"A community of academic success!"

 

 

Academic excellence is one of the primary values of the Key Academic Community. We ask participants to be dedicated to high academic performance and take advantage of the support and resources available for success.

Fall Semester Co-Registration for Classes

(Key Interdisciplinary Course Clusters)

As a Key student, you have the opportunity to enroll in three of your first semester classes with other students from the community, called a Key Cluster. A Cluster is a set of three classes linked by common themes and subject areas. This will enable you to know up to 18 other students in three of your classes, contributing to a more positive classroom and learning experience. In addition, your Key Mentor serves as the Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Key Interdisciplinary Seminar Class that is the anchor course for your Cluster. There are a total of 10 Clusters with different themes and classes to choose from, so students from a wide variety of majors and/or interests participate in the community. Here is an example of a cluster:

"Psychobiology" A psychology class (PSY 100) A biology class (LIFE 102) Key Seminar (small discussion class) (KEY 192) The Key Seminar class (KEy 192) will challenge you to examine ideas and make relationships across the classes of your cluster. You and the instructor will get to know each other on a first-name basis. At the same time, the seminar will introduce you to aspects of the University and methods for effective learning.

"The clusters made it easier to learn how to interact with professors and building a sense of community with other students. This helped with the transition into college, both academically and socially." ~ Key student.

Group Study (Supplemental Instruction or SI)

For some classes, you will attend group sessions, called Supplemental Instruction (SI), with a "master student" - this is a chance to study together, ask questions, and enhance your study skills. SI is a small study group for traditionally difficult freshman level courses such as Biology and Zoology. SI groups meet once per week for one and one-half hours. Sessions are led by a trained leader (SI Facilitator) who has taken the course and received an "A" or "B". The SI Facilitators attend the course lecture so that each group is specific to the professor's curriculum. Students and leaders review course lectures, textbook readings, homework problems, and other material as it relates to the course.

Within the Key Academic Community, SI is required for all students enrolled in the biology classes that have SI associated with them. This includes, but is not limited to, clusters 1, 5 and 6.

Academic Success Workshops

Key hosts a variety of workshops geared toward assisting students in developing strong college level academic skills, such as "Is TIME Your Enemy?", "Do Your NOTES Have The Answer?" and "Study and Test Taking Skills" sessions during the fall semester. As part of their participation in the program, students are required to attend at least 3 academic programs during the year. The Academic Success Workshops will count for the academic programming requirement.

Academic Progress Conferences

First-time university students find it very helpful to get the most detailed feedback possible on their academics and adjustment to residence life. As a Key student, you will have the unique opportunity to meet individually from time to time with program staff to review your progress and consider strategies for achieving your best performance. Mid-semester Academic Progress Conferences are individual meetings with your Key Mentor to discuss your progress on the goals that you set at the beginning of the year related to academics, leadership, and community. Key Mentors will share grade feedback from your professors during this meeting.

 

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