Budget Friendly Learning and Writing Success Resources
Lucy MacDonald
Looking for 24/7 resources for students, tutors, Academic Coaches and/or your Learning Center.
Find the curated information here organized by strategies and subject area. Find out what’s
new and how you can use this material in the classroom or as training material for your tutors.
Handouts will be provided.
Practicing What We Preach: Self-Care for Developmental Education and Learning Assistance Professionals
Sonya Armstrong, Texas State University
As education professionals, we often advise our students and colleagues to practice self-care and
to implement balance strategies for their busy lives. During this lunch session, we'll discuss ways
to act on the advice we give others: for juggling busy calendars, for balancing work and home, for
avoiding burnout, for maintaining a positive energy, and for being our most productive selves.
Balancing Work and Home Life – Avoid the Burnout!
Jodi Lampi, Northern Illinois University
Being the best professional, scholar, and educator takes a lot of time – a lot of time that often
impacts time with family and friends. Wherever you are in your academic journey, come engage in a
discussion related to strategic steps towards balancing your professional and work life. Take a load
off your chest – guilt free – and share your stories! In addition, I will provide recommendations and
strategies gathered from scholars and practitioners within developmental education and learning
assistance programs on how they managed this juggle. We will then together come up with goals and
strategies that we can each take home and begin to implement in our own lives.
How to Build, Grow, and Manage Your Professional Brand
Tina Kondopoulos
Would you like to know how to create a blueprint for building, growing, and managing your professional
brand? Join us as we discuss how to build a brand identity, brand value, and brand integration. We will
also provide tips and strategies on how to grow and manage your brand.
En Route to Successful Collaborations in Learning Assistance Center Management
Jon Mladic
Are you a learning assistance professional who transitioned to a learning commons model and, in doing so,
combined centers or physically moved to a central location (such as the Library)? Are you simply looking
to expand the number of departments you work with across your institution? As budgets shrink and centers
merge, productive partnerships can make a difference in one’s ability effectively manage a learning
assistance center. Come ready to engage in a discussion that will cover established, productive partnerships
as well as those that have untapped potential; plan to leave with practical suggestions for potential new
collaborators that can enhance your tutoring program and strategies for approaching new potential partners.
The Evolution of College Reading and Learning Professionals: Renegotiating Our Professional Space
Jeanine Williams
Over the past few years, we have witnessed drastic changes in legislation related college reading and
learning, major shifts in student characteristics, reduced budgets, and redesigned programs and courses.
Our ability to continue to thrive in our work towards student success depends on our ability to evolve
professionally. Just as the field of college reading and learning has evolved, we must also evolve. During
this conversation, we will explore how the changes in our professional landscapes require us to move beyond
our old ways of being, our old ways of thinking, and our old ways of doing. Most importantly, we will discuss
practical strategies for embracing change and for leveraging change to energize our work and to benefit our
students.
Supervising Near-Peer Supervisors: Navigating Bumps in the Road
Laura Everett
Employing Graduate Assistants or Lead Tutors to supervise undergraduate peer educators is an excellent
career building experience. However, when your supervising team is close in age to their reports,
establishing authority while maintaining trusting relationships can be difficult. Come ready to discuss
how to select, train and support your young supervisors as they develop skills that they will take into
their careers.
Tutor Training: How do we know it's working?
Shawn O'Neill
We spend a lot of time and energy training our tutors, but how do we know if they are actually learning what
we are teaching? How do we know training is improving our tutoring outcomes? Regular and systematic evaluations
(self, peer, and supervisor) are a start. Come share your “best practices” for tutor assessment and participate
in an important discussion on the value of embedding learning outcomes and assessment into our training programs.
We will talk about specific outcomes and concrete assessment strategies for the training topics for ITTPC levels
1, 2 and 3.
Managing the Generation Z Classroom
Kathy Stein
Discuss the joys and challenges associated with generational differences in the classroom. Review the
characteristics of the different generations that are currently teaching in higher ed classrooms: Baby
Boomers, Generation X, and older Millennials. Examine the characteristics of the many Generation Z
students in our classrooms. Share strategies for bridging the underlying warrants of the different generations
and supporting successful classroom interactions. Return home with greater empathy for both yourself
and your students as well as some concrete strategies for addressing the generational differences.
This is how we do it! Ten successful tips for Learning Center Manages to Enhance Student Success
Valerie Smith-Stephens
How do you run a successful Learning/Tutoring Center? Come and discover 10 successful strategies to have
a center that promotes academic success from a Learning Center Manager with over 30 years of experience
in Academic Support and Learning Center Management. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions
in a supportive environment and gain tools to support student learning, work with faculty and administrators.
Also, information will be provided on how to work with special populations such as first generation college
students, students of color and students with disabilities.
Strategies and Standards for Learning Assistance Program Evaluation
Patricia Mulcahy-Ernt
What is your route for evaluating your learning assistance program and services? You are invited to engage
in a discussion about essential guidelines, standards, and strategies used for learning assistance program
evaluation, including using the Council for Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) standards.
Updates about the revised CAS general standards and the new standards to be published in the forthcoming 10th
edition of the CAS “Bluebook” of standards (to be published in 2019) will be shared.