Strategies for Effective Student Coaching Conversations

• Start with open-ended questions. These kinds of questions give you more information and get the student reflecting on their own routines/practices. Examples:

• How have you approached studying for this class in the past?  

• What have you found to work best when you study for this class or another class?  How did you know it worked?

• What does your study environment typically look like? 

• Would you walk me through your weekly schedule to help identify when you could build in additional study time or support?

• How do you typically keep track of your assignments and events? 

• What does note-taking look like for you?

• How did you feel when you were taking the exam? 

• How do you manage when you have a heavy reading load, multiple assignments, and/or a tight exam schedule?

• What have you noticed about yourself as a reader? Do you have a sense of how long you can read and comprehend before you lose focus or feel fatigue? 

• Listen actively by attending to verbal and nonverbal signals, paraphrasing the student’s words to check understanding, and asking follow-up questions to dig deeper. Examples:

• It sounds like you are spending a lot of time on the material for this class without being sure if you fully understand the material. Am I understanding that correctly?

• You mentioned that you study for hours for each exam – could you tell me a little more about what you do when you study?

• It sounds like you understand some of the material, but you are having trouble with [topic]. Is that right?

• What do you typically do when you’re stuck?

• You mentioned being able to focus better when you study around other people. Can you identify anyone that you can ask to schedule weekly study time with to help keep each other accountable?

• From what you’ve shared, I hear you saying that you’re having difficulty juggling all that you have on your schedule. What would you like to prioritize doing for the next week/remaining of the quarter to get yourself back on track?

• Support goal-setting by asking the student to identify potential next steps. It’s fine to offer suggestions, but it’s most effective for the student to brainstorm a viable solution for their path forward based on their own strengths and needs. Examples:

• What are some options to consider for moving forward? (This can include trying out a new strategy, adjusting their schedule, seeking out resources, or any other option you and the student think could be beneficial.)

• What do you realistically think you can set as a goal between now and [date]? What might be your first step?

• How can you break your action plan into smaller steps?

• What challenges might you encounter with this plan, and how would you navigate these challenges?

• How confident do you feel that you will be able to follow this plan? What could you do to increase your confidence?

• What do you think would help you reach your goal? What barriers can you identify that could get in the way of progressing towards your goals? How might you work around those?

• Encourage accountability. We all benefit from the support of friends and colleagues in staying on track toward our goals. Many students are still developing the skills required for managing their often-complicated schedules – and therefore may need some extra support. You can help the student identify an accountability measure that they believe will work for them. Examples:

• Sharing their plan with a trusted friend, classmate, or family member with coordinated check-ins on their progress.

• Scheduling independent pulse-checks into their schedule to reflect on whether their chosen strategies are being implemented and whether they are effective.

• Setting reminders on a calendar or app.

• Checking out accountability resources through ASLA, such as Peer Academic Coaching.

• If a chosen plan isn’t working, the student should reflect on why they believe that’s the case: Did they have trouble implementing it? Do they need more time to adjust to a new routine? Do they need to pivot?

First, ask the student how they currently check their understanding while reading, completing an assignment, or studying for a test. Ask what they do if they are confused or have outstanding questions.

Based on what they’ve shared, you can give suggestions on when and how they can evaluate their understanding more effectively.

Some general strategies you can suggest:

• The student can build into their studying moments to pause and reflect on their understanding.
• You might provide example question stems to help the student reflect on their understanding for your content area.
• The student can note their questions and points of confusion to bring to office hours.
• The student can self-test or write/speak what they understand without consulting class materials, and then check for accuracy.

This is a common scenario: Students are putting in the effort but not seeing the desired results. Before jumping into solutions mode, it’s important to find out what learning strategies they are currently employing.

Here are a few questions you can start with:

• Can you describe to me what you do when you sit down to study for this class?
• What environment do you typically study in?
• Tell me how you read through the text/chapter/readings.
• How much time do you usually spend studying a particular text/chapter/problem?
• What study strategies have you used in the past, in this class or another one, that you have found success with?
• When studying, how do you determine whether you’ve grasped the material?
• What other resources/people are you consulting to prepare for assessments?
• Beyond memorization of the central concepts, how are you evaluating whether you understand how the ideas connect or how you can apply the concepts to various situations?

A few ideas:

• Give students prompts to check their understanding.
• Build in space for students to explain concepts or reflect with one another to identify areas of confusion.
• Provide suggestions for structuring their time (e.g., “Your chapter this week is 60 pages, so I recommend having 30 read by xxx date,”), and consider building benchmarks into larger assignments, such as having a segment of an assignment or draft due prior to the final due date.
• Add assignment-reflection tasks (e.g., a paragraph after an assignment asking students to comment on their approach and where they might want to adjust in the future, or an “exam wrapper” asking students to reflect on where they missed items on a quiz/test and what knowledge/skills they may want to shore up.

Below are some insights into the reasons students don’t attend office hours, and ideas for encouraging attendance:

• Lack of comfort or familiarity. Many students, even juniors and seniors, feel nervous about office hours and aren’t entirely sure what to expect. In fact, many students, especially first-years, may not know exactly what office hours are. Explicitly addressing in class when your office hours are, what they look like in practice, and how students can best take advantage of them may help make office hours less intimidating for students. You might even consider asking a couple of students to share their office-hours experience with others (see 2nd video).
• Time conflicts. Many students report that they don’t attend office hours because they have work or class at the same time – and they don’t realize that they can request an alternative meeting. If you’re willing, let students know that if they have a reasonable time conflict, you will try to offer a different time.
• Feeling unprepared. While students should have made a good-faith effort with the material before attending office hours, many students report feeling that they are “too lost” to attend, and fear “looking dumb” to their professors. Consider offering some reassurance in class that students can attend no matter their level of confusion. You can also offer students guidance on preparing for office hours.

Engaging with a noticeably upset student can be stressful, making it difficult to navigate what to say or do. A great place to start is showing empathy. Once you’ve communicated care for the student’s situation, you can help guide them toward actionable solutions. The following steps can be useful:

1. Listen fully to a student’s feelings and concerns and validate that what they are experiencing can be difficult. This does not necessarily mean that you agree with their claims — as in “I’m not good enough in this class; I should just drop” or “This class is way too hard" — but rather that you recognize the emotional toll of their experience. This recognition can build trust, which helps the student attend to the rest of the conversation.

2. After finding out more, you can guide the student in narrowing the scope of the problem and weighing their priorities. Once a student is able to explore options within their locus of control, they can map out their next steps and chunk up bigger projects. Sometimes, it can be helpful to break things down and just focus on that first step. If you believe a student might need additional support, you might suggest that they schedule a consultation with ASLA.

3. If the student is receptive to discussing their situation further, reframe the conversation by asking open-ended questions geared towards identifying what areas the student can construct goals towards improving. You can find examples of those questions here [internal link to above questions section].
4. Guide the student in formulating an action plan, including considering possible strategies and resources. For example:

   • What do you realistically think you can set as a goal between now and [date]?
   • What might be your first step towards your goal?
   • How can you break down your action plan into smaller steps?
   • What are possible challenges you might encounter with this plan and how would you navigate these challenges?
   • How confident do you feel that you will be able to follow this plan? What could you do to increase your confidence?

5. If a student shares that their motivation issues stem from personal stressors, you can remind them about services available through CAPS. You can also share a list of campus support resources maintained by ASLA or NUHelp.

Well-intentioned Northwestern students are often trying to do everything at once. Passion and drive are strengths, but the pressure to be constantly doing more can negatively impact students' ability to succeed in classes. Start a conversation with a few questions to help students think through their priorities, and to avoid making assumptions about how students are spending their time. For example:

• Tell me about your schedule.
• What are your various commitments? Which are non-negotiable for you?
• Do you feel like you’re spending your time in the way you want to? In a way that is aligned with your own priorities and values?

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Once you understand the student’s commitments, it’s OK to be honest if you think that students might benefit from lightening their load, if feasible, in order to commit the appropriate amount of time and energy to get the most out of their courses. As a faculty member, you can also give insight into how much time you anticipate the student should be blocking off for certain readings or assignments for your class.

• Programs & services
  • ASLA Peer-Guided Study Groups
  • ASLA Drop-in Peer Tutoring
  • ASLA group-based coaching: Undergraduate Program for Advancing Learning (UPAL)
  • ASLA Peer Academic Coaching
  • ASLA Learning Consultations
  • The Writing Place
  • Language Resource Center
• Additional resources for students
  • Time management
  • Study strategies
  • Managing academic stress
  • Resources for neurodivergent-identifying students
  • More campus resources

If you believe a student needs one-on-one coaching support and you don’t have the capacity yourself, they are welcome to schedule an ASLA Learning Consultation or sign up for the Peer Academic Coaching program.