“Preparing Our Students to Succeed in College”
What academic skills do our students need to do college-level work? (Hint: doing well in high school probably isn’t sufficient). In this session, we introduce the key critical thinking skills students really need to become independent, lifelong learners.
“Help Them to ‘Step Up Their Game’ by Explaining What Game They’re Playing”
Every assignment we give is an opportunity to help our students hone their critical thinking skills. In this workshop, we’ll explore ways to make these skills more explicit in the way we craft assignments, so students can identify and internalize the competencies we expect them to master.
“The GPS System Every Student Needs to Navigate College”
For most of our students, college is unfamiliar, for many it is challenging, for some it is intimidating. In this session, we’ll consider how to provide the conceptual roadmap students need to make sense of new subjects, new academic expectations, and new opportunities.
“How to Center Critical Thinking in Everything We Teach”
Faculty want their students to think critically but may not know how to impart these skills through their assignments or their pedagogy. In this session, we’ll identify the core components of critical thinking and explore how these can be woven into the structure of our courses, our assignments, and our feedback on student work.
“Cultivating Metacognition in Our Students”
We all want our students to become better learners. Here are some simple techniques to help them identify how they think, and how they can become more self-aware about their own learning processes.
“Why Our Students Can’t Think Critically, and What We Can Do About It”
Faculty complain that students don’t know how to analyze the material they assign, and students complain they don’t understand what faculty expect of them. The solution to this longstanding impasse may be simpler than we imagine.
“The Perennial Challenge of Higher Education: Creating Critical Thinkers”
Our mission is to give students the critical thinking skills they need to complete their coursework and to become lifelong learners. But if it were that simple, we’d be more successful at it than
studies suggest we are. This talk addresses some strategies for centering critical thinking throughout the curriculum, and beyond.
“Critical Thinking—What it Means and Why it Matters”
Critical thinking has been defined in many different ways. What skills are we actually trying to impart to our students and how can we ensure that they get them? Our success as educators depends on getting this right. And there is probably no time in our history as a nation when the stakes have been higher.
“Beyond Belonging: Critical Thinking Skills as Key to Self-Esteem, Persistence, and Academic Success”
We know that our students need a sense of belonging to succeed in college. But to really gain academic self-confidence they also need to understand specific critical thinking skills and practice using them. Here is how to prepare them for the challenges ahead and give them the tools they will need to get academically engaged and stay the course.
“Learning How to Learn”: The Most Important Course is the One You Will Never Take”
College is all about learning how to learn more effectively. But most schools never specifically identify the strategies students need to do this. This talk covers the essentials of metacognition and effective study strategies that every student needs to know before they can really tackle all the other work they need to do.
“Developing Relationships with Your Professors: What Every Student Needs to Know”
Most students think college is all about completing the coursework and getting good grades. But cultivating close relationships with faculty is the best way to get the most out of college and to build the connections that will lead to post-graduation opportunities. Come learn how to engage effectively with your faculty and discover how many doors they can open for you.