While You Were Out Workshops

Don’t Cancel Class!

We realize that sometimes life prevents faculty from being on-campus during a scheduled class time. The Division of Student Success offers “While You Were Out” workshops to provide hour-long educational workshops to students during a faculty absence. These workshops are intended to provide students with support as they prepare for their college and professional careers. 

Workshops cover a variety of topics and are a great way for students to learn about important resources. To schedule a “While You Were Out” session, please read the following guidelines, review the available workshops in the drop-downs below, and complete the request form at the link here:

Schedule a workshop

Please note the following guidelines:

  • Offerings are intended for on-campus TUG faculty – online and graduate courses cannot be covered at this time
  • Workshops are designed to cover between 45min to one hour of class time. Workshops can be delivered in courses that run for longer periods, but please know only up to one hour of time will be utilized.
  • Presenters will not cover a course’s specific content area (i.e., history, English, accounting, etc.), but instead lead a session on a campus service or strategy for helping students succeed.
  • Coverage depends on availability of staff to deliver a workshop at a designated class time
  • Workshops must be requested at least two-weeks prior to the date needing coverage
  • Faculty may use this service once per class per semester.

Below are the workshops offered based on location: 

  • “Make It Stick”
    A 45 min. session focused on providing students with resources to help them succeed in studying and preparing for tests. Introduction to study habits such as interleaving, self-quizzing, and spacing studies.

    • 25 students or less.
  • Communicating with Professors
    This presentation helps students understand the nature of communicating with professors and professional staff members during face-to-face discussions, emails, texts, and other formats. Students will learn how to write concisely and respectfully, and will learn how to use formal tones in professional settings.
  • Growth Mindset
    This workshop is designed to help students reframe their worldview to include a mindset geared towards growth instead of perfection. Students will learn what a growth mindset is, the dangers of perfectionism, and how reframing their experience can help them in their education as well as their daily lives.
  • Notetaking 101
    The main goal of taking notes is to encourage active learning and to prepare study materials for exams. This workshop helps the students learn more about their strengths in note taking as well as the areas they need to improve. It also provides them with some note taking strategies and gives them the opportunity to decide which method works best for them.
  • You Failed, Now What?
    For many students, the adjustment to college life can be difficult. Students may find themselves failing to reach goals or pass classes for the first time. This presentation aims to help students readjust after their first failure and to teach them that failing is a natural part of growth.
  • GRIT: The Attribute of Success
    This workshop teaches students about grit, the attribute explored in Angela Duckworth’s book of the same name. Students will be taught about the long-term benefits of holding onto a fixed goal and pursuing it even when things get tough or they experience failure.

  • “Reading Scholarly Articles 101”
    Students often struggle to read, understand, and synthesize scholarly articles – a genre and writing style that is new and unfamiliar to our students. This workshop style session focuses on practical reading strategies for scholarly literature, including how to annotate and make connections across readings.

    • 25 students or less
    • Location: Library or in the classroom
  • “University Archives”
    Introduction to Gardner-Webb’s University Archive Collections. This session can focus on institutional history, digital preservation, research with primary sources, or a historical objects tour.

    • Up to 10 students
    • Location: Library/Archives Only
  • “3D Printing & Scanning”
    Students can get a crash course in 3D printing and scanning in the library’s 3D lab. This session will focus on how to research 3D patterns, how to use the hardware, and how to manage a 3D print job.

    • 10 students or less.
    • Location: Library Only

  • “Podcasting 101”
    Students can get a crash course in how to get started with producing their own podcast. This session will focus on how to book the library’s podcasting studio, how to use the recording equipment, and basic editing.

    • 12 students or less.
    • Location: Library Only

  • “Copyright and Credibility 101”
    Students struggle to understand the value of copyright and finding credible sources due to the constant flow of information through social media and 24-hour news cycles. The rise of AI tools has also added some ethics concerns to the mix due to their ability to create text and images. This session will cover the basics of copyright and the importance of citing information such as images, videos, social media posts, and even AI generators in an age of information overload.

    • 25 students or less.
    • Location: Library or in classroom

  • “Faith and Spiritual Health”
    For many students, college is the first time they have been away from their parents and home church. This presentation focuses on helping students develop healthy habits to strengthen their faith while becoming independent.

  • “Stress Management Techniques”
    College is stressful. This presentation aims to provide students with the techniques and habits to minimize their stress. Students will learn how to identify stress factors and prioritize good habits to help them better manage life at school and beyond.

  • Bystander Intervention
    Have you ever seen someone being harassed and not know what to do? This presentation creates space for participants to analyze how social identity and unconscious biases influence our decisions around intervention. An overview of Right To Be’s 5 D’s of Intervention is provided to participants to give them tools on how to intervene when they see violence and harassment. Participants will be given the opportunity to practice applying these 5 D’s with different real-world scenarios.
  • Healthy Relationships: What’s Healthy? What’s Hurting?
    An interactive discussion in which participants work to create a shared definition of healthy relationships (intimate or otherwise) by placing emphasis on the importance of our personal values, boundaries, and needs. The group will also explore healthy ways love is expressed, harbingers of relationships in trouble, and power and control dynamics. In this way the workshop works to empower participants with the knowledge and ability to differentiate among healthy, unhealthy, and abusive relationships.

  • QPR Training
    Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students. Most suicides can be prevented if others learn to recognize the risk factors, develop comfort asking about suicidal thoughts, and know where to send someone for help. Participants in this presentation will leave with practical knowledge for helping others who might be at risk for suicide.