Editorial Welcome
Distractions List
Reading Textbooks Using Parrot
Year of The Cheat
16 Ways to Lower Your Grades
How Would You Help…Candace?
Training by Example
Brainteasers
Catch the Last Issue!

Welcome to the September 2006 issue of the new Learning Center Exchange!

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Editorial Welcome

By Mona Pelkey, United States Military Academy, West Point

Welcome to The Learning Center Exchange (LCE) and another issue chock full of information dedicated to helping learning assistance professionals help students.  I would like to highlight our main features for those of you who may be reading our publication for the first time, or as a refresher for the rest of us, after our long and lovely summer break: 

• Subscribers are emailed a link to the most recent issue of LCE as soon as it comes out. Subscription is free! To subscribe, fill out the form at http://www.learningassistance.com/join.htm . Please recommend our publication to your colleagues!

In the Spotlight: Focusing for Optimal Study: The Distractions List

By Mona Pelkey, United States Military Academy, West Point

Reading Textbooks Using Parrot

By Barbara McLay, University of South Florida

The Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review study method has been widely taught to students since 1946 when Francis P. Robinson came up with the acronym SQ3R and first published his textbook Effective Study.  However, students were being encouraged to use the steps in this study method long before the publication of Robinson’s textbook.  As early as 1924, Kornhauser published a study-skills booklet that taught these same steps, and other publications by Whipple in 1927, Cole and Fergerson in 1935, and Seashore in 1939 all advocated using…
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One of the toughest challenges in college is minimizing distractions when reading or studying.  Many students are aware of the things that distract them, such as too much noise, and common sense dictates that avoiding study areas that are noisy (such as dorm rooms) should alleviate their difficulty. One of the ways to identify and to deal with those distractions is to use a distractions list.  The distractions list, an effective personal organization/time management...
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16 Ways to Lower Your Grades

By Dennis Congos, University of Central Florida

Understanding Millennials: The Year of the Cheat

By Julianne Scibetta, Albany College of Pharmacy

Some students inadvertently acquire habits that distort the way they think about, see academics, or their potential for academic success. These are called cognitive, or thinking, patterns. When these patterns inhibit and frustrate success in college, they are called cognitive distortions. Such patterns of thinking can limit college success, result in ...
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Not that you lied to me, but that I no longer believe you – that is what has distressed me.
-Nietzsche

This year and especially this summer seemed to be full of ethical questions and dilemmas, made very public.  In the competition for faster, better, more, there is more pressure to go above and beyond, to have superhuman powers and strength, in order to achieve those high expectations.  But through these extraordinary means, have we begun to overshadow natural talent?  Are we encouraging a culture of cheating?...
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Relax! Entice! Engage! Training by Example

By Yolanda Debose Columbus, Blinn College

It’s Wednesday morning and students fill the Learning Center (LC).  Midterms are coming and students are cramming.  The three tutors on duty are already swamped.  They are jumping from student to student from subject to subject.  This is life at the LC.  In this madness, it is easy for tutors to resort to giving answers instead of guiding students to the answers.  In training, we tell them about these days, but how do we prepare them?...
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How Would You Help…Candace?

By Mona Pelkey, United States Military Academy, West Point

Candace, a 20-year-old college junior, has come to your office because one of her friends told her that you help people get better grades.  She reports that she really likes college and she wants to stay full-time and graduate next year, but she is finding it nearly impossible to focus on her coursework, and her grades are steadily dropping.  She is afraid that she will be forced to drop out if she doesn’t find a way to improve her grades....
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Brainteasers

Compiled by Julianne Scibetta, Albany College of Pharmacy

Answers to the Mother’s Day edition:

1. 3 children; one blonde, one brunette, one redhead.
2. No, because the man is dead (making his wife a widow).
3. The man’s son.
4. Nick!

Congratulations to “Coloniva” (sorry I didn’t get your name!) for submitting all the correct answers.  Bruce Epps and Peggy Underwood also receive honorable mentions for their answers.  I hope to see your answers this month.

Back to School!  September 2006
Time to test your muscle.

1. How many times does the digit 3 appear between 1 and 50?
2. Jimmy’s math teacher asked him to multiply three and four three times.  What is the correct answer?
3. Two boys and a girl were hiding in a tree house during a heat wave.  One of the boys had three bottles of lemonade with him and the other had five.  They shared the eight bottles of lemonade equally between the three of them.  When they came down from the tree house, the girl gave the boys eight sweets as payment.  What is the fairest method of dividing the eight sweets?

As always, submit your answers and brainteasers to me at jscibetta3@hotmail.com .

These questions from IQ Challenge, by Lagoon Games.

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