Welcome to 2013 Fall with CAE!

I would like to welcome you all to academic mentoring blog!  I hope it becomes a space that you visit often throughout semester for helpful tips and resources for your sessions. In addition, if you have any suggestions for new postings, please feel free to suggest these to me. I also encourage your comments to postings, and any feedback!
Just to recap a series of orientations we had with our returners, I wanted to list here a number of takeaways that I hope you continue to foster throughout the semester:

1. Make sessions fun, visual, and interactive. Take time to go through the strategy cards and prepare a few activities for your sessions!
2. Take the time to get to know your student. Plan to make your first session to be at least 30 minutes. Prepare some open-ended and probing questions for your first session (please see the next posting for the list you came up with at orientations).
3. Use curious questions to guide your students in their own learning!
4. Use a goal-setting activity during your first session: have your students write a letter reflecting on their values, and connecting them to long-term and short-term goals. Revisit throughout semester.
5. Continue reflecting on academic mentor role, and the ways you can grow and develop into this role.
6. And lastly, use affirmative, positive language, within the "growth mindset" framework, to help students build their confidence to overcome the fear of "choking under pressure"!
Good luck with your very first sessions, and I can't wait to hear what you all have to bring to a new semester with CAE academic mentoring!

Helping Students Maximize the Efficacy of Studying--Lessons from Cognitive Sciences

RESOURCES for Helping  Students Get the Most Out of Studying

A Video Series  http://www.samford.edu/how-to-study/default. aspx

Video 1: Beliefs That Make You Fail...Or Succeed

Video 2: What Students Should Understand About How People Learn

Video 3: Cognitive Principles for Optimizing Learning.

Video 4: Putting the Principles for Optimizing Learning into Practice

Video 5: I Blew the Exam, Now What?

Video Series Background~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"As a cognitive psychologist and teacher, I [Stephen L. Chew] have long conducted research on cognitive basis of effective teaching and learning. My goal has been to help teachers improve instruction and to help students learn more effectively. In 2006, Dana Basinger, then Director of Freshman, asked me to make a presentation to the entire freshman class on how to study effectively. The presentation was a big hit with both students and faculty. I've given the presentation every fall since then. In 2008, Heather Mitchell asked me to do a more hands-on follow up workshop for students who wanted extra help. I've done that workshop every year since then.   ....

The videos represent both the latest in cognitive research on how people learn and my many years of experience teaching undergraduates. My approach is different from the popular collections of tips, gimmicks and folk wisdom one sees in most books and videos on studying. I present basic principles of how people learn and I try to correct counterproductive misconceptions so that students can improve their learning by devising their own effective study strategies. These videos should help students identify effective and ineffective study strategies so they understand that, although there is no magic bullet, they can learn to get maximal learning out of their study time."

The videos basically talk about the principles of deep processing of the material, and strategies to achieve deep vs. shallow processing. Summary of key points made:

Deep processing focuses on subjective meaning: relating new information to prior knowledge of making that information personally meaningful.

Principles of Deep Processing:

Elaboration: How does this concept relate to other concepts?

Distinctiveness: How is this concept different from other concepts?

Personal: How can I relate this concept t my personal experience?

Appropriate to Retrieval and Application: How am I expected to use or apply this concept?

Strategies for Achieving Deep Processing:

Question Generation

Concept Map

Practice Retrieving Information in Way Teacher Expects

Practice reading without referring to notes

Practice using the information

Videos also talk about applying deep processing strategies in note-taking, reading textbooks, and study groups. Some helpful tips are provided for students who don’t do well on their first exam. Videos are definitely worth watching and showing to your students!

Strategies from Lead Academic Mentors

Strategy from Bob:
Write out the problem, work, and solution. Tell the student that it may or may not be correct. The goal isn't to find a mistake, but to ask as many specific questions as possible.

Then, after the student is used to that, have them look through their notes. They can use this strategy when reviewing example problems done by the professor and TA. Model this in the session as well. Then, the student will be comfortable going to office hours and bringing up those questions because they know what to ask.

Strategy from Sara: 

Predict test topics/questions. Have a student list the major topics they think are on the exam. Write down each topic as a heading on a whiteboard or piece of paper. Then, list things that are important about that topic under the heading (rules to remember, vocab, equations, etc.). Next, if it is possible, give your student apractice problem pertaining to that subject that could potentially be similar to an exam question. After they complete the practice problem, ask them to predict another question that could be on the exam related to that topic (giving your own problem first helps the student to come up with an idea of how a question could look and gives them something to model theirs after, but is not entirely necessary). They must predict the question, and also come up with the solution to the problem. If you are working with pairs, you can have the other student attempt the predicted question.

This is good the session before an exam because you can review a large amount of material. Make sure the student brings their notes and books!

 

Strategy from Libbi: 

Planning what topic to work on at the next session.  It makes students be more on top of their syllabus and helps them try to figure out links between material covered.  It also gives students a sense of responsibility for the session and may motivate them to attend because they got to have a say in what they're covering.




Strategy from Ryan:
Be the Expert. I assign each student part of a topic we are discussing to teach the group. I firmly believe that the best way to learn is through teaching something to someone else. This strategy is really the essence of peer learning. Although the students may need some help along the way, this type of activity really allows them to learn from one another. This strategy can be implemented in advance (i.e. prepare this topic for next time) or during the session (take 5 minutes to gather your ideas before teaching the group about this topic).
*This strategy can also be used in one-on-one and paired academic mentoring sessions, but instead of teaching the whole group, your students would teach you or the other student (if it's a paired assignment).

Strategy from Rachel:
My favorite strategy is to make a list of similar vocab (e.g., classical conditioning vs. operant conditioning, accommodation vs. assimilation) and have the student explain similarities/differences between the two.

Preparing for Finals

Below are some tips for your students as we are approaching the finals week:
1. Organize your materials: Gather together your notes, handouts, and reading materials for the class.
2. Make up a study guide (some instructors do provide study guides for you): An outline of the material that may be covered on the test. In addition to topics, your study guide may include the readings and the pages and dates of the notes for each topic.
3. A few weeks before the exam, ask the instructor to tell you about the test. Here is the info you might want to know:

• What material will the exam cover?
• What material should be considered most important?
• What type of test will it be?
• What type of questions will be on the test: true-false, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, identification, short-answer, essay, problem-solving, other?
• How long will the test be, and where will it be given?
• How would the instructor recommend that you study for the test?
• Could the instructor provide a study guide of what to study?
• Will the test follow the forma of earlier tests?
• Are any old tests available for practice?

4. Make a study plan: Make a list of what you need to prepare to learn all what you need to learn. It is a simply TTD list for a specific exam. As a general guideline, figure at least an hour of study time per week of instruction. If the exam covers an entire fifteen-week semester course, you should plan on studying fifteen hours for the final.

When you are facing finals, make a calendar with allotted time for all courses you are studying for, for each day the week before finals. If you work, see if you can take time off work during exam week.

Before the exam:

• Get enough sleep.
• Eat beforehand.
• Be sure you know when and where the exam will be given and allow yourself enough time to get there.
• Have all your equipment with you (paper, pencils, pens, erasers, other special equipment)
• Bring gum or hard candy if it helps you concentrate

Handling test anxiety:

• Make a phone call.
• Take an exercise break.
• Take a meditation break.
• Learn one thing well.

During the exam:
Follow exam directions carefully. If you can write on the exam, underline key directions, and make notes on each section to remind you of the instructions.
Plan your time: the basic principle is to allow the time in proportion to the amount of credit given for each section.
After the exam:
Take time to reward yourself for your hard work!

Strategy of the Week

One of our graduating academic mentors Kelsey Baubie suggested this idea - and I thought it was great! To help you continue incorporating strategies in your sessions, I've decided to run a regular strategy of the week/month feed on this blog. The purpose of this idea is to have everyone use the strategy posted as the "strategy of the week" during their sessions, and perhaps offer some feedback in the comments section of this post about how useful this strategy was, how you've adjusted it to your sessions, and whether you would like to continue using it in future.
I would update the strategy of the week bi-weekly until the end of the semester. There is also a possibility to identify the "strategy of the month," and the "strategy of the semester"!

So this week's "Strategy of the Week" is:

The one minute paper is designed to help students realize what they know or do not know i.e. "check for understanding." The academic mentor should ask the student/-s to take out a piece of paper and write on the topic presented by the leader. Remind them it is most important that they put their thoughts on paper in their own words, not that they produce polished piece of writing. If you are working with two or more students, you can have them share their response with each other.

You may use one-minute papers at the start, in the middle, or at the closing of your session. At the start, it would be used to check student's understanding of the material covered in lecture, and to identify the challenges needed to be addressed at the session. At the closing, you may use it to get students' immediate feedback about the session, to measure the degree of student's understanding of the material, and see whether the material discussed presents further challenges for the student. 

I also think the one-minute paper strategy is great to be used in the beginning of the semester, as a tool to tell each other more about yourselves. In this case, both mentors and students could do a "one-minute paper," and share it with each other as a way to do introductions. All in all, great amount of imagination & exploration could be used with one-minute papers!