New Blackboard Course Aims to Ease Transition for Incoming Graduate Students

Photo Submitted

Adjusting to graduate school can be difficult. The Graduate School and International Education is here to help, with an online course — created by fellow graduate students — for incoming graduate students that will help them acclimate to a new academic experience.

The Office of Graduate Student Support within GSIE is offering an optional Blackboard course titled "Preparing for Graduate School" that offers resources for incoming graduate students, including information on financial resources, academic and research success, the campus community, health and safety, and living in Northwest Arkansas.

Graduate students — excluding students in the School of Law and the Graduate School of Business — are automatically enrolled in the course and can access it by visiting the Blackboard Learn website. The course is meant to complement other events for graduate students, such as graduate student orientation, that include discussions around many of the topics introduced in the course and builds off that foundational knowledge.

Rather than offering the course in an in-person format, the office decided on a Blackboard course module to help accommodate the busy schedules of graduate students.

"We understand our students are balancing multiple demands on their time and cannot always attend synchronous or in-person events," said Laura Moix, director of graduate student support. "One thing we learned from COVID is that graduate students enjoy the flexibility of being able to jump on a call or online course with life still happening around them. A Blackboard course like this one allows students to go at their own pace and to let them choose the information they need to know that best supports their aspirations, circumstances and needs."

The course came about through the work of graduate assistants in Moix's office — most notably, Camie Wood and Kiley Torres — who offered their own insight into the course garnered from their time as graduate students.

"I am very glad to see these resources tied together for graduate students," Wood said. "I was in my third year of graduate school at the university and never knew some of these resources existed until I started researching for the course. I know they will be valuable to first-year graduate students as they find their footing and hope it can also help graduate coordinators across campus to equip and empower graduate students."

"The Office of Graduate Student Support is an invaluable resource to graduate students," Wood added. "Laura does so much to help and support graduate students across campus, and the sharing of these resources through the Preparing for Grad School course is just another example of how she cares for the graduate student population, always trying to ensure grad students have what they need."

Moix said she hopes the course can ease students' anxieties about embarking upon a new academic experience.

"I hope they take away a sense of order in the uncertainty and excitement that usually comes with starting a new graduate program," she said. "Many of these students may be the first person in their family to attend graduate school, and that can make them feel anxious or uncertain. We want to provide them stability and give them a glimpse into what this experience might look like, while helping them feel a sense of belonging."

For more information, contact the Office of Graduate Student Support at gradsupport@uark.edu.