Students looking for a bit of friendly, one-on-one advice about how to succeed at UConn can now turn to a series of useful online videos created by one of their former classmates.

In “Ask Ali,” a series of eight video segments available through the UConn website with a NetID and password, as well as on YouTube, recent UConn graduate Alixandra Grasson offers students insight into some of the specific study skills and strategies that worked for her during her time at the University.

Over the course of her junior and senior years, Grasson – known as Ali – recorded the video segments to coach students on approaches that helped her excel in her own schoolwork.

Each “Ask Ali” video covers, generally in less than five minutes, a different topic related to enhancing study skills. In each segment, Grasson walks the viewer through a particular technique, inviting students to try it out in their own classes. Her videos touch on such topics as learning how to take effective notes, managing time, and improving recall using an approach called mind mapping.

“We really wanted it to be like a face-to-face conversation, where I could say, ‘This works for me, and maybe you should try it,’” Grasson says.

Every video is also accompanied by a set of links to a wealth of supplementary material with further details on each of the study tactics she outlines.

The idea for “Ask Ali” originated in 2008 with Kevin Sullivan, director of academic support in the Office of First Year Programs. Sullivan, an instructor for First Year Experience (FYE) classes, recognized that tools like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have become a part of students’ everyday interactions.

Often hearing his students talk with one another about the videos they had seen on YouTube, he also observed in the classroom that videos seem to resonate with students. “We have tons of resources that students can access, but the interesting thing is, you do a two-minute video, and students just get it,” he says.

With the “Ask Ali” videos, Sullivan says his vision was to “demystify” study skills and help make them more concrete for students. Good grades don’t “just happen,” he says. “What we’re saying is, take a look at what you’re doing. If something works, keep it. We want to get students to see that there is a process – a kind of intentional approach. If you notice, with everything Ali talks about, you’re always doing something with the material from your classes.”

Because he also wanted to ensure that the videos came across as genuine, Grasson would try out each of the study strategies herself.

“For two, three, or four weeks, Ali would watch how she studied, what she did with her notes, how she read her text, how she managed her time or her stress, and then she’d come back and make a video,” Sullivan says. “The deal was, ‘You can only talk about stuff that works for you.’”

Adds Grasson, “If they did work, I could vouch for them.”

Sullivan says the response to the “Ask Ali” videos has been positive from students and faculty alike. “Students seem to appreciate them,” he says. “I wasn’t sure if they’d see them as kind of hokey or propaganda. The videos are talking about studying skills. It’s not the most glamorous subject in the world.”

FYE instructors, Sullivan says, are now pointing incoming students to the videos – which are accessible through HuskyCT – and even kicking off some of their classes with a relevant clip from “Ask Ali.” The videos are also promoted to students visiting the Academic Achievement Center to improve their academic skills.

“I hope that if students are feeling lost, or if the high school strategies they have aren’t working, they can at least look to this and say, ‘Here’s another strategy I can try,’” Grasson says. “I hope these videos can help some people succeed.”

Although Grasson graduated in May, plans for an “Ask Ali” sequel are in the works. Coincidentally, Ali’s potential successor is a UConn student named Allie, currently in her third semester. “Allie, Too,” a working title for the next generation of videos, will focus on coaching students on health and wellness issues.