Motivation Mondays aim to better students’ study habits

The Office of Academic Transitions and the Center for Academic Success teamed up to start Motivation Mondays. On three chosen Mondays through February and March, representatives from both offices will be stationed in academic buildings to provide students with anything from an academic plan for the semester to study tips for 4 o’clocks.

“These sessions are just walk-in hours between the two offices for those who need to plan their academics for the semester,” said Ashley Blanks, a graduate assistant in the Office of Academic Transitions. “We’re aiming to meet with students who aren’t regulars at the office and want to reach more students on a more efficient scale.”

The first session took place on Feb. 6 in the Roemmele Global Commons in Williams Hall, and staff members from both offices were available for drop-in consultation. The session’s purpose was to show students there are resources on campus if they feel they’re struggling academically.

Whether students have time management concerns or want to avoid procrastinating too much in the library, the consultations can help with whatever students feel they’re struggling with.

“We did a similar event last spring, not as well publicized or attended, where we promoted students refocusing their academics after spring break,” said Stefani Pila, a graduate student at the Office for Academic Transitions. “But this year, we wanted to hit the ground running and get students this help, if they need it, as soon as possible.”

The offices have collaborated frequently in the past, but the Office for Academic Success is more widely known to students, Pila said. Although the Center for Academic Success is mostly known for tutoring, it wants to show students it can provide broader academic resources. The offices tend to do a lot of the same things, and they see each other as counterparts, so by collaborating they hope to target a larger population of students.

There are two more sessions as part of the Motivation Monday series.The next one will take place Monday, Feb. 13 in UC 303 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. and is meant to prepare students for 4 o’clock exams. The consultants will help students create personal study plans more than a week in advance of the first day of exams, allowing them to effectively budget their study time.

“We are aiming to help students gain better study plan strategies and give them specific study preparation tips,” Pila said. “Students often find it hard figuring out how to break things down and make workloads more manageable, so we help explain the various ways to study like active studying, self-testing, and ways to avoid cramming.”

The final session of the series will be held on March 23, after spring break and before the last round of 4 o’clocks. The offices intend to help students learn long-term study habits from the two previous events, but if students feel they still lack them, this session is to help them pick their grades up before 4 o’clocks.

Ashley Gray, ’19, a mechanical engineering major, attended the first session after seeing the event in the university announcements. Gray is not a regular at the Center for Academic Success, but thought the convenience of the location and walk-in hours made the session appealing.

“I definitely think doing this early on in the semester is going to make more students aware of the office and all that they can do to help people figure out study habits,” Gray said. “I was given a semester calendar and worked out the best times for me to study for exams, how to avoid procrastination and actually get out of bed to study.”

The offices are seeking to help students gain long-term study habits and “ditch the old ones that they thought worked well,” Pila said.