VIU instructor Janet Sinclair introduces her students to Learning Matters to ensure they know just how valuable it can be to support them on their educational journey.
November 8, 2016 - 9:15am
From wellness to effective study habits, Learning Matters houses a wide range of information that many VIU students now rely on
For Vancouver Island University (VIU) Aboriginal Transition Student Advisor, Janet Sinclair, just drawing her students’ attention to the fact that VIU’s Learning Matters website exists isn’t enough. There is so much information on Learning Matters, which is designed to assist students during their educational journey, that she assigns exercises to challenge students to delve deeper into the resource rich site.
Sinclair says she does it because she knows the website is something that can help her students to not only be successful in her course but also assist them to be better learners throughout their academic journey.
“The reason I support it is it’s a shared resource that pulls the best and most current information together on a student friendly platform,” said Sinclair. “This is a site that’s intuitive because the categories are designed from a student’s perspective. It contains such a wide range of learning resources and that is why it’s effective.”
Teaching and learning support for VIU’s faculty members, along with learning technologies support for students, is provided through the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL). To better support VIU students, the Centre coordinated a University-wide effort to create Learning Matters, a comprehensive website that houses a collection of digital resources to assist students to be successful at university. Videos, tips, support areas, helpful information and best practices are all available on the Learning Matters website.
In Sinclair’s classroom an Academic Success Checklist is up on a screen highlighting study areas like time management, critical thinking, effective note taking and exam preparation. The students were asked to complete the checklist using Learning Matters. When asked what they think of the site, students were clearly impressed.
“I learned something that would make my life easier after spending just 10 minutes on the site,” said one student. “I just wish I knew about this site in high school, the section on the Do’s and Don’ts of taking exams was awesome,” said another. “What was important to me was finding information about things that make studying more effective. Before I might sit down and study for four hours. By using the resources on Learning Matters I was able to cut my study time in half,” another student added.
CIEL Learning Technology Support Specialist, Stephanie Boychuk, works closely with content providers to replace outdated content with new information. She says Learning Matters wouldn’t be possible without the guidance and contributions of VIU’s support centres including the Library, Student Health Clinic, Disability Services, Students’ Union, Shq’apthut- VIU’s Aboriginal Gathering Place, and the Math Learning Centre.
“I serve as a point of contact for many of the support centres wanting to add information to the site, but the reality is that Learning Matters is a University-wide effort. Virtually everybody is engaged with this,” said Boychuk.
The Learning Matters project started in 2014 by talking to students. The goal was to understand not only what they wanted in terms of support but how best to deliver that support in a way they would return to again and again as they navigated through their academic life at VIU. Boychuk says the site is constantly evolving. ‘Enhance Your Wellness’ spaces were recently added throughout the site thanks to VIU’s Student Counseling Services. They provided wellness content that applies to specific pages throughout the site.
“For example the page on ‘Projects and Presentations’ offers wellness advice on overcoming fear of public speaking. The ‘Study Skills’ section gives wellness advice about building resilience and suggests stress management and coping strategies,” said Boychuk. “It’s a good example of the collaboration that takes place to keep the site going and shows how it continues to evolve to meet the needs of students.”
In the past year the Learning Matters site recorded over 6,500 users and more than 17,000 page views. Encouraging numbers, Boychuk says, that will only continue to grow along with VIU.
To access the many resources available on the site please go to: Learning Matters
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Dane Gibson, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University
P: 250.740.6288 | C: 250.618.7296 | E: Communications@viu.ca | T: @viunews
Tags: Student Success
