33 Simple Strategies Project
In Spring 2023, the NHS Student Success Committee, with support from the STEM-Inclusive Excellence Collective, invited faculty to engage in a college-wide exploration of ways to support our first-year and first-generation students. 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty provided a framework for this conversation. It is a small but powerful book that acknowledges that while we want to support our students, our time and energy are limited, and we often don’t know where to start. The author, Lisa Nunn, provides a toolkit of practical approaches divided into fifteen weekly 5-15-minute strategies devoted to student success. The strategies are action-oriented and provide concrete tools aimed at demystifying the college process and enhancing students’ sense of belonging—both essential for our first-year and first-generation students’ success. She also provides references for further exploration and highlights the voices of first-generation students providing a powerful reminder of why this work is so important.
We have collected the emails sent in this project as a week-by-week guide. If you would like acopy of the book, have questions, or would like to discuss the information, reach out to us at stem.iec@unco.edu
- Introduction: Planning your course
The introduction provides some foundational concepts and eight strategies to consider as you plan for next semester. Topics covered include your syllabus, giving a mini midterm in week two, offering a study guide and building in a review session, expaining multiple times in the first weeks about effective study approaches, giving pedagogic rationales for everything you do--and writing them in the syllabus, scheduling office (student) hours immediately before or after your class, positive habits of speech and using encouraging phrases, adding images (or bios) of scholars to your slides and building in 10-15 minutes for get-to-know-you activities. Each topic includes lots of useful information and approaches.
- Week One: Getting to know each other
Welcome back! I hope you were able to take some down time over the break. As you put the final touches to your spring courses, I wanted to share the theme of the first week from 33 Simple Strategies, showing our students a more human side of ourselves. Rather than providing a professional introduction, the author suggests we share a favorite moment from the break, a recent (non-professional) accomplishment, or a challenge on our horizon. And when you introduce ourselves, she encourages us to be explicit about what we want the students to call us. You can also use the prompts above or others in the chapter to provide an opportunity for students to get to know each other in small groups. A final strategy is to intentionally invite students to your office hours (and I would add, explain what office hours are and why we hold them 😊).
Why are these approaches helpful for first-generation students? They help build trust and a sense of belonging and begin to create a safe environment. Letting the students know what to call you helps first-generation students, as many may not know the appropriate forms of address. The chapter provides additional references if you are curious and want to learn more.
A Student Voice: “I Love when professors incorporate their own lives into the material they are teaching…I think it makes students more willing to engage into what’s going on.
- Week Two: Study guides
The theme of the second week from 33 Simple Strategies is modeling how to create a study guide. The author shares that not all students learn how to study and create study guides in high school. Consider modeling in class what a good study guide looks like and how to create one. The author suggests spending 10 minutes at the end of each week having the class come up with key concepts for the study guide and then go over those key concepts before each exam.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-generation students? As the experts in the course content, faculty can help students figure out how to study effectively much faster and with less stress then letting first-year students figure it out on their own.
A Student Voice: “I came in, and I didn’t really know how to study. It’s not really something I did in high school because I didn’t have to. So last semester, I felt like I did not know what I was doing… This semester, I’m getting the hang of it a little more… I didn’t even open my chemistry book, and now I read the entire chapter even though it takes me so many hours.”
Resources: Here is a website that provides additional academic success resources that you can share with students.
- Week Three: Study partners
Week three in 33 Simple Strategies provides an approach to help students find study partners. Finding study partners can be tough, so providing an opportunity for the students to engage with each other and find other students with similar study habits can make the process easier. The author also encourages you to check in on/engage with a few students in your course and provides some prompts (some less relevant for returning students). As usual, there are references at the end of the chapter. Another interesting (and relatively short) read relevant to the latter suggestion is Small Changes in Teaching: The Minutes Before Class published as part of a series in the Chronicle of Higher Education. I encourage you to take a look
Why is this approach helpful for first-generation students? Learning how to study is a challenge, and having a study group helps. But it’s hard for students to start a conversation and ask others to study with them. This practice provides an opportunity for students to connect and normalizes hat the students should be studying early in the semester. Engaging with the students helps with a sense of belonging, a vital element of student success.
Student Voice: “Meeting people is definitely hard. There are clubs and stuff and ways to get involved, and I am in a club. But I feel like, you know, you go to class, and then you learn, and then everyone just kind of leaves. And everyone is doing their own thing.”
- Week Four: Communicating pedagogic choices
Week 4 in 33 Simple Strategies reminds us of the value of clearly communicating with our students the reasons behind our pedagogic choices. The author shares that many students may still be at loss as to what is expected of them, from class to class and instructor to instructor. The author suggests that we consistently devote time to detail the rationale behind our syllabus requirements and grading criteria. She also suggests that we use phrases like 'I know this is hard' rather than 'This should be a review for you'. The author recommends that we frequently remind our students of the resources available on campus (see Tips for Student Academic Success at UNC).
Why are these approaches helpful for first-generation students? Many students will still be navigating the requirements of college academics compared to high school. We can help alleviate their frustration by explaining “why we do what we do”.
Student Voice: “I think that professors have this thing where it’s like they play this “Guess What’s in the Professor’s Head” game… The first time we had to write a paper, she was just like, 'Writeit'. We have no idea how you want it…You didn’t tell us anything.”
- Week Five: Time management
Week five in 33 Simple Strategies provides tips to help students with time management skills. At this point in the semester, students have established some time management techniques. Therefore, it is a good time to check in on/engage with students on how well they are balancing all their commitments. You can do this by spending 5-15 minutes in class or one-on-one and show them how to evaluate their time management. The authors provide time management tools and resources to share with students. There are also UNC time management resources.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-generation students? The author describes how time management is a nearly universal struggle. Sharing our own time management difficulties and skills can help students understand what good time management looks like and demonstrate that we all must work on these skills.
Student Voice: “College is a triangle. So it goes sleep, study, and social…the thing with the triangle, you can only pick two, and one has to not be there…So I guess the best person has the triangle figured out so they can get all three things. But with me, I have a rectangle because I work”.
- Week Six: Managing stress
Week six in 33 Simple Strategies is about providing tips to help students with managing their stress. Acknowledging in class that it is stressful to be a college student is a good way to normalize that every college students experiences stress. Remind students that sleeping seven to eight hours a night is the key to emotional sanity and good brain functioning for learning and studying. Good nutrition and regular exercise, even just 5 minutes a day, are equally important. You might consider sharing something you do to manage your work related stress so that students know that you understand what it feels like to be stressed.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-year and first-generation students? First year students have more than their share of emotional highs and lows as they adjust to college, particularly if they are first generation as well. Recognizing the role of stress in these highs and lows is important for students as is having faculty recognition of that stress and offering some stress management ideas.
Student Voice “I keep an average count of how many hours of sleep I get. I'm doing better. I'm getting like five to six. I used to only get three or four at the beginning of college .... I didn't know how to time manage and all that because it was brand new to me. So I didn't eat. So I lost 15 pounds .... I gained it all back. I'm doing better with eating and sleeping .... [It took me} a month and a half to figure it out. So it was really rough. So I've had to go through a lot trying to manage everything .... And I'm really stressed out:'
- Week Seven: Office (student) hours
Week seven in 33 Simple Strategies is about encouraging students to go to office hours and noticing how we communicate our availability. First, explain to your students what to expect in office hours. For example, do you prefer students to meet with you one-on-one or as a group? Do you want them to come with questions or are you ok with unstructured visits? The reading presents several questions about how you like to structure your office hours and a list of conversation starters for office hours to share with student. Being available before and after class, without appearing rushed or stressed, can be a valuable way to create a space for students to interact with you. When we appear or talk about being stressed and busy, our students sometimes interpret that as not being available, so pay attention to how you communicate with your students.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-year and first-generation students? Many first-year and first-generation students do not know how long they should wait to hear back from a professor after they’ve sent an email. Communicating with them about your norms for responding to email can support students in knowing how long to wait.
Student Voice "I was scared to go to office hours because they are so smart and so intelligent, and I didn't want them to think I'm dumb. I don't want to sound dumb .... Towards the midterm, I went to the math instructor, and then I actually liked going .... He's so funny. He actually likes what he is doing. And I'm learning right there .... I went all the time that I needed help after that because I felt comfortable”
- Week Eight: Student feedback
Week eight in 33 Simple Strategies is about collecting student feedback (midsemester) in a way that, for them, is simple, comfortable, and effective. A concise technique that is suggested uses KQS (“Keep,” “Quit,” “Start”) cards. One can hand out, say, index cards upon which those three words are written. Then, “ask students to write on the cards one thing they want you to keep doing, one thing they want you to quit doing, and one thing they want you to start doing.” This is all done anonymously.
This is just one way of letting students know that we genuinely care about the successful and frustrating aspects of their learning experience and are willing to do something about reasonable requests. As the author states, such a method for collecting student input “helps build trust and reduce friction between us.”
Why are these approaches helpful for first-year and first-generation students? Many first-year and first-generation students do not feel that their concerns are important enough that they warrant speaking to the instructor. They may feel that it is their own responsibility to deal with any issues.
Student Voice “I love psychology. She does really great lectures…. She did a thing where it was halfway through the term, she said, ‘Guys, when you do the evaluations, you say what you like in the course, and it doesn’t help you. It helps the next group. So, I want to give you guys the option of telling me now what you like, what you don’t like.’… Quizzes (used to be) based on the readings. You had to read that material before class. Now she said, ‘People don’t like that. So, we can do the lecture first, and you can read afterward. You can tell what wasn’t covered in lecture.’ And then the quiz is based off the material from the lecture and from what wasn’t covered. I feel that’s really fair. Now I’m getting 100% on the quizzes.”
- Week Nine: Building friendship circles
Week nine in 33 Simple Strategies provides tips for helping students interview each other to build their friendship circles. Building interview assignments into your courses can help students learn about each other and interview someone they do not know well. For a math class, a possible interview question is “tell me about ways you use math in everyday life”. For a social justice class, a possible interview question is “describe a time when you witnessed social justice”. The authors also encourage us to write a short, friendly note on assignments as we are grading to encourage students at the halfway point of the semester.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-generation students? The author describes how at this point in the semester, first-generation students may feel “stuck” with their group of friends that they met during the first few days of college. These types of open-ended interview questions as part of assignments can help students connect with each other.
Student Voice: “Even when I try talking to people, I don’t know, I’m just- I hate saying it, but I’m a little awkward. And it’s just like I only stick to those few friends. So I wish I could talk to more people”.
- Week Ten: Discussing career paths
While many students enter university with a declared major, there is a high likelihood that they will change majors during their pursuit of a degree. Indeed, many students who earn a Bachelor’s degree will continue forward in a career that is not directly related to their major. Students are already in the mindset of making decisions with advising season entering its height. This mindset can be influenced by their current performance in a course or what they believe the “correct” path should be. Consider sharing your experience/path with students in a more public setting such as class, or simply initiate a discussion outside of class about how they are doing in their current courses and their path options. While you many have tried these strategies already, we encourage you to try them again. Repetition can be key especially if they were not in a reflective mindset before.
Why is this important for First generation students? For many first-generation students identifying their sense of belonging can be a challenge which can heighten the likelihood they will experience imposter syndrome. If you consider your own experiences and/or those of previous students, many times it can be experiences outside the classroom that influence paths. Reminding students that part of the process of finding their path is to explore their options both in their major and through LAC courses. Additionally, knowing others within their field have gone through similar experiences can encourage students to consider their path trajectory while also negating thoughts they are ‘not meant to be here’.
Student voices “I got a 71 in my first computer science midterm, and I was like, “oh dear”. And it was heart-wrenching because I love the major. But if I’m not good at it, what am I supposed to be doing?” - 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty, pg. 97
“I’m taking ethics, Personal Ethics at Work, now, and I’m really interested… I wanted to be in the science department, to be a graduate doctor, but now I’m thinking I might try to look into business…. It made me think about how I can utilize what I’m learning right now and incorporate it somehow into a business or something would help me, like management, -33 Simple Strategies for Faculty, pg 99.
- Week Eleven: Discovering life purpose and passion
Week 11 in 33 Simple Strategies focuses on helping students discover life purpose and passion. The chapter suggests having students in class respond to a set of 15 questions designed to help discover their life’s purpose. Of importance is to have students quickly write their answers (versus just thinking about their answers) with very little time given to “mull over” the question/answer. Questions such as “What makes you smile?”, “What do people typically ask you for help with?”, and “What are your deepest values?” are provided. Once the questions are completed, ask students to take their answers home and provide them direction on how to write a personal mission that addresses the following: What do I want to do?, Who will benefit?, and What is the result/what value will I create? It is also a great idea for you as the instructor to take time to complete the same exercises (answer questions, write personal mission) so that you can more easily relate to the experience.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-year and first-generation students? This important element of purpose and passion may get lost with some students as they might struggle with seeing how taking certain courses, for example, applies to their career goals. This exercise may act as a starting point to see how they might use everything the university has to offer (courses, clubs, organizations) to help build their sense of purpose.
Student Voice “I think people go to college to get a job, but really I think more is to figure out what you’re interested in. Getting a job, I think, should be a product of discovering what you’re interested in... There are lots of opportunities here: … studying abroad or just in general dipping your toes in everything ... moving away from home, ... learning how to live on your own, learning how to be responsible for yourself.”
- Week Twelve: Your college woes
Week 12 in 33 Simple Strategies encourages us as instructors to share some of our own college woes with our students. We can share during class how we handled these woes and what we learned from them. Doing so will help our students face their own challenges. The author suggests passing out sticky notes and having students anonymously write about something they are struggling with. These notes can be displayed on a board for everyone to see that they are not alone in dealing with their woes.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-year and first-generation students? First-year students are going through some of the toughest challenges they will experience while in college. It will come as a relief to them that someone as successful as their class instructor has faced some of the same challenges before.
Student Voice “My chemistry professor—honestly, her backstories. One time she mentioned how she got a really bad score on her first midterm, and she realized, “You know what, I need to study!” She gave us that pep talk. It was motivating—okay, yeah, if she can do it, I can do it too.”
- Week Thirteen
- Week Fourteen: Failure in a healthy light
Week 14 in 33 Simple Strategies centers on Learning from Failures. It is important to let students know that failures will happen, and that learning to see failures in a healthy light and as an opportunity to grow is very helpful. The author recommends providing students with your personal CV of Failures showcasing past failures (i.e., professional failures, academic failures). Suggested CV of Failures categories include: Colleges that Rejected my Application, Assignments I Bombed, and Grants I Did Not Win. After sharing the CV of Failures, ask students to spend 5 minutes writing their own.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-year and first-generation students? First year students experience failure whether they are first generation or continuing generation students. There may be failed assignment, failed exams, failed friendships, or failed auditions/tryouts, and reminding students that learning from failures is of great benefit.
Student Voice “Last semester I really messed up bad. As of right now, I’m on academic probation...It was really hectic for me. I’m not going to use that as my excuse or anything, but it was hectic for me. My GPA fell below 2.0...I have to resubmit my final paper because I didn’t put citations. She knew that I didn’t mean to plagiarize. ...I did put in the bibliography. I just didn’t realize we had to put these in-text citations...In high school, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I always did bibliographies. I put my refences on the bottom. I thought that was always enough...It’s kind of like learning the hard way.”
- Week Fifteen: Saying farewell
Saying Farewell is the theme of Week 15 of 33 Simple Strategies. As the semester is wrapping up Dr. Nunn encourages us to acknowledge students’ successes, congratulate them on finishing the semester, and consider sharing what you have appreciated about them. Their enthusiasm or curiosity, perhaps? You might also encourage the students to continue their relationship with you as they learn how to create an ongoing network of support. Finally, let them know if your office hours have changed for finals week and suggest ways students can best prepare for finals next week.
Why are these approaches helpful for first-year and first-generation students? This week’s 5-15 minutes devoted to student success continues the over-arching theme of the semester. Throughout the semester, the small intentional interactions with students were designed to create a greater sense of belonging—socially, academically, and as part of a larger university community. The 33 simple strategies were drawn from a qualitative study Lisa Nunn conducted to “explore how students’ academic successes and struggles shaped their perceptions of themselves as college students and how academics contribute to a sense of belonging.” She conducted 186 interviews following students through their first two years in college. College Belonging shares the results of this work, and provides additional insights into the process of belonging in college. I encourage you to check it out when you have time.
Student Voice: “It was the final lecture yesterday. I wanted to walk up to the teacher and just say ‘thank you.’ He was conversing with the other TAs, and as soon as he saw me—he was in the middle of a sentence—he excused himself and came to me. I thought that was really nice. ‘It was fun being your teacher,’ that kind of thing. So, I was like, ‘Okay, that was really cool. I’m going to miss this guy.’
On behalf of the NHS Student Success Committee, thank you for engaging with us and these strategies throughout the semester. We have appreciated hearing from many of you about the approaches you tried and the responses from your students. As we close the semester, please know that we appreciate you and all you you do to support student learning and belonging.
