Understanding Your College Experience is designed to give the students who need the most support the practical help they need to successfully make the transition to college and get the most out of their time there. For this new edition of the text, John N. Gardner, Betsy O. Barefoot, and Negar Farakish share their commitment to institutions, instructors, and students with new coverage of non-cognitive skills like motivation and resilience alongside the authors’ hallmark authoritative, research-driven approach. Every aspect has been crafted to address the needs of the widest possible range of students, from content coverage and organization, to activities, assessment, and design.
Students and instructors will benefit from our powerful LaunchPad course space including an ebook; a rich trove of videos; LearningCurve, an adaptive, game-like study system; and more. A full package of instructional support materials provides new and experienced instructors all the tools they will need to engage students in this course and increase student retention. Also available: ACES, a nationally norm-referenced student self-assessment of non-cognitive and cognitive skills.
John N. Gardner brings unparalleled experience to students as an author. The recipient of his institution's highest award for teaching excellence, John has over forty years of experience directing and teaching in the most widely emulated first-year seminar in the country, the University 101 course at the University of South Carolina (USC), Columbia. John is universally recognized as one of the country's leading educators for his role in initiating and orchestrating an international reform movement to improve the beginning college experience, a concept he coined as "the first-year experience." He is the founding executive director of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at USC, as well as the Policy Center on the First Year of College and the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education (www.jngi.org), both based in Brevard, N.C.
Betsy O. Barefoot is a writer, researcher, and teacher whose special area of scholarship is the first-year seminar. During her tenure at USC from 1988 to 1999, she served as co-director for research and publications at the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. She also taught University 101 and graduate courses on the first-year experience and the principles of college teaching. She conducts first-year seminar faculty training workshops around the world and is frequently called on to evaluate first-year seminar outcomes. Betsy is co-director and senior scholar in the Policy Center on the First Year of College and Vice President of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education both in Brevard, N.C. In her Policy Center role she led a major national research project to identify institutions of excellence in the first college year. She currently works with both two- and four-year campuses in evaluating all components of the first year.
Negar Farakish currently serves as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of American Honors at Union County College in New Jersey and teaches as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has served in various administrative and faculty positions at a number of community colleges and is familiar with the student population at these institutions. She has worked with students from diverse backgrounds and is fully aware of their academic and non-academic needs. Negar possesses a doctorate degree in Higher and Post-secondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Part I: Welcome to Your College Experience
Chapter 1: The Essentials for College Success
The College Experience
Setting Goals for Achieving Your Purpose
Academic Planning
Making the Transition by Connecting with Others
Chapter 2: Cultivating Motivation, Resilience, and Emotional Intelligence
The Importance of Motivation Attitude and Mindset
Resilience
Understanding Emotional Intelligence
How Emotions Influence Success and Well-Being
Chapter 3: Managing Time, Energy, and Money
Managing Your Time
Managing Your Energy
Managing Your Money
Chapter 4: Discovering How You Learn
How People Learn
The VARK Learning Styles Inventory
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Multiple Intelligences
When Learning Styles and Teaching Styles Conflict
Learning with a Learning Disability
Part II: Succeeding in College
Chapter 5: Getting the Most Out of Class
Become Engaged in Learning
Engage before Class and between Class Meetings
Participate in Class
Take Effective Notes
Chapter 6: Reading to Learn from College Textbooks
A Plan for Active Reading
Strategies for Reading Textbooks
Improving Your Reading
Chapter 7: Studying, Understanding, and Remembering
Studying in College: Making Choices and Concentrating
How Memory Works
Improving Your Memory
Studying to Understand and Remember
Chapter 8: Taking Tests Successfully
Getting Ready
Taking the Test
Types of Tests
Types of Questions
Overcoming Test Anxiety
Cheating and Plagiarism
Chapter 9: Collecting, Evaluating, and Using Information
Information Literacy
Choosing, Narrowing, and Researching a Topic
Using the Library
Evaluating Sources
Using Your Research in Writing
The Writing Process
Using Your Research in Presentations.
Part III: Your Path to Success in College and Beyond
Chapter 10: Thinking Critically
College-Level Thinking
Developing Strong Thinking Skills
Applying Your Critical-Thinking Skills
Bloom’s Taxonomy and the First Year of College
Chapter 11: Maintaining Wellness and Relationships in a Diverse World
Understanding Wellness
Managing Your Relationships
Thriving in Diverse Environments
Chapter 12: Making the Right Career Choice
Careers and the New Economy
Self-Exploration in Career Planning
Planning for Your Career
Getting Experience
Job Search Strategies
Skills Employers Seek
Staying on the Path to Success
Other versions by this Author