COL 103 - Note #2

Part-Time Students

If you are a part time student, you are part of a large cohort in U.S higher education. At many colleges, part-time students are the majority, even though the campus may seem to be organized primarily for the interests of full-time students. One important distinction between being a part-time or full-time college student is eligibility for financial aid, a system that usually favors full-time students. This may surprise you, but we believe that borrowing money to enable full time participation is often a good idea. Full-time students are more likely to complete their degrees, and they complete them in significantly less time, thus increasing their earning power faster. If you are attending college part-time, it would be a good idea for you to talk to a financial aid adviser and analyze what it would cost you to move on from part-time to full-time status in terms of the debt you would acquire verses the time and money you would ultimately gain by completing college more quickly. If you decide to continue as a part-time student, know that college is just as much for you as it is for the full-time students. There are lots of part-time students on campus.

Online Learners

If you are taking courses online, your experience is going to be significantly different from that of students who attend classes in person at your college. Online courses offer some advantages - for instance, you can take a class from home without having to travel to a college or university campus. If you are shy and reluctant to speak in class, online courses will make participating in class discussions or chats easier than in a face-to-face environment. Some students even report that they find it easier to concentrate in online courses because they are not distracted by other students.

Online learning, however, requires students to be more disciplined, to be better time managers, and to be able to study more independently. Without in-person class meetings, you might find it more challenging to make connections with other students, so you might need to make an extra effort to do so. However, your online course will surely provide you with electronic means to chat with other students and the instructor. To increase your engagement in such a course, it is important to use such means to communicate, especially with other students.

Peer Leaders

Many college success courses like yours utilize peer leaders - upper level students who are also co-teachers for the course. If your college success course has a peer leader, get to know him or her. Peer leaders are selected because of their academic success, knowledge, experience, and willingness to help new students. A peer leader can serve as an informal academic adviser, mentor, and friend. And it is very likely you will want to consider becoming a peer leader later in your undergraduate career. Peer leaders receive valuable leadership and communication experience and earn either college credits or financial compensation for their work in the college success course.

No matter what your age or particular characteristics, you will bring certain strengths to your college experiences that will help both you and others. Older students have a lot of determination and a set of real-life experiences that relate to what they’re learning. Eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds are comfortable with technology and social media, and they are often pop culture experts. Veterans have a unique set of life expectations to share, and international students bring an important view of the world to any U.S. campus. Part-time students are exemplars of time management, often juggling work, education, and home responsibilities. Online learners have to overcome the challenges of learning remotely to make their online learning experience as valuable as learning in a face-to-face setting. These kinds of strengths are all important to the learning process.

Instructors

Of all the people who work at a college or university, instructors have a major influence on students because they influence your thinking and understanding, and your choice of major and vocation. Depending on their position at your college or university, your instructor may carry the title “Professor,” “Instructor,” “Adjunct professor,” or “Doctor.” If they do not inform you of what they prefer to be called, ask before addressing them. Collectively, they are referred to as “the faculty.”

Whether you’re a nontraditional student adjusting to less freedom than you’ve been used to or a traditional student adjusting to more freedom, you will find that your instructors are not going to tell you what, how, or when to study. In addition, they will rarely monitor your progress. However, you will have more freedom to express views that are different from theirs. Many instructors have private offices and keep regular office hours when they can meet with you. Check with them to find out if you need to make an appointment before coming to their office. (Read the Tech Tip: E-Mail with Style, which shows you how to communicate with your instructors appropriately via email.) You might be able to ask your instructors ask a quick question before or after class, but you will be able to get far more help by actually visiting their offices. By taking advantage of instructors’ office hours, you will also let them know that you are serious about learning. You might also want to ask some questions about their educational careers and particular research interests. Many students develop close relationships with their instructors, relationships that can be important right now and in the future.

Depending on where you went to high school, you may find it similar to or completely different from college. One of the biggest differences will be the expectations of college faculty and staff that you will make your own decisions. Although college employees are there to help, they will expect you to take the lead in requesting what you need. Assuming you have the academic qualifications, decisions about your major will be up to you. You will also make daily decisions about what and when you eat, whether you get enough sleep, and whether or not you are engaged in out-of-class activities.

Another big difference between high school and college has to do with the relationship between faculty members and students. In high school, you may have developed positive relationships with your teachers, especially if you worked hard in class or if you interacted with them in extracurricular activities like sports, drama, or yearbook. However, some high school students might have considered their teachers as “the enemy,” or they might have lost status within their peer group if they were seen talking or interacting with teachers. In high school, going to the “office” was often viewed as some kind of punishment or disciplinary action.

College is completely different. You will seek out assistance from some instructors outside class or find some of them so interesting that you will want to spend time learning about how they developed their academic careers. Much research has been done on the importance of first-year students interacting with instructors outside class. We know that students who engage in such interaction report more learning and higher levels of course satisfaction and are more likely to come back for a second year. You should look forward to your experiences with many of your instructors. It will be up to you to choose whether or now to take advantage of their help and to develop a unique relationship with one or more of them.

Staff Members/Administrators/Advisers

Staff members, administrators, and advisers at your college are there to provide you with all kinds of assistance and support: advising, tutoring, counseling, career planning, and much, much more. Their job is to keep you and other students on track and your campus running smoothly.

These people make the most significant policy decisions; determine important financial allocations and priorities; and, with the faculty, help govern the institution. You will interact with some of these leaders, but because they are so busy, you may have to make the effort to do so. One way to meet important staff members and administrators is to get a job on campus. Another way is to be active in student government or other organizations that have a faculty adviser.

Another big difference between high school and college is the great variety of staff members and administrators. In high school, the staff was pretty much limited to the principal and vice principal, coaches, librarians, technology specialists, and guidance counselors. In college you will also find learning support specialist, tutors, academic advisers, career planning counselors, financial aid officers, student activity coordinators, directors of diversity and inclusion, special needs counselors, personal counselors, international student advisers, veterans’ advisers, campus security personnel, and many more. Your college success course will introduce you to many of these individuals, what they do, and how they can help you, if you let them.

In summary, a big part of success in college will come down to the types, frequency, and depth of relationships you develop with all these different kinds of key people: other students, instructors, and staff members. Make the most of these potential relationships; they are a major component of the value of the college experience.

BEING “HIP” IN COLLEGE: PARTICIPATING IN HIGH_IMPACT PRACTICES

Those who run America’s colleges and universities know a lot more now than in previous years about the kind of experiences students have in college that correlate with learning, satisfaction, and staying in college. A prominent higher education researcher at Indiana University, professor George Kuh, has given a name to those experiences in college that seem to be make the biggest positive differences for students in terms of their learning and success. He calls these experiences high-impact practices, or HIPs.

What Are High-Impact Practices?

Professor Kuh’s work grew out of his studies of student engagement - how colleges and universities can intentionally engage students in educationally purposeful activities that yield high levels of learning, satisfaction. These activities require greater investments of time, energy, and commitment than more passive forms of learning. At some colleges some of these high-impact practices (HIPS) will be required and others will be voluntary. If they are voluntary, our advice would be that you try to be involved in them.

One of the high-impact practices is your college success course. Here is a comprehensive list of the eleven high-impact practices, listed in the order you are most likely to encounter them.

1. First Year Seminars. The course in which you find yourself now, designed to help you be successful in your college experience by teaching you how to do college. We have already told you about this high-impact practice

2. Writing - Intensive Courses. Courses across the curriculum that engage you in multiple forms of writing for different audiences. This textbook offers various writing activities for different audiences. This textbook offers various writing-activities that make your first year seminar a writing-intensive course. Some colleges will list in their catalogs courses known as writing-intensive courses. We advise you to take as many of these as you can. Remember that college is really about making you a better thinker, and encouraging you to write intensively is one of the best ways to make you a clearer thinker and communicator.

3. Collaborative Assignments. Learning activities in which you work and solve problems with your classmates in this and other courses. Employers want to hire college graduates who have had experience in collaboration, and research has found that collaborative experiences deepen the learning process. A good academic adviser can help you identify courses that will give you the opportunity to engage in collaborative assignments.

4. Global Learning or Diversity Experiences. Courses and programs (such as study abroad) in which you explore cultures, life experiences, and worldwide views different from your own. Your course catalogue may list diversity-enriched courses that fulfill a general education requirement called global learning. Here again, a good academic adviser can help you identify and select these opportunities. And financial aid is often available for students who have limited finances.

5. Service - Learning. Programs or courses in which you engage in required field-based experiential learning and reflection while giving back to your community through service. Strictly defined, service learning is mandatory, nonremunerative service (for no pay) that is embedded in a credit-bearing course. If you enjoy volunteering and community service, you will really love service-learning because not only do you have the opportunity to help others, you can also earn academic credit.

6. Learning Communities. Programs in which you take two or more linked courses with the same small group of other students and work closely with one another and with your instructors. Learning communities are most commonly offered in the first year of college, but some institutions also offer them in the second year and beyond. Learning communities are often linked to a common, shared academic theme so students can see how different disciplines approach a common issue.

7. Campus Wide Common Intellectual Experiences. Programs in which you take required common core courses, participate in a required learning community, or engage in other shared experiences such as a common reading. The essential characteristic is that these experiences are shared by all new students and have an intellectual component. Thus they become part of the shared traditions of the institution and are high-priority learning experiences.

8. Undergraduate Research. A program that gives you the opportunity to participate in systematic investigation and research working one-on-one with a faculty member. This is more likely to be offered to sophomores, juniors, or seniors, but some institutions do make this opportunity available to first-year students. Ask your academic adviser if undergraduate research is available in any academic department. Frequently, undergraduate students participating in such research with their faculty actually produce joint publications or presentations, which are important additions to your resume.

9. Internships. Direct experience in a work setting often related to your career interests. Usually, internships are offered after the first year. Some carry stipends; however, more commonly these are unpaid. Internships can be required in certain majors and can carry credit that applies to your degree. It is very common for students to be hired by companies or organizations where they were an intern.

10. Capstone Courses and Projects. Courses or experiences that require you in the senior year to reflect on what you have learned in all your courses. In a capstone experience you create a project, demonstration, thesis, original composition, or work of art that demonstrates and integrates your knowledge and applies it to a specific task or project.

11. Eportfolios. An eportfolio is an electronic collection of your work that shows your learning journey over time. At some institutions, you can begin your eportfolio in your college success course.

When, How, and Why Should I be HIP?

We wanted you to know as you started college what HIPs are so that you can look forward to and plan for them. You should start talking about selecting HIPs with your academic adviser as early as your first-term academic advising session. We can assure you that you will experience deeper and more satisfying learning and success during college and more success after college in your vocation if you experience HIPs while in college.

You can engage in some of these HIPs immediately (such as taking this course or being part of a learning community). Others (such as internships, study abroad, or writing-intensive courses) will be offered throughout your undergraduate experience. Most HIPs experiences can be obtained for no additional cost (except for travel expenses in study-abroad programs). An ambitious goal would be to enrich your college experience by participating in at least one HIP each term, but certainly try to experience at least one per year. It might help you to select a friend to join you for each of these. And you certainly meet new friends through participating. The more HIPs you take advantage of, the more hip you are going to be in college as a learner and in your life and career after college.