Student Success Boot Camp Seminars

Boot Camp Seminars Schedule (Spring 2014)

This semester there will be two Student Success Boot Camps, each of which comprises four seminars. All seminars take place in LRNC 215, which is upstairs in the Library.

Attendance is limited and is on a first-come basis.

To print a schedule of Student Success Boot Camp Seminars, click here.

Description

The sessions last 60 minutes each and offer students opportunities to augment their study skills, improve time budgeting between class, job, and family, how to manage the stress of finals, and more.

Making an Appointment

All sessions can be scheduled by appointment on an individual or class basis. Visit the Academic Success Center upstairs in the Library/LRNC building or call 281.290.3279.

List of Seminars

Communication skills

Communication involves both verbal and non-verbal forms, speaking as well as listening. By developing effective communication skills, students will experience success in many aspects. This session will encourage students to build their communication skills by recognizing the elements of communication. It will also help students to identify poor communication and how they can avoid this trap.

Coping with finals

It goes without saying that finals can be very stressful for students. By learning some strategies to cope with finals, students can approach them with a confident and optimistic outlook. This session will give students the opportunity to formulate a “battle plan” for finals week.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusion. In any class for any assignment, critical thinking is an asset. In this session, students will exercise their critical thinking skills, review some common errors in judgment and gain some skills.

Dealing with stress

Students are frequently unaware that the top issue that blocks success is the effects of stress. Stress manifests itself in a variety of physical and emotional ways. In this session, students will gain an awareness of strategies for stress and anxiety reduction and compare their current practices with recommended strategies for stress and anxiety reduction.

Dollars and sense

Frequently students come to college without the basic financial skills they need to succeed independently. This session will cover basic money management skills, using credit wisely, and budgeting for better planning.

Effective reading strategies

Often students are surprised and intimidated by the amount of text book reading that instructors expect them to cover. Many are not even aware of how to read for retention of important information. This session will provide students with some strategies that they can employ to increase reading effectiveness and retention.

Grammar review

Frequently students need a refresher to review basic grammar rules. This interactive session will review the trickiest grammar topics that students often forget – parallel structure, pronoun-antecedent agreement, pronoun usage, apostrophe usage, comma use and clauses, misplaced and dangling modifiers, etc.

Graphic organizers for success

Graphic organizers are visual methods of representing information. Most students are visual learners. By utilizing graphic organizers, these students can more efficiently review, retain and apply academic information. This session will show students numerous graphic organizers.

Know your learning style

When mismatches exist in a class between a student’s learning style and the teaching style of the professor, a student may become bored and inattentive in class, do poorly on tests, get discouraged about the courses, the curriculum, and him/herself, and in some cases change to another class or drop out of school. This session will help students to identify their learning styles and give them strategies for using that knowledge to their advantage in an academic setting.

Listening and observing

Frequently students get listening mixed up with hearing. Listening involves actively tuning into what is audibly happening. The same is true for observing versus seeing. This seminar will show students how to actively listen and observe in order to apply this knowledge to their success in the classroom.

Managing your time

Time management, like organization, helps students to arrange their lives to create an environment conducive to productivity. In this session, students will develop awareness of strategies for improved time management and assess their current personal time management strengths and weaknesses. At the end of this seminar, students should be able to create a personal study schedule and list of strategies for improved time management.

Maximizing memory

Memory is key to successful performance in an academic setting. During this session, students will develop awareness of strategies for memory and concentration improvement, compare current practices with recommended strategies for concentration and memory improvement, and create a personalized memory and concentration “toolbox” of change lists and useful exercises or strategies.

Note-taking made easy

Student will learn that note taking is an essential part of student success, particularly in a college setting. While instructors tend to rely only on oral teaching, the majority of students are visual learners. This means that in order to absorb the message, students should efficiently and accurately document what they hear and see. This seminar will give students the tools to more efficiently and effectively take notes, not matter what class.

Note-taking skills for math

This session covers all of the materials in “Note Taking Made Easy” in the context of note taking for math classes.

Organizational skills

Being organized is not the first priority to busy individuals, particularly busy students. In this session, students will gain resources for organizing their time, homes, and lives with the intention of giving them more space to focus on academics.

Powerful presentations

The number one fear is public speaking. If this is the case, students need to be given the resources to feel confident that any presentation that they will give will be powerful; thus, minimizing the fear they may feel. This session seeks to help students to identify what and how to present effectively in any situation.

Secrets of successful students

There are some things any student can do in order to improve his/her performance in college. This session covers a few of the “secrets” that successful students employ, even if the content seems impossible!

Setting goals and staying motivated

One of the keys to success is visualizing success. Setting goals can provide students with something to attain and aim toward in their studies. This session will help students learn to create goals, develop awareness of personal intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and develop strategies to improve personal intrinsic and extrinsic motivation towards those goals.

Study strategies

Utilizing effective study strategies must begin the first day of class. Students come equipped with all of the physical tools necessary for academic success, but frequently do not have the strategic tools they need – particularly, how to study. This session allows students to compare and contrast current study practices and habits with practices recommended for effectiveness and to improve study habits based on individualized modification of environment, duration, and practices.

Successful study groups

Study groups can be an excellent tool for students in college. However, if facilitated improperly, study groups can cause more harm than good. This session teaches students how to form cohesive study groups and how to keep them running smoothly and effectively.

Test-taking tips

Having strategies for taking different types of tests can improve student performance. By learning what is expected during a test, a student will gain confidence, which will trickle down into test performance and lessen anxiety. This session will give students information about different types of tests – objective, subjective, essay, multiple choice, etc. that will help them to plan for test day!