Academic writing support
A collaboration between the Department of Pharmacy, the Academic Writing Center and the Science Library at the University of Oslo
Abstract
Higher education across Europe is in transition due to professionalization of the traditional academic education. One response to these changes is to focus on transferable skills (1,2). At the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the vision for the education strategy is that the students shall succeed both scientifically and professionally (3,4). Communication is mentioned as one of the transferable skills important to succeed professionally (4).
Clear and comprehensible communication is a crucial transferable skill for pharmacists. Therefore, pharmacy students are evaluated on written communication throughout a 5-year curriculum, including evaluation of e.g. laboratory reports, essays, exams and a master thesis.
Over the last decade, the proportion of pharmacy students with Norwegian as native language has decreased. A general impression is also that students in general struggle to express themselves in writing. In 2019, the Department of Pharmacy, the Academic Writing Centre and the Science Library initiated a pilot project aiming to strengthen the academic writing of pharmacy students during the first year of study. 8 seminars about assignment interpretation, text evaluation, and structure and compositions of different assignments, were planned. Further, students were to be mentored in small groups by student mentors. The aim was to provide the pharmacy students with the right tools and skills in writing various academic texts.
This presentation will illuminate how University libraries can collaborate with faculties and departments by developing innovative education with the aim for students to gain generic writing knowledge and hands-on skills. We will describe and discuss the series of seminars regarding content, assignments, outcome and progress, from the Science library perspective. The seminars will be evaluated by the students and staff, and the findings will be presented and discussed.
References
Bautista, I. Generic competences acquisition through classroom activities in first-year agricultural engineering students. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 13, 29 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-016-0028-8
Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to teach in higher education (2nd ed.). Falmer: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203507711
Utdanningsstrategi for MN-fakultetet. 2019.09.02. https://www.mn.uio.no/om/strategi/utdanningsstrategi/ (visited 2019.11.14)
MN-utdanning: Integrert profesjonell kompetanse. 2019.08.15. https://www.mn.uio.no/om/organisasjon/adm/prosjekter/interact/programrevisjonen/notat-om-integrert-profesjonell-kompetanse-i-utdanningen.pdf (visited 2019.11.14)
Copyright (c) 2020 Jessica Lönn-Stensrud, Martina Marcellova, Ingerid Straume, Rigmor Soberg, Anne Gerd Granås
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
