Workshops

We offer a wide range of workshops to help you reach your full potential.

UCU Strike action

The University and College Union are planning a number of strike days in the coming weeks, which may mean some of the sessions below are cancelled at short notice. If you have booked a place on a workshop on one of the affected dates, we will email you ahead of time if the session is cancelled. For more information on the industrial action, and for a list of potentially affected dates, please see below.

Starting your student journey

Students standing outside John Henry Brookes Building

Induction workshops

Leaving home and living Independently

Starting university may well involve living away from home, having to manage your own time, and developing the skills to cope. In this workshop students from Oxford Brookes share their experiences of how it went for them and both staff and students share tips on how to make the process of living independently easier.


Becoming an independent learner: knowing my skills and helping myself

Moving from school or college to university brings a changing relationship with staff and teachers. It may be the case that you are starting your course after time spent in the world of work and that can also seem strange at first. Whatever your past experience, there are lots of development opportunities available and many people who can offer support, but you will need to think about how you can get the most out of what is on offer. In this workshop we’ll be thinking about the type of support you can expect, who you can turn to for help, and what the best way of approaching people might be. 

Am I good enough? (Combatting Imposter Syndrome)

We know that stepping up to university can be daunting and many people have moments where they lack confidence. Join us for a workshop where we explore some of the challenges that students face and provide you with some ideas and strategies for overcoming your fears.

Getting started: a guide for mature students - JHB204

This session, which will take place on the Headington campus, will help you make the most of your university experience, with information on mature student support, and activities exploring learning technology, reading strategies, and building your confidence. By the end of the session, you will have met some interesting new people and developed some great ideas about how to make the most of your first few months at Brookes.

  • Friday 27 January, 11.00-12.30
  • Location: JHB204 

Study Skills for International Students - JHB204

Going to university in the UK is an exciting opportunity for international students and also brings new challenges. This session, which will take place on the Headington campus, will highlight differences between the UK university system and elsewhere and suggest key study skills for students who are studying in the UK for the first time.  

  • Friday 27 January, 1.00-2.30 
  • Location: JHB204

Work life balance: How should I manage my time?

Independent study involves needing to organise your own time more than was probably the case in school or college days. This session explores how to ensure that your medium to long-term planning is effective enough to make your short-term workload manageable. Time management will also reduce stress and give you the chance to have a life that is not all about work.

  • Wednesday 1 February, 12.30-2.00


Studying at Postgraduate Level

Starting postgraduate study can seem a bit like taking a step into the unknown. Come to this interactive workshop to explore your expectations of learning at a higher level, discover what support is available and plan how you will get started on your postgraduate journey.

  • Friday 3 February, 12.30-2.00

Semester two statistics workshops

Thinking statistically

This session will briefly introduce the different areas (descriptive, inferential) and vocabulary related to statistics. By the end of the session you will be able to:

Demonstrate a useful understanding of statistical vocabulary.

Recognise when it is appropriate to use statistics.

Describe the different areas of statistics.

Evaluate when the different areas of statistics are relevant.

Getting Started with a dataset

This workshop is designed to assist students who have a set of collected data and are unsure where to begin. We will briefly define the different areas and types of statistics before discussing how to approach a dataset. We will focus on two main points - understanding the data you have and defining what you want you want to investigate. We will use a mock dataset to put this knowledge into context. By the end of this session you will be able to:

Recognise when it is appropriate to use different areas of statistics.

Demonstrate some practical skills that can be applied to any dataset, e.g. graphs.

Evaluate and manipulate a dataset. 

Understand how to develop a strategy to analyse a dataset.

Interpreting published data and results

This workshop will demonstrate how to approach published papers and how to interpret and understand the results. We will discuss what factors to consider and and how to determine the relevance and validity of the results. This will be applied to previous literature for practice.   By the end of the session you will be able to:

Define how to critically review data and statistics in published work.

Identify relevant information from a text for analysis.

Apply what you have learned  to your own research/purpose.

Online Zoom session: Friday 10 March, 12.00-1.30 (Book your place here)

SPSS Training on Moodle (from IT Training)

Our colleagues in IT Training offer a course on SPSS that takes you through downloading and setting it up and then using it for data organisation, presntation and analysis. It is a course you can enrol on yourself via Moodle but there are no assignments or assessments. Its purpose is to support you in using SPSS for your work.

Enrol on SPSS Moodle course

Student writing on whiteboard

Semester two study skills workshops

 
Two students chatting

Weeks 7 to 9

Week 7 - Completing your dissertation

Feeling overwhelmed by your dissertation? This session will look at how to manage these final stages of your project. We will discuss planning your time, keeping motivated, fitting in other commitments, and keeping going until the hand in date.  

Week 7- Improving Academic Style

Would you like to make your writing sound more “formal” or “academic”? Effective academic writing follows certain conventions of style and clarity, which help you communicate your ideas in an appropriate and convincing way. This one-hour session will cover some top tips for writers who are new to the style of writing required at university, or who wish to improve in this area. There will also be time at the end to address any specific questions you may have. 


Week 8 - Typical mistakes in sentence structure

Grammar is more than just a set of rules to follow when constructing sentences; it is an agreed code and structure for writing that helps us communicate ideas clearly to avoid misunderstanding. Clear and accurate communication is needed when writing about complex ideas in our academic work. This workshop explores some of the key rules, and the reasoning that underpins them.


Week 9 - Editing and Proofreading

This workshop aims to help you submit your work with more confidence. We’ll consider what you need to check, and how. You’ll also have the chance to try out some strategies that might help you see your work as you’ve never seen it before.

 
Students working on laptop in the Library

Weeks 10 to 12

Week 10 - Structuring a literature review

A literature review can seem like a daunting task, but like most text types it has a specific purpose and structure, which this session will outline. We will discuss the organisation and language of literature reviews, with 30 minutes at the end of the session for you to ask any questions you may have and workshop your own Literature Review in a supportive environment. 

Week 11 - Preparing for Exams

Do you get stressed about exams or in-class assessment? This session explores how to use active rather than passive approaches to make your revision effective, overcome exam nerves, and make sure you use your exam time well.


Additional information

Student workshop request

If you are part of a group of students who would to request a workshop  on a particular topic that is not in the list above, or relates to a particular module, please fill-in the form below and we will get back to you. Normally we would ask that this is for 10 students or more.

Information for staff

If you would like to work with us to embed academic literacies into a particular programme or module, please visit our Departmental Language, Literacies and Skills (DLLS) page to request a DLLS session from us. 

Past workshops

If you are looking for recordings of our online workshops, or would like the materials from past workshops, please see the workshop section of our Moodle page. 

Calendar view of all semester 2 workshops

Frequently asked questions

Who can attend a workshop?

Most of our workshops are open to any year and any department. Some of our workshops are tailored specifically for UGs or PGs, or for specific faculties. This will be specified in the workshops description.

How are they run?

Our workshops are held online or in-person at various times. The workshops are an hour long with half an hour at the end for Q and As. 

How to book a slot?

Please use the registration forms which can be found in the workshop description. You will receive a calendar invite containing the joining instructions for the workshop you booked. Please accept this calendar invitation to confirm your place. You will also receive an email containing the workshop information.

How to cancel a booking?

Please email academicdev@brookes.ac.uk to let us know if you can no longer attend.