Students already have heavy workloads and busy schedules, so why would they want to go to optional workshops? The answer is that some of skills you gain from uni workshops are not just useful but essential, especially for third years and postgraduates. Here’s my list 5 of the best skills workshops for students
Skills workshops at Firstpoint
All of the advice you need at uni, whether it’s for student life, study skills, study abroad or careers workshops, can be found out Firstpoint in the Peirson Study and Guide Centre. Not only will you learn new skills, you’ll also be able to use these workshop hours towards your Worcester Award!
Students can sometimes lose a valuable experience by not attending these workshops. There’s a lot to gain and nothing to lose for attending! Fortunately, the sessions are quite often re-run and take place throughout the day to avoid clashing with lectures and seminars.
The workshops are informal and sometimes refreshments are served which is reason enough to attend! They allow a different set of pace to lectures or seminars. The workshops also allow you to meet people from outside your course and so there is an opportunity to network, as well as share knowledge in a non-competitive environment.
There are a huge variety of workshops to attend. Some are limited to just postgrad students but most are for everyone. There are workshops on all subjects from academic poster design to parliament for researchers for students generally.
The best skills workshops
Here’s my list of some of the best workshops to help out with your career, studies and student life:
1) Careers workshops
For those who are looking for work outside academia there are also great careers workshops with the Careers and Employability Service. Having attended the ‘Army Careers Workshop’ before, I can highly recommend it for giving an insight not only into the various aspects of training but also the benefits Army careers can bring.
2) Postgraduate workshops
For postgraduate study, there are researcher development workshops on completing the thesis and the Viva. There are also a variety of workshops on training academic skills more widely, such as utilising questionnaires throughout your research. These enable students to consider not only the very practical approaches to research collection but also the rationale itself behind them.
3) Mental health workshops
There are also wellbeing workshops and support groups with the Counselling and Mental Health Service. Students can be under considerable pressure with workload and other aspects of studying, which can all take a toll on the student’s wellbeing. Workshops such as ‘Look After Your Mate’, ‘Managing Anxiety’ and ‘Exam and Assessment Stress’, help students who may be dealing with stress or the pressures of university life.
4) Study skills workshops
Students who feel they are on top of their studies might still have study habits that get in the way of their success. There are study skills workshops in ‘Perfectionism’ and ‘Procrastination’ which are prime examples of these self sabotaging habits. These extremes might stop students from achieving their potential, through either avoidance of work or spending too much time on one assignment.
5) 5 minute workshops
Students don’t need to worry about workshops taking up a large chunk of the day either. These Careers and Employability events are usually only for a duration of an hour or so. In fact, one workshop for the ‘LinkedIn Photobooth’ takes a “maximum of 5 minutes”, which gives a whole new meaning to the term micro learning! Who would have thought you can improve your career prospects in only 5 minutes?
Next steps
To book onto a skills workshop or view a list of available sessions, check out the Workshops page our the University of Worcester website.
Worcester Student Life 