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February
24, 2004 issue
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Academic
Support Center steers students to success
by Sally Acharya
Richard Garcia almost forgot to come to the workshop on memory tricks.
“I guess that’s a sign,” laughed the political science
senior. Garcia ’04 has found himself this semester with an unusually
heavy burden of reading, and part of his strategy for coping is to
take advantage of workshops at the Academic Support Center on such
topics as memory, time management, and overcoming procrastination.
While the Academic Support Center began some 20 years ago with a mission
of assisting students with learning disabilities, its role is now
more broadly defined. It’s about giving students the tools for
success and helping them achieve their full potential.
Some students come to its academic counselors to work on learning
strategies or are referred to peer tutors for individual help.
In the last year the center has also magnified its work with international
students and non-native speakers of English, devoting one full-time
position to international students and adding four part-time writing
counselors.
Students served by the center are not necessarily in academic difficulty.
They may have excellent grades and high hopes about, say, medical
school or a job in the corporate world, when all of a sudden the time
comes for one of those required courses about which fearsome rumors
abound—chemistry, for instance. Or basic statistics, a widely
required course in the social sciences, in which the average student
squeaks by with only a 2.1.
Students aiming for better results often find their way to the center
for peer-led study groups called Supplemental Instruction. In selected
courses with reputations for difficulty, the center arranges for study
groups led by students who have already done well in those courses.
These students are trained as facilitators to guide other students
to success.
Students taking Supplemental Instruction for statistics end up with
an average grade of 2.8 instead of 2.1. In macroeconomics, the average
student finishes the course with a 2.7, while those in the peer-led
study groups typically achieve a 3.0.
There is also a packed schedule of workshops for students wanting
to improve their skills. “They may be really strong students,
but may want to be more efficient with their time,” or pick up
other tips, says center director Kathy Schwarz.
One student at a recent workshop on memory strategies was Bonnie Moisan,
a graduate student in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL).
“I’ve done well in classes, but for those of us who come
back to school later in life, it’s a time issue. I’m always
looking for more information,” says Moisan, who also plans to
use some of the tips with her elementary-school English as a second
language students.
Begun in 1978 as Learning Services and long housed with Psychological
Services, the center moved into its own space in 2001, and changed
its name to reflect its changing role.
Of course, providing services to students with diagnosed learning
issues remains important to its mission. An estimated 2.7 percent
of AU students have learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and attention
deficit disorder. Though a smaller percentage than the national population—“These
are talented students, who have to meet the university entrance requirements,”
Schwartz notes—it still represents many people.
Students with learning disabilities can elect to seek accommodations
and academic support as needed, or can apply as freshmen to the Learning
Services Program run by the Academic Support Center, which includes
weekly meetings to ensure that freshman get a good start.
“It’s a very attractive program for students with the right
profile,” Schwartz says. “These are strong students who
know they need a certain level of support . . . Usually, with learning
disabled students, if they get that grounding their first year, they’re
off and running.”
Much of that work used to be done in a small office with only five
rooms. Now the center, with its expanded mission, is housed in a suite
of offices at the Mary Graydon Center laid out with input from center
staff during the 2001 renovation of the Student Center. As Schwarz
walks the long hallways that lead into testing spaces, computer rooms,
and counselor’s offices where a wide range of students are served,
she enthuses, “Sometimes I take this all for granted now. I forget
how different it is.”
Upcoming workshops at the Academic Support Center include Time
Management (12:45 to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25) and Overcoming
Procrastination (5:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2). Workshops are
held in Mary Graydon Center 245 and open to students, faculty, and
staff. No registration is required. For more information contact the
Academic Support Center at 885-3360.
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