Will You Be in the 60%?

According to the U. S. Department of Education, the national average for college graduation after six years is 60%.  This means that only 60% of freshmen enrolling in a four-year degree-granting institution will graduate within six years of starting their education.   For many of my students on academic probation this is a grim statistic as they are already behind.  So their “ticket” out of class today was to tell me what they were doing today to be sure they were in the 60%.  Some of their answers were:

·         Go directly to the Library

·         Review notes after each class

·         Start to study now for exam in several days

·         Go to tutoring

·         Talk to professors during office hours

·         Make study cards

I was happy to hear that students were planning to do concrete things rather than just “studying harder.”  This information was a wake-up call to my students who sometimes think they will automatically move forward when actually they are the ones who have to be proactive and make it happen.   I also suggested that they write down their priorities and post them where they will see them and be reminded every day in order to keep themselves focused and motivated.  

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2016)

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and wordassociation.com.  Click on the upper right link.

Ingredients for Successful Learning - The Importance of Time

Another part of learning is to give yourself time.  It takes much more than one exposure to information to get it securely into your memory, so your learning needs to be spaced out over time.  There are many easy ways to do this:

·       Review and start to learn the information as soon as possible after the class.

·       Put difficult information on study cards and review almost every day.

·       Once a week or so review all of the information that will be on the next exam.

·       Attend any study sessions available – Supplemental Instruction, walk-in tutoring, professor-led review sessions, etc.

·       Make use of any online help associated with the class such as practice quizzes.

·       Start to study for an exam at least five days prior to the exam.

While learning is not easy, using time to your advantage will increase your efficiency and make it easier to earn higher grades.

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your Frist Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

Ingredients for Successful Learning - Variety

When you sit down to study, what do you do?  Reread your lecture notes over and over?  Maybe reread the book?  The is not enough and it is boring!  Learning requires several things – variety, repetition, self-testing and being spaced out over time.  So there are many things you can do to improve your learning and the next several blogs will focus on some of these. 

One important thing is to do a variety of activities with the information you want to learn.  Rereading your notes over and over will not work.  If you do memorize your notes through that strategy you will only know the information in those exact words and in that order.  Here are some other ideas:

·       After rereading a section of notes, cover them up and restate the information in your own words.  If you can do so, move on to the next section.  If you cannot, repeat.

·       Make a review chart combining information from your notes and textbook.

·       Go to any study or review session scheduled (Supplemental Instruction, professor-led, etc.)

·       Take advantage of anything offered by the textbook such as a list of terms you should know, on-line quizzes, review questions at the end of chapters, etc.

·       Form a study group and take turns either quizzing each other or re-teaching the information to each other.

·       If you like color you can highlight you notes, add color to the study guide, use colored paper, etc.

·       Once you are pretty far along in your learning you could try to vary your study location so that you know the information in a variety of settings.

·       If you have access to a large white board or chalk board you could graph out the information on that.

·       You might find it interesting to watch a movie or documentary that relates to the information.

The point is to do a variety of things with the information to be sure you know it in different formats, different words and different order and can instantly recall it.

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

Academic Habits

This semester I have eight sections of Learning Strategies, a class designed for students on academic probation.  Of course we will look at how learning happens, but I plan to start the class with the idea of habit.  Some of the habits my students may need to develop are:

·         Going to class – this is not an option, you always go to class.

·         Studying – Where?  When?  It is easiest if it happens on a regular schedule, not randomly.

·         Sleep – your body gets the best rest if you go to bed and get up at about the same times every day.

·         Maintaining a healthy social life – This is important, but is should not be the first priority.

·         Nutritious Eating – the food choices you make determine how well you feel – you cannot feel good if you are fueling your body with junk.

·         Exercise – this needs no explanation!

To a college student this may sound boring, but it certainly makes life – and success – easier.  The truth is that much of life is routine, but there is pleasure in doing a job well or earning a good grade on an exam.  You cannot have “fun” all the time and still expect to do great things.  The trick is to find pleasure and fulfillment in doing what needs to be done. 

When I ask my students what their plan is to earn higher grades this semester, they often say they will study “more” or “harder” but generally do not know how to do that.  The next blog will start to examine what to actually do when studying.   But the first step is to start the semester with the positive academic habits suggested above.

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

Start the semester off right!

One of the exciting things about academics is that there is a beginning and an end.  At the end of a semester you can reflect back on what happened – what worked, what didn’t, what you want to repeat and what you want to change.  Then there is a new beginning and you have a brand new opportunity!

At the start of this semester take some time to think about what you are going to do to ensure your success:

·       For class attendance, there is no “IF.”   You will attend every class; do NOT think about whether you will go, you just go, no option!

·       When will you study?  Set a schedule and get into the habit of studying at the same time.   For example, if you have some time between classes go directly to the Library. 

·       Where will you study?   Plan a place that does not have a lot of distractions such as away from televisions, friends, etc.

·       What exactly will you do when you study?  What strategies will you use?

·       Be sure you are reviewing and starting to learn your lecture notes after every class.

·       Read the textbook before a lecture and review it after the lecture.

Future blogs will address all of these issues: time management, motivation, study strategies, etc.  Stay tuned!

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

GO TO CLASS!!

I have just posted my grades for the fall semester and, unfortunately, lowered the grades for about 20% of the students in my classes – the highest percentage ever!  There were three ways students should have predicted this:

·       I announced it at the first class,

·       It is printed in my syllabus, and

·       At the beginning of every class I obviously take and record attendance.

Given that the class in Introduction to Critical Reading and Thinking, students should have critically thought about these three pieces of information and figured out that attendance was important!

As you are looking forward to the next semester, one major tip is to GO TO CLASS!  This should not be a daily choice.  You always go to class; you do not start the day deciding whether or not to do so.

One problem is that, when you miss class, it is difficult to go to the next class.  You missed the transition from class to class and feel slightly out of step with the rest of the students. This is important whether or not the professor takes attendance.  Except for a rare instance, you cannot pass a class if you do not attend!

Professors take attendance in a variety of ways.  My classes are between 25 and 30 students and I work to learn everyone’s name, so I have index cards that I sort into piles (present or not) at the beginning of each class and then transfer that information to an attendance record.  Others have an attendance sheet the students sign at the beginning of each or selected classes, have students log on to a digital program, submit some in-class work, simply run down the names on the class list, or some other system. 

As you are wrapping up this semester and looking forward to the next, if you are not happy with your final grades think about this one crucial part – how was your attendance?  If not good, start now to change your thinking about attendance for the next semester.

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on upper right link.

Leading up to Final Exams

My students and I are back from Thanksgiving break and heading into the last two weeks of classes and final exams.  The time will go fast and there is lots to do.  Some things students have to consider are:

·         When and where are your finals?

·         Do you have any back-to-back or several in one day?  If a professor teaches more than one section of the course he or she may be willing to let you take the exam with a different section.

·         Is each final cumulative or just on the final unit of the course?

·         Do you have all of the information you need?

·         What is your current grade in each course?  If it is right on the edge of either a higher or lower grade, you need to put extra effort into that class.

·         Make sure you are not missing any work from each course.

Many institutions had an entire week off, and it is often difficult to get back into the academic routine.  One thing you can do is review your goals for the semester in order to get a little extra motivation.  It is also helpful to attend some fun holiday activities sponsored by the college or university, but not too many.

This time period goes extremely quickly, so it is important to focus and work hard.  At this point easing off on your studies or pushing a little harder can make a difference in your grades.

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.  It is a great Christmas gift for a high school senior!