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. …
Note-Taking Cheat Codes
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 …
Transforming Your Tutoring Program: How to Move Beyond Important to Being Impactful
This webinar will be held on Tuesday, July 28 & Wednesday, July 29 at 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm EST. As educators, we must update our perspective from counting the number of students using our services, to measuring the impact we are having on students. The Transforming Good Students into Great Learners Webinar provides specific steps and resources that enable …
How Learning Centers Can Thrive in the Experience Economy
First, An Example of The Experience Economy If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how valuable is an experience? As the nation is locked in a heated debate about the cost of higher education, educators must realize that the real issue at hand is value. While cost may be the most widely used construct to discuss education’s rising …
How to Motivate Your Students According to Science: Fueling Learners
My students just aren’t motivated. If my students had the drive of other students, then they would be much better students. These statements epitomize the most frequent comments I’ve heard from educators (college and high school). While I don’t fully agree with their premise — that motivation alone will solve students’ academic problems, I know it helps. Daniel Pink’s Drive: …
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: A Crucial Reading Comprehension Goal
You’ve undoubtedly seen one of the many versions of the Think Global, Act Local bumper stickers. The tagline is a crafty rallying cry that reminds people to consider the health of the entire planet, but to take action in their communities. The simple slogan is brilliant, as it communicates a problem that can seem overwhelming in an empowering way. It’s convincing …
5 Ways to Help Students Turn Days of Reckoning Into Days of Redemption
Many college students will face a “day of reckoning.” This is a period in their academic experience when the weight of their academic shortcomings nearly crushes them. That day for some is when their study routine generates C’s instead of A’s. For others it is when they are placed on academic probation, dismissed from a program or worse. These are …
Breaking the Academic Habit Loop: Conference Session Notes
Good habits are painstakingly hard to establish, and bad ones are even harder to break. Recent neuroscience findings have made the process of habit development much clearer, and the prospects of changing habits easier. Trying to change a habit that we can easily observe, such as watching too much T.V., can be challenging. But cognitive habits (or habits of thought) are …