We found 976 results that contain "student wellness"

If you are a research assistant, a teaching assistant, or on fellowship, you will need to be familiar with the Office of Human Resources on campus in order to manage your pay. This is a list of important links and resources for understanding your pay.

Graduate students are an integral component to Michigan State University’s teaching and research missions.
 
We are here to study, grow, and advance our academic disciplines. We are here to teach the next generation of scientists, artists, and business leaders. We are here to conduct research to help solve the world’s most pressing challenges. We are a force over 10,000 strong, and harnessing that energy can help drive institutional change to better improve the teaching and research environments of the University.
 
But to do so, graduate students need a space, and a voice, to be able to do meaningful work.
 
How does MSU empower graduate students to invoke institutional change?
 
One avenue MSU helps empower graduate students to be change agents within the university is through the Graduate School’s Leadership Institute, specifically the Leadership Development Fellowship (LDF).
 
The LDF provides graduate students with the tools for building key leadership and collaboration competencies. More importantly, it creates a space for both making strategic connections and building strong relationships across the University’s different institutional levels. In summary, it provides graduate students with the opportunity to work with diverse groups of University stakeholders to define and reach a common goal.
 
Given space and support, graduate students can do really meaningful work to improve the structure and function of the University. See below for a quick look at the work being done by one of our current LDFs.
 
As an example, what type of work can Leadership Fellows do?
 
From 2017-2020, I served as the MSU Graduate School Leadership Fellow in the College of Natural Science. In this capacity, I worked with, and developed or implemented products at, multiple levels of organization at the University to improve graduate education. Specifically, my work informed and addressed mentoring deficiencies across institutional scales to help achieve the MSU Graduate School’s Strategic Plan (Objective 1.1). Through these activities, I collaboratively:

wrote a Peer Mentor Program Guide to help individual student groups develop their own peer mentor programs;
wrote a white paper on best mentorship practices for the Graduate School’s Mentoring Task Force – which informed the following guidelines and toolkit;
served on the College of Natural Science Strategic Planning Graduate Education Committee;
developed or refined graduate education tools and resources to follow best practices to enhance mentorship relationships in individual departments;
engaged stakeholders across the University regarding these activities through established committees and task forces (e.g. Natural Science Dean’s Advisory Council, Graduate School Mentoring Task Force, individual graduate student organizations, etc.); and,
supported the professional development of other graduate students during the annual Leadership Summit meetings and Leadership Academy workshops.

While the LDF gave me the space to do this work, more importantly, it helped me find my voice. It empowered me to speak up and speak out, and to engage constructively with higher-level University to improve graduate education. It’s easy to feel that, as a graduate student, you are at the bottom of the totem pole. But really, we are important spokes in the wheel that keeps the University moving forward. Given empowerment, we can be effective change-agents both within the University, and more broadly, to better our personal and professional communities.

Studying and Learning
Study Tips for Open Book and Take Home Exams
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Confidence Tracking: A Brain Hack for Improving Your Exam Grades
How to Recover from a Failure
 
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Topic Area: Student Success
Presented By: Jesse Beal, Heather Shea
Abstract:
In this interactive, data- and practice-informed presentation, we will explore LGBTQA+ student success as a vital component of University student success efforts. Due to the lack of data on traditional student success metrics (persistence, retention, time to degree, and graduation) for LGBTQA+ students, LGBTQA+ student success work must be creative, collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and expansive. We will show how developing LGBTQA+ inclusive policies and practices supports student success and increases a sense of belonging. We will share the impact of implementing LGBTQA+ inclusive data collection practices on understanding student success on other campuses. We will explore the mental health challenges LGBTQA+ students face due to LGBTQA+ oppression, how these challenges have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, available mental health support services, and promising practices for intervention and support. We will also discuss ways in which each of us, as educators, can make a real and tangible difference for our LGBTQA+ students. The ability of LGBTQA+ students to learn, develop, and succeed is inextricably tied to their sense of belonging and the support provided to them by the University to face and overcome challenges. This session will provide an introduction to theories of LGBTQA+ student success, as well practical application, creative solutions, and methods of intervention.

It is Graduate Student Appreciation Week, and we would like to highlight the many roles of our graduate and professional students. This week we will recognize one outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant/Educator every day on #iteachmsu. 

GTA April Athnos chooses to be an “usher” rather than a “gatekeeper” to knowledge for students of Ecological Economics (EEM 255). She welcomes students to identify environmental challenges and uncover the economic factors underpinning them. Said one student, “April used a variety of teaching methods, to promote an inclusive learning experience for all different types of students.” April makes the time to tailor the course to individual student needs, so that another student, “had the opportunity to write a research paper on the topic of the Coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the U.S. economy for my Honors Project.”Thank you, April for being such an excellent educator!Twitter: @AprilAthnosDepartment: Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics #GPSAW (Graduate Student Appreciation Week)

The Collaborative Learning Center has planned academic success workshops, including one titled Importance of Faculty Office Hours.
Other Office Hours Videos to Share with Students:

Professor Eric Juenke Talks About Office Hours [12:21 seconds]
Professor Brandy Ellison Talks About Office Hours [6:19 seconds]
Introducing Faculty Office Hours [addresses Fear of Office Hours; 2:21 seconds]

Given that there is variability in the availability of technologies and materials and differences in time  based on location (see table below) and that the availability of those technologies change over time, faculty members need to be as flexible as possible in the course requirements (technology, materials, timing), and both faculty and students need to be vigilant and clear communicators of their needs. The goal of this document is to provide possible alternatives for challenges that faculty may employ in accommodating students reporting that technologies are not available to them in their geographic location. 
Alternatives for Technology
Ideally, when designing curriculum, you would work with the core learning technologies available at MSU.  While not all of these technologies will work all of the time, the benefits of relying on this list are: 

You and your students have more technical support
They are free to you and your students
Most are available around the world
They have been vetted for base levels of security and accessibility
They are aligned to the data protection and storage requirements outlined by the Institutional Data Policy

Most of these tools will work most of the time. However, times may arise when some of these tools are not available depending on geographic region, most often those that include real-time sharing and drafting functionality (Google apps and Microsoft 365 are the core tools most frequently reported as not working). There are many reasons for how or why this unavailability comes about, but faculty and students should not use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) as a work-around in that it may violate local laws and regulations.  Instead, we are suggesting alternatives based on flexibility in curriculum and pedagogy.  Some alternatives to common issues are described below. Video hosting:  Most Issues with YouTube and Vimeo would be alleviated if you host your videos in MediaSpace and post them in D2L.  If the materials are third party and you are not able to move them online can you check with librarians to find alternatives within the library or identify other materials that meet the same or comparable learning outcomes.You can contact them at  https://lib.msu.edu/contact/askalib/  or by finding your subject matter librarian at https://lib.msu.edu/contact/subjectlibrarian/ File distribution:  Difficulties with software options that promote file sharing (Google Suite, Microsoft OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams) can be substituted by D2L.  By posting the files to D2L, students should have access to the content.  However, they may not have all of the collaborative features of the unavailable software such as live co-editing, chat, et cetera. So, assignments might have to be shifted to be individual as opposed to collaborative in nature, or re-designed to be submitted in phases to allow for students to download, co-create, and re-submit to a new assignment dropbox. Synchronous lectures: Accommodating synchronous lectures can be difficult given time zone differences. That said, recording lectures and posting them at a later time can be helpful for not only accommodating time zone differences, but also allowing students to review materials.  Alternatively, students might be able to call into the Zoom session and have access to the audio of the lecture, in some cases this may be sufficient to meet the academic goals of that Zoom session. If you are unsure about what academic technology strategies may work to accommodate your international students, request a consultation with MSU IT’s Instructional Technology and Development Team, who can help you think about the tools available and ways to think about incorporating them in your course and teaching process.
Alternatives for Webcam Assessment

Zoom (or other software like Kaltura MediaSpace app) and student smartphone
Proctoring locations
Shifting days/time of exam to accommodate availability of technology
Oral exam on phone

Alternatives for Materials
Getting materials from Amazon or other vendor:  One of the biggest concerns are materials purchased from vendors such as Amazon that are not able to be shipped to all countries.   A few options for potentially overcoming this hurdle include:

Use an intermediate shipping company, as described at https://borderoo.com/ . Providers can include (the followingare examples not recommendations):

MyUS
Shop2Ship
PlanetExpress


Order from a more regional service such as Taobao: https://world.taobao.com/
Or allow alternate materials that meet similar learning outcomes.

Note: Materials may take longer to arrive, so considerations may need to be made. Students engaging in the use of such services are responsible for any taxes or duties incurred.  Getting access to journal articles or other course readings:  Create downloadable course packs by assembling the readings of the course into a downloadable zip file that students can access and download from the course in D2L.  MSU Librarians can help you with this process.  You can contact them at  https://lib.msu.edu/contact/askalib/  or by finding your subject matter librarian at https://lib.msu.edu/contact/subjectlibrarian/ 
Alternatives for Time
If there are synchronous elements in the course, can a student reach the course objectives through asynchronous methods. Synchronous lectures: Can these be recorded and posted for others at a later date?  Either by recording Zoom sessions or by using the Hybrid Technology that are now available in many classrooms.  Lecture participation: Can course elements such as participation in a synchronous lecture be shifted to quizzes, reflection papers or other activities that engage the student in similar cognitive practice to what they will miss not being in the synchronous experience. Office hours:  If students are unable to make office hours because of timezone constraints, can you offer alternative times that might be convenient or provide sufficient support through email, phone conversations, individualized discussion forums, or other methods.  If time constraints are the only constraint then finding a time (such as 7-9pm) could work for most regions.
Technologies with potential availability issues
As of 8/11/2020, and subject to frequent change:



# Students
Country
Zoom
Microsoft Teams
Skype
G Suite
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Vimeo
WhatsApp
MSOneDrive
Notes


total FS20, unofficial
 
source
source
source
source
source
source
source
source
source
 
 


3,044
China
 
 
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
 


104
Iran
X
X
 
X
X
X
X
 
X
 
 


59
Bangladesh
 
 
X
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


31
Indonesia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
X
 
 
 


30
United Arab Emirates
 
 
X
 
 
 
 
 
X
 
 


4
Morocco
 
 
X
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


4
Ukraine
X
 
 
X
 
 
 
 
 
 
Apps blocked in Crimea region only.


3
Burma (Myanmar)
 
 
 
X
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


3
Syria
X
X
 
X
X
 
 
 
X
 
 


2
Sudan
X
X
 
X
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


1
Turkmenistan
 
 
 
 
 
X
X
 
 
 
 



 

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
 
Research suggests that providing corrective feedback for students is highly effective (0.8 effect size).*  Here are suggested strategies for using feedback using MSU’s FREE software.  A more detailed document explaining how to implement these strategies can be found here:  https://tinyurl.com/y8tudxed
 
D2L:  Leave audio feedback on Assignment files
This tool allows an instructor to leave spoken comments on items that have been submitted to the D2L Assignments tool.  This can add a personalized feel to feedback. 
 
Zoom:  Offer virtual office hours
You can offer virtual office hours that can have up to 49 participants face-to-face online.  Correct common misunderstandings of students from afar.
 
MediaSpace:  Create a video summary of the 5 biggest mistakes in an assignment
On low-stakes assignments, looking over submissions of students and offering an overall summary of the most common mistakes can cut down on the time required to give feedback.  Capturing this on MediaSpace allows you to offer it as a resource for the next course’s preparation for the assignment.
 
Microsoft 365:  Require students to respond to inline comments
Sometimes students do not look or respond to feedback.  To improve growth from feedback, you might require that students respond to inline document comments before getting credit on an assignment.
 
Google Docs:  Set up peer review of an assignment before the final assignment is due
Giving students a rubric or guide for what they are looking for in an assignment and allowing them to apply it to another student’s submission can provide feedback for both students.  Google Docs allows for easy sharing and commenting on documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.
 
All of these techniques can help to move a course from being very lecture-centered and passive for students to being more active and student-centered.
 
Reference:
*Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007).  The power of feedback.  Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.