My Academic Skills Experience: Lin

Join the Academic Skills Team for The Skills Pod. In this episode, Senior Academic Skills Adviser and Project Developer, Anthony, is joined by University of Chester alumna, Lin Chou (Masters in Art Therapy). They discuss Lin's use of the Academic Skills Team during her studies, her experiences as an international student, and their recent co-authored paper, Bridging worlds: A study of academic skills, cultural exchange, and integration in UK higher education.

You can read Anthony and Lin's paper here: Bridging worlds: A study of academic skills, cultural exchange, and integration in UK higher education. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet Lin

Anthony 0:04

Hi there and welcome to this episode of a very special episode of the Skills Pod. My name is Dr. Anthony Cliff and I'm one of the senior academic skills advisors as part of the academic skills team. And today we have a very special guest on today, who is a recent graduate at the University of Chester.

Lin 0:22

Hello everyone, my name is Lin. I'm from Taiwan and I study art therapy as my master's degree in Chester. I graduate almost two years, one year. Something like that. Yeah. And I'm uh I am an art therapist. I'm working with children, uh, adolescent, um, mostly adolescent at the moment. And I work with organizations who help with young defenders. And I also work in the clinic, and I'm based in Taiwan.

Discovering Academic Skills Support

Anthony 1:01

Brilliant. Thank you, Lin . I say it's so good to see you again, Lin . Um, so I work with Lin uh over a time um here at Chester as part of the Economic Skills team. Um as one of the advisors that Lin saw quite often, and we're going to talk a little bit about today about how Lin used the team, but we're also going to talk about something very special that we did, and that was we have written a paper together, which is now out there online and published. And we'll talk a little bit about that uh as we move on in the podcast today, and we'll link it into the show notes as well. Because I think it's um of all the papers I've done, it's been one of the most rewarding papers that I've been a part of. So it's super great to have you on today, Lin . I say it's nice to see you again after a yeah. So, first and foremost, Lin , um just tell everyone a bit about how you use the academic skills team and why you use them.

Lin 1:50

So I remember our first first time, um, it was on our course. I think one of the classes, you can do our sessions and you introduce what is uh ASK team and what is level seven academic skills, that kind of stuff. And I I kind of learned that this is amazing. I can book the session basically every week and for free. And there was a team who can help me with my assignment. Obviously, they couldn't help me with like authority, that kind of stuff, but they can help me with structure, critical, critical thinking, uh, and uh reference. Yeah, really important stuff. Yeah, and then so after that, I just book a session with Tony, and then basically after that we met almost once a week.

Anthony 2:49

I would say about once a week, yeah. Um yeah, I think it was about that frequency, wasn't it, Lin ?

Lin 2:56

Yeah, except for the holidays.

Anthony 2:59

Yeah, yes. Um, yeah, and I guess as well when we got to dissertation time, they were a little bit more spread apart when they because you're doing your data collection and that kind of stuff. But um, but yeah, it's funny, I do remember our first interaction because I think I said word in my accent, and you were like, I'm sorry, like what what is that?

Accents Confidence And First Sessions

Lin 3:18

Well, I I guess that was my first kind uh knowing Liverpool accent, and I keep hearing like hearing you say the word, and I couldn't really know what's that, and I just couldn't help, and then I just basically asked you what is that.

Anthony 3:37

Yes, yeah, I do remember that as the end of the session. Yeah, that was fun. Um, but it's interesting, isn't it? Because you know, as an international student, you know, you are coming across such diverse accents, particularly in in the UK and in higher education. So, did you find that a bit of a challenge at the start?

Lin 3:54

Yeah, but I think lucky luckily most of professors in my course they they don't have a really strong accent, but not like me. Yeah, but yeah, and then but but sound uh classmates in our course because you know in Chester we do have like Manchester and Liverpool. Um so some people from Liverpool it's a little bit hard to understand, but most of my friends, they I think I understand them quite well.

Anthony 4:31

Yeah, yeah, good. And so obviously use the team quite extensively, and then what advice would you give students who are thinking about should I use them or you know what can they use them for? What advice would you would you give them?

Lin 4:47

I would definitely recommend to book one session. Um I mean, with everyone basically, because I actually book one of your colleagues when you are off, and I desperately need help, but I kind of realize uh different team members they have a different style. And it's it's a good thing because it that will fit everyone. But like for me, I will definitely like your style, and then but maybe some people may enjoy others. So I would say if you book one and then you felt like that doesn't uh fit you, and you can try the other team member, and especially like when the assignment, because I remember when I was in course, they basically uh plan the assignments in a really early stage, so you can plan your work and then you can kind of break him down. But I understand when it starts, it feels really scary. So, and I didn't know I can just book a session and talk about okay, I'm I'm freak out, how how do I do? Basically, that's it. I didn't honestly prepare anything.

Anthony 6:05

And that's the thing, isn't it? Because I again I remember our first um our first one-to-one session over in in Anna Sutton, and and it was a case of yeah, uh how how do I start at level seven? And it's what I find interesting, uh, you'll probably you know uh attest to this, was you know, your skill set over the course of that year to two years had drastically changed because the way our one-to-ones went, and again, this is what I would encourage most students who were starting at level seven to use this for is you start to get the basics out of the way, you know, the paragraph structure, the reading, the referencing. And then as our one-to-ones kind of progressed, then they got more advanced, didn't they? You know, you start talking about criticality, we started talking about data analysis. So, and it's because you continuously use the team as that kind of scaffold. So you kind of gone from there, what do I do? to the this is what I want from the session, and then kind of moving your skills forward. So, yeah, it's important, I think, isn't it? Like yourself, if you don't know, just come talk to the team, and then we can start building those skills for all those interactions.

Lin 7:14

Yeah, and I feel like when the times um, you know, the more time more I go and then I gradually kind of internalize your suggestions. So, like when I'm writing something, I will kind of hear you saying something like that, especially like critical thinking. I will definitely ask myself something I think you would definitely ask me.

Anthony 7:42

Uh-huh. That's good. Well, I couldn't apologize, Lin , for you having my voice in your head uh when you were working. Um but yeah, so yeah, I I would encourage you know, students, particularly international students, to to reach out um and get part of the team because did you find Lin ? So, you know, you were great, you know, you came to the team um and you said, you know, I need help. Um, but I know that you've asked some of your friends and they were kind of reluctant to so what advice would you give for a student who's kind of reluctant to come and seek that help?

Lin 8:14

I I kind of noticed most of my friends they actually need help, but for some reasons they just felt like maybe I can do it, or they just they just postpone till the the like a deadline and then they freak out. And I will I would suggest just book a session, like I say, because it everyone's really nice, and then it's really easy and convenient. You can book a session online, and but like for me, I prefer face-to-pay face, so I will just walk like 20-30 minutes to I don't know, Queen's Queen's Park.

Anthony 8:55

That's the one.

Lin 8:56

Yeah, yeah, but if you just want to stay at home and then you can just book online, and then if you just ask questions and then if you don't like it, you can never come. But yeah, I mean, I don't know, it's free.

Academic Support As Cultural Bridge

Anthony 9:12

Yeah, it's free, but you pay, yeah, exactly. You paid for it, so yeah, use us. And you know, and I and I would say, Lin , you know, now that you've graduated and stuff, and I would say you use the team in the right way, you used us to get a handle on how do I start at level seven, and then you started to progress those skills, the basics, and you know, you'll attest this again when you Lin , that you know, your marks drastically started to improve throughout. Um, and obviously for your dissertation as well. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, that was distinction. Yeah, so you know, it was when you think about when you started to think I'm gonna produce a distinction level master's thesis on that first day, you probably would have thought, I'm never gonna do that, and then you did come out with it. So it is important that yeah, you use the team, and and that's kind of what led us to our paper, isn't it, Lin ? So I remember one of the um uh it was graduation, wasn't it? It was just about you're about to graduate, and I think you made a comment to me at the time, and you said, Um, yeah, you know, the team's been really, really helpful, you've been really helpful for my academic skills, but actually you've helped me with like that cultural exchange, that kind of integration into the UK, understanding some of those weird idioms of higher education. Um, and we sat down and we and we said, we should write a paper on that, and that's exactly what we've done. Um, so if you go onto Google Scholar um, or if you look at the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, um, the paper is called Bridging Worlds: a Study of Academic Skills, Cultural Exchange and Integration in UK higher education. And yeah, me and Lin have we spent about a couple of months, I think, uh back and forwards um writing this paper together just about how teams like ourselves and academic schools advisors can bridge that world between the academic schools and culture. And what's so important, and something we're going to talk about today, is you know, whilst I help students like Lin to develop their skills, the amount of things I've learned from a cultural perspective of like Taiwanese culture and and how the challenges of international students, I've got that from Lin . So it's like a two-way street, this advisor, advisee um relationship. And you know, and and I remember Lin , you know, as our kind of one-to-ones progressed, they often kind of fell into a pattern, didn't they? We would talk about the academic skill side of things first, and then we'd move into some sort of like cultural aspect of the UK, which I always found was incredibly fascinating and very rewarding.

Lin 11:54

Yeah, I felt um that was a shame to begin with when I in the course I kind of felt like that wasn't something what I expect. I felt like that that's something is lacking because I think what I want is some kind of discussions, you know, casually rather than academically. But I guess in our course we just really busy, and then like we had a long, long day, and we just had a 10 minutes break, something like that, and everyone's probably you know chat about different stuff, and then I I could just ask my friends, but most of them live in different areas. And so when I I remember um Christmas, like before Christmas, we talk about like how you celebrate like Irish, that kind of way, and also we talk about strike, yes, because I I don't really understand what is strike because we don't have that in Taiwan, and and then we also talk about the answer, yes, ancestry, yeah, yeah.

Anthony 13:07

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the DNA, yes.

Lin 13:09

Uh yeah, I used to just mean to to to take a test, and I did, and I found I have Korean DNA. Yeah, that was interesting.

Anthony 13:20

Yeah, yeah, because yeah, for me, like there was like those key kind of touchstone points was the strikes. I remember when the strikes were on and yeah, having uh a chat about yeah, striking in the UK, why people do it, why people disagree, why your cheaters were were kind of on strike, um, and to kind of making sense of that. Yeah, the I always found the the new it was New Year's um about the quiltog. So um for those who don't know, from a very Irish Celtic family, and we have a thing called a quiltog, which is what we call as first foot. So it's the first person to um cross over the threshold of the house on uh New Year's Day. Uh we bring things like coal for like you know um energy, you bring bread for food, um, whiskey for good cheer, all those kind of things. And the idea is is that you bring in the look for that house, for for the year, and and we talked about doing what you do in Taiwan for New Year and stuff like that, and and what we found wasn't it actually, despite being you know, thousands and thousands of miles apart culturally, actually there's a lot of similarities to to certain things that we do.

Lin 14:31

Yeah, I guess it's like uh New Year and then Christmas, people just wanted to be together. That's a main main kind of thing. And I also kind of learned that we are not allowed to ask if if the professor's going to go strike or not on you.

Anthony 14:51

Yeah, um, yeah, definitely a personal decision um to do. Yeah, um, but it's it's you know, we laugh about that, but it's it's those things you don't know, isn't it, Lin ? Like, you know, when you came in, you know, you say Taiwanese culture, it's not a history of of striking. Um so unless you'd had that conversation, you you wouldn't have known like what to do, what to say, like during the strike. So it's important that we have that cultural exchange, isn't it?

Lin 15:18

Yeah, I think uh from my perspective as an international student in in Chester, it it just felt lonely, to be honest. Like there's you you have your friends, but some of my friends, as I said, they they don't really live in Chester. And and you you basically just do everything by yourself. Unless you try to join a club, but as a master student, I think it barely we joined. I actually try. We've I actually met some college students, and then I tried a different club, and I just felt like that's too young, too young for me.

Anthony 16:03

That's fair, yeah. Um, but yeah, it is important. I say clubs and societies, you can get in them, it's good. But yeah, you're right, and you know, most students who do your masters, it is very busy and it can be quite lonely. And again, that's where the team come in handy to you know, kind of have those informal chats around your work and to kind of feel that connection to the university, isn't it?

Lin 16:25

Yeah, that's really important. I feel like ASk team is the only one at the moment who really wanted to connect to the international student.

Anthony 16:34

And yeah, that's one of our key things because we know the challenges that international students face, and it's it's our job to kind of get you up to speed. Um, because obviously, little things, isn't it, Lin ? It's like um, you know, most students who grow up in the UK are very comfortable talking to their professors, their you know, their advisors by the first name. Whereas I know, again, from a lot of cultures, limited yourself, you know, you know, we don't necessarily use first names, it would be Dr. Cliff, for example, very formal. And that's uh that's a huge culture shock. And I know the other big one you touched on before, Leon, about um criticality. You know, that's something that traditionally students growing up in the UK will have through their schooling, but for a lot of educational systems, um particularly Asian ones, um, it's very much you don't question the teacher, and and then you come in at level seven and we're like question everything.

Lin 17:31

Yeah, yeah, I know. Well, personally, I think part of me, I don't have that kind of problem because I think it's my personality, but at the same time, I do have a Taiwanese blood, right? So I do kind of care about if I challenge or question the professor, what will it's okay? Will they like mark me really bad, you know, something like that?

Anthony 18:00

Yeah, we're obviously here, yeah. We expect you to to challenge and and to question and it's yeah, it's and have you found that Lin, having gone back to Taiwan, do you find that you still are taking that criticality kind of with you, or is it something that now it's just your everyday thing that you don't really notice it?

Lin 18:19

To be honest, I don't know whether I should think ASK or just because I feel like I was trained too well to be academic. So when I like talk to my friends, like Taiwanese friends, about their dissertation, I became like really critical. Like I was like, what is this? And then like, can you tell me, you know, blah blah blah? And then I basically become second you. And but I I like that to be honest, and I still feel like I really enjoy writing the paper. And after we finished that one, uh, I always wanted to try to uh write another one with my dissertation. And I actually try, but I think I submit to the wrong uh journal articles, I got rejection. But I think that's part of the learning process.

Publishing A Paper Together

Anthony 19:19

Yeah, it certainly is. And yeah, you know, I remember my first rejection very well in yeah, it's just part of the process, it's finding the right, the right one. And yeah, it's just keep trying, really. That's the key thing. And they will find a home, that's the thing. It will we were very lucky that um that this um I mean it was a long process. I think it was near enough a year from from submit writing to to writing it, submitting it, getting the edits in, and that was various things. Um couple of changes, which again was expected, a couple of delays here and there for like personal stuff and that. Um but it's it's been a good it's been a good process. And and one thing for me, and the reason I find this this paper is one of the most special papers I've done is Narni's a very important message about that culture exchange and the challenges that international students face. It's you know, I've been very fortunate when I was a student to have um mentors who gave me the opportunity to be part of that publishing sphere. And when I was doing my PhD, I was very again very fortunate to be a student editor of an international journal and to have access to that. And and when you said we should write a paper on that, I was like, yes, now I get to give back. I can mentor you through the process of writing an academic paper, going through the review process, and now like there's nothing makes me more proud of seeing that paper online, seeing your name on Google Scholar, for example, and the fact that you're now thinking of publishing yourself, you know, with your own stuff is is great, and that's why I yeah, I find that that whole process from that very first meeting right the way through to where we are now is been one of my proudest achievements, I would say, as an academic. So it's been um yeah, it's been great. And what and what was your thoughts of the whole writing process, Lin ?

Lin 21:14

It's incredible. I I still remember my first time um I couldn't even like paraphrasing basically. I I found that really hard. Like basically just saying same same things again. And I found it really hard, but until today, I could publish a paper. I don't know. I don't I still feel like I couldn't believe it.

Anthony 21:46

Yeah, it's um yeah, it it's it's a great progression, that's for sure. But it's not surprising, Lin , you know, when you have a distinction level masters thesis, it's no surprising that your rating would be, you know Worthy of of publication. Um and what do your friends and family think back home, seeing that you've got a paper published in a journal?

Lin 22:07

I think everyone is just like, oh my god, this is like good, like amazing. Like no one can do that, something like that. Yeah.

Handling Conflicting Academic Advice

Anthony 22:17

Yeah. You know, and it's especially as a as a student as well, those opportunities are quite limited. And there's not that many students out there who who've you know had a publication, you know, usually you've got to wait until you got your PhD or you've been in in work for a while. So yeah, it is it is a tremendous achievement, and you know, it's been uh it's been a great process. And you know, and again, for me having gone through, you know, w written various papers and that kind of stuff. I mean, I guess you have to shout out to the the um Journal of Learning Development and Higher Education because their review system, um, they were very supportive uh of what we were trying to do. Um we had some great, great feedback from from the reviewers, um, and that helped, you know, really shape that paper into what it was. Um, I mean, we could have probably written probably three papers from all of the data that we had from our autoegnography, um, or collaborative autoegnography. Um, but yeah, it was uh it was a great process, Lenin. Um, and I'm glad that it's out there. And I would highly encourage everybody um to have a read of that paper. So um I say we'll pop the link in the show notes uh with the title as well. And I yeah, after you've listened to this, go have a read because I think it's a very interesting paper, and particularly if you're an international student, I think you would sympathize, you would um see yourself in you relate, yeah, to to everything that you said, Lin , uh in that paper and some of the challenges. And the reason we want to highlight all the positives and the challenges is that we can we can move forward, you know. Like you said before, Lin , you know, it felt quite lonely at times, sometimes it felt a little bit unsupported um by various various things, you know, and it's we've got to talk about those ugly things to make sure that we are putting things in place, and and for me as an academic advisor, that's my job. If if we can't relate to students, if we can't help students other than just their academic work, we're not really doing our job as advisors. And you know, for me, they and I've learned so much than I ever thought I ever would about Taiwanese culture. Um, you know, I think about the rice wine particularly, like you know, the whole process of that and the you know, the indigenous communities, and you know, and again, those challenges, you know, having uh grown up as you know a white male in the UK, some of those challenges you faced, um things like the criticality, you know, all those kind of things just has never occurred to me. I never had to face those issues. So hearing those challenges from your perspective, now when I have an international student, I have those that mindset in my mind based on the conversations that we've had for all those one-to-ones, and that's made me a better advisor. And yeah, so please do go check out that paper. Um I would highly encourage that you do anything you'd like to add, Lin , about the paper or about uh using the team or any advice you'd give to students?

Lin 25:20

Yeah, I I guess I I would like to share one um experience doing the team, like because a ASk is specialized academic skills, so I actually face a situation that like writing a systematic literature review, something like that, and I have a different I don't want to say perspective because I think that's a fact, like different knowledge from the A ASk and then from my my course, and I also do my research, I also search at a different um university, like having for university other university their suggestions. I know like ASK, they are like really academic, but sometimes they might have a different opinion than your course, so you kind of need to decide what you wanted to do if you wanted to go with your professor, that's your choice, but you kind of need to know what is right, I guess.

Anthony 26:28

Yeah, and that that's often the challenge. I mean, again, I remember Lin didn't we have that challenge of um because our team exists in a non-discipline specific perspective, but we are kind of experts in things like academic skills, is that yeah, when your course has a very particular way of doing something, there's often that conflict. And that was one of the challenges, wasn't it, Lin ? Was that conflict of you know, your supervisor saying this, we would say, okay, well, if you want to do it by the book, you know, this is how you would do it, and it's having that negotiation. Um, and I think that's a challenge, I think, for most students, let alone international students, but that's just something to recognise that you know, when you do use our team, we are there as a support, but we're not the one who is marking the work, yeah, and that and that is a good thing in a way because it allows us, like we did Lin , to have those cultural chats about family growing up, that kind of stuff. Um, because that's not going to influence the mark because I'm not marking it. Um, and obviously we can't be experts in every single discipline in the university because yeah, our brains would be so full of stuff, um, but it can be a challenge when your tutors are saying no, do it this way, and yeah, our team have told you to do it this sort of a way. Um, and yeah, and like kind of how did you resolve that, Lin ?

Lin 27:48

I think I eventually just find a balance. I actually still doing part of you know something they were asking me to do, but not all of them. But I think having the team support for me that importantly is that I know what is right and I get to choose what I want, what I don't want. But like I remember by the time everyone was really confusing in my course because they had a different information, and I think if you kind of know what is right, then you you don't get the confusion because for them they don't have to know what is going on, like they have to explain to them, and honestly, I was thinking about what you said uh like you are not an expert in therapy, whatever it is, and I I just wanted to say I actually think that's a good thing. Like, I remember writing a paper, it's really important to let someone else who's not studying therapy to know, like understand what is your paper. So for me, that's kind of the uh exercise that I can show you, and if you understand, then everyone's understand. And if you feel like I I still don't understand what is like a triangle relationship, that kind of thing, and I have to explain to you. That also kind of helped me to realize that I need to explain better to that the like normal people understand.

Anthony 29:30

Yeah, that's a really good point, Lin . And yeah, it's something that we kind of overlook in our team. That yeah, yeah, when we say we're not discipline specific, actually, as you said there, it's a real strength. The fact that, yeah, you can explain, oh, I can read your paper uh on art therapy and understand it. You've done your job as an academic writer. So yeah, it's um yeah, you're right, don't see that as a negative, see that as a positive for using the team. It's just as you said before, Lin , isn't it? It's just sometimes there is that confliction um with what we say and what your what your choosers say, and it's finding that balance. But yeah, you're right. And again, I often don't think of it that actually us being non-discipline specific is actually one of the biggest benefits of the team, um, because it does allow you to, yeah, if you can explain it to somebody who's not part of that field, then yeah, that's a really good point. Um, so yeah, so if you are thinking, oh, I'm not gonna see the team because they've said they're not discipline specific, as Lin said, actually that's a good thing. So yeah, come come back a one-to-one, have a feed forward, um, and if we understand it, then yeah, you've done your job right. So um, but yeah, so yeah, brilliant, Lin . Thank you so much um for coming on today. Um, I say it truly has been great to see you again. And it's uh I hope a lot of students um again who are international students can relate to to your experience and and even those who aren't, like please do go read that paper. I say I'll pop it in the show notes. Um it's truly been a pleasure um working here. And again, you know, as I said to you before, but it truly has been um a very rewarding um couple of years uh helping you um as an academic skills advisor um and to write a paper and to see that up there again has just been um it's been wonderful and yeah, it's something that hopefully we can do more of uh in the future. So thank you so much, Lin , um, for coming on and we will talk to you all again soon.

How To Access ASK Support

Lin 31:32

Thank you for having me, and I I hope that will be helpful.

Anthony 31:37

It will be, I'm sure it will be.

Emma 31:39

If you're University of Chester student, here are the ways you can access support from your academic skills team.

Anthony 31:45

On our Moodle pages, we've got lots of interactive resources for you to use. On our literacies Moodle page, you'll find help with a range of skills from academic rating to revision. On our Maths and Statistics Moodle pages, you'll find help with different statistical tests, calculations, and formulas.

Emma 32:02

You can also use our feed forward email assistance service. You can send 750 words, which is around three paragraphs of your work, to ask at chester.ace.uk and we'll respond within three working days with generic and developmental advice on aspects such as paragraph structure, criticality and referencing.

Anthony 32:22

You can also book a one-to-one with the Academic Skills Advisor via our Moodle pages. These appointments typically last 30 minutes and are available online and in person. Be able to see the campuses we're at by looking at our booking scheduler. You can send across an extract of your work for us to look at in preparation for the one-to-one. Or you can book a one-to-one to discuss a generic skill such as referencing or critical thinking.

Emma 32:46

If you and a group of your course mates are struggling with the same academic skill, you can book an Ask Together session by emailing ask at chester.ac.uk with details of your availability, how many people are in your group, what skills you want to cover, and where you'd like the session to take place.

Anthony 33:03

You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook using the handle AkETSkillsURC, where we post practical tips on a range of academic skills, and it's also a great way to see what the team are up to.

Emma 33:15

And of course, you've got the skills pod. If you have a topic that you'd like us to cover or you'd like to be involved with our podcast, please email ask at chester.ac.uk.

Anthony 33:26

Ask.

Emma 33:27

Supporting your success.