Learning and Study Skills in a Digital Age

Lucy Tribble MacDonald
New Challenges and New Opportunities
Opportunties
Challenges
  • where is all the stuff?
  • what is available for limited budgets?
  • how do I package the material and offer all the resources?
  • the walkaround challenge
Emerging Models Webshops - What's a webshop?

Time Management - with Learning Peer Helpers interacting in discussions.

Roads to Better Learning - with counselors checking on progress
Study Guides - designed by Peer Mentors
Desktop Videoconferencing - Mt San Antonio College

Students can access the tutoring center with ClearPhone technology. This system uses web cams on both ends and includes audio and a whiteboard. This is particularly helpful for doing math problems. Indeed this program was started with the initiative of math faculty.
Collaborative Partnership Model - Paradise Valley CC

Faculty work with the learning center to develop

a course page, which may be a list of frequently asked questions and answers or a series of handouts

students can then access this tutoring area and participate in a discussion or request to chat with a tutor
Publisher Resources Many publishers offer study skills resources with textbooks. These maybe workbooks or cdroms or added resources like newspapers or study guides in print or on cdrom.
The Walkaround
Challenge		 If it's not catelogued by media resources, how do you find it?
Take the Walkaround Tour.
Companion Web Sites Another source of study skills materials may be online at the textbook web sites. This include practice quizzes, warm ups for math, images for science, audio glossary , visualizations.
Publisher Online
Classes		 H and H - LASSI modules, Math online

Ron-Jon - CyberClass for Academic Success
This will now be available separate from the text at a very reasonable cost.

Academic Success - Math Study Skills - provides an inventory and prescription for follow up.
Assessment Tools There are two major assessment tools in this area:

LASSI (Learning and Study Skills Inventory)- which is available in booklet format or online.Follow up modules for each item are available online.

SBI (Study Behaviors Inventory)- which is adaptable computer software, which can be personalized to your center and resources.

What items are in the inventories? See the following matrix.
Learning Center Web Sites and Study Skills A look at award winning Learning Center web sites reveals how they are integrating study skills.
Le Moyne College
 Links to Study Guides and a companion Math site
University of
Washington, Tacoma
 Handouts include downloadable Word files and web resources for critical reading
Louisiana State
University
 Online Workshops, Study Tips and consultations.
Purdue University
 List of handouts include television schedule and workshop schedule.
Other Resources for Study Skills Here are some centers that have lots of study skill resources.
St. Cloud State
 This learning center offeres study skills assistance and courses. The study skills resources are under the courses.
University of St Thomas
 Academic Web Services hosts this site. You are giving permission to copy and distribute material in an educational setting, but asked to link to the site on the web instead of copying on to new pages. The international flavor of this site is evident in the multiple languages available.
University of Texas
 The Learning Center has a wide variety of resources, including a Study Strategies Web Course, "Our Favorite Handouts", which includes content specific material in economics, government, and history, as well as study tips, including motivation and how to survive finals week.. The spotlight is currently on Test Anxiety.
Virginia Tech
 One of the first to make study skills materials readily available. This site is run out of the counseling center. They have a newly updated interactive study skills inventory, which links students to campus resources and web resources. They have a series of online workshops. The time management workshop has interactive sections, where students can plug in their time and plot a time matrix. The counseling center itself is exploring real video. Try the coping with test anxiety video. (Note: on slow modems this may create more anxiety.)
Dartmouth College
 The Academic Skills Center has put their study skills videos online. The study skills strategies are now downloadable Word documents.
York University
 Our Canadian neighbors have put up wonderful resources as well. The Learning Skills Center has powerpoint presentations, tip sheets and a time management CDROM. Their "in the university" series is excellent, because the study skills are in the university context and culture. For example, goal setting talks about setting a goal of a B+ in a Microeconomics Final Exam and plots out the steps needed to get there.
Types of Sites Let's look at study strategies by type of site. What might these look like at a Learning Center, at a resource site for a class, at a totally online class, at a student interactive site.
James Cook University
 This Australia University near the Great Barrier Reef has a series of online workshops with great visuals run out of the Learning Centre.
Middle Tennessee State Univeristy
 Carolyn Hopper Learning Strategies Coordinator for the Developmental Studies Department maintains a study skills page for her Learning Strategies for Success course.
Chemeketa Community College
 This is a totally online study skills class. It is archived for research purposes, so that folks can view not only the web pages, but the student interactions, which is where class happens. (Student permissions were granted.)
Free Resources
howtostudy.org		 This web site (sabbatical and retirement project of Lucy MacDonald) includes both study skills resources by category and contextual study skills listed by discipline. Students are encouraged to provide comments for each of the items here. See the student comment on how to study biology. Comments are reviewed before posting. Students may remain anonymous, if they choose.