The Ace Your Course Challenge (AYCC) is a campus wide initiative instituted in 2017 to help students engage in more metacognitive reflective practices. Over 1,029 students attended Dr. Saundra McGuire’s workshop, and 201 completed four weeks of surveys. Completing the challenge was associated with a 0.231 increase in semester GPA and 4.46 increase in final course grade for several gateway science courses. Just attending the workshop was associated with a 2.74 increase in final course grade for the gateway science courses. The most popular metacognitive strategies used by students were: Studying for the course everyday, using the study cycle, practice teaching the material, and completing homework like a test.

The “metacognition” initiative inspired by Dr. McGuire’s campus visit has continued on in various forms. In the 2019-2020 academic year, Biology PhD candidate Holly Swanson facilitated the ATL Conversation “Teach Your Students How to Learn in 50 Minutes” to inform faculty about Dr. McGuire’s work and how it has helped URI students. Furthermore, Ms. Swanson provided a follow-up session and sharing of findings with faculty from the original Fall 2017 AYCC. Instructors provided data from their courses for sharing and analysis, and instructor specific findings were disseminated to several faculty at their request.

In addition to faculty-focused efforts, Ms. Swanson also co-facilitated the transfer of the AYCC to a student run intervention through the Seeds of Success initiative with the College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS). She held meetings with the Faculty Development Specialist and CELS Assistant Dean of Diversity, Retention & Student Success Initiatives and with the student group’s academic chair to provide information on the implementation of the Challenge. She also co-facilitated a 90-minute presentation of the student metacognition workshop to the students’ leadership team to provide reference for future student-led presentations. Finally, Ms. Swanson closed the loop on student-led implementation by attending the Seeds of Success membership meeting where the student group’s academic chair presented the metacognition workshop to their group. Faculty Development will continue the collaboration with Seeds of Success and encourage assessment of the impact of this intervention in the 2020-2021 academic year.