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Course Description
College Success is designed to assist students in the transition to college. To be effective in college, a career and in life depends on attitude, hard work, personal qualities and knowing the right strategies. This course will focus on practical tips and strategies that will help students succeed - and ways to create a positive mind shift. Emphasis will be on attitude, study habits and time and stress management. In a setting of active and collaborative learning, students will be engaged in a variety of instructional experiences, including discussions with reading, speaking, writing and listening assignments. The course will require the creation of a personal Success Plan that will introduce various aspects of student development, including an awareness of personal learning styles and career options, and will foster the creation of helpful learning strategies through study skills instruction. Students will survey CCRI's resources and personnel and become familiar with college policies and procedures. This course is also designed to emphasize applications of the Student Success and Library resources, technology, the development of self-efficacy, and provide students opportunities to process and apply information to their academic and personal lives.
Common At Risk Factors
Attention = Presence
Attitude/Effort = Attitude
Exams = Life Challenges
Participation/Homework = Lifelong Learning
Learning
Outcomes
| At the end of this course, a student will be able to: | Techniques/Methods | Type(s) of Assessments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Demonstrate knowledge of CCRI resources, policies, etc. in order to better function as a team member and an individual with information access skills. | Locate information and complete class work using Pipeline; complete a scavenger hunt involving resources identification; interview a faculty or staff member. | Group presentation presenting results of scavenger hunt; development of student created quizzes; individual written reports on results of interviews. |
| 2. | Reflect on developing self awareness that will help him/her recognize, understand and adjust to changes in life, college, and work. | Apply concepts introduced by lecture and reading assignments to personal areas and then contribute to group reflective thinking and responding; set short-term and long-range goals and design a plan of study that assists achievement of short-term goals. | Journal entries; analysis of personality and learning style assessments; participate in discussion on motivation; develop written response to academic plan exercise; develop written response to "5 Reasons to be in LRCT-1020. |
| 3. | 3. Utilize study skills to improve academic performance. | Following LASSI inventory assessment, select and apply appropriate strategies in concurrent courses. | Write a self-analysis of study habits for a particular course; assess the relative effectiveness and suggest an alternative plan. |
| 4. | Improve communication skills that display clear and correct expression and critical analysis. | Demonstrate collaborative skills and public speaking ability; display an awareness of thoughtful and appropriate written and spoken responses | Oral presentation on assigned topic; collaboration in group presentation; written responses to assignments; development of written academic plan |
| 5. | Utilize appropriate college research resources and develop information access skills. |
Attend LRC presentation; use print
materials, personal communications,
observations, and electronic media to
locate and retrieve information;
understand the ethical, social and legal issues surrounding the use of information; apply technology effectively to locate, interpret, organize and present information |
Complete research assignment using HELIN; utilize Pipeline for class assignments; participate in assigned online discussion groups |
| 6. | Demonstrate knowledge of career and transfer planning. | Attend Career Services presentation; utilize Discover program; develop educational and/or career options; become familiar with and participate in campus activity, club, etc; create a career portfolio | Analyze Discover results in written report; mid-term and end of semester review of portfolio; oral presentation of benefits of participating in campus life. |
| 7. | Display an understanding of her/his role and contribution to workplace and community. | Discuss the importance and responsibility for being an informed, ethical, and active citizen; display an understanding of and respect for other people and cultures by attending a campus or community cultural or social event; attend Service Learning presentation. | Develop and participate in group presentation on diversity participation in group discussion on academic benefits of service learning. |
| 8. | Understand her/his role and contribution within a group or organization. | Participation in group projects and presentation; classroom group activities; participation in extracurricular activities; learn to incorporate constructive criticism into study plan; participate in leadership roles. | Develop report on group experience; assess and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of group work; analyze your performance and contribution; develop a list of group "rules" or policies that would strengthen collaborative learning. |
| 9. | Utilize goal setting and decision making steps to contribute to achievement; effectively use problem-solving and analytical skills while demonstrating appropriate professional and social skills and behaviors. | Develop semester long success plan; perform regular self-assessments on progress; review process for plan revision; participate in group assignments and presentations. | Display communication and social skills in oral presentations; develop written journal responses regarding self-efficacy and regular self-assessment; review semester activities academic plan at semester end; develop plan for next semester. |
Topics to be
Covered
All sections of the course must include Chapters 1-9 in OnCourse as well as the topics listed below.
- Identify reasons for enrolling in the Seminar on Student Success course.
- Describe the results of the LASSI (Learning and Study Skills Inventory) and explain various study skills strategies.
- Evaluate the responses of the learning style and LASSI inventories and develop a personal learning strategies plan.
- Describe the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and list examples of both.
- Identify components of short and long-term goal setting (based on values, interest structure, personality and skills assessments); develop educational plan for upcoming semester.
- Develop Student Success Plan including course materials per directions of instructor.
- Identify several aspects of college academic policies and schedules such as: the Add/Drop period; withdrawal deadlines; grading policies; registration dates; student rights and responsibilities, computer access and responsibilities, etc.
- Participate in a group project that composes a presentation on learning strategies (or topics assigned by instructor).
- Log on to the campus Pipeline system and participate in an online discussion group and registration.
- Develop the ability to recognize and use specific interpersonal, communication and listening skills through group collaboration and public speaking assignments.
- Write journal entries that discriminate the difference between your previous educational experiences and college and assess the development of personal, career and academic goals.
- Complete a library assignment using HELIN or other identified LRC resource.
- Identify the roles and locations of: the CCRI Success Centers; the Academic Department related to your major, the LRC, Campus Security, the Enrollment Services Office, Advising & Counseling Center, Bursars Office, Co-Operative Education Program, Career Center, Computer Labs, Writing Center, Math Labs, College Bookstore, among others.
- Interview an instructor or staff person and present a brief report of the meeting.
- Through written work and classroom assignments, demonstrate your awareness of the importance of career goal setting and identify relevant campus resources.
- List various student clubs and organizations and describe those you would consider joining.
- Attend one campus-sponsored event OR one campus-sponsored workshop and provide proof of attendance by means of a brochure, playbill, certificate of attendance, etc.
Classroom Assessment
Curriculum Resources
Textbook and web site: On Course
National Resource Center for the First Year Experience
Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
Teaching Tips Index from Honolulu Community College (one of the more useful instructional web resources available)
Active Learning Site (supports the scholarship of teaching by providing research-based resources designed to help faculty use active learning successfully in college and university classrooms)
Skip Downing's OnCourse Student Success Strategies
Online resources from Dr. Richard Lyons
Prentice Hall Student Success web site
Online Academic Success Videos
For an archive of success strategies:
http://www.OnCourseWorkshop.com
To access the Internet version of the On Course Self-Assessment:
http://college.hmco.com/collegesurvival/downing/on_course/4e/students/assess/index.html
You Tube Vidoes
Jack
canfield: The Success principles - Chicken Soup
Assessments/Inventories
One of the main objectives of the LRCT-1020 course will be to develop each student's Success Plan. The planning should include the opportunity for self-assessment from a number of perspectives (i.e. personality traits, learning styles, career interest inventories and aptitudes, etc.) The links below are sites that provide online assessment tools for your use.
Study Skills and Motivation Inventories
Favorite Study Skills Web Sites
LASSI - Learning and Study Strategies Inventory
University of Minnesota/Duluth
School Strategies Scale (Ohio State U)
The Quick Motivational Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (ULC/UA)
Motivational Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (UTA)
Virginia Polytech Study Skills Survey
Learning Styles Inventories
Learning Styles - This is a good, easy to use Learning Styles inventory. It provides the user with some fundamental diagnosis, and then it displays a page of very useful, study and classroom strategies and recommendations.
Solomon and Felder's Index of Learning Styles is a 44-item questionnaire which can be completed online. Learning style results are returned immediately in four categories: active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal and sequential/global. After completing the test, read the article, "Learning Styles and Strategies" to learn about your style and how you can make the most of it.
To find out whether your learning style is Visual/Verbal, Visual/Nonverbal, Tactile/Kinesthetic or Auditory/Verbal, try Catherine Jester's online assessment tool, "A Learning Style Survey for College". Your test results are returned along with descriptions of each learning style and strategies for each type. To assess yourself further, see "Learning Style and Self-Assessment Tests".
VARK is a questionnaire that provides users with a profile of their preferences. These preferences are about the ways that they want to take-in and give-out information whilst learning.
Personality Inventories
Kiersey Tempermant Sorter - personality assessment
Information on Myers-Briggs type personality assessments
Career Interest Inventories
Take the Career Key, a professional career test. It takes about 10 minutes. It measures your skills, abilities, values, interests, and personality. Identify promising jobs and get accurate information about them.
Princeton Review Career Quiz
Links to
Professional Organizations
National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition
Policy Center on the First Year College
The Community College Student Success Project
California Center for Student Success
NADE- National Association for Developmental Education
CRLA- College Reading and Writing Association
AMATYC- American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges
Syllabus
Welcome! My goal in this course is to offer you one of the most valuable learning experiences of your entire life. And I need your full cooperation to make it work!
Course Purpose: This course is designed to help you create greater success in college and in life. In the coming weeks, you will learn many proven strategies for creating greater academic, professional, and personal success. We will use guided journal writings to explore these strategies, and as a bonus, you will learn to express yourself more effectively in writing. You may never again have an opportunity quite like this one to discover how to create a rich, personally fulfilling life. I urge you to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity! If you do, you will dramatically change the outcome of your life-for the better!
Course Objectives: In this course, you will learn how to...
1. Take charge of your life. You will learn how to take greater personal responsibility, gaining more control over the outcomes that you create both in college and in life.
2. Increase self-motivation. You will learn to create greater inner motivation by discovering your own personally meaningful goals and dreams.
3. Improve personal self-management. You will learn numerous strategies for taking control of your time and energy, allowing you to move more effectively and efficiently toward the accomplishment of your goals and dreams.
4. Develop interdependence. You will learn how to develop mutually supportive relationships with people who will help you achieve your goals and dreams as you assist them to achieve theirs.
5. Increase self-awareness. You will learn how to understand and revise your self-defeating patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion as well as your unconscious limiting beliefs.
6. Maximize your learning. You will discover the natural process of effective learning and understand how to apply that process according to your individual learning style preference. This knowledge will enable you not only to get better grades in college but also to be a more effective lifelong learner.
7. Develop emotional intelligence. You will learn effective strategies for managing your emotional life, decreasing stress and distress while increasing your inner sense of well-being.
8. Raise your self-esteem. You will learn how to develop self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-respect, self-love, and unconditional self-worth.
9. Write more effectively. You will learn how to improve your writing skills through the extensive writing practice offered by your guided journal entries.
10. Improve creative and critical thinking skills. You will learn how to enhance the thinking skills essential for analyzing and solving problems in your academic, professional, and personal lives.
11. Master effective study skills. You will learn how to raise your grades in college by improving essential skills like reading, note taking, memorizing, studying, and test taking.
12. Manage your money. You will learn helpful techniques for increasing your income (including gaining more financial aid for college) and decreasing your expenses.
Course Supplies:
1. On Course, 5th Edition, by Skip Downing
2. Composition notebook
Method: By reading On Course (our textbook), you'll learn empowering strategies that have helped others create great success. By keeping a guided journal, you'll discover how to apply these success strategies to achieve your own goals and dreams. By participating in class activities and focused conversations, and by completing a course project, you will further improve your ability to stay on course to your success. Once you make these new strategies your own through application, you'll have the ability to dramatically improve the outcome of your life-academically, professionally, and personally.
Course Grades:
Points
A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = 59or below
Course Projects:
Points
1. Attendance/Participation/Wabash - 20 points
2. 30 Success Journals (3 points each) - 40 points
3. Career Exploration Project - 40 points
Total Possible Points 100
Each of these three components of your grade is explained below.
1. Attendance/Participation/Wabash Study (20 points)
This is a course for students who wish to be successful in college and in life. One of the most important factors of success in any endeavor is consistent and active participation. To encourage and reward your preparation for active participation at every class, Attendance, participation in class, and participation in the Wabash Study will entail 20 percent of your grade.
Great success is created one small step at a time.
2. Success Journals (40 Possible Points)
Your SUCCESS JOURNAL provides an opportunity to explore your thoughts and feelings as you experiment with the success strategies presented in On Course. By carefully examining each strategy in your journal, you will discover which ones will assist you to create a rich, personally fulfilling life. Although I will be collecting your journals and looking through them, write your journal for yourself, not for me. Your journal entries will occasionally be read by your classmates.
Journal Writings: During this semester, you will write in your composition notebook thirty-one numbered journal entries from our textbook. These entries will be written outside of class with a few done in class.
Note: If you wish, you may write the first draft of journal entries on loose sheets of paper, but all journal entries must be written in the composition notebook when it is handed in for evaluation. Or if you choose to write your journal on a computer, you will print hardcopies of all entries and bring them to class neatly organized in a 3-ring binder. This requirement will assure that none of your entries gets lost. At the end of this semester, you will have your entire journal to keep for years to come. Many students come to regard their personal journal as one of their most valued possessions.
Journal Evaluations: I will collect your journals periodically. It is not my intention to read every journal entry you write. Instead, I will look through your journal book to verify the completion of each assignment and to give credit for a job well done. I read occasional journal entries to get a sense of the issues you are working on. With this knowledge I can be of greater assistance to you this semester.
If you want my comment on a specific part of your journal, simply turn down the corner of the appropriate page. On that page, write a note about the response you desire from me.
Privacy: Occasionally you may write a journal entry that you wish to keep private. If so, simply fold the appropriate pages over and staple them closed at the top and bottom. You have my word that I will respect your privacy. I do reserve the right to confirm that there is, in fact, writing on these pages. You may lock up to three journal entries; more than that will require my permission. Locked journals will be given scores equal to the average score of all other journals.
Journal Points: Each journal entry will be awarded up to 5 points. Thus, all thirty-one journal entries will be worth a possible total of 155 points. A journal entry will be awarded the maximum of 5 points if it fulfills the following two criteria:
1. The entry is complete (all steps in the directions have been responded to), and
2. The entry is written with high standards (an obvious attempt has been made to dive deep).
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation will NOT be factors in awarding points in this journal. You are free to express yourself without concern for standard English conventions.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All thirty-one journal entries must be completed to earn a passing grade in the course.
3. Career Exploration Paper (40 Points)
As your final project, you will put together a resume/portfolio. The purpose of your resume/portfolio is to help define the success strategies that you will use for years to come.
An "A" resume/portfolio...
1. Demonstrate the writer's careful consideration of building your resume and cover letter
2. Contain extensive support (examples, experiences, evidence, and/or explanations)
3. Show a commitment to excellence in preparation, including professional appearance and a command of standard English.
Your resume/portfolio must be completed to earn a passing grade in the course.
Course Rules for Success
To create the very best environment for supporting your success and the success of your classmates, this course has three important rules. The more challenging these rules are for you, the more value you will experience by adopting them. By choosing to follow these three rules, you are choosing to be successful not only in this course but in your life. These rules will support your success in every goal you pursue!
1. Show up! To support my success, I choose to attend every scheduled class period in its entirety.
2. Do the work! To support my success, I choose to do my very best work in preparing all of my assignments and hand them in on time.
3. Participate actively! To support my success, I choose to stay mentally alert in every class, offering my best comments, questions, and answers when appropriate.
Schedule of Assignments
REMINDER: Eight announced quizzes will be given. No quizzes may be made up.
Assignments below are due at the next scheduled class. Bring your textbook and journal to every class.
|
Week of |
Chapter/Exam Reviews |
Assignment |
|
Sept 8 |
Course Syllabus overview |
|
|
Sept 15 |
Accepting Personal Responsibility (Ch. 2) Read/Write Journal #1, #2 |
|
|
Sept 22 |
Meet in Room 3702 above Library |
|
|
Sept29 |
Wabash
Study |
|
|
Oct 6 |
Meet in Room 3702 above Library |
|
|
Oct 13 |
Gaining Self-Awareness (Ch. 6)
Career Services |
|
|
Oct 20 |
Adopting Lifelong Learning (Ch. 7) |
|
|
Oct 27 |
Staying On Course (Ch. 9) |
|
|
Nov 3 |
Read/Write Journal #31 |
|
|
Nov 10 |
PRESENTATIONS OF EXPLORATION
PAPER |
Final Copy |
|
Nov 17 |
PRESENTATIONS OF EXPLORATION PAPER |
|
|
Nov 24 |
No class - Thanksgiving Week |
|
|
Dec 1 |
Review Course/evaluations |
|
|
Dec 8 |
Where do we go from here |
|
