newsadvancements and initiatives - Faculty Matters

Resources and roadmaps for students
Q
How can we as faculty help our
students that are struggling?
A
t University of Phoenix we have a large number
of resources and tools available to students, and
we encourage faculty to become familiar with them.
Refer students to labs and workshops
There are two types of labs for students—those
managed by the colleges and related to course
content and those managed by the Academic
Operations team to help students with their academic
skills. A student who is really struggling can go to
both a lab and a workshop and they’ll have a different
experience in each setting.
The online labs, monitored by full-time faculty, are
open round the clock. They’re designed for students
to drop in and get information in a student-unionmeets-academic-need
way. Examples of lab topics
include student success, writing, critical thinking and
avoiding plagiarism. These specific labs are available
both on OLS and via groups within PhoenixConnect®.
The workshops, numbering more than two dozen,
are instructor-led and last three days. Designed to
give specific content to students, some of the more
popular ones address APA, basic essay writing and
time and stress management. All workshops are free,
and students are welcome to take as many as they
want. Faculty also have access to all of the workshop
materials, should they want to review the content.
Encourage participation in Academic
Support Community
Another exciting resource is the brand-new
Academic Support Community, expected to go live
in PhoenixConnect® on June 1, 2012. The Academic
Support Community is a place for students to get
recommendations for the resources they need at any
given moment. Some full-time faculty members will
be the community leaders for this effort, and they’ll
be able to direct students to the resources that can
help support them when they find themselves in need.
We’re also working on a student resource road map that
will be a navigational tool to help students land at the
right resources at the right time. This map was created
with faculty in mind, and we hope it will make tracking
down student resources easier for our instructors. To
access the map/guide, log into eCampus and enter
studentresources.phoenix.edu into the address bar.
Make career connections
It’s also very helpful to students when our faculty make
the relevancy of their course clear by explaining how
the concepts students learn in a particular class can
benefit their life, both today and in their future career.
Studies show that if a student can see how what they
are learning is going to benefit their career down the
road, they’re more likely to persist with their education.
This is because they have a strong reason to do
whatever is necessary to overcome a challenging event.
If they don’t know why, they’re more likely to just say,
“Oh, I’m done.”
Recall orientation
Last fall, University of Phoenix launched UNIV, a
new orientation program for any new student with
fewer than 24 college credits. This free three-week
course gives potential students a reality check as to
what University life is like by presenting orientation
materials and activities within the look and feel of the
University of Phoenix classroom. And UNIV is helping
with student retention, performance and motivation.
One participant commented, “These weeks have given
me life-changing skills that I have to put into place
that will allow me to be successful in school, work and
my personal life.”
If your students have participated in UNIV, it may be
helpful to remind them to look back on what they
learned in the program about managing their time
and locating resources.
Motivate, encourage and inspire
Finally, it is important to realize that our students don’t
always come to University of Phoenix armed with a
support system and ready resources from the outside
world, so we become their support system, their
link to success. To the extent that we can motivate,
encourage and inspire them, and link them to the
resources that are available, we can really become
very pivotal. We can become a catalyst in their life, and
that’s a pretty powerful place to be.
facultymatters.com
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A sampling of
University
of phoenix’s
most popular
OLS student
workshops from
December 2011
to February 2012:
NEW STUDENT
ORIENTATION
Bachelor/Master
11,524 students
registered
Associate
4,945 students
registered
Local
1,504 students
registered
17,973 TOTAL
students registered
ApA
5,985 students
registered
Avoiding
plagiarism
3,576 students
registered
Basic Essay
Writing
3,711 students
registered
Basic Grammar
3,264 students
registered
Student Success
2,529 students
registered
Time & Stress
Management
2,310 students
registered
Help us help you
Academic Operations relies on faculty to help us determine what the needs
of the students are. If you would like to provide feedback or suggestions on
matters related to the resources we provide students, we encourage you to
contact us at Student.Resources@phoenix.edu.