Finding Success With Student Workshops

Gabriella Ianiro

Staff Writer

This semester, LIU Post’s Academic Career and Planning office is offering Effective Study Strategy Workshops for students who are having difficulty studying and keeping their grades up.

The workshops, which are designed to assist students on the academic and career front, are of­fered several times throughout the semester. The Time Management and Test-Taking workshops have been held twice this term. Other workshops include writing an effective cover letter and resume, exploring careers and choosing a major, going on job interviews and how to effectively search for a job.

The most recent workshop, Effective Study Strategies, was held during common hour in Hu­manities on February 26, with an attendance of about 25 students.

Students received different studying tips during the interac­tive workshop. The hosts, Assistant Director of the Learning Support Center, Gregory Schimmel, Aca­demic Advisor, Heather Delano and Academic Advisor, Daniel Lauterman asked students why they felt they were having trouble. They then recommended different solutions for the problems. For ex­ample, students who have trouble with time management should plan in advance in order to allot the appropriate amount of time to complete their work.

Schimmel enjoys the chance to participate in the work­shops. “It’s a great opportunity to work with the counselors who do such a great job presenting ideas and suggestions to stu­dents,” he said. He added that the workshop is a helpful tool to also help promote the tutoring services on campus.

“I enjoy the team approach in planning these workshops where we can discuss and de­velop new and creative ideas to present important information to students to engage them and help them to self-assess their own strengths and weakness and find what techniques work best for them,” said Delano, who co-facil­itates the Effective Study Strate­gies and Test Taking Strategies Workshop.

Throughout the hour-long presentation, they discussed all of the resources on campus that students can use for help with studying such as Peer Tutoring, the Program for Academic Suc­cess and the Student Health and Counseling Center.

Schimmel is primarily re­sponsible for two areas within the Learning Support Center: PAS, an alternative admissions program, and the Peer Tutoring Program. He is the academic advisor for students in the PAS program.

PAS is a program to assist freshmen who do not qualify for Post’s admission requirements, but demonstrate potential for academic success. The one-year academic program helps students matriculate without restrictions by providing a reduced course load, smaller class size, support services and continuous evalua­tion during freshman year.

The Peer Tutoring Program staff, whom is made up of care­fully selected and trained tutors, who are also LIU Post students, assists undergraduate students with specific subjects, assign­ments or projects.

Each tutor demonstrates exceptional knowledge and skills in a particular subject area. In ad­dition, they can assist with study skills, note-taking tips, time man­agement techniques and test-tak­ing strategies. Peer tutors provide one-to-one assistance as well as small group support. Schimmel selects and trains the tutors while overseeing the day-to-day tutor­ing sessions.

During the workshop, Schimmel explained that there is a Disability Support Service in the Learning Support Center. DSS coordinates accommodations for students who have documented learning disabilities, ensuring equal access to programs and ser­vices and creating an accessible supportive environment.

“Often medical and/or psychological issues can have a negative impact on how a stu­dent performs in class,” said Schimmel. “Should students have a need, it’s important to take advantage of the resources that are available,” he added.

The Student Health and Counseling Center, located in Life Science Building in room 115, of­fers medical, counseling, psychiat­ric and nutritional services as well as drug and alcohol counseling. This service is free and confiden­tial for enrolled LIU Post students.

The biggest challenge stu­dents face, according to Delano is time. “I think many students today are pulled in so many different di­rections and face the challenge of trying to do it all and at the same time get straight A’s sometimes causing high levels of stress and anxiety,” she explained.

Delano says that poor study­ing habits could be a result of a student carrying a full-time credit course load, working part time, being a member of a club or sport and attempting to maintain a cer­tain grade point average to main­tain an academic scholarship.

Improving academics, learn­ing new material and retaining information requires a lot of time, effort and diligence. However, Delano believes it is worth the work: “We hope that these work­shops will provide students with tools for learning and help them become more successful during their college career,” she added.

Delano encourages students to take advantage of all the re­sources on campus such as the tu­toring services, the Writing Center and Student Health and Counsel­ing. “Sometimes a little direction can go a long way. Don’t give up and give yourself enough time to prepare,” said Delano.

Lauterman mentioned that technology is very prevalent in students’ lives. “As technology ad­vances, students need to be made aware of the educational benefits that are out there to help them succeed in their pursuits of a degree. The different educational iPad applications that we provided students during our workshop are just one way to provide them with information,” said Lauterman.

He recommends that students download apps such as Pages, CNN, Black­board, Audionote and Dictionary.

Sophomore Speech Pathology major, Melissa Saldiveri, attended the workshop because she is on academic probation. While on academic probation, it is a requirement to attend all of the study workshops. “I found the different techniques for note taking really helpful and it did give me the push I needed to be more focused on studying,” said Saldiveri.

Sophomore Health Care Administration major Gerard Presta attended the workshop because his advisor said it was a good idea due to his weaknesses in taking notes and studying. “I found it very helpful, I learned different tech­niques of studying and taking notes that I never heard of,” said Presta.

Making more time for studying and re-copying notes, according to Presta, were the most valuable lessons he learned from the workshop. He would rec­ommend this workshop to other students. However, he said that he “felt like they could have added more information on better note taking.”

Dimitra Mpounas, a student in the masters program in Political Science, who graduated from LIU Post in May 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Minor in Criminal Justice, has been a tutor at the Learning Sup­port Center for the past four years. Mpounas spoke at the workshop about tips for successful studying.

“One major tip that I would recommend to students is to start studying early for exams, writing papers by budgeting their time. Most importantly, if you don’t understand the material get help as soon as possible,” said Mpounas.

“Every department has its own tutors. This service is free. There are a variety of resources to help accommodate everyone’s needs,” she added.

Students may learn more about the dates and times of the workshops in the Academic and Career Planning office, located in Kumble Hall, or online at http://www.liu.edu/CWPost/StudentLife/Services/Counseling/Events.