Academic Support
An External Expert Panel validated these practices for effectiveness. They were contributed by GU/TRIO professionals who used them successfully in their programs. You are invited to do the same. Go to this website's “Share” section to learn how to submit a practice and receive help. If we all share, this will become a more powerful online program manual for the community.
Integrated Learning Course for Entering SSS College Students. University of Minnesota (approved Validated Practice 8/10/14)
The TRIO program leaders at the University of Minnesota developed the Integrated Learning (IL) course to meet the academic and transition needs of their Upward Bound (UB) students. These courses were offered during the UB summer bridge program for its students who were concurrently enrolled in academically challenging college courses following graduation from high school. Later, IL courses shifted from the UB program to the college-level TRIO Student Support Services program. Long before the widespread use of learning communities within higher education, the IL course is an example of a linked-course learning community. A historically-challenging course like introductory psychology is linked with an IL course. The IL course is customized to use the content of its companion class as a context for mastering learning strategies and orienting students to the rigor of the college learning environment.
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Schelske, B., Schelske, S., & Arendale, D. R. (2022). History of the Integrated Learning Course: Creation, conflict, and survival. Colleagues of Color for Social Justice. <www.socialjustice.work> University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy <https://hdl.handle.net/11299/241236>
In 1972, the Integrated Learning (IL) course was developed at the University of Minnesota to meet the academic and cultural transition needs of their TRIO Upward Bound summer bridge program students as they prepared to enter college. The IL course was an early example of a linked course learning community. A historically-challenging college content course such as Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology or Law in Society was linked with an IL course. The IL course is essentially an academic support class customized to use the content of its companion class as a context for mastering learning strategies and orienting students to the rigor of the college learning environment. The history of the IL course provides lessons for creating, sustaining, and surviving daunting campus political and financial challenges that could face any new academic or student affairs program. The TRIO program leveraged its modest budget and personnel for the IL course approach, which flourished and withstood changing economic and political forces that could have terminated the innovative approach to academic support. Lessons from this history of creation, conflict, and survival could be applied to other programs in a postsecondary setting.
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Tutoring for Students with Disabilities. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 10/15/13)
TRIO DSS tutors are trained to work with students with disabilities, whether the disability is physical, psychological, neurological, or other. Their training includes workshops on different types of disabilities and how to work with students with disabilities in individual situations. Tutors are given the student’s learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or a combination) and work with their learning styles, adapting their tutoring methods to match their learning methods. The tutoring program model of student academic support is designed to assist students with disabilities at the college level pass courses in which they face academic hardship due to their disabilities and to help them move toward their goal of a four-year degree while experiencing new and innovative learning strategies."
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Tutor Training and Professional Development. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 9/25/13)
Peer tutoring has become a familiar tool many schools use to reinforce classroom teaching and increase student success. For this reason, the Student Support Services (SSS) Program at Wichita State University has implemented a tutor training and professional development program to assist new and returning tutors in developing strategies to support learning and enhance academic performance and improve the tutoring process to establish, implement, and maintain a comprehensive and quality tutor-training program.
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Structured Study Hall Days at College Campus by UB Students. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice10/20/13)
Structured Study Hall Days is a structured study hall hosted on the Wichita State University campus when public school classes are not in session. Most high school students remain at home or only come to the school for athletic team practices when school officials have in-service days for staff development or professional meetings. Research studies document the adverse effects of this interruption on their learning. The CUB model of Study Hall Days creates an activity-rich learning environment for them. Several activities include (1) the use of supplemental curriculum materials to deepen understanding of current topics in their classes, including the use of the ComFit Online Learning Center, (2) private tutorial sessions with CUB tutors and staff members, (3) practice on time management and metacognitive skills to strengthen their development as autonomous learners and proficiency with self-directed learning, (4) attendance of college classes related to their future academic majors, (5) interactions with college faculty members and students, and (6) preparing for college entrance and course placement assessments. These activities groom participants to higher success in high school and college.
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