Spring Updates from Karen
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Hello Friends, It's finally spring here in Massachusetts. We had another burst of snow yesterday, but I think that was the last of it. I do love the coziness of winter, but I'm ready to touch grass and spend more time outside messing around in my garden and reading in my hammock. ADHD & Student RetentionI've been spending quite a bit of time talking to folks in higher ed about the ADHD book and how we can better support our amazing ADHD learners. One point that I keep thinking of is this: many (most?) of your student dropouts (stopouts) have ADHD, whether diagnosed or not. Designing and teaching for the success of these students is the right thing to do. It's good for students, faculty/staff, and our world. But I also know you often need to make the case for why this topic is more important than others to those who make the budget decisions. When I was working in enrollment management and retention, I attended an AIR conference session that I've never forgotten. The presenter said that to improve your overall retention/graduation outcomes, you had to focus on what they called "affinity groups." Basically, these are sub-populations of students who share a similar profile. You design a solution targeting the success of that group. Move the needle on an affinity group, or two, or three, and you will move the overall success needle at your institution. ADHDers are an affinity group with a ton of potential for success in moving that needle. Bulk Book OrdersIt's lovely to hear that many schools are going to be using the book for book clubs and group discussions. The good folks at JHU Press offer great discounts for bulk orders.
I have a copy of the bulk order form, so you are welcome to reach out to me to get that process started, or you can contact JHU directly. One school that I'm working with has hired me to create some personalized videos for their team to complement their book club before and after I do a live workshop with them. I love this model. You can find out more about my varied offerings on my website. New Website!In an effort to simplify my life and claim my name on the internet, I've merged 100faculty.com and climateactionpedagogy.com into one, new website. Stop by and poke around at karencostaspace.com. All the content from both of the old sites is there, just under one url. The old sites will be closing out, so make sure to bookmark the new one. That's all from me today. Hanging in there, and I hope you are too. ♥️ Karen |
100 Faculty
Hello Friends, I hope you've been finding, making, and/or protecting time for rest, joy, and play this summer. I feel like in higher education we have a bit of nexttermitis thrust upon us, and then we make it a habit of our very own. I've been trying this summer to plan out fall term as needed while still staying very much in the present. We had a very rough start to summer in our household with all of us getting very sick with some sort of evil virus that took over a month to finally kick....
Hello Friends, I'm off LinkedIn for the summer for one of my annual breaks, and thus far it's great. I notice that some thoughts come and go without a need to be formalized into a post, but other thoughts appear as more intense or persistent. That ability to discern this from that feels like something I can only get when I'm off certain socials for extended periods of time. I highly recommend a long break, especially if you're like me and struggle to use it in moderation. I was thinking this...
Hello Friends, Above you'll see some of the holiday ornaments I've been working on in my ceramics class. I'm starting my third year at this craft center, and it's hard to imagine my life without it. Each Monday, I attend class with an amazing group of women. We talk about life and we make things. Nothing fancy. Incredibly meaningful. If I don't have class for a week, for one reason or another, I find that I don't feel like myself. I suspect that this is a combination of missing the community...