Interweaving Success Skills & Content: How to Better Meet Students Where They Are

Jennifer Grewe, Utah State University
Marlene Graf, Utah State University
Rose Judd-Murray, Utah State University
Rachel Robison-Greene, Utah State University

Description

Many students struggle to learn new academic skills when they enter higher education. This situation has been made worse the last few years as students have experienced significant upheaval in their education. Students who have done well in high school or those that have been impacted by changes to their educational experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic may begin to fall behind, get discouraged, and lose confidence in their academic abilities. As a result, many instructors often wrestle with the tricky balance of supporting students in academic skill development or catching students up without compromising the time needed to cover important course content. Many resources are available to help students acquire new academic skills and develop a growth mindset. Still, it's often challenging to connect the right students to the right resources. One solution is to integrate academic skill development with course content. In this session, four experienced university faculty members will discuss specific strategies and methods they have used to integrate academic skills into their courses that have developed from necessity over the last few years. A variety of examples, ranging from philosophy to nutrition, will demonstrate how academic skill development can be integrated in any course. Participants will leave this session with tools and strategies that they can immediately utilize within their own courses.

 
Aug 17th, 12:00 AM

Interweaving Success Skills & Content: How to Better Meet Students Where They Are

Many students struggle to learn new academic skills when they enter higher education. This situation has been made worse the last few years as students have experienced significant upheaval in their education. Students who have done well in high school or those that have been impacted by changes to their educational experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic may begin to fall behind, get discouraged, and lose confidence in their academic abilities. As a result, many instructors often wrestle with the tricky balance of supporting students in academic skill development or catching students up without compromising the time needed to cover important course content. Many resources are available to help students acquire new academic skills and develop a growth mindset. Still, it's often challenging to connect the right students to the right resources. One solution is to integrate academic skill development with course content. In this session, four experienced university faculty members will discuss specific strategies and methods they have used to integrate academic skills into their courses that have developed from necessity over the last few years. A variety of examples, ranging from philosophy to nutrition, will demonstrate how academic skill development can be integrated in any course. Participants will leave this session with tools and strategies that they can immediately utilize within their own courses.