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AURA Lab

For new Cougars · FST 101

Start college ready.

A kit of entirely free tools that will make you a better student, on their own or working alongside the Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot assistants you already get as an SIUE student.

It is major-agnostic, useful whether you are studying mass communications, nursing, engineering, or anything else, and it is organized to move with you through the eight weeks of your FST 101 first-year seminar. No credit card, no trials, no catch.

Follow the 8 weeks ↓ Browse the full toolkit →

In Dr. Leith's FST 101 sections T07 or T08? Meeting times, rooms, and dates for your section →

Before any app

Four habits that matter most.

Back up everything, today

More students lose points to a dead laptop than to a hard exam. Keep 3 copies, on 2 kinds of storage, with 1 somewhere else. Your future self at 2 a.m. will thank you.

Use AI honestly

AI is a real study partner, and an easy way to accidentally cheat. Follow each syllabus, disclose when you use it, and verify everything: it invents citations and gets math wrong.

Keep private things private

Cloud AI sends your words to a company. Never paste grades, IDs, or health info into it. When you need AI on sensitive material, run it locally on your own laptop instead.

Free is not lesser

These are the same tools researchers and working professionals use every day. You do not need to pay for software to do excellent work in college.

Your FST 101 semester

Eight weeks, eight setups.

Each week of FST 101 pairs with a small, concrete setup you can finish in an afternoon. Do them in order and by week eight you will have a complete, free system for the rest of your degree.

The week titles and their order match the FST 101 course shell in Blackboard, so week five here is the same week five your instructor is teaching. Blackboard is still the official source for assignments, points, and due dates. Nothing on this page is graded.

  1. Week 1

    Introducing the Class

    Get your digital life ready before the work starts. Claim the free accounts you already have, set up a password manager, and get comfortable moving around Blackboard.

    BitwardenFirefoxMicrosoft Copilot Chat

    Academic expectations & working within Blackboard

  2. Week 2

    The How's and Why's of College

    Find your one thing, and be reachable when it finds you back. Get your SIUE mail and your calendar into one place, and claim the student accounts that are already free to you.

    ThunderbirdGitHub Copilot

    Resources, support, and engagement at SIUE

  3. Week 3

    Preparing for Academic Success

    Build a system that catches your readings and lectures, and never miss a deadline again. Pick a notes app, mark up your PDFs, and put every due date in one calendar.

    ObsidianXournal++Super Productivity

    Skills to meet academic expectations

  4. Week 4

    Effective Study Skills

    Study smarter, not longer. Use spaced-repetition flashcards for what you actually have to memorize, and let a private AI quiz you over your own notes.

    AnkiAnythingLLMWhisper (Buzz)

    Making the most of your efforts

  5. Week 5

    Belonging at SIUE

    Belonging is built by specific repeated contact, not by deciding to feel included. In class you make two pieces of contact real, one thing and one person, each with a place and a time attached. These are the same steps, so you can run them again for anything you keep meaning to go to.

    Two contacts

    1. Open the Suitable app, sign in with your SIUE login, pick Engage. No app yet? siue.edu/calendar works in a browser
    2. Find one event or organisation in the next two weeks you would actually turn up to
    3. Check it has a date, a time and a place, then put it in your phone calendar with the location in it
    4. Open any syllabus. Find that instructor's office hours
    5. Add one office-hours visit to the same calendar, with the room
    6. Set both to remind you the day before
    Engage, in the Suitable appExcalidraw

    Learning in a diverse community; common human dignity

  6. Week 6

    The SIUE Curriculum and Finding Your Path

    Map the degree, not just the semester. Degree Works is the university’s own record of what your degree still needs, and most students never open it until the term they are trying to graduate. You are opening it in week six, and what you find there is what your pathway statement is built on.

    Read your own audit

    1. Go to degreeworks.siue.edu/Dashboard and sign in with your SIUE account
    2. You land on the Worksheet. Find the legend at the bottom and read it first
    3. Green is done, blue is in progress, red is Still Needed
    4. Write down one thing already done that you did not know was done
    5. Write down one red Still Needed you will have to deal with
    6. Use Look Ahead to test one course you are considering for spring
    7. Write down one course that fills a Still Needed slot and sits on a pathway
    Degree WorksFreeplane

    Structure, purpose, and value of SIUE’s curricula

  7. Week 7

    Tailoring Your SIUE Experience

    Walk into the half hour prepared. An advising appointment you arrive at with three written questions is worth four you arrive at empty handed, and the questions come straight off the audit you ran last week. Book it while you are still in the room.

    Book it before you leave

    1. Open Blackboard. Find Starfish, then My Success Network
    2. Find your advisor. No advisor listed means First Year and Transitional Advising, advising@siue.edu, 618-650-3701
    3. Check CougarNet for holds first. If there is one, write the message down word for word
    4. Open your Degree Works audit from week 6. Your questions come from it
    5. Write three questions: one Still Needed, one about spring, one that is actually worrying you
    6. Book the appointment. Now, in this room
    7. Put it in your calendar with the location and a reminder
    StarfishYour phone calendar

    Major and career options; defining your why

  8. Week 8

    Your Next Steps

    Be ready before your window opens. Spring registration starts four weeks after this course ends, and a hold you find today is an errand while the same hold on registration morning costs you the courses you wanted. Check, write down, and put the date in your calendar.

    Be ready before your window opens

    1. Check CougarNet for holds right now. A hold is the commonest reason people miss their window
    2. Open Degree Works. Write down the two or three courses you need for spring
    3. Use Look Ahead to confirm each one actually counts
    4. Your window: Thursday 12 November, 10 a.m. if you have under 30 hours. Sophomores 9 November, juniors 5 November
    5. Put that date and time in your calendar, with a reminder the day before
    6. Anything you could not answer goes to your advisor before that morning
    Degree WorksKeePassXCSyncthingDuplicati

    Your commitments, obligations, and rights as a student

Everything in one place

The full toolkit.

Nine categories, three dozen free tools: writing, notes, study, research, AI, media, coding, organization, and security. Each one explains what it does and why it helps, with Windows and Mac options.

Open the toolkit → Install cheat sheet →

You are not on your own

Find your people.

Getting involved is the surest predictor of a good first year. The AURA Lab studies how people communicate through streams, virtual worlds, and social platforms, and it works with undergraduates from any background and no prior experience. If any of this sparked something, that is a good enough reason to say hello.

aleith@siue.edu → How to get involved with the lab → SIUE Mass Communications →