Indirect and direct assessment methods have a long standing history in college learning centers. Being more resource-intensive and time-consuming, direct assessment methods are often underrepresented in the literature and in practice. This paper presents a case study of how a pretest-posttest assessment initiative was designed to measure student…

At English Medium Instruction (EMI) universities, where the English language is used to teach academic subjects in countries where the first language of the majority of the population is not English, students are required to undertake a preparatory year English language program before they are permitted to commence their chosen field of study. The…

The effectiveness of academic coaching at a mid-sized public university was evaluated for the spring 2020 semester by examining the change in academic performance and retention to the fall 2020 semester. Coaching effectiveness was evaluated across three different groups of undergraduate students. Two of the groups were academic recovery programs…

Peer educators, central to the work we do in academic support and more broadly in higher education, have deep impacts on student learning, development, and success. The ways that academic support professionals in the field make sense of their relationships with peer educators can impact the structure, function, and efficacy of support programs and…

As learning center professionals, we have much to gain by conducting assessment to understand how our services help college students develop their academic strategies. The type of data we collect makes a difference in the interpretations we can draw, however. An initial step in becoming a scholarly practitioner is to consider the strengths and…

Learning centers and academic support programs are often idealized entities campuses look to for student success, retention, and engagement. By untethering our thinking about program boundaries, identities, and alliances and radically reforming, we can generate interest, passion, and opportunities across campus. The force of redistributing…

This study examined long-term persistence differences between three samples of first-year online graduate students to understand the impact an early intervention had on students who failed the first assignment in their first course. A Fisher's exact test showed no statistically significant difference in the likelihood of remaining enrolled at the…

This article examines how one public university helped address student plagiarism through a collaboration between the Math and Writing Center and the Office of Student Conduct and Integrity. Included is a thorough discussion of how the program was designed, the roles each office played, and how the two areas collaborated to assess success. Since…

Students taking developmental mathematics often struggle with dedicating adequate time to engage with material outside of class. The institution in this study requires participation in out-of-class support and has utilized a variety of models of support. The goal of these support programs is to increase the pass rates for students and aid in the…

Supplemental Instruction (SI), a higher-education academic support program, targets challenging college courses and uses peer-led review sessions to develop academic skills, improve grades, influence persistence, and ultimately increase student retention (Arendale, 2001). The goals of this study were twofold: to determine if differences existed in…

Students with disabilities are attending institutions of higher education at an increasing rate. This trend leads to questions concerning academic success, institution responsibility, and the impact of academic support centers. Unfortunately, faculty and professional staff often do not have sufficient knowledge to address the ever-changing needs…

Many administrators in Learning Assistance Programs (LAPs) have teaching duties, or take on teaching duties at some point in their careers. This study was designed to examine the impact of LAP experience on classroom pedagogy. A pilot study was utilized first through listservs and email chains to ask that question of LAP professionals. After…

This study focused on the impact of Supplemental Instruction (SI) on student achievement in first semester Calculus for transfer students over a three-year period. Transfer students participating in SI achieved dramatically higher passing rates and course grades than did non-SI transfer students, despite no significant differences in academic…

Academia has traditionally avoided adopting the fast-paced, profit-oriented operational style that accompanies corporate culture. However, a business model can be successfully adapted to the unique needs of an academic institution, discipline, faculty, and students through the selective adoption of business principles. A classic marketing mix…