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Faculty
Support Ideas
Faculty
can support non-trads by, first, being understanding of their
situation. Many non-trads must deal with faculty who think that
classes, and their class in particular, should be the student’s
number one priority. However, with a sick child at home or an
ailing spouse or a full-time job to cater to, it becomes next
to impossible to hold a class consistently as their number one
priority. A good strategy is to find a way to provide a little
flexibility, where you can. Some faculty will allow students
to turn in one assignment late or to resubmit assignments with
minimal punishment. Other faculty members will provide assignment
requirements at the very beginning of the semester so students
can begin working on them and complete them ahead of time.
Second,
faculty can modify their class attendance policy. Too often,
non-trads have to stay out of class because of family or job
emergencies. Faculty can help by providing students with a variety
of options about attending classes. If a student misses class,
they may make it up by completing an additional assignment or
reviewing class notes posted in Blackbord, or such.
Third, you
can help non-trads learn how to learn. You can provide them
the opportunity to take learning assessments and discover how
they learn best. It can benefit both traditional and non-traditional
students who are not strong learners by finding out how they
learn and ways they can approach studying. You can provide study
guides and techniques on how to study your material. Non-trads
and first-generation students may also need to be instructed
in how to change study modes from what they learned in high
school, i.e., that the best way to study material is to memorize
it. Perhaps you can demonstrate how you would study this material
and provide examples. You can help students discern what is
important from the non-important.
Finally,
you can help them identify resources that will aid in their
study. For example, you can show them how to use the library
and online databases, point out particular study guides that
have been helpful to previous students, and introduce them to
the Student Success Center. If they have specific needs, such
as childcare or financial aid, help them find resources to address
these needs so they may use them and more successfully participate
in your classroom.
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