The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT) held a workshop for memory and concentration improvement Tuesday sponsored by the Center for Community Partnerships. The workshop aimed to teach attendees information-recall and focus strategies.

The workshop was centered around a survey taken before the start of the presentation designed to help students identify problems that they may have with memory or concentration. The presenter, a communications graduate student, then went over each question on the survey offering personal insight and backed statistical data for each point.

Talking points included what to do if you have trouble remembering material because of a lack of interest in a topic, distracting environment or inability to learn new material.

Audience attendance and participation for the event was strong. The crowd consisted of about 30 students ranging from freshmen to graduate students, all engaged in the presentation.

According to CSU freshman Drake Mclean the workshop to be beneficial “if you struggle with [memory recall] or anything like that.” He recommends attending other events that TILT puts on although he thought the event should have been “more specific,” Mclean said.

Although the presenter had many good points to make, it seemed that many participants desired more specific information on subject such as studying methods, based off of the questions that were asked. The workshop was focused more around general study habits, many of which seemed regurgitated from professors on the first day of class, rather than innovative study tricks.

The workshop stressed the points of reading the material, taking notes in class and learning the material through repetition. It was said that students retain 5 percent of the material from the lecture, and 10 percent of the information from readings. While these percentages may be discouraging, there is hope yet; taking and reviewing notes yields a memory retention of 70 percent while teaching the material comes out at 90 percent memory retention. So, it is recommended that students join study groups and teach other students the material whenever possible.

Other key points of the workshop were to find quiet places to study where distractions are minimized and to stagger information instead of cramming.

Erica Tohtz from Center for Community Partnerships in the Department of Occupational Therapy also participated in the workshop. Tohtz said that there were other options for people who “had trouble with memory recall for a reason other than one of reasons on the (survey), such as a diagnosis with ADHD, anxiety or depression, or a concussion” that there are resources available through the Center for Community Partnerships.

There along with Tohtz was Brandon Kidney, co-president of the CSU Brain Injury Community. Kidney described the community as “a group of students with varying degrees of brain injuries” there to “offer students with the support in and out of school that they need,” Kidney said.

All campus events, including those at TILT, can be found on the campus event calendar at calendar.colostate.edu. TILT will be offering another Memory and Concentration workshop on Thursday, Oct. 27.

More information about the Center for Community Partnerships can be found at ccp.chhs.colostate.edu and the CSU Brain Injury Community at ramlink.collegiatelink.net.