Hilgartner Open Learning

Over the past term, I have been working with colleagues in a student support centre called the Lighthouse, where students can come for help, connect with services, or hangout with friends. In short, this room and this time is theirs and they can feel they belong and are safe. In this role, I have had the chance to introduce flash cards as a study skill tool for learning and review. Students and teachers responded positively to the brief introduction. At the end, we handed out blank cards to everyone. Who can resist the colours and the simplicity of index cards? From there, the Lighthouse group has decided to make study skills in general a regular feature of the Lighthouse. Study skills presentations will be made available. A study skills cove is being constructed. With all of this momentum, I have taken time to reflect on my encounters with study skills. Over a decade ago, I was working as instructional assistant in a learning centre in a diploma challenge program I was hired t...

Over the course of the term, I have been working to focus the work of my students, narrowing what they need to study to prepare for the Official GED Examinations. I have been using entry tests provided in the online course to create study plans. The first step is to examine the results for lessons where the student was not successful. Using performance analysis charts provided, we create a list of these lessons. Then we enter these lessons onto a 12 week chart to create a plan. With the first group of students, we completed this task, from marking to lesson listing to study planning, using the textbook and a blank study plan. I sat down with each (or discussed on the phone) their results using the provided performance analysis charts. First, we looked at the overall score to determine to what extent they would need to focus on the unit based on the cut score provided. Next we examined each item. We found the Writing Unit Entry Test straightforward with the chart pointing to the less...