In collaboration with Student Success Services, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Academic Leadership (CETAL) has launched a fall semester campaign to equip faculty with simple strategies to promote student success, particularly among first-year students. Every other week, you will find faculty strategies to support student behaviors that foster student success. Further, we invite you to participate in Bear Bites Lunch events on select Tuesdays at 12:15 in the Executive Dining Room of the Christian Cafeteria to share your own strategies to support students and learn from your colleagues.
Together, we can make a positive impact on our students’ long-term success!
- Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
- For more weekly tips on student success, sign up for the bi-weekly email!
- Share resources with your students: UCA for Successful Students
Also, check out this insightful article, It’s Time to Start Teaching Your Students How to be a Student from The Chronicle, which offers practical tips for helping students develop the foundational skills they need to thrive in college. By incorporating simple strategies, you can better support their academic journey and boost classroom success. It’s a must-read for faculty looking to bridge the gap between high school preparation and college expectations!
WEEK 1: Foster Engaged Attendance
AUGUST 24-28 This week’s message encourages students to be fully present in class and engaged with their instructor, the content, and their peers. Fostering student attendance is essential for academic success, ensuring consistent learning and participation. Below are four strategies faculty can implement to support their efforts:
- Take attendance in class; discuss why attendance is important to your course.
- Project care, competence, and passion by getting to know your students as individuals, being well organized, and demonstrating enthusiasm for your course content.
- Create at least one opportunity for students to actively participate in each class, and remind students that their presence and participation are important to their classmates, too.
- Use “exit ticket” activities (digitally or on paper) to provide students with credit or points for their attendance (for example, asking students to answer a reflection question or provide a key takeaway or question from the day’s lesson).
Each week, faculty are encouraged to spend a few minutes reviewing the strategies specific to student success. The following presentation offers one slide per week to present to students.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
WEEKS 2 & 3: ENCOURAGE TIME MANAGEMENT
AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 11 Effective time management skills empower college students to balance academics, extracurricular activities, and personal commitments. This ability leads to reduced stress, increased productivity, and better academic performance, fostering a sense of control and success in their educational journey. The following three strategies can help to support their efforts:
- Discuss how to plan for class assignments; provide tips on managing study time for this course; encourage use of a planner (Student Success offers free UCA Planners).
- Take time to demonstrate one or two time management strategies that could work in your course (e.g., Weekly Schedule, Daily Top Three, etc.).
- As often as possible, provide students with an estimated time needed to complete out-of-class assignments in the assignment instructions. Point out these estimated times to students and encourage them to use them when putting out-of-class assignments in their planner.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
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Join this week’s conversation over lunch! Bear Bites: Beat the Clock – Helping Students Plan for SuccessDate: September 1, 2026 “I didn’t have enough time” is something we’ve probably all heard from students. Join us for a Bear Bites lunch focused on practical ways faculty can help students Bring your own ideas, learn what colleagues are doing, and leave with a few strategies |
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WEEKS 4 & 5: CLARIFY PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
SEPTEMBER 14 -25 Clarifying performance expectations helps students understand what is required for success, reducing confusion and anxiety. It provides clear guidelines for achieving high standards, leading to better performance and academic outcomes.
- Review syllabus and LMS use (again). Reach out to students who have already missed an assignment submission to make a plan for getting back on track.
- Reveal any remaining hidden curriculum issues that you have noticed students are not aware of (e.g., taking notes during a lecture, preparing questions for discussion, etc.).
- Use rubrics (and explore using the rubric tool in Blackboard) to communicate to students what successful performance will look like on an assignment and what factors will contribute to their success. When possible, encourage students to use the rubric to self-assess their work and identify and address any shortcomings before submitting it for a grade.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
WEEKS 6 & 7: SUPPORT STUDENT WELLNESS
SEPTEMBER 28 – OCTOBER 9 Supporting student wellness is vital for academic success and overall well-being. Prioritizing wellness helps students manage stress, stay focused, and balance academic and personal life. A supportive environment that promotes self-care and open discussions empowers students to thrive both academically and personally.
- Discuss the negative impact of social media. (There are several good TEDx talks on this, so consider sharing one with your students.)
- Use the “Community Conversations” discussion board that is pre-loaded into your Blackboard course shell to share resources and events on campus, such as HPER group exercise classes, Counseling Center groups, and Student Success workshops.
- Consider using case scenarios of common student health and wellness issues to normalize challenges and allow students to apply appropriate information about campus and community resources.
- Carve out a few minutes of class time per week to check in on students as a group, answer questions about campus resources, or recommend upcoming events and activities that contribute to student wellness.
- Use the Student of Concern referral form to share information about signs of concern about a student’s wellness with the UCA CARE Team.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
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Join this week’s conversation over lunch! Bear Bites: Wellness That WorksDate: October 1, 2026 College can be a lot. This is true for students and for the faculty who care about them. How can we create classrooms that support student wellness while recognizing that faculty We’ll talk about small opportunities to check in with students, ways to normalize |
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WEEKS 8 & 9: PROVIDE INDIVIDUALIZED SUPPORT
OCTOBER 12 – 23 Providing individual support to college students is vital for their academic success. Tailoring assistance to each student’s needs helps clarify misunderstandings, strengthen student-teacher relationships, and offer targeted resources. This personalized approach improves performance, builds confidence, and enhances overall academic achievement. 
- Complete progress reports.
- Consider scheduling conferences or short check-ins with students; you may want to devote a class period or time during your office hours to meet with students about the course or other topics.
- Keep a file of commonly-used grading comments so that you can quickly customize substantive and meaningful feedback for students on graded assignments.
- Promote Tutoring Services, the Center for Writing and Communication, and Peer Success Coaching in class.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
WEEKS 10 & 11: RESPOND TO DISENGAGED STUDENTS
OCTOBER 26 – NOVEMBER 6
Students’ lack of involvement can affect their own performance and that of their peers, leading to diminished learning outcomes and classroom productivity. Faculty can address disengaged students by actively seeking to understand their challenges and considering the following strategies:
- Refer students to Tutoring, Success Coaching, or Academic Advising.
- Reach out to students who have missed deadlines or are not engaging in class to encourage them to visit your office hours or have a conversation before or after class. Learn about how your class fits into their goals for attending UCA and brainstorm ways to manage your classwork within their broader list of priorities.
- Consider allowing a flexible submission deadline on at least one assignment that would allow a student to submit late or revise an assignment if they meet with you and/or see a peer coach, tutor, or SI instructor.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
WEEKS 12 & 13: CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SELF-KNOWLEDGE
NOVEMBER 9-20
By reflecting on their strengths, weaknesses, and interests, students can make more informed academic and career choices, leading to increased motivation and academic success. Self-knowledge also fosters resilience and adaptive learning strategies, improving overall student well-being and performance.
- Recommend StudentLingo videos and Academic Success Workshops through Student Success.
- Suggest an appointment with a peer success coach to explore strengths and challenges, and develop a Success Plan. (Appointments are available through the Student Success website.)
- Incorporate opportunities for students to reflect on their work in your class and how it connects with their personal and professional values and goals. Reflection can take the form of a brief discussion in pairs or small groups, an open-ended question as part of an exam or assignment, or a discussion board or journal in Blackboard.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
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Join this week’s conversation over lunch! Bear Bites: Helping Students Recognize Their StrengthsDate: November 12, 2026 By November, students have learned a lot — course content and about themselves! This Bear Bites lunch will explore ways faculty can help students pause and make We’ll consider simple opportunities for reflection that can fit into courses across |
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WEEKS 14 & 15: HELP STUDENTS FORM PEER CONNECTIONS
NOVEMBER 23 – DECEMBER 3
Establishing peer connections in college significantly impacts students by enhancing their sense of belonging and support network. Strong relationships with peers provide emotional support, academic collaboration, and social engagement, all of which contribute to improved retention and academic performance.
- Bring your class or group to a Game Night at the Student Success Center; promote study groups/Study Buddies; recommend the StudentLingo workshop on group work.
- Incorporate brief opportunities to engage with a partner or small group in class, even if your class does not include collaborative assignments. Pairing and sharing answers to practice problems, discussing assigned readings in pairs or small groups, or formulating questions about lecture material in pairs all provide ways to connect and get to know classmates that can open the door to more substantial peer support.
Present ONE slide per week with your students: Faculty Strategy Presentation Slides
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