Handy Academic Essentials Tools

(From the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion)

By Amy Barr, Lively Classical Guide at The Lukeion Project

Let me tell you about a new thing we'll be doing in June! While finalizing the schedule for the next academic year, our clever Lukeion instructors were standing around the online watercooler recently. After covering an assortment of important topics like how many students hate raisins but would happily jump out of an airplane (at least according to their answers in class polls), we turned to the topic of how to best equip high school students for life. Nope, no weird social engineering goals here, but we did observe that most of our students could use lot more support and instruction using certain academic tools.

When my three now-adult-kids were prepping to start college after admissions formalities were finished, they were required to take placement tests in various academic skills. Depending on results, they might be expected to take remedial courses or complete a few tutorials to bring them up to academic speed in time to begin their first semester. Thankfully they placed well, but I learned a few things about what we can do to better prep our college-bound students.

Some placement subjects are predictable. Students are tested on competency in writing, English, and grammar skills and even typing speed. They are examined to determine proper placement in math and other academic topics that are commonly lacking for new college students. They are also tested on academic essential apps., namely MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

These program/app placements are not just a push for students to buy them (at most universities, students are given access to these either for free or at a huge discount). Instead, these apps are the primary means of communication a student will need at the college level. If they don’t have these app skills, they will need to develop them quickly and early.

First and foremost, students must carefully format every document that is ever submitted at the college level. If a student turns in research work in the humanities, they’ll need to know how for format in MLA style sheet most of the time. If they work in the sciences or other fields, again, they’ll be expected to format all their work carefully according to assigned style sheets. Most writing projects at The Lukeion Project require extremely specific formatting to get students accustomed to methods they must employ when creating written projects.

On average, 80% of even our brightest college bound students are clueless about using good formatting methodology in MS Word. We can tell you stories for hours about how students have variously (and hilariously) misinterpreted how to perform basic formatting tasks in assignments. Often parents -- who often have no formal training in Word -- "helped" students make those formatting mistakes. Don't even get me started about how "double spaced" has gone off the rails more than once! Suffice it to say, it is never too early for a student to learn how to use this app effectively. A student needs to use Word as early in middle school as possible.

Second, most degree programs today correctly require students to take at least one semester of public speaking. We agree! The art of persuasive presentation and communication is important enough to us that we offer two semesters of Rhetoric at The Lukeion Project. No matter what you plan to do in life, the need for being a persuasive and clear communicator is inevitable. One can say they “dislike public speaking” all they please but clear communication is an absolute must for most. Learn early how to present information clearly and effectively with MS PowerPoint.

Third, the need to organize information or data is fundamental in every field of study. MS Excel provides a highly flexible way to organize information and even compute data. Most young adults could really benefit from the ability to track monthly expenses or school bills in Excel, but most young college students can also use that same program to organize research notes, keep track of a study group’s progress in a semester project, or follow a series of data sets in their biology program, chemistry class, or statistics course. It can be a very handy tool indeed and reasonably intuitive once you get started.

This summer through The Lukeion Project, students can register for a “boot camp” in each of these three programs/apps. Naturally all three of them will be a benefit to use right away in high school, but certainly these apps will be absolutely necessary in upper-level high school and college. Students need to have their own access to these apps on home devices to participate in the courses, but each boot camp will take a student through many of the most important rules and methods of using these tools now and in the future. Adults who need these same tools are also invited to join us. We won't blow your cover!

We decided to add a fourth Academic Essential Bootcamp to the summer workshop list: The fundamentals of College Writing is a four session class designed to give the fastest foundation to collegiate writing requirements available. If a student somehow never had time for our Skillful Scribbler (late middle school/early high school) or our semester courses Composition/ResearchWriting (11^th or 12^th grade), this little short workshop will get a student started for his or her first college tasks without (hopefully) needing a trip to the writing lab right away. Most underestimate how much more writing preparation is needed to achieve calm success in college assignments. This is a great last-minute patch to help any late-high school through early college student.