Academic Workshops empower students to excel

As all students know, managing your time, effective studying, researching and writing papers, and presenting are all skills needed to succeed.

What students might not know is that the U of M offers a wide variety of extra-curricular workshops through different departments and units — and now students can find all the great academic success workshops offered at U of M in one convenient calendar.

Thanks to a UM Libraries’ initiative, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC), English Language Centre (ELC) and UM Libraries will promote all of their undergraduate academic workshops in UM Libraries new LibCalendar.

Previously, the workshops were planned, promoted and presented separately. As a result, students were forced to search many different websites to find listings of workshops — and to sort through potential conent overlap. The new Academic Workshops initiative makes finding what students need easier and more efficient.

For easy reference, the calendar organizes and displays the workshops by theme: writing, study skills, citing, searching for resources, reference software and other software tools. Workshops are led by experts from the ALC, ELC and UM Libraries.

The ALC, known for its writing and learning supports, will lead workshops such as:

• Writing Academic Papers
• Organizing your Paper
• Learning strategies for high-content courses
• Preparing for midterms

ELC facilitates workshops focused on language and literacy for students for whom English is an additional language. Here’s a highlight of the workshops offered:

• Pronunciation Basics
• Critical Reading
• Academic Essays for Second Language Learners
• Effective Oral Presentations

The UM Libraries’ workshops complement the ALC and ELC’s workshops, and are focused on information skills. On offer are workshops including:

• Finding Primary Resources
• Google Scholar
• RefWorks
• Microsoft Excel training

The ALC and UM Libraries can also provide in-class sessions for professors who want this content tailored to their students’ needs. Instructors are welcome to consult the workshop schedule and encourage their students to attend workshops of interest.

The goal of the initiative is to empower students to excel at all aspects of their academic careers.

Workshops are free and open to all U of M students and staff. Students and staff can find more at umanitoba.ca/academicworkshops.

Students planning to attend are encouraged to pre-register for workshops as many of the classrooms have limited seating. Drop-in attendees will be accepted as space allows. More workshops may be added throughout the year based on demand.