Monthly publication 

August 2001 Issue

IN THIS ISSUE:

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Welcome to the LCN

Welcome to the August issue.   This month we have excellent articles including part III of the SI series, a management tip from Frank Christ, and a web site review from Susan Palau.  

On a personal note, my brother just finished his PhD program in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida.  He will be leaving shortly to take on a professor's job at Penn State.  In the mean while, we are busy celebrating with our friends and family.  This severely limited my availability and thus the shorter than usual issue this month.

As usual, we encourage everyone to help out with contributions and articles.  See below for more info on submission information. 

Enjoy the new issue, and don't forget to pass its web address to your colleagues.  

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Management Strategies & Tips

Tip #14: Partnering with the Campus Bookstore  

Your campus bookstore can be a valuable partner with your learning support center in two ways.

1. It can publicize your center programs and services by having your center's bookmark inserted in selected freshmen textbooks. Such a 2 1/4 x 8 1/2 inch bookmark printed on cardboard stock is a cost effective publicity item that unlike a brochure or a single sheet blurb will not be relegated to the wastebasket but will be a constant reminder of your programs and services as it functions as a bookmark in a student's textbook. If you are scheduling campus-wide study skills workshops, a bookmark that indicates workshop titles, dates, and location will increase their visibility. 

2. It can stock study skills materials in a special area that is designated as learning support center study aids. Meet with your bookstore manager or its textbook buyer each semester to add or delete items from your list of materials that you are recommending to students either in your workshops or individual study skills and tutorial sessions. Think paperback materials and other inexpensive study aids.  

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Recruiting Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leaders (3^rd in series)

Needless to say the SI leader is critical to the success of your program.  There may be many talented/gifted students in the various departments you support but not all of them are cut out to be SI leaders.  Some of the brightest students may not be the best because they might not be able to relate to the difficulties students encounter when tackling tough subject matter.  Students who did well but struggled with the material can bring richness to a study group that cannot be matched by content competency.  So where do you start looking for these diamonds in the rough?  We have some suggestions.

All candidates at University of Pittsburgh are put through layers of evaluation.  The more work put into the evaluation and preparation for trainees, the better final long-term return.  We ask interested students to complete an application with transcripts, which provides an overview of the student and academic references.  Checking references confirm or enhance perceptions of the applicant.  If they have good potential, the student is interviewed which brings real clarity to the candidate.  Finally, training provides a good last look at the candidates.  Training will be discussed in our next article. 

Our application asks for contact information, academic status, previous employment /volunteer experience plus information about their interest in the SI program, and what makes a successful student.  The application not only provides a more complete picture of the candidate but also serves as a good writing sample (important skill for a leader). Next step, recommendations.  We suggest references be academic rather than personal.  Academic references give us a better sense of the type of student represented in the applicant.  Second term freshmen have provided us with high school teacher’s names and their insight works well in our process. After checking references if the impression seems a good match for the job we call the student in for an interview. 

Using two people to interview is great but if that is not possible divide the interview into two sections to build a picture of the candidate. Review the SI model with the candidate and then base subsequent questions on how the student reacts to the model.  Posing SI scenarios for their consideration helps to determine their thinking within the model. Asking how they would relate to a struggling student provides important information. UMKC manual includes a suggested ranking of candidates that could be applied at this point in the evaluation process.  The interview determines those admitted for training so time spent with interviewees is worth it.

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Internet Resource of the Month

By Susan Marcus Palau
Director, Learning Center, Purchase College/SUNY
Email: Susan.Palau@Purchase.edu

Time Management

Ugh! It is the 30th of the month and this article is due. I've procrastinated until this last moment so I thought it would be appropriate to review a time management site for this month's Learning Center Newsletter. I stumbled upon one from my mighty search engine that looked attractive, doable and informative - the "Time/Design...and Suddenly You Have Time" on line time management company.

The homepage neatly summarizes their three available main systems for time management; the Business System, the Compact System and the Gemini Partner Management System. The Business System seems to be the most complex yet offers the most. A few of the many features of this binder-bound system are a perpetual calendar, 25 activities checklists, 25 project management forms, a 25-page telephone/address book, report, lined and graph papers and a training tape. The Compact System is a binder-bound abridged and portable version of the Business System measuring approximately 3" by 5". A few of the items it contains are activity overview sheets dated through 2003, various types of report and graphing papers and references useful for international travel. Lastly the Gemini System holds an electronic hand-held device on the left-side and various organizing sheets on the right side. The design and lay-out of this system corresponds to the alleged left-brain - right-brain organization of our minds.

Clicking on the next tab - "Shopping" - allows you to search for all the various time management products including refills of forms, gift items and software. The "Training" tab explains about the Time/Design Process and about the training involved - a "one click" on each page that is easy to navigate and is actually engaging and interesting. The "Why It Works" tab boils down our time management needs to the time commitments you need to keep or someone owes you, the various types of communications you make and receive and the various forms of information you need to process. The Time/Design system claims it will help you organize these commitments, communications and information. Lastly, the "Software" tab features three software products this company sells - "TaskTimer" that helps with time, team and project management; "Mind Manager" that allows you to map your creative ideas and "Paper Tiger" that guarantees you will be able to find anything in your office in five seconds or less. (Can I apply this to finding those singleton socks I am perpetually losing in the wash?) All the Time/Design products seem reasonably priced and correspond to the best theories of time management. Their website can be found at www.timedesign.com.

(Thank god I finished this article and hopefully it is on time. Maybe I will invest in one of the above products so I don't have to sweat this out every month.)

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Conferences

TechEd 2001 
September 24-26, 2001 
Chicago, IL 

   http://techedevents.org/chicago/index.asp    

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NCLCA Annual Conference 
October 3-5, 2001 
Evanston, IL 

The keynote speaker is Bunk Spann. The mission of NCLCA is to support learning assistance professionals as they develop and maintain learning centers, programs, and services to enhance student learning at the post-secondary level.  More information about the conference is available on the NCLCA website:

    http://www.eiu.edu/~lrnasst/nclca/index.html

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ArkADE Annual Conference 
October 4-5, 2001 
Hot Springs, Arkansas 

For more info about the Arkansas Association for Developmental Education national conference, contact Sandra Kerr, ArkADE President at skerr@mail.eacc.cc.ar.us

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American Council on Education Conference 
October 18-20, 2001 
Cincinnati, OH

    http://www.acenet.edu/programs/omhe

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3rd National Conference On Research In Developmental Education
October 24-28, 2001
Charlotte, NC, MA

The conference theme is "Research 2001: Integrating Theory and Practice".  The will focus on this integration for the purpose of highlighting current research in the field, sharing research-based classroom techniques, validating current instructional methods, and networking among professionals. 

    http://www.ncde.appstate.edu/ 

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LAANE 18th Annual Conference
October 26, 2001
Burlington, MA

The Learning Association of New England (LAANE) will have its annual conference at the Northeastern University in Burlington, Massachusetts.  The theme for this year's conference is "Student Retention!"  LAANE supports educators in meeting the academic and interpersonal needs of under-prepared, at risk, and nontraditional students.  This also includes students with disabilities and those for whom English is a second language.

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8th National Conference  on Students in Transition
October 27-30, 2001 
Oak Brook, IL

    http://www.sc.edu/fye/

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Let us know about conferences not listed here by emailing lcn@attendance-tracking.com

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Values

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On the Lighter Side

Wise Words?

If your father is a poor man, it is your fate but, if your father-in-law is a poor man, it's your stupidity.

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A bus station is where a bus stops.

A train station is where train stops.

On my desk, I have a work station....

what more can I say...

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If it's true that we are here to help others, then, what exactly are the others here for?

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Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

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How come "abbreviated" is such a long word ?

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Money is not everything. There's Mastercard & Visa.

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One should love animals. They are so tasty.

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Love thy neighbor. But don't get caught.

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Behind every successful man, there is a woman. 

And behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.

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Every man should marry.

After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.

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Success is a relative term. It brings so many relatives.

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Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.

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Love is photogenic. It needs darkness to develop.

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"Your future depends on your dreams"

So go to sleep

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There should be a better way to start a day than waking up every morning.

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"Hard work never killed anybody"

But why take the risk!

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"Work fascinates me"

I can look at it for hours!

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God made relatives; Thank God we can choose our friends.

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When two's company, three's the result!

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The more you learn, the more you know,

The more you know, the more you forget

The more you forget, the less you know

So.. why learn.

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Quotes

The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
- Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931)

 
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 "The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but for the deliverance from fear.  It is the storm within that endangers him, not the storm without." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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It was one of the rules which, above all others, made Benjamin Franklin the most amiable of men in society: never to contradict anybody.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

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The July issue of the Learning Center Newsletter featured:

To view the July issue, click here.

	Submitting articles of interest to learning-assistance professionals.
	Reviewing books and other learning-assistance resources.
	Informing us about conferences and other happenings.
	Nominating your favorite learning center professional for the Person of the Month column.
	Sharing resource information with your peers: web sites, publications, etc.

This newsletter is sponsored by AccuTrack and edited by Mon Nasser from Engineerica Systems, Inc.  My thanks to this month's contributors: Frank Christ, Susan Marcus Palau, Barbara Stout and Jeanne Wiatr.

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Last modified: August 29, 2002