The saying necessity is the mother of invention may date back more than 2,500 years, but its meaning has never been more clear to the staff of the Academic Enhancement Center (AEC)  than in 2020. The center’s COVID-responsive transition to fully online services has produced several innovative new supports — including fully remote tutoring, online training for tutors and TAs working outside of the AEC, a self-paced study skills development web portal, and the recently offered five-part Academic Success Modules online lesson and discussion series. 

Offered as part of URI’s innovative O-week program, the Academic Success Modules series focused primarily on addressing the needs of students who were transitioning to URI without having the benefit of an on-campus orientation experience. The self-guided modules were made public via the AEC’s website at the beginning of August, and the center’s peer and professional staff teamed up to host five online discussions (one module per day) for students between August 31st and September 4th. Each module highlighted a topic of critical importance to students’ academic success, including planning and time management, remote and online learning, the best study strategies for active learning and textbook-based learning, and mindset and motivation.

The discussion groups themselves reflected both the physical realities and inherent opportunities of our new campus community, as students who were quarantining on campus discussed academic strategies with others who were studying from home anywhere from several miles away to the other side of the world: one participant from Indonesia explained that she was tuning into the meetings at 3 am each day. Most participants attended multiple sessions, and feedback was uniformly positive. 

“I went to each and every one of the meetings they had because I found the first session extremely beneficial,” explained Richard McGee, a first year student who is double majoring in journalism and history. “In high school, I took many upper-level honors and AP classes, and I often found myself spending extremely long hours on my assignments that barely left me any time to myself. When I came to the AEC meetings, I was able to find new techniques that are already helping me in my first few days of college alone. I’ve already applied new ideas the department gave me to my studies.

Mike Cameron, a first-year student studying chemical engineering, agreed that the modules gave him a head start on preparations for online learning.

“I thought the academic success module [on remote learning] was a very helpful introduction to the technology at URI,” Cameron explained, “It taught me the information several days before the RA’s mentioned any of it and before I had to start using the resources mentioned for my classes.” 

AEC Director Jennifer Burgess believes that the module series and other new initiatives offer the URI community more than just-in-time support. According to Burgess, the center’s response to the COVID crisis has also served as a model for the kind of mindset it encourages students to take in the face of new challenges. 

 “The AEC knew that in this time of uncertainty, it was more important than ever to creatively engage students around their academic success. Through the academic success modules and the supplemental resources in our study portal, URI students had an opportunity to engage with staff people, peers, and electronic resources in preparation for the Fall. The shift in the way we offer our services was an opportunity for the AEC to demonstrate the growth mindset principle and to set the tone during this time. Our team was energized at the prospect of changing the way we support and engage students and remains committed to staying nimble to meet the needs of students in a rapidly changing higher education environment.”