1. “I found the workshop very helpful, wish it had been
around when I started but very grateful for it now”
La Trobe’s How to Improve Your Grades Initiative
The How to Improve Your Grades initiative was developed in response to a change to the academic progression process at LTU. Workshops were
designed to assist students to identify academic, social and personal obstacles that impacted their university success and to provide strategies to
overcome these barriers. Consistent with research on challenges faced by students on probation (Renzulli, 2015) the workshops included study skills
and self-regulation strategies. The workshops were followed by an email campaign that expanded on the workshop content and provided study tips to
improve student success and direct students to on-campus services.
Introduction
To instil and normalise help seeking behaviour in students at La Trobe
University
To increase students awareness of the many support services that are
available and how to access them
To arm students with helpful tips and hints to ensure students perform
at their very best throughout their degree
To get students to identify barriers or obstacles they feel have
contributed to low success previously and formulate specific strategies
to overcome these from the information and resources provided
To increase students levels of self confidence in being able to positively
influence their academic performance
Objectives
Student contact details were provided by Client Services and ‘at risk’
students referred to the workshops via check-in phone calls.
Workshop flyers were provided to students during ‘at risk’ and
unsatisfactory progress meetings
Workshops were advertised via the Ask Latrobe FAQ’s page and the
Exams and Results webpage with link to workshop registration.
Workshops were developed in conjunction with the college Student
Transition Achievement and Retention (STAR) teams, Student
Learning and Student Wellbeing
Workshops were delivered on 5 La Trobe campuses with evaluations
conducted at the end of each workshop
Weekly emails were sent for the remainder of semester. Topic
included motivation, procrastination, and managing stress
During week 9 students were invited to participate in an online
survey to obtain long term feedback
Julie Harbert & Sarah Cox, La Trobe University
Method
A total of 634 students registered for the workshops in semester 2,
2015 and semester 1, 2016 with 333 in attendance (53%).
As part of the survey students were asked what was the key message
they took away from the workshop with student quotes including:
“I am not alone and I can still be successful despite
having failed”
“It is ok to ask for help if needed to be successful in
my studies”
“I’m going to plan early, focus on daily achievable
goals and break assignments down early”
Workshop evaluations were completed by 175 students with 85%
and 88% of students reporting that their questions/concerns were
addressed during 2015 and 2016 respectively
Student Feedback
• Evaluations indicated that students felt the workshops gave them
definitive strategies to improve their grades as seen in Figure 1.
Outcomes
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2015 2016
93%
87%
Fig 1. Student response: Do you have definite
strategies to help you improve your grades?
Yes No
On a scale of 1-10 students reported feeling significantly more confident
post workshop (M=6.9, SD= 1.71) than pre workshop (M=4.5, SD=1.94)
as confirmed by a paired samples t-test, t(175)=-20.49, p= <.001
Fig 2: Students rating of confidence before and after the
workshop in being able to improve their grades
• Harbert, J., & Cox, S. (2015). How to improve your grades evaluation report. Unpublished internal document, La Trobe University.
• La Trobe University (2015). Future ready strategic plan 2013-2017.Retrieved from latrobe.edu.au/about/downloads/Future-Ready-
Strategic-Plan-2013-2017.pdf
• Renzulli, S. J. (2015). Using Learning Strategies to Improve the Academic Performance of University Students on Academic Probation.
The Journal of the National Academic Advising Association, 35(1), 29-41.
References
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6
15
37
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20
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20
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46
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8
0- LOW
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10 - HIGH
NUMBER OF STUDENTS
CONFIDENCELEVEL
Pre Workshop Post Workshop