Okay. I’m excited about this post because this makes the fifth time in about four years that I have been a part of the excitement of an institution’s academic transformation. It affirms what I deeply believe: academic apathy is a sign of inability, not disinterest. This image below is part of a letter I sent on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. …
As the college semester or term winds down, students will scour their notes to prepare for their exams. But do they have an effective note-taking method? Their system may be useful for capturing information but not good enough to prepare them for tests. Since much of students’ academic work involves their notes, a bad note-taking method means wasted time and …
Are you a grades educator or an outcomes educator? I discovered that I had changed from a grades educator to an outcome educator over time. While cleaning out several old work boxes, I found some files from twenty years ago. I came across a folder that I labeled “encouragement.” In it, I was surprised to discover several letters from students, …
Have you ever set students up for failure? Well, if you’ve ever advised students to study X number of hours for every hour of class time, then you have set them up for failure. No worries. You didn’t intend to harm them. But by encouraging students to use time to measure their learning, you have inadvertently set them up with …
Professionals in all fields rely upon processes to do consistently high-quality work. We need processes most when our jobs require us to handle high volumes of work or when the work is complex. Take painters for example. Professional painters use the “W Method” to ensure they complete their painting jobs quickly while maintaining the highest quality standards. College students must …
Students will begin the 2022–2023 academic year in our post-quarantine world with optimism and excitement to join their peers on campus. But many students will soon struggle as the reality of college work sets in. Their academic success depends on their ability to activate one specific metacognitive skill: students must know how to differentiate their thinking skills. Here’s a comparison …
Far too many students needlessly struggle their way through college. They study to the best of their abilities, but their grades simply don’t improve. Why does this happen? Students who can’t find their groove in college have never learned the basics about academic work. Here’s a quick crash course to help students succeed using the foundational components of academic work. …
On May 19, 2021, I was honored to provide two workshops for the Learning Specialists Association of Canada’s annual national conference. Having been the conference Keynote speaker in 2015, it was great connecting with many of my colleagues from the north and beyond! (You can download the sessions’ materials and leave a comment below.)Session I Trench Data: Data that matter …
Teaching shouldn’t be so hard! On a basic level, the teaching and learning enterprise is built upon two conditional assurances. Teachers want to know that if they teach students, then students will work to learn the material. Students want to know that if they do the work, then they will be rewarded with good grades. When these assurances aren’t met, …
There are two types of academic challenges students face in college: Type I and Type II.Type I problems are challenges of effort. In these situations, students aren’t very studious. They don’t show up for class. They don’t study. And they don’t read. In most cases, students with Type I problems are not serious-minded learners.Type II problems are transfer of learning …
