Student resources

Catching Up with the STCs: Fall 2020

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 20:16:26 +0000

Catching Up with the STCs: Fall 2020 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/13/2020 - 13:16

Matara Hitchcock

Over the fall semester, the Student Technology Consultants have been continuing to adapt our mission to the remote classroom landscape. What does it mean to help educators and students harness classroom technologies when everything is so virtual? How can we maximize the benefit we provide to students in the College of Arts & Sciences?

One of the ways we did that was through a continuation of our book club. This fall, the STCs led a second book club to help students think about kick-starting their careers and personal lives as young adults. Based on The Defining Decade: Why Your 20’s Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now by psychologist Meg Jay, the book club created a virtual space for students to discuss common experiences and anxieties facing young adults. The space to connect with peers was, as many participants emphasized, particularly important during the pandemic when many CU students have limited social contact with others. Read more about the fall student book club.

We’ve also created content that instructors can share or students can engage with on their own. Clara Geoghegan launched the final article, What To Do When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned, in our three-part student success series. (Previous articles include Where Are You Now? and Your Many Futures.) Ming Ming Sun produced the first in our Student Survival Guide video series. These quirky, tongue-in-cheek episodes will go over technology tools and techniques to help students hack their remote learning experience. We recently set up a feed for Pedagogy Now, where you'll be able to find our existing and future podcast content. Take a listen to our intro episode!

The Student Technology Consultants have also been hard at work on upcoming projects like a [re]defining success video series and a digital syllabus system. If you are (or know of) a grad student involved in the educational process who would be interested in sharing about how COVID-19 has affected their academic landscape, ask them to contribute by submitting this form. Undergraduates interested in user experience testing for the digital syllabus project can volunteer to participate by submitting this Google Form.

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What To Do When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 17:33:27 +0000

What To Do When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/01/2020 - 11:33

Clara Geoghegan

How to move forward when the world throws a wrench in your plans

This is the last of a series of three articles written by ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants to support CU students, especially in uncertain times. Check out our past articles that help you understand where you are now, and thinking about and planning for your many futures.

We can plan for the future as much as we want, but inevitably life will turn in a direction we never could have envisioned.

Maybe you realize that you would hate medical school even though you’re on a pre-med track. Or, you have a bad semester and your grade point average (GPA) drops, affecting your academic career. OR, maybe a global pandemic closes down the campus, shifting classes to online, canceling plans you were excited for, and dramatically changing what your next year will look like. Lots of hypotheticals here.

When a disruptive life event will impact your future, and you need to adjust your goals and plans in response to it, the event can take an even greater emotional toll. The feelings of anxiety and fear of the unknown can often be overwhelming, but being caught in those feelings can make the emotions so intense that they prevent you from moving on and towards a future you are excited for. This is a surface level guide to progressing past disrupting events. There is no right way to continue after a disrupting event, but here are somes steps we suggest; reframing it, learning from it, and incorporating it into your future as a place to start.

Naming how you feel about the situation

When something doesn’t go according to plan in your life, it usually comes with a cloud of emotions that can make understanding the situation difficult.

Begin by sitting with your feelings about the event and naming them. Clearly understanding and accepting how you feel about the situation will make thinking about the next steps easier.

Ask yourself: Are you feeling upset at yourself? Do you feel upset at the world? Are you excited about this change? Are you nervous about the future? Do you feel apathetic? Note that you may feel multiple ways and that your feelings may change over time as well, so checking in with yourself regularly is important.

Take the time to understand your feelings and don’t rush through this important step. It will inform your actions.

Living with extreme emotions is exhausting and can quickly take over your life. If a de-stabilizing life event is causing extreme distress and symptoms, seeking professional psychological help is your best option. These symptoms can include, but are not limited to, changes in sleep, appetite, motivation and declining interest in activities you previously enjoyed.

FYI: CU students are entitled to free counseling sessions (no cap on the number of free sessions during the pandemic) with the Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS). They offer specialized workshops and psychology counselors depending on your need. Currently, most are done virtually. Links and more information on CAPS are included at the end of this article.

Understanding and reframing the situation

The initial feelings we get when life is disrupted often affect our perceptions of what happened. The first step, understanding how you feel emotionally about the disruption, helps you understand how your feelings have affected what reality looks like.

Detangling your feelings from your perception will help you accurately understand what has happened and in some cases make it easier to reframe a situation to prompt action.

For example, if you feel ashamed about a disruption (receiving poor grades, for example), you may not want to seek help from others or you may believe that you are better off addressing the situation on your own. Being ashamed makes neither of those true, but it certainly affects your understanding of what happened and will affect the actions you take in the future.

Or, if you feel overwhelmed by uncertainty (e.g., global pandemic), you may not want to make decisions, since it’s difficult to imagine how the world will look in the future and since your decisions may not pan out.

Once you understand how you feel about a disrupting event, the next step will be reframing the event in a way that allows you to think critically and accurately about what happened. Do not confuse critical thinking with criticism and self-judgment. When we think about negative experiences or failures, it is easy to get into a spiral of self-judgment that is difficult to move on from and produces a skewed understanding of the event.

Start by asking yourself what you learned from the experience about yourself, about others, and about the circumstances surrounding the disruption. Try to think what factors came into play with the disrupting event, and categorize them into factors that you could have changed and those that you could not have changed.

What factors played into having a low GPA semester? Was it affected by the course difficulty, something that you couldn’t have changed? What about your non-academic life, something you could have influenced? Did multiple factors feed into each other?

Now, reframe the situation in a way that allows you to move on. Use what you learned from the event to inform how you envision the future. Some things you can not change, but you can use your new understanding to inform how you approach them next time.

Do you need to change your study techniques next semester, or prioritize school work more? Do you want to explore a new major or career path?

Even if something hasn’t worked out the way you envisioned, knowing more about yourself and the subject is a positive outcome and you can use it to better inform future directions.

In our previous article, we discussed how you have many futures in front of you. See if you can incorporate this change into one of these futures, or see how this change might make a new one.

Taking action that incorporates what you learned from the life disruption and that moves you forward is the best outcome. You don’t need to go through this process entirely alone, and outside input might bring support thinking about the situation and moving on from it. That brings us to a final tip.

Use the resources available to you

The wonderful thing about being at the University of Colorado is the vast amount of resources available to students. When a disrupting event has changed some aspect of your life, getting support or outside input can be incredibly helpful. We’ve put together a list of resources available to CU students that might help you in your academic and career paths, support you personally, and provide a space to pursue new interests and communities.

Academic supports

Writing Center: The writing center is free to all students and gives advice on all things writing. You can schedule a one-on-one appointment with a writing coach, get advice in a drop in writing workshop and learn about grammar, style and composition. If you’re struggling with a written assignment for a class, come here.

Student Academic Success Center (SASC): SASC supports low income and first-generation college students with tutoring programs, specialized courses, academic resources and scholarships.

Academic Success & Achievement Program (ASAP): If you are living on campus (in the dorms) ASAP is included in your room and board fee. They offer small tutoring sessions in a variety of subjects and are currently in digital webinar form.

Internships and post-grad job support

Career Services: Looking to get an internship or land a job to kick-start your career? Career Services offer a variety of services to CU students and alumni, meaning you can still get support free of charge after you graduate. It may feel awkward (or like something your parent would pressure you to do), but getting support from seasoned experts on interviews, vague job positions, and applications really gives you a leg up.

Community and mental health support

Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS): CU’s mental health hub. They offer one-on-one counseling sessions in addition to general workshops to help students manage anxiety, teach healthy habits, and even diffuse COVID-19 specific feelings. Subsets of CAPS offer more specific support for learning disabilities, trauma and substance abuse.

Center for Inclusion and Social Change: The Center offers an inclusive and supportive space for students exploring their identities with community building programs, educational resources, and opportunities to be an involved and informed citizen with many cultures. The Center has offices specific for students of color and first generation college students, women and gender resources and an office for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, and allied students.

International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS): ISSS provides support and resources to international students and researchers, including academic support and scholarship support.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash.com

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Sko Together Challenge: Launched and Executed!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 18:31:17 +0000

Sko Together Challenge: Launched and Executed! Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/17/2020 - 12:31

Lily Zafran

The Sko Together Challenge has officially wrapped up! This student-led design challenge invited ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� undergraduate students to imagine ways that they can have a connected campus community experience no matter how we are living, learning, and working through the pandemic. Over the past 10 weeks, our team of three Arts & Sciences undergraduate student interns designed, launched, and promoted the challenge, in addition to recruiting and guiding 52 undergraduate students — half of whom are enrolled in the college of A&S — through the execution of the challenge.

This student-led initiative was an important project to our interns, judges, and participants. As students, a main concern of returning to campus — or moving to campus for the first time — is how we will stay connected with our peers despite the physical distance imposed by the pandemic. It was imperative to keep the Sko Together Challenge a student-driven initiative — by students, for students — because we want to be a part of the solution. Students’ needs are valid, our perspectives are valuable, and our voices need to be heard. Individuals’ originality and diversity are what makes up the campus community. How we adapt to the new normal of campus life is up to us and the intern team is excited to have had the opportunity to play a role in helping fellow undergrads make their voices heard. We are excited to see the implementation of students’ collaborative, interactive, and inclusive solutions!

The challenge began with a Kickoff Event that gave participants the opportunity to meet the intern team and other participants. Our team provided an overview of what to expect during the challenge and fielded questions. Three brainstorming sessions were offered throughout the challenge for participants to ask interns clarifying questions, spitball ideas, and get others’ perspectives on their final submissions. Fifteen teams went through two rounds of judging, which involved the top six teams engaging in a Q&A session to further pitch their ideas. As the challenge was designed and executed by undergraduate students, it was also judged by an independent panel of fellow undergraduates.

Over 50 participants engaged in answering the question: How might we creatively use our resources to support meaningful connections within our campus community while physically distancing? Each idea was unique. We received many wonderful submissions in the form of slide presentations, videos, and memos. Some ideas to cultivate campus connection included: virtual events; community engaging and inclusive apps and websites; and socially distanced in-person events such as an egg hunt, a collaborative mural, and drive-in movie style viewings of clubs’ performances. The first place team pitched an online, social arcade, the second place team pitched a blog where students can share recipes, and the third place team pitched Zoom dinner parties to facilitate new connections between students.

Congratulations to the Sko Together Challenge winners:

First Place: Emma Goodwill and Ishika Patel, creators of A Third Place: Online Arcade

Second Place: Robin Tutchton, Marie Obermeir, and Lily-Page Hartwell, creators of More Than Ramen

Third Place: Ryan Block and Joshua Sun, creators of Zoom Dinner Parties

It was incredible to witness the time, effort, enthusiasm, and creativity that students dedicated to their ideas. The top three placing teams have been awarded with $1500 to seed implementation of their ideas and mentorship to develop their campus connection concepts throughout fall 2020. We are also working to connect non-placing teams to departments on campus in an effort to see those ideas come to fruition as well. The Sko Together Team is excited to continue developing implementation strategies with students.

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Your Many Futures

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 21:19:52 +0000

Your Many Futures Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/17/2020 - 15:19

Clara Geoghegan

This article is part of a series written by ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants to support CU students, especially in uncertain times. Your Many Futures is a follow-up to our previous article, Where Are You Now?

In 2000, psychologists at Stanford and Columbia universities conducted a study on how the number of choices impacts one’s actions. In one experiment, researchers presented shoppers with a display of a limited (6) and extensive (24) display of jam samples in a grocery store to compare how the number of choices impacted a shopper’s purchasing decision. Psychologists found that when faced with more choices, people are less likely to make a decision. With a sample display of six jams, shoppers were more likely to make a purchase than with 24 sample options. Thus - more isn’t always better.

CU undergraduates have a large degree of freedom when it comes to life decisions. We’re told that we can do anything and be anyone. With so many options this freedom is in some ways great and paralyzing at the same time. What if I choose the wrong path? What if I hate what I am doing? What if I never make it in the career I was thinking of? When these thoughts linger in the back of your mind, making any kind of decision becomes incredibly difficult.

But that’s okay. We want to help you break down that thinking.

Treading water

The book The Defining Decade equates this state of decision making paralysis to treading water in the middle of the ocean. When you have infinite options ahead of you, making any decision can feel like being in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight, and having to pick a direction to swim without knowing if you will hit land. But if you don’t pick a direction, you will be stuck where you are, treading water, not moving out of fear of going the wrong way.

Spoiler alert: There is no right direction, but treading water and not making a decision will not work in the long run.

Treading water, or, doing what is comfortable, but not what you want to be doing, in the long run, will not work permanently. For me, treading water was waitressing. I knew I could do it and that it would cover my bills, but I didn’t want to be doing it in ten years.

So how do you start swimming? How do you pick a direction when there are so many possibilities? It’s like the jam sample experiment. You narrow the number of decisions down.

Narrowing down the jam jars

There is no one right answer to what you want to do in life. The average person switches career directions 5-7 times. So get it out of your head that the direction you choose will be the only one available to you. You can try a new flavor of jam if you don’t like the one you chose.

Let’s think about all the possible careers and lives you’ve wanted. Do you want to go to medical school and become a doctor? Great! Write it down. Did you also think it would be fun to open a coffee shop with a cute deli? Also great! You can have wildly different ideas about things you might want to do. There is no one right direction. Try to be open-minded and diverse in your thinking.

Consider non-career ideas that you’ve thought might be fun and make you happy. Do you want to get chickens one day? Or join an amateur soccer team? Get into photography? When planning out your future, incorporate these ideas alongside your career ideas.

Now that you have these possible directions, pick three, and think about what the next five years approaching each idea might look like. Write down what each of the five years could look like for each possible direction. What small actions help you get to the larger goal?

Even though you have multiple five-year plans written out, none of them will likely happen as you planned them out. That is okay. This exercise isn’t an exact recipe, rather, it’s a way to test the waters for all the possible directions you might want to go.

Making moves

Now that you have some ideas about the directions you might want to go, it’s time to take actionable steps.

What small steps get you in the direction you would like to go, these will also give you an informed decision about if these ideas are something you would like to do. If you have thought about pursuing a career in media or public relations, you could take some freelance writing gigs to make connections and get experience. If you thought that you might want to go to vet school after college, you could volunteer at an animal shelter or ask to shadow a veterinarian for a day.

Chances are that these steps won’t pay the bills, and you may need to do these in addition to whatever job keeps you financially stable, but they will inform you about what directions you will be interested in pursuing.

As we discussed earlier, things don’t always go as planned. Maybe you find out the direction you chose is not the one you want to go with in the future. Maybe a global pandemic canceled your internship. When things don’t go as planned, it’s okay. You made a decision, and you are closer to land than if you had only been treading water in place.

If you’d like to start thinking about how to make the best of your future now, the ASSETT book club will be reading Meg Jay’s The Defining Decade. For more information or to sign up, please email Sam Kindick at Kindick@colorado.edu.

Photos by: Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash, Thanti Nguyen on Unsplash, Malgorzata Bujalska on Unsplash, Michal Vrba on Unsplash

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Where Are You Now?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 15:31:26 +0000

Where Are You Now? Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/09/2020 - 09:31

Clara Geoghegan

How taking an honest look at your life now can get to the life you want.

This is the first in a series of three articles written by ASSETT’s Student Technology Consultants to support CU students, especially in uncertain times. Look for our future articles, which will explore different ways of thinking about your future(s) and how to move forward when life doesn’t go as planned.

Where are you now? It’s a simple question with an equally simple answer. But when the question changes to "Where are you now, in life?" the answer becomes far more complicated.

Looking at our lives and really assessing where we are right now is tough. An honest, critical, and non-judgmental look, especially if you’re not where you want to be, can be an emotional and overwhelming experience. So much so that it’s often easier to focus on something else.

But, understanding what parts of your life you are happy with and what parts of your life you want to change is the first step in better understanding where you want to be down the road and how to get there.

So, where are you now?

How to start

What all goes into a life on a day-to-day and long-term basis?

In the spring of 2020, ASSETT led a student book club around the book Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. These life categories pulled from both Designing Your Life examples are drawn from ASSETT’s experience working with undergraduates in the book club.

There is work: paid and volunteer, activities that you do because you need to. Love: reciprocal relationships that bring/give joy, strength, and care. Health: Your definition of what is physical and mental well-being. Finally, there is fun: activities which you do, just because they bring you enjoyment.

Start by thinking about each of these categories in your life. Make a list for each category including activities and people you spend time with. If you need help getting started, refer to the image. If something could go into multiple categories, list them in each, and make a note of it.

What is your balance?

Now that you have categorized what parts of your life are work, love, health, and fun, think about how fulfilled you feel with each of these. Self-help books, blogs, and the annoyingly peppy influencer you follow on Instagram all talk about these pieces that go into a life differently and have their own philosophies about them. But these opinions boil down to the same thing—balance.

When any one of these spheres are dominating, or not present enough, it can throw off other aspects of life. This can make you feel overwhelmed, bored, or unhappy. And chances are, if you are in a place right now that you are unhappy with, one of these spheres of life might be out of balance. Taking steps to bring you to a place where you are happy requires that you look at each of these areas separately and together. Be honest with and try not to judge yourself. This step gives you an idea of exactly where you are now, even if it is not where you want to be in the long run. This is the very first step to getting there.

Reflection

There is no one-size-fits-all definition for being overwhelmed or underwhelmed in each of these areas. The best advice for figuring out where you are now is to think about how you feel when you look at those lists in each category. Has work been feeling overwhelming lately? Has it been taking up a lot of mental energy and time? Do you feel like you have been indulging in your hobbies too much, or not enough? Have you felt like you have enough time for your loved ones lately? How is your mental health? How about your physical health?

So where are you now? Does your life feel balanced? Does one area of your life get less attention, or too much?

Checking in later

Where do you want to be? That is also a very difficult question, that has more than one answer. And don’t worry, we’re gonna get into it, just not here. This exercise, centering yourself to understand what your life looks like now, is not a one-and-done step. Checking in with yourself every few months as your life changes is an essential step for thinking about the life you have, the life you want, and what will make you happy. Keep an eye out for ASSETT’s next article which encourages you to picture your future—a future in which there are multiple directions you can go.

Photo by Garrett Sears on Unsplash

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Staying on Track in Virtual Classes: Tips for Remote Learning

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 17:32:28 +0000

Staying on Track in Virtual Classes: Tips for Remote Learning Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/23/2020 - 11:32

Clara Geoghegan , Aria Jia

With the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, schools and universities across the country have unexpectedly embarked on the largest online learning experiment ever. This is probably not how any of us envisioned our semester going, and the transition has maybe been easy for some, but we’re guessing it’s been rocky for most of us. With that in mind, here are some tips for making the transition to remote classes go a little more smoothly and making sure that you are still getting the most of your education.

1. Make a schedule and stick to it.

Now that we are trying to reduce the spread of COVID-19, our daily routines are looking a bit different. Instead of waking up, eating breakfast, drinking coffee (or whatever wakes you up in the morning), walking/biking/busing/driving to campus and then going to class, our routines are limited to inside the house. It might be tempting to set your alarm for 10 minutes before your first class, roll out of bed, and hop on your computer at the start of class, still half asleep. Don’t do this.

So, make a schedule and stick to it. We recommend using Google Calendars since any Zoom meetings on your professor’s schedule can be added to your calendar with one click. You can then incorporate your daily routine around any classes you have, and all the Zoom links you need throughout the day will be in one place. Schedule a time to wake up, walk the dog, make breakfast, do a non-gym workout, or whatever you normally do before class. Also, schedule yourself 10-15 minutes before class (think of it as your digital “passing period”) to get prepared for your Zoom meeting.

Which brings us to our next tip…

2. Environment matters; be prepared.

Pay attention to how you work and concentrate best. This is different for all of us, but please don’t use your bed as your desk, if you can avoid it. Not only can going to class in bed mess with your sleep schedule, but for most of us, it is probably not where you concentrate the best.

Try to make a space in your room or apartment just for classes and school work. Tailor it to what personally works best for your concentration, but also make sure it is a workstation that is ready to go. Have all your class materials, like textbooks and notebooks, on hand. If you are using a laptop, keep it charging while you are in a class session and always use headphones to avoid audio feedback. Keep water and snacks on hand, and make sure you are comfortable enough to sit for an hour or more.

3. Make the best of a bad environment.

Not everyone has an ideal place to work and go to class in their home. With Boulder’s high rents, a lot of us share rooms or live in places without room for a desk. Not every student has access to a laptop or computer either. For those in less-than-ideal circumstances, remote learning might be hitting you the hardest.

If you don’t have a computer and primarily use your smartphone or library computers, now might be the time to get a device for your home. Unfortunately, due to the campus closure, the CU Book Store cannot rent laptops to students. But with all classes going remote, investing in a cheap or refurbished laptop for the coming few months might be worth it.

If you share a room or live somewhere that is not ideal for online classes, here are some tips for making your environment as conducive to learning as possible. Share your class schedule with your roommate. It’s easy to do in Google Calendar, and this way you both know when the room needs to be quiet. If you aren’t already doing this, use headphones. It might seem like common sense, but do what you can to be respectful of one another’s education and needs.

If you don’t have a desk or a space that can be converted to a school station, convert your bed into a workstation by day. Place something sturdy or hard on your bed (like a cutting board or a large book) to turn it into a makeshift desk. Place a pillow, stool or chair on the ground to work. This might seem like a funky setup, but it will help you mentally shift gears from being at home to being ready for class.

4. Zoom-iquette, or best practices for Zoom

Like anything, there are good ways and bad ways to act when using Zoom. With online classes, using best practices for remote learning is important for your experience and that of your classmates.

If your instructor hasn’t done so already, mute your microphone whenever you are not talking. You can hold down the spacebar on your laptop to unmute yourself if you are asking a question. Try to find a place where no one is walking behind you. This will minimize distraction for you and your classmates. Use a pair of earbuds or a headset so you don’t disturb anyone around you. This will also help your classmates hear you better. And, WEAR CLOTHES! Maybe that seems obvious, but you wouldn’t show up to class in just your underwear, and chances are your classmates don’t want to see that over Zoom either.

5. Participate.

Get used to interacting with your professor and class digitally. It might be weird at first, but asking questions and volunteering answers will help you feel more engaged with the class and will help you from getting lost in the lesson.

Use the “raise your hand” function in Zoom to let your instructor know you have a question. Click on the “participant” tab of your Zoom controls, at the bottom of your screen. Next to your name will be a hand icon; click it. This tells your instructor you have a question or something to add without interrupting the class.

Or, if you find yourself getting lost in the lesson, use the “chat” option. You can send a message or ask a question to the whole class or any individual member of the class. Think of this as the digital equivalent of turning to your neighbor to ask them if they understood something or wrote down the last line on a slide.

6. Use office hours.

Professors and instructors tell us this every single week, but now especially, USE OFFICE HOURS!

This is a new teaching format for most of us as students, so if you feel yourself falling behind or in need of clarification, don’t be afraid to reach out to your instructor. They probably want to know what parts of the class aren’t translating as well digitally, and talking to you beats sitting at their desk in an empty Zoom session. Bonus points if you add their office hours to your well organized and gorgeous Google Calendar.

If you have any of your own ideas about remote learning, tell us about them!

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

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Student Book Club: Design Your Life in Two Months

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 17:22:15 +0000

Student Book Club: Design Your Life in Two Months Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/20/2020 - 10:22

Unsure about life after college? You're not alone. Join ASSETT's Student Technology Consultants for an interactive book club. As we read the book Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, ASSETT will lead a series of activities and discussions meant to help students think about what their life after college could look like and calm any quarter-life-crisis anxieties about the future. Half book club, half discussion and activity, "Design Your Life in Two Months" helps break down future directions post-graduation.

This is a relatively low-commitment book club, but we do ask that interested students to show up to meetings since that is where most of the in-depth activities and discussion will occur. ASSETT will provide the books and pizza at meetings.

The meeting dates are as follows. Location is still TBD.

March 2 - meetup, distribute books, brief introductions
March 16 - First meeting
April 6 - Second meeting
April 27 - Third and final meeting

If you are interested, please email S am Kindick by Wednesday, February 26, with your name and contact info. We need to order books in advance and space is limited, so we can’t guarantee spots for anyone after this date.

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Encouraging students to develop effective studying skills

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 16:49:24 +0000

Encouraging students to develop effective studying skills Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/02/2017 - 10:49

How can we encourage students to develop effective studying skills that persist beyond cramming right before an exam or when homework is due? Lolita Paff suggests, that in addition to reading and homework, providing students with activities that they use to engage with course materials. Through her recent article, Questioning the Two Hour Rule, Paff recommends that instead of focusing on time, we should encourage students to focus on concept mastery. Some ideas include problem solving, rewriting notes in their own words, creating concept maps, and responding to learning reflection prompts.

Another study strategy suggested in the book, Make it Stick (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 2014) is the idea of ‘spaced practice.’ Spaced practice is studying in discrete sessions that are separated by time. This allows for new skills to be cognitively embedded by leaving enough time between practice sessions to “forget” a skill. The act of retrieval will be easier in successive sessions, yet taxing enough that the skill is committed to long-term memory. One study method that supports this strategy is using flashcards to quiz yourself. While a traditional flashcard or quizzing method certainly works, we recently learned of an application, Anki, that takes flashcards to a new level.

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Tech of the Month- October 2017- Anki

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 16:44:35 +0000

Tech of the Month- October 2017- Anki Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/02/2017 - 10:44

Try Anki. Anki is an application that presents flashcards based on how many times you get a card right or wrong. It’s design reinforces spaced learning and retrieval practice as mentioned in this month’s teaching tips section. Anki will show cards you get wrong more frequently until you get them right, then you see the cards you guess correctly less frequently. But a card never completely goes away; it will continue to show up. In this way, you are using “spaced repetition,” as coined by the German psychologist, Sebastian Leitner in 1885 (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel, p. 64). While flashcard sessions should still be spaced out, this provides a more systematic way to retain what you’ve learned.

Anki has many flashcard decks already created for your use or new ones can be developed. Break content into sections and ask groups of students to create flashcard decks. This can be an easy way to encourage students to use the spaced repetition study method. It’s free to use browser based version of Anki or download the application and flashcard decks for offline use. The mobile app version does require a fee.

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Study strategies for before, during, and after class

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 20:18:40 +0000

Study strategies for before, during, and after class Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/24/2017 - 14:18

From the Faculty Focus Blog

With just a couple of weeks left in the semester, students are walking around campus zombie-like from sleep deprivation and the stresses of taking their final exams. To help students break the cycle of ineffective studying methods, Angela Zanardelli Sickler, coordinator of the study skills and first-year seminar programs at Wayne State University’s Academic Success Center, shares her three-step study method. Notes: These study tips are most effective for courses that uses a textbook and holds exams after every 4–5 chapters.

Step 1: Pre-Lecture Prep – Within 24 hours of a lecture, take 30 minutes to preview the materials to be covered such as the title, chapter objectives, and chapter summary. Skim the chapter and take note of unfamiliar vocabulary.
Step 2: Be Active During Lecture – Now that you’re familiar with the content, taking notes and following the lecture should be much easier. Make sure you’re not distracted by others, hunger, or personal issues. If you are, make sure you’re taking note of these issues and address it later.
Step 3: Post-Lecture Review – Within 24 hours of the lecture, make sure you understand the content. This is the most time-consuming step however, it becomes easier as you continue doing the first two steps. Review and compare the notes you took before class to those post lecture. Fill missing information with course resources. Create study tools and remember to frequently review the material before the exam.

The full article can be found on the Faculty Focus Blog.

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