and the extent to which they had found ACE useful.
Of the 108 blog entries from his students, 94% (101) said it was helpful, and 29% described something they learnt that they hadn’t known before. Only one blog post said it was not helpful, and the remainder described the content without making a judgement. Students used phrases such as “I found it to be incredibly beneficial”, ”This put some of my anxieties at ease” and “I will be sure to refer back to this module”. Anecdotally, Ben found the overall quality of written assessments to be better in terms of structure and integrating evidence than previous cohorts.
ACE is based on academic literacy and e-learning pedagogies (James et al., 2010; Leslie-McCarthy & Tutty, 2011) and is situated within the norms of Australian higher education, and UNSW specifically. It uses a heutagogic, or self-directed learning model (Hase & Kenyon, 2000) in which the learner has the autonomy and self-determination to decide what and how they learn and to set their own learning goals and strategies.