Faculty Resources

Association for the Coaching and Tutoring Profession

ACTP (a member of CLADEA) offers training and certifications for individual academic coaches and for programs.


LifeBound

LifeBound is a website that informs users about the company’s high-impact training with institutions on academic coaching. Their overall goal is to train administrators and faculty on necessary communication and professional skills that will guide their coaching work. The website also publishes resources for both secondary and postsecondary students.


Board Certified Coach (BCC)

The Center for Credentialing Education offers many credentials; specific to academic coaching professionals is the Board Certified Coach option. Someone who holds a BCC certification has met their training requirements, obtained experience in the field, and passed a coaching-specific examination, among other requirements.


JST Coaching - Academic Success Coaching for Higher Education

JST is named after founder Jodi Sleeper-Triplett. She is an authority in the coaching field, especially on coaching students with AD/HD. The site has many different focuses, but this page provides information to academic coaching in higher education. This site has an overview packet on training academic coaches that could be helpful when creating a new training program.


UTSA Academic Coaching Manual

University of Texas San Antonio offers an extensive Academic Coaching Manual. This manual has been developed for training of the learning center’s own academic coaches but is available to others via this link. The manual includes sections on defining academic coaching, theories that guide coaching, study skills and resources, and many more ideas.

Understanding Differences Between Coaching and Advising

InsideTrack is a website that offers academic coaching systems to postsecondary institutions. The page at this link explains the differences between academic advising and academic coaching and how each service can benefit students. It is important for coaches to remember they are not advisors but rather provide an academic support system for students.

LASSI for Learning Online (LLO)

LLO = Learning and Study Strategies Inventory For Learning Online
"LASSI has been improving students’ study strategies for more than 30 years. LASSI has a new edition specifically designed to meet the challenges of online instruction."


Advising as Coaching

Another site that covers the connections between academic advising and coaching is presented by NACADA (formerly National Academic Advising Association; now The Global Community for Academic Advising). This page covers the advising model and then the coaching model and compares and contrasts the two. It also covers important topics both advisors and coaches should keep in mind, such as active listening.


Developing an Academic Coaching Program

The article hosted on this site encourages medical educators to develop new academic coaching programs for their medical students, but anyone developing a coaching program could utilize the information provided here. The authors have experience in undergraduate medical education coaching programs.


Resources from the University of Washington

The University of Washington provides an excellent website of resources for students. They offer links to resources such as study skills, time management, notetaking, and test taking.


Cornell Note Taking

Cornell Note Taking is a venerable note taking method for college students developed by Walter Pauk, formerly of Cornell University. The site presents the Cornell system clearly. This may be a helpful resource for academic coaches who want to help students overcome difficulties related to ineffective note taking.


Khan Academy

Khan Academy is an excellent supplemental resource for college students in math courses. Academic coaches who lack a strong understanding of math may use it to build their own understanding, as well as introducing this resource to students. Coaches will also want to be aware of how students are using the site so they may recommend campus tutoring services, as well.


Mint

Mint allows users to keep track of their bills and spending habits. Academic coaches who want to brush up on their understanding of finances will find Mint useful. They can also introduce their students to the site for some excellent guidance.


Freedom

Freedom is an excellent resource for academic coaches who want to help students avoid being distracted by their phone or social media on their laptop. Freedom lets users block all social media websites for a set amount of time. Students can use this tool to prevent distractions, study in planned increments, and schedule study breaks.


Students Toolbox: Exam Study Kit

This exam study kit was created to help students prioritize and stay organized during busy semesters. This has been a very successful tool for academic coaches to use during meetings with students who need help to plan and prioritize study times during stressful periods such as midterms or finals. The initial host, studentoolbox.com, seems to have expired, however, the Toolbox is still available via this file.

Coaching Students With AD/HD
Quinn, P. O., Ratey, N. A., & Maitland, T. L. (2005). Coaching college students with AD/HD: Issues and answers. Advantage Books.

A huge part of adjusting to college is managing newfound freedom while making time to study and catch up on course work; however, for students with AD/HD all of this can prove to be very difficult. Author Patricia Quinn covers this topic in her book, which is designed with an issue/answer format. This is a resource that could provide training for academic coaches learning to provide appropriate responses when working with students with AD/HD.


Resources for College Students With AD/HD

The Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) hosts an array of resources on their website that students with AD/HD may find helpful. The site offers resources on time management and, how to study, and even provides advice from students with AD/HD who were successful in college. Any of these resources would be helpful for academic coaches who work with these students as well as for the students themselves.


Academic Coaching Programs for Students With Disabilities

Finding resources on academic coaching that include students with disabilities can be difficult. However, this article covers a study done at a 4-year institution on the topic of academic coaching and students with disabilities. The study found that academic coaching is making a positive difference for students with disabilities who participate in the coaching program.


Online Academic Coaching

It is common for community colleges to have a high population of commuter students. Students who do not live on campus can still participate in academic coaching online. By offering online academic coaching, an institution can reach out to students who have full-time jobs or families that keep them busy. This article by The Center for Credentialing & Education covers ideas on online academic coaching.


Resources for International Students

NACADA (formerly National Academic Advising Association; now The Global Community for Academic Advising) offers a site with many resources that could be helpful to academic coaches of international students. Coaches may want to read up on current legislation affecting international students or peruse NACADA’s resources discussing the struggles and challenges international students may face and tips on how to work with these students.

Writing Commons
This award-winning website offers regularly updated information for writers on the writing process, research methods, and information literacy. The website’s primary purpose is to serve as an open-access writing and research textbook for college students, but it is written with a lay audience in mind. The main menu guides users to different approaches and components of professional and academic writing as well as guides to genre writing and writing for different disciplines, purposes, and contexts. Further resources are also provided on information literacy, research methodologies, and how to write and research in professional fields.


Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
This is an award-winning online writer’s guide and handbook with information for writers at any level. The site synthesizes theories and texts — from classical Greek philosophers to current pedagogical practices — to provide students with ideas for writing in different contexts and at different stages of writing. Information is offered in an easy-to-use website that provides information for where the writer is in the writing or research process. Each section of the site provides writers with questions to ask themselves during the writing process and activities to engage in to help solidify their understanding.


Ted-Ed Lessons: Writing/Composition
A curated collection of video-based lessons, developed by educators from across the globe, on topics about writing, composition, the English language, and English literature. New videos are added routinely and provide writers of all levels with information and activities on these topics in an informal, thought-provoking, and clear style.

Writing in the Disciplines
This website provides guides on how to write in discipline-specific ways. Videos, documents, worksheets, presentations, sample writing, and other discipline-based help are provided to help writers evaluate their assignments by the requirements of each academic discipline. Further resources provide techniques for writing in specific fields.


How to Write a Scholarly Research Report
This report provided an easy-to-understand guide on how to organize and write a scholarly research report in the sciences.It is published in an open-access, peer-reviewed electronic journal. This how-to paper approaches the scholarly research report by instructing how to prewrite, how to organize and structure the report, and how to prepare the report for publication.


What is an Annotated Bibliography, How to Write One
This video provides an easy-to-learn approach toward annotated bibliographies. The resource offers a definition and purpose of an annotated bibliography, breaking down its organization by content, illustrating ways in which to find information, and elaborating on what genre rules and style conventions a writer should attend to.

What is the Zettelkasten Method?
The Zettelkasten ("slipbox" in German) Method is a research note-taking method developed by prolific sociologist Niklas Luhmann. This may be most appropriate to those in graduate degree programs intending a scholarly research career. See also the book How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers by Sönke Ahrens (available on Amazon).

The Writing Process
This website breaks down the writing process for college students. Using text, images, videos, and worksheets and interactive presentations, the website helps college students navigate the different steps of writing a paper. Starting with understanding and annotating a writing prompt to brainstorming, different stages of writing, researching, and revising a paper, the guide is a valuable resource to any student writing in college.


Student Interactives
This website provides interactive tools for K-12 students to use during any stage of the writing process. Various interactive worksheets, activities, and learnings strategies are offered to help writers based on whether they want to prewrite, plan research, analyze and synthesize knowledge, or organize their knowledge. Other interactive activities focus on language literacy. All activities and information on the website align with guidelines and standards of the International Literacy Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.


150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively
This list of 150 resources is provided for writers of all levels with the goal of improving their writing. The writing resources include how-to writing blogs, information about writing as intellectual property, various citation and style help websites, different grammar and English usage resources, professional and academic writing websites, writing productivity software comparisons, and more.


A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
This website provides a list of rhetorical devices used by writers to convey information. The organization of the website is based on definition, purpose, and how the rhetorical device may be used within writing.

The Purdue OWL
This website provided a guide on how to use the Online Writing Lab (OWL) of Purdue University. The OWL is a comprehensive and detailed resource tackling many topics about writing and style useful in most academic and professional contexts. The OWL is primarily used around the world as a quick reference guide for the different writing style books. Rather than specific links to each OWL resource, this website guides writers to navigate to very specific writing, research, and education-specific resources provided on the website. The Purdue OWL is now updated for APA 7.


The Excelsior OWL
The Excelsior OWL is an award-winning open education resource with more than a thousand pages of content to support college-level writing and reading skills. It features rich, interactive multimedia and even a video game, Paper Capers. The OWL covers traditional essay writing skills, such as The Writing Process, Rhetorical Styles, Argument & Critical Thinking, Research, Citation & Documentation, Plagiarism, and Grammar. It also has specialized content areas devoted to Online Writing and Presentations, ESL, and Reading Comprehension. There is an Educator Resource Guide for instructors. The OWL’s latest initiative is focused on Writing in the Disciplines.


APA Style Blog
This website continues to provide updated information and blog-style articles related to the American Psychological Association Style Manual. While other websites provide easily searchable style information, the APA Style blog was created to give updated information. Its primary purpose is to give informal help on specific style and discipline-specific usage. Information on errata, clarifications, and other APA-style-related articles are also provided routinely.


MLA Works Cited: A Quick Guide
This visual reference gives writers an easy-to-understand model for creating and referencing information in MLA writing.Analyzing an MLA works-cited entry, the guide explains the rationale for each element. Finally, a practice template divided by style-specific punctuation helps writers master how to cite different sources.


CMOS Shop Talk: From the Chicago Manual of Style
This blog provides relevant articles and up-to-date information about Chicago Style guidelines. The blog is divided into three sections. Specific blog entries specify how esoteric sources may be cited and referenced in Chicago. Other blog articles give information on errata, updates, and other relevant information about the Chicago Style. The blog also offers articles on grammar and word usage, writing for publication, and interviews and talks with editors and publishers. For writers interested in worksheets, the blog also includes hands-on syntax and grammar workouts that let writers learn and test themselves on discipline-specific grammar and punctuation rules.


Plain Language
This website, created by a government coalition called The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), provides the specific style guidelines and templated documents for writing for government. The website resources are broken down by the applicable legal regulations, example documents, blank templates in different word and web formats, the definition of plain language, and the different guidelines offered to write in plain language style. Online workshops, in-person workshops, and external language resources are offered from different members of the PLAIN coalition.


Grammar Girl
This award-winning website provides blog articles attached to topical short podcasts on a variety of writing issues. The site is helpful to writers of all levels as they approach grammar, seemingly esoteric or confusing English rules, colloquial expressions, and context-specific use of words and communication.

College and University Students
This website provides several resources on how to think critically in college. Aside from providing a glossary of terms that are integral to critical thinking, this website also offers a detailed guide on how to study and learn effectively while using critical thinking skills.

The Foundation for Critical Thinking
This nonprofit organization promotes educational reform via critical thinking. They provide books, pamphlets, videos, a blog, conferences and other events, and other resources for faculty and learning center staff.

Barbara Oakley: “Learning How to Learn” | Talks at Google
This video of a lecture by a scholar in STEM education analyzes how to learn. Many of the tips and techniques are noteworthy resources for adult learners faced with content matter with which they are not familiar. The video uses personal examples and specific tips and tricks. Math education is offered as a context for better learning by implementing creative and analytical thinking skills rather than rote memorization.


The Rhetorical Situation
These are several chapters of an open-source book that teach students how to apply different writing strategies critically. The chapters provide techniques and worksheets to analyze writing prompts and readings based on specific questions, relationships, and external factors.


Rationality: A-Z
This website provides a comprehensive resource on how anyone can approach critical thinking as an evidence-based practice by relying on empirical research, studies on human rationality and learning, and rationalist philosophy. The website presents itself as an open-source series of books that are informed by philosophy, educational practice, and research in varied scientific fields.


Resources to Build Critical Thinking Skills
The website provides college students with resources on how to build critical thinking skills. It situates critical thinking in different fields and explains how students may use critical thinking in the sciences, the arts, and the humanities. Additional resources are also available that tie critical thinking to reading, writing, analysis, mathematics, science, and technology. Multiple worksheets are available to help students self-assess their critical thinking skills. An intrinsic part of this resource is that it provides multiple examples and worksheets that specifically tie critical thinking to student success.

Teaching Critical Thinking
This Sauk Valley Community College website provides information for faculty on the importance of critical thinking as part of curricular design. Multiple resources and techniques inform faculty and educators about critical thinking, its implementation, and how class structure and assignments change when critical thinking is introduced. Faculty can also find resources on how to evaluate and assess critical thinking. Additional resources are also given on how faculty may use existing rubrics or design new rubrics with critical thinking as a measure of assessment.


10 Great Critical Thinking Activities That Engage Your Students
This website provided educators with activities to engage with their students using critical thinking. Aside from the ten examples given, additional resources are also provided to help educators construct their own activities with critical thinking as a basis.

Criteria for Evaluating Web Resources
This website provides information on how anyone may critically evaluate online resources. Information is provided to help assess web resources based on objectivity, accuracy, relevance, usability, and credibility.


Critical Thinking Lessons
From TED Ed: A curated collection of video lessons that provide riddles, unique problems, and situations from various disciplines. Viewers are asked to use logic, critical thinking, and other resources to solve problems and increase their own skills.


Mind Mapping: Improve Test Scores and Enhance Critical Thinking
This website article provides students with information about mind-mapping. The resource provides a definition of mind-mapping and then shows how it can help improve student success and enhance critical thinking. Resources and techniques show how a student may use a mind map and how it is most effective.