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Student Learning Supports: Learning Skills

Learning Skills

We can help support the development of skills in the areas students find most challenging.

The Learning Portal

The Learning Portal provides shared access to resources from all Ontario Colleges. Explore modules related to learning online, study skills, digital skills, writing, research, math, career exploration, and more.

In Learning Skills, we believe in supporting the holistic development of students while here with us. Our hope is students will develop skills and strategies essential for learning, while being able to transfer these skills into employment and everyday life.

You can access support in various ways depending on your needs, preferences and schedule. Please take advantage of our online resources, workshops, drop-ins and 1:1 support appointments.

  • test taking & test anxiety
  • test prep & studying/memory
  • time management & organization
  • presentations skills
  • groupwork
  • reading for comprehension
  • note-taking
  • assignment breakdown

Tips for Time Management:

  1. Start to organize and plan your time early in the semester by creating a Term Planner.
  2. Plan out your weeks and break tasks into Daily To-Do lists.
  3. Learn to prioritize and prepare a plan for each assignment.
  4. Be aware of and avoid the hook of procrastination!
  5. Be sure to plan for fun! It is also a part of your college experience.

Tools

Term Planner
Weekly Planner
Daily Planner

Helpful Resources

  • Trello
    Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process.
  • Todoist
    Todoist is personal task tool that helps individuals manage their to-do lists, reminders, due dates, and notes.
  • Forest: Focus for Productivity
    Forest is a productivity app that uses virtual trees to inspire users to better manage their time and go phone-free.
  • Goblin Tools
    Goblin Tools is a collection of small, simple, single-task tools, mostly designed to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming or difficult.
  • Pomodoro Timer Online
    Pomodoro Timer Online app is a time management method based on 25-minute stretches of focused work broken by five-minute breaks. 

NOTE: Some of these resources may require payment

Tips for Studying:

  1. Studying is not something you only need to do before a test or exam. Begin studying from day one of your term.
  2. Become familiar with the Learning Outcomes for each course by reviewing your course outlines.
  3. PLAN! Create blocked times in your schedule and prioritize these as study times.
  4. Avoid cramming at all costs! It has proven ineffective, and you are likely to forget what you have studied.

Tools

Study Principles

Principle

When to Do This

Why This Principle is Important
Intend to Remember Before you sit down to study – convince yourself that it is time to concentrate Your intention is crucial. If you don’t actively plan to remember something, you won’t remember it. Even though you are reading the words, you will quite likely be thinking of other things.
Get an overview of the task, put the pieces together. Whenever you begin a new learning project. Getting a preview of everything you are trying to learn will help you later as you read, practice, etc.
Learn Actively Always!! Most learning time should involve active techniques, such as, creating cue cards, mnemonics, visuals etc.
Take Breaks If you plan on studying more than 1 hour. Taking breaks in your study routine can positively affect both your attention abilities and focus.
Review immediately after learning.  At the end of each study session and before you begin the next set of objectives. Most forgetting takes place immediately after learning occurs. Remember, you are not re-studying, you are reviewing, so it doesn’t take long.
Review Again Regularly prior to the test. Reviewing helps retain information in long term memory.

Helpful Resources

  • Learning Scientists
    Videos from cognitive psychological scientists interested in research on education with the main focus being on the science of learning.
  • Pomodoro Timer Online
    Pomodoro Timer Online app is a time management method based on 25-minute stretches of focused work broken by five-minute breaks. 

Tips for Reading:

  1. Get active with your reading by reading with intent and purpose. 
  2. Turn headings into questions. 
  3. Preview your material prior to class. 
  4. Explain to someone the key points you have read. 

Tools

Reading Comprehension Strategy: SPAR

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the amount of reading you have? Do you sometimes have difficulty understanding and remembering what you read? Follow these steps to help make your reading meaningful, focused and productive.

Scan

  • Get an idea of the content you are about to read. Ask yourself, “what is this about”?
  • Scan for headings and subheadings.
  • Pay attention to graphs, charts and diagrams.

Plan

Set a realistic goal of how much of the readings you can get through with total concentration. If you are not able to concentrate then you are just reading words and comprehending nothing, which becomes a waste of your time. KNOW YOUR LIMIT!

Actively Read

  • ALWAYS write the chapter heading

Write each section heading followed by:

  • Main ideas, sub points and definitions
  • Make summarized notes as you go through each section and make sure you understand the terminology – if you don’t LOOK IT UP!
  • Incorporate examples and visuals.
  • As you read, practice the "look-away method: Periodically look away from the text and summarize what you just read – use this exercise not to memorize, but to make sure you understand.
  • Make sense of content.

Reflect

  • After each section read over your summarized notes for comprehension.
  • Ask yourself “what did I just learn from that?”
  • Link the information, make the connections, and pay attention to relationships between ideas.
  • Monitor your understanding of the material. Mark what you do not understand to review later.
  • Look up words you do not understand.
  • Do not confine yourself to words! Use representation, graphics, pictures, colors, even movement to visualize and connect ideas. Use whatever techniques work to help you understand.

Still struggling? If you do not understand what you are reading, do not panic!  Set it aside and read it again the next day. Separate out what you do understand from what you do not and get some help, teacher, tutor, or a peer.

Helpful Resources

  • Notion
    Notion is a productivity and note-taking web application.
  • AI Tutor Pro
    AI Tutor Pro is a Generative AI student study tool designed to be a studying aid for students
  • SQ5R
    Learn about the SQ5R strategy to improve your reading retention and help you study more successfully.

Tips for Groupwork:

  1. Create a group contract early on in the group process. 
  2. Establish basic ground rules and expectations. 
  3. Learn to be flexible and be open to compromise. 
  4. Presentations require PRACTICE to gain confidence.
  5. Respectful communication is important.

Tools

Presentation Prep Steps

Do Your Homework – make sure that YOU fully understand the content you are presenting

  • take time to understand all of the key terms and concepts that you are presenting on – when you fully understand the material, it is easier to speak about it in front of others
  • if you feel lost on a concept: touch base with your prof and ask questions, go back and review notes/lectures on the subject, watch videos on the subject, ask a classmate who may understand the concept

Is your presentation complete?

  • if no, complete preparing the presentation – slideshow, documents, visuals etc.
  • if yes, prepare yourself cue cards of talking points – or work from your slideshow/visual that you are presenting from
  • make sure your presentation is organized – create sections and a flow of one concept to the next – follow the assignment outline if one was given
  • create an orderly fashion for your presentation – this will help you in speak clearly on the topic

Once your presentation is complete, IT IS TIME TO PRACTICE

Some Other Things to Remember:

  • You can practice your presentation in a multitude of ways; standing in front of a mirror, recording yourself, presenting to a family member, classmate, friend or pet
  • Practicing MUTLIPLE times will help you to remember the content and flow of your talking points
  • Practicing will also help you figure out timing and gain confidence with speaking in front of other people, therefore lowering presentation anxiety
  • TOP TIP: have your presentation complete a few days before the presentation date – practice your presentation each day – be sure to schedule yourself some time to run through your presentation at least once on the day of

And remember:

  • take it slow – while practicing, be mindful of how fast you are speaking
  • take some deep breaths before you begin, avoid negative self-talk about your presenting skills
  • be prepared for questions at the end
  • take small breaks between talking points/concepts – bring and sip water
  • the more prepared you are (presentation complete, lots of practice), the more confident you feel going into the presentation

Helpful Resources

  • Microsoft Teams
    Microsoft Teams is a workspace for real-time collaboration and communication, meetings, file and app sharing.
  • Trello
    Trello is a project management tool that works for any type of project, workflow, or team

Tips for Test Taking & Test Anxiety:

  1. While taking a test, be sure to start with answers you know first.
  2. Read the questions multiple times.
  3. Highlight, underline, or circle important words.
  4. When finished, read through the questions and your answers to see if you recall anything new.

Tools

Answering Multiple Choice Questions: The HIDE Method

Do you panic when you have multiple choice questions on a test? Do you get overwhelmed when you read all the possible answers? Do you have trouble selecting the right answer?

This strategy can be used when doing multiple choice tests. It facilitates retrieval – getting that information you studied from long-term memory to working memory so you can actively use it.

HIDE THE ANSWERS
  • Don’t look at the possible answers! 
  • Cover up the answers with a piece of paper. 

INTERPRET THE QUESTION
  • Understand the question by reading it carefully. 
  • Consider underlining or highlighting important words, including key words such as most, some, often, always, never, all, etc. 
  • You may want to cross out unimportant words. 
  • Resist the urge to look at the answers at this point. 

DEVELOP AN ANSWER
  • Before looking at the possible solutions, come up with an answer to the question. Believe in your own knowledge! 
  • It often helps to quickly write down the answer. 

EMBRACE AN ANSWER
  • After you’ve developed an answer, you can reveal the possible answers. 
  • Select the one that best matches the answer you came up with. 
  • If an answer doesn’t match, you may be able to narrow down the choices by elimination.  Also, consider giving each option the ‘true-false’ test to rule out possibilities. 

Helpful Resources

  • Quizlet
    Quizlet is ab AI-enhanced learning platform, Quizlet offers personalized quizzes and practice tests, expert-written homework solutions, and transformative AI study tools.
  • AI Tutor Pro
    AI Tutor Pro is a Generative AI student study tool designed to be a studying aid for students

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