The argument that de-contextualized deficit approaches to academic literacies were ineffective (Lea, 2004; Northedge, 2003), has led to expectations that New Zealand Higher Education institutions embed academic literacies within programmes and courses (Tertiary Education Commission, 2010). This paper reports on the use of a teaching and learning strategy called OSSS (One-Stop Skills Shop) as the first step in the embedding process within the Department of Computing at an Institute of Technology in New Zealand Aotearoa. The analysis of qualitative data on the lived-experiences of students and academic staff as participants in the OSSS highlights the value of approaching academic literacies from a dialogic viewpoint. In this instance, dialogic approaches regard academic literacies as more than the learning of technical study skills. From a dialogic perspective, academic literacies also involve ways of being and knowing through acts of participation and communication. A number of key themes emerged from analysis of the data show a correspondence with literature on the first-year experience and discourses of transition in relation to concerns regarding retention and success as students' transition into higher education.