7 Steps to Academic Transformation

Have you ever had a transformative experience? I’m not referring to an occurrence in which you made external changes that you hoped would produce internal benefits. I mean a period in which key factors aligned in such a way that produced powerful self-understandings. Such self-revelatory moments don’t just inspire us to change at some later time; they produce immediate and lasting change.

Transformation doesn’t change our situation. Our perspective and perceptions of the circumstances change. We see something of value in ourselves that is deeply and immensely empowering.

For many of us in the field, education has transformed us in more ways than we can count. But how can we promote transformation among our students?

Transformation can’t be forced, but the conditions can be set to make it more likely.

Below are steps that I’ve found very useful in promoting these defining learning experiences.

 

The student experience is often cast from a negative perspective. A common narrative among educators is, “Today’s students are ________ (You fill in the pejorative of choice: generationally flawed, cheaters, apathetic, coddled, . . . It’s a seemingly endless list.) Rather than deconstruct students’ past academic experiences, educators attempt to demolish them. The demolition approach leaves students in ruins, while deconstructing methods

Having vision is typically viewed as an essential ability of an executive. A person with a cogent vision can marshal the needed people from various areas to work together. [/cs_block_grid_item][/cs_block_grid][cs_text]Similarly, students need academic vision to marshal the cognitive resources needed to achieve their academic outcomes. Educators serve themselves and students well when they help them establish academic vision.

Humans think continuously throughout their lives. We can be certain that students know how to think. However, they don’t know how to think to learn.

Typically, we think for our own purposes. However, in school students must use their minds to achieve the educator’s goals. This type of learning requires interpretation, precision, monitoring and evaluation. It requires a framework! The ThinkWell-LearnWell Diagram and Learning Sufficiency Diagram have been useful frameworks for thousands of students throughout the U.S. and beyond.

Knowledge work is different from all other forms of work. The major challenges involve cognitive overload, where students try to do too many things at once, and cognitive confusion, where students are uncertain about which skills and processes to use for respective tasks. This makes studying grossly inefficient, leading to stagnation and frustration.

 

 

All students have a learning routine. This consists of the actions and resources they rely on to learn content and prepare for tasks. There are numerous flaws in students’ learning routines, leaving them directionless in their studies. Helping students adapt their learning routines to the environment will pay tremendous dividends.

Grades are lagging indicators. It takes a while for those results to come in. Students need leading indicators, internal metrics that students can confidently and consistently rely on well before their tests or tasks. Our interventions must include short-term successes.

 

Success is never a straight line. Students who have been genuinely transformed will revert back to previously unsuccessful approaches at some point.

Use these as lessons to propel them forward rather than evidences of failure. Expect a reversion of practice. However, these setbacks can be short-lived if we help students recognize what is occurring and redirect them back to what works.

When properly sequenced, these seven steps can transform individual students, entire cohorts, and even institutions.  I’m curious to learn which of the steps is most applicable to you.

Now, it’s time for you to share. Use the comment feature below to share which of the steps you find most applicable and valuable.

Write a good comment and you’ll receive the 7 Steps to Academic Transformation infographic FREE.

 

 

73 Comments

  1. Carol Leefe

    I am deep into the Metacognitive strategies taught by Dr. Saundra McGuire. I can see how this platform dovetails with it and takes it deeper. I can’t wait to get started.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Hi Carol,

      Saundra and I are on the same page, and our work does dovetail nicely. I’m looking forward to my keynote session with the Delgado community in a few days (Monday, August 7th). It will be my first time in the Big Easy! Hopefully, I’ll see you then.

      Reply
  2. Sheekha Tripathy

    thank you for making it simple

    Reply
  3. Sheekha Tripathy

    the overview is simple and straight to understand

    Reply
  4. Harriett Gaston

    Thanks, Leonard! I plan to share this information with faculty and staff who are teaching first-year seminar courses at our campus. I also see this being useful to assist students who have been placed on academic probation to help them re-frame their thinking and strategies. I hear from students who are not doing as well say that I will study harder next time. This is a way to help them study smarter..

    Reply
  5. David Lester

    #5 Seems most the most common problem I am confronted with as an instructor of Applied Music (Classical Guitar). As a student, I recall learning from a peer that he took notes during his lesson so he could use his practice time most effectively. In other words, he practiced what the instructor assigned, not what he already played well. I not only took his advice with personal success, but for the past 16 years I have forwarded that sage advice to my own students. Regrettably, many applied music students seem to lack a productive practice routine- they may think they are practicing when in truth, they are performing to an audience of one, themselves.
    Over the years I have come across practice sheets to simplify and encourage note taking during the lesson to (hopefully) lead to more effective practice. It has been said, “practice makes perfect”. I disagree. Perfect practice makes perfect.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      David-

      I agree 100%.

      Reply
  6. Ann

    Could you give an example of a personal algorithm and how students adapt one?

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Ann-

      Algorithms consist of sets of processes and rules to solve problems. For example, consider search engines such as Google. Google uses algorithms of one’s search history to predict current searches. If we’ve used a sequence of words to search in the past, the algorithm will use it’s predictive smart technology to predict the words we wish to type.

      Likewise, students use their past interactions with educators and learning environments to predict their current environment. Unfortunately, they use poor predictors. For example, students will attempt to figure what information is most salient in a course by looking to formerly reliable predictors such as changes in the teacher’s voice tone and whether a term is mentioned twice. These are false predictors. Their implicit algorithm is off-base.

      Reply
  7. Lucinda Nowall

    Ever since I watched your webinar on The Six Transitional Traps, I have been craving knowledge. Leonard Geddes and his topics are very inspirational and knowledgeable. I keep waiting to see what other webinars he will release. I am so very happy that I found Leonard Geddes and The Learnwell Projects.

    Reply
  8. Janet Kaplan-Bucciarelli

    Thanks for this, Leonard. I often help students understand how professors think and what they are looking for in student work and thinking. This is especially useful for international students, but really most students could use insight about why professors require certain things. It’s because they value something (e.g., the ability to analyze a problem or connect what they said in the classroom to the world outside). Sometimes knowing why something is important to a prof helps students learn how to demonstrate it.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Very astute point. Students try to decode their professor by searching for clues about what they value. Unfortunately, they regularly misinterpret these cues. Instead of decoding the professor, they should decode their course. Courses are designed to teach and ultimately assess students’ ability to convert information into knowledge — and there are levels to that knowledge.

      Reply
  9. Judy Weaver

    Step #1 reminds me of Appreciative Advising. Is the idea to help students see where they have been successful in the past, and build on that?

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Judy, there is some overlap with appreciative advising. Many times our desire to see students shake free from the transition traps that ensnare them, we tell students to forget about their precollege learning experiences. (I have to guard against this often.) We can make them more successful by operating with a bit more nuance.

      Reply
  10. Betty Curry

    This a great tool for scaffolding the conversation about academic success. I would like to use it with our Academic Success class (students on academic probation).

    Reply
  11. Janet Pinkham

    Leonard, this is an excellent way for students (and faculty and staff) to visualize the key components in academic transformation. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Thanks Janet. Visualization is an under-appreciated asset in education.

      Reply
  12. Stephanie English

    I love the idea of promoting energy management as opposed to time management. For many of the students I work with when they have the time they don’t have the energy. All of these ideas will be helpful when working with struggling students. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Hi Stephanie,

      Your experience with students confirm my own. As professionals, we can relate, right: we too must harmonize our energy and time with our prioritize. If we show students how to do this in their academic work, they’ll become more effective people and professionals.

      Reply
  13. Dr. Jennifer Keys

    Thanks for this helpful infographic. I am doing a presentation for faculty mentors in a few weeks and I am thinking of ways I might incorporate these tips.

    Reply
  14. Maggie Soff

    Have I ever had a transformative experience? One that produced immediate and lasting change? Yes, I have, so I completely “get” the 7 steps. I got them before I even saw them in this post, and I used them to transform struggling students – from young adults to senior citizens returning to school. Never say die, I say. One is never too old to be transformed. I bring the ThinkWell-LearnWell and Learning Sufficiency Diagrams into many classrooms. Knowledge work IS different from other types of work, but I might add to the definition for “cognitive overload” that the amount of material presented in a short period of time produced cognitive overload as well as simply trying to do too many DIFFERENT things at one time. I add this because I have seen the boatload of homework meted out even in K-12. People are human, and humans need some diversions. All work and no play makes Jack a frustrated and angry student. Grades mean nothing – particularly when administrators say that no student gets below 50 (out of 100). The student might have done zero, but he or she will always get 50. The students know that, too, and some (even one is too many) work to get that 50 by getting … who cares what number below 50? They will always get 50. That sends a rather demoralizing message to the students, to the teachers, to the parents, to the community, and to the legislators.

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE this piece, Leonard. Thank you so much for the positive impact you have on teachers and students everywhere.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Maggie–
      Thanks for the affirmation! I have to completely agree with you about some schools interpreting “rigor” as meaning more work. Rigor is beautiful, desirable and immensely rewarding when crafted well and presented properly. For one example of this, see the article: The Power of Micro-experiences.

      Keep up the good work!

      Reply
  15. Bedelia Russell

    I really love how this is outlined! I work with nursing students who have not been successful on their first attempt at a course. I see very clearly in this diagram where they have struggles and breakdown in thinking!

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Bedelia–

      I have worked extensive hours with nursing students, faculty and nursing programs. I know their struggles well! Thankfully, I can report to you that I’ve witnessed nursing students boost their test scores immediately, significantly and consistently!

      Reply
  16. Deborah DeFreitas-Rausseao

    I am new to working with college students. This article is very informative and I can incorporate some of the ideas.

    Reply
  17. Diane Flores-Kagan

    I will definitely share this information with my learning assistance colleagues and review it with my tutors.

    Everything from The Learn Well Project is informative and delivered clearly. The visuals are very appealing. Thank you for the great job you do. I am sorry that I missed Leonard’s pre-conference session at the ACTLA conference last year. I hope he will re-visit soon.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Thanks Diane. I may be attending this year’s ACTLA conference.

      Reply
  18. C Farnsworth

    I am interested in the first step mentioned…because so many of the students I see have largely had uninspired and unsuccessful K-12 experiences…it is necessary to broaden their own perspective so they’re able to reinterpret their own academic pasts…to see themselves as competent…and recognize the biases of educational systems.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Yes, I’m currently revising my 2013 Why Good Students Do “Bad” in College. Keep your eye out for it in the coming weeks.

      Reply
  19. Joseph Croskey

    Melinda and Eileen are on target…none of us are on the straight path upwards, there are always times when we fall off the wagon and have to get back on. Thanks for the work you do for the planet!

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Thanks Joseph. Students are humans too! They experience the same challenges that we all face.

      Reply
  20. Theresa

    Nicely done! All of these steps are important and integral to success, but number six can really keep a student on track in between the positive feedback of assignments and tests. Sometimes students don’t realize how well they are doing every day and that those days can, and do, add up to big success!

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Theresa–
      You got it! Feedback is crucial. It should be close in proximity, formative and informative.

      Reply
  21. Annette Klier

    I have found all of the tools provided by The Learnwell Project to be very valuable and this one also achieves that bar. I as a learning specialist understand the distinctions in step 4, but when trying to convey this to a student an example would be useful.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Annette– It’s great to hear that you’ve found the tools useful. Were you asking for an example of how to convey Step 4 to students?

      Reply
  22. Marleatta Dean

    At this point of time, Step 6 rings most true. Students can sometimes get discouraged and focus only on how long earning their degree will take, where the money will come from, where to go for help, etc. Planning for and creating successes along the way, can work towards a focus on the present. Students can then become more engaged and empowered in the learning process. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Marieatta– Well said.

      Reply
  23. Eileen L Howell

    I find steps 6 and steps 7 valuable. So often students will say that everything is fine, until a grade is posted. They need to know how they are doing, and where they are throughout the semester.
    And lastly, yes success is not a ‘straight line’. There are curves and roadblocks along the way. The travel is not always easy, but the final destination is usually well worth the trip.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Eileen,

      Thanks for commenting. I agree completely. The line gets a bit straighter with time, but it’s never completely straight.

      Reply
  24. Melissa

    Great resource for sure!

    Reply
  25. Lynne

    Love the philosophy! As an educator and an academic coach, I believe that all of the seven steps can work and are necessary to mold the student into a learner.
    Echoing the other posts, more information would be beneficial and a new link sent for the upcoming seminar. I clicked it off and now cannot locate it! Hopefully will be able to attend if not in the classroom. Thank you very much for the information.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Lynn–
      Thanks for the feedback. Here is the link to the upcoming webinar: https://goo.gl/Wxc7vd

      Reply
  26. Geke

    Thank you for this structured overview

    Reply
  27. Linda Carr

    These seven steps truly demonstrate how learning and teaching can be transformational–a goal for every educational program.

    Reply
  28. Liz

    I’d love to have a version of this that addresses students directly! But I’m happy to get the original as well. 😀

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Liz– I prefer to write directly to students, but my audience consist primarily of those who work with students.

      Reply
  29. Miguel Acosta

    Great framework. I look forward to exploring it more, and looking for ways to incorporate it into K-12 work.

    Reply
  30. Alyssa O'Keeffe

    Thank you! This graphic is very helpful.

    Reply
  31. Debi Cheek

    Love this approach. Step 1 is key – interrupt the cycle!

    Reply
  32. Liz

    As a learning specialist, I work on the student end to help them clarify their role and goals as a student. I spend a lot of time on their learning routine, but I think I could spend more time discussing frameworks for thinking to learn and how they can align their strategies with the instructor’s outcomes and the assigned tasks.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Liz–

      Sounds like you’re doing quality work. Helping students align their efforts toward instructor outcomes are extremely useful. It works even better when instructors intentionally teach to meet the learning outcomes:). Unfortunately, this is rarer than you’d think, leaving students to learn despite the oversight.

      I have a faculty training program on Choice Architecture theory; A considerable portion of of this event is devoted to helping faculty deconstruct their thinking and strategically use it to trigger students’ thinking.

      Reply
  33. Gail

    Thank you in advance for a pdf of the infographic. We are incorporating metacognition into our classes now.

    Reply
  34. Nora Hatton

    This is interesting. Just yesterday, I was asked by a colleague to help them identify data demonstrating the “transformative” aspect of a stated mission.

    Reply
  35. Tonie Salzano

    Hi Tonie–

    I like #3. I never thought about how to think specifically about learning. And adding other senses to make the learning richer. I’ll have to think more about this.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Be sure to post your thoughts once you’re done contemplating. By the way, I will be participating in the Maricopa Summer Institute in early June. Perhaps, I’ll see you there.

      Reply
  36. Michelle Ikoma

    As an ESL teacher to middle and high school students who come from an even greater distance towards taking charge of their own learning, I would say that the clear articulation of the integration between learning strategies and skills is of high importance. They often put in a lot of time but do not do so using optimal skills and strategies.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Well said Michelle.

      Reply
  37. Moreen

    Thank you for this. You have given me some tools to address the high failure rate in a test.

    Reply
  38. Erin Tomasino

    This is a great article discussing a more proactive approach to take with students. It does not just include techniques or ideas; rather it focuses on identifying motivators and internal energy to assist students in their academic challenges. Also, it focuses on the idea that we will occasionally fall back into old and ineffective ways, yet we have the power to learn and to grow from each of those challenges.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Woo hoo Erin! Well said.

      Reply
  39. Michelle Bufkin

    Step 4 is most relevant to my students at this time. Recognizing the differences between these four elements – in an efficient and confident way – is a skill deficit. The resistance to viewing these elements in different ways often means they continue using self-defeating approaches out of habit and comfort, and then seem surprised at results that do not improve. Thanks for articulating these so well!

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Yes, these often overlooked elements are critical to student success. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

      Reply
  40. Melinda Rice

    I think that expecting and planning for “relapses” as part of the process of acquiring new habits is an important aspect of this model and something that is often overlooked.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Thanks for you comment Melinda. It’s good to hear from you.

      Reply
  41. Ann Seavey

    would love to share this with faculty advisors

    Reply
  42. Brad Kauffman

    This looks very interesting and would very much like to look into this in more depth. More specifically metacognition or thinking to learn.

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Researcher have found that metacognition is an academic game-changer! Literally, you cannot go wrong by developing students’ metacognitive skills. I believe it is THE missing skill set among students. You can learn about it and learn how to use tools to develop students’ metacognitive skills at the upcoming Effective Thinking and Learning webinar: https://goo.gl/Wxc7vd.

      The webinar will be a visually-rich, exercise-driven experience that focuses on solving authentic academic challenges. We have a few spots left.

      Hope you and your staff can join us.

      Reply
  43. robert chin

    Thank you

    Reply
  44. Lea Beth

    why would students who have been ‘genuinely transformed’ revert back to that which didn’t work?

    Reply
    • Leonard Geddes

      Hi Lea,

      Good question: Students, like all humans, struggle to break free from habits. I’ve witnessed students undergo transformation from academic probation status to making consistent A’s and B’s for a semester or two, only to relapse back to making D’s. When asked what happened, they rather honestly admit that they simply reverted back the bad habits that felt comfortable.

      The good news is that once they recognize their problem as a relapse, then they can resume the good practices that emanated from their transformation.

      Reply
      • Chareane Wimbley-Gouveia

        This is a succinct overview of how to effectively coach individualized academic success without a class.

        Reply
  45. C Yamnitz

    great view of student academic transformation

    Reply

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