Finishing Strong! – Workshops, Study Skills and More
By- Alissa Adams
The end of the academic year is quickly approaching and finals will be upon us soon! Allow us to point you in the direction of a few resources that may help your student to finish out the year strong. As always, we encourage students to utilize their faculty’s office hours and department tutoring, however another resource for your student to explore is the Center for Student Academic Success (CSAS).
First, the office of Academic Advising and Assistance may be able to assist your student as they provide academic support to Gonzaga’s undergraduate students and faculty. In-class instructions, partnerships with campus resources, and individual academic advising sessions create a comprehensive approach to student support. Programs and services include, but are not limited to: professional academic advising, new student registration, academic recovery, academic crisis response through Refer, academic policy navigation, one-on-one and group advising on academic issues and campus partner referrals.
Second, the Learning Strategies Management (LSM) office has several services available that are a great way to give students a little extra push. LSM coordinates the Tutor and Peer mentoring program and the Digital Learning Studio. They also employ professional Strategic Learning Specialists. The Learning Specialists meet with students one-on-one and facilitate various workshops throughout the academic year.
Learning Strategy Workshops : presented in small group format to encourage participation and allow for the facilitators to check for participant understanding. Subjects of the workshops are geared toward current status in the semester (mid-terms, finals, etc.) and students can also request workshops on particular subjects. Learning Strategies Management will be putting on two workshops before the end of the semester to help students finish the year strong!
Upcoming workshops:
Procrastination April 18th : This is will be an hour long interactive workshop about preventing procrastination and/or how to get out of the procrastination habit
Preparing for Finals Week April 25th: This will be an hour long workshop that will enable students to create a study plan
Workshops are a great opportunity for students who are having difficulties in a specific area to collaborate with their peers and learn from Strategic Learning Specialists about strategies that target specific areas of weakness. The workshop setting promotes discussion related to study skills and provides students with interactive and reflective activities that empower students to apply new strategies or approaches to all their classes. Information about these workshops can be found under the Workshop tab of Gonzaga’s Learning Strategies website. There will also be information in MorningMail and posted in residence halls and academic buildings closer to the date of the workshop.
Strategic Learning Specialists : one-on-one meetings to help fine-tune or implement academic strategies and work with students to guide them in creating individualized plans that will help them reach their goals (academic or otherwise). For students who feel that it would be beneficial to hit on multiple study skills, we recommend getting in touch with a Strategic Learning Specialist for a one-on-one meeting. Strategic Learning Specialists tailor meetings to address each student’s specific strengths and areas for growth to empower that student to reach their academic goals. Our inquiry form can be found on our website.
Tutor and Peer mentoring : group tutoring, one-on one tutoring (dependent on tutor availability), and resources for departmental tutoring holds drop-in hours Sunday through Thursday, 3:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Students have access to a scheduling website to see tutor availability and schedule ahead of time.
Students can’t study what they don’t know, so if there are any gaps in comprehension or questions about course content, we recommend that they get plugged in at the Learning Studio for one-on-one peer tutoring. One-on-one peer tutoring is a great option for students who would benefit from individualized attention related to specific subjects. The Learning Assistants can answer questions, help students approach content from different angles, and give students study tools so they can tackle the material on their own.
We are always looking for dedicated students to work in the Learning Studio as peer tutors or mentors. For more information about our hiring process, contact us at learningstrategies@gonzaga.edu.
Please share these resources with your student. The CSAS staff looks forward to seeing their smiling faces! Happy Spring everyone!