Workshops for teachers

The target group for these workshops is all teaching staff at Uppsala University. Study counselors or anyone else employed at UU who would like to learn more about academic reading and writing are also welcome to participate.

Each workshop is three hours long. You may participate in one or more workshops, depending on your needs and interests.

We meet at the English Park Campus.

The number of participants may vary, but the maximum number is c. 20 persons. Spots are available on a first come, first served basis.

Each workshop focuses on a specific topic, such as reading academic articles, creating effective writing instructions or providing constructive text comments.

Established pedagogical methods for reading- and writing development in higher education are presented and discussed in the workshops. The workshops also offer an opportunity for you to share your own experiences with supporting students’ reading and writing development with the other participants and the teachers at the Language Workshop.

The Language Workshop offers new topics for the workshops continuously.

Each workshop opens with an introduction to the theme of the workshop, along with some specific tools that can be implemented to help students develop their reading- or writing skills.

You are then given the opportunity to try out one of the tools that have been presented either on a text you have brought to the session or on one that has been provided by the teachers from the Language Workshop.

During the session, you are also given the opportunity to discuss the exercise with the other participants and the teachers from the Language Workshop.

For some workshops, you will be asked to bring your own material, such as an assignment instruction or a student text from your own course or department.

If you do not have suitable material of your own, you may borrow an instruction or text from a colleague.

You will receive instructions on what to bring when you sign up.

University students read and write many different, complex texts during their education. Regardless of their background knowledge, they need support in developing their academic reading- and writing skills.

As a university teacher, you play a unique role in helping your students develop these skills. You know the reading- and writing traditions of your own discipline, but this knowledge might be implicit. The workshops offered by the Language Workshop provide an opportunity to make this knowledge explicit. The workshops may also provide new insights into academic reading and writing. The Language Workshop has developed these workshops based on research on writing pedagogy as well as extensive experience of tutoring students from the whole university.

The goal of these workshops is that you should feel that you can make informed decisions about teaching activities that require that your students read or write something. With the help of well-established pedagogical perspectives and tools, your teaching will be both easier and more enjoyable.