Along with the structural updates that were made over the winter break on both floors of Building 5, there have been updates to the Academic Skills Workshops offered each semester. Learning Commons (Learning Center and Library) faculty and staff aim to help faculty extend their classrooms with workshops that can address the challenges they know their students struggle with. This semester has seen a targeted approach to scheduling these workshops and the topics they cover, so that each workshop specifically addresses the needs of students, and is delivered at the appropriate time during the semester.
With this new approach, the Learning Commons has been able to reach out to faculty members and gain a greater insight into their students’ needs to pinpoint key topics to coordinate with class curriculum, to ensure the greatest benefit from each workshop topic offered. This close partnership has paved the way for faculty to add workshop attendance to their curriculum planning, and in some cases to lead workshops themselves.
This increased participation with faculty has led to new subjects being supported, such as Communication Studies, Physics, Chemistry, and Tagalog. Along with this expanded array of topics, recurring workshops on grammar and essay structure have also been implemented this semester. In just the first four weeks of the spring 2016 semester, 167 students have taken advantage of the Academic Skills Workshops – a great indication of the need for this support.
For more information regarding workshops currently scheduled for this semester, please refer to the Learning Center website. To inquire about participating in a workshop, or scheduling a workshop for your students, please contact Learning Center Instructional Aide Christina Trujillo at extension 7019 or email her at trujilloc@smccd.edu.
Article by Christina Trujillo
