The goals outlined in MDC’s strategic plan include: “accelerating academic excellence in innovation” and “redesigning the student experience to elevate engagement and success.” Doing so would increase the graduation rates above the 45% achieved in 2022.
How can we set-up students to succeed at MDC? By explicitly teaching them how to learn effectively.
This online program is structured to be facilitated by colleges and universities to equip students with essential skills for effective learning. This 12-14 hour program, comprises of 7 modules along with carefully curated synchronous and asynchronous components. Through practical workshops, students learn to enhance their retention, executive function, metacognition, comprehension, and critical thinking, ensuring they enter college with confidence and competence.
Understand the science behind habits and productive habit formation. Dispel common misunderstandings about how habits are created and maintained. Explore the concept of desirable difficulties and practice methods to persevere through difficult tasks. Learn how to make meaningful changes in your routine that last.
Learning is something you will do for life. There is a proper way to learn efficiently and effectively. Learn about the common misconceptions of learning and some basic necessities for learning to occur. Discover how to manage challenging emotions and uncover your mindset related to learning. Develop the habits of mind and routines to achieve what is possible for you.
Do you often re-read, highlight, underline and/or forget what you study? Have you ever crammed before a test? Studies show that the most commonly used strategies to study are the most ineffective ones for learning. Furthermore, compelling research reveals that encoding techniques and retrieval strategies improve learning dramatically. Master evidence-based techniques to learn and retain what you learn.
You are expected to pay attention in class, organize the materials and content, and ultimately use it in and out of the classroom. Yet, rarely are we taught to do this effectively or consciously. Executive function skills, such as time management and organizing, have been found to predict success in school and beyond. Learn about the monitoring and managing skills needed before, during and after learning activities occur.
One of the most powerful actions you can take to improve your learning outcomes is to learn metacognitive awareness skills. In fact, research shows that students who have strong metacognition are up to one year ahead of their peers. Discover how to think metacognitively and reflect on your learning. Learn how to determine if the methods you’re using are effective and when to try a different approach.
Facilitators use the following instructional design to guide students through the program.
Priming activities prepare students' brains for learning and make it easier to understand the material later on.
Interaction with other students on discussion boards and during live classes.
Students learn from their peers' educational trajectories and share their own prior experiences at school.
Students watch video micro-lessons make the information tangible and relevant.
Our program, Becoming a Sophisticated Learner, provides students with a User’s Guide to learning and the brain. We teach students how the brain processes information and what behaviors promote optimal learning. Graduates of this program will have an arsenal of science-based tools that enable them to monitor their learning and master what they are taught. The program consists of 6 modules of active and collaborative learning. It is complemented with live classes that support students through guided practice. There are several versions of the program for students in middle school preparing for high school as well as those preparing for success in college.
Students are engaged through creativity and invited to respond in a variety of modes including writing and video.
Students engage in frequent retrieval practice including elaboration, spacing, self- testing, and interleaving.
Application guides are study guides. Students can print them out or store them on their computer for easy reference.
Students make meaning of what they're learning and understand themselves as a learner through reflection.
Students demonstrate their learning to authentic audiences of their peers and b eyond.
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