Have you ever seen those news stories about someone discovering a valuable antique that others discarded? The original owner failed to see its worth, but the finder recognized its hidden value. This same principle applies to the notes and course materials that students routinely toss at the end of each semester.
As exams wind down and the academic year closes, students often clear out their backpacks and dorm rooms, throwing away notebooks, notes, and class documents. But what if these discarded pages hold the key to solving some of our most pressing institutional challenges, like improving student performance, enhancing retention rates, and building vibrant academic cultures?
Between 2002 and 2006, while leading the learning center at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC, I made a surprising discovery. Despite the institution’s ongoing efforts to boost student performance and stabilize enrollment, results remained modest. Our enrollment numbers continued their up-and-down cycle, and students struggled to thrive in some of the toughest courses.
In a moment of curiosity, my team and I decided to look for answers where no one else was looking – in the trash. We paid students for their discarded notes and class materials at the end of each semester. What we found was astounding. These “throwaway” pages contained invaluable insights into how students were thinking, where they struggled, and how they processed complex ideas. This sparked what I later called metacognitive notes analysis, a practice that transformed our approach to academic support.
The impact was profound:
Closed Academic Performance Gaps: We identified critical gaps in student understanding that, once addressed, significantly boosted performance.
Improved Classroom Instruction: We shared our findings with faculty, helping them align their teaching with students’ actual learning processes.
Increased Retention Rates: First-year students, often the most vulnerable to academic setbacks, saw improved performance and persistence.
Reduced High-Failure Rates: Programs with historically high failure rates experienced notable gains.
Enhanced Student-Athlete Success: Athletes, who often juggle demanding schedules, saw academic improvements as well.
Over time, this simple yet powerful approach became a celebrated part of our learning center’s culture, complete with end-of-semester pizza parties to mark the occasion.
I share this story in the latest edition of The Learning Assistance Review (TLAR), the official journal of the International College Learning Center Association (ICLCA). If you’re interested in learning how to turn academic “trash” into institutional treasure, it’s worth a read.
Since 2010, I have helped dozens of colleges and universities throughout North America overcome their biggest academic obstacles and achieve impressive results simply by looking in their trash! You can check out some of this work on my Virtual Vitae page.
So, if your institution is wrestling with long-standing academic challenges, it might be time to start digging through the notes students leave behind. After all, one person’s trash can truly be another’s treasure.
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Every “little detail” matters as it makes a huge impact- the power of data-however- in unexpected places! Great way of showing us the way of seeing beyond the obvious. Search and you shall find!
Great response Virginia! This may sound surprising but sifting through the trash and working to make connections between the work that students were diligently doing and the work that they ultimately needed to do became a highlight of our year. It was a crescendo that helped the University make needed enhancements that made definitive differences!
Great response Virginia! This may sound surprising but sifting through the trash and working to make connections between the work that students were diligently doing and the work that they ultimately needed to do became a highlight of our year. It was a crescendo that helped the University make needed enhancements that made definitive differences!