 Welcome to the University Exploration Academic Success Planning Workshop. The reason you are completing this workshop is because we, the academic advisors in University Exploration, want to make sure that you understand Ohio State's academic policies and procedures. We also want you to be able to recognize what factors interfered with your academic success and find ways to rectify the situation so you can return to good academic standing with the university. There are many resources on campus that are in place to assist you in being a successful student, but at such a large university, it can be difficult to find the most useful ones. We will suggest some resources that may be most relevant to your situation. Finally, we want to emphasize the importance of staying in touch with your academic advisor. We are here to help you find the right resources and set attainable goals. Today we are going to discuss what exactly probation means and what can happen as a result of being on probation. We will identify some common issues that impact college student success and discuss the appropriate steps that you should be taking to remove yourself from probation. We will also provide you with information about the different resources on campus. And finally, you will set some goals for the following semester so that you have a clearly defined course of action. You will hear the words term GPA and cumulative GPA frequently throughout this presentation. It is important that you understand the differences between them. Your term GPA is your grade point average for a specific semester's classes. Your cumulative GPA is your grade point average for all of the classes you have taken at Ohio State. You can look up these GPAs on your advising report. To access your advising report go to buckeyelink.osu.edu and scroll down to the section of the page with the heading Enrollment in Academic History. Immediately under that heading, find and click on the advising report link which will generate a PDF of your advising report. Your university login will be required. Students are put on academic probation when their cumulative GPA falls below a 2.0. Students may also be placed on special action probation which is slightly different than regular academic probation. Students may be placed on special action probation when their College of Enrollment determines that they are not making adequate progress towards a degree. In university exploration if your cumulative GPA is above a 2.0 but your term GPA is below a 2.0 you will be placed on special action probation. Students receive a probation letter via email that outlines their probation status and the conditions they must meet to be removed from probation. If students do not meet these criteria they may be eligible for dismissal from OSU. Therefore it is very important to understand these conditions of probation and develop strategies to improve your academic performance. Once you understand the terms of your probation it's important to figure out how to fix it. We will start by reflecting on what went wrong, some ways to manage time more effectively, what resources OSU offers to help you succeed, and how to set goals. This all will help you to overcome the obstacles you've been facing and raise your cumulative GPA above a 2.0 and get off probation. Now we will explore some potential obstacles that may interfere with academic success and result in being placed on academic probation. Some common factors that prevent student success are difficulty balancing academic and social obligations, not knowing how to study for college, facing transition issues such as homesickness or the adjustment to such a large campus, and personal issues such as anxiety, illness or family concerns. One of the hardest things for college students to do is find balance. There is a lot to keep track of and it is very easy to forget things if you do not write them down in an organized manner and practice good time management skills. One strategy you can use is to print a semester calendar at the beginning of each semester and write down when all of your work is due. This will show you when your busy times are so that you can plan accordingly. You can also use it to set new deadlines for yourself. For example, if your paper for English 1110 is due on Friday, why not set a new deadline of Monday? This will allow you to get the paper done in advance and take it to the Writing Center in Mendenhall. Staff in the Writing Center will help you edit your paper to expand the content, write more fluidly and support your thesis statements. You can then revise your paper before submitting it to your professor on the actual due date. Time management is a very important skill for students to acquire in order to be successful. Some easy ways to help manage your time are to remember to schedule time in your day for both class and studying and plan ahead using a calendar so that you aren't cramming the night before. When you study, be realistic in your goals. Tell yourself that you will study for 30 minutes and then surf the web for 5 minutes and then get back to studying. Give yourself those many rewards. Another reason that time management is so crucial in college is because it will help you avoid cramming and feeling that last-minute crisis. More importantly, planning ahead can help you avoid plagiarism because you'll have time to find and cite sources and use resources on campus. To learn more about plagiarism, feel free to watch this helpful video. There are numerous resources on campus that can help you be successful in college. Here are just a few examples that may be especially helpful to you. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has many resources for tutoring and academic assistance. The Walter E. Dennis Learning Center offers tutoring and learning specialists as well as many online resources. There is even a course you can take called Individual Learning and Motivation, Strategies for Success in College, ESFC 1259, which has been proven to help students raise their GPAs. The University Exploration website not only includes information on majors and study tips, but it has the Exploration Student Guide that contains answers to all of your questions about the policies and procedures at the university. This is an amazing resource for you. Tutoring and Consultation Services is available as a resource to students who suspect that they may be having emotional difficulty or anxiety about college and transition issues. All OSU students receive 10 free sessions with a trained counselor each year. Other good tutoring resources are the Math and Stats Learning Center located in Cockens Hall and the Khan Academy, which is a non-OSU online resource that includes many demonstration videos of basic math concepts. Many students find the website helpful for reviewing difficult concepts from class. Also, if you live on campus, there is free tutoring in math, chemistry and physics located in several of the residence halls. Again, there are many more beneficial resources at OSU that can help you be a successful student. Setting goals is another important component to student success. A 14-week semester goes by very quickly when you are wandering with no direction. Setting goals for each week and each semester can provide you with more clear direction. It is important to have both short-term and long-term goals and then identify strategies for achieving them. For example, you may have a long-term goal to get off probation. To achieve this long-term goal, you may set a short-term goal to earn a B on your biology midterm. To accomplish this short-term goal, you may decide to review your lecture notes for at least an hour after each class so you are more prepared for the exam. You may reward yourself with going on Facebook after studying for a certain amount of time or by treating yourself to a night out with your friends if you are in the B you tried to get. Consider what strategies will help you achieve your goals. What types of rewards will motivate you to keep working towards them? You may be on probation for a reason that can be petitioned. This petition would be to retroactively withdraw from a course or courses which could thus increase your GPA. Examples of extenuating circumstances that you could petition for are serious illness, mental health issues, and family emergencies that affected your whole semester. If you have circumstances that you feel could be petitionable, you need to discuss this with your advisor as soon as possible because waiting for multiple semesters can make petitioning more difficult. Again, if you feel you have a legitimate reason to petition to retroactively withdraw from a class, you should discuss it with your academic advisor immediately. You may also be eligible for grade forgiveness, which could have a significant impact on your GPA and help you get off probation more quickly. You may use forgiveness for up to three classes during your time at OSU. You must meet with an academic advisor prior to the second Friday of the semester to fill out an application to retake a course for forgiveness. When you retake a course for forgiveness, the first grade you earned in the course will be dropped from your cumulative GPA and the new grade will count instead. This change will not occur on your record until after the withdrawal deadline for the semester in which you are retaking the course. Note that the original grade will still remain on your transcript. If you are considering using forgiveness, you should discuss those plans with your academic advisor as soon as possible. Now that you have a better understanding of probation and some strategies to help you meet the conditions of your probation, let's discuss what happens next. At the end of this semester, University Exploration will review your grades and academic record and you'll be notified of one of three possible outcomes. First, if you have met the conditions of probation and your cumulative GPA is above a 2.0, you could be removed from probation and be in good academic standing. Second, if you have met the conditions of probation but your cumulative GPA is still below a 2.0, you could be continued on academic probation. Third, if you have not met the conditions of probation, if you have below a 2.3 semester GPA, if you took more than 15 hours or if you earned any incompletes, you would be eligible for dismissal from the University. If you're at all concerned about meeting the conditions of probation, you need to contact your academic advisor to explain the situation. A large amount of information has been presented to you today. Hopefully you feel more comfortable with the conditions of your probation and confident that you will have the resources to address the obstacles you faced in the past and reach your new goals. Please consider making a follow-up appointment with your academic advisor to discuss what you learned from this workshop and ask any remaining questions you have. To make an appointment, call the University Exploration front desk at 614-292-0646 or stop by 352 Denny Hall. You should make an appointment about a week in advance of when you want to meet with your advisor. The University Exploration Office meets with many students, so do not expect to be seen the day you make your appointment. Thank you for completing the University Exploration Academic Success Planning Workshop. Your academic advisor will be notified, will check your quiz, and if he or she determines that you have successfully completed the workshop, then your registration hold will be lifted. Again, if you have any questions, call or stop by the office to make an appointment with your academic advisor.