Dr Anne Ku serves as the WiTTS project’s director.

KAHULUI – Having a hard time managing stress, or need some tips on how to concentrate? The University of Hawaii Maui College’s MCTV channel will be airing a new television series as part of a “What it Takes to Succeed” (WiTTS) project that seeks to integrate learning and study skills into curriculum.

While the focus is primarily for college students to develop the soft skills needed to stay on track and succeed, the strategies can be applied to any profession.

WiTTS Project Director Anne Ku encourages all community members to tune in.

“When I talk to college graduates and people who have succeeded in their jobs and relationships, I notice a consistent, core set of skills that echo throughout their stories: mastery of time management; goal setting; self-regulation,” she said.

“These skills are essential to get us through whatever stage of life we’re in.”

In each of the 30-minute episodes, WiTTS TV will help viewers develop or refine these skills through interviews and discussions with experts from UHMC and the community.

The show will cover a range of topics, including Concentration and Focus, Stress and Crisis Management, and Overcoming the Fear of Mathematics.

The first episode, Why College? Short-Term Versus Long-Term Goals, aired on Saturday, March 14. WiTTS TV will air on Oceanic Time Warner channels 354 and 27.55 at 5, 5:30, 10 and 10:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays every weekend until further notice. The ten-episode series can also be viewed at those times online via the MCTV webpage at http://maui.hawaii.

edu/mctv-live.

Ku, who will also host the episodes, said, “The idea for WiTTS came about when I saw the need to integrate these skills into our academic disciplines so that they can be reinforced – and not just covered in a single workshop.”

Ku is working with UHMC Faculty & Staff Development Coordinator Joyce Yamada to involve their colleagues through WiTTS Luncheon Workshops.

“Lifelong learning is important for faculty and staff at UHMC, so we can engage in purposeful teaching that supports the success of our students,” she said.

Jason Schwartz, who returned to school after 42 years, has been attending the weekly workshops taught by Kristen Korey-Smith, an educational psychologist and director of UHMC’s Learning Center, initially to see how things have changed. “Studying has become a science,” he said. “These free workshops prepare me for the road ahead. I’ve learned how the brain works, how to take notes so that you don’t have to look at the textbook again… and how to study.”

For more information about WiTTS, or to view a programming schedule, visit maui.hawaii.edu/witts.