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 …
Grades or Outcomes? What’s your preference?
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, …
Molly’s New Metacognitive Learning Metrics
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 …
Help Students Differentiate Thinking Skills with Metacognitive Tools
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 …
Help Students Succeed: The Three Cs of Academic Work
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. …
Remote Learning Made Easy: Thinking Well and Learning Well
FREE WEBINAR FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE FAMILIES.
Let’s make remote learning rewarding and fun for families. Learn instantly usable tools and techniques that boost student performance in any course they take. These transferable metacognitive skills are highly effective and easy to use.
Transforming Academic Divers into Academic Strivers: Building Academic Endurance
Going to college is no trivial matter, but succeeding in college is an entirely different challenge. Why does college make some students but break others? This article shares an effective strategy you can use to transform students’ struggles into successes. When students begin college, they automatically try to use the skills that got them into college to get them through …
3 Essential Learning Skills that Guarantee Academic and Career Success
Have you ever wondered which learning skills are indispensable for student success? I guess our answer to this question hinges upon how we define student success. When I think of student success, I imagine students whose skills cut across academic disciplines. To me, successful students don’t just pass tests; they absorb the essence of a course. Yes, they know their …
Why Our Academic Solutions Fail: How to Help Students at the Source of Their Problems
The education community consists of the some of the most highly trained people in the world. So why are we educators so inept at improving student academic performance? I believe the difficulty stems from an inability to distinguish between symptoms and causes. Educators need to hone in on the origins of learners’ academic woes. To do so requires that instructors …