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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1978)
Center helps build student efficiency By MELODY WARD Of the Emerald Sometimes it isn't enough just to spend long hours with the books. 0 The cause of many-students’ frustrations can be traced to ineffi cient use of study techniques, ac cording to David Hubin, Learning Resources Center director. EUGENE TRAVEL WANT TO GO HOME FOR CHRISTMAS? BOOK YOUR SUPERSAVER NOW! NOW TAKING APPLICATIONS FOR PART TIME WORK (HOSTESS, CASHIER, BUSBOY, KITCHEN) 831 E. 13th 687-2823 Apply at Sizzler General Offices 71 Centennial Loop Suite A Opening October 12 Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance Performances October 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22 Tickets are now on sale at die Eugene Opera! office, for $5.00 and $7.00. STUDENT TICKETS $3.00 ()penimi early February, (iuiseppi Verdi's Kigoletto ()|>eniii^ mid-April, Rossini's Barber of Seville Audition information for singers and players available at the Eugene C)pera! office, 1192 High Street, 485-3985. “The center is a way of allowing students to make full use of their academic material,” says Hubin. “Stanford, Cornell and Rice all have learning centers. The rationale that’s been used is that many of the students have never devoted time to developing specific learning techniques.” Hubin thinks the center’s new location in Friendly Hall will im prove its accessibility. Previously, the facility was housed in Condon Hall. The center offers several “skills" classes, ranging from spelling techniques to prepara tions for major standardized tests like the GRE and the LSAT. “One of my interests is in the area of math anxiety,” Hubin says. "What’s been shown is that those exams serve as a gatekeeper—a weeding-out instrument. In addition to courses in learn ing skills, the center also main tains an extensive tutorial staff, and trains students to be tutors. The cost of tutoring is $10 per term, but the fee covers adminis trative costs rather than tutor salaries. Tutors receive academic credit for their involvement in the program. The fee for center-offered courses is $15. Hubin says his long range priority is to move away from charging fees for most sen/ices, but thinks it appropriate to retain the fees for exam prep aration courses. Strengthening the center’s rela tionship with academic depart ments is high on Hubin’s im mediate priority list. “We need to complement what’s going on in academic classes,” he notes. “Our mission is to service the en tire academic community.” Hubin stresses that the center is neither a remedial program, nor for first-year students only, al though it offers many services that are geared toward both needs. “Learning facilitation is not a remedial concept. Often tutoring is viewed as simply remedial. I view it as facilitative of success wherever you are in the con tinuum.” Hubin points out that success in the academic environment is “Not a question of reading all the books and memorizing all the facts.” IA Solid Ingenuity Classic The center helps with strategies for learning and techniques or per formance, says faculty instructor Susan Lesyk, who teaches most of the reading courses, including speed reading. The center’s speed reading dif fers from commercial offerings in two ways; it’s about $385 cheaper, and it is geared primarily toward academic needs. “Our class is designed for the student,” Lesyk says. “Much of the comprehension strategies are person’s basic intelligence." Turning reading and listening into active processes greatly en hances the student’s ability to learn effectively, Leysk says. “In a university setting, the working knowledge of the facts is the given. You need to be able to move into an analytical relation ship,” Hubin says. “I don’t think that students are trained in high school to move beyond that.” Leysk agrees. “Some students see all the pieces, but they don’t David Hubin Photo by Greg Gawlowski applied to textbooks and academic classes.’’ Speed read ing classes are also offered for fa culty members. Leysk says that while many students can comprehend the material given enough time, the speed reading techniques allow students to approach their mate, ial more critically and efficiently. ‘Teachers tend to believe you have it, or you don’t,” Lesyk re marks. “But these skills can be taught. They don’t reflect on the see the whole. And if they can't see that, then the pieces don’t fall into place,” she says. She teaches “patterns of organiza tion” in the study techniques and speed reading courses. “We always have more re quests for tutors than we can fill,” Leysk says. “It’s frustrating to turn away students.” The center conducts seminars to instruct tutors in their specific subject areas. “In the tutoring ex perience, they actually see how the skills work. And tutors have always commented that they learn to apply them to their own work. I’ve always maintained that the best way to learn something is to teach it,” she says. Leysk recommends that any one who plans to teach get some kind of tutorial experience. She says practicum students who are interested in teaching supervised classes in learning and study skills are also needed at the center.
