The Center for Learning Assistance bade farewell to the study files that were available to students as the staff shredded the archives before the start of the fall semester.
The study files, which were kept on the third floor of the Cullom-Davis Library, allowed students to donate and check out used exams, which ranged from general education courses to major specific classes.
Lynne Branham, interim director for the Center for Learning Assistance, said the study files were removed from the library before the fall semester for multiple reasons, one being that she received complaints from professors.
“There was no real way to tell if a professor cared that we had [the files] or not, and because we do function as a testing center for students with disabilities, we have an ethical obligation not to engage in something that is going to be detrimental to academic integrity,” Branham said. “You can see there’s almost an inherent contradiction in having a bunch of old tests next to tests that are being administered right now, today.”
Branham said most of the exams were out-of-date, too.
“We would find that students would take [an exam] out and look at it, and two or three seconds later turn around and hand it back to us,” Branham said. “Some of the test files that we had were up to 10 years old … and I felt bad advertising it as a service when it really wasn’t helping students at all.”
One of the reasons the files were so outdated may be because collecting the study files was difficult for the center, according to administrative support Jane Groeper.
“At the end of each semester, I sent a note out to everybody who had used the study files saying, ‘Do you have anything to send in?’ and we would maybe get one or two things,” Groeper said.
According to Branham, the file system was an overall ineffective study tool.
“To call it a ‘study file’ isn’t exactly accurate because our approach is to teach active study strategies that will help [students] not just pass that test, but also help them to be successful on the next test, and [the study file] is such a passive form,” Branham said. “I’m afraid it’s not as helpful as students think that it is.”
Branham said it’s better to connect a student with long-term resources and tools that can be used across multiple exams and courses.
“I’d rather engage them with a coach who has taken the class and can say, ‘Have you thought about looking at the information this way or developing concept cards?’ doing something like that that’s going to help them be successful in that class and the next class and the class after that,” Branham said.
Branham said she’s only seen a couple of students come to the center requesting the study files so far this semester, and when they do, she said she tries directing them to other university resources.
“We have made an effort to get more resources like textbooks, we’ve dropped the two-hour limit on tutoring so students have more access to resources [and] we put in place an academic coaching program to help students study more effectively for exams,” Branham said. “So we didn’t just take [the files] away, we kind of refocused and tried to put more active learning strategies in place because our goal is to help students be successful.”
Students can learn more about the resources offered by the Center for Learning Assistance by visiting bradley.edu/offices/student/cla.
