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Get
a leg up on your career at the Learning
Assistance Center
By
L'Oreal Battistelli
Online Forty-Niner
Staff
Approximately 24,000 students received services
from the Learning Assistance Center last
year. Each semester, students are
provided with up-to-date learning skills
and supplemental instruction to prepare
them for the working world in the most essential
way; getting to know their individual learning
styles to enable themselves to become more
effective as college students and more successful
as employees in their intended careers.
The
key to a successful career is simple.
"The
cornerstone is developing time-management
skills through self-assessment, developing
communication skills by studying in small
group environments, and creating team building
skills through participation in small group
discussions," William Boylan, Assistant
Director for Student Transition and Retention
Services said.
The
Learning Center has been in operation more
than 25 years, and although the center is
not widely advertised, there are a great
many students who take advantage of their
services. Long Beach's LAC has a high success
rate.
"Long
Beach State is a prototype," Boylan
said. "We're more well known
at training conferences than we are on campus."
Various
academic services are provided at little
or no cost to CSULB students. ESL
tutorial services, as well as a conversation
lab, and five types of tutorial services
are available. Individual tutoring costs
$65.00 for five hours of individual tutoring.
Drop-in tutoring is available for a cost
of $35.00 per subject for an entire semester.
On-campus programs that assist with tutoring
costs are CAMP, DSS, EOP, LAlli, LHPP, MEP,
PASS, PSP, SAR, SAS, SI, and SSSP.
Online
tutoring costs are $35 per subject, also
available for the entire semester; a tutor
is available to assist via the internet.
Group
tutoring is offered free to students. Ten
to 12 groups are coordinate each semester
to meet two hours each week. Students need
only to request specific assistance in an
individual or group setting.
Supplemental
Instruction is key to academic success in
the most challenging of classes.
"Supplemental
instruction is for classes that are historically
difficult," June Borba, coordinator
of Office Operations said. "Fifty percent
of the students in these classes will earn
a "D" grade unless they get some
support. It takes a supplemental instructor,
like a tutor, who sits through a class with
a student. Immediately after, they review
what's important, what the professor really
wants the students to study, the key phrases,
different ways to go about memorizing and
then to show you all their secrets."
"Only
one section for each of the courses has
SI available, so you want to look for the
one section that has SI below it and get
into that section. Choose that first, then
choose all the other classes, that way there's
no conflict," Borba said.
They
can find the classes that are connected
and enroll in their target (required) classes,
and then they can enroll in SI," Carol
Olgivie, Coordinator, Supplemental Instruction
said, who has worked in the program for
fifteen years.
"The
most important thing they get is learning
how to learn, and they get to meet in a
small group setting on a regular basis with
a leader who directs and helps them."
Page
LC-79 of the Schedule of Classes, Supplemental
Instruction is listed as a one unit, non-baccalaureate
credit study course "designed to teach
learning strategies and techniques to assist
students in mastering course concepts."
It also defines the requirement of enrollment
in a "corresponding" supplemental
class. By enrolling in these classes, students
have the option of enrolling in the accompanying
LAC class.
Students are taught by Leaders who are other
Long Beach students who have a thorough
grasp of specific course knowledge. Leaders
are recommended by their instructors and
trained by the LAC. SI trained, they attend
students' classes with them and then immediately
following (and sometimes before) and provide
supplemental instruction focusing on the
highlights of each class.
"We
teach them to learn how to learn,"
Kelly Laumbach, Leader, said. "They
don't know how to study. They don't know
how to take a test or how to take notes.
They didn't study the correct way. They
didn't study the correct stuff. We teach
them how to be most effective in their studies,
how to get the most out of their classes."
During
the week of August 23 orientations to the
program were presented at various times
in Lecture Hall 151 to incoming freshman
and transfer students in the SOAR program
and Pre-Semester100 enrolled students.
Approximately
thirty students enroll in one of the SI
classes every semester and utilize the program's
services provided for various courses.
Students attend their classes accompanied
by their leader, and after reviewing their
assignments their leader creates and presents
learning strategies for their groups.
"The
courses get gobbled up real fast,"
Boylan said. "Sign up as soon
as possible because seats go fast.
It's that smaller environment learning situation
that provides the student an opportunity
to get a higher grade."
"Their
grades pick up in every class because they
have learned how they need to go about learning,"
Olgilvie said.
Learning
skills is also one of the most critical
areas of address for successful learning.
Individual appointments provide students
an opportunity to consider their study habits,
learning preferences and adapt a process
to incorporate their needs with their individual
learning styles. FREE workshops throughout
the semester provide students. Workshops
review and discuss student skills in the
areas of time management, studying with
textbooks, note taking, memorization of
information and test taking strategies,
writing research papers and preparation
for final examinations. Drop into the center
and pick up a schedule of the workshops.
"Everyone
has 168 hours per week. How you manage
your time is critical," Boylan said.
LAC
Office Hours are: Monday and Tuesday: 9
a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday:
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday: 9 a.m. to noon.
Call (562) 985-5350 or drop in, LAC, AS-012
(Library East, Room 12) Visit their Web
site at http://www.csulb.edu/centers/lac.
You can also e-mail them at centers-lac@csulb.edu.
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