COACHING FOR STUDENT SUCCESS October 17, 2009

Agenda  Introductions  Characteristics of a UPX student  Strategies for helping our students  Feedback Alert System  Creating Class Participation  Critical Thinking  Goal Setting  Action Plan  Help!  Reducing Stress  Celebrating Success

Objectives  Understand the characteristics of a UPX student.  Develop strategies for each of the challenges a UPX student exhibits.  Develop goals and action plans for each student.  Develop ways to celebrate student success.

Characteristics of a UPX student Student Challenges Time constraints Fatigue after a full workday General stress in life Anxiety or ambivalence about returning to college Anxiety about attending college in an online environment Anxiety about initiating discussion Poorly developed written and study skills Pressure from work, personal, and family commitments Formed knowledge base and world outlook No experience with academic writing Tendency to view faculty members as peers and, as such, challenge or manipulate them Lack of personal responsibility for their learning Limited or no experience using Microsoft ® Office applications

Strategies for those challenges… Student ChallengesPossible Strategies Time constraintsIntroduce time management techniques. Fatigue after a full workday Begin a discussion about peak learning times (those times of day that they learn best) and time management. General stress in lifeShare stress management techniques and resources. Anxiety or ambivalence about returning to college Encourage students to write down what they are feeling and why. Then suggest methods for overcoming those feelings. Anxiety about attending college in an online environment Create a discussion that demonstrates other students share these same anxieties and provide ideas for how the student can adapt to the environment. Anxiety about initiating discussion Demonstrate and encourage effective interaction among yourself, the student, and classmates. Poorly developed written and study skillsShare effective study techniques. Pressure from work, personal, and family commitmentsShare tips and resources about the subject of achieving balance in life. Formed knowledge base and world outlookEncourage critical thinking and questioning. No experience with academic writing Provide a sample paper that students can use as a model. Refer students to specific resources within the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE). Tendency to view faculty members as peers and, as such, challenge or manipulate them Welcome the challenges and the questioning while avoiding automatic reactions to attempted manipulation. Lack of personal responsibility for their learningMotivate students by encouraging ownership of their work. Limited or no experience using Microsoft ® Office applications Refer students to the technology Web site available through the CWE. Encourage students to take part in the Student Technology Workshop.

Feedback Alert System  See guide for instructions.

Creating Class Participation  What activities do you implement to increase class participation?

Critical Thinking Skills  Consider the purpose or goal of an assignment.  Restate a question in numerous ways.  Gather information.  Look for inferences and assumptions inherent in a problem or assignment.  Clarify the thought process you use to understand a problem or assignment.  Try to understand other points of view.  Think through the implications and possibilities of your solution or idea.

Are you….  Be clear. State what you mean and provide various explanations and examples.  Be accurate. Justify or explain how you know your claims are true. If you are uncertain about the truth of your claims, how could you ascertain their truth?  Be relevant. Explain how your ideas relate to the topic at hand.  Be logical. Explain how ideas fit together and why they make sense. Describe how you came to your conclusions.  Be fair. Consider how your ideas and behaviors will make others feel or think. Treat yourself, your classmates, and your facilitators with respect.

Goal Setting  So important for all classes  Necessary for week 1  Have your students create attainable goals for themselves for the weeks you will have them in class.

Action Plans  See handout.

Center for Writing Excellence  Tutorials  Guides  Tutor Review, Writepoint, Plagiarism Checker

Applying Our Objectives  Sharon does not know how to apply formatting to a Microsoft ® Word document, which has caused her to lose points on an assignment.  Giles has not heard about WritePoint SM automated review, and, as a result, his work contains unnecessary grammatical errors.  Because Carla does not know about her student technology discounts, she continues to use outdated software.  Anthony struggles with the concepts in Week One of his algebra course and, because no one has suggested practice problems from the Center for Mathematics Excellence, he remains confused and frustrated.  Jackie is not aware of how to find a scholarly article in the University Library and, as a result, she references an unreliable Web site for her research essay.

Managing Stress 

Celebrating Success  What are some easy ways that we can celebrate success?

Questions  ????