Learning Outcomes

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The content, assignments, and assessments for College Success are aligned to the following learning outcomes. A full list of course learning outcomes can be viewed here: College Success Learning Outcomes.

Module 1: Motivating Success

  • Personal Identity
    • Describe how personality tests and skills inventories help to evaluate career paths and identify personal interests to meet educational goals.
    • Describe the responsibilities of college student life and how they differ from high school or early career life
  • Types of Students
    • Identify different categories of students as well as similarities and differences among students
    • Describe characteristics of successful students
  • College Overview
    • Identify differences in class delivery and compare strategies for success in each type
    • Identify differences in types of classes within your degree plan, such as electives and core requirements
    • Explain how to access individual course policies and collegewide policies
    • Identify major college resources and how to use them when needed
  • Defining Success
    • Develop a personal definition of success and explain how grades play a role in shaping success in college
    • Identify specific strategies to achieve college success during your freshman year

Module 2: Goal Setting and Time Management

  • Defining Goals
    • Explain how time management plays a factor in goal setting, leading to short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives
    • Identify overall academic goals
    • Identify and apply motivational strategies to support goal achievement
    • Describe how a social network can help accomplish goals
    • Consider factors that might hinder goal achievement and possible ways to address these issues
  • Your Physical Environment
    • Analyze the impact of your surroundings while you study
    • Define distraction and multitasking, and describe how personal technology may help or hinder your study efforts
  • Your Use of Times
    • Describe time management concerns in college and identify effective steps for proper time management
    • Compare time management styles and identify tips for success for each of the four time-management personality types
    • Evaluate techniques for creating an effective schedule
    • Identify procrastination behaviors and strategies to avoid them

Module 3: Career Exploration

  • The Big Picture
    • Identify your motivations for attending college and consider what it means to be college and career ready
    • Examine the value, both financial and otherwise, of a college education
  • Career Paths
    • Differentiate between “job” and “career”
    • Explain the five-step process for choosing a career, which includes aligning your personal interests and skills with appropriate fields
    • Identify sources for learning more about specific careers
  • College Majors
    • List key strategies for selecting a college major
    • Identify the relationship between college majors and career paths (both why they matter and why they don’t)
    • Identify sources for learning more about specific majors and related careers
  • Professional Skill Building
    • List specific skills that will be necessary for your career path
    • List transferable skills that will be valuable for any career path
    • Explain how to acquire necessary skills, both in and out of class, for your career goals
  • Career Development
    • Describe the stages of career development, and identify the stage you’re currently in
    • Identify career development resources in your school, community, and beyond
  • Networking
    • Define network and identify strategies for networking
    • Identify sources for developing professional networks
  • Résumés and Cover Letters
    • Define the purpose and contents of a résumé
    • Identify characteristics of an effective résumé
    • Identify characteristics of an effective cover letter
  • Interviewing
    • Describe effective strategies to prepare for an interview
    • Differentiate between different types of interview situations and identify appropriate interview techniques for each
    • Analyze different question types common in interviews

Module 4: Social Interaction and Diversity

  • Socializing
    • Describe benefits of social interaction in college
    • Identify communication strategies for effective communication
    • Identify social conflicts and resolution strategies
  • Diversity and Accessibility
    • Identify factors that define a diverse group
    • Explain the positive effects of diversity in an educational setting
    • Identify implications of accessibility on campus and in communities
  • Campus and Student Life
    • Describe the variety of organized groups available on campus for both resident and nonresident students
    • Identify resources for learning more about campus organizations
    • Describe the benefits of participating in student life

Module 5: Thinking and Analysis

  • Patterns of Thought
    • Identify different patterns of thought, such as those found in Bloom’s taxonomy
  • Critical Thinking Skills
    • Describe the role that logic plays in critical thinking
    • Describe how critical thinking skills can be used to problem-solve
    • Describe how critical thinking skills can be used to evaluate information
    • Identify strategies for developing yourself as a critical thinker
  • Creative Thinker Skills
    • Identify the value of creative thinking in education
    • Describe the role of creative thinking skills in problem-solving
  • Thinking with Technology
    • Identify technology tools that enhance learning and the importance of technology in the student experience
    • Explain how technology skills relate to critical/creative thinking skills
    • Examine online learning in the context of organizing, communicating, reading, and researching online

Module 6: Learning Styles and Strategies

  • The Learning Process
    • Identify the stages of the learning process
    • Define learning styles and multimodal learning
  • Class Preparation
    • Identify effective mental and physical strategies to prepare for an individual class session
    • Describe typical ratios of in-class to out-of-class work per credit hour and how to effectively schedule your study time
  • Class Attendance
    • Explain why regular class attendance is important
    • Identify strategies for obtaining content from a class you missed
    • Identify effective listening and participation strategies
    • Compare different note-taking strategies and assess which is most effective for you
    • Evaluate different teaching styles and how your personal learning style fit with each
  • The Role of Memory
    • Describe strategies for deciding which course content to learn and retain
    • Differentiate between short-term and long-term memory, and describe the role of each in effective studying
    • Identify memory-strengthening strategies
  • Active Learning
    • Recognize strategies that engage active learning in the classroom
    • Identify strategies to engage active learning outside the classroom

Module 7: Study Skills

  • Reading Strategies
    • Identify common types of reading tasks assigned in a college class
    • Identify effective reading strategies for academic texts in a variety of formats
    • Identify vocabulary-building techniques to strengthen your reading comprehension
  • Writing Strategies
    • Describe the purpose of writing assignments and what an instructor might expect to see from your writing
    • Identify how to approach common types of college writing tasks
    • Articulate writing-process steps for the development of academic writing, including revision and proofreading
    • Identify strategies for ethical use of sources in writing
  • Testing Strategies
    • Identify strategies for preventing and controlling test anxiety
    • Identify common types of tests given in a college class and their purposes
    • Identify strategies for answering typical kinds of test questions
  • Presentation Strategies
    • Identify common types of presentation tasks in a college class and their purposes
    • Identify techniques to avoid common pitfalls and reduce anxiety to deliver an effective presentation
  • Quantitative Strategies
    • Describe how personal attitudes toward quantitative courses can impact success
    • Compare effective note-taking strategies for quantitative courses against those for other courses
    • Identify strategies for reading quantitative texts
    • Compare pre- and post-test-taking strategies for quantitative courses against those for other courses

Module 8: Beyond the Classroom

  • Working with Instructors
    • Discuss the benefits of communicating with instructors
    • Evaluate effective communication strategies with instructors
    • Identify strategies for resolving conflicts with an instructor
  • Deep Learning
    • Identify differences between passing a test and gaining knowledge (cramming versus learning)
    • Describe common myths about studying in order to explain study techniques that contribute to the long-term retention of knowledge
    • Explain how peer groups can aid in class preparation
  • Academic Honesty
    • Define academic honesty and common forms of academic dishonesty
    • Identify strategies for avoiding plagiarism
  • Evaluating Results
    • Identify the learning benefits of test taking
    • Identify strategies for learning from mistakes and from doing poorly on tests or exams

Module 9: Health Management

  • Nutrition
    • Define healthy eating habits
    • Identify techniques for making healthy food choices, especially in college
  • Exercise
    • Describe physical fitness and the major types of exercise
    • Identify the benefits of regular exercise, for both body and brain
  • Sleep
    • Identify benefits of sleep for both physical and mental health
    • Identify ways to ensure good sleep habits and high-quality sleep, especially during periods of stress
  • Substance Abuse
    • Define substance abuse and markers for substance abuse risk
    • Describe the effects of alcohol use and abuse on the body
    • Compare the effects of prescription and illegal drug use and abuse on the body
    • Identify resources for further information and guidance about substance abuse
  • Stress
    • Identify sources and signs of stress, particularly for college students
    • List healthy ways of managing stress that fit your current lifestyle
  • Mental Health
    • Describe mental health basics and strategies for improving mental health
    • Describe depression
    • Describe eating disorders
    • Describe anxiety disorders
    • Identify suicide warning signs and resources for further information about mental health issues
  • Sexual Health
    • Describe types of sexually transmitted diseases and how to prevent STDs or unintended pregnancies
    • Identify risks of sexual assault, including date rape, and where to go for help
  • Safety
    • Describe safety consciousness
    • Describe strategies for staying safe on campus and elsewhere

Module 10: Financial Management

  • Finances in College
    • Identify sources of major and minor expenses in your life, including the cost of college
    • Identify sources of income in your life and how to set appropriate financial goals
    • Identify the potential sources of financial assistance and strategies for applying for financial aid and scholarships
  • Working
    • Identify typical job categories for college students
    • Describe the pros and cons of working while in college
    • Identify employment resources on campus and in the community
  • Saving
    • Identify personal spending hazards for college students
    • Define savings opportunities for college students
  • Budgeting
    • Describe budgeting strategies and the pros and cons of budgeting
    • Identify the steps necessary to create a personal budget
  • Credit
    • Describe the opportunities, risks, and rewards of owning a credit card
    • Define credit history and identify resources for assistance with credit issues

Module 11: Metaliteracy

  • What Does it Mean to Be a Meta-literate Learner
    • Understand metaliteracy and its components
    • Apply principles of metaliteracy conscientiously to your learning
    • See oneself as a metaliterate learner
  • Metaliteracy and Your Role as a Researcher
    • Determine how a source’s purpose, document type, and delivery mode affect its value for a particular situation
    • Verify expertise but acknowledge that experts do exist
    • Examine how you feel about the information presented and how this impacts your response
    • Consciously seek information from a spectrum of viewpoints and sources
  • Your Role as an Information Producer and Collaborator
    • See oneself as a producer as well as a consumer of information
    • Participate conscientiously and ethically in collaborative environments
    • Ethically remix and repurpose openly-licensed content
  • Your Life as a Metaliterate Digital Citizen
    • Recognize the impact that your searching and posting behaviors have on your online presence
    • Determine how authentic or how anonymous you want your online persona to be
  • Being a Metaliterate Lifelong Learner
    • Value persistence, adaptability, and flexibility in lifelong learning
    • Recognize that learning is a process and that reflecting on errors or mistakes leads to new insights and discoveries
    • Apply metaliterate learning as a lifelong value and practice
    • Recognize that learners are also teachers and teach what you know or learn in collaborative settings