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Thank you for your interest in writing for the ����app Students Blog!

The ����app Students Blog features pieces written by students with topics that focus on their post-secondary experience—student success, student life, study tips, sustainability, productivity, organization strategies, exam preparation, and more. While topics can be wide-ranging, they must relate back to the post-secondary student experience in some way.

Please keep the following in mind:

• Your blog pitch should be a paragraph in length and be no more than 150 words.
• Please provide in your pitch a brief explanation as to why your topic is important.
• Be sure to submit your pitch with your university/college e-mail address.
• Do not send an entire blog submission or it will get rejected.
• Once our team reviews your blog pitch, you will hear from us within five (5) business days regarding the next steps. If your pitch is accepted, you will be given a link to the correct place to submit a draft, as well as guidelines for blog-writing.
• If your blog is accepted and your draft is finalized, the ����app Students Blog team will schedule your blog to be published on the Canadian ����app Students Blog site. Feel free to share your published blog on social media and/or list it as an accomplishment on your LinkedIn profile. This is a BIG opportunity to be PUBLISHED—celebrate it!
  

Here are some example blog pitches:

"There is no such thing as being “bad” at English! Some of us may struggle, but anyone can learn to write an A+ essay. Whether it’s learning to read a book critically or figuring out how to organize an essay in a way that is both creative and coherent, students struggle to make an essay their own. But I have good news! All it takes is a few steps to write creative, organized, and interesting essays while still following all of the rules your professor has given you. This blog article will share 7 important tips for writing a great essay. One example is “Step 5: Quality over quantity when it comes to quoting…”

“Growing up, my parents told me "do what you love, and the money will follow." Though my sister decided to take this to heart and become a full-time musician, my parents were actually rather skeptical of her decision. In June 2017, my sister and I formed a soft-rock band, and our lives have never been the same. What started as a hobby has turned into a whirlwind adventure of recording an album, playing live shows, and connecting with people on a new level. I have started using social media marketing to connect with our audience, and have gained communication skills through negotiating with music venues for concert bookings. My parents were right: if you have the ability and the skill, and you love what you do, go at it full-force, and success will someday follow.”

“I think as a college student taking several classes, each with their long lectures and hour-long exams, having to complete a set of questions and activities on a weekly basis isn't the best. It's even worse when you get all the tricky questions. But, MyLab and Mastering program is not out to kill your grades. I was able to use the programs in my sciences courses to see how well I understood the material. It's actually great supplemental material, as well. In this article, I'll talk about my experiences using the programs and my tips on how to make the best of it.”

Once we accept your pitch, you will receive an email notification (check your spam folder!). Then you will have 14 days (2 weeks) to submit a draft. We are excited to read your pitch!

Whether you teach online, in-person, or a hybrid format, you can regularly take the temperature of your class and quickly adjust your teaching strategies based on how your students are learning. Here are five easy techniques we’re using to evaluate our classes throughout each lesson and the entire semester.

1. Watch for understanding

Read the room. You’re most likely already doing this. Observe and interpret cues from body language and facial expressions or written language by monitoring discussion board interactions.

If your class is broken into smaller groups, all having their own discussion, it can quickly get chaotic and hard to monitor the learning going on. You can easily assess the room using the��+1/-1 count method. As you observe the groups either by walking around the classroom or monitoring the chat, keep a running tally. When someone recalls or applies a lesson correctly that’s plus one, and when you hear a misunderstanding that’s minus one. Then choose a number (minus 3 for example), and, when you reach it, bring the group together for a quick reset.

2. Ask questions

Gain insights by regularly asking your students questions that gauge student understanding and detect any misconceptions. You can also do this at the end of a lesson by asking students to come up with��three highlights and a question��they still have.

When students are the ones generating questions it gives you an idea of what misconceptions are out there. Are there any concepts that many students are still struggling to grasp? You can use that info to address those things in upcoming lessons.

3. Confidence check in

Ask for student feedback often and let them know you actually use it to make the learning experience better. Most teachers (us included) stop in the middle of a lesson and ask if there are any questions but that assumes that the students who have questions feel comfortable enough to admit they may be the only one who doesn’t understand something.

Instead, you can ask everyone to put fingers up showing their comfort level with the content (one finger for no confidence, two for low confidence, and three for high confidence). This gives you a quick sense of how the class is doing. You can also do it online with surveys and poll features.

4. Scan data

Make use of any available metrics you have at hand to notice trends in student engagement. For instance, learning platforms like the ones within ����app’s �ѲⳢ����®��flag struggling students early on.

Is there an upward or downward trend? Are students spending more time than usual on a certain topic? If students are dropping off, are they returning to the activity later? Also take note of everything around you like interactions on discussion boards and the types of questions you have coming your way.

5. Be deliberate

Every interaction with students in any context can provide valuable insight, so you should craft interactions to inform student learning and your own teaching. You should always be assessing, adjusting, and adapting strategies as you learn about your students.

Remember, be deliberate as you watch, ask, check in, and scan for insights so you can help your learners and improve your teaching strategies.

Deeper understanding

Take a deeper dive into these strategies with our webinar.��Watch the recording to learn more��and don’t miss the answers to questions that came up during our live Q&A.

Have you been hearing the term “burnout” a lot lately? What is it? What are the signs? How is it different from just plain old exhaustion?

��defines burnout as "a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress."

Recognize the signs

If you are experiencing most of these symptoms you may be experiencing burnout.

• Having trouble getting yourself to work or getting started on work or a��lack of motivation.
• Noticing your��job performance has slipped. Burnout can happen slowly so compare your performance to that of previous years vs. weeks or months.
• Experiencing��changes in your relationships��with those around you either by having more conflicts or being more withdrawn.
• Spending a lot of time thinking about work when you’re not working.��If you can’t turn your brain off during family time or when you should be sleeping, it could be a sign you’re in burnout mode. ¹
• Finding it��harder to concentrate. Is it more difficult to plan a lecture or answer a complicated student question?��²

You’re not the only one

If you checked off most of the items above and are feeling burnt out, know you’re not alone. 52% of employees say they are experiencing burnout and 75% have experienced it at some point in their career.��³

Kevin R. McClure, associate professor of higher education at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, shared this about his experience with burnout: “I hit a physical and emotional wall. I was tired — tired in a way a nap couldn’t fix. At the end of a particularly long day, I remember a Zoom meeting in which a colleague suggested that we find a way to recognize our graduating master’s students. My immediate response was: ‘Do we have to?’ It was uncharacteristic��enough for another colleague to say they were worried about me.”��⁴

The pandemic seems to have only increased the number of people experiencing burnout. A survey conducted by��The Chronicle of Higher Education��found that 70% of the faculty members they spoke with currently felt stressed, while back in 2019 only 32% said the same thing. Plus more than half those surveyed were seriously thinking about retiring or changing careers.��⁵

There is hope — Coping with burnout

Burnout, if not addressed, can lead to serious impacts on your physical and mental health. McClure (with the help of his colleague) recognized the signs and was able to do something about it and you can too.

Try some of these techniques to get back to your old self.

• Don’t view burnout as failure
• Prioritize mental health (enough sleep, good nutrition, exercise, socializing in a safe way)
• Take time to do activities that take your mind off of work (reading, cooking, running)
• Find ways to express all your emotions about the situation and keep a close support system (human or animal)⁵

When it comes to burnout, it’s important to remember you’re not alone — most people experience it during the course of their career. There are many ways to overcome it, you just have to recognize the signs.

Sources

¹����Forbes, April 1, 2013.

²��Mayo Clinic Staff, Mayo Clinic, June 5, 2021.

³��Morrison, Courtney. everyonesocial.com, May 4, 2021.

⁴��McClure, Kevin R., EdSurge, August, 14, 2020.

⁵��Gewin, Virginia, nature.com, March 15, 2021.