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A&L's Communication Skills Workshops are a self-guided series of modules on academic culture, studying, speaking, writing, researching, and reading skills. While created with first-year undergrads in mind, the content can be useful to any student at any time.

The workshops complement a RISD education and will support confident and timely completion of coursework. They can be completed in full or in part, independently or as assigned by a professor, and over any timeline.

Learning objectives:
- Share views and reflect with peers on cultural and academic topics.
- Improve skills and confidence in formal and informal academic communication.
- Practice communicating in various formats, such as emailing, chatting/posting in Canvas, speaking and presenting about academic assignments in Zoom, and collaborative editing and feedback.
- Learn to use campus resources for timely support in academic assignments.
- Increase active vocabulary and fluency in describing visual projects and academic interests.

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A&L's Research Practices Canvas Workshop is designed for anyone approaching a research project, from class assignments to the Graduate thesis, especially those new to academic writing that integrates references to source material. It aims to help you understand the conventions of research writing and introduce practices that help you achieve them through a self-guided series of modules on:

– Finding, documenting, and citing sources

– Active reading and reflective engagement with sources

– Integrating research into your writing

Each module provides instruction and guidance as well as activities and opportunities for engagement with other students.

RISD students can participate in the whole workshop (approximately 7 hours of work in total) or select modules. None of the tasks are graded, but A&L staff will check in and provide feedback.

Reach out to the creator of this workshop, Meredith Barrett (mbarret01@risd.edu), with any questions.