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