Lesson 4: How to be a Successful College Student

Attention

Keeping Calm might be the most difficult part!

There is a LOT to this lesson, be sure to read all the material.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

• Identify the role and responsibility of being a college student.
• Demonstrate time management strategies.
• Identify strategies for learning related to personal learning styles.
• Identify various student services resources at KVCC and when their use is warranted.

Teaching

Three Expectations of a Good Student

There are lots of resources out there related to what it takes to be a "good student" or a "successful student", but in truth, it is rather simple. This very short list comes from a speech by the President of Worcester Polytechnical Institute (WPI) to the incoming Freshman class.

What do you need to do to be a successful student (at KVCC)?

1. Go to class
2. Do your homework
3. Ask questions

That's it! Let's not make it any more complicated than this! Of course these three things imply a lot of other skills and behaviors as well. Let's see if we can add some additional behaviors that help you understand what each of these imply.

Go to Class

Regardless if the class is Face-to-Face or Online, you need to "go to class." This implies a lot.

• Class must be a PRIORITY in your life.
• You need to work your LIFE around your SCHOOL...not the other way around.
• You need to get REST, and SLEEP, and be HEALTHY so that when you are IN CLASS you are actually IN CLASS!
• You need to ACTIVELY ENGAGE in the class (taking notes, participating in discussions, asking questions, etc.)

Do your Homework

While a lot happens in the actual classroom, you are expected to do MORE work outside the classroom. A good formula to keep in mind is that for every ONE HOUR that you have IN CLASS, you probably need at least TWO HOURS of dedicated work OUTSIDE of class (for reading, assignments, etc.) This implies a lot too.

• You need to MANAGE YOUR TIME so that you get your homework done when it is DUE.
• You need to create SPACE and TIME in your life for homework.
• If you need HELP, you need to seek that help BEFORE the homework is due so you can still hand it in on time!
• You need to READ everything that is assigned...even the boring stuff!

Ask Questions

Asking questions is also part of "Going to Class" but it is worthy of its own category! Sometimes the information you are expected to know or the assignments that you are expected to complete are confusing. (Now, this is MOSTLY addressed by you "Going to Class" and "Doing your Homework"...if you have not done these first two, then you need to do those first!)

But there is more to this than just asking questions in class.

• Yes...ask questions in class about what is being talked about and discussed.
• If you are confused by a topic or an assignment, try your best to understand it on your own and THEN ask your INSTRUCTOR (Do not ask your friend or another student...they may be confused as well and lead you astray!)
• KVCC has a LOT of Student Services to help with understanding class material. Part of "asking questions" is seeking extra help if you are still struggling.
• STUDENT SERVICES (tutoring, remedial classes, TRiO, etc.) are NEVER a substitute to talking with your INSTRUCTOR.

Below you will find resources that may help you a bit with the above mentioned behaviors in order to be a successful college student.

• Note Taking
• Time Management
• Learning Styles
• Writing
• Research
• Student Services

NOTE TAKING

Knowing what and how much to write down is sometimes difficult. Rely on some of the following tips for what to include in your notes.

• Details, facts, or explanations that expand or explain the main points that are mentioned
• Don’t forget examples
• Definitions, word for word
• Lists of things that are discussed
• Material written on the board, including drawings or charts
• Information that is repeated or spelled out

TIME MANAGEMENT

Seven Suggestions for Effectively Managing Your Time

1. Be organized
2. Plan ahead (Schedule it and it will happen!)
3. Prioritize your tasks
4. Avoid overload
5. Practice effective study techniques
6. Be able to be flexible
7. Have a vision (why are you doing all of this?)

READING

Different people learn in different ways...or better said, many people PREFER to learn in certain ways. The most common ways are VISUAL, AUDITORY, and KINESTHETIC.

In the Social Sciences MOST of what you learn will be learned through reading (which emphasizes the VISUAL and AUDITORY learning styles...i.e. not a whole lot of HANDS ON type work - though it does occur!)

To that end, this program requires that you develop strong reading skills. You not only need to be able to read accurately and comprehend what you are reading, but you have to develop what I call "academic reading persistence and stamina." The short definition of this concept is as follows:

Academic reading persistence and stamina is your ability to read COMPLEX, sometimes BORING, material for LONG periods of time, and still COMPREHEND and APPLY what you are reading.

When we touch on the Research R in this lesson you will encounter a type of article you will have to absorb (peer reviewed articles) that are NOT written for YOU...they are written for other professionals in the field.

Click HERE to read an article on how to TEACH reading persistence!

WRITING

Another skill that is actually vital in the field of Social Sciences is writing.

Many people come to KVCC with a variety of writing skills, but the kind of writing that is expected in the workplace and in high school is very different than the kind of writing we require in the program.

In this lesson I want to introduce you to a writing style that is represented by the professional writing requirements of the American Psychological Association (APA). The style is simply known as APA Style.

Click on this image to visit the APA Style guides posted on Purdue University's Online Writing Lab website!

The details of this style are beyond the scope of this class and will be covered in EACH of the classes in your program that require writing. Suffice to say that APA Style mandates that you format your papers in a particular manner. Details of APA Style that you will become familiar with include:

• Formatting a title page.
• Essay writing.
• Expressing numerical data.
• Citing sources in your paper (in text citations).
• Creating a References page.

Click HERE to visit the KVCC Department of Social Sciences "Writing Across the Social Sciences" website. The resources in this website should help you get around the technical and stylistic requirements of writing in the program.

RESEARCH

The final area we want to cover in this lesson is Research.

There are essentially two types of research that you will do in this program:

• Type I Research - Research that looks at our current "fund of knowledge" in the field and reports on what we ALREADY know about a research question.
• Type II Research - Research that tests an hypothesis on real people and reports on the data that is collected from that process to answer a research question.

MOST of what you will do with be Type 1 Research.

Visit that same "Writing Across the Social Sciences" website and focus on the following topics to learn more about research.

Developing Good Research Questions

Using Google and other Search Engines for Research

Using your Textbook and Online Databases for Research

What is a Peer Reviewed Article?

We have reviewed a lot of different ways you will be expected to read, write and analyze materials presented to you. It is the responsibility of the student to adapt to the style of different messages being presented though it does help if the instructor makes an effort to present in multiple styles. Our instructors do their best to offer the material in a variety of formats (reading, activities, discussions and videos).

STUDENT SERVICES (GETTING HELP)

Click here to view the Schedule for Student Services on the Alfond Campus for the Fall of 2017

Assessment

Lesson 4 Quiz

Please answer all of the questions in this quiz. They relate to the Lesson and any links within the Lesson. This quiz will allow you two attempts.

Lesson 4 Discussion

Review the different resources that are listed in this Lesson. Based on your past educational experience, which resources/services do you feel you might need some help in or need to work on? Be specific by including the contact information you might use to access these services.