Jean Keelan

I appreciated the eight stages of assisting students. These stages are a great training tool for staff and faculty who are not trained as advisors, success coaches, or counselors. Also, all personnel need to know what services are available to students and who provides those services.

Understanding the cycle of stress gives school personnel an opportunity to intervene at the onset of shock. It was interesting to learn about "Academic Erosion Stress" and "Academic Stagnation Stress." A student just yesterday told me she feels inadequate as compared to her peers and that her perception was that her peer were looking down on her. She was definitely experiencing Academic Erosion Stress.

There are necessary as well as unnecessary causes of attrition. We need to focus on both causes. To assist students in navigating the unforeseen circumstances such as illness, family issues, etc as well as taking a preventative measure for the unnecessary causes. Even though faculty are the front line, everyone at the institution is responsible for retention.

My favorite piece of knowledge from this section was the mind set of "want to" versus "have to." The reality is that no one really has to do anything, but there is typically an outcome or consequence of the inaction. If people could change the "had to's" to the "want to's" they would be much more likely to look forward to tasks instead of avoiding them.

Educators can inspire students' inner motivation by providing a supportive environment and modeling positive behaviors. I believe all students, faculty, and staff would benefit from learning about Emotional Intelligence as it can make all of the difference in the world.

Students are our customers and everyone on campus can create a positive customer experience for students. Students can enter college without the study skills and positive beliefs about their success they need to have in order to succeed. Supportive, positive people and programs can change this in order to help students succeed.

I learned about the 3Ms strategy of modeling, mentoring, and monitoring. Also, self-efficacy is a powerful tool in student success. When faculty share personal stories of their academic success and what struggles they experienced, along with peer mentoring programs, students will see that struggles are a part of the journey, but success is at the end of that journey.

I appreciated finding ways to inspire and ignite students' interrnal motivation for learning. The "Student Motivation Enhancers" of reinforcemnt, retention, and transference gave me practical suggestions for keeping students engaged in the learning process.

The REFOCUS strategy was very helpful as energy is drained as the semester wears on. Learning fatigue sets in and students who aren't doing well are wondering if they will even pass the course, which fills them with fear. By anticipating the mid-semester slump, instructors can be proactive with their planning and teaching methods.

Building rapport with students keeps them engaged in the learning process. Also, I liked the "learn, apply, learn, apply" method as it makes learning active. Also, at the beginnng of every class, while waiting for students to arrive, having conversations with students or telling a short story helps them to relax before the class begins.