Becoming an Effective Learning

Services Staff Member

Bradley Bethel Fall 2013 ASPSA Learning Services Training

August 12, 2013

Objectives • Provide an overview of the Academic Support Program

for Student-Athletes staff and their roles. • Explain the functions of the assistant learning specialists

and how they collaborate with each other and with full-time staff.

• Activate participants’ prior knowledge of academic/learning support for college students (and student-athletes).

• Challenge participants to analyze the task of providing effective academic support for student-athletes.

• Challenge participants to set goals for this school year, this semester, and this week of training.

ASPSA Overview Staff and their Roles

Director and Office Manager

The director, Dr. Michelle Brown, oversees all operations of the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes and reports to the provost, Dr. James Dean, Jr. The office manager, Nate Yarborough, manages office events, paperwork, supplies, technology, and transportation.

Academic Counselors Academic counselors monitor student-athletes’ academic progress and counsel them on managing the demands of academics and athletics. • Brent Blanton (Associate Director) • Les Myers (Associate Director) • Jenn Townsend (Associate Director) • Greg Beatty • Jaimie Lee • Kym Orr • Tia Overstreet • Tony Yount

Tutorial Staff The tutorial staff manages the tutoring services for all student-athletes. • Susan Maloy (Coordinator) • Ben Scheu (Assistant) • Karen Neff (Assistant)

Learning Specialists Learning specialists teach learning strategies through individual academic plans for the most academically challenged student-athletes. • Bradley Bethel (Football) • Beth Lyons (Olympic Sports)

Part-time Staff • Assistant learning specialists work under Bradley’s

supervision to provide individual interventions to academically challenged football student-athletes.

• Tutors provide writing- or subject-specific strategy instruction for individuals or small groups of student-athletes.

Assistant Learning Specialists

Their Roles in ASPSA

Assistant Learning Specialists

• Instruction: Teach evidence-based learning strategies to individual students as assigned by the supervising learning specialist.

• Evaluation: Monitor individual students’ learning progress and make adjustments to instruction as needed.

• Communication: Maintain detailed reports and communicate clearly and consistently with learning specialists and academic counselors regarding students’ learning progress and needs.

• Student Engagement: Establish and maintain high expectations for students while also providing the encouragement and constructive feedback students need to feel supported.

• Miscellaneous: Fulfill other duties as assigned by the supervising learning specialist.

Assistant Learning Specialists, Cont.

• Approximately 15 hours per week with individual students.

• Attendance at weekly meetings required. • Caseload and schedule assigned by Bradley.

Questions/Comments?

Activating Your Prior Knowledge and Skills

What has your education and experience taught you?

Your Knowledge and Skills

Take ten minutes to reflect and write down what knowledge and skills you have from previous education and experience that will be relevant to your position with ASPSA. You may consider the following questions to get started. • What do you know about underprepared college

students? • What do you know about the student-athlete

population? • What makes a student successful in college? • What teaching skills do you have? • What do you know about learning theory? • What learning strategies do you know?

Analyzing the Task Ahead What do you think is required to provide effective learning

support for student-athletes?

Analyzing the Task Take five minutes to write down the following: • what you expect will be required to provide our

students effective learning support, • what you expect will be the biggest challenges, • and how you will address those challenges.

Setting Goals as a Learning Services Staff Member

What do you hope to accomplish?

Setting Goals Take five minutes to write down at least two goals (related to your position with ASPSA) for each of the following: • the school year, • the semester, and • this week of training.

Questions/Comments?

Conclusion During this workshop, we accomplished the following objectives: • Provide an overview of the Academic Support Program

for Student-Athletes staff and their roles. • Explain the functions of the assistant learning specialists

and learning assistants and how those positions collaborate with each other and with full-time staff.

• Activate participants’ prior knowledge of academic/learning support for college students (and student-athletes).

• Challenge participants to analyze the task of providing effective learning support for student-athletes.

• Challenge participants to set goals for this school year, this semester, and this week of training.

Next Workshop: “Effective Learning Support for

College Student-Athletes”