chapter
stringlengths 1.97k
1.53M
| path
stringlengths 47
241
|
|---|---|
Photo Credit: Graeme Robinson-Clogg
Now that you have identified what you need to learn, you now need to make a plan for how to learn, and to put it into practice. The best kind of learning is active learning. When you learn actively, you apply a variety of strategies to your course material, including reading, writing, reflecting, solving problems, organizing material visually, self-testing, and working with others.
Active learning requires you to choose a method to process and recall the material you are working to master. Some activities that promote active learning are:
• Using flash cards.
• Making a visual organizer that summarizes key chapter concepts, such as a mindmap or chart.
• Organizing key ideas into a new chart.
• Answering questions or creating a practice test.
• Working with a study partner or group.
• Writing about the material you are learning.
Not only is active learning a more engaging and fun way to study, it also allows you to use your study time more effectively. Contrast this with an activity like re-reading a textbook or notes multiple times, which is a more passive way to learn. Though you may be seeing the material, you are not engaging in an activity that requires you to store the information in your memory, and to practice retrieving it.[1]
Try it!
Consider the material you are learning in one of your courses this week. Create a list of active learning strategies that you can use to study this content.
1. Michael, J. (2006). Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30(4), 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00053.2006
06.2: Master Your Memory
As you identify the content you are working to learn, you will often discover things that you will need to commit to memory. What strategies will help you to remember important information effectively so that you can recall it on tests, apply it to subsequent courses, and use it throughout your life and career?
Image Credit: Vijaya Jammi
What is memory? Memory is the ability to remember past experiences and is a record of the learning process. The human brain has the ability, known as neuroplasticity, that allows it to form new neural pathways, alter existing connections, and adapt and react in ever-changing ways as we learn. Information must go into our long term memory and then, to retrieve it from our memory, we must have a way of getting it back.
Long-term memory stores all the significant events that mark our lives; it lets us retain the meanings of words and the physical skills that we have learned. There are three steps involved in establishing a long term memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
1) To encode, you assign meaning to the information.
2) To store information, you review it and its meanings (study), as repetition is essential to remembering.
3) To retrieve it, you follow the path you created through encoding. This may include a number of memory triggers that you used when you were encoding.
What strategies help store information in long term memory? Mnemonics (the initial “m” is silent) are strategies to associate the information we want to remember with a physical sense to turn it into something that’s much more likely to stick in your mind and be able to be brought back to your consciousness when you want it. The key idea is that by coding information using vivid mental images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of information. And because the images are vivid, they are easy to recall when you need them.
• Use positive, pleasant images. Your brain often blocks out unpleasant ones.
• Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images – these are easier to remember than drab ones.
• Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image by using sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures.
• Give your image three dimensions, movement and space to make it more vivid.
• Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image.
• Use humour! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones.
• Similarly, rude rhymes are very difficult to forget!
• Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, signs, etc.) can code quite complex messages.
Type Sample Method
Acronyms Every discipline has its own language and acronyms are the abbreviations. Acronyms can be used to remember words in sequence or a group of words representing things or concepts. CAD can mean: Control Alt Delete, Canadian Dollar, Computer Aided Design, Coronary Artery Disease, Canadian Association of the Deaf, Crank Angle Degree, etc.
Acrostics Acrostics are phrases where the first letter of each word represents another word. They are relatively easy to make and can be very useful for remembering groups of words. For example: King Philip Can Only Find His Green Slippers. This is the classification system of: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
Chunking You can capitalize on your short term memory by “chunking” information. If you need to remember this number: 178206781. The task would exhaust your seven units of storage space unless you “chunk” the digits into groups. In this case, you could divide it into three chunks, like a social insurance number: 178 206 781. By chunking the information and repeating it you can stretch the capacity of your short term memory.
Images This helps us remember by linking words to meanings through associations based on how a word sounds and creating imagery for specific words. This sort of visualization was found to be more effective when one listened to a someone reading a text than when they read the text themselves
Locations and Journeys Traditionally known as the Method of Loci, we associate each word from a list or grouping with a location. Imagine a place with which you are familiar, such as, the rooms in your house. These become the objects of information you need to memorize. Another example is to use the route to your work or school, with landmarks along the way becoming the information you need to memorize. When you do this in order of your journey through the imagined space, it makes it easier to retrieve all of the information in the future.
Maps & Diagrams Graphic organizers help us remember by connecting new information to our existing knowledge and to let us see how concepts relate to each other and fit in to a context. Mind and concept maps, Cause and Effect, Fishbone, Cycle, Flow Chart, Ladders, Story Board, Compare and Contrast, Venn Diagrams, and more.
Reciting Saying something out loud activates more areas of our brain and helps to connect information to other activities.
Rhymes Rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and melody make use of our brain’s ability to encode audio information and use patterns to aid memory. They help recall by limiting the possible options to those items that fit the pattern you have created.
Summarizing This traditional element of note taking is a way to physically encode materials which make it easier for our brain to store and retrieve. I can be said that if we cannot summarize, then we have not learned…yet.
References: [1] [2] [3]
Try It:
Select one course where memorizing key concepts is a part of your exam preparation. Choose at least one new strategy from the chart above this week. Monitor — is this strategy effective for what you are trying to learn? A good way to monitor is to see if you can recall the information accurately without looking at a text or notes.
1. Dubuc, B. (2002). Memory and learning. Retrieved from http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/a/a_07/a_07_p/a_07_p_tra/a_07_p_tra.html
2. MindTools Content Team. (n.d.). Introduction to memory techniques. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/memory.html
3. Whitehead, J., Fraenkel, C., Yu, E., & Van Der Mark, A. (2017, February 1). Memory. Retrieved from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/index.php?title=Memory&oldid=63689 | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/06%3A_Study_Smart__Use_Powerful_Strategies_to_Remember_Understand_and_Apply/06.1%3A_Choose_Strategies_for_Active_Lea.txt |
Self-testing is one of the most powerful study strategies. Creating good questions requires you to think critically about what you need to learn (planning). Testing whether you can answer questions without referring to a text or notes, as you would in an exam, allows you to effectively monitor your progress. The trick to effective self-testing is asking the right questions. In university, you are required to move beyond recalling basic facts and details, and must learn to apply and analyze material deeply.
One way of picturing these levels of depth in learning is Bloom’s Taxonomy. The categories in the cognitive taxonomy developed by Bloom include:
1. Remember (knowledge recall) – retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory
2. Understand (comprehension) – interpreting the meaning of information; being able to “translate” knowledge into one’s own words; linking new information to what you already know
3. Apply – using what you know to do required tasks
4. Analyze – taking things apart; dissecting; asking “why?”; seeing relationships and how things work
5. Evaluate – appraising, judging and critiquing the outcomes of any of the other levels
6. Create (synthesis) – putting things together; building on what you know to create something new; seeing new relationships or making new connections. [1][2]
Image Credit: Rawia Inaim
One method for creating study questions or planning active learning activities is to move step-by-step through each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Begin with a few questions at the Remembering level. If you don’t yet know the technical language of the subject and what it means, it will be difficult for you to apply, evaluate, analyze, or be creative. Then, go deeper into your subject as you move through the levels.
Try It!
Create Study Questions Using Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy
Pick a subject area in which you are working. For each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy on this page:
• Develop a question and answer it to show that you can think about the material at that level.
• Then, working with a partner and using the chart below, explain the questions at each level of Bloom’s taxonomy for this subject area to a partner and listen to them do the same.
• Discuss how your questions would allow you to assess how much you know and what level you are working at.
Download a printable worksheet to complete this activity.
Level Question
Remembering Remembering and Recalling information.
My question(s):
Understanding Understanding Explaining ideas or concepts.
My question(s):
Applying Applying information in a
familiar situationMy question(s):
Analyzing Analyzing by breaking information into parts to explore relationships.
My question(s):
Evaluating Justifying a decision or course of action.
My question(s):
Creating Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things.
My question(s):
1. Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman. ↵
2. Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green. ↵
06.4: Explore the Four Levels of Quest
Another model for creating effective self-study questions divides questions into four levels. The levels move from more surface/factual questions, towards deeper, more analytical questions. In order to be sure that your self-study questions probe deeply enough into the course content to prepare for university-level tests and exams, you will want to include questions from each level in your review.
Image Credit: Rawia Inaim
Level 1. Summarizing/Definitions/Fact Questions These questions give you the vocabulary and scope of the subject matter.
• What is the definition of…?
• Who did…?
• When did…occur?
• How much/many…?
• What is an example of…?
Level 2. Analysis/Interpretation Questions Here, you are looking for the context and impact, supported by evidence.
• How did…occur?
• Why does…occur?
• What are the reasons for…?
• What are types of…?
• How does…function?
• How does the process occur?
• What are my own examples of…?
• What causes …to occur?
• What results when…occurs?
• What is the relationship between…and…?
• How is…similar to/different from…?
• How does… affect or apply to…?
• What does…mean?
• What conclusions can be drawn from…information?
• What is (are) the problem(s), conflict(s), issue(s)?
• What are possible solutions/resolutions to these problems, conflicts, issues?
• What is the main argument or thesis of an author?
• How is this argument developed?
• What evidence, proof, support is offered?
• What are other theories, arguments from other authors?
Level 3. Hypothesis/Prediction Questions These questions help you to develop hypothesis and look at possible outcomes.
• If…occurs, then what would happen?
• If…changed, then what would change?
• What does theory x predict will happen?
• What hypothesis or theory explains this data or given information?
Level 4. Critical Analysis/Evaluation/Opinion Questions Use these questions to analyze differentiate, and make choices about the subject in context and with supporting evidence.
Is…
• Good/bad? Why?
• Correct or incorrect? Why?
• Effective or ineffective? Why?
• Relevant or irrelevant? Why?
• Logical or illogical? Why?
• Applicable or not applicable? Why?
• Proven or not proven? Why?
• Ethical or unethical? Why?
• What are the advantages or disadvantages of…? Why?
• What is the best solution to the problem, conflict, issue?
• Why is it the best?
• What should or should not happen? Why?
• Do I agree or disagree? Why?
• What is my opinion? What is my support for my opinion?
How Can You Use These Questions?
Take any concept or statement, put one of these question “keys” in front of it, put a question mark at the end, and you have your question!
Now go look for an answer.
Remember that these questions at these levels may already be at the end of your chapters or in your study guide or learning objectives. So survey the chapter, find and use them if they are relevant to your learning. [1][2]
Try It!
Choose one unit or chapter that you are currently studying in one of your courses. Create as many questions as possible, trying to include questions from each of the levels. Use the levels to ensure that your questions are varied and deep.
1. Adapted from: Salustri, F. (2015). Four levels of questions. Retrieved April 23, 2018, from http://deseng.ryerson.ca/dokuwiki/design:four_levels_of_questions. Used with permission. ↵
2. McMaster University. (2005). What questions engage students? Retrieved April 23, 2018, from http://cll.mcmaster.ca/resources/pdf/what_questions_engage_students.pdf | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/06%3A_Study_Smart__Use_Powerful_Strategies_to_Remember_Understand_and_Apply/06.3%3A_Use_Effective_Questioning_Strate.txt |
You need a clear understanding of what the instructor wants before starting on any assignment of project. Then you will want to translate assignment terms and requirements into useful clues as to what your instructor expects. When you are not sure, remember to ask the instructor.
The first step is to read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it.
Image Credit: Rawia Inaim
Interpreting the Assignment
Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:
• Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?
• Who is your audience?
• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?
• What kind of writing style is acceptable?
• What guidelines must you follow?
Terms that might be used
• Identification Terms: cite, define, enumerate, give, identify, indicate, list, mention, name, state.
• Description Terms: describe, discuss, review, summarize, diagram, illustrate, sketch, develop, outline, trace.
• Relation Terms: analyze, compare, contrast, differentiate, distinguish, relate.
• Demonstration Terms: demonstrate, explain why, justify, prove, show, support.
• Evaluation Terms: assess, comment, criticize, evaluate, interpret, propose.
Begin with Background Content
Most assignment will be related to the materials you have studied in the course up to the point of the assignment. As you read the assignment or project requirements, start by identifying which theories, formulas, and graphics relate. Consider what research you will need to do to complete the project.
Use the Rubric!
Your assignment instructions and rubric are two of your key tools throughout the process of completing the assignment. These provide an outline of the criteria that the instructor has set out for a successful assignment. There are two key times to use the rubric and assignment instructions:
1. Before you start writing: Unfortunately, time may be lost writing something that does not meet the key guidelines you must follow. To avoid this problem, take time to read both the assignment instructions and rubric carefully before beginning. Clarify any areas of confusion with your instructor.
2. After you have written a draft, but before you submit the assignment: At this point, grade your work according to the rubric. Think carefully and critically. Are there areas where you may not have met the criteria well? If so, edit your work accordingly, making the needed revisions before submitting the assignment.
Try it!
Take out your assignment instructions and rubric. Use them to answer the following questions:
1. Describe in one sentence your task on this assignment: What do you need to do?
2. What resources will you use to complete this assignment? Review any textbook materials, handouts, or class notes that relate to this assignment. How many additional resources do you need to find to complete the assignment task? (consider books, peer reviewed articles, websites, or other resources).
3. What content do you need to create for this assignment?
4. What guidelines do you need to follow related to the format of the assignment? What format do you need to use for citations and references (APA, MLA, and Chicago are the most commonly used).
07.2: Develop an Assignment Plan
Now that you have a clear idea of what you need to do, the next step is to break down the assignment into manageable “chunks”. The idea of completing a major research paper may seem overwhelming, but if you can divide the task into achievable steps you will be on your way to success.
Use the chart below to break your assignment into smaller steps. You will want to create steps that can be done easily in one day, and preferably in a single work period. Consider the following example breakdown for a research paper.
Assignment Task Target Completion Date Complete?
Read assignment instructions and rubric October 2 Y
Review course materials and choose topic October 3 Y
Library research — find 3 peer reviewed articles and two books October 5
Read and take notes on two articles October 7
Read and takes notes on final article and books October 8
Organize notes; write thesis and outline October 9
Write body paragraph 1 October 10
Write body paragraph 2 October 10
Write body paragraph 3 October 11
Write body paragraph 4 October 11
Write conclusion October 12
Write introduction October 12
Self-edit content and organization (use the rubric) October 14
Writing tutor appointment October 15
Edit and proofread assignment October 16
Submit final assignment October 18
In the above example, the assignment is divided into smaller pieces, with a manageable amount to complete each day. It is also clear when each task has been completed. A daily work goal like “work on research paper” is not well-defined, and can seem overwhelming. This can make it easy to procrastinate. By choosing specific and achievable goals, you may become more motivated to get started, and you will be able to measure your progress each day. Remember to reward yourself for meeting your goals along the way.
Try it!
Choose one of your upcoming assignments, and create a work plan modelled on the example above.
Image Credit: Graeme Robinson-Clogg | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/07%3A_Get_Those_Projects_Done/07.1%3A_Analyze_Your_Assignment.txt |
Now that you understand your assignment and you have made your plan, you will want to develop your ideas and start writing. Does the blank page (or computer screen) have you stuck? To get your ideas flowing, you may want to try some of the following strategies:
1. Try some free writing. Write a journal, poem, blog, or story that includes your main ideas.
2. Say your ideas out loud. Talk to a friend, family member, or classmate about what you are reading and learning about your topic. You could also record these ideas into a device as if you were talking to someone else, and then play the recording back.
3. Write your ideas on post-it-notes or index cards, one idea per sheet. Include the name and page of the source where you found each idea — you will need this to create your citations as you write. Then, group your notes according to themes. This will help you to create the initial organization of your paragraphs and paper.
4. Create a mind map or a concept map.
Mind mapping which is also called “clustering ideas”, is a way of collecting ideas around a particular topic and defining connections. In the writing process, you use mind mapping to brainstorm ideas, and to determine how these ideas are related.[1]
The rules are: no criticism of ideas, go for large quantities of ideas, build on ideas, and encourage wild and exaggerated ideas. When these rules are followed, a lot more ideas are created. Particularly at the beginning of the writing process, you may explore a topic and generate content by creating a mind map.
Examples of Clustering and Mind Mapping
Clustering is a good way to start the process of inventing new writing but may need elaboration to be useful to the process of academic writing.
Start with what you know. This may be as little as one word. The next step is to define your word. Each part of the definition can become a new circle in your mind map.
You will ask, “Who, What Where, When, why, and How” questions to help identify what you know and / or remember about your topic.
As you make new connections, you will also see where there are gaps and what you don’t know about the topic. This can lead you to identifying what you need to research about the subject. Once you have a reasonable amount of information, you can start to develop the relationships between and among the ideas. This technique is called “Concept Mapping” and allows you to continue to elaborate on the basic ideas that you have generated. Below, you will find an example of a concept map, created by a writer exploring global warming.
Example Mind Map (Image Credit: Rawia Inaim)
Try it!
Choose one of the four strategies listed below:
1. Talk about your ideas
2. Spend time freewriting
3. Cluster post-it notes or index cards
4. Create a concept map
Now that you have begun generating your ideas, you will be ready to move on to formal outlining as your next step.
1. Buzan, T. (n.d.). What is a mind map? Retrieved from http://www.tonybuzan.com/about/mind-mapping/ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/07%3A_Get_Those_Projects_Done/07.3%3A_Move_Beyond_Writer%27s_Block.txt |
Before you begin writing, you will want to create an outline. An outline helps you to organize your ideas into a clearly presented argument or report.
Step 1: Create a thesis statement
If you are writing an essay or research paper, you will begin by writing a draft thesis statement. A thesis statement is a concise presentation of the main argument you will develop in your paper. Write the thesis statement at the top of your paper. You can revise this later if needed.
The rest of your outline will include the main point and sub-points you will develop in each paragraph.
Step 2: Identify the main ideas that relate to your thesis statement
Based on the reading and research you have already done, list the main points that you plan to discuss in your essay. Consider carefully the most logical order, and how each point supports your thesis. These main ideas will become the topic sentences for each body paragraph.
Step 3: Identify the supporting points and evidence for each major idea
Each main point will be supported by supporting points and evidence that you have compiled from other sources. Each piece of information from another source must be cited, whether you have quoted directly, paraphrased, or summarized the information.
Step 4: Create your outline
Outlines are usually created using a structure that clearly indicates main ideas and supporting points. In the example below, main ideas are numbered, while the supporting ideas are indented one level and labelled with letters. Each level of supporting detail is indented further.
Image Credit: Graeme Robinson-Clogg
Try it!
Create an outline for a paper or report for one of your courses.
1. Write a thesis statement that clearly presents the argument that you will make.
2. Use a multi-level outline, similar to the one in the example above, to create an outline before you begin writing.
Extend Your Learning
Outlining can help you to clarify your ideas, demonstrate if you have adequate support for your paper and provide a way to complete it in manageable stages.
• This essay outline template can help you as you begin to develop this skill; adapt it for your own purposes and reflect on aspects that are working for you.
07.5: Write the First Draft
The thesis statement and outline that you prepared in the previous step will guide you through the rest of the writing process. Here are a few tips for the drafting phase of the writing process:
1. Write the body paragraphs first. Although the introduction is the first thing your reader will see, it is much easier to write an introduction once you know how your paper develops.
2. Write the introduction. Get your audience’s attention. What is important or intriguing about this topic? What background do your readers need to understand? Your introduction also includes your thesis and an overview of the main points you will discuss in your paper.
3. Write the conclusion. The conclusion restates your thesis, summarizes the most important points, and demonstrates that you proved your thesis. Do not add new arguments at this point. End with the significance of the argument you have made.
Image Credit: Graeme Robinson-Clogg
07.6: Self-Edit Your Work
Image Credit: Rawia Inaim
After you have finished creating a first draft of your paper, you will want to begin the process of editing and revising. Editing is an important part of the writing process that allows you to present your ideas in the clearest and most effective way possible. It involves making improvements to all of a paper – the thesis, how the arguments are organized, paragraph structure, and sentence struture. Proofreading, which involves looking at smaller details like spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word choice is one step of the editing process, which typically comes after you have edited the content and structure at your paper. A good editing process moves from the “big picture”, step by step towards the smaller details.
Self-Editing in Five Steps
Many writers find that it’s difficult to figure out what to revise in their own writing. Following these five steps can help take the mystery out of self-editing.
1) Check the assignment instructions.
• Compare the instructions to your draft. Use the instructions like a checklist.
• Make a note of any elements missing from your paper, and focus your revisions on those areas.
• If you have a grading rubric, “grade” your draft according to the rubric. Note any adjustment that you want to make before submitting the paper.
2) Check the thesis.
• Is it the right type of thesis for the kind of paper you are writing?
• Can it be more specific?
• Does it match the conclusions you draw in the body of the paper?
• Does it explain the significance of your argument?
3) Check the body paragraphs.
• Is the topic sentence easy to identify?
• Is there evidence to support your claims?
• Is it clear how the evidence supports the claims?
• Have you explained/discussed the evidence thoroughly?
• Does the conclusion tie the paragraph’s ideas back to the topic sentence and the thesis?
• Is there a smooth transition to the next paragraph?
4) Check the introduction and conclusion.
• Does the introduction introduce the topic and engage the reader?
• Does the conclusion do more than repeat what you already said?
• Does the conclusion elaborate on the significance of the thesis?
5) Proofread the paper. Do this several times.
• Make major revisions first. Do your ideas come across clearly?
• Then check for grammar mistakes, awkward sentences, repetition, citations, style, and formatting.
Remember that self-editing is a key part of the writing process. It’s also a skill that takes time to develop. The best thing about practicing self-editing is that the process of finding and revising weak areas of our writing gives us a better understanding of our strengths and weaknesses. It also reminds us what a well-developed paper looks like. All of this helps us write stronger papers in the future.
Try It!
Take out the first draft of any piece of writing you are currently completing. Follow the five steps listed above. How does following this process help you to edit your work in a systematic way? | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/07%3A_Get_Those_Projects_Done/07.4%3A_Create_an_Outline.txt |
The first step in planning is to set clear goals. Create a goal that is both specific and achievable for you.
What grade do you hope to achieve in this exam? ________
How motivated are you to achieve this grade?
How important is it to you to achieve this grade?
How confident are you about achieving this grade?
Photo Credit: Emily Tan
The next step is to determine what you will need to learn for this exam, and how you will be expected to show your knowledge. Refer to the Learning Objectives for your course, and for individual units of study with the course. You may find these:
• In your course presentation
• At the beginning of textbook chapters
• In course notes provided by your instructor.
Determine key concepts to study: Analyze key concepts as you think your Instructor might
Imagine you are the instructor and think about the hardest questions you think might come up on your exam. Practice answering these questions using your notes and text and writing out the answers fully. As you answer the questions, try to integrate information from various sources and express ideas in your own words. This will help prepare you for your exams in thorough and deep ways.
Now, identify strategies to learn the material, as well as additional resources that can help you succeed. Consider the following:
Strategies Resources
· Develop and answer self-testing questions
· Use flash cards for key concepts
· Use an app to create quizzes/ flashcards
· Create mind maps or concept maps
· Create charts that compare/ contrast key course concepts
· Develop mnemonics to help you memorize important information
· Write outlines for potential essay questions
· Complete practice questions from your textbook/ course materials
· Develop practice exams with a study partner
· Create summaries of course notes
· Develop a daily study plan that includes goals and rewards
· Develop case studies and connect them with course concepts
· Review previous quizzes, noting your strengths and areas for improvement
· ________________________
· Form a study group
· Attend group study sessions (if available for your course), or form your own study group
· Meet with a Peer Tutor
· Visit Instructor Office Hours
· Consult with a Learning Strategist
· Use supplemental online resources connected with your textbook (e.g. videos, online quizzes and problems)
· Read Learning Aids to discover new strategies
· ___________________
Now, think of one exam that you will be writing in the near future. Identify what you need to learn. Then, identify one or more learning strategies that you will use to study this content. Use this information to create a study plan. The chart below provides an example of what might be included in a study plan. What might your study plan include?
Study Session Date What I need to learn Strategies/resources for learning
February 1 Psychology Chapter 3: LOs
-Compare/contrast types of memory (semantic, episodic procedural)
-Describe the stages in recording new information in long-term memory
-Explain the role of the hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebellum in memory processes
-Venn diagram (compare/contrast types of memory)
-Review vocabulary in flash card app
-Self-testing questions on memory
-Draw and label diagram of brain re: memory
February 2 -Explain the role of Pavlov, Skinner and Watson in the development of behaviourism
-Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning
-Create a model to demonstrate how learning occurs through a process of conditioning
-Create a mind map of behaviourism/ behavioural psychologists
-Review vocabulary in flash card app
-Develop scenarios that explain the process of classical/operant conditioning
-Write questions for study group session
February 3…
As you execute your study plan, you will want to carefully track which Learning Objectives you have now mastered, and which are still difficult for you. As the exam date comes closer, you will want to devote additional time to areas that are still challenging.
Try it!
Which tests or exams are you preparing for now? Create a study plan using the chart below, or download the printable study plan worksheet.
Plan: Study session date Plan: What do I need to learn? Plan: How will I learn this material? Monitor: What do I know well? What needs additional practice? | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/08%3A_Get_Ready_for_Exams/08.1%3A_Organize_Review_Sessions_Strategically.txt |
Image Credit: Christina Page
Answering Multiple Choice Questions
Read the directions carefully before you begin answering the exam. Scan all questions over quickly to get a sense of the scope of the exam. Allot your time according to the number of questions.
(1) Read each question carefully.
Multiple choice exams also examine your ability to read carefully and thoughtfully, as much as they test your ability to recall and reason. You must answer the question that is being asked.
(2) Start with questions you feel most comfortable answering.
• Cover up the possible responses with a piece of paper or with your hand while you read the stem, or body of the question. Decide what you think the answer is.
• Then uncover the answers and pick the one that matches your answer. Check to be sure that none of the other responses is better.
• Read the stem with each option treating them as a true-false question, and choose the most true.
• If you are unable to make a choice and need to spend more time with the question, or you answered the question but are unsure that you made the correct choice, put a question mark beside that question, and move on to the next.
• Move on and finish all of those questions that you can answer and then to come back later to process the problematic questions.
• Sometimes the answer will occur to you simply because you are more relaxed after having answered other questions.
If you can’t decide on a correct answer:
• Absolute words, such as “always” or “never” are less likely to be correct than conditional words like “usually” or “probably.” “Funny” or “strange” options are often wrong.
• If you can verify that more than one of the responses are probably correct, then “all of the above” may be a correct response.
• “None of the above” is usually an incorrect response, but this is less reliable than the “all of the above” rule.
• Be very careful of double negatives (e.g. “There are not insignificant numbers of salmon in British Columbia waters = There are significant numbers of salmon in British Columbia waters). Create the equivalent positive statement.
• Eliminate options you know to be incorrect.
• If all else fails…Guess (unless there is a penalty for wrong answers).
Finally: Take the time to check your work before you hand it in. [1][2]
Short Answer Questions
Your instructor is looking for a brief and descriptive answer.
• Allocate your time according to the proportion of marks each question is worth.
• If a question that asks you to “explain”, imagine you are telling a friend about the topic.
• If you have questions which are a mix of short and essay answers, check the rubric carefully so you don’t miss answering part of the question.
Essay Questions
Essay questions ask you to discuss and expand on a topic and are usually several paragraphs long.
• Think about what the question is actually asking. What are you expected to include in your answer? What material will be relevant? A common complaint from instructors is that the student didn’t answer the question.
• If a question asks you to “briefly comment”, treat it as a mini-essay – have a sentence or two to introduce your topic; select a few points to discuss with a sentence or two about each; add a concluding sentence that sums up your overall view.
Make a Plan! Take a few minutes to think and plan:
• Underline the key words in the question.
• Identify the main topic and discussion areas.
• Choose a few points/arguments about which you can write.
• Make a mini-plan which puts them in order before you start writing. You can cross it through afterwards.
• Demonstrate that you are answering the question – In your introduction show how you understand the question and outline how you will answer it. Make one point or argument per paragraph and summarize to show how it answers the question. Short paragraphs with one or two pieces of evidence are sufficient. In your conclusion summarize the arguments to answer the question.
What to do if your mind goes blank?
• Put your pen down, take a deep breath, sit back and relax for a moment. If you’re in the middle of an answer, read through what you have written so far – what happens next? If you have to remember formulae, try associating them with pictures or music while revising. If you really can’t progress with this answer, leave a gap. It will probably come back to you once you are less anxious.
Try it!
An excellent way to prepare for exams is to spend time doing practice tests.
1. If your instructor has prepared a practice test/exam for your course, take the time to complete it. This will allow you to practice the types of questions that will be asked on your exam. Take the test as if it were the real exam. Close your books, and allow yourself the same amount of time as you will have for the exam. After you finish, check your work. Monitor what you successfully completed, and what you will need to spend additional time studying.
2. Creating questions for a practice test is another excellent learning activity. Look at the learning objectives, and create the kind of questions you think your instructor might ask. Take your practice test, and monitor your progress. Better yet, share questions with members of your study group and test each other.
1. Adapted from: Study Guides and Strategies. (n.d.). Multiple choice tests. Retrieved from http://www.studygs.net/tsttak3.htm
2. University of Toronto. (2000). Tips for success: Mastering multiple-choice tests. Retrieved from http://bio150.chass.utoronto.ca/tips/testtips.htm | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/08%3A_Get_Ready_for_Exams/08.2%3A_Answer_Your_Exam_Questions.txt |
Image Credit: Rawia Inaim
Writing tests and exams can be a stressful experience. How can you manage any anxiety that you are feeling? The first step to managing exam stress is to create and follow a good study plan throughout your semester, and in the weeks leading up to the exam. Cramming at the last minute, or feeling unsure of your knowledge of course material can increase your stress level. Using a variety of active learning strategies that promote deep knowledge of the course material can also improve your stress level. Relying on rote memory for large amounts of material is more stressful than preparing for an exam where you understand the underlying principles and relationships between ideas thoroughly.
What can you do on exam day to manage any jitters?
1. Make sure you are well rested and that you have eaten some protein (settles your stomach).
2. Arrive early and take a moment to relax and reduce your anxiety. Avoid distractions including sitting near or anything or anyone who is distracting to you.
3. Listen carefully to instructions given by the instructor; then read the directions very carefully. For example, you may discover that you only need to answer three out of the five essay questions. Ask for clarification if you do not understand the directions.
4. As soon as the test begins, write down any relevant formulae, concepts, figures, or memory cues that will help you during the test. Add to this list as inspirations come. Refer to it as needed.
5. Scan the entire test to let yourself know what to expect before you start answering.
6. Plan how you will use the time for the test. Observe the point value of each section and figure out a rough time allowance accordingly. Bring a time piece and pay attention to the passing time.
7. Do the easiest questions first. This will increase your confidence and may trigger memory for other answers. Don’t waste time lingering over questions you don’t know right away.
8. Go back to look at the harder questions. Choose the highest value questions next. If a question is worth 3 marks, there are usually three points that the instructor is looking for. 10 marks = 10 points.
9. Focus on the questions and not the answers. Underline the key words in each question. Think about where you have seen or heard these key words before. Think about other questions that you have already answered for clues. Write your best answer. If it is multiple choice, then check the answers to see if there is an answer that is close to your answer.
10. If two questions or potential answers seem similar, look for what words are different. Think carefully about what difference each word makes. This can lead you to decide on the correct response.
11. Take your time. Don’t race through the exam and don’t leave early.
12. Use any extra time at the end to check for careless errors, re-visit any difficult questions you left unanswered, or proofread essay answers for grammar and spelling. Make sure you answered all the questions!
13. When you have answered all of the questions, take a minute to re-scan your paper. Do not change any answers unless you are absolutely sure that you have made a mistake. Your first response is more likely to be correct. Second-guessing can lead to lower scores.
Good luck on your exams! Now that you have carefully planned your learning, and monitored the effects of your study strategies on your learning, you will now have the opportunity to evaluate your success in mastering the key concepts in your courses.
Try it!
Make a plan for exam day:
1. What will you do in the days before the exam to manage stress?
2. What strategies from this chapter do you want to try on exam day? | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/08%3A_Get_Ready_for_Exams/08.3%3A_Manage_Exam_Stress.txt |
“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” – Bill Gates
During the learning process, we have many opportunities to receive feedback about the quality of our learning and work. In the university environment, this often comes in the form of grades and instructor comments on assignments and exams. By using this feedback to evaluate your learning strategies in light of your goals, you will be able to make adjustments to move you towards your goals in current and future courses.
Reflecting mid-semester
An excellent time for self-evaluation is after you have received feedback on your first midterm exam or major assignment. Consider the following reflection questions at this stage in your course:
• What grade do I hope to achieve in this course? ________
• To what extent am I meeting my goal for the course at this point?
• What about my exam/assignment preparation worked well?
• What about my exam/assignment preparation did not work well? What do I want to change?
• How will what I have learned help me in the second half of the course?
Image Credit: Graeme Robinson-Clogg
Reflecting at the End of a Course
The completion of a course is also an excellent time for reflection and evaluation. In addition to the questions in the midterm evaluation, consider the following:
1. How will what I have learned help me in my next courses?
2. How will I use what I have learned in my future career and other aspects of my life?
By reflecting on feedback and evaluating your learning regularly, you will avoid getting stuck in unproductive patterns. You will contribute to your own ongoing personal growth and development, supporting your success in future courses and other life endeavours.
Try it!
Download the evaluation template to support you in the process of reflecting and moving ahead.
1. Chen, P., Chavez, O., Ong, D. C., & Gunderson, B. (2017). Strategic resource use for learning: A self-administered intervention that guides self-reflection on effective resource use enhances academic performance. Psychological Science, 28(6), 774–785. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617696456; ↵
2. Tanner, K. D. (2012). Promoting student metacognition. Cell Biology Education, 11(2), 113–120. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.12-03-0033
09.2: Develop a Growth Mindset
In any academic endeavor, you will encounter times when you are faced with obstacles or difficulties. Perhaps you are taking a course that you are finding particularly difficult. Perhaps you received some difficult feedback in a grade that was lower than you expected. How can you move ahead in a way that prepares you for success?
Everyone encounters setbacks at times. When this happens, you have a choice of possible responses. Some people respond to setbacks by concluding that they may lack the ability to complete the course successfully. Others respond by concluding that the course or instructor is unfair, and blame their setback on an external force beyond their control. These responses are associated with what is called a fixed mindset.
Others respond to setbacks and negative feedback by asking what they can learn from the experience. Their focus is less on achieving a specific grade or result, and more on learning as much as possible from their experiences in university. Individuals with this mindset, which is called a growth mindset are more able to recover from setbacks and to go on to achieve greater success.
How do these two mindsets compare?
Growth mindset Fixed mindset
• Intelligence is not fixed, but it can be developed over time
• Difficult tasks are worth pursuing
• Feedback, even if it offers correction, is beneficial to support future growth
• Intelligence is fixed, and cannot be changed
• If a task is difficult, it should be discontinued
• Negative feedback should be avoided or minimized
A growth mindset is associated with successful learning. Why? The growth mindset principles are supported by what we know about the brain and learning. Adult brains continue to develop over time by through learning. Working to master complex material results in the development of additional neural connections. In other words, by learning difficult material, you can actually become smarter. If you believe that you are able to succeed by working hard, you are more able to persevere through the difficult moments in learning, and continue to make progress towards your learning goals. [2] [3]
Try it!
Image Credit: Graeme Robinson-Clogg
1. Adapted from: Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset: the new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine Books. ↵
2. Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., Romero, C., Smith, E. N., Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2015). Mind-set interventions are a scalable treatment for academic underachievement. Psychological Science, 26(6), 784–793. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615571017
3. Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805
09.3: Put the Growth Mindset into Practice
Image Credit: Graeme Robinson-Clogg
If you have discovered that you have a fixed mindset, consider how changing your thinking towards a growth mindset can influence your opportunities for successful learning and growth.
(1) Adjust your self-talk. A key sentence to remember is “I can’t do it — yet”. Consider feedback as information to help you as you continue to grow towards a goal, not as a final evaluation of your ability to learn and achieve.
(2) Respond to feedback differently. Rather than viewing feedback as criticism of who you are, consider feedback as an opportunity to grow.
(3) Rather than quitting when you face setbacks, use them as an opportunity to adjust your approach. You may be learning that your current approach to learning is not leading to the success you desire. Seek out support from others, and try new ways of learning. Setbacks are an opportunity to learn about yourself and to discover what ways of working will be most effective for you.
(4) Embrace challenging opportunities. Though it may at first seem easier to avoid situations that might be difficult or perhaps risk failure, embracing challenges leads to success in the long term. Consider how accepting challenges will help you become the person you want to be in the future. [1]
Try it!
Apply the thinking strategies above to a situation you are currently facing.
1. What was a challenging situation I faced this semester?
2. How can I think about it differently using a growth mindset?
3. What are the benefits to me of adopting this new way of thinking?
Extend Your Learning
Developing a growth mindset can make a powerful difference in your lifelong learning. Explore the following resources to deepen your understanding of this concept.
1. Are you interested in understanding more about your mindest? Try this online assessment to identify whether you currently have a growth mindset.
2. Explore The Mindset Continuum infographic. As its author, James Anderson, emphasizes, fixed and growth mindsets are the end points on a spectrum of perspectives. Use this infographic to explore where you currently are on the mindset continuum, and identify areas for future growth.
1. Adapted from: UNSW Sydney. (n.d.). Growth mindset. Retrieved from https://student.unsw.edu.au/growth-mindset | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_University_101_-_Study_Strategize_and_Succeed_(KPU_Learning_Centres)/09%3A_Evaluate_and_Move_Ahead/09.1%3A_Evaluate_Your_Learning.txt |
Key Concepts:
• Making meaning of the text.
• Connecting and activating pertinent prior knowledge on wellbeing within educational contexts.
• Connecting with your own sense of wellbeing.
Guiding question:
What do you already know about wellbeing and what do you need to learn?
Photograph of street art by Luis Alfonso Orellana on unsplash.
This photograph, shown on the left, which also appears on the front cover is representative of the opening of possibilities, the growing and co-creation of knowledge, and it is through these doors that we enter.
The colours on the doors can be seen to represent the differences in people, the perceptions of wellbeing and the differing feelings of wellbeing. Some colours are bold and vivid, others less so but the varying colours are what creates the spectacular artwork.
The imagery of the tree could be viewed as representative of the growing of wellbeing in more than one direction as the trees branch out. It is our hope as authors that the information contained in this book can be of use to help people in various educational contexts, support the growth of positive wellbeing.
Introduction
Educational contexts (e.g., schools, special education units and early childhood centres) are places of social hope capital, a place and space where people can inspire positive thinking, engage in educational growth and the sustainment of wellbeing. Considerable research suggests that the promotion of wellbeing, is a core role of schools and teachers are in a prime position to recognise changes indicative of wellbeing concerns.
The quality of life or wellbeing of an individual or community is a function of the actual conditions of that life and what an individual or community makes of those conditions. What a person or community makes of those conditions is in turn a function of how the conditions are perceived, what is thought and felt about those conditions, what is done and, finally, what consequences follow from all these inputs. People’s perceptions, thoughts, feelings and actions, then, have an impact on their own and others’ living conditions (Michalos, 2007, p.4).
Prior to embarking on this journey of exploring wellbeing within educational contexts, this Chapter will connect with your prior knowledge on wellbeing and explore your own sense of wellbeing.
Connecting with your prior knowledge
Connecting and activating pertinent prior knowledge assembles bridges connecting knowledge already integrated into understanding of a topic, and new knowledge, thus enabling learning through the creation of mental hooks that assist to anchor new instructional concepts, processes and skills (Andersen, 2018). Mazano (2004) contends that linking to prior expertise or knowledge in any sphere, increases the quantity of requisite knowledge that is accessible for use when bearing in mind new information, queries, questions or challenges. Further to this Campbell and Campbell (2009) pose that this is the reason some individuals with great expertise are more likely to ponder multiple perspectives of matters, queries, questions or problems and reach additional reasoned answers than novices. Re-examining prior knowledge shapes firm foundations on which to develop new learning experiences, and supports self-worth, reducing feelings of ignorance or general lack of ability, as new stimulating options are created when linkages are made between past ideas and new information (Andersen, 2018). Activating and connecting pertinent prior knowledge is vital in setting the scene.
Activity
• Let’s connect with your own prior knowledge by considering the topic of this textbook – wellbeing, and specifically wellbeing within educational contexts. Complete the tasks below.
THINGS I UNDERSTAND THINGS I THINK I UNDERSTAND THINGS I WANT or NEED TO UNDERSTAND and LEARN HOW TO DO
What do you already understand about wellbeing in general? What do you think you understand? What do you want or need to to find out?Why do you want or need to find this out?
What do you already understand about wellbeing in educational contexts? What are you already able to do in fostering wellbeing with your current context? Why is this important for you?
What do you currently understand about how to foster wellbeing in your current context? What level of expertise/ experience do you have? What do you want to learn?
How can this be evidenced? (E.g., how do you know and what does this look like?) Why is this important to you?
Table 1.1 Connecting with your prior wellbeing knowledge to what you want or need to learn. Adapted from Campbell, L. & Campbell, B. (2009). Mindful learning: 101 Proven strategies for student and teacher success, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. p.14
Connecting with yourself
Being familiar to your inner signals and values and recognising how your feelings impact on you, contributes towards understanding your own wellbeing, as well as understanding the holistic complex situation that is wellbeing within a wider educational context. As such self-awareness is a key foundation block essential to understanding personal wellbeing and the wellbeing of individuals, teams and the school community (Andersen, 2018). Self-awareness is required for creating trusting relationships and promoting wellbeing. If we don’t know ourselves, it becomes increasing difficult to know, understand and effectively assist someone else. According to Eurich (2017), self-awareness is “the ability to see ourselves clearly, understand who we are, how other see us, and how we fit into the world” (Eurich, 2017, p.4). Covey (2004) expands this further by explaining self-awareness as the ability to accurately understand and reflect upon one’s own skills, knowledge, feelings, and behaviour, and then enact this insight to identify strengths and to try and mitigate any weaknesses. The notion of self-awareness posed by Goleman (2005), goes beyond just such passive actions, to advocacy for a strong basis in proactive action, where self-informed individuals exercise agency to craft intentional and informed decisions and choices monitoring and controlling their thoughts and subliminal biases. Eurich (2013), explains that this proactive active action involves two different forms of self-awareness:
1. Internal self-awareness – knowing and understanding yourself (Eurich, 2017).
2. External self-awareness – knowing how other people perceive you and perceiving yourself accurately from other’s perspectives (Eurich, 2017).
An individual’s ability to perceive, identify and manage emotions provides the basis for the types of social and emotional competencies needed for successful personal and professional conversations (Reiss, 2009). The identity of self influences the perspectives of others and can have a powerful impact on one’s efforts to collaboratively work with others and support, enhance, and promote their wellbeing. It is therefore important to ask yourself who you are and understand how you can and will engage with others in a caring professional and educative manner. It through knowing yourself and being aware of what is important to you (i.e., your values, and beliefs), that you can behave authentically when engaging with others in both personal and professional relationships (Andersen, 2018).
Understanding the wellbeing of others in the first instance often commences with an understanding yourself.
Key Questions
• How would you rate your own wellbeing? Is this accurate? What evidence do you use to validate this? Would others see you the same way?
• What are your core values? How are they aligned / or not aligned to your context’s core values? How does this impact / or not impact on your wellbeing?
• What do you stand for? What principles guide you? How do they impact / or not impact on your wellbeing?
Activity
• Rochat’s (2003) extensive study on the development of self-awareness offers one way of conceptualising levels of self-awareness, and how self-awareness develops over time as a result of life experiences (see Table 1.2). Where would you place your level of self-awareness? What evidence do you have to support the level you have identified? How accurate is your judgement? How could you validate your judgement?
Level Rochat’s Levels of Development Description
0 Confusion Having no self- awareness or understanding of a how individual actions connect to, or impact on the environment.
1 Differentiation At this level there is an awareness of a difference between what is perceived by self and what is reflected in an environment, and gaining a sense of how self is situated relative to that environment.
2 Situation A growing understanding that the results of self-produced actions can be observed in, and can impact on the impact on the environment.
3 Identification Basic self-awareness. Consciousness and active gathering and processing information from the environment with a focus on the reality (impact) of own behaviour. Identification of own feelings, physical sensations, reactions, habits, behaviours and thoughts. Understanding of how self is managed and how one engages with other people.
4 Permanence A recognition that this is me and I am stuck with it (sometimes). The self is able to be identified beyond the moment and the here and now. At this level self manifests as enduring, while also at the same time being responsive to changes over time. This is the point where changes can be made; an appreciation is developed of reasons for past behaviour or self-protection systems; vulnerabilities that were had at that time are recognised and acknowledged; and negative and positive core beliefs identified.
5 Self-consciousness or meta self-awareness A realisation that this is the “me” that everyone else sees and that “I” have come to terms with that. At this level individuals are fully aware of who they are, how they present and how they are perceived in the minds of others. Self-consciousness or meta self-awareness provides opportunities to make changes that make a real difference and as self-aware individuals are also open to further evaluation of how they are perceived.
Table 1.2 Rochat’s 5 Levels of Self-awareness. Text adapted from Self-awareness. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-awareness, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence.
We acknowledge that a journey in self-discovery can at times be challenging, an understanding of self creates deeper authenticity in professional relationships and wellbeing conversations by developing more complex internal mechanisms for knowing when and how to engage with other people. The understanding of self is not a “one off” epiphany or process. It is a life-long learning journey that involves hard work, takes considerable practice, may be emotionally painful at times when a person recognises and acknowledges their strengths and weaknesses, takes time to master but most importantly it is worthwhile work. You may find that you may need to utilise the learning activities above many times as you grow as a learner.
This text
This text focuses on wellbeing in educational contexts as educational contexts play a pivotal role in teaching students about nonviolence, promoting understanding of diversity, endowing people with a shared purpose and meaning and the skills and behaviours to create a more inclusive, healthy, and positive future (Niemi, Lavonen, Kallioniemi, & Toom, 2018). Weare (2013) affirms the words of Maslow (1970), averring that there is significantly important to satisfy an individual’s social emotional needs before concentrating on the academic needs. The Queensland Department of Education and Training {DET} (2018) reiterates the importance of catering for an individual’s needs, posing that students learn best in environments where their social, emotional and physical wellbeing is nurtured. So how do we do this?
To generate real educational context community purpose there needs to be a shared understanding of purpose, a clear vision and a common language around established ways of working that positively contribute to building a safe, inclusive culture where wellbeing is fore-fronted. At the start of each chapter we posed guiding questions for you to consider. In chapter one we outline a possible way of meaning making using the text; chapter two explores some theoretical conceptualisations of wellbeing (guiding question: what is wellbeing?); chapter three presents policy, frameworks and legislation that has informed the focus on wellbeing (guiding question: how is wellbeing enacted?); chapter four outlines possible impactors and enablers to wellbeing (guiding question: how is wellbeing enhanced?); chapter five explores embedding an education wide focus on wellbeing (guiding question: how is wellbeing enacted and embedded?) and the final chapter, chapter six, explores the ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing in relation to a workplace wellbeing framework (guiding question: how can wellbeing be enacted and promoted in my context?).
We hope that you love learning with us and we invite you to contact us in the hope of co-constructing knowledge and understandings that are helpful in educational contexts. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_Wellbeing_in_Educational_Contexts_(Carter_and_Andersen)/1.01%3A_Connecting_And_Activating_Prior_Knowledge.txt |
Key Concepts:
• There is a lack of consensus in the literature as to exactly what wellbeing is, as well as an array of wellbeing models.
• The challenge is for educational contexts to clearly define wellbeing and select or develop a model of the concept before trying to implement wellbeing programs.
Guiding question:
What is wellbeing?
Figure 2.1 Photograph by Daniel Minárik on unsplash.
Introduction
Wellbeing is now a concept at the core of many educational policy agendas and practices. Increasing attention is focussed on both student and staff mental and emotional wellbeing initiatives and polices, in order to equip individuals with the social and emotional skills, knowledge and the disposition required to operate and contribute productively within both an educational setting and the broader societal context. This Chapter will explore the following questions: What does the concept of wellbeing mean? Does the term wellbeing have the same meaning for all individuals and groups within a school? Does the concept of wellbeing hold constant across time and events despite the diversity of experiences, culture, beliefs and values evident within educational contexts? What foundational approaches and models inform wellbeing educational initiatives? And what is the role of education in the wellbeing of student and staff? In exploring the above questions, the theoretical concept of wellbeing will be explored by examining definitions of wellbeing, wellness and mental health; investigating theoretical conceptualisations of wellbeing; and by exploring subjective wellbeing as an approach to fostering wellbeing an examining the place of wellbeing in educational contexts.
What is wellbeing?
The seeking of a definition for wellbeing is a complex pursuit, as increasingly it is utilised in conversations, on the community and global media, and within the literature, in many different ways, with wellbeing seemingly taking shape as a chameleon (Carter, 2016). Originally there appeared two specific schools of thought where wellbeing was seen either as hedonic or eudemonic.
From a hedonic view, focusing on happiness can be seen as the totality of pleasurable moments. Philosophers such as Hobbes viewed wellbeing as “a pursuit of human appetites”, DeSade held that it was the “pursuit of sensations and pleasure” and Bentham claimed that “through maximising pleasure and self-interest that the good society is built” (cited in Husain, 2008). Other philosophers held a somewhat different view, deeming that people experience happiness in the expression of their virtues, engaged in what they believe is worth doing (Carter, 2016). This notion of eudemonia – being true to one’s inner self can be equated with an eudemonic perspective of wellbeing. Building upon the eudemonic view of wellbeing is Maslow’s (1970) concept of self- actualization and Deci and Ryan’s (2000) self-determination theory. An individual’s or community’s quality of life is a direct function of the conditions that arise in life, and how an individual or community utilises the conditions that life presents. How an individual or community perceives the condition, thinks and feels about those conditions, what is done and, ultimately, what consequences follow from all these inputs in turn becomes a function of how the conditions are perceived. People’s perceptions, their feelings, their thoughts, and their actions, then, have a direct impact on their own and others’ living conditions (Michalos, 2007).
McCallum and Price (2016) argue that wellbeing has emerged as “something everyone seemingly aims for, and arguably has a right to” (McCallum & Price, 2016, p.2). While wellbeing is not a new concept, it has become an important concept within contemporary school community contexts. However, identifying an agreed definition of wellbeing, in addition to establishing a consensus on how quality wellbeing can be achieved and sustained, is far more problematic with the term wellbeing often poorly defined and under-theorised (Camfield, Streuli & Woodhead, 2009). To compound the issue of definition inconsistency, wellbeing is often used interchangeably with other terms such as ‘happiness’, ‘flourishing’, ‘enjoying a good life’ and ‘life satisfaction’, all which have very different interpretations and underlying meanings.
Bradburn (1969) (as cited in Dodge, Daly, Huyton & Saunders, 2012) defined wellbeing as being present when an individual is high in psychological wellbeing, where an excess of positivity (positive affect) predominates over negative affect. In contrast, Shah and Marks (2004) argued that wellbeing is more than just positive affect (happiness, feeling satisfied), with feeling fulfilled and developing as a person an equally important aspect in defining wellbeing. Diener et al. (1999) extend the definition of wellbeing even further by defining wellbeing as subjective (thus the term subjective wellbeing, {SWB}) more specifically as consisting of three essential interrelated components: life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect.
The characteristic intensity with which people perceive their affective states, has no bearing on overall subjective well-being (Larsen, Diener & Emmons, 1985). It seems that the predominant predictor of overall SWB is the rate of positive compared to negative states in a person’s life, throughout time (Larsen, Diener, & Emmons, 1985). “Because subjective well-being refers to affective experiences and cognitive judgments, self-report measures of subjective wellbeing are indispensable” (Larsen & Eid, 2008, p. 4).
Together with his associates Ed Diener designed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), which developed into the standard measure of life satisfaction in the wellbeing field. The implications concerning the measurement of SWB are that:
1. SWB can be assessed by self-report with significant consistency and authority (Larsen & Eid, 2008).
2. Each measurement method has drawbacks and benefits (Larsen & Eid, 2008).
3. Comprehensive assessment of SWB necessitates a multimethod assessment tool (Diener, 2009; Diener & Eid, 2006).
Diener (2006) suggested that people over emphasise their emotional intensity and underestimate and underrate the frequency of their positive affect when recollecting emotional moments. This research signifies that there is no single cause of SWB. It seems apparent then, that certain conditions appear to be essential for high SWB {e.g., mental health, positive social relationships}, but are not singularly sufficient to cause happiness (Diener, 2006). Diener’s work has detected a number of circumstances that seem to be required for, or correlated with happiness, however no one condition or characteristic is adequate to ensure happiness in itself (Larsen & Eid, 2008).
It should be noted that there is evidence that diverse circumstances and outcomes make people happy. Diener and colleagues have shown that the links to happiness alter between young versus old people (Diener, 2000). So what makes a younger person happy may not make an older person happy. Likewise, Diener, Suh, Smith, and Shao (1995) reported that there are different connections to happiness in differing cultures. Diener (2000) has suggested that that there are likely universals, such as experiencing close positive social relationships that are associated with happiness by almost everyone. Larsen and Eid (2008, p 8.) cleverly suggest a cooking analogy explaining that when cooking some ingredients are essential, many just enhance flavour or texture but no singular ingredient, produces the desired outcome, rather all ingredients need to come together in the right way for success to be achieved.
SWB appears to contribute to beneficial outcomes in life. Diener (2000), along with his colleagues has determined that happy people are more creative and sociable; have increased likelihood of longevity; display generally sturdier immune systems; earn more money; are good leaders; and display generally better citizenship in their workplace. Furthermore, numerous positive outcomes were linked to happiness, such as marital satisfaction, job satisfaction, and improved coping. Therefore, high SWB is particularly desirable at individual, at educational system levels, and at societal levels. It therefore makes sense to invest in promoting a culture in educational contexts where wellbeing is important. This text will aim to explore, how educational contexts can create a culture where SWB is valued, and high levels of SWB are desired as outcomes, planned for and hopefully achieved.
McCallum and Price (2016) propose an even more encompassing definition of wellbeing outlining it as diverse and fluid, respecting the beliefs and values of individual, family, and community; and experiences, culture, opportunities, and contexts across time and change. They aver that it encompasses interwoven environmental, collective, and individual elements that interact across a lifespan (McCallum & Price, 2016). Despite a range of notions encompassed in wellbeing definitions, wellbeing can then be described in very broad terms as a holistic, balanced life experience where wellbeing needs to be considered in relation to how an individual feels and functions across several areas, including cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.
Key Questions
• How does your context define wellbeing?
• How do these definitions align or not align with you own definition of wellbeing and why?
What is wellness?
The term wellness is often used interchangeably with the term wellbeing (McCallum & Price, 2016). However, Roscoe (2009) argues that wellness is not the same as wellbeing, and instead contributes to it, as wellness is the sum of the positive steps taken to achieve wellbeing.
Key Question
• Do you agree with Roscoe’s statement and why / why not ?
The term wellness was first introduced by Dunn (1959) (as cited in Kirkland, 2014), who argued that health was much more than the absence of disease, and remains the cornerstone of today’s concept of wellness. Dunn defined wellness in terms of the integration of the whole person – the body, mind and spirit, with wellness described as different spiritual, cognitive, emotional, environmental and physical aspects (refer to Figure 2.2), all of which combine to form wellness (Albrecht, 2014).
Figure 2.2 Unknown author, (u.d.). Eight Dimensions of Wellness . Adapted from Dunn’s Wheel of Wellness, Albrecht, N. (2014). Wellness: A conceptual framework for school-based mindfulness programs. The International Journal of Health, Wellness, and Society, 4(1), 21-36, p. 26.
Roscoe (2009) identified the above core principles of wellness, depicted in Figure 2.2:
1. Wellness is dynamic, and changing and evident on many levels.
2. A range of factors work in combination to form wellness.
3. Wellness emerges from the integrative and dynamic whole rather than from the sum of its parts.
4. Environmental contexts impact wellness.
5. Life-span developmental changes affect wellness.
6. Awareness, education and growth are central to the paradigm of wellness.
Key Questions
• How are definitions of wellness different to, or the same as definitions of wellbeing?
• Where and how does wellness fit into the conceptualisation of wellbeing?
What is mental health?
A similar lack of consensus is also evident when defining mental health. Bhugra, Till and Sartorius (2013) describe mental health as an integral and essential part of overall health which can be defined in at least three ways including: the absence of disease; a balance within oneself and balance between oneself and one’s physical and social environment; and finally a state of being that allows for the full performance of all its mental and physical functions (Bhurga, Dill & Satorius, 2013). Watson, Emery, Bayliss, Boushel & McInnes, 2012) similarly define mental health as a state of being that also includes the biological, psychological or social factors which contribute to an individual’s mental state and ability to function within the environment. The World Health Organisation {WHO} (2007) extends the definition of mental health further to include realising one’s potential; the ability to cope with normal life stresses; and community contributions as core components of mental health. Other definitions also extend beyond this to include intellectual, emotional and spiritual development, positive self-perception, feelings of self-worth and physical health, and intrapersonal harmony as key aspects in defining metal mental (Bhurga et al., 2013).
Key Question
• View Figure 2.3 and consider, how does mental health fit into the conceptualisation of wellbeing?
Figure 2.3 Photograph by Martin Adams on unsplash
Theoretical conceptualisations of wellbeing
While many theoretical constructs of wellbeing exist, two conceptual approaches to wellbeing research now tend to dominate the field of research and discussion.Objective wellbeing theories tend to define wellbeing in terms of objective, external and universal notions of quality of life indicators such as social attributes {health, education, social networks and connections} and material resources {income, food and housing} (Watson et al., 2012). Objective theories of wellbeing largely arise from Amartya Sen’s work in welfare economics, and tend to focus on agreed core human capabilities necessary for quality life such as body health and integrity; the ability to think and imagine; the ability to express emotions; the ability to exercise practical reasoning and autonomy in contributing to one’s own education, work and political and social participation (Bourke & Geldens, 2007).
In contrast, subjective theories of wellbeing are focused on subjective overall life evaluations, and comprise two main components – affect {feelings, emotions and mood} and life satisfaction, which is identified as a distinct construct and defined relative to specific domains in life {such as school, work and family} (Diener & Ryan, 2009). Affect is dived further into positive and negative emotions, with subjective wellbeing experienced when a predominance of positive emotions occurs more than negative emotions (Diener et al., 1999). As people and perceptions are at the heart of the meaning of subjective wellbeing, Watson et al. (2012) argue that subjective wellbeing has direct utility in describing and facilitating staff and student social and emotional wellbeing. The following contemporary models of wellbeing outline frameworks for exploring wellbeing.
Tripartite Model of Subjective Wellbeing
Diener and Ryan’s (2009) Tripartite Model of Subjective Wellbeing (refer to Figure 2.4) presents wellbeing as a general evaluation of an individual’s quality of life in terms of three key components:
1. Life satisfaction, which is composed of: Imperfect assessment of the balance between positive and negative affect in one’s life. An assessment of how well one’s life measures up to aspirations and goals;
2. Positive affect (pleasurable feelings); and
3. Negative affect (painful feelings).
Figure 2.4 Tripartite Model of Subjective Wellbeing. Adapted from Galiha, I.C. & Pais-Riberiro (2011). Cognitive, affective and contextual predictors of subjective wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(1), 34-53, p.38.
Figure 2.4, a Tripartite Model of Subjective Wellbeing is a representation of the relationship between SWB and cognitive, affective and cultural variables.
Seligman’s PERMA Wellbeing Model
Seligman’s (2011) PERMA model (refer to Figure 2.5) proposes that wellbeing has several measurable elements, each contributing to wellbeing. The PERMA model identifies five essential elements to wellbeing:
1. Positive emotions include a wide range of feelings, not just happiness and joy {P}.
2. Engagement refers to involvement in activities that draws and builds upon one’s interests {E}.
3. Positive Relationships are all important in promoting positive emotions, whether they are work-related, school related, familial, romantic, or platonic {R}.
4. Meaning also known as purpose, and prompts the question of “why” {M}.
5. Achievement / accomplishment are the pursuit of success and mastery {A}.
McCallum and Price’s Model of Holistic Wellbeing
McCallum and Price (2016) outlined a model of holistic wellbeing where the student is central. They suggest that the model captures the interplay between learner wellbeing, educator wellbeing, and community wellbeing. Six key principles are identified together with six key strategies as the means of enactment in nurturing wellbeing in education.
1. Positive relationships – building and sustaining healthy relationships.
2. Positive strengths – developing and nurturing individual and group strengths.
3. Positive communication – establishing effective and safe communication strategies.
4. Positive behaviour – behaving in a way that welcomes a sense of belonging and connections to others and positive, peaceful and caring action.
5. Positive emotion – nurturing emotional health.
6. Positive leadership – scaffolding wellbeing through growing leaders with a democratic leadership style.
(McCallum & Price, 2016, p. 144).
School community wellbeing
Educational contexts are now key stakeholders in promoting student and staff wellbeing, regardless of the diversity of wellbeing definitions and approaches. McCallum and Price (2016) argue that given the link between wellbeing and academic achievement, educators, policy and curriculum developers, it is no surprise that educational contexts are being increasingly challenged to centre wellbeing as both a foundation to, and integral part of learning. As a result, an increasing an emphasis is now being placed on producing successful and confident learners, resulting in a more holistic approach to education in order to support both academic achievement and wellbeing of students. McCallum and Price (2016) also suggest that wellbeing education is for the whole community and have proposed a Wellbeing education model which supports that notion by suggesting that wellbeing education is an essential provider to academic learning and achievement (McCallum & Price, 2016). We believe that wellbeing education goes beyond this and is essential to the creation of social hope and social capital.
Figure 2.5 Photograph of a person by Warren Wong on unsplash
Supportive educational environments must now promote the wellbeing of learners by assisting them to develop a positive sense of identity, agency, self-worth and connectedness within their community. Learners, educators, communities and educational institutions hold responsibility in this regard. Scoffham and Barnes (2011) noted that the challenge for today’s educators is to provide a place as well as programs that are both secure and demanding, and based upon pedagogy that furthers the present and future wellbeing and happiness of the children and young people within positive social and environmental change contexts.
Key Questions
• Has your definition of wellbeing changed or not changed and if so why and how?
• What factors influence your wellbeing definition?
Conclusion
Despite the range of notions encompassed in wellbeing definitions explored throughout this chapter, we believe that wellbeing is experienced differently by different people. We embrace Diener’s (2009) definition that wellbeing consists of three elements that involve the cognitive evaluation of overall satisfaction with life; positive affect; and lower levels of negative affect. Wellbeing can be viewed holistically, in terms of balanced life experience where, wellbeing needs to be considered in relation to how an individual feels and functions across several areas, including cognitive, emotional, social, physical and spiritual wellbeing. As authors we hope that readers are challenged to deeply ponder how they define wellbeing. As educational contexts are now key stakeholders in promoting children, young people and staff wellbeing, it is no surprise that educational communities are being increasingly challenged to centre wellbeing as both a foundation to, and integral part of an educational context’s structures, processes and learning. The challenge for educational contexts then is to clearly define wellbeing; select or develop a model of wellbeing that promotes the wellbeing of students (children / young people) and staff; and develop a positive sense of identity, agency, self-worth and connectedness. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_Wellbeing_in_Educational_Contexts_(Carter_and_Andersen)/1.02%3A_Theoretical_Conceptualisations_of_Wellbeing.txt |
Key Concept
• Policy, frameworks and legislation are complex and open to multiple interpretations which make enactment problematic.
Guiding questions:
• Do policy, frameworks and legislation provide guidance?
• How is wellbeing enacted?
Figure 3.1 Photograph of text by Leonardo Bugos on unsplash
Introduction
National and state policy reports have indicated that many Australian students, teachers and leaders are experiencing difficulty maintaining their wellbeing. As educational contexts (e.g., schools, special education units and early childhood centres) represent a major component of Australia’s society and economy, it is no surprise then that national and international concern regarding the social and emotional wellbeing of children, young people and educators has now become a major focus in a wide range of international and Australian policy initiatives. As a consequence, interest has increased in the role educational contexts and educators play in promoting student wellbeing, and the interface that occurs between policy and practice when implementing wellbeing programs in schools. This Chapter explores Australian and international legislation, policy, and frameworks which inform a focus on wellbeing.
Activity
Before we examine policy, framework and legislation that informs a focus on wellbeing, how would you define each of the preceding terms?
Consider how the literature defines policy, framework and legislation, alongside the understandings you have of the concepts. Bacchi (2000) defined the term policy as a “discourse of ideas or plans that form the basis for making decisions to accomplish goals that are deemed worthwhile” (p.46). Cochran and Malone (2010) described policy in terms of the actions of government, and the intentions that determine those actions. Birkland (2016) espoused that the term policy referred to a plan of what to do, that has been agreed to officially, by either a group of people, an organisation or a government, in order to achieve a set of goals. In contrast, the term framework has been conceptualised in a number of different ways. Coburn and Turner (2011) described a framework as an abstract, logical structure of meaning that guides action, and includes identification of key concepts, and the relationships between those concepts. On the other hand, Garrison (2011) considered a framework to be a set of beliefs, rules or ideas that outline what actions can be undertaken. White (2010) presented an alternate viewpoint, that a wellbeing framework is “a social process with material, relational, and subjective dimensions” (p.158), that can be assessed at individual and collective levels, with relationships at the centre. Compared to above, the term legislation is more simply defined as all Bill and Acts passed and subordinate legislation made by government.
Key Questions
• Consider how wellbeing is represented in your own context’s policies and curriculum.
• How effectively is this applied?
Legislation informing a focus on wellbeing
McCallum and Price (2016) argue that at local, national and international levels, all children and young people have the right to an education that supports their wellbeing and development. As a consequence, improving the wellbeing and developmental outcomes of Australia’s children have become a key priority for Australian governments (Kyriacou, 2012). We will now explore legislation that impacts on the notion of wellbeing for children, young people and educational contexts (e.g., schools, special education units and early childhood centres).
Australian legislation
There are two key pieces of international legislation: Education and Child Protection Acts; and Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986.
Education and Child Protection Acts
The most significant pieces of guiding legislation for educational contexts across Australia are jurisdictional Education (General Provisions) Acts, which set out the conditions and requirements for the provision of education, and Child Protection Acts which set out protection for children and young people. However, while wellbeing is not referred to specifically in these acts, there is an underlying principle that guides both legislation and any subsequent policy on education, children and young people that falls out from legislation. The principle that governments must operate in “best interests of the child” is evident across all jurisdictions (Powell & Graham, 2017). (Your jurisdiction’s Education and Child Protection Acts can be located by searching for the relevant Act from your jurisdiction).
Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986
The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986, overseen by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission {HREOC}, plays a role in protecting and promoting the rights of children and young people within Australia. While the Act does not specifically promote wellbeing, it does refer to the right to an education and also provides policy and recourses to specifically to support the prevention of bullying, harassment and racism.
Activity
• Consider how this legislation may or may not link to the definitions of wellbeing identified in Chapter 2 and why.
International legislation
There are three key pieces of international legislation that have influenced the Australian landscape: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Kingdom Children’s Act 2004; and No Child Left Behind Act 2001.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
The International Year of the Child (1979) brought commitment by national and international governments and organisations to extend human rights to children. As a consequence, the United Nations United General Assembly {UNGA} (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child {CRC} (1989) was developed. The CRC emphasized the civil and political rights of individual children as well as economic, social, and cultural rights; the right to be raised in peace; and the right to dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity (UNGA, 1989). As Australia is a signatory to the CRC many of the principles within the Convention are embedded within legislation, policy and frameworks pertaining to children and young people.
United Kingdom Children’s Act 2004
The United Kingdom Government {UKG} Children’s Act 2004 was specifically designed to care and support children, with many of the principles from the Convention on the Rights of the Child embedded within this legislation. Part 2, Section 10 refers specifically to wellbeing and identifies six guiding principles: allow children to be healthy; allow children to remain safe in their environments; help children to enjoy life; assist children in their quest to succeed; to make a positive contribution to the lives of children; and to achieve economic stability for children’s futures (UKG, 2004).
No Child Left Behind Act 2001
In the United States of America {USA}, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) focusses on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education and the quality of lives of children and young people. While not specifying wellbeing development, the main goal of this Act is to close the achievement gap that separates disadvantaged children and young people and their peers. Waters (2017) argues that while closing the gap in educational attainment and opportunity may enhance wellbeing, much debate exists as to whether this Act contributes to or hinders the wellbeing of children and young people.
Activity
We suggest that you access both acts and consider the wording in each, and the implications of enactment.
• Compare and contrast the notion of wellbeing in the UKG Children’s Act 2004 and the USA No Child Left Behind 2001 legislation.
• Critique how wellbeing is defined or not defined within these documents.
• Critique the intentions of the above legislation.
Policy informing a focus on wellbeing
Powell and Graham (2017) note that the increasing focus on the social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Australia has attracted considerable community and political interest, with educational contexts now taking a key role in supporting and promoting the wellbeing of students. Waters (2017) argues that such interest has created a rapidly changing landscape of education governance within Australia, where responsibility shifts between state and Commonwealth governments, which in turn contributes to a broad and diffuse policy environment. The rising interest wellbeing has been guided by a number of key policy initiatives and approaches that have been put forward over the past decade.
Australian policy
There are two key pieces of influential Australian policy: the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, and the National Mental Health Policy.
Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs {MCEETYA},2008) identified major world issues impacting on Australian schools including high levels of international mobility, ever-increasing globalisation and technological change, in conjunction with increased environmental, social and economic pressures and the ongoing acceleration of advances in information communication technologies, which together are placing greater demands on, and as well as providing greater opportunities for young people.
National Mental Health Policy
The Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan (Council of Australian Governments Health Council {COAG}, 2017) outlines priorities to achieve the National Mental Health Policy {NMHP}. This plan also specifically outlines an agreed set of actions to address social and emotional wellbeing, mental illness and suicide as a priority, as well elevate the importance of addressing the needs of people who live with mental illness, and reducing the stigma and discrimination that accompanies mental illness.
For further detailed information, we suggest that you access both policies.
Activity
• Compare and contrast the notion of wellbeing in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (2008) and the NMHP .
• Critique how wellbeing is implicitly or explicitly defined in each policy, and how well definitions align with notions of wellbeing discussed in Chapter 2.
• Critique the intentions of the documents, and how well they align with notions of wellbeing discussed in Chapter 2.
• Document and consider how elements of each policy could be in tension with each other, or with practice and programs in educational contexts .
International policy
There are two main pieces of international policy that have been influential in Australian landscape: Every Child Matters Policy United Kingdom; and the World Health Organization Mental Health Action Plan for 2013-2020.
Every Child Matters Policy United Kingdom
Every Child Matters policy {ECM} (Government of the United Kingdom {GUK}, 2003) recognised 5 positive outcomes as being essential to children and young people’s wellbeing including: being healthy, happy and safe; developing skills for adulthood in order to get the most out of life; to make a positive contribution in life; being involved with the community and society and not engaging offending or anti-social behaviour and lastly experiencing economic wellbeing and full life potential.
It is worth noting that while there has been an increase in international wellbeing policy, there is still no universal definition or agreement as to what wellbeing is. Copestake’s (2008) study of international wellbeing policy identified contrasting views of wellbeing evident across many international policies. In many cases policies were based on very different contrasting assumptions about what the definition of wellbeing was, and how it could be achieved. Similarly, Spratt (2016) argued that within Scottish wellbeing policy “different professional discourses of wellbeing have migrated into education policy” (p. 223), which have resulted in differing views of wellbeing being represented.
World Health Organization Mental Health Action Plan for 2013-2020
Student wellbeing has become a focus of international education policy for global organisations such as the World Health Organization {WHO}. The WHO identifies mental wellbeing as a fundamental component of good health and wellbeing. The WHO Mental Health Action Plan for 2013-2020 (WHO, 2013) is a comprehensive action plan that recognises the essential role of mental health in achieving health and wellbeing for all people.
Activity
• Examine the policies in your education system and compare and contrast the notion of wellbeing in each policy/ program / document.
• Critique how wellbeing is implicitly or explicitly defined in each policy, and how well definitions align with notions of wellbeing discussed in Chapter 2.
• Use the following template and consider elements of each policy that could be in tension with each other or with practice and programs in educational contexts.
Table 3.1 Elements of policy in tension
Frameworks informing a focus on wellbeing
Clarke, Sixsmith and Barry (2014) note that long-term benefits, such as improvement in social and emotional learning, increased social emotional functioning and improved academic performance are achieved for children and young people when wellbeing programs are implemented effectively. The following frameworks promote wellbeing as an intended key action.
Australian frameworks
Several Australian frameworks have promoted wellbeing as an intended outcome: National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2024; National Safe Schools Framework; Australian Student Wellbeing Framework; Learner Wellbeing Framework for Birth to Year 12; the National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools 2005; the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing.
National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2024
The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children {NFPAC}2009-2020 (Council of Australian Governments {COAG}, 2009) policy has a strong focus on protecting children and young people from abuse and neglect, with wellbeing highlighted as a key action.
The National Safe Schools Framework
The National Safe Schools Framework {NSSF} (Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs {MCEEDYA} (2011) provides Australian educational contexts with a set of guiding principles that assist school communities to develop positive and practical student safety and wellbeing policies (Australian Government Department of Education and Training {AGDET}, 2018). The NSSF is collaborative effort by the Commonwealth and State and Territory government and non-government educational context authorities and other key stakeholders. It places an emphasis on creating a safe and supportive educational context environment that promotes student wellbeing and effective learning, by addressing issues of bullying, violence, harassment, child abuse and neglect.
McCallum and Price (2016) also contended that the 2014 revision also provides Australian educational contexts with clear vision as well as a set of guiding principles that will enables educational contexts to develop contextually based positive and practical student safety and wellbeing policies, in addition to a number of practical tools and resources that will assist in the facilitation of positive school culture.The guiding profiles embedded within the NSSF forefront the valuing of diversity; the positive contribution of the whole educational community to the safety and wellbeing of themselves and others; the need to act independently, justly, cooperatively and responsibly in school, work, civic and family relationships; and the provision of appropriate strategies in order to create and maintain a safe and supportive learning environment (MCEEDYA, 2011).
Australian Student Wellbeing Framework
The Australian framework explores the role of educators, parents and students in promoting wellbeing and the online government site hosts a variety of resources to assist school communities. The vision outlined by the Ministers of Education Council {MEC} (2018) Australian Student Wellbeing Framework is for school learning communities to “promote student wellbeing, safety and positive relationships” so that students have the opportunity to reach their potential (MEC, 2018 p.1). In promoting student wellbeing the Australian government has put forward a framework that consist of five interconnected elements essential to the development, implementation and maintenance of positive learning environments and safety and wellbeing policies: leadership; inclusion; student voice; partnerships; and support provide the foundation for enhanced student wellbeing and learning outcomes:
1. Leadership: Principals and school leaders play are an active role in constructing positive learning environments that are inclusive of the whole educational community, and where all educational community members feel included connected, safe and respected. Leadership needs to be visible and obvious to all members of the whole educational community.
2. Inclusion: All members of an educational context’s community need to be included and connected to an educational context’s culture as well as being active participants in building a welcoming culture that values, diversity and promotes positive, respectful relationships.
3. Student Voice: Students are key stakeholders within educational communities and as such are active participants in cultivating in their own learning and wellbeing, feeling connected and using their social and emotional skills to be respectful, resilient and safe.
4. Partnerships: Support for student learning, safety and wellbeing requires effective school, family and community collaboration and partnerships.
5. Support: Provision of wellbeing and support for positive behaviour for staff within an educational context, for students and for families by cultivating an understanding of wellbeing through the dissemination of information on wellbeing, cultivation a culture of wellbeing as well as support for positive behaviour and how this supports effective teaching and learning (Ministers of Education Council, 2018).
Learner Wellbeing Framework for Birth to Year 12
The former South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services {SADECS} developed a Learner Wellbeing Framework {LWF} 2005-2010, that targeted all children and young people in South Australian educational sites and schools from birth to Year 12 (SADECS, 2007). Albrecht (2014) argues that as few learner wellbeing frameworks exist, this is a good example that can be applied national and internationally, as the LWF promotes wellbeing for all learners, by identifying wellbeing and learner engagement as key directions for educators. McCallum and Price (2016) also identified that the LWF acknowledges the interconnection between wellbeing and learning, and proposes that wellbeing is far more than the absence of problems. Powell and Graham (2017) likewise noted that the LWF acknowledges the complexity of the lives of contemporary learners and recognises the influences of change on today’s learners.
Figure 3.2 DECS Learner Wellbeing Framework. Reproduced from: South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services (2007). Learner Wellbeing Framework, p.4.
The LWF supports educators to build and improve effective wellbeing policies and practices, and is aligned to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989). The LWF supports educators to build and improve effective wellbeing policies and practices, and is aligned to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989). The LWF (Figure 3.2) identifies five dimensions of wellbeing: the emotional dimension; the social dimension; the cognitive dimension; and the physical dimension; and the spiritual dimension, within four domains in an educational context: learning environment; curriculum and pedagogy; partnerships; and lastly policies (SADECS, 2007).
In considering the above frameworks, a major research study of wellbeing in Australian educational contexts conducted by Graham et al. (2014), identified that within Australian education systems, wellbeing is not clearly defined in policies, yet the term is frequently used in policy vocabularies. Graham et al. (2014) also established that there was little to no national nor state policy specifically targeting the wellbeing of children and young people, and that while many education websites signal an interest in wellbeing, very few provided specific detail other than identification of loosely related elements.
National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools 2005
The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools (MCEETYA, 2005) is a framework and a set of principles for values education in twenty-first century Australian educational contexts. The framework recognises that there is a significant history of values education in Australian government and non-government educational contexts, which draw on a range of philosophies, beliefs and traditions. It also acknowledges that values education contributes to wellbeing development of children and young people. The framework identifies “guiding principles to support educational contexts in implementing values education; key elements and approaches to implementing values education; and a set of values for Australian schooling” (MCEETYA, 2005, p.1).
In responding to concerns around wellbeing, many educators have explored values-based frameworks. A case study by White and Waters (2015) identified that the use of a strengths-based approach framework contributed to the development of greater virtue, self-efficacy, and wellbeing in both children and young people.
National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing
The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing 2017-2023 (Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council {AHMAC}, (2017) provides a dedicated focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and adult’s social and emotional wellbeing and mental health. This framework endeavors to identify a culturally appropriate framework that guides and supports Indigenous mental health and wellbeing policy and practice.
There is an emerging global recognition of the significance Indigenous peoples’ wellbeing and the inadequacies of conventional socio-economic and demographic data that is used measure relative wellbeing. However, Prout (2012) argued that statistical data used to report on the wellbeing status of Indigenous populations is based on a preconceived set of assumptions grounded in the non-indigenous concepts of wellbeing, demography, and economic productivity and prosperity. Prout (2012) also argues that such assumptions directly impact on how Indigenous peoples are represented across broader society and to governments.
Key Question
• How does the Indigenous wellbeing framework differ from previously discussed wellbeing frameworks?
Australian jurisdictional frameworks
Several Australian jurisdictions have been specifically developed wellbeing frameworks to promote and develop student and staff wellbeing in educational contexts and these include: Queensland Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework; New South Wales Wellbeing Framework for Schools; South Australian Wellbeing for Learning and Life Framework; and the Northern Territory Government Principal Wellbeing Framework.
Queensland Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework
The Queensland Department of Education, {QDE} (2018) Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework focusses on developing healthy, confident and resilient young people who can successfully navigate a more complex world. This framework combines a focus on learning and wellbeing. Key actions identified by the framework include: the creation of safe, supportive and inclusive environments; the building of staff, students and the school community capability; the implementation of supportive and inclusive environments; and the development of strong systems for early intervention(QDET, 2018).
New South Wales Wellbeing Framework for Schools
The New South Wales Department of Education and Communities {NSWDEC} (2015) Wellbeing Framework for Schools drives wellbeing development in educational contexts, by encouraging teaching and learning environments to focus on enabling the development of healthy, happy, successful and productive individuals. Within this framework students are also expected to contribute to their own wellbeing, the wellbeing of their peers and the collective wellbeing of their communities (NSW DEC, 2015).
South Australian Wellbeing for Learning and Life Framework
The South Australian Department of Education and Child Development {SADECD} (2016) Wellbeing for Learning and Life: A framework for building resilience and wellbeing in children and young people, applies across all areas of South Australian children and young people’s lives. This framework recognises the significant impact of education and care settings, and has links to the ACARA and the Early Years Learning Framework.
Northern Territory Government Principal Wellbeing Framework
The Northern Territory Government {NTG} (2017) Principal Wellbeing Framework specifically targets the wellbeing of school principals. This framework supports principal wellbeing by “empowering principals to build their own wellbeing capacity through increased knowledge, skills, resilience and resources” (NTG, p.3).
Activity
• Use the following template to identify the strengths and weakness of each framework in addressing wellbeing within an educational context.
Table 3.2 Framework strengths and weaknesses
Other Influences
In Australia there have been several other influences on wellbeing and these include: Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Australian Professional Standards for Principals; and the Australian Curriculum.
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers {APST} (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership {AITSL}, 2011) outlines a public statement of what constitutes teacher quality. Professional Standard 4, Create and Maintain Supportive and Safe Learning Environments provide a framework for fostering wellbeing and a mentally healthy educational community.
Australian Professional Standards for Principals
The Australian Professional Standards for Principals {APSP} (AITSL, 2014) provides a public statement setting out what school principals are expected to know, understand and do in order to succeed in school leadership. The accompanying Leadership Profiles arise directly from the Standards, and are presented as a set of leadership actions that effective principals implement in order to develop and support teaching that maximizes student learning.
Australian Curriculum
Powell and Graham (2017) note that governments across the globe are now using National Curriculum Frameworks as a means to implement student wellbeing. Waters (2017) also identified that Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s {OECD} (2015) Centre for Educational Research and Innovation’s {CERI} analysis of National Curriculum Frameworks across 37 OECD countries identified that student wellbeing was an explicit aim for 72% of countries, with many OECD countries are now aiming to systematically foster both academic outcomes and student wellbeing outcomes.
The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority {ACARA}, 2016) sets out consistent national standards to improve learning outcomes for all young Australians. The General Capabilities of the Australian Curriculum specifically outline the need for students to develop social and emotional skills, and acknowledges the link between academic outcomes and mental health (ACARA, 2016). Developing personal and social competence and managing self, relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively; recognizing and regulating emotions and developing concern for, and understanding of others; establishing positive relationships; making responsible decisions; working effectively in teams; and handling challenging situations constructively are identified and key capabilities (ACARA, 2016). For further information we suggested accessing these frameworks in full.
Interestingly, the construct of wellbeing is not always viewed the same way in international educational judications. A study by Souter, O’Steen and Gilmore (2012) suggested that New Zealand educational system’s view of wellbeing differs from how it is conceptualized within literature, with words and phrases describing wellbeing constructs more often associated with the Relating domain rather than the Feeling domain. Thorburn’s (2017) examination of wellbeing in curriculum in Scotland identified a policy vision of a more progressive, integrated and holistic form of education; a commitment which contains an obligation for health and wellbeing to be a responsibility of all teachers, however, there were often issues with enactment of the policy due to problems communicating policy expectations.
In contrast, O’Toole (2017) outlines wellbeing as being conceptualised in Ireland in terms of child and youth mental health, and how that this informs a focus on school-based prevention and intervention approaches. And finally, Fattore, Mason and Watson (2012) propose a different perspective on wellbeing by exploring the use of student voice as mechanism for developing wellbeing in New Zealand’s curriculum frameworks.
Activity
• Critique how the notion of wellbeing as it presented in this group of frameworks.
• Critique how this group of frameworks align or do not align with previous frameworks.
• Consider elements of the APST, APSP and ACARA frameworks that could be in tension with each other or with practice and programs in educational contexts.
Conclusion
Chapter 3 has explored Australian and international legislation, policy, and frameworks which inform a focus on wellbeing. Investigation reveals that local, state, national and international jurisdictions all agree that children and young people have the right to an education that supports their wellbeing and development. Improving the wellbeing of Australian children and young people has also been a key priority for Australian governments. However, despite this there is no universal definition or agreement as to what wellbeing is and how it could be achieved, with many contrasting constructs of wellbeing evident across local, state and national Australian policies. The implementation of wellbeing policy, frameworks and legislation is then complex and open to multiple interpretations which make enactment problematic for educational contexts. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_Wellbeing_in_Educational_Contexts_(Carter_and_Andersen)/1.03%3A_Policy_Frameworks_and_Legislation_Informing_a_Focus_on_Wellbeing.txt |
Key Concepts
Key Concepts:
• There are ways of working that impact and /or enable positive wellbeing.
• If ways of working are known to impact wellbeing then the impact or implications could be changed to achieve a more positive outcome.
• If ways of working are known to enable wellbeing then the impact or implications could be changed to achieve a more positive outcome.
Guiding question:
How is wellbeing enhanced?
Figure 4.1 A photograph a bubble taken at daytime by Vitaliy Paykov on unsplash
Introduction
It is now widely accepted that wellbeing has moved to centre stage in recent years, with educational contexts now playing a vital role in prioritising the promotion of wellbeing of children and young people (MCEETYA, 2008). There is also growing international and national evidence that educational context-based wellbeing programs, when implemented effectively, produce long term benefits for children and young people, including improved social emotional functioning and academic performance (Clarke, Sixsmith & Barry, 2014). Additionally, McCallum and Price, (2016) argue that educational contexts also play a vital role in fostering teacher wellbeing. In order to understand the construct of wellbeing more, this chapter will explore contemporary perspectives on factors that impact on, and enable wellbeing, which have been termed impactors and enablers to wellbeing (Carter, 2016).
Perspectives on wellbeing i mpactors and enablers
There are differing perspectives on impactors and enablers of wellbeing. One study conducted in Queensland Australia by Carter (2016), acknowledged that impactors of Subjective Well-Being {SWB}were broadly what a participant reported as impacting upon their SWB. More specifically a negative impactor {referred to simply as impactor} was defined as that which detracts from a person’s SWB as a consequence of a negative evaluation. A positive impactor {referred to simply as an enabler} was defined as that which enhanced a person’s SWB as a consequence of a positive evaluation. Enablers were linked to a way of working intended to support the person to make a positive evaluation of their competency and therefore feel satisfied with life or feel positive affect.
Carter (2016) identified several major negative impactors to school principal’s SWB, such as a perceived lack of time to complete expected tasks; perceived lack of support; perceived lack of supervisor trust; self-doubting; inability to safe guard others; and questionable/poor decision making. Time was referred to with breadth as being time to learn; time to experience; insufficient time to think; and a preoccupation of thinking about work when in non-work related contexts. This impactor may well apply to teachers and students who report experiencing high levels of stress when faced with tasks they feel unable to complete competently within specified timeframes due to what Mulford (2003) terms as the busyness of educational contexts. A noted enabler was a feeling of control to create and maintain life balance and that this sense of balance {determined differently by each individual} helped them to maintain their positive SWB (Carter, 2016).
McCallum and Price (2016) suggest that wellbeing is more influenced by factors that impact on, and / or enable an individual to respond effectively in times of crisis, trauma, or ill-health. Approaches subscribing to this view tend to focus on resilience as a key impactor, and resilience development as a key enabler of wellbeing. While this perspective certainly has merit, there has been a growing movement, particularly in regard to the notion of wellbeing within educational contexts, that views wellbeing being as “more than just the absence of illness, and includes life satisfaction, healthy behaviours and resilience” (Ryff, 1989, as cited in McCallum & Price, 2012, p.4).
McCallum and Price (2016) suggest that there needs to be a positive and proactive approach to promoting wellbeing in educational settings, as it promotes wellbeing as a central focus and recognises the influences of change and the complexity in the 21st century, rather than being reactive and deficit in thinking. McCallum and Price (2016) likewise argue that this perspective also promotes a much more ‘holist’ view of wellbeing within a whole educational context. Additionally, Scoffham and Barnes (2011) argue that this approach also acknowledges the influence and interrelatedness between context, environment, life events, genetics and personality impactors and enablers on wellbeing such as:
• Context and physical environments: e.g., contextual processes and demographics, location, community and specific events such as drought, floods and cyclones;
• Social and cultural environments: e.g., culture, economics, politics and broader social issues such as poverty, community breakdown or violence;
• Individual personal attributes: e.g., genetics (heritage), psychological disposition and behavioural patterns (Litchfield, Cooper, Hancock & Watt, 2016).
Another perspective presented by Gillet-Swan and Sargeant (2015) is that the key components of wellbeing symbolise an intersection forming a triumvirate of the emotional, physical and cognitive self. As such, wellbeing ought be seen as the state of an individual as affected by these elements, within which, an array of descriptors exist.
Identifying impactors and enablers
Understanding the dynamic interplay and interrelatedness between factors that negatively impact wellbeing and factors that help support positive wellbeing can provide an insight into how they influence wellbeing (Gillett-Swan & Sargeant, 2015). Three broad themes have emerged from the literature: genetic factors; life circumstances; and involvement in active pursuits.
1. Genetic factors
Genetic factors such as an individual’s predisposition towards being happy or not, have the potential to either enable or impact on wellbeing. Although there are interactions between genetics, upbringing and environment, Diener and Oishi (2005) note that, genetic makeup acts as a strong precursor to wellbeing, where the temperament of the person has potential to act as a strong antecedent influence to wellbeing in either a positive or negative manner. Likewise, Burack, Blidner, Flores and Finch (2007) also argue that genetic factors account for “fifty percent of an individual’s predisposition to happiness” (Burack et al., 2007, p.3).
1. Life circumstances
Life circumstances and the impacts that life has had on an individual either enable or impact on wellbeing. Campion and Nurse (2007) note that life circumstances, such socio economic status, income, material possessions, marital status and community environment have potential to significantly impact and / or enable wellbeing. In contrast Burack et al. (2007) argue while life circumstances do impact on wellbeing, they can change very rapidly {either for the better or the worst}, and as such argue that they only account for “10 % of personal happiness variation even though society spends a disproportionate amount on them” (Campion & Nurse, 2007, p.27).
1. Involvement in active pursuits and special interests
Intentional involvement in active pursuits and special interests such as engaging in meaningful activities, participating in the workforce, socialising, physical activity and exercising and appreciating art, culture and life, can account for up to 40% of variation in happiness (Campion & Nurse, 2007), and as such have the greatest potential for influencing and enabling wellbeing. As a consequence, an individual’s chance of maintaining good wellbeing is increased by an active engagement in life. Conversely, non-participation has great potential to be a significant impactor on wellbeing.
Let’s now examine impactors and enablers through two models that place wellbeing as the central focus, the Dynamic Model for Wellbeing (Campion & Nurse, 2007), and the Positive Social Ecology Model (McCallum & Price, 2012).
Dynamic Model for Wellbeing
Campion and Nurse’s (2007) Dynamic Model for Wellbeing (refer to Figure 4.2) investigates the interaction between mental health and public health. The manner in which they outline wellbeing is similar to how other theorists have defined it with elements such as belonging, resilience, positive emotions meaning and fulfilment. This model has potential use and application in educational contexts as it illustrates the dynamic interplay between individual, physical and societal influences on wellbeing, through what are termed risk factors and protective factors. Campion and Nurse suggest:
• Reducing the impact factors on individual, and the individual in groups, whole context and within systems.
• Improving social and physical wellbeing.
• Creating supportive environments
• Improving protective factors such as employing therapists, accessing supports and empowering individuals.
This model places wellbeing at the centre of improving physical and social wellbeing, and recognises risk factors {impactors}, and protective factors {enablers} of wellbeing. While this model has broader application in terms of policy development, it does have application to an educational context, as it identifies three main impactors and enablers affecting an individual’s wellbeing: genetic factors; life circumstances; and involvement in active pursuits and special interests.
Activity
• Consider what elements of the above model may assist you in considering risk factors/ impactors and protective factors/enablers to wellbeing.
• If you used this model or aspects of it, what are the risk factors/ impactors or protective factor/enablers to wellbeing in your context?
Positive Social Ecology Model
McCallum and Price (2012)’s positive social ecology model draws on Bronfenbrenner’s (2004) work, and describes wellbeing within the natural, information, social and cultural environments of a community. This model identifies the following impacting and enabling factors:
• Intrapersonal factors: Interpersonal factors encompass the demographics of a group or community; the inter-relationships between people residing in that community; and the biological and psychological factors of the people within that community.
• Environmental factors: Environmental factors comprise the real or perceived views or experiences on crime, safety, physical attractiveness, comfort, convenience and accessibility and how they may impact on the immediate environment.
• Behavioural factors: Behavioural factors include the range of activities, services or access to programs, applications or structures available to people living and working in a community that enable them to be positively engaged as well as being intellectually, emotionally and physically active.
• Political factors: Political factors incorporate the policies, practices, infrastructure and communication that impact on people living and working within the community.
Activity
• Consider your own context for moment. Consider what elements of the above model may assist you in considering impactors and enablers to wellbeing.
• If you used this model or aspects of it, what are impactors or enablers to wellbeing in your context?
Impactors to wellbeing
McCallum and Price (2016) note that a range of factors that impact wellbeing on a daily, weekly or monthly basis {some of which are within one’s control and some which are not}, with some adversely affecting wellbeing. Impactors may also occur suddenly or accumulate over lengthy periods of time before physical and/or mental indicators become evident. Significant impactors include the following:
• Personal responses to individual, physical, social or environmental impactors
Stress, fear, anxiety in response to stimuli such as peer conflict, relational conflict, harassment bullying, pressure from systemic requirements and time constraints, accountabilities, expectations and absence of a voice in decision making processes, can contribute to fatigue, exhaustion, stress, burnout, illness, and mental health issues which in turn may lead to poor overall wellbeing (Acton & Glasgow, 2015).
• Unsuccessful adaptions to individual, physical, social or environmental impactors
Low levels of resilience, optimism, self-esteem, and feelings of having no control over one’s life, impact on an individual’s ability to respond effectively in times of crisis, trauma, or ill-health, and as such have major impacts on wellbeing.
• Negative self-efficacy
Negative self-efficacy, self-judgment and self-belief impact on an individual’s view of their own self and their capabilities, which may lead to the development of negative self-view and poor wellbeing (Acton & Glasgow, 2015).
• Negative or destructive relationships
Negative relationships between adults and adults, children and adults, and children and children arising from conflict, lack of emotional support, poor supportive environment, bullying, discrimination and harassment (Powell & Graham, 2017) impact greatly on wellbeing.
• A lack of social-emotional competence/emotional intelligence
A lack of social and emotional competence or disposition impacts on wellbeing by cultivating negative or destructive relationships, which in turn contribute to a negative work, school or classroom climate, and subsequent loss of productivity (Abeles & Rubenstein, 2015).
Enablers to wellbeing
McCallum and Price (2016) identify three key enablers of a positive school ecology as hope, happiness and belonging that help enable wellbeing.
1. Hope: Being optimistic about the future, pursing aspirations and taking control of one’s own wellbeing {being agentic} are key features in contemporary wellbeing education initiatives (Wrench, Hammond, McCallum & Price, 2013). The construct of ‘hope’ is comprised of two dimensions:
• The mental willpower to move towards achieving one’s goal {agency};
• The perceived ability to create pathways that enable the achievement of goals (McCallum & Price, 2016)
1. Happiness: Positive emotional state.
2. Belonging: Human beings have a fundamental need to belong and be accepted.
Activity
• Consider your own context for moment.
• Consider what elements of positive ecology exist in your setting.
Enablers to wellbeing in educational contexts
Noble, McGrath, Wyatt, Carbines and Robb (2008) in a report to the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations {DEEWR} identified the following seven enablers to wellbeing in educational contexts: (refer to Figure 4. 3):
1. A supportive, caring and inclusive community
• Individuals feel welcomed, valued, respected and free form discrimination and harassment (Cahill & Freeman, 2007);
• Connectedness and opportunities to develop deep personal connections between individuals and groups (Acton & Glasgow, 2015);
• A sense of belonging;
• Feeling safe;
• Treated fairly;
• Positive peer and adult relationships where positive relationships have an affirmative influence on wellbeing, which in turn contributes to satisfaction, productivity and achievement (McCallum, Price, Graham & Morrison, 2017).
1. Pro-social values
• The promotion of pro-social values including core values such were respect, trust, kindness, understanding, acceptance, honesty, compassion, acceptance of difference, fairness, responsibility care and inclusion (Noble et al., 2008).
• The presence of daily rituals that embed core values such as greetings, and visual images (McCallum & Price, 2016).
1. Physical & emotional safety
• The presence of anti-bullying, anti-harassment and anti-violence strategies, policies, procedures and programs (Noble et al., 2008).
1. Social & emotional competencies
• The presence of social and emotional coping skills, self-awareness, emotional regulation skills, empathy, goal achievement skills, relationship skills promote positive wellbeing (Noble et al., 2008). Social and emotional knowledge and dispositions are essential in order to operate and contribute productively (Mc McCallum & Price, 2016) in work, educational settings and the broader societal context.
• Effective emotional intelligence competencies enable wellbeing by facilitating the identification, processing, and regulation of emotion as well assisting in managing stress more effectively (McCallum, Price, Graham & Morrison, 2017).
• Resilience is essential to successfully adapt to and respond to complex or threatening life experiences and fast paced, challenging contemporary societal conditions. (McCallum, Price, Graham & Morrison, 2017).
• Positive self-efficacy is essential to producing positive productive performance. It also determines how an individual thinks, feels, and motivates themselves, thereby increasing potential for a positive state of wellbeing (Split, Koomen & Thijs, 2011).
1. A strengths-based approach
• Having a focus on identifying and developing individual intellectual and character strengths promotes a positive state of wellbeing (Noble et al., 2008).
1. A sense of meaning and purpose
• An intentional involvement in active pursuits and special interests such as “socialising and participating in {one or more} spirituality activities; community service; appreciating life, art/culture; and engaging in meaningful activities” (Campion & Nurse, 2007, p.25) are active enablers of wellbeing.
1. Healthy lifestyle
• Engaging in exercise, having good nutrition and avoiding avoidance of harmful substances promote a state of positive wellbeing (McCallum, Price, Graham & Morrison, 2017).
Figure 4.2 Andersen, C. (2019). Adapted Student Wellbeing Pathways Diagram from Noble, T., McGrath, H., Wyatt, T., Carbines, R. & Robb, L. (2008). Scoping study into approaches to student well-being: Literature review. Report to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Sydney, NSW: Australian Catholic University Erebus International, p.10.
Key Question
• If you used this model or aspects of it, what are the possible impactors or enablers to wellbeing in your context?
Inclusion and Wellbeing
The models above all link in some way to a feeling of being included, with most linking to inclusion in educational contexts. As our world changes with increases in migration, refugee numbers and social complexity, our educational contexts also change and reflect what is happening within society (Abawi, Andersen & Rogers, 2019). What does this mean then for our educational contexts who are trying to engage in teaching and learning as their core business, in addition to being inclusive of a changing population? Educational contexts often have families from many different countries and varying socio-economic backgrounds, all with differing experiences, beliefs, values, thinking and opinions. As a consequence, promoting and sustaining wellbeing within such contexts can at times be a very complex (yet essential) task. Educational communities need to be encouraged to embrace a shared philosophy of inclusion, and to participate in practices that are welcoming and supportive, encourage equity and view changes in student population and diversity as opportunities for learning (Carter & Abawi, 2018).
Carter and Abawi (2018, p. 2) suggest that “inclusion is defined as successfully meeting student learning needs regardless of culture, language, cognition, gender, gifts and talents, ability, or background.” A feeling of being included and belonging is associated with positive wellbeing, and creating an environment for this to occur involves catering for the needs of individuals. While the literature reveals that the term ‘special needs’ has been linked to both disability and disadvantage, Carter and Abawi (2018) suggest the term now be applied more broadly to include “the individual requirements of a person, and the provision for these specific differences can be considered as catering for special needs” (p. 2) and these needs include supporting wellbeing.
Conclusion
There are multiple ways of working within wider society, an organisation, and an educational context that can impact on and /or enable positive wellbeing. If particular ways of working are known to impact wellbeing, then it is suggested that the impact or implications be mitigated in order to achieve a more positive outcome. Likewise, if ways of working are known to enable wellbeing. then the impact or implications could be changed in order to achieve a more positive outcome. The Dynamic Model of Wellbeing (Campion & Nurse, 2007), the Positive Social Ecology Model (McCallum & Price, 2016) and the Revised Student Wellbeing Pathways (Noble et al., 2008) are suggested as possible models that could be utilised to investigate and analyse enablers and impactors within organisations and educational contexts. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_Wellbeing_in_Educational_Contexts_(Carter_and_Andersen)/1.04%3A_Contemporary_Perspectives_on_the_Impactors_and_Enablers_to_Wellbeing.txt |
Key Concepts
Key Concepts:
• Educational contexts communities play a role in supporting wellbeing development in conjunction with academic development.
• Wellbeing requires a whole educational contexts approach where wellbeing is embedded in educational context policies, curriculum, structures and practices, and as a shared responsibility of all stakeholders.
Guiding question:
How is wellbeing enacted and embedded?
Figure 5.1 Photograph by Jon Tyson on unsplash
Introduction
Given that almost all children attend school or an educational setting (e.g., early childhood centre) at some time during their lives, school and educational setting communities now have an unprecedented opportunity to play a role in supporting wellbeing development in conjunction with academic development. A whole-school or educational setting approach to student wellbeing promotion calls for student wellbeing approaches that are embedded in an education wide focus in policies, curriculum, structures and practices, and as a shared responsibility of all stakeholders (McCallum & Price, 2016). How do we best do this and take into account the diversity of our school or educational setting communities, while supporting and including people? In order to further a positive and proactive approach to promoting wellbeing in educational settings, this Chapter will explore pragmatic applications of embedding an education wide focus on wellbeing.
Key Question
Before exploring approaches to wellbeing, take a moment to consider your own context.
• How is wellbeing represented within the context’s policies, structures, practices, curriculum and pedagogy?
Approaches to wellbeing
The wellbeing of children and young people remains a concern both nationally and internationally, with an increasing focus of wellbeing policy, programs, and teacher professional development (Anderson & Graham,2016). Supporting wellbeing is now central to the business of educational contexts. However, as Barry, Clarke and Dowling (2017) note, the challenge for educational contexts and education system leaders lies in integrating evidence-based approaches that promote children and young people’s social and emotional wellbeing and staff wellbeing, and that are sustainable and embedded into the everyday practice of educational contexts. Approaches to wellbeing can be categorised as: positive psychology approaches; health and physical approaches; social and emotional learning approaches; character development and values approaches; relational approaches; and an inclusive approaches as shown in the Growing Inclusive Wellbeing model.
Positive psychology approaches
There has been a rapid growth in positive psychology approaches within educational communities, resulting in a number of associated practices now making their way into educational classrooms and settings all over the world (Ciarrochi, Atkins, Hayes, Sahdra & Parker, 2016). Positive psychology approaches focus on promoting optimal functioning and wellbeing by utilising “psychological discourse and its offshoot school-based training programs, which stress happiness, self-improvement and wellbeing” (Reveley, 2016, p.538). Positive discourse approaches promote a conscious reflexive subjectivity; a focus on self and self-regulation; the use of creative ‘psychological flexibility’; and ‘mindfulness’; as a means to wellbeing (Revelely, 2016; Kashdan, 2010). Burckhardt, Manicavasagar, Batterham, and Hadzi-Pavlovic (2016) proport a viewpoint that such positive psychological approaches to wellbeing are more productive, in that emphasis is placed on prevention and early intervention, rather than reactive intervention in response to “maladaptive emotion regulation strategies that correlate with poor wellbeing” {e.g., depression, anxiety} (p.41). Emerging from these approaches are a wide range of strategies that can be used within school communities to reduce distress, manage stress, improve mental health and wellbeing.
• Programs developing skills in assertiveness, decision making, coping, relaxation, confidence, organisation and persistence, in addition to cognitive reframing (Waters, 2011).
• Mindfulness training with a focus on intention {understand personal purpose}, attention {to focus and pay attention, to be non-judgmental, to focus on the present and be receptive to one’s mind and body’s reactions, feelings, sensations and thought} and attitude (McCallum & Price, 2016).
• Explicit resilience training (McGrath & Noble, 2012).
• Individual wellbeing strategies such as:
• Reflection strategies for insight into personal practice and / or behaviour.
• Building supportive networks or learning communities.
• Growth mindset approaches to solving problems.
• Self-care practices to restore wellbeing when needed.
• Celebrating achievements and success (McCallum, Price, Graham & Morrison, 2017).
According to Hayes and Ciarrochi (2015), effective implementation of educational context wide positive psychology approaches that promote wellbeing are underpinned require five key actions including:
1. The establishment of contexts that empower individuals to clarify their values and choose value-consistent behaviours.
2. Assisting individuals to utilise language to successfully and appropriately engage in varying contexts.
3. Supporting individuals to acquire resources and skills via exploration and apply these to varying contexts.
4. Assisting individuals to gain awareness of their inner and outer experiences and to appreciate their current context and choices.
5. Helping individuals to develop understand the ‘self’ and the perspectives of others.
However, it is worth noting that while research shows that positive psychology approaches (Ciarrochi, Parker, Kashdan, Heaven, & Barkus, 2015; Garland, Fredrickson, Kring, Johnson, Meyer & Penn, 2010) and school community positive education interventions have been shown to produce positive benefit (Waters, 2011), positive psychology has been criticized for being “decontextualized and coercive, and for putting an excessive emphasis on positive states, whilst failing to adequately consider negative experiences” (Ciarrochi et al., 2016, p.1).
Health and physical approaches
Good health in addition to regular participation in physical activity has been well recognised as having a positive impact on many aspects of children and young people’s health (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010). Furthermore, Liu, Wu and Ming (2015) found that the educational contexts are some of the most effective settings in which to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and is consistent with the view that educational communities can create opportunities for stimulating and supporting all children and young people to be more physically active (Holt, Smedegaard, Pawlowski, Skovgaard & Christiansen, 2018; Naylor & McKay, 2009).
The following approaches have been widely utilised to address the health and physical education dimensions of wellbeing, in addition to the basic needs of children and young people (Naylor & McKay, 2009).
• Breakfast Clubs.
• After educational context / school care programs.
• Programs that provide assistance with shelter, clothing and care.
• Strategies to improve child protection and safety.
• Programs focussing on physical fitness, active lifestyles, healthy eating and self-esteem development.
• Programs focusing on safe and responsible choices and avoidance of harmful situations and substances.
• Strategies and programs to protect against bullying and being safe on line.
Carlsson, Rowe and Stewart (2001) identified that wellbeing was promoted in educational contexts when three key actions were in place.
1. Curriculum, teaching and learning that encompassed a holistic view of health and the development of more generic life skills such as decision making, effective communication and negotiation skills (Carlsson et al.,2001).
2. Whole of educational context ethos, environment, structures, organisation, policies and planning that support and reinforce health messages that are taught in the formal curriculum (Carlsson et al.,2001).
3. Commitment and collaboration within an educational context’s community to develop a shared vision and create strategies to address the physical and health needs of the whole educational context (Carlsson et al., 2001; McCallum & Price, 2016).
Social and Emotional Learning approaches
Greensburg, Domitrovich, Weissberg and Durlack (2017) argue that evidence-based Social and Emotional Learning {SEL} programs, when implemented effectively have potential to promote measurable and long-lasting improvements in the lives of children and young people. SEL approaches have a focus on contributing to wellbeing by developing responsibility, social skills and emotional management strategies which enhance children and young people’s “confidence in themselves; increase their engagement in school, along with their test scores and grades; and reduce conduct problems while promoting desirable behaviours” (Greensburg et al. 2017. p.13).
SEL program promote wellbeing by teaching students specific SEL skills in order to create a classroom and educational context culture that enhances and enables SEL skills (refer to Figure 5.2).
Figure 5.2 Andersen, C, Adapted Conceptual Model for Advancing SEL in Schools from Greensburg, M.T., Domitrovich, C.E., Weissberg, R.R. & Durlack, J.A. (2017). Social and emotional learning as a public health approach to education. Future of Children, 27 (1),13-32, p.17. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives Unported 3.0 Licence.
There are five core elements of the model: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.
• Competence in self-awareness which involves understanding your own emotions, values, and personal goals {knowing own strengths and limitations, a sense of self- efficacy; optimism; a growth mindset; ability to recognise how own thoughts, feelings, and actions are connected} (Greensburg et al. 2017).
• Competence in self-management which encompasses regulation of own emotions and behaviours; the ability to delay gratification; manage stress; control impulses; and persevere through challenges.
• Competence in social awareness describes the ability to take the perspective of people with different backgrounds or from different cultures; empathize; act with compassion toward others; understand social behaviour norms} (Greensburg et al., 2017).
• Relationship skills involves the establishment and maintenance of healthy and rewarding relationships and includes the ability to act in accordance with social norms {communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking help when needed} (Greensburg et al., 2017).
• Responsible decision-making is outlined as utilising the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to make constructive choices.
Character development and values approaches
The last decade has seen a growth in interest in use of character development and values approaches within educational contexts as mechanisms for promoting wellbeing (Smith, 2013). Character development and values approaches foster important core, ethical and performance values such as caring, honesty, diligence, fairness, fortitude, responsibility, and respect for self and others as a means of affecting wellbeing (Quinlan, Swain & Vella-Brodrick, 2012). Both styles of approach support wellbeing through a focus on character strength training processes; by understanding and reflecting on values; and reflecting values in one’s own attitudes and behaviour. However, Linkins, Niemiec, Gillham and Mayerson (2015) argue that this approach tends to be more prescriptive in nature than other previously discussed approaches, and views character and values as an” external construct that needs to be instilled within the individual {rather than an innate potential to be nurtured}” (p.64).
Relational approaches
According to Correa-Velez, Gifford and Barnett (2010), relational approaches provide opportunities for children and young people to feel connected; to feel that they belong; and to feel that they are cared for. The ability of children and young people to connect has been shown to be a key protective factor in lowering health risk behaviour while concurrently increasing positive wellbeing (McCallum & Price, 2016). Relational approaches to supporting wellbeing focus on supporting wellbeing through programs and initiatives that focus on:
• Relationships that are positive and productive engagements between children/young people teachers and peers.
• Belonging where a sense of membership of the educational context is experienced.
• Inclusion where a sense of being included in the educational context’s school culture, structure and processes.
• Active participation which describes the extent to which children and young people feel that they participate in, and exercise voice in relations to a educational context’s activities ad affairs (Aldridge, Fraser, Fozdar, Ala’I, Earnest & Afari, 2016). Interestingly, Fattore, Mason and Watson (2012) report that students who were provided with an opportunity to have their say and have their opinions taken seriously, demonstrated higher levels of wellbeing than student without an opportunity to have their say.
Approaching wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
As authors working at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) we acknowledge the Giabal and Jarowair peoples of the Toowoomba area, the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul peoples of Ipswich and Springfield, the Kambuwal peoples of Stanthorpe and the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, Sydney as the keepers of ancient knowledge where USQ campuses and hubs have been built and whose cultures and customs continue to nurture this land. USQ also pays respect to Elders – past, present and future. Further, we acknowledge the cultural diversity of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and pay respect to Elders past, present and future. Finally, we celebrate the continuous living cultures of First Australians and acknowledge the important contributions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have and continue to make in Australian society.
Please take a moment to listen to why we need to acknowledge its traditional custodians.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience considerably more widespread social disadvantages and poor health (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018) than any other Indigenous population in the developed world, and alarmingly these outcomes are similar to Third World countries (Kingsley, J., Townsend, M., Henderson-Wilson, C., & Bolam, 2013; Carrington, Sheperd, Jianghong & Zubrick, 2012). Kingsley et al. (2018), suggest that evidence indicates that such inequalities can be better understood by focusing on a range of factors including the impact of colonisation, intergenerational trauma, cultural and social determinants of health, and by considering holistic ideas of wellbeing. Kingsley et al. (2018) also argue that current notions of indigenous wellbeing should be challenged. It is imperative that wellbeing outcomes are improved and schools can play a role in help enact change, guided by the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing 2017-2023 (Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council {AHMAC}, (2017).
Addressing wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples requires understanding contexts (see Fossey, Holborn, Abawi, & Cooper, {2017} Understanding Australian Aboriginal Educational Contexts); Understanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectivesrecognising human rights and the strength of family and kinship groups, traditional lifestyles, language, and geographical places. As authors we recognise and support the points raised by Alderete (2004) that the notion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples wellbeing should not only be linked to a set of standards or measurable indicators that are easy to implement for government reporting purposes and requirements. Instead wellbeing indicators should also include nuances that capture the numerous positive, protective enduring elements, connected with Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples’ ways of life (Prout, 2012). Biddle and Swee (2012), identified that there are many instances and examples in literature on Indigenous peoples that highlight the positive relationship between the sustainability of Indigenous land, culture and language and an Indigenous person’s wellbeing.
There are things you can be mindful of to make your support more meaningful for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples who may be struggling with their wellbeing. Panelli and Tipa (2009) suggest providing a culturally safe environment embedded with positive social relationships, being respectful of culture with connection to Country, kinship, traditional knowledge, and identity, and being supportive of physical, social, and spiritual needs helps foster wellbeing. We also encourage you to involve family, carers, or other community members in providing positive support.
Key Questions
Considering the points raised by Panelli and Tipa (2009) that providing a culturally safe environment embedded with positive social relationships, being respectful of culture with connection to Country, kinship, traditional knowledge, and identity, and being supportive of physical, social, and spiritual needs helps foster wellbeing.
• What is being done in your context to ensure that this occurs?
• How do you define family?
• How do you involve family, carers, or other Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples to provide positive support?
An inclusive approach
An inclusive approach synthesises elements of positive psychology, health and physical; social and emotional learning, character development and values, and relational approaches into one approach as educational contexts are expected to addresses all of these components we thought the approach to wellbeing needed to also be responsive to the contemporary educational context content. We present a model to depict the approach as shown below in Figure 5.3 Growing Inclusive Wellbeing.
Figure 5.3 Growing inclusive wellbeing
The model ‘Growing Inclusive Wellbeing’ depicts five components, represented visually as circles in order to highlight the layers of knowledge, understanding and enactment through pathways that are embedded: the inner circle; an individual level; community level; structural level; and the educational context environmental culture.
The inner circle
The inner circle, Deep Understanding of Wellbeing, represents the development of a whole educational context community understanding of wellbeing, including the enablers and impactors that are present within the content. As authors we suggest that every individual experiences wellbeing differently and as such embrace the definition put forward by Diener, Oishi, and Lucas (2003) to be “people’s emotional and cognitive evaluations of their lives, includes what lay people call happiness, peace, fulfilment, and life satisfaction” (p. 403). People’s views and definitions of SWB (commonly referred to as wellbeing) are personal and dependent upon how each individual evaluates their life (Carter 2016).
The three levels of wellbeing support
The next three circles in the diagram, depict factors that have an influence on wellbeing across all populations and these can be categorised into three key sections: Individual Level Wellbeing Supports; Community Level Wellbeing Supports; andStructural Level Wellbeing Supports.
• Individual Level Wellbeing Supports an ability to deal with thoughts and feelings; emotional resilience; ability to cope with stressful or adverse circumstances; a sense of self; and the development of social skills.
• Community Level Wellbeing Supports a sense of belonging, social support and community participation.
• Structural Level Wellbeing Supports social, economic and cultural factors that are supportive of wellbeing. For example: quality of housing, access to health and social services and education, political and justice systems.
The outer circle
The out circle encapsulates what is happening throughout an educational context in embedded practice, showing the School Environment and Culture of Commitment to wellbeing through ‘Welcome Me, Know Me and Help Me to Learn’. An educational context’s environment is reflective of all that happens within the context’s community and it can be seen, heard and felt, often through nuanced experiences. Table 5.1 highlights key components of ‘Welcome Me, Know Me and Help Me to Learn’.
Table 5.1 ‘Welcome Me, Know Me and Help Me to Learn’.
12 key pathways to embedding an education wide focus on wellbeing
Figure 5. 3 outlines 12 pathways to embedding an education wide focus on wellbeing. Building on, and adapting Noble, McGrath, Wyatt, Carbines and Robb’s research (2008), we suggest that there are twelve key pathways that are essential in determining an educational context’s contribution to embedding wellbeing within a context’s community, in addition to identifying specific practices that educational contexts can put in place to enhance wellbeing: expert context leadership; strategic visioning; quality teaching and learning; a supportive, caring and inclusive educational context; a safe learning environment; social and emotional competencies; a sense of meaning and purpose, including engaging student voice; using, monitoring and evidencing strengths-based approaches; strategies encouraging a healthy lifestyle; programs to develop pro-social values; family and community partnership; and spirituality.
1. Expert inclusive leadership
The promotion of student, staff and community wellbeing, through effective inclusive leadership which:
• Empowers individuals and educational contexts to take responsibility for both their own wellbeing and that of others (Powell & Graham, 2017).
• Systematically monitors of student and staff wellbeing in order to:
• Evaluate the impact of initiatives (Weare & Nind, 2011).
• Plan for future activities (Weare & Nind, 2011).
• Promotes staff development, health and wellbeing by providing:
• Access to professional development to increase personal knowledge of emotional wellbeing, and to equip staff to be able to identify mental health and wellbeing issues in their students (Price & McCallum, 2015; 2016).
• Clear referral processes and pathways to a range of relevant in and out of context support strategies, structures and agencies for both staff and students (Weare & Nind, 2011).
• Opportunities for assessing and supporting the emotional health and wellbeing needs of staff (McCallum & Price, 2010).
One way of enabling inclusive leadership is through the six principles of inclusion captured in the model ‘A Conceptual Model of the cultural indicators of an inclusive school‘ (Abawi, Carter, Andrews & Conway, 2018) {Figure 5.4 below}.
Figure 5.4: A conceptual model of the cultural indicators of an inclusive school. Source: Abawi, L., Carter, S., Andrews, D., & Conway, J. (2018). Inclusive schoolwide pedagogical principles: cultural indicators in action. New Pedagogical Challenges in the 21st Century: Contributions of Research in Education, 33. doi:10.5772/intechopen.70358
1. Strategic visioning
Educational context communities that have a clear meaningful and strategic vision promote the commitment of all members to pursue their work with energy, self-discipline, collaboration and a keen sense of purpose (Fullan, 2010). Strategic visioning is a guiding process that is essentially concerned with forward thinking which draw upon the beliefs, goals and the environment within an educational context, and “if done correctly should be the backbone of a positive and inspiring system” (Bainbridge, 2007, p.1). The longer term benefits are significant and very real, as strategic visioning can assist an educational context’s community to “break free from convention and encourage thinking ‘outside the box’” (Bainbridge, 2007, p.3). By clearly defining an educational context’s direction and purpose, a strategic vision alerts all with the context’s community where efforts should be directed in addition to aligning resources and effort towards common goals. A strategic vision should be underpinned by a shared philosophy that every child has a right to learn and every child is capable of learning and should be given the opportunity to actively participate in all facets of school life (Carter & Abawi, 2018). It also provides a safe environment where new ideas can be encouraged, and new ways of working investigated in a safe and secure process.
Key Questions
• How and why does strategic visioning contribute (or not contribute) to wellbeing within your context?
• Do all members of your context accept responsibility for developing and sustaining wellbeing?
• Are all members of your educational context community encouraged to actively participate in developing, implementing, and / or evaluating wellbeing in your context?
3. Quality teaching and learning
Quality teaching and learning involves the provision of varied, engaging and inclusive high-quality pedagogy which:
• Focuses on the enhancement of student engagement with learning.
• Uses cooperative learning and other relational teaching strategies.
• Explicitly teaches skills and understandings related to personal safety, protective behaviours, values and social and emotional skills, and integrates this learning into the mainstream processes of educational context life (McCallum & Price, 2016).
• Provides early intervention and targeted student support for children and young people already showing signs of social, emotional and behavioural problems, or are at greater risk of experiencing poorer mental health (Powell & Graham, 2017).
Key Question
• Do all members of your context accept responsibility for developing and sustaining supportive teaching and learning that supports wellbeing?
4. A supportive, caring and inclusive educational context community
Noble et al., (2008) suggest whole school community approaches must promote an ethos and conditions for a supportive, caring and inclusive community. We have built upon the conditions to include:
• feeling welcomed, valued, respected and free form discrimination and harassment (Cahill & Freeman, 2007);
• having a sense of connectedness and are provided with opportunities to develop deep personal connections with other individuals and groups (Acton & Glasgow, 2015);
• creating a sense of belonging;
• treating people fairly;
• feeling included;
• experiencing mutual respecting (Abawi, Andersen & Rogers, 2019).
• acknowledging and respecting diversity (Carter, S. 2019)
• demonstrating a positive view of self and having their identity respected (Noble et al., 2008).
• experiencing positive peer and adult relationships which have an affirmative influence on wellbeing, and which in turn contributes to satisfaction, productivity and achievement (McCallum, Price, Graham & Morrison, 2017).
• experiencing positive learning behaviours (Jamal, Fletcher, Harden, Wells, Thomas & Bonell, 2013).
• respecting culture with connection to Country, kinship, traditional knowledge, and identity (Panelli &Tipa, 2009).
5. A safe learning environment
An emotionally secure and safe environment with development and application of ‘Safe Schools’ policies and procedures which:
• promotes positive safe and responsible behaviour, respect, cooperation and inclusion (Abawi, Andersen & Rogers, 2019);
• “prevent[s] and manage putdowns, bullying, and violence and harassment threats.
• nurture and encourage student’s sense of self-worth and self-efficacy.” (Noble et al.,2008, p.12);
• uses effective and safe communication strategies (McCallum & Price, 2016);
• promotes productive and safe use of technologies {cyber safety} as an enabler which supports wellbeing, relationships and health, rather than focusing on negative impacts of social media and online platforms (Spears, 2016);
• creates a culturally safe environment embedded with positive social relationships (Panelli & Tipa, 2009);
• supports everyone to feel safe.
When people feel safe and have this basic need satisfied they are more able to concentrate on learning tasks.
Key Questions
• Is being safe and supported acknowledged as being essential for student and staff wellbeing within your context? If so why, how and how often?
• How does trust, belonging and mutual respect contribute (or not contribute) to wellbeing in your context?
• How does (or does not) a positive sense of inclusiveness and/ or identity contribute (or not contribute) to wellbeing in your context?
6. Social and emotional competencies
Social and emotional competencies enable individuals to learn how to solve problems, manage feelings, manage friendships, promote the ability to cope with difficulties, relate to others, resolve conflict, and feel positive about themselves and the world around them.
By increasing social and emotional competence an individual’s capacity to cope and stay healthy is increased (McCallum & Price, 2016) in spite of the negative factors that happen through life as the social and emotional competencies act as buffers to wellbeing depletion (Carter, 2016). Noble et al. (2016) suggest that social and emotional competencies include being resilient, being able to cope with difficult and stressful situations and events, engaging in positive and optimistic thinking, having self-awareness, setting and achieving goals, developing successful relationships and making decisions. McCallum and Price (2016) add competencies such problem-solving, conflict management and resolution, the ability to work collaboratively, and the development of self-help skills that enable individuals to utilise their own efforts and resources to achieve wellbeing. Weare and Nind (2011) extend social and emotional competencies even further by including an understanding of, and managing feelings, and an understanding of, and management of relationships with parents / carers, peers and teachers.
7. A sense of meaning and purpose
Provision of as many opportunities as possible to participate in the educational context and the wider community in order to develop a sense of meaning or purpose including:
• Tasks that are worthwhile
• Service within the community.
• Civic responsibly and participation.
• Leadership within an educational context
• Contribution to the educational community.
• Providing peer support.
• Opportunities for student voice where student voice is valued and invited.
• Engaging in activities that focus on the exploration of spirituality (Noble et al., 2008).
Engaging student voice is important. Sometimes within schools, conversations about student wellbeing and mental health can often occur without discussions with students themselves about these issues (Heysen & Mason, 2014). Substantial research points to the benefits and value of involving children and young people in decision making, as well provision of their points of view (Bessell, 2011). Research by Simmons, Graham and Thomas (2015) revealed just how capable students were in “providing rich, nuanced accounts of their experience that could potentially inform school improvement” (p.129), with students often “identifying creative ways that pedagogy, the school environment and relationships could be improved, changed or maintained to assist their wellbeing” (p.130). The voice of students within schools should then be a central part of our conversations and plans as we “work out how to nurture happy, balanced kids by actively engaging with students…. about matters that concern them” (Heysen & Mason, 2014, p.15). Such findings highlight the importance of student voice as a democratic, participatory and inclusive approach in schools.
Key Questions
• Is social and emotional learning explicitly taught in your context? If so what, why, how and how often?
• How does (or does not) a sense of meaning and purpose contribute (or not contribute) to student and staff wellbeing in your context?
8. Using, monitoring and evidencing strengths-based approaches
Using a strengths-based approach involves educators discovering, developing and harnessing their own talents, and maximising these in the work domain to remain current in their field, implement innovative curriculum in ways that meet the needs of all their learners and to utilise feedback to continue to improve their performance. Teachers can also inspire students to discover, harness and maximise their own talents. Noble et al., (2008) suggest the adoption of a strengths-based approach to organisation, curriculum and planning should:
• Cater for the diversity of student character strengths.
• Cater for and extend all student intellectual levels.
• Value, develop and use in a meaningful way, the individual and collective strengths of students, teachers and parents.
Consider how you do this and also how you evidence that it has occurred, including listening to and responding to feedback in order to improve your practise.
9. Strategies encouraging a healthy lifestyle
A healthy life style approach is one that explicitly teaches students the knowledge and skills needed for a healthy and self-respecting life-style, and the support to apply the skills and knowledge to their own lives. This includes a focus on:
• Good nutrition.
• Fitness and exercise.
• Avoidance of illegal drugs, alcohol and other self-harming actions and situations.
Consider ways that encouraging a healthy lifestyle can be explicitly evidenced in your practice.
10. Programs to develop pro-social values
Within schooling systems there are a number of programs that develop pro-social values. According to Nobel et al. (2008), pro-social values programs explicitly teach and model values such as honesty, respect, compassion, fairness, responsibility and acceptance of difference, in addition to providing practical opportunities to put values into practice within an educational context and the wider community. Consider what your community values and how reflective these values are of an inclusive and multicultural society as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. How do you evidence that inclusive pro-social programs are occurring n your context?
Key Questions
• Are strength-based approaches used within your context? If so, who are they used with, and how and why do they contribute (or not contribute) to wellbeing within your context?
• Are strategies encouraging healthy lifestyle used within your context? If so, who are they used with, how and why do they contribute (or not contribute) to wellbeing within your context?
• Are pro-social values explicitly taught in your context? If so what, why, how, and how often?
11. Family and community partnerships
Well implemented interventions that support school and classroom strategies for developing:
• Positive teacher-student relationships (Anderson & Graham, 2016).
• Positive peer relationships (Cemalcilar, 2010).
• Positive school-family and school-community relationships (Cemalcilar, 2010).
Students are engaged by through avenues that encourage:
• student voice (Anderson & Graham, 2016); and
• authentic involvement in learning, decision making and peer-led approaches (McCallum & Price, 2016).
Parents/carers are also engaged in genuine participation, particularly families that may feel blamed and/ or stigmatized (Weare & Nind, 2011). This engagement is nuanced as it depends on interests, skillsets and abilities. A challenge for schools is to ensure that they have inclusive ways of engaging and harnessing voices that may present differing views or needs, including those of students with disabilities, and Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples (our first peoples). Listening to a voice is the first step but importantly it is about valuing diverse perspectives and engaging in meeting the learning needs of all students, teachers and educational leaders in the context. Giving students a voice is important and suggests student-centred teaching practices that place emphasise on a student’s interests in a manner where the student feels valued (Waters, 2017). One way of doing this could be the creation of a Student Council where students are elected by their peers, participate in informed decision making, and are empowered as advocates to have a valued voice in what impacts them. If this is what the school has chosen, we encourage you to look at the students selected and consider the diversity of the group. Is there a representative for students with disabilities? Is there a representative for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander students? We suggest that schools think creatively of ways to engage as m any schools employ a parent liaison officer to help create and maintain parent engagement (Carter & Creedon, 2019) but further, we encourage you to think reflectively about whether the stakeholder groups do all actually have a voice.
12. Spirituality
Spiritual wellbeing is considered by many to play an important part in the promotion of general wellbeing, health and quality of life. Eckersley (2007) defines spirituality as “a deeply intuitive, but not always consciously expressed sense of connectedness to the world in which we live” (p. 54), with wellbeing arising from the web of relationships and interests that arise from that connectedness. De Souza (2009) suggests that the term spirituality is inclusive of a myriad religions and encompasses the notion of connection to a higher being. Grieves (2006) argues that spirituality is a starting point for wellbeing, and is understood and experienced within a social, natural and material environment, which based upon the cultural understandings that people have developed to enable them to interact with their world.
As consequence, Yust, Johnson, Sasso, and Roehlkepartain (2006) argue that spirituality plays a role in the wellbeing of both students and staff, with spirituality being the factor in human life that nurtures and gives expression to the inner and outer lives of students and staff, which in turn promotes balance and wellbeing. A study by Dobmeier and Reiner (2012) identified the following mechanisms for developing spirituality within an educational context:
• Reading spiritual autobiographies (Curtis & Glass, 2002).
• Engaging in role plays which challenge thinking and discussion (Briggs & Dixon-Rayle, 2005).
• Using reflective journaling.
• Teaching the techniques of focusing, forgiveness, and meditation (Curtis & Glass, 2002).
• Being exposed to a rage of panel presentations/guest speakers who reflect on their own life journeys.
• Exploring spiritual readings (Briggs & Dixon Rayle, 2005).
• Engaging personal narratives.
• Engaging hermeneutics focuses on identifying and applying sound principles of biblical interpretation, as it is both a process of action and reflection (Carter, 2018).
• Self-exploration (Boyatzis, 2009).
• Talking with pastoral counselors about focused spirituality topics (Boyatzis, 2009).
• Respecting spiritual connection to Country (Panelli &Tipa, 2009) and Aboriginal spirituality (Grieves,2008).
Key Questions
• Do family and community partnerships support wellbeing within your context? If so, who are they used with, and how and why do they contribute (or not contribute) to wellbeing within your context?
• Is spirituality addressed within your context? If so, how is addressed and how does it contribute (or not contribute) to wellbeing within your context?
Wellbeing Resources
As part of the focus on wellbeing we encourage educational contexts to regularly collect evidence of their practice. Figure 5.4 below features a snapshot of evidence of how students are supported and engaged in their learning and we know from research that this helps to contribute to a feeling of context connectedness and belonging which is strongly linked to positive wellbeing.
Figure 5.5 Photograph of a snapshot of evidence growing inclusive wellbeing, (2018). Australia, USQ Photography.
Conditions for success
Educational contexts are faced with the challenge of creating a space to talk about, model and encourage healthy eating, appreciating the peaceful moments and the beauty of the world, and taking the time to exercise.
Figure 5.6 A photograph of a salad by Sara Dubler on unsplash
There is clear consensus in the literature regarding the importance of healthy eating. Nutrition is a component that now features in discussions regarding school lunches, tuckshop menus and access to appropriate foods along with education about nutrition. The challenge for educational contexts is for staff to model healthy eating and good nutritional practices, the educational contexts to understand what healthy eating is, and to embed a focus on good nutritional practices in the day to day educational context community language and ways of working.
Figure 5.7 A photograph of a dandelion by Dawid Zawita on unsplash.
Teach children and young people to just take a moment to appreciate the simple pleasures, the depth of colour in the sky, the sound of the birds, the movement of the wind, the clever design of the dandelion seeds floating on the wind, and the natural beauty of our planet. We suggest you explicitly ask children and young people to note the peaceful moments and the peaceful images, and to draw attention to the positive elements in their daily lives by connecting to the land we inhabit.
Figure 5.8 A photograph of a person playing soccer by Marcus Spiske from unsplash
Research suggests that exercising is good for people and contributes to feelings of positive wellbeing. What does this mean for educational contexts that are committed to fostering wellbeing? We suggest that educational contexts need to discuss what this looks like in practice for their context and community, and how the context’s practices can cater for diversity of interest, culture, religion, and ability while maximizing available resources.
In order for an education wide focus on wellbeing to be successfully embedded, the following conditions are required in order to create effective implementation and sustainability of whole of educational context wellbeing initiatives:
• Shared vision and understanding of the concept of wellbeing and shared ways of working to implement the vision.
• Commitment from the whole educational context’s community, not just the leader or leadership team (McCallum & Price, 2016).
• A clear and widely understood shared language and consistent processes for wellbeing across the whole educational context’s community (Powell & Graham, 2017).
• A clearly identified student voice.
• Broad collaboration with the whole educational context’s community (McCallum & Price, 2016).
• A shared moral purpose generated by the stakeholders and communicated widely within the educational context, created purpose, good communication and a sense of ownership of any wellbeing initiatives (Noble et al., 2008).
• Use of ongoing formal and informal teacher professional development including the involvement of acknowledged experts Noble et al., 2008). We also suggest that teacher aides and volunteers are included in professional development opportunities in order to create a school wide shared language and way of working with wellbeing.
• Fore fronting and promotion of student wellbeing as being a priority across the whole educational community (Noble et al., 2008).
• Explicit teaching of values such as respect, cooperation support and social and emotional learning skills that facilitate and encourage classroom participation, positive interactions with teachers/peers and good study habits (Noble et al., 2008).
• Clear expectations of behaviour which are modeled and positively reinforced with shared celebratory moments.
• Ongoing and consistent support from school leadership (Noble et al., 2008).
• Use of engaging and inclusive pedagogical approaches (Noble et al., 2008) and innovative strategies that cater for student needs and offer opportunities for extension for all learners.
• Explicit links made to the goals of the educational context and the system with students, teachers and the school community having a clear shared understanding that everyone can succeed and will be supported to do so.
• Processes in place to ensure and encourage a high participation of all students in wellbeing initiatives.
We strongly support the suggestion by Noble et al. (2008), stressing the importance of appointing a wellbeing coordinator or team to oversee the implementation of any wellbeing initiatives. We also suggest that it is important to analytically and critically review practice to know when initiates are effectively achieving the desired outcomes or when change is required so that informed decision-making can occur.
Key Question
Consider the different perspectives that you need to take into account:
• What does high participation look like, feel like and sound like for people with disabilities, learning difficulties, English as second language or dialect, first peoples, gifted and talented students, indeed for all individuals? How do you evidence that this is occurring?
Figure 5.9 Photograph by Audi Nissen on unsplash
Conclusion
We, together with McCallum and Price (2016) argue that even though academic achievement continues to be a high priority within educational contexts, addressing wellbeing across the whole educational community as well as in the learning environment, curriculum, pedagogy, policies, procedures and partnerships domains, is of upmost importance.
By investing in whole of educational context wellbeing programs and initiatives in conjunction with academic development, Scoffham and Barnes (2011) likewise argue that there will be significant benefits not only for student wellbeing, but also to student achievement, teacher wellbeing and productivity. Wellbeing then requires a whole educational context approach, where wellbeing is embedded in a context’s policies, curriculum, structures and practices, and as a shared responsibility of all stakeholders. This Chapter has endeavoured to grow thinking about wellbeing behaviour and ecology, as well as highlighting a way of evidencing and supporting wellbeing growth, emphasising the importance of aligning the values of an educational context, and ways of working, with the pathways that help enable wellbeing. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_Wellbeing_in_Educational_Contexts_(Carter_and_Andersen)/1.05%3A_Pragmatic_Applications_of_Embedding_an_Education_Wide_Focus_on_Wellbeing.txt |
Key Concept
• Ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing using evidence based and contextual self-assessment.
Guiding question:
• How can wellbeing be enacted and promoted in my context?
Figure 6.1 Photograph of hand holding by Rawpixel on unsplash.
Forming connections and fitting in is associated with positive wellbeing. Consider then, how do educational contexts create a sense of connection and belonging.
Introduction
There is increasing understanding that educational contexts have an important role to play in supporting the social and emotional development of children and young people. Interventions undertaken in educational context settings have the potential to influence a range of social, health and mental health outcomes. Evidence suggests that good mental and physical health not only optimises a young person’s academic performance but also enhances the ability to cope with the challenges and stressors of daily life, and thereby to become a productive member of society in the longer term.
We draw your attention to wellbeing considerations for all people but especially challenge you to think about how you meet the needs of people with disabilities, some of whom have a comorbidity of disabilities or special needs, may be profoundly disabled and could also be non-verbal. Consider also the stress factors that may be present in some families who are dealing with very complex and challenging issues. How best can we then understand the complex needs of an individual?
Although wellbeing can be seen principally as relating to the individual, a social conception of wellbeing transfers attention to the interplay of individuals, incorporating the social and cultural dimensions that they arbitrate as contributing to their satisfaction with life. This Chapter explores ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing using evidence based and contextual self-assessment as a means of understanding the concept of wellbeing from an individual, classroom, educational context, and system perspective, and what is exactly occurring within your own educational community context. In this chapter we also suggest a way of developing a wellbeing framework based upon evidence-based practice and we include numerous practical templates for use or adaption. We acknowledge the limitations of some of the templates when applied in various settings such as early childhood, special education units, and we seek your input to co-create more meaningful resources. Please feel welcome to contact us, our details in the Foreword section of this book.
Activity
Before undertaking an ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing within your own context, consider what both terms might mean for you, and how they might apply to your context.
Let’s now examine how literature defines contextual and ecological analysis. Spencer (2007) defines ecological analysis as an investigation of the relationship between individuals and each other, and their relationship to their physical surroundings. Wu and David (2002) expanded this a little further by proposing that individuals’ perceptions about settings and their experiences within an environment matter, and that ecological analysis is a process of understanding how individuals’ experiences contribute to ‘making sense’ of situations and experiences negotiated progressively over time and place. Thus, an ecological analysis of wellbeing provides an opportunity to investigate the wide variety of bidirectional, and individual-context interactions that in turn, contribute to the construct that is well being. George et al., (2015) define context as the circumstances that impact on a setting or event, and contextual analysis as the process of understanding the broader range of relationships that influence the outcome of a subject being investigated within that setting or event. Thus, according to Smith, Montagno, and Kuzmenko (2004), a contextual analysis is an analysis of a context within both its historical and cultural setting, the qualities that characterize it, and the characteristics of the ecology/environment that influence these.
An ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing within a specific context /worksite offers an opportunity to investigate information about whether or not an approach / strategy / intervention ‘fits’ within the context in which it has been implemented, and provides a ‘snapshot’ of measurable community characteristics and evidence as to whether a wellbeing strategy has been implemented effectively, has been useful, and/ or has been accepted by a particular community.
Factors influencing wellbeing
The World Health Organization {WHO} (2013) identifies supporting environments for well-being to be a key responsibility of educational contexts. WHO (2013) points to a range of research which has found that educational context connectedness, or the feeling of closeness to context staff and the context’s environment decreases the likelihood of health risk behaviours during adolescence. Educational contexts with a climate of confidence and respect among principals,staff,pupils and parents reflect the lowest rates of general anxiety,school anxiety and emotional and psychosomatic balance among children and young people.
“A positive educational experience and a good level of academic achievement can contribute significantly to enhancing self-esteem and confidence, better employment, life opportunities and social support” (Department of Education and Skills Health Service Executive and Department of Health {DESHSEDH}, 2013, p.8). Life skills education, strongly supported by Weare and Nind (2011) and the WHO (2013), are viewed as a preventive measures for a range of health and social problems, and include the development of skills such as: decision making/ problem solving; creative thinking/ critical thinking; communication/ interpersonal skills; self-awareness/ empathy; coping with emotions/ coping with stress. In contrast, poor engagement and achievement in an educational context setting is a risk factor for a range of social, health and mental health problems such as substance misuse, unwanted teenage pregnancy, crime and conduct problems.
A study by Kidger, Gunnell, Biddle, Campbell, and Donovan (2010) identified that teachers also were a key factor influencing the emotional health and well being of students. However, Kidger et al. (2010) also noted that in instances where teachers’ own emotional health needs were neglected, this left them with little ability, and in some cases an unwillingness, to cater for the wellbeing of students. The findings from the study conclusively endorsed whole-school approaches to wellbeing which also focused on teachers’ training and support needs. This study highlights the importance of wellbeing programs that focus on the whole educational community context, fore fronting the health and wellbeing of all staff and all students.
Broadly speaking then, factors that have an influence on wellbeing across all populations can be grouped into three key areas: individual, community and structural.
Key Questions
Consider your own context for a moment.
• What factors influence wellbeing within your own context? What factors can your school influence?
• What supports are currently in place within your context that support the positive development of wellbeing?
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory
Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory summarised decades of theory and research about the fundamental progressions that guide life-span development, and stressed the importance of studying an individual within the context of the multiple environments in which they are positioned (Darling, 2007). Bronfenbrenner defined this as an ecological system which contributed to understanding of how a person grows and develops, which in turn develops a deeper understanding of individuals, their needs and their wellbeing. Ecological Systems Theory then has potential to be a useful framework for understanding how inherent qualities of an individual’s environment interacts to influence how they develop and grow.
Within this theory, Bronfenbrenner (1979) devised classifications for various levels and degrees of intervening influence on a person’s development, with these systems referred to as a “system of layers, with each layer located inside the other, similar to that of Russian nesting dolls” (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. 22). Bronfenbrenner’s perspective reinforced the critical and pervasive role that the Microsystem {the immediate environment of the individual including everyone that they interact with on a regular basis.}; the Mesosystem {the interaction between members/components of the microsystem}; the Exosystem {the broader environment that directly affects the immediate environment of the individual}; the Macrosystem{the overarching system that consists of culture, laws, economy, politics, etc}; and the Chronosystem {how certain variable affect the individual over time, including life events and changes in socioeconomic status} had on influencing an individual’s behaviour, as shown in Figure 6.2.
Figure 6.2: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development Model (Source: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence).
Since Bronfenbrenner’s initial Ecological Systems Theory theory was proposed, Bowes and Hayes (1999) have added several other components to Bronfenbrenner’s model. Firstly, individual characteristics were introduced, such as temperament and gender, followed by the addition of historical factors impacting on current behaviours attitudes and practices, with the acknowledgment that these vary over time.
Within this extended Ecological Systems Theory model:
• The microsystem is the smallest and most immediate and most intimate of environments {e.g., daily home}, and includes those interactions which occur closest to the individual.
• The mesosystem includes the interaction of the different microsystems such as, linkages between home and school, between peer group and family.
• The exosystem pertains to the linkages that may exist between two or more settings, one of which may not contain the child or young person but affects the child or young person indirectly. This could be other people and places which the child or young person may not directly interact with but may still have an effect on the child or young person {e.g., care giver’/ parents’ workplaces}.
• The macrosystem, understood to be more distant from the child or young person, includes influences such as cultural beliefs, values and practices from the wider community. Bronfenbrenner (1995) claimed that we experience “progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active evolved bio-psychological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate environment… this interaction must occur on a fairly regular basis…. Such enduring forms of interaction in the immediate environment are referred to as proximal processes” (Bronfenbrenner, 1995, p.621).
• The chronosystem contributes the useful dimension of time, which demonstrates the influence of both change and constancy in the child’s / young person’s environment. The chronosystem may therefore include a change in family structure, residence, parental employment status, and social and political changes such as housing market crashes. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory is useful beyond the developing child / young person but has application to any individual’s development.
Activity
Consider Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model and reflect on how this model may be useful in helping teachers to better understand and support their students.
Other researchers have applied and adapted Bronfenbrenner’s model to understandings about particular disabilities. A biomedical model has powerfully shaped and historically been a key way of understanding and supporting mental health in children and young people (Deanon, 2013). More recently, the emergence of a body of early childhood and health literature has recognised the influence which biological, psychological and social factors can have on children’s / young people’s health, learning and development. (Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing {ADHA}, 2014)
However, while the Ecological Systems Theory Model offers a potential framework for use in an ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing within a educational context and community, Armitage, Béné, Charles, Johnson, and Allison (2012) argue that caution needs to be exercised in using only one framework or approach in the analysis of wellbeing. Instead Armitage et al., (2012) propose “the development of hybrid approaches and innovative combinations of social and ecological theory in order to provide signposts and analytical tools to understand complexity and change” (p.12) with an educational context.
Activity
Consider your own context for a moment and the supports that you believe are in place for the positive development of wellbeing.
1. Construct an ecological model for yourself and your own wellbeing in your work context.
2. Construct an ecological model for someone whose wellbeing you are concerned about in your work context.
Developing an educational context framework
It is suggested that educational contexts develop a framework to ensure that wellbeing is an explicit focus within the educational community. The question then becomes, what goes into the framework. Reviewing the information shared in Chapter 3, Garrison (2011) defined a framework as a set of beliefs, rules or thinking that outline what actions can be undertaken. White (2010) suggested that a wellbeing framework is “a social process with material, relational, and subjective dimensions” (p.158). We suggest that a wellbeing framework should align with the beliefs and values espoused by the educational community context; clearly outline the shared definition underpinned by a deep knowledge of the possible impactors and enablers to wellbeing; include pathways for enactment; and ways it be evaluated at individual, community and structural levels where educational context community input is sought with open communication and relationships as central components. We suggest that your framework begins with your educational context vision and beliefs. In the following section we suggest that you use a model, guiding questions and a checklist and surveys to evaluate your progress.
How is wellbeing evidenced
At the start of the chapter we posed a guiding question for you to consider. The guiding question was how is wellbeing enhanced? How do you know what you know about wellbeing? What are you using to evidence your judgements? What follows are photographic examples, and resources for use in educational contexts that have been developed to assist you in investigating wellbeing within your own educational communities. The resources have been provided as a guide, a way of working to inform your wellbeing journey, and as a means of ensuring that your judgements are evidenced based. The examples may be adapted to suit different models and educational communities. We suggest that you use a variety of artefacts to evidence practice. This gathering of evidence could be done at a classroom level by individual teachers; a year levels/ teaching teams; and a whole of educational context level.
School examples of practice
Creating a sense of belonging where people are connected to the educational context , feel safe and also know that they have realistic learning opportunities, helps to nurture wellbeing. We have taken a variety of photographs to help model how elements of wellbeing promotion can be evidenced. There are many ways to see wellbeing within an educational context, and the following (Figures 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6) illustrate a small snapshot of possible ideas.
Figure 6.3 Photograph of Values. (2018), Australia, USQ.
Values are clearly displayed in multiple places throughout the school contributing to a culture of care and respect for other (see Figure 6.3). These same values are on display in all classrooms beside the positive behaviour expectations, in every play space, in the office, the staffroom and the meeting rooms, are linked to verbally in every parade, and associated with positive reinforcement through STAR awards.
Educational contexts should be committed to providing safe, inviting and welcoming learning spaces so that students experience a feeling of belonging. These spaces should also be places of quality learning and teaching where the learning needs of each individual are acknowledged and catered for so that success as determined differently by each individual, can be experienced and celebrated (as shown in Figure 6.4).
Figure 6.4 Photograph of an inviting classroom with scaffolded learning where the focus was on quality learning and teaching. (2018), Australia, USQ.
Pictured below in Figure 6.5 is the intensive learning classroom which is rich in visual scaffolding helping to support the delivery of explicit instruction.
Figure 6.5 Photograph of materials to support explicit instruction. (2018), Australia, USQ.
Below in Figure 6.6, a shared language is evidence around the establishment of a shared professional dialogue and way of working where all students are welcome, teachers are challenged to create a sense of belonging for every student and the needs of individual students are a key focus through ‘Welcome Me, Know Me, and Help Me to Learn’.
Figure 6.6 Photograph of a meeting room whiteboard illustrating: ‘Welcome Me, Know Me, Help Me to Learn’. (2018), Australia, USQ Photography.
This photograph captures a way of working where the needs of the child are fore fronted and the focus is on student engagement in learning. The photograph was taken in the meeting room and ‘Welcome Me’, ‘Know Me’, and ‘Help Me Learn’ regularly featured in pedagogical discussion, year levels meetings and staff meetings. Teachers and teacher aides are also engaged in professional development opportunities to further enhance their understanding was to be enacted.
Resources for use in schools to formulate a wellbeing framework
We suggest that your framework begins with your educational context vision and beliefs. We assume that this has already been developed and regularly reviewed with your context’s annual plan. By linking it specifically to the wellbeing framework alignment can be scaffolded.
1. In the following section we suggest that you use a model and we have provided a template:
• Table 6.1 Growing Inclusive Wellbeing, in a word format (also shown as Figure 6.7)
1. We have then provided a list of guiding questions:
• Table 6.2 Guiding Questions
1. There is also a possible checklist/ brainstorm sheet for data gathering of possible impactors and enablers and potential school response actions.
• Table 6.3 Checklist for enablers and impactors.
1. We have provided a checklist for data gathering information about whole school wellbeing.
• Table 6.4 Whole educational community growing inclusive wellbeing checklist
1. We have linked a variety of surveys to inform your thinking and these surveys are targeted at different groups.
• Table 6.5 Survey on wellbeing;
• Table 6.6 Individual level growing inclusive wellbeing checklist for the Principal and school staff;
• Table 6.7 Individual wellbeing level growing inclusive wellbeing checklist for students
While we have provided the surveys in a template form there is no reason that these surveys could to be redeveloped and used in a multi-modal format (e.g., Survey Monkey) and made to suit your specific context. In providing a range of surveys it is hoped that you can select what best suits your context and /or to use different surveys at differing times of the year and cross validate the data findings {e.g., beginning or end of the year}.
Start with the vision, values and a model
The text in the following section has the various resources, labelled as Tables, hyperlinked as word documents so that you can use the resources and personalise them for your context. We suggest you start with a model (word form hyperlinked here (Table 6.1 Growing Inclusive Wellbeing), also shown below as a snapshot of the template (Figure 6.7: ‘Growing Inclusive Wellbeing’).
Figure 6.7 Growing Inclusive Wellbeing
Guiding questions for schools
We recognise that educational contexts are unique contexts full of creative people and we expect that each educational context will generate other questions to guide their designing, enacting and reflecting upon wellbeing. We know that educational contexts are also busy places and that judgments are made that are not always evidenced based and these judgments are not always correct. We encourage critical reflection and challenge you to try to uncover assumptions and practices that may or may not promote wellbeing. Further to this we hope that every educational contexts endeavours to engage all members in growing inclusive wellbeing. In the Hyperlinked activity below, we provide some guiding questions to help school communities on their journey with wellbeing. We also provide some challenge questions around a simple thinking frame of ‘Welcome Me’, ‘Know Me’, and ‘Help Me Learn’.
This way of thinking – ‘Welcome Me’, ‘Know Me’, and ‘Help Me Learn’, when enacted can become part of an embedded inclusive culture that enables wellbeing for everyone. People can use this to support the special needs of each individual whether they are a student, a parent, a teacher or another staff member.
Scenario
Angela, a new single mother arrives at the school and enrolls her year 6 child Jo. Upon enrollment Angela is introduced to the school community liaison officer who takes the time to try and get to know Angela and establish the beginnings of a positive relationship with Angela. This is the ‘welcome me’ in action.
Jo, the year 6 student is away from school for several days.
Activity
• What assumption does the class teacher make? What action needs to occur?
As part of the ‘Welcome Me’ a possible way of working that may help to establish educational context belonging is for the educational context community liaison officer, as part of their regular routine work, to call the family on day three at the school, at the end of week 2 and then at the end of term. Imagine if the parent liaison officer telephones the mother and it is revealed that the mother’s car has broken down and she cannot afford to fix it and so has no way of getting Jo to school. This is the ‘Know Me’ in action. With this information the parent liaison officer can then utilise networks and contextual understandings and linkage with others to ensure that Jo is transported to and from school. Consider how this may benefit Jo in terms of learning, engage, school connectedness and wellbeing. If the community liaison officer makes Angela and Jo aware of the local bus and church community groups that can help ensure transport to and from shops and possible medical appointments while Angela is saving money to fix the car, this then becomes the ‘Help Me Learn’. Angela and Jo can then learn about how to link into community networks to ensure their needs are meet. The expectation is then not one of learned helplessness but one of learning how to engage with school community networks. Consider also if Angela had English as a second language and was a refugee. Consider how hard would it be for Jo to engage in quality teaching and learning and have positive wellbeing. ‘Welcome Me, Know Me and Help Me to Learn’ can be enacted for anyone through whole school community commitment and a shared knowledge language and way of working. In Table 6.2 Guiding Questions, we model a way of questioning that links to ‘Welcome Me, Know Me and Help Me to Learn’.
Hyperlinked here is a word document which may be of use, Table 6.3 Checklist for Enablers and Impactors which outlines a possible brainstorm list that schools can use to consider impactors and enablers. This checklist is useful to explore:
• Can impactors be mitigated? If so how?
• Can enablers be further developed? If so How?
We have not listed all of the impactors and enablers, rather we have brainstormed a base list that school communities can add to and contextualise. We suggest using this checklist firstly from the perspective of the individual child, or individual teacher, individual principal or other staff member. This could be completed by the individual themselves and then the how do you know conversation could involve a buddy, mentor, or trusted other person. We then suggest that this same sheet could be of use when you look from the educational context‘s community perspective (e.g. what supports are evident from the context’s community for an individual with their academic performance; with their homework etc) and this should be done with input from all stakeholder groups, staff, students and parents/caregivers.
Growing Inclusive Wellbeing Checklist
The following evidence-based practice checklist utilises the 12 pathways to wellbeing (outlined in chapter 5). In this checklist evidence refers to information, processes, strategies, ways of working and data that are implemented or happening in the context. Evidence provides information in relation to whether a process, strategy or way of working, is feasible to implement; useful; likely to be accepted by a school community; and whether it is a potential vehicle for change. The term artefact refers to those items, things, policies and awards, that are captured in moment {e.g., a photograph} and these are physical forms of evidence. Evidence such as artefacts offer a ‘snapshot’ of wellbeing within an educational community context. Please use Table 6.4 Whole Educational Community Growing Inclusive Wellbeing Checklist.
Survey on wellbeing
We suggest that you work with all stakeholder groups and alter the wording on the survey captured here in Table 6.5 Survey on wellbeing . We have also included here an individual survey for the educational leader / principal/ school staff which can be modified to best suit your context, captured here in Table 6.6 Individual level growing inclusive wellbeing checklist for the Principal and School Staff . We have also included an individual survey captured her in Table 6.7 Individual wellbeing level- growing inclusive wellbeing checklist for students that specifically targets students and we encourage you to modify it so it is age appropriate and context specific . The surveys are designed to find out what works and what isn’t working and ways for improvement. We strongly encourage educational contexts to build upon their strengths. The surveys can be used in conjunction with normal data gathering cycles and may be useful in informing evidenced-based student and staff engagement discussions. The educational community can then consider how to collate, share, analyse and respond to the data and we suggest that existing committee structures could be used so a focus on wellbeing becomes an embedded way of working.
Summary
This chapter explored the ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing using evidence based and contextual self-assessment as a means of understanding the concept of wellbeing from an individual, educational context, and system level, and challenges educational communities to review what is occurring within their context. Research clearly highlights the importance of a whole of context approach on wellbeing. As authors and educators, we hope that the material shared within this text has been useful in furthering your understanding of wellbeing and in offering suggestions for the development and implementation of a whole education context wellbeing program and focus.
1.07: Conclusion
Photograph of joyously creating with paint by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexel
In this text ‘Wellbeing in Educational Contexts’ we have encouraged readers to to look at what is occurring in your educational context, remembering there are many ways to view the same picture, (e.g., seeing the joyous colours and expressions or the cleanup required after the painting) depending upon which lens is used and what assumptions unpin thinking and behaviour. We have endeavoured to synthesize some current research that links to educational contexts and make a new contribution to the field by presenting a model “Growing Inclusive Wellbeing” and possible templates that can help guide educational contexts to formulate their own wellbeing framework that is based upon evidence-based practice.
In chapter one we charted a possible way of meaning making through engaging with the text and prior knowledge. In chapter two we explored various theoretical conceptualisations of wellbeing using the guiding question: what is wellbeing? In chapter three we presented policy, frameworks and legislation that has informed the emphasis on wellbeing using the guiding question: how is wellbeing enacted? In chapter four we outlined possible impactors and enablers to wellbeing through the guiding question: how is wellbeing enhanced? In chapter five we explored ways of embedding an education wide focus on wellbeing using the guiding question: how is wellbeing enacted and embedded? In the final chapter we explored the ecological and contextual analysis of wellbeing in relation to a workplace wellbeing framework through the guiding question: how can wellbeing be enacted and promoted in my context? We also presented resources for use in educational contexts.
We sincerely hope that the material presented has been useful to readers in deepening their knowledge of wellbeing and also in providing some guidance into how a framework can be developed and then wellbeing embedded. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book%3A_Wellbeing_in_Educational_Contexts_(Carter_and_Andersen)/1.06%3A_in_your_context.txt |
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand that a résumé is a marketing document that sells your candidacy and represents you when you are not there.
2. Get specific ideas of how to quantify your accomplishments and create a résumé that proves your worth to past employers, which then proves your worth to future employers.
A well-written résumé can do seven specific things for you and your job search:
It Represents You When You Are Not There
Your résumé can be uploaded to global job boards like Monster, CareerBuilder, and others in a few minutes. It can be sent to a company’s online database with a push of a button. It can then be shared with dozens of recruiters and hiring managers without you even knowing about it. In fact, it’s a lot easier to get your résumé in front of a recruiter than it is to have a physical presence in their office; therefore, make certain it’s a well-written, well-positioned document that makes an exceptional first impression.
It Quantifies Your Accomplishments
The best résumés quantify results and accomplishments clearly and easily. Here are some examples:
1. If you reduced errors by 35 percent, if you increased profits by 55 percent, and if 75 percent of your customers are repeat customers, include this information clearly, succinctly, and proudly.
2. If you have been a student teacher with thirty-five students in a classroom and student grades improved by 25 percent, include that as well.
3. If you have worked as an administrative assistant in a dentist’s office and you are part of a marketing team that has increased new patient accounts by 10 percent last quarter, include that!
4. If you worked in the school library and the number of lost books has declined by 50 percent, or if you provide guidance to approximately fifty students per day, that information should be in your résumé.
Quantifying your accomplishments gives your résumé readers the specific information they need to know about your abilities and to be intrigued by what you can do for them.
It Clearly States Your Abilities
Focus on the results of your actions. Being results oriented helps résumé readers understand your abilities. What exactly do you do, or what have you done in the past? Your résumé should answer this question very quickly. For example, if you have been responsible for opening and closing a retail store on a daily basis and for managing the register that took in approximately \$5,000 worth of merchandise a day, state that clearly and concisely. If you have written three to four sports articles for your school paper every month for the past three years, include that as well. The more you quantify your accomplishments, the more your abilities will be understood.
It Shows Your Command of the Written Word
You don’t have to be an English major to make sure that your résumé is well-written. If your school has a career services department that offers résumé workshops, be sure to participate in them. Ask an older sibling who is in the workplace to review your résumé before it goes into cyberspace or to a future employer. Other options include asking a teacher, professor, or perhaps someone with whom you worked with or for in the past to review your résumé. Whatever the case, it is your responsibility to have a well-written résumé. You can pay for résumé-writing services, but finding someone who knows the basics of solid résumé writing may be all you need, along with this textbook. Remember that if it has one misspelled word, your résumé could easily be dismissed, along with your candidacy. It’s critical that your résumé be accurate and well written.
It Creates Talking Points for Your Future Interviews
Clearly listing your accomplishments and quantifying those accomplishments can create talking points for your future interviews. For example, perhaps your bullet point is the following:
• Responsible for the intake and outtake of approximately 1,000 books daily, ensuring that all library users are logged into the new electronic database, which has decreased the number of lost books by 80 percent in the past year.
Many individuals have to think about the results of their work. Including this detailed information in your résumé actually allows you to easily talk about the value you’ve brought to previous employers. During an interview, with the preceding example in mind, you can easily talk about how you use technology to improve processes. You can discuss the team environment of the library staff and how you are all working toward decreasing the number of lost books. It shows that you have positively affected the bottom line by helping libraries hold onto books versus losing them, which results in unnecessary fees to library users.
It Proves Your Worth to Your Past Employers
Whenever including bullet points about past work, always tie your efforts to the bottom line. Earlier examples in this chapter included the following accomplishments:
• Reducing errors by 35 percent
• Increasing profits by 55 percent
• Boosting repeat sales to 75 percent
Information relating to a company’s bottom line is exactly what employers want to read. Highlighting results like these increases your chances of having your résumé noticed.
It Demonstrates What You Can Do for Your Future Employer
Unlike financial investments, past performance is an indicator of future success, so include and quantify your past performance, and future employers will be inclined to believe you can do the same for them. They will believe it, but you have to continue supporting that belief with your exceptional networking and interviewing skills (Chapter 7 and Chapter 8). Remember, however, that your résumé is introductory in nature. You want to get their attention and initiate their interest so your foot can inch ever closer to getting in their door.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• A résumé is a marketing document that represents you when you are not there.
• A résumé quantifies your accomplishments and proves your worth to your future employer by proving your worth to your previous employer.
Exercises
1. Quantify two or three accomplishments for each of your past employers (this can include paid and nonpaid work experiences).
2. Create two or three bullets for each of your past work experiences and use them to note quantified accomplishments.
3. Share your bullet points with a peer and ask that person to critique your points while you critique your peer’s accomplishments. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Book:_Job_Searching_in_Six_Steps/4.01:_Purpose_and_Goal_of_a_R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9.txt |
Desire! That’s the one secret of every man’s career. —Johnny Carson, entertainer
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Describe the stages of career development, and identify the stage you are currently in
• Identify career development resources in your school, community, and beyond
Career Development
See if you can remember a time in your childhood when you noticed somebody doing professional work. Maybe a nurse or doctor, dressed in a lab coat, was listening to your heartbeat. Maybe a worker at a construction site, decked in a hard hat, was operating noisy machinery. Maybe a cashier at the checkout line in a grocery store was busily scanning bar codes. Each day in your young life you could have seen a hundred people doing various jobs. Surely some of the experiences drew your interest and appealed to your imagination.
If you can recall any such times, those are moments from the beginning stage of your career development.
What exactly is career development? It’s a lifelong process in which we become aware of, interested in, knowledgeable about, and skilled in a career. It’s a key part of human development as our identity forms and our life unfolds.
Stages of Career Development
There are five main stages of career development. Each stage correlates with attitudes, behaviors, and relationships we all tend to have at that point and age. As we progress through each stage and reach the milestones identified, we prepare to move on to the next one.
Table 1.1 CAREER DEVELOPMENT STAGES
# STAGE DESCRIPTION
1 GROWING This is a time in early years (4–13 years old) when you begin to have a sense about the future. You begin to realize that your participation in the world is related to being able to do certain tasks and accomplish certain goals.
2 EXPLORING This period begins when you are a teenager, and it extends into your mid-twenties. In this stage you find that you have specific interests and aptitudes. You are aware of your inclinations to perform and learn about some subjects more than others. You may try out jobs in your community or at your school. You may begin to explore a specific career. At this stage, you have some detailed “data points” about careers, which will guide you in certain directions.
3 ESTABLISHING This period covers your mid-twenties through mid-forties. By now you are selecting or entering a field you consider suitable, and you are exploring job opportunities that will be stable. You are also looking for upward growth, so you may be thinking about an advanced degree.
4 MAINTAINING This stage is typical for people in their mid-forties to mid-sixties. You may be in an upward pattern of learning new skills and staying engaged. But you might also be merely “coasting and cruising” or even feeling stagnant. You may be taking stock of what you’ve accomplished and where you still want to go.
5 REINVENTING In your mid-sixties, you are likely transitioning into retirement. But retirement in our technologically advanced world can be just the beginning of a new career or pursuit—a time when you can reinvent yourself. There are many new interests to pursue, including teaching others what you’ve learned, volunteering, starting online businesses, consulting, etc.
Keep in mind that your career development path is personal to you, and you may not fit neatly into the categories described above. Perhaps your socioeconomic background changes how you fit into the schema. Perhaps your physical and mental abilities affect how you define the idea of a “career.” And for everyone, too, there are factors of chance that can’t be predicted or anticipated. You are unique, and your career path can only be developed by you.
Activity 1.1: IDENTIFYING Your career development STAGE
Objective:
• To identify current career development stage(s), current obstacles, and next stage of development
Instructions:
• Review the 5 Stages of Career Development listed in the table above and answer the questions below.
1. Which stage of career development do you feel you are in currently?
2. Provide the 2 descriptions you identify with the most from your career development stage.
3. What challenges are you facing now in your career development?
4. Where are you headed next in your career development path?
Career Development Resources in Your College, Community, and Beyond
Career experts say that people will change careers (not to mention jobs) five to seven times in a lifetime. So your career will likely not be a straight and narrow path. Be sure to set goals and assess your interests, skills and values often. Seek opportunities for career growth and enrichment. And take advantage of the rich set of resources available to you. Below are just a few.
Career Development Center on Campus
Whether you are a student, a graduate, or even an employer, you can obtain invaluable career development assistance at your college. Campus career centers can support, guide, and empower you in every step of the career development process, from initial planning to achieving lifelong career satisfaction. Visit the Career Development/Career Technical Education (CTE) Student Success Center at Santa Ana College in room L-222. There you can work with career staff to explore your personality type and career paths; you can also find online resources listed on their website: http://www.sac.edu/StudentServices/Counseling/CareerCenter/Pages/default.aspx. As part of your career exploration, the Career/CTE Center also provides the following services:
• Access to resources on careers and training programs
• Employment Preparation Workshops (Resume, Interview, and LinkedIn)
• Undecided Majors Counseling Appointments
• Employment Services include job listings and on-campus interviews
Books on Career Development
Going to college is one of the best steps you can take to prepare for a career. But soon-to-be or recently graduated students are not necessarily guaranteed jobs. Staying educated about strategies for developing your career and finding new jobs will help you manage ongoing transitions. The book The Secret to Getting a Job After College: Marketing Tactics to Turn Degrees into Dollars, by author Larry Chiagouris, was written specifically to help recent grads increase their chances of finding a job right after college. It speaks to students in all majors and provides tips and tactics to attract the attention of an employer and successfully compete with other candidates to get the job you want.
The following video provides an introduction to the book. You can download a transcript of the video here.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=26
Career Roadmap
You can use the Career Roadmap, from DePaul University, to evaluate where you are and where you want to be in your career/careers. It can help you decide if you want to change career paths and can guide you in searching for a new job. The road map identifies the following four cyclical steps:
1. Know yourself
2. Explore and choose options
3. Gain knowledge and experience
4. Put it all together: the job search process
You will learn more about these four steps throughout this course.
Plan, Do, Check, Act
Figure 1. PDCA
PDCA (plan–do–check–act), shown in Figure 1, above, is a four-step strategy for carrying out change. You can use it to evaluate where you are in the career-development process and to identify your next steps. The strategy is typically used in the business arena as a framework for improving processes and services. But you can think of your career as a personal product you are offering or selling.
1. PLAN: What are your goals and objectives? What process will you use to get to your targets? You might want to plan smaller to begin with and test out possible effects. For instance, if you are thinking of getting into a certain career, you might plan to try it out first as an intern or volunteer or on a part-time basis. When you start on a small scale, you can test possible outcomes.
2. DO: Implement your plan. Sell your product—which is YOU and your skills, talents, energy, and enthusiasm. Collect data as you go along; you will need it for charting and analyzing in the Check and Act steps ahead.
3. CHECK: Look at your results so far. Are you happy with your job or wherever you are in the career-development process? How is your actual accomplishment measuring up next to your intentions and wishes? Look for where you may have deviated in your intended steps. For example, did you take a job in another city when your initial plans were for working closer to friends and family? What are the pros and cons? If you like, create a chart that shows you all the factors. With a chart, it will be easier to see trends over several PDCA cycles.
4. ACT: How should you act going forward? What changes in planning, doing, and checking do you want to take? The PDCA framework is an ongoing process. Keep planning, doing, checking, and acting. The goal is continuous improvement.
Internet Sites for Career Planning
Visit the Internet Sites for Career Planning Web site at the National Career Development Association’s site. You will find extensive, definitive, and frequently updated information on the following topics: Online Employment; Self-Assessment; Career Development Process; Occupational Information; Employment Trends; Salary Information; Educational Information; Financial Aid Information; Apprenticeships and Other Alternative Training Opportunities; Job Search Instruction and Advice; Job Banks; Career Search Engines; Resources for Diverse Audiences; Resources and Services for Ex-Offenders; Resources and Services for Youth, Teen and Young Adults; Resources and Services the Older Client; Industry and Occupation Specific Information; Researching Employers; Social Networking Sites; Disabilities; Military.
Key Takeaways
• The five main stages of career development are unique for everyone and correlate with attitudes, behaviors, and relationships we all experience at certain points and ages in our lives.
• Since it’s common for people to change careers five to seven times in a lifetime, it’s important to set goals and examine your skills, interests, and values often.
• There are many career development resources available to you on campus, online, and beyond to assist you in identifying strategies and steps to creating a career path that works for you.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
• Career Development. Authored by: Linda Bruce. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
CC licensed content, Specific attribution
All rights reserved content
• The Secret to Getting a Job After College. Authored by: CT STYLE. Located at: https://youtu.be/OpeIqQ5qTjc. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/01%3A_Identifying_Your_Career_Profile/1.01%3A_Career_Development_Process.txt |
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
–Henry David Thoreau
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Explain how time management plays a factor in goal setting, leading to short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives.
• Identify your specific short, medium, and long-term goals.
• Identify and apply motivational strategies to support goal achievement.
• Explore the social aspects of achieving goals (networking, social media, etc.).
• Brainstorm factors that might hinder goal achievement and possible ways to address these issues.
Time Management and Goal Setting
There is no doubt that doing well in college is a sizable challenge. Every semester you have to adjust to new class schedules, instructors, classmates as well as learning objectives and requirements for each course. Along with that, you may be juggling school with work, family responsibilities, and social events. Do you feel confident that you can attend to all of them in a balanced, committed way? What will be your secret of success?
Success Begins with Goals
A goal is a desired result that you envision and then plan and commit to achieve. Goals can relate to family, education, career, wellness, spirituality, and many other areas of your life. Generally, goals are associated with finite time expectations, even deadlines.
As a college student, many of your goals are defined for you. For example, you must take certain courses, you must comply with certain terms and schedules, and you must turn in assignments at specified times. These goals are mostly set for you by someone else.
But there are plenty of goals for you to define yourself. For example, you decide what you would like to major in. You decide how long you are going to be in college or what terms you want to enroll in. You largely plan how you would like your studies to relate to employment and your career.
Goals can also be sidetracked. Consider the following scenario in which a student makes a discovery that challenges her to reexamine her goals, priorities, and timetables:
Janine had thought she would be an accountant, even though she knew little about what an accounting job might entail. Her math and organizational skills were strong, and she enjoyed taking economics courses as well as other courses in her accounting program. But when one of her courses required her to spend time in an accounting office working with taxes, she decided that accounting was not the right fit for her, due to the higher-stress environment and the late hours.
At first she was concerned that she invested time and money in a career path that was not a good fit. She feared that changing her major would add to her graduation time. Nevertheless, she did decide to change her major and her career focus.
Janine is now a statistician with a regional healthcare system. She is very happy with her work. Changing her major from accounting to statistics was the right decision for her.
This scenario represents some of the many opportunities we have, on an ongoing basis, to assess our relationship to our goals, reevaluate priorities, and adjust. Opportunities exist every day—every moment, really!
Below is a set of questions we can ask ourselves at any turn to help focus on personal goals:
1. What are my top-priority goals?
2. Which of my skills and interests make my goals realistic for me?
3. What makes my goals believable and possible?
4. Are my goals measurable? How long will it take me to reach them? How will I know if I have achieved them?
5. Are my goals flexible? What will I do if I experience a setback?
6. Are my goal controllable? Can I achieve them on my own?
7. Are my goals in sync with my values?
As you move through your college career, make a point to ask these questions regularly.
Aids to Successful Goal Setting
Watch the following overview of SMART goals – a memory aid in setting and evaluating goals to ensure that they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound. After watching the video, complete Activity 2.1.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=28
Activity 2.1: Identifying Your Goals
In order to achieve long-term goals (from college on), you will need to first achieve a series of shorter goals. Medium-term goals (this year and while in college) and short-term goals (today, this week, and this month) may take several days, weeks, months, or even a few years to complete, depending on your ultimate long-term goals. Complete the following Goals Activity to identify short and medium-term goals that will help you achieve your long-term goal.
Objectives
1. Identify 1 long-term academic or career goal.
2. Identify two related medium-term and two related short-term goals that will help you achieve your long-term goal.
3. Identify specific, measurable, achievable, relevant activities to achieve your identified goals by a certain timeframe.
Instructions
• Review the worksheet below, and fill in the blank sections to the best of your ability.
Guidelines
• Phrase goals as positive statements: Affirm your excitement and enthusiasm about attaining a goal by using positive language and expectations.
• Be exact: Set a precise goal that includes dates, times, and amounts, so that you have a basis for measuring your progress.
• Prioritize: Select your top goals, and put them in order of importance. This helps you understand the degree to which you value each of them. It will also help you better manage related tasks and not feel overwhelmed.
• Take the lead: Identify goals that are linked to your own performance, not dependent on the actions of other people or situations beyond your control.
• Be realistic but optimistic and ambitious: The goals you set should be achievable, but sometimes it pays to reach a little higher than what you may think is possible. Certainly don’t set your goals too low.
• Be hopeful, excited, and committed: Your enthusiasm and perseverance can open many doors!
GOAL PRIORITIES MY PRECISE GOALS WHAT I AM DOING NOW TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS
Example:
Long-term goal
I plan to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. My major will be Radio-Television-Film, and my minor will be Spanish I am attending the college of my choice and getting good grades in my major.
Example:
Related medium-term goal
I would like to study abroad in Spain before I graduate. I need to get busy with this! I will inquire this week about what I need to do next.
Example:
Related short-term goal
I will need to get financial aid for at least a portion of my studies. I have filled out the forms for financial aid. Last week I applied for a part-time job.
Identify your
Long-term goal
Identify a related
medium-term goal #1
Identify a related
medium-term goal #2
Identify a related
short-term goal #1
Identify a related
short-term goal #2
Motivational Strategies to Support You
Every day we make choices. Some are as simple as what clothes we decide to wear, what to eat for lunch, or how long to study for a test. But what about life-altering choices—the ones that leave us at a crossroads? How much thought do you give to taking Path A versus Path B? Do you like to plan and schedule your choices, by making a list of pros and cons, for instance? Or do you prefer to make decisions spontaneously and just play the cards that life deals you as they come?
The videos that follow are about choices for success. The first video introduces you to “growth mindset” by Carol Dweck and the second video discusses “grit” quality by Angela Duckworth. Watch them with a keen eye and ear. Take notes, too. You might pick up some good ideas for strategies that can help you reach your goals.
The power of “yet” by Carol Dweck
Carol Dweck is a professor at Stanford and the author of Mindset, a classic work on motivation and “growth mindset.” Her work is influential among educators and increasingly among business leaders as well. She researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet?
Passion and Perseverance or “Grit” by Angela Duckworth
Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.
After watching the videos, reflect on how you can improve the ways you currently set goals to allow you the opportunity to apply “grit” and use your “growth mindset” in order to successfully accomplish your goals.
Social Aspects of Achieving Your Goals
Setting goals can be a challenge, but working toward them, once you’ve set them, can be an even greater challenge—often because it implies that you will be making changes in your life. You might be creating new directions of thought or establishing new patterns of behavior, discarding old habits or starting new ones. Change will always be the essence of achieving your goals.
You may find that as you navigate this path of change, one of your best resources is your social network. Your family, friends, roommates, coworkers, and others can help you maintain a steady focus on your goals. They can encourage and cheer you on, offer guidance when needed, share knowledge and wisdom they’ve gained, and possibly partner with you in working toward shared goals and ambitions. Your social network is a gold mine of support.
Here are some easy ways you can tap into goal-supporting “people power”:
• Make new friends
• Study with friends
• Actively engage with the college community
• Volunteer to help others
• Join student organizations
• Get an internship
• Work for a company related to your curriculum
• Stay connected via social media (but use it judiciously)*
• Keep a positive attitude
• Congratulate yourself on all you’ve done to get where you are
*A note about social media: More than 98 percent of college-age students use social media, says Experian Simmons. Twenty-seven percent of those students spent more than six hours a week on social media (UCLA, 2014). The University of Missouri, though, indicates in a 2015 study that this level of use may be problematic. It can lead to symptoms of envy, anxiety, and depression. Still, disconnecting from social media may have a negative impact, too, and further affect a student’s anxiety level.
Is there a healthy balance? If you feel overly attached to social media, you may find immediate and tangible benefit in cutting back. By tapering your use, your can devote more time to achieving your goals. You can also gain a sense of freedom and more excitement about working toward your goals.
Dealing with Setbacks and Obstacles
At times, unexpected events and challenges can get in the way of best-laid plans. For example, you might get sick or injured or need to deal with a family issue or a financial crisis. Earlier in this section we considered a scenario in which a student realized she needed to change her major and her career plans. Such upsets, whether minor or major, may trigger a need to take some time off from school—perhaps a term or a year. Your priorities may shift. You may need to reevaluate your goals.
Problem-Solving Strategies
Below is a simple list of four problem-solving strategies. They can be applied to any aspect of your life.
1. What is the problem? Define it in detail. How is it affecting me and other people?
2. How are other people dealing with this problem? Are they adjusting their time management skills? Can they still complete responsibilities, and on time?
3. What is my range of possible solutions? Are solutions realistic? How might these solutions help me reach my goal/s?
4. What do I need to do to implement solutions?
You may wish to also review the earlier set of questions about focusing with intention on goals.
Be confident that you can return to your intended path in time. Acknowledge the ways in which you need to regroup. Read inspiring words from people who have faced adversity and gained. Line up your resources, be resolved, and proceed with certainty toward your goals.
Key Takeaways
Success with goals (any goals—education, family, career, finances, etc.) is essentially a three-part process:
1. Identify your goals (specifically long-term, medium-term and short-term goals).
2. Set priorities to accomplish these goals.
3. Manage your time according to the priorities you have set.
By following these three straightforward steps, you can more readily achieve goals because you clearly organize the process and follow through with commitment. Focus your sights on what you want to acquire, attain, or achieve. Prioritize the steps you need to take to get there. And organize your tasks into manageable chunks and blocks of time. These are the roadways to accomplishment and fulfillment.
In the following passage from Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom, former political-science student Patricia Munsch—now a college counselor—reflects on how a structured, conscientious approach to decision-making and goal setting in college can lead to fulfillment and achievement.
What Do You Enjoy Studying?
There is a tremendous amount of stress placed on college students regarding their choice of major. Everyday, I meet with students regarding their concern about choosing right major; the path that will lead to a fantastic, high-paying position in a growth industry. There is a hope that one decision, your college major, will have a huge impact on the rest of your life.
Students shy away from subject areas they enjoy due to fear that such coursework will not lead to a job. I am disappointed in this approach. As a counselor I always ask—what do you enjoy studying? Based on this answer it is generally easy to choose a major or a family of majors. I recognize the incredible pressure to secure employment after graduation, but forcing yourself to choose a major that you may not have any actual interest in because a book or website mentioned the area of growth may not lead to the happiness you predict.
Working in a college setting I have the opportunity to work with students through all walks of life, and I do believe based on my experience, that choosing a major because it is listed as a growth area alone is not a good idea. Use your time in college to explore all areas of interest and utilize your campus resources to help you make connections between your joy in a subject matter and the potential career paths. Realize that for most people, in most careers, the undergraduate major does not lead to a linear career path.
As an undergraduate student I majored in Political Science, an area that I had an interest in, but I added minors in Sociology and Women’s Studies as my educational pursuits broadened. Today, as a counselor, I look back on my coursework with happy memories of exploring new ideas, critically analyzing my own assumptions, and developing an appreciation of social and behavioral sciences. So to impart my wisdom in regards to a student’s college major, I will always ask, what do you enjoy studying?
Once you have determined what you enjoy studying, the real work begins. Students need to seek out academic advisement. Academic advisement means many different things; it can include course selection, course completion for graduation, mapping coursework to graduation, developing opportunities within your major and mentorship.
As a student I utilized a faculty member in my department for semester course selection, and I also went to the department chairperson to organize two different internships to explore different career paths. In addition, I sought mentorship from club advisors as I questioned my career path and future goals. In my mind I had a team of people providing me support and guidance, and as a result I had a great college experience and an easy transition from school to work.
I recommend to all students that I meet with to create their own team. As a counselor I can certainly be a part of their team, but I should not be the only resource. Connect with faculty in your department or in your favorite subject. Seek out internships as you think about the transition from college to workplace. Find mentors through faculty, club advisors, or college staff. We all want to see you succeed and are happy to be a part of your journey.
As a counselor I am always shocked when students do not understand what courses they need to take, what grade point average they need to maintain, and what requirements they must fulfill in order to reach their goal—graduation! Understand that as a college student it is your responsibility to read your college catalog and meet all of the requirements for graduation from your college. I always suggest that students, starting in their first semester, outline or map out all of the courses they need to take in order to graduate. Of course you may change your mind along the way, but by setting out your plan to graduation you are forcing yourself to learn what is required of you.
I do this exercise in my classes and it is by far the most frustrating for students. They want to live in the now and they don’t want to worry about next semester or next year. However, for many students that I see, the consequence of this decision is a second semester senior year filled with courses that the student avoided during all the previous semesters. If you purposefully outline each semester and the coursework for each, you can balance your schedule, understand your curriculum and feel confident that you will reach your goal.
—Dr. Patricia Munsch, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content
• SMART Goals - Quick Overview . Located at: https://youtu.be/1-SvuFIQjK8. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/01%3A_Identifying_Your_Career_Profile/1.02%3A_Goals_and_Motivations.txt |
When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.
Roy Disney
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Define your work values.
• Learn steps to a rational decision-making model.
• Understand how making decisions based on values can lead to career satisfaction.
Values
An essential part in your self discovery journey of your career exploration process is identifying what is most important to you–your values–and learn how they influence and motivate your goals. Values drive our actions and they motivate your goals. Your goals help you establish your priorities in life, guide your decision-making, and affect your evaluation of your success and happiness in life. Take time to reflect what being successful means to you. It will be different for you than for other people. Think of your values as you are thinking about becoming successful.
Values
As defined at CareerOneStop, a source for employment information sponsored by the US Department of Labor:
• Values are your beliefs about what is important or desirable.
• When your values line up with how you live and work, you tend to feel more satisfied and confident.
• Living or working in ways that contradict your values can lead to dissatisfaction, confusion, and discouragement. So there is good reason to clarify your values, and seek to match your work to them.
Identify Your Work Values
Watch the following video of the US First Lady Michelle Obama speaking to an audience of students and reminds each one to take their education seriously — and never take it for granted. Listen as she references the value of education throughout this video.
A TED element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=30
The best career choices are ones that match your values. So do you know what are your values are? Complete the following activity to review the work values that are most important to you.
Activity 3.1:Identify Your work Values
Complete the following three activities offered by CareerOneStop to review your work values:
1. Read about six core work values developed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET program. Click on the ones that best describe you to see careers that highlight that value.
2. Do it yourself: download and print O*NET’s work values cards (pdf). Cut your own cards and sort them into three piles, identifying whether each is “essential,” “important,” or “not important” for your career needs.
3. Take this online assessment to learn more about your own work values and related careers. This interactive assessment was developed by Virginia’s Community Colleges.
After you have identified your top values, explore careers that would allow you to express your values from the following two online resources: (I) O*NET Online and (II) California Career Zone:
I. U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET Online:
O*NET OnLine is an application that was created for the general public to provide broad access to the O*NET database of occupational information. O*NET OnLine offers a variety of search options and occupational data. Go to O*NET OnLine to review the six core work values or global aspects of work that are important to a person’s satisfaction. The 6 work values are: achievement, independence, recognition, relationships, support, and working conditions as you have read from Activity 3.1. Click on the ones that best describe you to see careers that highlight that value.
II. California Career Zone
Complete the Work Interest Profiler on CA Career Zone. Based on your results, you will discover how much you value achievement, independence, recognition, relationships, support, and working conditions. These are the same 6 work values listed above because it provides career exploration and planning, especially for students, from the wealth of information on 900 occupations from the O*Net database.
Making Decisions Based on Values
Decision making refers to making choices among alternative courses of action—which may also include inaction. Not all decisions in life have major consequences or even require a lot of thought. For example, before you come to class, you make simple and habitual decisions such as what to wear, what to eat, and which route to take as you go to and from home and school. You probably do not spend much time on these mundane decisions. However, decisions that are unique and important require conscious thinking, information gathering, and careful consideration of alternatives. In this case, making a decision about your future career is an important one that requires a thoughtful review of what you consider most important in life, your values. Increasing effectiveness in decision making is an important part of maximizing your effectiveness at work.
How do you normally make important decisions? Toss a coin? Take advice from trusted role-models? Or let fate decide for you? It is important to be self-aware, especially when it comes to making difficult and important life decisions. We will examine here the rational decision-making model which includes a series of steps that decision makers should consider to make the best choice.
Let’s imagine that your old, clunky car has broken down, and you have enough money saved for a substantial down payment on a new car. It will be the first major purchase of your life, and you want to make the right choice. The first step, therefore, has already been completed—we know that you want to buy a new car.
Next, in step 2, you’ll need to decide which factors are important to you. How many passengers do you want to accommodate? How important is fuel economy to you? Is safety a major concern? You only have a certain amount of money saved, and you don’t want to take on too much debt, so price range is an important factor as well. If you know you want to have room for at least five adults, get at least twenty miles per gallon, drive a car with a strong safety rating, not spend more than \$22,000 on the purchase, and like how it looks, you have identified the decision criteria which is a set of parameters against which all of the potential options in decision making will be evaluated. All the potential options for purchasing your car will be evaluated against these criteria.
Before we can move too much further, you need to decide how important each factor is to your decision in step 3. If each is equally important, then there is no need to weigh them, but if you know that price and mpg are key factors, you might weigh them heavily and keep the other criteria with medium importance.
Step 4 requires you to generate all alternatives –all possible solutions to a problem in a decision-making process. Then, in step 5, you need to use this information to evaluate each alternative against the criteria you have established. You choose the best alternative (step 6), and then you would go out and buy your new car (step 7).
Of course, the outcome of this decision will influence the next decision made. That is where step 8 comes in. For example, if you purchase a car and have nothing but problems with it, you will be less likely to consider the same make and model when purchasing a car the next time.
The rational decision-making model has important lessons for decision makers.
• First, when making a decision, you may want to make sure that you establish your decision criteria before you search for alternatives. This would prevent you from liking one option too much and setting your criteria accordingly. For example, let’s say you started browsing cars online before you generated your decision criteria. You may come across a car that you feel reflects your sense of style and you develop an emotional bond with the car. Then, because of your love for the particular car, you may say to yourself that the fuel economy of the car and the innovative braking system are the most important criteria. After purchasing it, you may realize that the car is too small for your friends to ride in the back seat, which was something you should have thought about. Setting criteria before you search for alternatives may prevent you from making such mistakes. Another advantage of the rational model is that it urges decision makers to generate all alternatives instead of only a few. By generating a large number of alternatives that cover a wide range of possibilities, you are unlikely to make a more effective decision that does not require sacrificing one criterion for the sake of another.
• Second, despite all its benefits, you may have noticed that this decision-making model involves a number of unrealistic assumptions as well. It assumes that people completely understand the decision to be made, that they know all their available choices, that they have no perceptual biases, and that they want to make optimal decisions.
• Additionally, while decision makers can get off track during any of these steps, research shows that searching for alternatives in the fourth step can be the most challenging. Think about how you make important decisions in your life. It is likely that you rarely sit down and complete all eight of the steps in the rational decision-making model. For example, this model proposed that we should search for all possible alternatives before making a decision, but that process is time consuming, and individuals are often under time pressure to make decisions. Moreover, even if we had access to all the information that was available, it could be challenging to compare the pros and cons of each alternative and rank them according to our preferences.
Learning from these important lessons, you can use the work values you identified from Acitivity 3.1 as your criteria in your career exploration. This will help you focus on what is most important to you so that you can choose a career that will help you feel fulfilled and satisfied. Once you decide on a career, your decision will help guide the goals you set for yourself from your college education to your future career. For help to stay on track in this journey, you can seek assistance from the information and resources you learn in this class as well as counselors and career staff at the college to guide your search. To get started in practicing your decision-making skill, you can try this next activity from California Career Café, a virtual career center for California community college students.
Activity 3.2: Thinking Caps
Try the following decision-making exercise from California Career Café:
Key Takeaways
Having a clear understanding of your life and career values will help make your decisions in school and work easier.
• First, identify your values, what you find most important and essential in life.
• Second, use your values to guide your decision making in your education and career options.
• Finally, practice a decision-making process that provides you the opportunity to discover all of your choices so that you can make the best decisions based on all the options you have.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content
Public domain content | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/01%3A_Identifying_Your_Career_Profile/1.03%3A_Values_and_Decision_Making.txt |
Every artist was first an amateur. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, author
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Understand personality preferences based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI).
• Explore the qualities of personality types that you most identify with.
• Research job titles that matches your preferred work styles.
• List specific skills that will be necessary for your career path
• List transferable skills that will be valuable for any career path
• Identify your skills and interests according to Dr. John Holland’s Occupational Themes
• Determine career paths that align with your occupational code
• Explain how to acquire necessary skills, both in and out of class, for your career goals
Now that you have reviewed the concepts of goal setting and identified values most important to you, the next part of the career development process will help you to reflect on personal preferences. By doing this, you will understand the work environment that you will naturally find a greater fit in. The career development process is all about you. You are a unique individual with a distinct combination of personality traits, skills, and interests, skills. Self knowledge can help you in your career decision-making process to discover careers that are the best match for you.
Personality Type
Taking the time to ensure that your personality is compatible with your career choice is extremely important. If you do not invest the time now to figure out what makes you happy and keeps you motivated everyday, you could be very unhappy in the future. But why is personality so important? Learning about your personality allows you to think about your emotions, behaviors, and ways of thinking on a day to day basis. For example, do you prefer to work alone or do you prefer to work with others? Would you be content in a career that requires that you are extremely organized and have a set schedule? Or are you the type of person that likes to have an open, flexible schedule that allows you to be spontaneous? This information will assist you in deciding which career(s) match with your personality preferences.
To review personality preferences, one of the most common tools used to understand personality preferences is based on the personality theory from Myers and Briggs. Businesses use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) to find out more about the personalities of their potential employees (very commonly used by police departments), some universities use the MBTI to learn more about the personalities of potential graduate students considering psychology, counseling, and social work fields, and it commonly used in couples therapy (to help both individuals in a relationship understand each other and their behaviors better).
Watch the following video to get an introduction of four facets that comprise the 16 possible personality types.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=32
Personality Theory: The 4 Facets
• Extroversion-Introversion (EI): how you get your energy and where you prefer to focus your attention
• Sensing-Intuition (SN): how you take in information about the world around you
• Thinking-Feeling (TF): how you like to make decisions
• Judging-Perceiving (JP): how you prefer to organize your life
Complete the following activity to identify your personality type based on your own self reflection. As part of the course requirement, you will also be taking the MBTI personality test through our career center. Please check the syllabus for instructions. You can complete the following quick activity to self identify your personality type. Then compare the results with the actual MBTI assessment to see how your results are similar and different.
Activity 4.1: What’s Your Type?
Read descriptions for the four facets. Pick which is more like you.
• E (Extraversion) or I (Introversion)?
• S (Sensing) or N? (Intuition)?
• T (Thinking) or F? (Feeling)?
• J (Judging) or P? (Perceiving)?
Could be described as:
• Talkative, outgoing
• Like to be in a fast-paced environment
• Tend to work out ideas with other, think aloud
• Enjoy being the center of attention
Then you prefer
(E) Extraversion
Could be described as:
• Reserved, private
• Prefer a slower pace with time for contemplation
• Tend to think things through inside your head
• Would rather observe then be the center of attention
Then you prefer
(I) Introversion
Could be described as:
• Focus on the reality of how things are
• Pay attention to concrete facts and details
• Prefer ideas that have practical applications
• Like to describe things in a specific, literal way
Then you prefer
(S) Sensing
Could be described as:
• Imagine the possibilities of how things could be
• Notice the big picture, see how everything connects
• Enjoy ideas and concepts for their own sake
• Like to be describe in a way figurative, poetic
Then you prefer
(N) Intuition
Could be described as:
• Make decision in an impersonal way, using logical reasoning
• Value justice, fairness
• Enjoy finding the flaws in an arguments
• Could be described as reasonable, level-headed
Then you prefer
(T) Thinking
Could be described as:
• Base you decision on personal values and how our actions affect others
• Value harmony, forgiveness
• Like to please others and point out the best in people
• Could be described as warm empathetic
Then you prefer
(F) Feeling
Could be described as:
• Prefer to have matters settled
• Think rules and deadlines should be respected
• Prefer to have a detailed step-by-step instructions
• Make plans, want to know what you’re getting into
Then you prefer
(J) Judging
Could be described as:
• Prefer to leave your options open
• See rules and deadlines as flexible
• Like to improvise and make things up as you go
• Are spontaneous, enjoy surprise and new situations
Then you prefer
(P)Perceiving
What is your 4-letter personality type? __ __ __ __
The following are brief descriptions of the 16 personality types from Humanmetrics. Click on your personality type or a similar type to see which describes you best.
The 16 personality types
ESTJ ISTJ ENTJ INTJ
ESTP ISTP ENTP INTP
ESFJ ISFJ ENFJ INFJ
ESFP ISFP ENFP INFP
Work Styles
O*NET OnLine provides an online tool that helps you to review your personal characteristics and how they can affect how well one performs a job. This tool is available via the Work Styles search function on O*NET OnLine. You can browse O*Net data by clicking on the quality that you think best represents you including achievement, innovation, and leadership to explore the different jobs that will require the specific characteristic.
Skills
In addition to personality, skills are also important to consider in the career development process. If you lived and worked in colonial times in the United States, what skills would you need to be gainfully employed? What kind of person would your employer want you to be? And how different would your skills and aptitudes be then, compared to today?
Many industries that developed during the 1600s–1700s, such as health care, publishing, manufacturing, construction, finance, and farming, are still with us today. And the professional abilities, aptitudes, and values required in those industries are many of the same ones employers seek today.
For example, in the health care field then, just like today, employers looked for professionals with scientific insight, active listening skills, a service orientation, oral comprehension abilities, and teamwork skills. And in the financial field then, just like today, employers looked for economics and accounting skills, mathematical reasoning skills, clerical and administrative skills, and deductive reasoning.
Why is it that with the passage of time and all the changes in the work world, some skills remain unchanged (or little changed)? The answer might lie in the fact there are are two main types of skills that employers look for: hard skills and soft skills.
Hard Skills & Soft Skills
• Hard skills are concrete or objective abilities that you learn and perhaps have mastered. They are skills you can easily quantify, like using a computer, speaking a foreign language, or operating a machine. You might earn a certificate, a college degree, or other credentials that attest to your hard-skill competencies. Obviously, because of changes in technology, the hard skills required by industries today are vastly different from those required centuries ago.
• Soft skills, on the other hand, are subjective skills that have changed very little over time. Such skills might pertain to the way you relate to people, or the way you think, or the ways in which you behave—for example, listening attentively, working well in groups, and speaking clearly. Soft skills are sometimes also called “transferable skills” because you can easily transfer them from job to job or profession to profession without much training.
What Employers Want in an Employee
Employers want individuals who have the necessary hard and soft skills to do the job well and adapt to changes in the workplace. Soft skills may be especially in demand today because employers are generally equipped to train new employees in a hard skill—by training them to use new computer software, for instance—but it’s much more difficult to teach an employee a soft skill such as developing rapport with coworkers or knowing how to manage conflict. An employer might rather hire an inexperienced worker who can pay close attention to details than an experienced worker who might cause problems on a work team.
In this section, you will look at ways of identifying and building particular hard and soft skills that will be necessary for your career path. You will also learn how to use your time and resources wisely to acquire critical skills for your career goals.
Transferable Skills for Any Career Path
Transferable (soft) skills may be used in multiple professions. They include, but are by no means limited to, skills listed below:
• Dependable and punctual (showing up on time, ready to work, not being a liability)
• Self-motivated
• Enthusiastic
• Committed
• Willing to learn (lifelong learner)
• Able to accept constructive criticism
• A good problem solver
• Strong in customer service skills
• Adaptable (willing to change and take on new challenges)
• A team player
• Positive attitude
• Strong communication skills
• Good in essential work skills (following instructions, possessing critical thinking skills, knowing limits)
• Ethical
• Safety conscious
• Honest
• Strong in time management
For more extensive exploration, visit this checklist of transferable skills from Community Employment Services in Woodstock, Ontario.
These skills are transferable because they are positive attributes that are invaluable in practically any kind of work. They also do not require much training from an employer—you have them already and take them with you wherever you go. Soft skills are a big part of your “total me” package.
So, identify the soft skills that show you off the best, and identify the ones that prospective employers are looking for. By comparing both sets, you can more directly gear your job search to your strongest professional qualities.
ACTIVITY 4.2: IDENTIFYING YOUR SKILLS
Objective:
• To self identify your Top 5 transferable (soft) skills, skills you are good at, and those skills you wish to learn or develop further.
Instructions:
1. Review the list of transferable skills list and additional checklist of transferable skills above to complete the chart below.
Top 5 Skills I Enjoy Using Top 5 Skills That Come Naturally
Top 5 Skills I Want to Learn
1
2
3
4
5
10 Top Skills You Need to Get a Job When You Graduate
The following video summarizes the ten top skills that the Target corporation believes will get you a job when you graduate. You can read a transcript of the video here.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=32
Assessing Your Skills and Interests
In this section you will continue to assess your skills and your interests in more depth. Most career assessment tests created to measure skills and interests are based on the career theory developed by Dr. John Holland.
The following video provides you with an introduction to the world of work and Holland’s Occupational Themes:
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=32
As mentioned in the video, Holland defined six categories of people based on personality, interests, and skills:
1. Realistic: These people describe themselves as honest, loyal, and practical. They are doers more than thinkers. They have strong mechanical, motor, and athletic abilities; like the outdoors; and prefer working with machines, tools, plants, and animals.
2. Investigative: These people love problem solving and analytical skills. They are intellectually stimulated and often mathematically or scientifically inclined; like to observe, learn, and evaluate; prefer working alone; and are reserved.
3. Artistic: These people are the “free spirits.” They are creative, emotional, intuitive, and idealistic; have a flair for communicating ideas; dislike structure and prefer working independently; and like to sing, write, act, paint, and think creatively. They are similar to the investigative type but are interested in the artistic and aesthetic aspects of things more than the scientific.
4. Social: These are “people” people. They are friendly and outgoing; love to help others, make a difference, or both; have strong verbal and personal skills and teaching abilities; and are less likely to engage in intellectual or physical activity.
5. Enterprising: These people are confident, assertive risk takers. They are sociable; enjoy speaking and leadership; like to persuade rather than guide; like to use their influence; have strong interpersonal skills; and are status conscious.
6. Conventional: These people are dependable, detail oriented, disciplined, precise, persistent, and practical; value order; and are good at clerical and numerical tasks. They work well with people and data, so they are good organizers, schedulers, and project managers.
ACTIVITY 4.3: What’s Your Occupational Type?
Objective:
• To determine your occupational types and code
Instructions:
1. Using the descriptions above, choose the three types that most closely describe you and list them in order in the following table. Most people are combinations of two or sometimes three types.
2. Then list the specific words or attributes that you feel describe you best.
3. After determining your primary, secondary, and tertiary occupational types, take the first initial for each type, in order, to establish your occupational code.
Occupational Type Words and Attributes That Closely Describe Me
Primary type (the one I identify with most closely)
Secondary type
Tertiary type
Note: Your occupational code is made up of the initials of the three personality types you selected, in order.
My occupational code: ___ ___ ___
(For example: if Social, Enterprising, and Conventional are your top three occupational types, your occupational code would be: SEC)
Exploring Careers and Your Occupational Type
Now that you have determined your top three occupational types, you can begin to explore the types of careers that may be best suited for you. Holland studied people who were successful and happy in many occupations and matched their occupations to their occupational type, creating a description of the types of occupations that are best suited to each personality type. Just as many individuals are more than one personality type, many jobs show a strong correlation to more than one occupational type.
This is a rough beginning to finding your occupational type, but you will soon be seeking out more detailed results from the Strong Interest Inventory assessment as a part of this course.
Use the top thee occupation types you defined in Exercise 4.2 “What’s Your Occupational Type?” to help identify careers you may want to consider from the table below.
Table 4.1 Occupational Options by Type
Ideal Environments Sample Occupations
Realistic
• Structured
• Clear lines of authority
• Work with things and tools
• Casual dress
• Focus on tangible results or well-thought-out goals
• Contractor
• Emergency medical technician (EMT)
• Mechanic
• Military career
• Packaging engineer
Investigative
• Nonstructured
• Research oriented
• Intellectual
• Work with ideas and data
• Pharmacist
• Lab technician
• Nanotechnologist
• Geologist
• College professor
Artistic
• Nonstructured
• Creative
• Rewards unconventional and aesthetic approaches
• Creation of products and ideas
• Advertising career
• Architect
• Animator
• Musician
• Journalist
Social
• Collaborative
• Collegial
• Work with people and on people-related problems/issues
• Work as a team or community
• Teacher
• Geriatric counselor
• Correctional officer
• Coach
• Nurse
Enterprising
• Typical business environment
• Results oriented
• Driven
• Work with people and data
• Entrepreneurial
• Power focused
• Sales manager
• Banker
• Lawyer
• Business owner
• Restaurant manager
Conventional
• Orderly
• Clear rules and policies
• Consistent processes
• Work with systems to manipulate and organize data
• Control and handling of money
• Auditor
• Insurance underwriter
• Bank teller
• Office manager
• Database manager
You can also check out Gottfredson and Holland’s Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes in the reference section of your library or use the Department of Labor’s O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/find) to get a deeper understanding of your occupation. For each occupation, O*Net lists the type of work, the work environment, the skills and education required, and the job outlook for that occupation. This is a truly rich resource that you should get to know.
Identify Which Factors Might Affect Your Choice
You may now have a list of careers you want to explore. But there are other factors you will need to take into consideration as well. It is important to use your creative thinking skills to come up with alternative “right” answers to factors that may present an obstacle to pursuing the right career.
• Timing. How much time must I invest before I actually start making money in this career? Will I need to spend additional time in school? Is there a certification process that requires a specific amount of experience? If so, can I afford to wait?
• Finances. Will this career provide me with the kind of income I need in the short term and the security I’ll want in the longer term? What investment will I need to make to be successful in this field (education, tools, franchise fees, etc.)?
• Location. Does this career require me to relocate? Is the ideal location for this career somewhere I would like to live? Is it somewhere my family would like to live?
• Family/personal. How will this career affect my personal and family life? Do friends and family members who know me well feel strongly (for or against) about this career choice? How important is their input?
Your Next Steps
It may seem odd to be thinking about life after school, especially if you are just getting started. But you will soon be making decisions about your future, and regardless of the direction you may choose, there is a lot you can do while still in college. You will need to focus your studies by choosing a major. You should find opportunities to explore the careers that interest you. You can ensure that you are building the right kind of experience on which to base a successful career. These steps will make your dreams come to life and make them achievable.
Start by developing a relationship with a counselor in the Counseling/Transfer Centers in the S Building, SAC Career/CTE Center staff, or an Undecided Majors Counselor in L-222. Another great resource is SAC’s Undecided Majors website http://sac.edu/undecided. It provides several helpful career exploration links.
All too often students engage these counselors only near the end of their college days, when the pressure is just on getting a job—any job—after having completed a degree. But these counselors can be of great help in matching your interests to a career and in ensuring you are gathering the right kind of experience to put you at the top of the recruiting heap.
Keep in mind that deciding on and pursuing a career is an ongoing process. The more you learn about yourself and the career options that best suit you, the more you will need to fine-tune your career plan. Don’t be afraid to consider new ideas, but don’t make changes without careful consideration. Career planning is exciting: learning about yourself and about career opportunities, and considering the factors that can affect your decision, should be a core part of your thoughts while in college.
Learn Specific Skills Necessary for Your Career Path
The table below lists four resources to help you determine which concrete skills are needed for all kinds of professions. You can even discover where you might gain some of the skills and which courses you might take.
Spend some time reviewing each resource. You will find many interesting and exciting options. When you’re finished, you may decide that there are so many interesting professions in the world that it’s difficult to choose just one. This is a good problem to have!
Table 4.2 Online Skills Identification Resources
RESOURCE DESCRIPTION
1 Career Aptitude Test (Rasmussen College) This test helps you match your skills to a particular career that’s right for you. Use a sliding scale to indicate your level of skill in the following skill areas: artistic, interpersonal, communication, managerial, mathematics, mechanical, and science. Press the Update Results button and receive a customized list customized of career suggestions tailored to you, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can filter by salary, expected growth, and education.
2 Skills Profiler (Career OneStop from the U.S. Department of Labor) Use the Skills Profiler to create a list of your skills, and match your skills to job types that use those skills. Plan to spend about 20 minutes completing your profile. You can start with a job type to find skills you need for a current or future job. Or if you are not sure what kind of job is right for you, start by rating your own skills to find a job type match. When your skills profile is complete, you can print it or save it.
3 O*Net OnLine This U.S. government website helps job seekers answer two of their toughest questions: “What jobs can I get with my skills and training?” and “What skills and training do I need to get this job?” Browse groups of similar occupations to explore careers. Choose from industry, field of work, science area, and more. Focus on occupations that use a specific tool or software. Explore occupations that need your skills. Connect to a wealth of O*NET data. Enter a code or title from another classification to find the related O*NET-SOC occupation.
4 Suggested Courses to Develop Skills that Prospective Employers Want (Psych Web) If you are trying to strengthen particular skills, certain courses may be helpful. The list at this site is based on courses offered on many campuses and some of the skills the courses emphasize.
Acquiring Necessary Skills (both in and out of class) for Your Career Goals
“Lifelong learning” is a buzz phrase in the twentieth-first century because we are inundated with new technology and information all the time, and those who know how to learn, continuously, are in the best position to keep up and take advantage of these changes. Think of all the information resources around you: colleges and universities, libraries, the Internet, videos, games, books, films—the list goes on.
With these resources at your disposal, how can you best position yourself for lifelong learning and a strong, viable career? Which hard and soft skills are most important? What are employers really looking for?
The following list was inspired by the remarks of Mark Atwood, director of open-source engagement at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. It contains excellent practical advice.
• Learn how to write clearly. After you’ve written something, have people edit it. Then rewrite it, taking into account the feedback you received. Write all the time.
• Learn how to speak. Speak clearly on the phone and at a table. For public speaking, try Toastmasters. “Meet and speak. Speak and write.”
• Be reachable. Publish your email so that people can contact you. Don’t worry about spam.
• Learn about computers and computing, even if you aren’t gearing for a career in information technology. Learn something entirely new every six to twelve months.
• Build relationships within your community. Use tools like Meetup.com and search for clubs at local schools, libraries, and centers. Then, seek out remote people around the country and world. Learn about them and their projects first by searching the Internet.
• Attend conferences and events. This is a great way to network with people and meet them face-to-face.
• Find a project and get involved. Start reading questions and answers, then start answering questions.
• Collaborate with people all over the world.
• Keep your LinkedIn profile and social media profiles up-to-date. Be findable.
• Keep learning. Skills will often beat smarts. Be sure to schedule time for learning and having fun!
Just Get Involved
After you’ve networked with enough people and built up your reputation, your peers can connect you with job openings that may be a good fit for your skills. The video, below, from Monash University in Australia offers the following tips:
1. Get involved in part-time work
2. Get involved in extracurricular activities
3. Get involved with employment and career development
“Just Get involved. There are so many opportunities and open doors for you.”
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=32
Key Takeaways
• The right career for you depends on your interests, your personality, and your skills.
• Learning about your personality helps you to think about your emotions, behaviors, and ways of thinking on a day to day basis. An awareness of these things will help you to find a career that compliments your personality.
• Employers look for both hard and soft (transferable) skills in future employees; however transferable skills may be in more demand because they help people adapt to a variety of different jobs and professions without much training.
• Defining your occupational type may confirm career choices you have already made and open entirely new options for you.
• Connect with a college counselor early in your career development process to help you match your skills, personality and interests with potential jobs and eventually a career that best suits you.
• Career planning is an ongoing process involving knowing yourself, knowing about career options, and understanding the context in which your decisions will be made.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
• Professional Skill Building. Authored by: Linda Bruce. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content
• 10 top skills that will get you a job when you graduate. Authored by: TARGETjobs. Located at: https://youtu.be/jKtbaUzHLvw. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• How to find a new jobu2014Transferable Job Skills. Authored by: Learn English with Rebecca. Located at: https://youtu.be/7Kt4nz8KT_Y. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• Tips to improve your career from Monash Graduates. Authored by: Monash University. Located at: https://youtu.be/7EBDrTdccAY. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• Discover Your Personality Type | Myers Briggs . Provided by: YouTube. Located at: https://youtu.be/WQoOqQiVzwQ. License: All Rights Reserved
• Work Styles. Provided by: O*NET OnLine. Located at: https://www.onetonline.org/find/descriptor/browse/Work_Styles/. License: All Rights Reserved | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/01%3A_Identifying_Your_Career_Profile/1.04%3A_Personality_Skills_and_Interests.txt |
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Identify your motivations for attending college as it relates to your future career goals
• Review your individual career profile
• Explore activities to gain knowledge and experience about your future career
College and Career
Knowing what you truly want to gain from your college experience is the first step toward achieving it. But reaching your goals doesn’t necessarily mean you are college and career ready.
Ultimately, college and career readiness demands students know more than just content, but demonstrate that they know how to learn and build upon that content to solve problems. They must develop versatile communication skills, work collaboratively and work competitively in a school or work environment. Ensuring that you possess both the academic and technical know-how necessary for a career beyond the classroom is a great step toward succeeding on whatever path you choose. —Washington, DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Stay focused, go after your dreams, and keep moving toward your goals. —L L Cool J, musician
What does it mean to be ready for college and a career? In general, you are a college- and career-ready student if you have gained the necessary knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors to achieve at least one of the following:
• Earn a certificate or degree in college
• Participate in career training
• Enter the workplace and succeed
For instance, if you are studying for a skilled trade license in college, or perhaps pursuing a bachelor of arts degree, you are college-ready if you have the reading, writing, mathematics, social, and thinking skills to qualify for and succeed in the academic program of your choice.
Similarly, you are a career-ready student if you have the necessary knowledge and technical skills needed to be employed in your desired field. For example, if you are a community college student ready to be a nurse, you possess the knowledge and skill needed to secure an entry-level nursing position, and you also possess required licensing.
For a long time, my plan had always been to be a kindergarten teacher. But when I began my undergraduate degree I fell into that ever-growing pool of college students who changed their major three times before graduation. I was swayed by family members, my peers, and the economy, but I eventually realized that I was investing my education in the wrong areas for the wrong reasons. It shouldn’t just be about salaries and job security. I needed to find that personal attachment.
At eighteen, it’s hard to see your entire life spread out before you. College may feel like a free-for-all at times, but the reality is that it’s one of the most defining times of our lives. It should never be squandered. I started to imagine my life beyond college—what I found important and the type of lifestyle I wanted in the end. I started thinking about the classes that I was actually interested in—the ones that I looked forward to each week and arrived early to just so I could get a seat up front.
A turning point for me was when I took the advice of a campus mentor and enrolled in a career exploration course. I learned more about myself in that class than I had in my entire three years at college prior to taking it. It showed me that my passion was something I had always thought about but never thought about as a career. . . . Through this realization and my participation in my career exploration class, I saw a viable future in the Higher Education Administration field.
—Jamie Edwards, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
The Marriage of College and Career
The oldest institution of higher learning in the United States is widely acknowledged to be Harvard University. It was established in 1636 with the aim of providing instruction in arts and sciences to qualify students for employment. In the 1779 Constitution of Massachusetts submitted by Samuel Adams, John Adams, and James Bowdoin to the full Massachusetts Convention, the following language was used:
Art. I.—Whereas our wise and pious ancestors, so early as the year one thousand six hundred and thirty six, laid the foundation of Harvard-College, in which University many persons of great eminence have, by the blessing of GOD, been initiated in those arts and sciences, which qualified them for public employments, both in Church and State . . .
Is “public employment” preparation still the goal of higher education institutions today? Indeed, it is certainly one of the many goals! College is also an opportunity for students to grow personally and intellectually. In fact, in a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, Americans were split on their perceptions of the main purpose of a college education:
• 47 percent of those surveyed said the purpose of college is to teach work-related skills.
• 39 percent said it is to help a student grow personally and intellectually.
• 12 percent said the time spent at college should be dedicated to both pursuits—teaching work-related skills and helping students grow personally and intellectually.
These statistics are understandable in light of the great reach and scope of higher education institutions. Today, there are some 5,300 colleges and universities in the United States, offering every manner of education and training to students.
What do employers think about the value of a college education? What skills do employers seek in their workforce? In 2014, Hart Research Associates conducted a survey on behalf of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The survey revealed that the majority of employers believe that having field-specific knowledge as well as a broad range of knowledge and skills is important for recent college graduates to achieve long-term career success.
Employers also said that when they hire, they place the greatest value on skills and knowledge that cut across all majors. The learning outcomes they rate as most important include written and oral communication skills, teamwork skills, ethical decision-making, critical thinking, and the ability to apply knowledge in real-world settings.[1]
Employment Rates and Salaries
Consider, too, the following statistics on employment rates and salaries for college graduates. College does make a big difference!
• The average college graduate earns about 75 percent more than a non-college graduate over a typical, forty-year working lifetime. (U.S. Census Bureau)[2]
• In 2014, young adults ages 20 to 24 with a bachelor’s degree or higher had a higher employment rate (88.1 percent) than young adults with just some college (75.0 percent). (NCES)
• The employment rate for young adults with just some college (63.7 percent) was higher than the rate for those who had completed high school. (NCES)
• The employment rate for those who completed high school (46.6 percent) was higher than the employment rate for young adults who had not finished high school. (NCES)
• Employment rates were generally higher for males than females at each level of educational attainment in 2014. (NCES)[3]
• Over the course of a forty-year working life, the typical college graduate earns an estimated \$550,000 more than the typical high school graduate. (PEW)
• The median gap in annual earnings between a high school and college graduate as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010 is \$19,550. (PEW)[4]
Perhaps most important, an overwhelming majority of college graduates—86 percent—say that college has been a good investment for them personally. (PEW)
Differences in Earnings between States
You may wish to use this Earnings and Educational Attainment (2011) interactive table to see how earnings for college graduates vs. high school–only graduates in your state compare with those in other states.
All in all, college imparts a wide and deep range of benefits. The short video Why College, below, shows that with a college degree you are more likely to
• Have a higher salary
• Have and keep a job
• Get a pension plan
• Be satisfied with your job
• Feel your job is important
• Have health insurance
Vidro: There are many benefits to getting a college degree - here are just a few. https://youtu.be/-N6nru0nThg
Success in College
Success in college can be measured in many ways: through your own sense of what is important to you; through your family’s sense of what is important to your collective group; through your institution’s standards of excellence; through the standards established by your state and country; through your employer’s perceptions about what is needed in the workplace; and in many respects through your own unfolding goals, dreams, and ambitions.
How are you striving to achieve your goals? And how will you measure your success along the way?
Career Profile
As you make a commitment to your college career, let’s review your career profile, a self-assessment of your goals, values, personality, skills and interests in order to start researching specific careers and explore activities to give you more hands-on experience.
Activity 5.1: Your Career Profile
Goals
1. Reflecting on your career exploration, identify one long-term career goal.
2. Then, identify 2-3 short-term goals for this semester to achieve your long-term goal from #1.
Values
1. From Chapter 3, what are your top 3-5 work values?
2. Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that will allow you to express your values.
Interests
1. From Chapter 4 and your SII inventory results, what are your top interests (Holland Code)?
2. Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that will allow you to express your interests.
Personality
1. From Chapter 4 and your MBTI results, what is your 4-letter personality type?
2. Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that will be best fit with your personality type.
Skills
1. From Chapter 4, what are your 5 skills?
2. Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that will allow you to utilize your skills.
Research activity:
• Of all the career titles you have explored, which career would you be interested in researching more in-depth?
Below is the second part of Jamie Edwards’s essay (former student at State University of New York). Her advice is to make connections between the “now” of college experience and future career possibilities. She thinks that the more informed you are about your career options through real-life conversations and experiences, the better prepared you will be for your future—and the more confident you will be in your career decisions.
From where I sit now—my former personal and professional struggles in tow—I offer up some pieces of advice that were crucial to getting me where I am today. Whether you’re an undecided major who is looking for guidance or a student with a clearly defined career path, I suggest the following:
1. Find a mentor—For me, everything began there. Without my mentor, I wouldn’t have done any of the other items I’m about to suggest. Finding the right mentor is crucial. Look for someone who can complement your personality (typically someone who’s the opposite of you). My advice would be to look beyond your direct supervisor for mentorship. It’s important to create an open forum with your mentor, because there may be a conflict of interest as you discuss work issues and other job opportunities. Potential mentors to consider are an instructor on campus, your academic advisor, a professional currently working in your prospective field, someone you admire in your community, or anyone in your network of friends or family that you feel comfortable discussing your future goals with.
1. Enroll in a Career Exploration/Planning course, or something similar—Even if you do not see the effects of this course immediately (such as dramatically changing your major), you will notice the impact down the road. Making educated career choices and learning job readiness skills will always pay off in the end. Through my career exploration class, I learned how to relate my personality and values to potential career fields. These self-assessments changed my entire thought process, and I see that influence daily. Beyond changing the way you think, the knowledge you gain about effective job search strategies is invaluable. Learning how to write purposeful résumés and cover letters, finding the right approach to the interview process, and recognizing your strengths and weaknesses are just a few of the benefits you can gain from these type of courses.
1. Complete a Job Shadow and/or Informational Interview—No amount of online research is going to give you the same experience as seeing a job at the front line. In a job shadow or an informational interview, you’re able to explore options with no commitment and see how your in-class experience can carry over to a real world setting. Additionally, you’re expanding your professional network by having that personal involvement. You never know how the connections you make might benefit you in the future. My only regret about job shadowing in college is that I didn’t do it sooner.
1. Do an Internship—A main source of frustration for recent grads is the inability to secure an entry-level position without experience. “How do I get a job to gain experience when I can’t get a job without experience?” This is how: do an internship or two! Most colleges even have a course where you can obtain credit for doing it! Not only will you earn credits towards graduation, but you’ll gain the necessary experience to put on your résumé and discuss in future interviews. Having completed four internships throughout my college career, I can’t say they were all great. However, I don’t regret a single one. The first one showed me the type of field I didn’t want to work in. The second confirmed that I was heading in the right direction with my career. My third and fourth internships introduced me to completely different areas of higher education which broadened my knowledge and narrowed my search simultaneously.
My takeaway is that sometimes you have to learn what you don’t want in order to find out what you do want. The more informed you are about career options through real-life conversations and experiences, the better prepared you will be for your future and the more confident you will be in your career decisions. Always explore your options because even if you learn you hate it, at least you’re one step close to finding what you love.
—Jamie Edwards, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
Activity 5.2: Informational Interview
As recommended in Part 2, #3 above, try the following activity from California Career Café, a virtual career center for CA community college students:
Activity 5.3: resources for career research
After you have identified career titles you are most interested and have conducted informational interviews, check out the following resources to help research careers more in-depth:
• California Labor Market Information
• The Labor Market Information Division (LMID) is the official source for California Labor Market Information. The LMID promotes California’s economic health by providing information to help people understand California’s economy and make informed labor market choices. We collect, analyze, and publish statistical data and reports on California’s labor force, industries, occupations, employment projections, wages and other important labor market and economic data.
• Occupational Outlook Handbook from US Department of Labor
• The OOH can help you find career information on duties, education and training, pay, and outlook for hundreds of occupations.
• Additionally, for in-person help, go to the college’s career center to get more help with your search
Key Takeaways
Labor research indicates that as educational attainment increases in individuals the unemployment rate decreases.
A college degree affects other personal factors you may have not considered such as retirement plan, health care insurance, and higher lifetime salary.
Selecting the right career involves thorough research such as, informational interviews, online research, and utilizing the Career Center located in your college.
1. "Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success." Hart Research Associates, 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
2. "Workplace, Office Blogs, Articles & Advice - Experience.com." Workplace, Office Blogs, Articles & Advice - Experience.com. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
3. "Fast Facts." Fast Facts. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
4. "Is College Worth It?" Pew Research Centers Social Demographic Trends Project RSS. 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
• The Big Picture. Authored by: Linda Bruce. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content
Public domain content | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/02%3A_Exploring_Career_Options/2.01%3A_Review_Your_Career_Profile.txt |
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go. —Dr. Seuss, children’s author
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• 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
Your Major
In the United States and Canada, your academic major—simply called “your major”—is the academic discipline you commit to as an undergraduate student. It’s an area you specialize in, such as accounting, chemistry, criminology, archeology, digital arts, or dance. In United States colleges and universities, roughly 2,000 majors are offered. And within each major is a host of core courses and electives. When you successfully complete the required courses in your major, you qualify for a degree.
Where did the term major come from? In 1877, it first appeared in a Johns Hopkins University catalogue. That major required only two years of study. Later, in 1910, Abbott Lawrence Lowell introduced the academic major system to Harvard University during his time as president there. This major required students to complete courses in a specialized discipline and also in other subjects. Variations of this system are now the norm in higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
Why is your major important? It’s important because it’s a defining and organizing feature of your undergraduate degree. Ultimately, your major should provide you with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and/or behaviors you need to fulfill your college goals and objectives.
In this section we look at how to select your major and how your college major may correlate with a career. Does your major matter to your career? What happens if you change your major? Does changing your major mean you must change your career? Read on to find out!
How to Select Your College Major
Selecting your major is one of the most exciting tasks (and, to some students, perhaps one of the most nerve-wracking tasks) you are asked to perform in college. So many decisions are tied to it. But if you have good guidance, patience, and enthusiasm, the process is easier. Two videos, below, present lighthearted looks undertaking this task. In the first one, the following five tips are discussed:
1. Seek inspiration
2. Consider everything
3. Identify talents and interests
4. Explore available resources
5. In-depth career exploration
https://youtu.be/8I_Qw2NfSq0
The next video shares nine tips:
1. Narrow your choices by deciding what you don’t like.
2. Explore careers that might interest you. Ask questions.
3. Use your school’s resources.
4. Ask your teacher, counselor, and family about your strengths.
5. 60 percent of students change their majors.
6. Your major isn’t going to define your life. But choosing one that interests you will make your college experience much more rewarding.
7. Go on informational interviews with people in careers that interest you.
8. There’s no pressure to decide now.
9. Take new classes and discover your interests.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=40
Does Your College Major Matter to Your Career?
There are few topics about college that create more controversy than “Does your major really matter to your career?” Many people think it does; others think it’s not so important. Who is right? And who gets to weigh in? Also, how do you measure whether something “matters”—by salary, happiness, personal satisfaction?
It may be difficult to say for sure whether your major truly matters to your career. One’s college major and ultimate career are not necessarily correlated. Consider the following “factoids”:
• 50–70 percent of college students change their major at least once during their time in college.
• Most majors lead to a wide variety of opportunities rather than to one specific career, although some majors do indeed lead to specific careers.
• Many students say that the skills they gain in college will be useful on the job no matter what they major in.
• Only half of graduating seniors accept a job directly related to their major.
• Career planning for most undergraduates focuses on developing general, transferable skills like speaking, writing, critical thinking, computer literacy, problem-solving, and team building, because these are skills that employers want.
• College graduates often cite the following four factors as being critical to their job and career choices: personal satisfaction, enjoyment, opportunity to use skills and abilities, and personal development.
• Within ten years of graduation, most people work in careers that aren’t directly related to their majors.
• Many or most jobs that exist today will be very different five years from now.
It’s also important to talk about financial considerations in choosing a major.
• Any major you choose will likely benefit you because college graduates earn roughly \$1 million more than high school graduates, on average, over an entire career.
• STEM jobs, though—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—can lead to the thirty highest paying jobs. So if you major in any of these areas, you may be more likely to earn a higher salary.
• Even though humanities and social sciences students may earn less money right after college, they may earn more by the time they reach their peak salary than students who had STEM majors.
• Students who major in the humanities and social science are also more likely to get advanced degrees, which increases annual salary by nearly \$20,000 at peak salary.
So where will you stand with regard to these statistics? Is it possible to have a good marriage between your major, your skills, job satisfaction, job security, and earnings?
Here to share a personal story about selecting your college major and finding the right career fit is Marc Luber, host of Careers Out There. Enjoy his insights, which he sums up with, “Focus on what makes you tick, and run with it.”
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=40
The best guidance on choosing a major and connecting it with a career may be to get good academic and career advice and select a major that reflects your greatest interests. If you don’t like law or medicine but you major in it because of a certain salary expectation, you may later find yourself in an unrelated job that brings you greater satisfaction—even if the salary is lower. If this is the case, will it make more sense, looking back, to spend your time and tuition dollars studying a subject you especially enjoy?
Every student who pursues a college degree and a subsequent career may tell a different story about the impact of their major on their professional directions. In the following excerpt from Foundations of College Success: Words of Wisdom, writer and former SUNY student Kristen Mruk reflects on the choices she made and how they turned out.
The Student Experience
What I Would Like To Do
I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I started college, but that changed three times by the time I graduated. Initially I started as an International Business major but ended up receiving a degree in Communication and continued on to graduate school. My greatest advice to you is to embrace feelings of uncertainty (if you have them) with regard to your academic, career, or life goals. Stop into the Career Services office on your campus to identify what it is that you really want to do when you graduate or to confirm your affinity to a career path. Make an appointment to see a counselor if you need to vent or get a new perspective. Do an internship in your field; this can give you a first-hand impression of what your life might look like in that role.
When I chose International Business, I did not do so as an informed student. I enjoyed and excelled in my business courses in high school and I had hopes of traveling the world, so International Business seemed to fit the bill. Little did I know, the major required a lot of accounting and economics which, as it turned out, were not my forte. Thinking this is what I wanted, I wasted time pursuing a major I didn’t enjoy and academic courses I struggled through.
So I took a different approach. I began speaking to the professionals around me that had jobs that appealed to me: Student Unions/Activities, Leadership, Orientation, Alumni, etc. I found out I could have a similar career, and I would enjoy the required studies along the way. Making that discovery provided direction and purpose in my major and extracurricular activities. I felt like everything was falling into place.
What I Actually Do
I would like to . . . ask you to consider why you are in college. Why did you choose your institution? Have you declared a major yet? Why or why not? What are your plans post-graduation? By frequently reflecting in this way, you can assess whether or not your behaviors, affiliations, and activities align with your goals.
What you actually do with your student experience is completely up to you. You are the only person who can dictate your collegiate fate. Remind yourself of the reasons why you are in college and make sure your time is spent on achieving your goals. There are resources and people on your campus available to help you. You have the control—use it wisely.
—Kristen Mruk, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
Resources
Success doesn’t come to you . . . you go to it. —Dr. Marva Collins, civil rights activist and educator
This quote really sets the stage for the journey you’re on. Your journey may be a straight line that connects the dots between today and your future, or it may resemble a twisted road with curves, bumps, hurdles, and alternate routes.
To help you navigate your pathway to career success, take advantage of all the resources available to you. Your college, your community, and the wider body of higher-education institutions and organizations have many tools to help you with career development. Be sure to take advantage of the following resources:
• College course catalog: Course catalogs are typically rich with information that can spark ideas and inspiration for your major and your career.
• Faculty and academic advisers at your college: Many college professors are also practitioners in their fields, and can share insights with you about related professions.
• Fellow students and graduating seniors: Many of your classmates, especially those who share your major, may have had experiences that can inform and enlighten you—for instance, an internship with an employer or a job interview with someone who could be contacted for more information.
• Students who have graduated: Most colleges and universities have active alumni programs with networking resources that can help you make important decisions.
• Your family and social communities: Contact friends and family members who can weigh in with their thoughts and experience.
• A career center: Professionals in career centers have a wealth of information to share with you—they’re also very good at listening and can act as a sounding board for you to try out your ideas.
Many organizations have free materials that can provide guidance, such as the ones in the table, below:
WEB SITE DESCRIPTION
1 List of College Majors (MyMajors) A list of more than 1,800 college majors—major pages include description, courses, careers, salary, related majors and colleges offering major
2 Take the College Major Profile Quiz (About.com) Quiz is designed to help students think about college majors, personality traits, and how they may fit within different areas of study
3 Choosing a College Major Worksheet (Quint Careers) A six-step process to finding a college major
4 Common Mistakes Students Make in Choosing a Major (Wayne State University) Lists common misperceptions about choosing a major and explains how these misperceptions can cloud future plans
5 Best college majors for your career 2015-2016 (Yahoo.com) Explore a detailed list of the top ten majors that give students the greatest potential for success in the workplace, good incomes, and ample job opportunities
6 Explore Careers (BigFuture/The College Board) Explore careers by selecting “Show me majors that match my interests,” “Show me new career ideas,” and “Show me how others made their choices”
7 The College Major: What It Is and How To Choose One (BigFuture/The College Board) When to choose a major, how to choose a major, “you can change your mind,” majors and graduate school, and majors and professions
Key Takeaways
Your major is a set of core courses and electives-the academic discipline- that you commit to while you are in college. Upon completion of your major, you typically qualify for a degree.
Selecting your major is a process, and it should involve the exploration of your:
• Personality
• Values
• Interests
• Skills
Your college major and ultimate career are not necessarily correlated. The best academic and career advice is to select a major that reflects your greatest interests.
Students have many resources available to them that are on/off campus, which can assist them in the selection of a major:
• College catalog
• Counselors
• Undecided Majors Workshops
• Career Center
• Friends and Family
• Alumni
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
• College Majors. Authored by: Linda Bruce. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/03%3A_Creating_Your_Career_Game_Plan/3.01%3A_College_Majors.txt |
Communication—the human connection—is the key to personal and career success. —Paul J. Meyer, motivational speaker
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Define network and identify strategies for networking
• Identify sources for developing professional networks
In the context of career development, networking is the process by which people build relationships with one another for the purpose of helping one another achieve professional goals.
When you “network,” you exchange information.
• You may share business cards, résumés, cover letters, job-seeking strategies, leads about open jobs, information about companies and organizations, and information about a specific field.
• You might also share information about meet-up groups, conferences, special events, technology tools, and social media.
• You might also solicit job “headhunters,” career counselors, career centers, career coaches, an alumni association, family members, friends, acquaintances, and vendors.
Networking can occur anywhere and at any time. In fact, your network expands with each new relationship you establish. And the networking strategies you can employ are nearly limitless. With imagination and ingenuity, your networking can be highly successful.
Strategies for Networking
We live in a social world. Almost everywhere you go and anything you do professionally involves connecting with people. It stands to reason that finding a new job and advancing your career entails building relationships with these people. Truly, the most effective way to find a new job is to network, network, and network some more.
Once you acknowledge the value of networking, the challenge is figuring out how to do it. What is your first step? Whom do you contact? What do you say? How long will it take? Where do you concentrate efforts? How do you know if your investments will pay off?
For every question you may ask, a range of strategies can be used. Begin exploring your possibilities by viewing the following energizing video, Networking Tips for College Students and Young People, by Hank Blank. He recommends the following modern and no-nonsense strategies:
1. Hope is not a plan. You need a plan of action to achieve your networking goals.
2. Keenly focus your activities on getting a job. Use all tools available to you.
3. You need business cards. No ifs, ands, or buts.
4. Register your own domain name. Find your favorite geek to build you a landing page. Keep building your site for the rest of your life.
5. Attend networking events. Most of them offer student rates.
6. Master Linkedin because that is what human resource departments use. Post updates.
7. Think of your parents’ friends as databases. Leverage their knowledge and their willingness to help you.
8. Create the world you want to live in in the future by creating it today through your networking activity. These are the times to live in a world of “this is how I can help.”
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=42
See the LinkedIn for Students Web site.
International Student Series: Finding Work Using Your Networks
If you are an international student, or perhaps if English is not your native language, this video may especially appeal to you. It focuses on the importance of networking when looking for jobs and keeping an open mind. Simply talking to people can help you move from casual work to full-time employment.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=42
. . . And More Strategies
Strategies at College
• Get to know your professors: Communicating with instructors is a valuable way to learn about a career and also get letters of reference if and when needed for a job. Professors can also give you leads on job openings, internships, and research possibilities. Most instructors will readily share information and insights with you. Get to know your instructors. They are a valuable part of your network.
• Check with your college’s alumni office: You may find that some alumni are affiliated with your field of interest and can give you the “inside scoop.”
• Check with classmates: Classmates may or may not share your major, but any of them may have leads that could help you. You could be just one conversation away from a good lead.
Strategies at Work
• Join professional organizations: You can meet many influential people at local and national meetings and events of professional and volunteer organizations. Learn about these organizations. See if they have membership discounts for students, or student chapters. Once you are a member, you may have access to membership lists, which can give you prospective access to many new people to network with.
• Volunteer: Volunteering is an excellent way to meet new people who can help you develop your career, even if the organization you are volunteering with is not in your field. Just by working alongside others and working toward common goals, you build relationships that may later serve you in unforeseen and helpful ways.
• Get an internship: Many organizations offer internship positions to college students. Some of these positions are paid, but often they are not. Paid or not, you gain experience relevant to your career, and you potentially make many new contacts. Check CollegeRecruiter.com for key resources.
• Get a part-time job: Working full-time may be your ultimate goal, but you may want to fill in some cracks or crevices by working in a part-time job. Invariably you will meet people who can feasibly help with your networking goals. And you can gain good experience along the way, which can also be noted on your résumé.
• Join a job club: Your career interests may be shared by many others who have organized a club, which can be online or in person. If you don’t find an existing club, consider starting one.
• Attend networking events: There are innumerable professional networking events taking place around the world and also online. Find them listed in magazines, community calendars, newspapers, journals, and at the Web sites of companies, organizations, and associations.
• Conduct informational interviews: You may initiate contact with people in your chosen field who can tell you about their experiences of entering the field and thriving in it. Many Web sites have guidance on how to plan and conduct these interviews.
Strategies at Home and Beyond
• Participate in online social media: An explosion of career opportunity awaits you with social media, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and many more. You will find an extensive list of suggested sites at CareerOneStop. Keep your communication ultra-professional at these sites. Peruse magazine articles, and if you find one that’s relevant to your field and it contains names of professionals, you can reach out to them to learn more and get job leads.
• Ask family members and friends, coworkers, and acquaintances for referrals: Do they know others who might help you? You can start with the question “Who else should I be talking to?”
• Use business cards or networking cards: A printed business card can be an essential tool to help your contacts remember you. Creativity can help in this regard, too. Students often design cards themselves and either hand print them or print them on a home printer.
Activity: Networking for Career Development
Objectives
• Examine five strategies for obtaining and engaging with networking contacts
• Develop relationships with new contacts to enhance your career
Instructions
• Find information about five companies or people in your field of interest, and follow them on Twitter.
• Get an account at four social media sites that you’ve not yet been active with that may enhance your career.
• Find names of three people who interest you (peruse magazine articles, online sites, or other resources), and write an email to them explaining your interests and any requests you may have for information.
• Sign up for newsletters from two professional organizations in a field you want to know more about.
• Find and attend one in-person or online event within a month.
• Now write about this experience at one of your social media sites.
For additional ideas and inspiration about networking for career development, watch the following video, Hustle 101: Networking For College Students and Recent Grads. The speaker, Emily Miethner, is a recent college graduate and the founder and president of NYCreative Interns, “dedicated to helping young creatives discover and then follow their dream careers.”
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=42
Sources for Developing Professional Networks
The bottom line with developing professional networks is to cull information from as many sources as possible and use that information in creative ways to advance your career opportunities. The strategies listed in the section above provide you with a comprehensive set of suggestions. Below is a summary of sources you can use to network your way to career success:
• Meet-up groups
• Conferences
• Special events
• Technology tools
• Social media
• Career centers
• Alumni association
• Professional organizations
• Volunteer organizations
• Internships
• Part-time job
• Job club
• Networking events
• Magazine articles
• Web sites
• Career coaches
• Headhunters
• Career counselors
• Family members
• Friends
• Coworkers
• Vendors
• College professors
• Advisers
• Classmates
• Administrators
• Coaches
• Guest speakers
Key Takeaways
Networking is the process by which people form professional relationships to create, act upon opportunities, share information and help one another achieve professional goals.
• When you “network” with a person, you may:
• Share business cards, resumes, cover letters, job-seeking strategies, leads about open jobs, information about companies and organizations, and information about specific fields.
• Share information about networking groups, conferences, events, technology tools, and social media
• Research career counselors, career centers, career coaches and alumni, relatives, and acquaintances
• Networking can occur anywhere and anytime, and expands as you form and nurture new relationships
• According to Hank Blank, producer of the video Networking Tops for College Students and Young People, as a college student, you should have specific modern and no-nonsense strategies when developing your network.
• If you are an international student you may want to focus on keeping an open mind when it comes to networking
• When networking at college:
• Get to know your professors
• Check with your college alumni office
• Check with classmates
• Some strategies that you can develop at work include:
• Joining professional organizations
• Volunteering
• Internships
• Clubs
• Attend networking events
• Conduct informational interviews
• Some strategies that you can develop at home include:
• Be active on social media
• Ask family members and friends, coworkers, and relatives for referrals
• Utilize business cards for networking
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
• Networking. Authored by: Linda Bruce. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content
• Hank Blank - Networking Tips for College Students and Young People. Authored by: Hank Blank. Located at: https://youtu.be/TDVstonPPP8. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• International Student Series: Finding work using your networks. Authored by: The University of Sydney. Located at: https://youtu.be/1yQ5AKqpeiI. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• Hustle 101: Networking For College Students & Recent Grads. Authored by: NYCreativeInterns. Located at: https://youtu.be/TyFfc-4yj80. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/03%3A_Creating_Your_Career_Game_Plan/3.02%3A_Networking.txt |
The most important tool you have on a résumé is language. —Jay Samit, digital media innovator
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Define the purpose and contents of a résumé
• Identify characteristics of an effective cover letter and résumé
A résumé is a “selfie” for business purposes. It is a written picture of who you are—it’s a marketing tool, a selling tool, and a promotion of you as an ideal candidate for any job you may be interested in.
The word résumé comes from the French word résumé, which means “a summary.” Leonardo da Vinci is credited with writing one of the first known résumés, although it was more of a letter that outlined his credentials for a potential employer, Ludovico Sforza. The résumé got da Vinci the job, though, and Sforza became a longtime patron of da Vinci and later commissioned him to paint The Last Supper. You can see the letter and read the translation at Ladders Career Advice.
Résumés and cover letters work together to represent you in the brightest light to prospective employers. With a well-composed résumé and cover letter, you stand out—which may get you an interview and then a good shot at landing a job.
In this section we discuss résumés and cover letters as key components of your career development tool kit. We explore some of the many ways you can design and develop them for the greatest impact in your job search.
Your Résumé: Purpose and Contents
Your résumé is an inventory of your education, work experience, job-related skills, accomplishments, volunteer history, internships, residencies, and/or more. It’s a professional autobiography in outline form to give the person who reads it a quick, general idea of who you are. With a better idea of who your are, prospective employers can see how well you might contribute to their workplace.
As a college student or recent graduate, though, you may be unsure about what to put in your résumé, especially if you don’t have much employment history. Still, employers don’t expect recent grads to have significant work experience. And even with little work experience, you may still have a host of worthy accomplishments to include. It’s all in how you present yourself.
The following video is an animated look at why résumés are so important. You can read a transcript of the video here.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=44
Elements of Your Successful Résumé
Perhaps the hardest part of writing a résumé is figuring out what format to use to organize and present your information in the most effective way. There is no correct format, per se, but most résumés follow one of the four formats below. Which format appeals to you the most?
1. Reverse chronological résumé: A reverse chronological résumé (sometimes also simply called a chronological résumé) lists your job experiences in reverse chronological order—that is, starting with the most recent job and working backward toward your first job. It includes starting and ending dates. Also included is a brief description of the work duties you performed for each job, and highlights of your formal education. The reverse chronological résumé may be the most common and perhaps the most conservative résumé format. It is most suitable for demonstrating a solid work history, and growth and development in your skills. It may not suit you if you are light on skills in the area you are applying to, or if you’ve changed employers frequently, or if you are looking for your first job. Reverse Chronological Résumé Examples
2. Functional résumé: A functional résumé is organized around your talents, skills, and abilities (more so than work duties and job titles, as with the reverse chronological résumé). It emphasizes specific professional capabilities, like what you have done or what you can do. Specific dates may be included but are not as important. So if you are a new graduate entering your field with little or no actual work experience, the functional résumé may be a good format for you. It can also be useful when you are seeking work in a field that differs from what you have done in the past. It’s also well suited for people in unconventional careers. Functional Résumé Examples
3. Hybrid résumé: The hybrid résumé is a format reflecting both the functional and chronological approaches. It’s also called a combination résumé. It highlights relevant skills, but it still provides information about your work experience. With a hybrid résumé, you may list your job skills as most prominent and then follow with a chronological (or reverse chronological) list of employers. This résumé format is most effective when your specific skills and job experience need to be emphasized. Hybrid Résumé Examples
4. Video, infographic, and Web-site résumé: Other formats you may wish to consider are the video résumé, the infographic résumé, or even a Web-site résumé. These formats may be most suitable for people in multimedia and creative careers. Certainly with the expansive use of technology today, a job seeker might at least try to create a media-enhanced résumé. But the paper-based, traditional résumé is by far the most commonly used—in fact, some human resource departments may not permit submission of any format other than paper based. Video Resume Examples; Infographic Résumé Examples; Web-Site Résumé Examples
An important note about formatting is that, initially, employers may spend only a few seconds reviewing each résumé—especially if there is a big stack of them or they seem tedious to read. That’s why it’s important to choose your format carefully so it will stand out and make the first cut.
Résumé Contents and Structure
For many people, the process of writing a résumé is daunting. After all, you are taking a lot of information and condensing it into a very concise form that needs to be both eye-catching and easy to read. Don’t be scared off, though! Developing a good résumé can be fun, rewarding, and easier than you think if you follow a few basic guidelines. In the following video, a résumé-writing expert describes some keys to success.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=44
Contents and Components To Include
1. Your contact information: name, address, phone number, professional email address
2. A summary of your skills: 5–10 skills you have gained in your field; you can list hard skills as well as soft skills (refer to the Professional Skill Building topic in this course)
3. Work experience: depending on the résumé format you choose, you may list your most recent job first; include the title of the position, employer’s name, location, employment dates (beginning, ending)
4. Volunteer experience
5. Education and training: formal and informal experiences matter; include academic degrees, professional development, certificates, internships, etc.
6. References statement (optional): “References available upon request” is a standard phrase used on résumés, although it is often implied
7. Other sections: may include a job objective, a brief profile, a branding statement, a summary statement, additional accomplishments, and any other related experiences
Caution
Résumés resemble snowflakes in as much as no two are alike. Although you can benefit from giving yours a stamp of individuality, you will do well to steer clear of personal details that might elicit a negative response. It is advisable to omit any confidential information or details that could make you vulnerable to discrimination, for instance. Your résumé will likely be viewed by a number of employees in an organization, including human resource personnel, managers, administrative staff, etc. By aiming to please all reviewers, you gain maximum advantage.
• Do not mention your age, gender, height or weight.
• Do not include your social security number.
• Do not mention religious beliefs or political affiliations, unless they are relevant to the position.
• Do not include a photograph of yourself or a physical description.
• Do not mention health issues.
• Do not use first-person references. (I, me).
• Do not include wage/salary expectations.
• Do not use abbreviations.
• Proofread carefully—absolutely no spelling mistakes are acceptable.
Top Ten Tips for a Successful Résumé
1. Aim to make a résumé that’s 1–2 pages long on letter-size paper.
2. Make it visually appealing.
3. Use action verbs and phrases. See Action Words and Phrases for Résumé Development.
4. Proofread carefully to eliminate any spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typographical errors.
5. Include highlights of your qualifications or skills to attract an employer’s attention.
6. Craft your letter as a pitch to people in the profession you plan to work in.
7. Stand out as different, courageous.
8. Be positive and reflect only the truth.
9. Be excited and optimistic about your job prospects!
10. Keep refining and reworking your résumé; it’s an ongoing project.
Remember that your résumé is your professional profile. It will hold you in the most professional and positive light, and it’s designed to be a quick and easy way for a prospective employer to evaluate what you might bring to a job. When written and formatted attractively, creatively, and legibly, your résumé is what will get your foot in the door. You can be proud of your accomplishments, even if they don’t seem numerous. Let your résumé reflect your personal pride and professionalism.
In the following video, Résumé Tips for College Students From Employers, several college graduate recruiters summarize the most important points about crafting your résumé. You can download a transcript of the video here.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=44
Résumé Writing Resources
WEBSITE DESCRIPTION
1 Résumé Builder (from LinkedIn) Turn your LinkedIn Profile into a great résumé in seconds. Pick a résumé template, customize the content, print and share the result.
2 The Online Resume Builder (from My Perfect resume) The online résumé builder is easy to use. Choose your résumé design from the library of professional designs, insert prewritten examples, then download and print your new résumé.
3 Résumé Builder (from Live Career) This site offers examples and samples, templates, tips, videos, and services for résumés, cover letters, interviews, and jobs.
4 Résumé Samples for College Students and Graduates (from About Careers) This site offers a plethora of sample résumés for college students and graduates. Listings are by type of student and by type of job. Résumé templates are also provided.
5 JobSearch Minute Videos (from College Grad) This site offers multiple to-the-point one-minute videos on topics such as print résumés, video résumés, cover letters, interviewing, tough interview questions, references, job fairs, and Internet job searching.
6 Student [Career] Services (from Employment Ontario—Community Employment Services)
7 42 Résumé Dos and Don’ts Every Job Seeker Should Know (from the muse) A comprehensive list of résumé dos and don’ts, which includes traditional rules as well as new rules to polish your résumé.
Your Résumé: It’s Like Online Dating
The following essay by Jackie Vetrano is excerpted from Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom. It’s a true-to-life story comparing job hunting to online dating. The writer’s “lessons learned” are meant to enlarge your awareness of your career goals as you attend college.
It’s Like Online Dating
Searching for a job, especially your first job, is a lot like online dating. It begins as a time commitment, gets nerve-wracking towards the middle, but ends in success and happiness if you follow the right process.
Like many single people with access to current technology, I ventured into the world of online dating. I went for coffee with potential mates who were instant no ways, some who left me scratching my head, and a few who I found a connection with.
But hang on. We are here to talk about professional development, not my love life.
Being on the job hunt is not easy. Many spend hours preparing résumés, looking at open positions, and thinking about what career path to travel. Occasionally, it is overwhelming and intimidating, but when taken one step at a time, it can be a manageable and an exciting process.
The first step of online dating is the most important: create your dating profile. Your profile is where you put your best foot forward and show off all of your attractive qualities through visuals and text. Online daters find their most flattering photos and then season the “about me” section of their profile with captivating and descriptive words to better display who they are and why other online daters should give them a shot.
Résumés follow this same logic. Your résumé should be clean, polished, and present you in your best light for future employers. Like dating profiles, they are detailed and should paint a picture for other prospective dates (or future employers) supporting why you deserve a chance at their love—an interview.
The unspoken rules of online dating profiles are very similar to the rules for writing a résumé. Whether you like it or not, your online dating profile and résumé both serve as a first impression. Profiles and résumés that are short, filled with spelling errors, or vague are usually passed over. Unless you are a supermodel and all you need is an enticing photo, your written description is very important to display who you are.
Your résumé should capture who you are, your skill set, education, past experiences, and anything else that is relevant to the job you hope to obtain. Knowing your audience is a key factor in crafting the perfect resume. Logically, if my online dating profile presented studious and quiet personality traits, I would likely start receiving messages from potential mates who are looking for someone who is seeking those traits. By taking a similar approach while writing a résumé, you can easily determine the tone, language, and highlighted skills and experiences you should feature. The tone of your résumé is dictated by the nature of the position you hope to obtain in the future. For example, hospitality jobs or positions that require you to interact with many people on a daily basis should be warm and welcoming while analytical jobs, such as accounting or research positions, should reflect an astute attention to detail. Your choice in language follows similar logic—use appropriate terms for the position you are seeking.
Unlike online dating profiles, your résumé should include your important contact information, including email address, telephone number, and mailing address. Some advise refraining from listing a mailing address, as this could create a bias due to some organizations that are looking for a new employee who is already in the area.
Unfortunately, this bias cannot be foreseen, which means you should use your best judgment when listing your contact information. If you include this contact information on your dating profile, you may have some very interesting text messages in the morning.
—Jackie Ventrano, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
Vetrano’s essay is continued ahead in the “Cover Letters” section of this page.
Activity: Create Your Résumé
Objectives:
• Compile data reflecting your professional and educational skills and accomplishments.
• Assess the main résumé formats and select one that meets your needs.
• Create a first draft of your professional résumé.
Directions:
1. Compile all needed information for your résumé, including your contact information, a summary of your skills, your work experience and volunteer experience, education and training (including your intended degree, professional development activities, certificates, internships, etc.). Optionally you may wish to include job objective, a brief profile, a branding statement, additional accomplishments, and any other related experiences.
2. Select one of the résumé builder tools listed above in the Résumé Writing Resources table.
3. Create your résumé, following instructions at your selected site.
4. Save your document as a PDF file.
5. Follow instructions from your instructor on how to submit your work.
Your Cover Letter
Cover letters matter. When you have to go through a pile of them, they are probably more important than the résumé itself. —woodleywonderworks
What Is a Cover Letter?
A cover letter is a letter of introduction, usually 3–4 paragraphs in length, that you attach to your résumé. It’s a way of introducing yourself to a potential employer and explaining why you are suited for a position. Employers may look for individualized and thoughtfully written cover letters as an initial method of screening out applicants who may who lack necessary basic skills, or who may not be sufficiently interested in the position.
Often an employer will request or require that a cover letter be included in the materials an applicant submits. There are also occasions when you might submit a cover letter uninvited: for example, if you are initiating an inquiry about possible work or asking someone to send you information or provide other assistance.
With each résumé you send out, always include a cover letter specifically addressing your purposes.
Characteristics of an Effective Cover Letter
Cover letters should accomplish the following:
• Get the attention of the prospective employer
• Set you apart from any possible competition
• Identify the position you are interested in
• Specify how you learned about the position or company
• Present highlights of your skills and accomplishments
• Reflect your genuine interest
• Please the eye and ear
The following video features Aimee Bateman, founder of Careercake.com, who explains how you can create an incredible cover letter. You can download a transcript of the video here.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=44
Cover Letter Resources
WEBSITE DESCRIPTION
1 Student Cover Letter Samples (from About Careers) This site contains sample student/recent graduate cover letters (especially for high school students and college students and graduates seeking employment) as well as cover letter templates, writing tips, formats and templates, email cover letter examples, and examples by type of applicant
2 How to Write Cover Letters (from CollegeGrad) This site contains resources about the reality of cover letters, using a cover letter, the worst use of the cover letter, the testimonial cover letter technique, and a cover letter checklist
3 LinkedIn Cover Letter This site contains articles, experts, jobs, and more: get all the professional insights you need on LinkedIn
4 Cover Letters (from the Yale Office of Career Strategy) This site includes specifications for the cover letter framework (introductory paragraph, middle paragraph, concluding paragraph), as well as format and style
Your Cover Letter: It’s Like Online Dating
The following is another excerpt from the “It’s Like Online Dating” essay by Jackie Vetrano. Writing a cover letter may feel like a chore, but the payoff will be well worth it if you land the job you want!
It’s Like Online Dating
Sending a Message—The Cover Letter
After searching through dozens of profiles, online daters generally find a handful of people they can picture themselves with. There’s only one way to find out more about the person, and that’s by sending the first message.
The challenging part of the first message I send through online dating sites is determining what to say. I’ve never met these people before, but I do have access to their dating profiles filled with their hobbies, hometowns, and more. This is a perfect starting point for my message, especially if we both root for the same football team or if the other person likes to run as much as I do.
Your cover letter serves as an introduction to your future employer and should complement your résumé to create a shining first impression. It is incredibly challenging to sit in front of a blank screen trying to find a good starting point, which means you should look at the job posting and organization’s Web site for ideas about what to include.
Generally, these job postings provide a set of hard skills (such as proficiency with certain technology) and soft skills (such as public speaking, teamwork, or working in a flexible environment) required and desired for the posted position. This information provides you a list of what should be explained in your cover letter. Demonstrating your hard skills is a simple enough task by using examples or stating certifications, but describing your soft skills may require a little more thought. These soft skills can be exhibited by discussing specific examples of past experiences in previous jobs you’ve held, volunteer work, or work you’ve done in college classes.
After you have crafted your cover letter, you should send it to a few people you trust for their opinion and overall proofreading along with the job posting for their reference. It’s obvious that your cover letter should be free of spelling and grammar errors, but these trustworthy individuals will also be able to provide helpful insight about the examples you’ve used to display your soft skills.
—Jackie Vetrano, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
Key Takeaways
The purpose of the resume is to get your foot in the door and be offered an interview. The resume is your one chance to catch your employer’s attention and stand out from the other applicants.
A cover letter is a letter of introduction that you submit with your resume and it explains why you are suited for the position.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
• Ru00e9sumu00e9s and Cover Letters. Authored by: Linda Bruce. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content
• WHY DO I NEED A RESUME?. Authored by: Leinard Tapat. Located at: https://youtu.be/Yc4pgOsUJfA. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• Resume Tips for College Students From Employers. Authored by: Clarkson University. Located at: https://youtu.be/fYavOr8Gnac. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• 5 Steps to an Incredible Cover Letter. Authored by: Aimee Bateman. Located at: https://youtu.be/mxOli8laZos. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
• Resume Tutorial. Authored by: Cameron Cassidy. Located at: https://youtu.be/O5eVMaPZWmM. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/03%3A_Creating_Your_Career_Game_Plan/3.03%3A_Resumes_and_Cover_Letters.txt |
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation. —Arthur Ashe, champion tennis player
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• 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
If your résumé and cover letter have served their purposes well, you will be invited to participate in an interview with the company or organization you’re interested in. Congratulations! It’s an exciting time, and your prospects for employment are very strong if you put in the time to be well prepared.
In this section we look at how to get ready for an interview, what types of interviews you might need to engage in, and what kinds of questions you might be asked.
Preparing Effectively for a Job Interview
Review the Job Description
When you prepare for an interview, your first step will be to carefully read and reread the job posting or job description. This will help you develop a clearer idea of how you meet the skills and attributes the company seeks.
Research the Company or Organization
Researching the company will give you a wider view of what the company is looking for and how well you might fit in. Your prospective employer may ask you what you know about the company. Being prepared to answer this question shows that you took time and effort to prepare for the interview and that you have a genuine interest in the organization. It shows good care and good planning—soft skills you will surely need on the job.
Practice Answering Common Questions
Most interviewees find that practicing the interview in advance with a family member, a friend, or a colleague eases possible nerves during the actual interview. It also creates greater confidence when you walk through the interview door. In the “Interview Questions” section below, you’ll learn more about specific questions you will likely be asked and corresponding strategies for answering them.
Plan to Dress Appropriately
Interviewees are generally most properly dressed for an interview in business attire, with the goal of looking highly professional in the eyes of the interviewer. At the DePaul University Career Center and CareerSpots.com Web site, click on Interview Dress to see three videos on dressing for success in your job interview. Learn exactly what is meant by “business casual,” and see the specific types of attire appropriate for men and women.
Come Prepared
Plan to bring your résumé, cover letter, and a list of references to the interview. You may also want to bring a portfolio of representative work. Leave behind coffee, chewing gum, and any other items that could be distractions.
Be Confident
Above all, interviewees should be confident and “courageous.” By doing so you make a strong first impression. As the saying goes, “There is never a second chance to make a first impression.”
Job Interview Types and Techniques
Every interview you participate in will be unique: The people you meet with, the interview setting, and the questions you’ll be asked will all be different from interview to interview.
The various factors that characterize any given interview can contribute to the sense of adventure and excitement you feel. But it’s also can normal to feel a little nervous about what lies ahead. With so many unknowns, how can you plan to “nail the interview” no matter what comes up?
A good strategy for planning is to anticipate the type of interview you may find yourself in. There are common formats for job interviews, described in detail, below. By knowing a bit more about each type and being aware of techniques that work for each, you can plan to be on your game no matter what form your interview takes.
Screening Interviews
Screening interviews might best be characterized as “weeding-out” interviews. They ordinarily take place over the phone or in another low-stakes environment in which the interviewer has maximum control over the amount of time the interview takes. Screening interviews are generally short because they glean only basic information about you. If you are scheduled to participate in a screening interview, you might safely assume that you have some competition for the job and that the company is using this strategy to whittle down the applicant pool. With this kind of interview, your goal is to win a face-to-face interview. For this first shot, though, prepare well and challenge yourself to shine. Try to stand out from the competition and be sure to follow up with a thank-you note.
Phone or Web Conference Interviews
If you are geographically separated from your prospective employer, you may be invited to participate in a phone interview or online interview, instead of meeting face-to-face. Technology, of course, is a good way to bridge distances. The fact that you’re not there in person doesn’t make it any less important to be fully prepared, though. In fact, you may wish to be all the more “on your toes” to compensate for the distance barrier. Make sure your equipment (phone, computer, Internet connection, etc.) is fully charged and works. If you’re at home for the interview, make sure the environment is quiet and distraction-free. If the meeting is online, make sure your video background is pleasing and neutral, like a wall hanging or even a white wall.
One-on-One Interviews
The majority of job interviews are conducted in this format—just you and a single interviewer—likely with the manager you would report to and work with. The one-on-one format gives you both a chance to see how well you connect and how well your talents, skills, and personalities mesh. You can expect to be asked questions like “Why would you be good for this job?” and “Tell me about yourself.” Many interviewees prefer the one-on-one format because it allows them to spend in-depth time with the interviewer. Rapport can be built. As always, be very courteous and professional. Have handy a portfolio of your best work.
Panel Interviews
An efficient format for meeting a candidate is a panel interview, in which perhaps four to five coworkers meet at the same time with a single interviewee. The coworkers comprise the “search committee” or “search panel,” which may consist of different company representatives such as human resources, management, and staff. One advantage of this format for the committee is that meeting together gives them a common experience to reflect on afterward. In a panel interview, listen carefully to questions from each panelist, and try to connect fully with each questioner. Be sure to write down names and titles, so you can send individual thank-you notes after the interview.
Serial Interviews
Serial interviews are a combination of one-on-one meetings with a group of interviewers, typically conducted as a series of meetings staggered throughout the day. Ordinarily this type of interview is for higher-level jobs, when it’s important to meet at length with major stakeholders. If your interview process is designed this way, you will need to be ultraprepared, as you will be answering many in-depth questions. Stay alert.
Lunch Interviews
In some higher-level positions, candidates are taken to lunch or dinner, especially if this is a second interview (a “call back” interview). If this is you, count yourself lucky and be on your best behavior, because even if the lunch meeting is unstructured and informal, it’s still an official interview. Do not order an alcoholic beverage, and use your best table manners. You are not expected to pay or even to offer to pay. But, as always, you must send a thank-you note.
Group Interviews
Group interviews are comprised of several interviewees and perhaps only one or two interviewers who may make a presentation to the assembled group. This format allows an organization to quickly prescreen candidates. It also gives candidates a chance to quickly learn about the company. As with all interview formats, you are being observed. How do you behave with your group? Do you assume a leadership role? Are you quiet but attentive? What kind of personality is the company looking for? A group interview may reveal this.
For a summary of the interview formats we’ve just covered (and a few additional ones), take a look at the following video, Job Interview Guide—10 Different Types of Interviews in Today’s Modern World.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=46
Activity: What Makes You a Great Fit?
Objectives:
• Define your ideal job.
• Identify the top three reasons why you are a great fit for this ideal job.
Directions:
• Write a paragraph describing your ideal job. Imagine that you are already in this job. What is your job title and what are you responsible for executing? What is the name of the company or organization? What is its function?
• Now identify the top three reasons why you are a great fit for this ideal job. What sets you apart from the competition? List the qualities, skills and values you have that match the job requirements. Provide examples to support your answers. Connect your values to the company’s values.
• Summarize your answer.
• Submit this assignment according to directions provided by your instructor.
Interview Questions
For most job candidates, the burning question is “What will I be asked?” There’s no way to anticipate every single question that may arise during an interview. It’s possible that, no matter how well prepared you are, you may get a question you just didn’t expect. But that’s okay. Do as much preparation as you can—which will build your confidence—and trust that the answers will come.
To help you reach that point of sureness and confidence, take time to review common interview questions. Think about your answers. Make notes, if that helps. And then conduct a practice interview with a friend, a family member, or a colleague. Speak your answers out loud. Below is a list of resources that contain common interview questions and good explanations/answers you might want to adopt.
WEBSITE DESCRIPTION
1 100 top job interview questions—be prepared for the interview (from Monster.com) This site provides a comprehensive set of interview questions you might expect to be asked, categorized as basic interview questions, behavioral questions, salary questions, career development questions, and other kinds. Some of the listed questions provide comprehensive answers, too.
2 Interview Questions and Answers (from BigInterview) This site provides text and video answers to the following questions: Tell me about yourself, describe your current position, why are you looking for a new job, what are your strengths, what is your greatest weakness, why do you want to work here, where do you see yourself in five years, why should we hire you, and do you have any questions for me?
3 Ten Tough Interview Questions and Ten Great Answers (from CollegeGrad) This site explores some of the most difficult questions you will face in job interviews. The more open-ended the question, the greater the variation among answers. Once you have become practiced in your interviewing skills, you will find that you can use almost any question as a launching pad for a particular topic or compelling story.
Why Should We Hire You
From the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business Career Management Office, here is a video featuring representatives from recruiting companies offering advice for answering the question “Why should we hire you?” As you watch, make mental notes about how you would answer the question in an interview for a job you really want.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=46
In closing, below is the final excerpt from the essay “It’s Like Online Dating,” by Jackie Vetrano. You’ll recall that the writer compares job hunting—including résumé creation and cover-letter writing—to online dating. In this last section, she concludes with a look at the job interview and compares it to a first date.
It’s Like Online Dating
The First Date—The Job Interview
After what may feel like forever, you hear back from the love of your life. Congratulations! In the online dating world, you may chat about common interests (because you wrote a stunning first message), but in the world of work, you’ll be asked to visit the organization for an interview.
I have been on many first dates, and whether it’s in a coffee shop or over dinner, the first face-to-face meeting is tremendously important. If someone I am meeting for the first time looks like they just came from the gym or rolled out of bed, my impression instantly changes. This same theory can be directly applied to your first date with your future employer. You have worked hard on your cover letter and résumé, and you should not taint the sparkling first impression you have created with the wrong choice in dress.
What you wear to a job interview may change based on the position you have applied for, but there are a set of basic rules that everyone should follow. Similar to meeting someone on a first date for coffee, you want to be comfortable. Some interviews may take place with multiple people in an organization, meaning you will be walking to different locations, sitting down, and potentially sweating from a broken air conditioning unit. Consider these factors when choosing your outfit for your interview, and if you’re concerned about being underdressed, remember to always dress a bit nicer than how you’d dress for the job itself.
There is nothing worse than sitting alone at a coffee shop waiting for a mystery date to show up. It’s uncomfortable and affects my overall first impression of whom I’m about to meet. Avoid making your mystery employer annoyed and waiting for you by leaving at least ten minutes earlier than you need to, just in case you get stuck in traffic. Arrive at least ten minutes early. The interview will start out much better if you are early rather than nervous and running late. Arriving early also gives you the time to have some coffee and review materials you may need for the interview. Coming on time to an interview or a first date shows you respect the time of the person you plan to meet.
On a first date, it is all about communication. Sometimes, there may be silences that cannot be filled or the person I have just met discloses their entire life story to me in less than an hour. If we cannot achieve a proper balance, there will not be a second date. Communicating effectively in a job interview is equally as important, especially if you want a job offer!
All of the rules of dating apply to how you should behave in a job interview. The interviewer will ask you questions, which means that you should look at them and focus on what is being asked. Your phone should be on silent (not even on vibrate), and hidden, to show that you are fully attentive and engaged in the conversation you are having. Much like having a conversation on a date, the answers to your questions should be clear and concise and stay on topic. The stories I tell on my first dates are more personal than what would be disclosed in a job interview, but the mindset is the same. You are building the impression that the organization has of you, so put your best foot forward through the comments you make.
To make that great impression, it is really important to heavily prepare and practice, even before you have an interview scheduled. By brainstorming answers to typical interview questions in a typed document or out loud, later during the interview you will easily remember the examples of your past experiences that demonstrate why you are best for the job. You can continue to update this list as you move through different jobs, finding better examples to each question to accurately describe your hard and soft skills.
This interview is as much a date for your future employer as it is for you. Come prepared with questions that you have about the company, the position, and anything else you are curious about. This is an opportunity for you to show off the research you’ve done on the organization and establish a better understanding of company culture, values, and work ethic. Without knowing these basics of the company or organization, what you thought was a match might only end in a tense breakup.
After your interview is over, you continue to have an opportunity to build on the positive impression that you’ve worked hard to form. Sending a follow up thank you note to each person you interviewed with will show your respect for the time the organization spent with you. These notes can be written and sent by mail or emailed, but either way should have a personal touch, commenting on a topic that was discussed in the interview. While sending a thank you note after a first date may sound a little strange, you might not get asked to a second interview without one!
It’s Official—The Job Offer
In the online dating world, it takes a few dates to determine if two people are a match. In the corporate world, you may have a one or two interviews to build a relationship. If your impression was positive and the organization believes you’re a match for the open position, you’ll be offered a job.
With a job offer also comes the salary for the position. It is important to know what a reasonable salary is for the position and location, which can be answered with a bit of research. One good place to look is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site. At this point, it is not uncommon to discuss your salary with your future employer, but be sure to do so in a polite way.
Online dating sites provide the means for millions of people to meet future partners, and the number of people who use online dating is so large that there are sure to be disappointments along the way. I have met people who I thought were compatible with me, but they did not feel the same, and vice versa. This happens frequently while searching for a job, which can be discouraging, but should not hinder you from continuing to search! There are a great number of opportunities, and sometimes all it takes is adjusting your filters or revising your résumé and cover letter. The cliché “there’s plenty of fish in the sea” may be true, but there is definitely a way for each person to start their career off.
—Jackie Vetrano, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
Key Takeaways
• Prepare for the interview by carefully reviewing the job description and researching the company in advance. This will help you tailor your interview responses to illustrate how your skills and abilities match the needs of the organization.
• Practice common interview questions with a family member or friend to help you respond to questions more naturally, make a good impression, and build confidence in your interviewing skills.
• Come prepared for the interview by dressing professionally for the position and bringing copies of your résumé, cover letter, letters of reference, and samples of your work if relevant to the position.
• Become familiar with common formats for job interviews, such as screening interviews, one-on-one interviews, phone or web conference interviews, and panel interviews. Each will require different interview techniques from you, and by learning about each type, you will be prepared to demonstrate how you are the best person for the job.
• Always send a personalized thank you note to each person who interviewed you immediately following the interview.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content
• Job Interview Guide - 10 Different Types of Interviews in Today's Modern World. Authored by: InterviewMastermind. Located at: https://youtu.be/mMLQ7nSAyDQ. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
Lumen Learning authored content
3.05: Whats Next
Your Success Track
You’ve completed an important first step toward college success completing this course this course, by finishing the College Success module! May the new skills and strategies you’ve gained serve you well not only in college but at work and in any other settings in which college skills become life skills.
Application of Ideas
Consider the presentation, below, by Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). At the young age of twelve, he marched with Martin Luther King, and now, at UMBC, he works to create an environment that helps underrepresented students—specifically African American, Latino, and low-income learners—get degrees in math and science. In the video he shares the four pillars of UMBC’s approach. It’s an inspiring talk for any college student, no matter what your major may be. You can download a copy of the transcript here.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/career/?p=48
Symbols of Success
As you move more deeply into student life, consider selecting a symbol of your commitment to success. Consider your own personal definition of “success.” What would a physical representation of that success look like? Many people consider graduation caps or diplomas to be symbols of college success. If those are meaningful to you, consider choosing one. Alternatively, yours can become more personal—an item that speaks to you as a sign of what you’re working toward and how you’ll know you’ve “made it.”
Some ideas from previous students include:
• a stethoscope, for an aspiring medical student
• a set of professional salon scissors, for an aspiring beautician
• an office door nameplate, for an aspiring law student
Once you find a meaningful symbol—perhaps an object or an image or even an idea—keep it in a place where you can easily access it. In moments when you need a boost, you can remind yourself that college success begins and ends with your commitment to learning well.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
• Conclusion. Authored by: Linda Bruce. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
• Screenshot of success symbols. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
All rights reserved content | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_Life_Planning_and_Personal_Exploration/03%3A_Creating_Your_Career_Game_Plan/3.04%3A_Interviewing.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Apply the career exploration and planning process.
• Describe the stages of career development and identify the stage you are currently in.
• Identify and apply important factors related to mindset such as a positive mental outlook, self-confidence and the power of positive thinking.
• Differentiate between a job and a career.
• Brainstorm ideas for your personal and career vision.
01: Getting Started- Creating Your Career and Life Planning Vision
“The Department of Labor defines 840 occupations in its Standard Occupation Classification system1—and new occupations are being created at an ever-faster rate. Just ten years ago, would anyone have imagined the job of a social media marketing specialist? How about the concept of a competitive chef? As new careers develop and old careers morph into almost unrecognizable versions of their original, it’s OK if you aren’t able to pinpoint exactly what occupation or career will be your lifetime passion. However, it is important to define as best you can what field you will want to develop your career in, because that will help dictate your major and your course selections.”
The process of career exploration can be a lot of fun, as it allows you to discover a world of possibilities. Even those students who have a pretty clear idea of what they want to do should go through this process because they will discover new options as backups and occasionally a new direction even more attractive than their original choice. The career exploration process involves four phases addressing four important questions:
• Phase 1: Who Am I?
• Phase 2: What’s Out There?
• Phase 3: What Factors Might Affect My Choice?
• Phase 4: Where Do I Go From Here?
Phase 1: Who Am I?
This phase involves getting to know who you are. Understanding who you really are—is the first step of career exploration. You will have the opportunity to engage in many different career assessments in Unit 2 to allow you to learn more about your values, character strengths, personality preferences, interests, skills, and abilities. Each assessment will help you gain a better understanding of who you are and where you may fit best in the world of work.
Phase 2: What’s Out There?
Unit 3 addresses phase 2 which involves doing career research. Once you have taken time to research yourself and gain a stronger understanding of who you are, you can begin to explore what types of careers might be best suited to you. This phase involves online research, talking to professionals in the field and gaining hands on exposure through volunteer work, internship experience, and networking. This phase also includes researching industry expectations and understanding minimum qualifications for employment. The more information you gather and the more you learn about the world of work will help you make well-informed decisions about your future career.
Phase 3: What Factors Might Affect My Choice?
In phase 3, you will take time to explore factors that may affect your choice and start making some decisions. It is important to use your creative thinking skills to come up with alternative “right” answers to factors that may present an obstacle to pursuing the right career.
• Timing. How much time must I invest before I actually start making money in this career? Will I need to spend additional time in school? Is there a certification process that requires a specific amount of experience? If so, can I afford to wait?
• Finances. Will this career provide me with the kind of income I need in the short term and the security I’ll want in the longer term? What investment will I need to make to be successful in this field (education, tools, franchise fees, etc.)?
• Location. Does this career require me to relocate? Is the ideal location for this career somewhere I would like to live? Is it somewhere my family would like to live.
• Family/personal. How will this career affect my personal and family life? Do friends and family members who know me well feel strongly (for or against) about this career choice? How important is their input?
Taking time to research, these factors will help you with the decision making process and allow you to plan and prepare for your future. The decision making process will be discussed in detail in unit 4 along with internal and external factors that influence decision-making.
Phase 4: Where Do I Go From Here?
It may seem odd to be thinking about life after school if you are just getting started. But you will soon be making decisions about your future, and regardless of the direction you may choose, there is a lot you can do while still in college. You will need to focus your studies by choosing a major. You should find opportunities to explore the careers that interest you. You can ensure that you are building the right kind of experience on which to base a successful career. These steps will make your dreams come to life and make them achievable. In Unit 4, the educational planning process will be introduced. You will take time to learn about the career certificate programs, associate degree, and transfer programs at COC and gain a good understanding of what program you'd like to pursue while developing your comprehensive student educational plan.
Keep in mind that deciding on and pursuing a career is an ongoing process. The more you learn about yourself and the career options that best suit you, the more you will need to fine-tune your career plan. Do not be afraid to consider new ideas. Keep an open mind, apply careful consideration as you narrow down your choices, and solidify your career plan. Career planning is exciting: learning about yourself and about career opportunities, and considering the factors that can affect your decision, should be a core part of your thoughts while in college. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/01%3A_Getting_Started-_Creating_Your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision/1.01%3A_Overview_of_Career_and_Life_Planning.txt |
See if you can remember a time in your childhood when you noticed somebody doing professional work. Maybe a nurse or doctor, dressed in a lab coat, was listening to your heartbeat. Maybe a worker at a construction site, decked in a hard hat, was operating noisy machinery. Maybe a cashier at the checkout line in a grocery store was busily scanning bar codes. Each day in your young life you could have seen a hundred people doing various jobs. Surely some of the experiences drew your interest and appealed to your imagination.
If you can recall any such times, those are moments from the beginning stage of your career development.
What exactly is career development? It’s a lifelong process in which we become aware of, interested in, knowledgeable about, and skilled in a career. It’s a key part of human development as our identity forms and our life unfolds.
Stages of Career Development
There are five main stages of career development. Each stage correlates with attitudes, behaviors, and relationships we all tend to have at that point and age. As we progress through each stage and reach the milestones identified, we prepare to move on to the next one.
Table 1.1 - Career Development Stages
Stage
Description
Growing
This is a time in early years (4–13 years old) when you begin to have a sense about the future. You begin to realize that your participation in the world is related to being able to do certain tasks and accomplish certain goals.
Exploring
This period begins when you are a teenager, and it extends into your mid-twenties. In this stage you find that you have specific interests and aptitudes. You are aware of your inclinations to perform and learn about some subjects more than others. You may try out jobs in your community or at your school. You may begin to explore a specific career. At this stage, you have some detailed “data points” about careers, which will guide you in certain directions.
Establishing
This period covers your mid-twenties through mid-forties. By now you are selecting or entering a field you consider suitable, and you are exploring job opportunities that will be stable. You are also looking for upward growth, so you may be thinking about an advanced degree.
Maintaining
This stage is typical for people in their mid-forties to mid-sixties. You may be in an upward pattern of learning new skills and staying engaged. But you might also be merely “coasting and cruising” or even feeling stagnant. You may be taking stock of what you’ve accomplished and where you still want to go.
Reinventing
In your mid-sixties, you are likely transitioning into retirement. But retirement in our technologically advanced world can be just the beginning of a new career or pursuit—a time when you can reinvent yourself. There are many new interests to pursue, including teaching others what you’ve learned, volunteering, starting online businesses, consulting, etc.
Keep in mind that your career development path is personal to you, and you may not fit neatly into the categories described above. Perhaps your socioeconomic background changes how you fit into the schema. Perhaps your physical and mental abilities affect how you define the idea of a “career.” And for everyone, too, there are factors of chance that can’t be predicted or anticipated. You are unique, and your career path can only be developed by you.
Review the 5 Stages of Career Development listed in the table above and answer the questions below.
1. Which stage of career development do you feel you are in currently?
1. Provide the 2 descriptions you identify with the most from your career development stage.
1. What challenges are you facing now in your career development?
1. Where are you headed next in your career development path?
Setting Yourself Up for Career Success
There are many factors that contribute to career success, such as: hard work, motivation, attitude, grit, resilience and talent. All these factors are related to mindset. Your thoughts and ideas in your mind influence your belief about yourself and your abilities. This influence directly impacts your attitudes, behaviors and ultimately your performance. Your mind is a powerful tool and you can use it to your advantage or disadvantage. You are in control! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/01%3A_Getting_Started-_Creating_Your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision/1.02%3A_Career_Development.txt |
Your mindset can help support a healthy career journey or it can be used to sabotage your efforts for success. Dr. Carol Dweck, a world-renowned Stanford University psychologist, conducted a research study with junior high students and presented them with puzzles to solve, ranging from easy to hard. She observed different attitudes in the students. Some gave up more easily and did not believe in themselves. Others continued to work hard despite mistakes and did not give up. She discovered that some people view their intelligence and abilities as something that is fixed where others viewed intelligence and abilities as something that can be developed. In Dr. Carol Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she states:
not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for things you value. It means you are not fulfilling your potential . . . In one world, effort is a bad thing. It's, like failure, means you are not smart or talented. If you were, you would not need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.” (Dweck 15-16)
The illustration on the following page demonstrates the two mindsets. The fixed mindset views intelligence as static. The growth minset views intelligence as something that can be developed. Review the illustration and ask yourself: "Which mindset do I generally practice in my everday life?"
The Power Of “Yet” By Carol Dweck3
Carol Dweck is a professor at Stanford and the author of Mindset, a classic work on motivation and “growth mindset.” Her work is influential among educators and increasingly among business leaders as well. She researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet?
Your mindset can play an important role in your career and life planning process. As you prepare to answer the question, “Who Am I?” in Unit 2, we ask you to keep a growth mindset and practice the power of “yet” by Dr. Carol Dweck.
Grit4
, Grit is: firmness of mind or spirit; unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.
Passion and Perseverance or “Grit” by Angela Duckworth
Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.
After watching the videos, reflect on how you can apply a “growth mindset” and “grit” to your career and life-planning journey!
Affirmations
Positive self-talk improves self-image and allows for empowerment toward deliberate change. Affirmations are positive statements that describe a desired outcome and are often repeated until you start to believe them. Affirmations are directly related to mindset. As discussed earlier, your thoughts and ideas in your mind influence your belief about yourself and your abilities. This influence directly impacts your attitudes, behaviors and ultimately your performance. Be good to yourself and use affirmations to help build your confidence and belief in yourself.
Affirmations can be used to help raise self-confidence, control negative feelings and acquire new desired behaviors. They are particularly useful to help overcome negative thinking and self-sabotaging behaviors. Affirmations are intended to create new possibilities.
For example, let’s say I struggle with organization and often miss deadlines and this negatively impacts my performance at school and work.
My new desired behavior is to be organized and keep up with deadlines. To develop an affirmation for this desired new behavior there are a few things to keep in mind. When creating effective affirmations, it is necessary to:
• Phrase the affirmation in the present tense. For example:
I am organized and manage my time well.
vs.
I will be organized and manage my time well.
• Phrase the affirmation in the positive rather than the negative
I am productive and motivated.
vs.
I am not lazy and unmotivated.
Make sure the affirmation is believable and meaningful.
• Share your affirmations with others.
• Visualize success.
• Recite your affirmations daily.
• Repeat your affirmations when you start to engage in negative thought or behavior.
Here are some examples of positive affirmations:
• I practice a growth mindset.
• I am successful.
• I embrace challenges and view them as learning opportunities.
• I am strong and in control of my thoughts and behaviors.
• I am a valuable team player with a strong work ethic.
• I value hard work and put forth 100 % effort in all I do.
• I use my time wisely and complete assignments on time.
• I am mindful of how I spend my time and with whom.
• I practice a healthy lifestyle by eating well, exercising and forgiving myself when I make mistakes.
Using positive self-talk and repeating positive messages to yourself will help reinforce a positive self-image and will contribute to your career success! Take a moment and practice this.
Develop six affirmations related to being successful in your career and life planning. Be sure to state your affirmations in the present and use positive phrases. Make your affirmations personal and meaningful to you.
Read your affirmations daily and modify them as needed. Practice them especially when you feel overwhelmed or discouraged. When you repeat your affirmations over and over, you will start to believe them and this will change your expectations, attitudes, behaviors and ultimately your performance.
Building Self-Confidence
Self-confidence plays an important role in many aspects of our lives. It is a key factor that contributes to success in school, work, home and in personal relationships with family and friends.
Many factors influence self-confidence. Some factors include environment, childhood upbringing, culture and experiences and interactions with others. These factors can help build confidence and strengthen our belief in ourselves and our abilities. Or they can minimize confidence and cause us to question ourselves and our abilities.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” This is a powerful statement because it emphasizes the control you have within yourself. Building self-confidence takes time and patience and is definitely worth the effort.
One way to help build self-confidence is to focus on a past success. Look at an achievement you are proud of. For example, earning an “A” on your English 101 research paper. Earning that “A” grade involved:
• Research Skills -using resources to collect the information needed to write the paper
Another important factor that can help build your self-confidence is to think about your strengths. Your strengths are generally things that come naturally to you and you do well. For example, some strengths may include:
• Communicating well with others
• Staying calm during a crisis
• Problem solving
• Seeing the silver lining in the midst of chaos
Recognize and reward yourself for the achievements you have accomplished thus far. Give yourself credit for overcoming setbacks and using those situations as opportunities to learn and grow. When things get difficult, it is common to question your abilities. It is times like these when it is necessary to look back at your accomplishments and recognize that you have been successful before and can do it again. Learn from past challenges and how you have conquered them. Focus on the skills you have and the strengths you have developed through previous challenges. Learn from your past successes to help build your future successes.
As you build your self-confidence you will start to feel more in control of your future.
College of the Canyons Student Resources
As you prepare for career success it is also important to take time to acquaint yourself with the services on campus to help you be a successful student. There are many resources on campus to help you pursue your academic and career goals at College of the Canyons. Familiarize yourself with the student support services and identify those you can benefit from. Click here for a comprehensive list of College of the Canyons Campus Resources & Support Services. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. COC offers many services to help support you on your journey. All you need to do is know what is available to you and how you can benefit from each service.
So far, we have addressed several important factors to get you started on your career journey. Practicing a growth mindset, affirmations and building self-confidence will help guide you through the process of creating your career and life planning vision. Before we begin your journey, let’s take a minute and differentiate between a job and a career. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/01%3A_Getting_Started-_Creating_Your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision/1.03%3A_Setting_a_Growth_Mindset.txt |
Before we dive into the career exploration process, it is important to differentiate between a job and a career. These two terms are often used interchangeably however, they have different meanings.
A job is something you would like to have, especially if you want to pay your bills. A job lets you enjoy a minimal level of financial security. A job requires you to show up and do what is required of you; in exchange, you get paid. A job can lead to a career.
A career involves an occupation or profession requiring special skills or training; a progression of jobs followed as one’s life pursuit. A career involves holding jobs, but it is more a means of achieving personal fulfillment. In a career, your jobs follow a sequence that leads to increasing mastery, professional development, and personal and financial satisfaction. A career requires planning, knowledge, and skills. If it is to be a fulfilling career, it requires that you utilize your full set of analytical, critical, and creative thinking skills to make informed decisions that will affect your life in both the short-term and the long-term.
A career allows you to express your self-concept. Self-Concept is how you see yourself, your own self-awareness of who you are. Donald Super, a psychologist who made great contributions to the field of career counseling, influenced the idea that developing a sense of self and realizing that you change over time is important when planning your career. Self-concept changes over time and develops as a result of experiences. Super’s five stages of developmental Self Concept will be discussed in class in greater detail. Refer to the class handout titled "Donald Super’s Theory of Developmental Self-concept."
Understanding Super’s theory helps provide a framework for your career planning journey. Identify where you are in terms of Super’s five life and career development stages and keep this in mind as we continue with self-exploration in unit 2 and answer the question “Who Am I?”
Activity 1.3 – My Job Experience
Think of your current and past work experience, and all the jobs you have held thus far. Consider both paid and unpaid experiences including part-time jobs, volunteer work, and internship experience. Include any leadership roles you may have held as a club officer or part of a sports team.
In your job(s), describe your role(s). What tasks and responsibilities were you accountable for? What skills did you practice in this job? What did you enjoy about this job? What did you not enjoy about this job?
In some cases, a job can help guide you towards your career. Understanding what you like and don’t like is a very important part of career and life planning. You may come to find you love one aspect of your job such as helping people and may wish to incorporate that into your future career. Or you may come to learn you did not particularly like trying to persuade clients to purchase a particular item and may learn sales is not your passion. Your past work experience can help you learn a lot about yourself and your future career desires.
Your response to these questions sets the stage for PHASE 1 of the Career Exploration Process and unraveling the question “WHO AM I?” Get ready to engage in self-exploration in the next unit! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/01%3A_Getting_Started-_Creating_Your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision/1.04%3A_Job_vs._Career.txt |
Where do you see yourself in the next 5, 10, 15, 20 plus years? What career path do you want to pursue? Each person in this class has their own thoughts and ideas about their future. Some may be very clear while others may be very fuzzy and some may be somewhere in between. Regardless of the level of clarity you have at this time, take a moment to visualize where you see yourself in the next 5 to 20 years. What will your ideal career look like? Start thinking about:
• What kind of work will be meaningful to you and allow you to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day?
• What level of responsibility do you plan to hold?
• What type of work environment will energize you and give you a sense purpose?
As you begin Unit 2 with Self-Exploration, begin painting the picture of your career vision in your mind. Before the end of the semester, your mental image will be drafted into a career vision statement.
Career Vision statements are very powerful and meaningful when paired with career exploration. Creating a vision statement may take several attempts and rewrites until you identify with your career vision statement. Below are a couple of examples of career vision statements to help you brainstorm. You will have the opportunity to draft your personal career vision statement throughout the course of this class.
Career Vision Statement Sample #1:
I will become a well-known and respected leader in the food industry revitalizing the ways food is produced and marketed, making healthier products to help people live better lives.
Career Vision Statement Sample #2:
I will provide the best technical support and customer service to our clients, helping improve their business and lives, striving to solve problems with a positive attitude that spreads to my co-workers.
For more information on creating your career vision visit:
https://www.livecareer.com/quintessential/vision-statement-samples
Activity 1.4 – Creating My Career & Life Planning Vision Statement
As you begin PHASE 1 of the career exploration process and answer the question “Who Am I?” start thinking about your personal and career vision. Where do you see yourself in the next few years? What accomplishments do you wish to achieve in your personal and professional life?
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years….
Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years….
Where do you see yourself in the next 15 years….
Where do you see yourself in the next 20 years….
What will your ideal career look like?
What kind of work is meaningful to you?
What level of responsibility do you desire?
What type of work environment will energize you and give you a sense of purpose?
Reflect on your responses to the questions above and develop your career vision statement here____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Each phase of the career exploration process will help you refine your career vision statement and solidify it by the end of this course. Enjoy the process!
1.06: Unit Summary
Now that you have completed Unit 1, we will revisit the unit learning objectives before moving to Unit 2. At this time you have:
• Applied the career exploration and planning process.
• Described the stages of career development and identified the stage you are currently in.
• Identified and applied important factors related to mindset such as a positive mental outlook, self-confidence and the power of positive thinking.
• Differentiated between a job and a career.
• Brainstormed ideas for your personal and career vision.
These concepts provide the underlying foundation for the remainder of the course.
Studies have shown individuals who are in careers that line up with their values, strengths, personality, interests, skills, and abilities tend to be more satisfied in their careers than those that do not. In the next unit, you will complete a series of different career assessments to help you gain a better understanding of yourself and the world of work. The more you learn about yourself and the more career information you gather, the more equipped you are to make well-informed decisions to help you solidify your career and life planning vision. The next unit will address the first phase of the career and life planning process: Phase I – “Who Am I?” Are you ready? | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/01%3A_Getting_Started-_Creating_Your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision/1.05%3A_Your_Personal_and_Career_Vision.txt |
"If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." This popular saying attributed to Yogi Berra, an American professional baseball catcher, suggests that we should have a pretty clear picture of where we are headed. And college, for most of us, is an important step toward a fulfilling and exciting career. But the fact is that the employment market and job-seeking techniques have changed significantly over the past ten years and will continue to change; it is not as easy as it once was to map out a clear career path. However, a clear direction can still provide enough flexibility to respond to the changing needs of today’s job market. In fact, building flexibility into your career plans is a requirement for achieving a successful career.
Consider the ways in which the job market has changed—and what it may mean to your planning:
• You will likely be employed by many organizations in your lifetime. The idea of working for a single employer is no longer the rule but rather the exception. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor found that on average, people hold close to eleven jobs between the ages of eighteen and forty-two. This trend means today’s graduates need to be very flexible in their career plans and that they should make an effort to identify and develop transferable skills in order to navigate the changing employment market.
• Five years from now, you may be working in a job that does not even exist in the present. As new technology accelerates and national and global priorities (such as going green or national security) take on a new sense of urgency, new needs are identified and new jobs will be created to fill those needs. Think about this: five years ago, a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist was a job in only a handful of Web-centric companies. With the meteoric growth of Google, SEO is now a common role in just many marketing departments—and a job in relatively high demand. In the same way, the aging population has created new opportunities in elder care, the events of 9/11 has created a whole new category of jobs in homeland security, and new discoveries and approaches in science have created fields like biotechnology and nanotechnology. Today’s students and job hunters must become lifetime learners to keep up with new trends.
• The physical location of a job is no longer as important as it once was. Other than jobs that require you to serve customers in a specific location or region or jobs that require specialized equipment (as in manufacturing facilities), companies increasingly have off-site employees who stay connected via the Internet. This means that students and job hunters should be able to demonstrate the ability to work independently and produce results without consistent, direct personal supervision.
• The growth of job posting sites online has created a glut of applicants for most posted positions. You have access to millions of job opportunities via the Web, but so do hundreds or thousands of other job seekers. Each employer must go through hundreds of resumes received for each job posted on the Web. Strategies for standing out in this crowded field become very important.
These factors combine to create a job environment that is different from what most people might expect. The way you prepare for a career needs to be more flexible and more personalized. Technology will play an important role in your career development. Linking your demonstrable skills to the needs of a job will be the key to your success. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/01%3A_Getting_Started-_Creating_Your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision/A_Journey_Begins.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Use valuable career assessments to help you gain a better understanding of yourself and visualize where you fit best in the world of work.
• Define and clarify your values and how they relate to your career choices.
• Identify your own personality type and how your preferences connect to choice of major and career.
• Distinguish your interests, confirm your skills, and character strengths and link them to potential major and career choices.
02: Engaging in Self-Exploration
If you do not know yourself, how can you possibly know what you want to do for a career? In this unit, you will be taking several career assessments to better understand yourself and make choices that are more informed when it comes to researching your career options. These assessments will help pinpoint your personality preferences, workplace strengths and direct you toward professions that best compliment your unique personality. You will also identify your values, underlying needs and motivations and make connections to how these play into your future career vision.
The first phase of career and life planning involves answering the question, “Who Am I?” This phase entails taking time to study yourself in depth and understanding things such as:
• What motivates you?
• What do you like doing?
• What do you not like doing?
• What work environments energize you and what environments drain you?
• What are your character strengths and what skills do you have or can you acquire that employers will pay you for?
Your answers to these questions will help you find “Your Meaningful Work.” Certified Dream Coach and Dream Coach Group Leader, Bill Johnson, has created a powerful diagram that illustrates this point. The center of the diagram where all components intersect is where “Your Meaningful Work” lies. Keep this in mind as we explore each of these components through the different career assessments.
No assessment can possibly know more about you than you know about yourself. You are your own expert, however, these career assessments will help give you a frame of reference. They will help you make connections to your past experiences and help you apply them to your future career goals. Be sure to keep an open mind throughout this process. Ask questions and explore areas of uncertainty. You only know what you know, and the more time and energy you invest in self-exploration, the more informed you will be as you make decisions that impact your future career goals. This journey can be fun and exciting and at times a bit overwhelming, however the more you put into it, the more you will gain!
2.02: Values
Values are the characteristics that are most important to you. They make up your core belief system and serve as motivators that guide you in what you do and decisions you make. It is important to consider your values as you select a career. You will enjoy the work you do more if it aligns with your core values. If the work you choose conflicts with your values, you will most likely struggle with the position and this may create tension and discomfort in your life. It is important to consider your personal values along with your work related values.
For example, if you value good health and are assigned to market a product that may cause serious health concerns, you will likely find it difficult to market this item. If you are asked to do this on a continual basis, you will internally struggle with the role you play as this job forces you to go against your core values.
Let's Take a Look at Work Values
According to the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), the nation’s primary source of occupational information, work values are defined as the “global aspects of work that are important to a person’s satisfaction.” Below is a screenshot of the six work values to take into consideration while researching career options. O*NET allows you to do a Work Values Search by entering your top three Work Values to see which occupations match your choices. https://www.onetonline.org/explore/workvalues/Achievement/
You will have an opportunity to complete a values assessment activity in class using the values card sort along with other online resources such as:
• Work Values Search through O*NET: this assessment allows you to match your chosen work values with occupations that match. https://www.onetonline.org/explore/workvalues/Achievement/
• Kuder Journey: an online tool, which provides reliable inventories to assess your interests, skills confidence, and work values, and suggests occupations and majors that match your assessment results. Kuder Journey also includes resources like a resume builder and online portfolio, to prepare you for the job search and connect you to today’s jobs! Your instructor will distribute login instructions with an activation code. You will have the opportunity to take the three assessments: interests, skills confidence, and work values.
• Work Importance Profiler: this assessment helps you determine what values are important to you and how they line up with different careers. To complete the Work Importance Profiler go to the California Career Zone site at: https://www.cacareerzone.org/wip/. Below is a screenshot.
Your values will play an important role in each phase of the career and life planning process; therefore, it is important to take time to assess what is most important to you. When your values align with the work you do, you will feel more satisfied and invested in your career.
Activity 2.1 – Identify Your Work Values5
Complete the following three activities to review the work values that are most important to you.
1. Read about six core work values developed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET program. Click on the ones that best describe you to see careers that highlight that value. Record your findings:
1. The Values Card Sort Activity:
Your instructor may have you participate in this activity in class if you are taking an on ground/face to face class. If you are completing this course online, you may do it yourself by downloading and printing O*NET’s work values cards (pdf). Cut your own cards and sort them into three piles, identifying whether each is “essential,” “important,” or “not important” for your career needs. Make a note of the values that ranked high for you. Record your findings:
1. Take the California CareerZone Work Importance Profiler and get a list of jobs that reflect your values. Record your findings:
After you have identified your top values, explore careers that would allow you to express your values. Do you see a common theme amongst these careers? Explain: | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/02%3A_Engaging_in_Self-Exploration/2.01%3A_Getting_Started_With_Careers_Assessments.txt |
We all have strengths and weaknesses and that is what makes us different and unique. Oftentimes it is easier to focus on weaknesses and in doing so strengths get neglected.
During counseling appointments with undeclared students, the counselor will generally start by asking if the student has any career ideas in mind. We oftentimes get responses such as, “Well, definitely nothing related to math and science, those are not my strong areas.” It is important to recognize our weaknesses; however, we do not want to neglect our strengths. The VIA Institute on Character has developed a FREE VIA Survey Character Strengths assessment you will complete. This assessment will rank your character strengths, which you can use to help explore career options, problem solve, improve relationships and enhance your overall well-being.
The VIA Institute on Character
The mission statement of the Via Institute on Character states:
“The VIA Institute on Character is a non-profit organization, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, dedicated to bringing the science of character strengths to the world through supporting research, creating validating surveys of character, and developing practical tools for individuals and practitioners”.
Take time to explore their website and learn more about the character strengths.
View the YouTube Video “The Science of Character” for an introduction to the VIA Character Strengths.
After viewing the YouTube video clip introducing “The Science of Character,” go onto the VIA Institute on Character website and take the Free Character Strengths Survey online at: https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register.
• What were your top five character strengths generated from your report? Record your results:
• Do you agree or disagree with these results? Explain why you agree or disagree and give examples from your life experiences at work, school, or home to support each character strength.
Keep your character strengths in mind as you research career options in unit 3. Learn to put your strengths to work for you.
2.04: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality assessment that was developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers based on the framework of personality theory by Carl C. Jung. The MBTI is a personality assessment that measures the psychological preferences that influence how people perceive the world and make decisions. This assessment is widely used across the world and has been translated into two dozen plus languages. Many companies use the MBTI with their staff to help employees learn more about themselves and how they can strengthen their department team efforts and increase overall productivity for the company. Many colleges and universities use the MBTI to help with career exploration.
The MBTI will help you gain a better understanding of your preferences and work environments that best fit you. The MBTI does not measure abilities, skills, values or interests. It assesses your personality preferences. The MBTI instrument indicates preferences on four pairs of opposites called dichotomies.6
Watch the following video to get an introduction of four facets that comprise the 16 possible personality types.
Personality Theory: The 4 Facets7
• Extroversion-Introversion (EI): how you get your energy and where you prefer to focus your attention
• Sensing-Intuition (SN): how you take in information about the world around you
• Thinking-Feeling (TF): how you like to make decisions
• Judging-Perceiving (JP): how you prefer to organize your life
These four preferences make up your type, which results in 16 rich, complex, highly differentiated whole types. You will have an opportunity in class to self-identify your preferences and this will be your “Self-estimated” type. Your instructor will give you more information on taking the MBTI personality assessment.
Once the assessment is completed, your instructor will generate a career report and distribute your results to you. The results of this assessment will be your “Reported” type. After learning more about the MBTI and reviewing your self-estimated type and your reported type, you will confirm your “Best-fit” type. This will be addressed in more detail in class.
Activity 2.3 – What’s Your Type?8
Read descriptions for the four facets. Pick which is more like you.
• E (Extraversion) or I (Introversion)?
• S (Sensing) or N? (Intuition)?
• T (Thinking) or F? (Feeling)?
• J (Judging) or P? (Perceiving)?
Could be described as:
• Talkative, outgoing
• Like to be in a fast-paced environment
• Tend to work out ideas with other, think aloud
• Enjoy being the center of attention
Then you prefer
(E) Extraversion
Could be described as:
• Reserved, private
• Prefer a slower pace with time for contemplation
• Tend to think things through inside your head
• Would rather observe then be the center of attention
Then you prefer
(I) Introversion
Could be described as:
• Focus on the reality of how things are
• Pay attention to concrete facts and details
• Prefer ideas that have practical applications
• Like to describe things in a specific, literal way
Then you prefer
(S) Sensing
Could be described as:
• Imagine the possibilities of how things could be
• Notice the big picture, see how everything connects
• Enjoy ideas and concepts for their own sake
• Like to be describe in a way figurative, poetic
Then you prefer
(N) Intuition
Could be described as:
• Make decision in an impersonal way, using logical reasoning
• Value justice, fairness
• Enjoy finding the flaws in an arguments
• Could be described as reasonable, level-headed
Then you prefer
(T) Thinking
Could be described as:
• Base you decision on personal values and how our actions affect others
• Value harmony, forgiveness
• Like to please others and point out the best in people
• Could be described as warm empathetic
Then you prefer
(F) Feeling
Could be described as:
• Prefer to have matters settled
• Think rules and deadlines should be respected
• Prefer to have a detailed step-by-step instructions
• Make plans, want to know what you’re getting into
Then you prefer
(J) Judging
Could be described as:
• Prefer to leave your options open
• See rules and deadlines as flexible
• Like to improvise and make things up as you go
• Are spontaneous, enjoy surprise and new situations
Then you prefer
(P)Perceiving
What is your 4-letter personality type? __ __ __ __
The following are brief descriptions of the 16 personality types from Humanmetrics. Click on your personality type or a similar type to see which describes you best.
ESTJ
ISTJ
ENTJ
INTJ
ESTP
ISTP
ENTP
INTP
ESFJ
ISFJ
ENFJ
INFJ
ESFP
ISFP
ENFP
INFP
Each type is unique and presents its own strengths and challenges. No one type is better than the other. Any type can do anything if motivated!
Your instructor will generate your career report based on your responses to the online MBTI assessment. The career report will help you:
• Identify job families or broad occupational categories to help you get started in your career search.
• Choose a specific job or career.
• Select a college major or course of study.
• Identify strengths and potential weaknesses of your type for the career search process.
• Increase your job satisfaction.
• Make a career transition or shift.
• Plan your career development strategy and action steps. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/02%3A_Engaging_in_Self-Exploration/2.03%3A_VIA_Character_Strengths.txt |
Video Transcript: RIASEC at Work Matching Your Personality to Career9
(Transcript) Work, it's a hard fact of life. Sometimes just finding work we enjoy and are good at is challenge enough. Some people spend their entire life searching for the right job. Many don't know where to even start looking.
In the United States alone, there are more than a hundred and fifty million people working thousands of different kinds of jobs. From accountants to athletes. From dancers to dentists. From teachers to top executives. Every job requires its own set of skills and comes with its own rigors and rewards. And just as not everybody is right for every job, not every job is right for everybody. In fact, your personality, those characteristics, traits and preferences that make you who you are, is a major factor in determining which occupations are right for you. People who follow career paths that match their personalities are more likely to be both satisfied and successful with those careers. This video will introduce you to one of the best ways to find work that fits with your personality. It's called the RIASEC personality theory and it is a time-tested tool for exploring and deciding on a career that's right for you. You'll learn how the tasks and work environments of jobs match with personality types and even learn which jobs tend to be a better fit for each type. Along the way, you may discover careers that match your own interests, perhaps leading to greater career satisfaction down the road. So, let's get started.
In the 1950s, renowned psychologist John L. Holland developed a theory and a process that helped individuals match their work interests, otherwise known as their vocational personalities, to their preferred work environments. Holland's theory says that most people can be described by one or more of six personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. People who share the same personality type tend to group together and create work environments with shared values. What does this mean? In short, people who work in an environment that is a good fit for their personality type and with people who share their interests and personality traits are more likely to find satisfaction and success in their career. What Holland did was to give us a way to view the world of work from forty thousand feet, plus a quick way to take stock of our abilities and preferences so we can really understand where we fit in best. If you were to consider all the hundreds of possible career choices, you might be overwhelmed by the task of narrowing down your options. The Holland personality types simplify this process by helping you to make a quick first cut.
The terms that Holland invented for personality types may be a little puzzling when you first encounter them. What do you mean, I'm not realistic? But once you learn what they mean, you'll find they provide real insights into yourself and your career choices. But which personality type or types best describe you? Are you the kind of person who likes to help others? Are you a risk taker who is always looking for a new business opportunity? Do you prefer to work with your hands or with ideas? Indoors or out? In groups or by yourself? Knowing your answers to these and other questions about work preferences can help you to discover your vocational interests and, thus, the kind of work that will fit your best. It's important to realize that most people have a variety of interests and most of us can't be pigeonholed into just one personality type. Usually it helps if we think in terms of a primary type that describes us best, plus one or two secondary types that reflect other interests we have. For example, you might have primarily realistic interests but also have investigative or conventional interests. Your work may not satisfy all of your interests, that's why we have hobbies, but once you have an understanding of your dominant personality type or types, you can identify work situations where you'll fit in best.
Keep in mind that just as people are varied, work situations are too. A particular career might combine aspects that are attractive to, for example, social and enterprising personality types. Also, remember that it's not a good thing for everybody in a certain career to be exactly alike. You may have heard of something called group think, which happens when there's no diversity in the workplace. In fact, in most workplaces you'll find a variety of people but they will share a core of certain interests and preferences that drew them to this kind of work. That's what the Holland types are designed to describe. The rest of this video will better introduce you to the six Holland personality types. You'll learn about the interests and values that characterize each personality type as well as specific jobs whose work situations cater to those interests and values. As you progress through this video, think about the kinds of work that you enjoy or might enjoy. Don't worry about fitting yourself into one personality type. Keep your options open. But if one or more of the six types interests you or seems to match your personal characteristics, pay close attention to the jobs that go with that type. Who knows, one of those may be the job of your dreams.10
(Holland Codes by QVhighschool01 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
You will have an opportunity to complete the Strong Interest Inventory in class. Your instructor will give you more detailed information on completing this assessment. Once you complete the assessment, your instructor will generate a career report and distribute your results to you.
Read over the different RIASEC work environments below and consider your first, second and third choice interests.
• Realistic: These people describe themselves as honest, loyal, and practical. They are doers more than thinkers. They have strong mechanical, motor, and athletic abilities; like the outdoors; and prefer working with machines, tools, plants, and animals.11 Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
• Investigative: These people love problem solving and analytical skills. They are intellectually stimulated and often mathematically or scientifically inclined; like to observe, learn, and evaluate; prefer working alone; and are reserved.12 Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
• Artistic: These people are the “free spirits.” They are creative, emotional, intuitive, and idealistic; have a flair for communicating ideas; dislike structure and prefer working independently; and like to sing, write, act, paint, and think creatively. They are similar to the investigative type but are interested in the artistic and aesthetic aspects of things more than the scientific.13 Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
• Social: These are “people” people. They are friendly and outgoing; love to help others, make a difference, or both; have strong verbal and personal skills and teaching abilities; and are less likely to engage in intellectual or physical activity.14 Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
• Enterprising: These people are confident, assertive risk takers. They are sociable; enjoy speaking and leadership; like to persuade rather than guide; like to use their influence; have strong interpersonal skills; and are status conscious.15 Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
• Conventional: These people are dependable, detail oriented, disciplined, precise, persistent, and practical; value order; and are good at clerical and numerical tasks. They work well with people and data, so they are good organizers, schedulers, and project managers.16 Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Activity 2.4 – What’s Your Occupational Type17
Using the descriptions above, choose the three types that most closely describe you and list them in order in the following table. Most people are combinations of two or sometimes three types. Then list the specific words or attributes that you feel describe you best. After determining your primary, secondary, and tertiary occupational types, take the first initial for each type, in order, to establish your occupational code.
Occupational Type
Word and Attributes That Closely Describe Me
Primary type (the one I identify with most closely)
Secondary type
Tertiary type
Note: Your occupational code is made up of the initials of the three personality types you selected, in order.
My occupational code: ___ ___ ___
(For example: if Social, Enterprising, and Conventional are your top three occupational types, your occupational code would be: S E C)
Exploring Careers and Your Occupational Type
Now that you have determined your top three occupational types, you can begin to explore the types of careers that may be best suited for you. Holland studied people who were successful and happy in many occupations and matched their occupations to their occupational type, creating a description of the types of occupations that are best suited to each personality type. Just as many individuals are more than one personality type, many jobs show a strong correlation to more than one occupational type.
This is a rough beginning to finding your occupational type, but you will soon be seeking out more detailed results from the Strong Interest Inventory assessment as a part of this course.
Use the top thee occupation types you defined in the exercise, “What’s Your Occupational Type?” to help identify careers you may want to consider from the table below.
Table 2.1 – Occupational Options by Type18
Type
Ideal Environments
Sample Occupations
Realistic
• Structured
• Clear lines of authority
• Work with things and tools
• Casual dress
• Focus on tangible results or well-thought-out goals
• Contractor
• Emergency medical technician (EMT)
• Mechanic
• Military career
• Packaging engineer
Investigative
• Nonstructured
• Research oriented
• Intellectual
• Work with ideas and data
• Pharmacist
• Lab technician
• Nanotechnologist
• Geologist
• College professor
Artistic
• Nonstructured
• Creative
• Rewards unconventional and aesthetic approaches
• Creation of products and ideas
• Collaborative
• Collegial
• Work with people and on people-related problems/issues
• Work as a team or community
Social
• Collaborative
• Collegial
• Work with people and on people-related problems/issues
• Work as a team or community
• Teacher
• Geriatric counselor
• Correctional officer
• Coach
• Nurse
Enterprising
• Typical business environment
• Results oriented
• Driven
• Work with people and data
• Entrepreneurial
• Power focused
• Sales manager
• Banker
• Lawyer
• Business owner
• Restaurant manager
Conventional
• Orderly
• Clear rules and policies
• Consistent processes
• Work with systems to manipulate and organize data
• Control and handling of money
• Auditor
• Insurance underwriter
• Bank teller
• Office manager
• Database manager
You can use the Department of Labor’s O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/find) to get a deeper understanding of your occupation. For each occupation, O*Net lists the type of work, the work environment, the skills and education required, and the job outlook for that occupation. This is a truly rich resource that you should get to know.
You will have the opportunity to complete an interest assessment using one of the following online resources:
• careers that reflect your interest
• possible education and training programs
• satisfying work environments
• enjoyable activities for your free time | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/02%3A_Engaging_in_Self-Exploration/2.05%3A_John_Hollands_classifications_of_work_environments.txt |
Skilled Labor
Employers seek skills. Many of the skills you will need are career specific: we call those specific skills hard skills or technical skills. These include knowing how to use equipment that is specific to your career and mastering processes that are used in your field. While some of these skills are learned and perfected on the job, you may be in a vocational track program (such as for homeland security officers, nurses, aides, or paralegals) where you are learning your technical skills.
These are not the only skills you will need to be successful. The second set of skills you must have are called soft skills or transferable skills, which contribute to success in any number of occupations because they can be used in almost all occupations. Some soft skills include thinking skills, communication skills, listening skills and leadership skills. This skill set is very broad, and your extent of mastery will vary from skill to skill; therefore, you should identify those skills that are most important to your career objective and develop and master them. Search on O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/find) to determine which skills you need to demonstrate to potential employers you have mastered based on your career interest.
Employers want individuals who have the necessary hard and soft skills to do the job well and adapt to changes in the workplace. Soft skills may be especially in demand today because employers are generally equipped to train new employees in a hard skill—by training them to use new computer software, for instance—but it’s much more difficult to teach an employee a soft skill such as developing rapport with coworkers or knowing how to manage conflict. An employer might rather hire an inexperienced worker who can pay close attention to details than an experienced worker who might cause problems on a work team.
In this section, you will look at ways of identifying and building particular hard and soft skills that will be necessary for your career path.19
Table 2.2 - Transferable Skills Inventory
Active listening
Decision making
Negotiating
Researching
Active learning
Editing
Observing
Selling
Analyzing
Evaluating
Organizing
Speaking a 2nd language
Budgeting
Forecasting
Perceiving Feelings
Supervising
Coaching
Goal setting
Persuading
Teaching
Communicating
Handling a crisis
Planning
Teamwork
Consulting
Handling details
Problem solving
Time management
Creative thinking
Manipulating numbers
Public speaking
Training
Critical thinking
Mentoring
Reading
Visualizing
Customer service
Motivating
Reporting
Writing
These skills are transferable because they are positive attributes that are invaluable in practically any kind of work. They also do not require much training from an employer—you have them already and take them with you wherever you go. Transferable/Soft skills are a big part of your “total me” package.
So, identify the transferable/soft skills that show you off the best, and identify the ones that prospective employers are looking for. By comparing both sets, you can more directly gear your job search to your strongest professional qualities.
You will have the opportunity to complete skills assessments using different online resources such as:
• Kuder Journey: an online tool, which provides reliable inventories to assess your interests, skills confidence, and work values, and suggests occupations and majors that match your assessment results. Kuder Journey also includes resources like a resume builder and online portfolio, to prepare you for the job search and connect you to today’s jobs! Your instructor will distribute login instructions and you will have the opportunity to take the three assessments: interests, skills confidence, and work values.
• Skills Matcher: an online “Skills Assessment” through Careeronestop. The Skills Matcher helps you identify your skills. Use the Skills Matcher to create a list of your skills and match them to careers that use those skills. Click here to complete the Skills Matcher: https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/Skills/skills-matcher.aspx
• Skills Profiler listed under the “Assess Yourself” heading.
21st Century Skills
Due to the rapid changes in the global economy and the advancement of technology, the workplace has changed dramatically. As a student it is important for you to gain the knowledge and skills employers are seeking. To help train the new generation entering the workforce, a team of educators came together with employers, workforce development boards, and research organizations across the country to build college/career-ready, 21st Century Employability Skills Program called New World of Work (NWoW) 21st Century Skills Training.20
New World of Work (NWoW) was developed under the Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy framework of the California Community Colleges system, which is the largest higher education system in the nation with 72 districts and 115 colleges serving over 2.1 million students each year.
Starting in 2012, the New World of Work team began tracking futurist projections, economic reports, and national research related to the correlation between education and employment.
The group conducted a series of Skills Panels to gather feedback from employers, entrepreneurs, human resources specialists, educators, and students to determine the essential employability skills required in our emerging global economy.
From the research gathered, NWoW established their “Top 10” list of 21st Century Employability Skills. They worked closely with expert curriculum developers, including the NWoW Co-Creators, video crews, college faculty across disciplines, and digital badging teams then created lessons and badges to go along with each of the skills.
They identified the following "Top 10" list of 221st Century Employability Skills:
For more information about NWoW, read the Executive Summary report titled "Community Colleges and 21st Century Skills: Skills Panels to Assist Student Career Success"21
What is a Digital Badge?
Preview the short video by the MacArthur Foundation to get an overview of what a Digital Badge is and how it can be used.
The New World of Work awards “Learner Badges” for all 10 of the 21st Century Skills. This is available to you for FREE! The NWoW Learner Badges are based on the NWoW High School/opportunity youth video series paired with multiple-choice questions. These can be used with high school, post secondary, adult learners or the general public to provide an introduction to the 21st Century Skills and the process for earning badges. Assessment pages launch directly from NWoW website by clicking on the Learner Badge icons. Below is a screenshot of the Learner Badges series.
. The Career Skills Courses offered through Continuing Education are FREE and available in an on ground and online format to meet the needs of diverse learners and all courses are open to the community! Completing the Career Skills training is a great way to show employers you are equipped with the skills necessary to be successful in today's workforce and allows you to earn digital badges you may post on your LinkedIn and social media profile.
One other benefit of the NWoW – 21st Century Skills Curriculum, is the LinkedIn Crosswalk, that provides the following:
• Partnership with LinkedIn to provide suggested next steps after each skill lesson
• Instructors and students can utilize the LinkedIn Learning/Lynda.com videos that have been crosswalked with NWoW skills to take a deeper dive into the traits of that skill
• Completion of these video courses generates certificates that can be hosted on LinkedIn profiles along with skills badges, school/alumni information.
• Also, Career Education students at COC who participate in the Continuing Education FREE Career Skills courses receive free Lynda.com access.
View the YouTube PBS News Hour video titled " Giving students a leg up with job skills a resume won’t show" to learn more about digital badges and how they can help you be more marketable.
Activity 2.5 – Identifying Your Skills22
Self-identify your Top 5 transferable (soft) skills, skills you are good at, and those skills you wish to learn or develop further.
Review the list of transferable skills list and additional checklist of transferable skills above to complete the chart below. Describe specific ways in which you have used each skill successfully. This will come in handy when we discuss interviewing strategies. Consider skills important to your career that you have not yet mastered and how you plan to master them. Give examples
Number
Top 5 Skills I Enjoy Using
Top 5 Skills that Come Naturally
Top 5 Skills that I Want to Learn
1
2
3
4
5
2.07: Putting It All Together
you have completed in this unit. Record your findings in the chart below:
My Top 3 Work Values:
Name 2 career titles that you are most interest in that will allow you to express your values:
My Occupational Code based on Holland Codes (RIASEC Model – refer to your iStartStrong assessment results):
____ ____ ____
Name 2 career titles you are most interested in that will allow you to express your interests:
My top 5 Character Strengths:
How will your character strengths contribute to your career success?
My Top 5 Transferable Skills
Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that will allow you to utilize your skills.
My MBTI 4 Letter Personality Type:
____ ____ ____ ____
Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that fit with your personality type.
My Additional Notes/Reflections:
Common Themes….
Of all the career titles you have explored, which career would you be interested in researching more in-depth?
Take a moment and reflect on your findings:
• Did anything surprise you? Explain.
• Do you see any overlapping themes from your assessment results?
• How do your results confirm what you already know about yourself? Explain.
• How will this information guide you as you move into exploring Phase 2: “What’s Out There?” conducting career research, and researching industry expectations?
2.08: Summary
Now that you have completed Unit 2, let’s revisit the learning objectives. In this unit, you have:
Used valuable career assessment tools to help you gain a better understanding of yourself and visualize where you fit best in the world of work.
Defined and clarified your values and how they relate to your career choices.
Identified your own personality type preference and how your preferences connect to choice of major and career.
Distinguished your interests, confirmed your skills, and character strengths and linked them to potential major and career choices.
Each of the assessments you completed is an important piece of the puzzle of you and what you have to offer the world of work! Now that you have completed these assessments, you are better equipped to answer the question, “Who Am I?” While self-discovery can take a lifetime, you now have information that perhaps you did not have before. Some of the results may change slightly over time depending on experiences and life circumstances. The key here is “knowing thyself.” You are off to a great start and we are hopeful you have enjoyed learning more about yourself in the process of self-discovery!
The next Unit will address the second phase of the career and life planning process: Phase 2 – “What’s out There?” This phase will include conducting career research and learning more about industry expectations. Are you ready? | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/02%3A_Engaging_in_Self-Exploration/2.06%3A_Skills.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Inventory online resources to research career information.
• Recognize current labor market trends and the changing workplace.
• Use informational interviews as a way to research careers.
• Explored professional associations as a means to collect career research and network with industry professionals.
• Examine diversity in the workplace.
Welcome to Phase 2 – “What’s Out There?This phase entails conducting career research. Engaging in career research will provide you with additional information and resources to assist you in better understanding the world of work and where you see yourself fitting in. This unit will require online research and self-discipline to navigate several career resources. Engaging in the career research process will help you outline your career ideas and help organize the process.
As you research career information, make note of tasks, work environment, skills, job outlook, necessary training, and salary information. Analyze this information with the results you gathered from Unit 2 in regards to your interests, skills, personality, values and strengths and make connections. Start asking yourself, “Where do I see myself fitting in within the world of work?” As you research career information, you will also want to research industry expectations. This entails researching the job market and looking for open job applications and learning what the minimum qualifications are for employment. The more you know about industry expectations, the more prepared you will be to meet industry demands.
03: Conducting Career Research
Researching the internet for career information can be fascinating. You have so much information at the touch of your fingertips. This can be exciting, yet overwhelming at the same time. In this section, we will explore some common online tools used in career counseling. Keep a notepad nearby as you explore the different online career resources. Take notes of your findings and record information that stands out to you. At the end of this unit, you should be able to start putting the pieces together and getting closer to making some career decisions.
ibes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education
needed, earnings, expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations, and links to professional associations. (link: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/)
This site contains both summary and detailed information on occupations in the US economy as well as the ability to search for information by various criteria such as job family, industry, skills, knowledge, interests, green jobs, bright outlook occupations and several others. It is produced by the federal government, is updated frequently, and contains state and national wage information, occupational projections, related occupations and opportunities for more information from professional and trade associations. (link: http://www.onetonline.org/)
A career exploration and planning site powered by Headed2, a secure career exploration and coaching platform which can be accessed from anywhere to connect learning with earning. Headed2 is an educational technology company focused on career and transition planning. Their mission is to help people explore, plan for and pursue careers that reflect their passions, skills and life goals. You may create a free account where you can save your information and come back at any point. The site allows you to discover possibilities, explore industry sectors and access personalized recommendations about opportunities for you through The Career Hub. (link: https://www.cacareerzone.org/index)
information, career fact sheets, 15 pathways to careers critical to California’s economy, jobs of the future, and YouTube Career Videos and other resources. (link: http://fcmtest.com/path2careers/student_tools.asp)
his site provides career information and career planning help through video. The video interviews are filmed without narration or actors – just real people speaking form the heart about their career experiences. Candid Career currently features a video library of 6,000 + clips. You may search the video library by industry, career title, or major. (link: https://www.candidcareer.com/)
his site contains information regarding employment, job search and career education. It includes detailed information about over 1000 occupations, including wages, skills and links to corresponding college programs and career, job and educational resources for states, cities and counties in the USA as well as Canadian Provinces and international countries.
Chancellor’s Office. Career Coach allows students to discover majors, and in-demand careers and education based on their interests. The site contains career assessments, career information and programs offered in the California Community College System.
(link: https://ccc.emsicc.com/)
https://www.mynextmove.org/)
Take your time and explore each of the online resources introduced in section 3.1 to help you gather career information. What are your top two or three careers that seem to be the most interesting to you at this time?
Take notes as you conduct your research and consider researching the following questions:
• How do these careers match with your assessment results from unit 2?
• What part of these careers do you like?
• What part of these careers do you have concerns about?
• What kind of educational training/certification do you need for these careers?
• Where can you find the training for these careers?
Log your findings here:
Career Title # 1:_________________________
Career Title #2: ___________________________
Career Title #3: ____________________________
The more you learn about the world of work, the better equipped you are to make more informed decisions about the career path that best fits you and your needs!
3.02: Current Labor Market Information and Trends
Take a minute and view the YouTube video titled “How the World of Work is Changing” to get an idea of some of the changes that have taken place within the last twenty years. Understanding these changes can help you learn more about preparing for your future career.
It is clear that the world of work is changing. As you conduct career research, it is important to be aware of the current labor market trends. Understanding information, such as jobs in demand, potential job growth and changes in the workplace will help you better prepare for your future career. To research current labor market information and trends, visit the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD) site.
is the official source for California Labor Market Information (LMI). LMID promotes California’s economic health by providing information to help people understand California’s economy and make informed labor market choices. This site provides statistical data and reports on California’s labor force, industries, occupations, employment projections, wages, and other important labor market and economic data. (link: https://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/)
Familiarize yourself with the State of California Employment Development Site (link: https://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/) and search current labor market trends. Go to the LMI by Customer – Job Seekers and Students tab.
• The EDD Labor Market Information Division provides data and links to resources that job seekers will find helpful to assist with searching for jobs.
Use the Occupational Guides or Occupation Profile to locate wages, benefits, training, and other information as you explore career opportunities. Use the Occupation Profiles for similar state information geared more towards job search. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/03%3A_Conducting_Career_Research/3.01%3A_Online_Resources_to_Research_Career_Information.txt |
In addition to online career resources, informational interviews are another way to gather information about a career.
Informational interviews are meetings where you are the interviewer, and the person with whom you are meeting has information that you want—for example, about a specific job, organization, or industry. Informational interviews are a type of networking, but since the primary aim is to uncover information, we are including informational interviewing in the research unit.
Many job seekers treat informational interviews like an interrogation, with a long list of questions to extract information from the interviewee. We will take a more sophisticated approach to informational interviews. These interviews occur after some research is already completed, so the interview is not simply a series of questions to gain more information but rather a way to verify, refine, and test the information already researched. It is a two-way conversation, and you will be giving as well as receiving information.
Informational Interviews Are Two-Way Exchanges of Information
Most job seekers see informational interviews as a shortcut to research. Why not find someone who does the job, works at the organization, or works in the industry so they can give you a summary of the job, organization, or industry, instead of plowing through secondary data yourself? There are several reasons it is a bad idea to jump right to informational interviews without conducting your own research first:
• It’s harder to land good informational interviews without having done some research first. Potential interview targets are going to think it is not worth their time if you are just there to take information from them, rather than having an interesting two-way exchange.
• Just because someone does the job or is part of an organization or industry does not mean that they have an exhaustive command of the information for that job, organization, or industry. You will not get an objective, comprehensive view of your target just by talking to a few people.
• Unless your interview target is skilled at tailoring advice across a range of backgrounds, what they will share is based on their specific experience, skills, and personality. It may not be relevant to you or your situation.
• You get just the basic information because you do not know enough to ask probing questions or to confirm or refine information you gather beforehand. It is a wasted opportunity for you to get more nuanced information.
• You come across as knowing nothing about the job, organization, or industry. You wasted an opportunity to demonstrate your interest and knowledge, and therefore market yourself as a possible person to work in that job, organization, or industry.
The best informational interviews are two-way exchanges of information, more like a conversation than an interrogation. You are offering the information you have collected via your research and the interviewee is adding his or her thoughts and ideas. You come across not as the novice looking for a favor and more as a colleague brainstorming ideas. People are busy and do not always take the time to read business news, attend trade association meetings, or do the in-depth research you will be doing. They will appreciate you bringing to them the latest news. By being well researched and prepared, you do not have to feel like you are imposing on someone when asking for an informational interview. You will be giving back as well, in terms of information on breaking news, trends, or innovations.
Sample Informational Interview Questions
You want to get to know your interviewee by asking questions such as the following:
• How did you get involved in this job, organization, or industry?
• What do you like most about it? What has been most rewarding?
• What is most challenging? Was there anything that surprised you?
• What is a typical day, week, or month like?
• What skills are most critical to have, develop, and maintain to be successful?
• What personality types are most successful in this job, organization or industry?
• What do you know now that you wished you knew when you started?
Interest in their specific background establishes rapport because it shows you care about them specifically. It also gives you a foundation for questions to ask later because you know more about their experience. You want to get broader information about the industry, so you ask questions that reflect your research:
• According to my research, the top competitors are [name the competitors]. Am I missing anyone you think is significant? Is there a new player I should know about?
• According to my research, [name a trend, challenge, or innovation] is a major trend, challenge, or innovation. Is this affecting your job or organization? Is this overestimated in the media? Are there are other trends, challenges, or innovations I should be concerned about?
This is why research prior to the informational interview is so critical. You use your research findings as a springboard for conversation. You are not relying on the interviewee to think of everything and be the sole source of information. You are offering ideas, too. Informational interviews also enable you to dive deeper into what you previously researched.
Pick several research findings to test, and choose what to ask based on what level and type of experience your interviewee has. If your interviewee is very experienced and senior, you can ask broad strategy questions. If your interviewee is focused on a very specific area, say technology, focus on technology-related issues in the discussion.
You also want to get career-related information, such as salary and environment, and a candid sense of your chances in this job, organization, or industry:
• According to my research, it is customary for people in this job to make [name salary range] and experience [name lifestyle, travel, or work culture]. Is that accurate? Are there any nuances to this that are not publicized in general media?
• According to my research, the typical career trajectory is [name different titles you have seen for the job]. Is this accurate? Does this differ by company?
• How would you describe the culture of your organization? Does this vary greatly for companies in the industry?
• According to my research, it is customary for people in this job to have [name skills and experiences]. Is my background of [summarize your skills and experience] competitive? If you knew of an opening for this type of job, would you consider me or refer me?
• What about my background is most relevant to this job? What would I need to do to improve my chances?
These questions enable you to get information on the touchy issues of compensation and lifestyle, as well as candid feedback on your hiring prospects. By offering ideas, you take the pressure off the interviewee to reveal sensitive information. Instead, you give them something to react to. People will also appreciate that you have done some salary research, as they might not have time to see what is happening in the market, and they will want to reciprocate by sharing something they know.
Asking about the competitiveness of your skills and experience is not the same as asking for a specific job. You should never ask for a job in an informational interview. It is disingenuous because you asked for a meeting to focus on gathering information, not to ask for a job.
Be Polite: Common Rules of Etiquette Apply
Common rules of etiquette apply in the protocols of informational interviews. When asking for the interview, you can approach your interviewee by phone, mail, or email. There is no one right answer, but each has advantages and disadvantages:
Table 3.1 - Possible Ways to Ask for an Informational Interview and Advantages and Disadvantages
Approach By Advantages Disadvantages
Phone
Potential for immediate response
For people who are difficult to reach, you cut through a lot of back and forth if you happen to reach them right away
Disruptive to the interviewee
You have very little time to introduce yourself and make your request
Mail
Potential to stand out. Few people take the time to send mail anymore
Slow to arrive
Cannot confirm that the recipient receives or reads it
E-mail
Fast but still gives you the opportunity to refine your draft
Recipient can respond right away or wait until later
Enables you to include hyperlinks for more information about you
Cannot confirm that the recipient receives or reads it
E-mail has the most advantages and fewest disadvantages and should work for most job seekers. If you are more confident in your phone approach or mail campaign, then you may want to try that as well. You might also tailor your approach to the recipient. If you get referred to someone and they tell you to call them, then call them, even if you would prefer to e-mail. You want to approach interviewee based on what their preference is.
The content of your approach, whether by phone, mail, or e-mail, should include who you are and why you are making contact. If someone refers you, mention that right away. Regarding who you are, make your introduction compelling but brief.
An elegant way to share your resume is to put your online profile hyperlink in your email signature. This way, the interviewee can easily get more information about you without having to search, but it is shared in one line rather than a paragraph or more of detail. This is a key advantage of an e-mail approach.
Sample Informational Interview E-mail Approach
Subject: Request for an Informational Interview Meeting
Hello Ms. Barkley,
My name is Joe Cougar and I am a first year college student at College of the Canyons. I am enrolled in a career exploration course and I am currently considering business marketing as my major. I have been researching this field and I am interested in learning more about the profession. I would like an opportunity to meet with you to learn more about what you do as VP of International Marketing at MPL Incorporated.
I understand you have a busy schedule; however, I would appreciate any amount of time you can share with me. I am available M-F any time after 1 p.m. Please let me know your availability.
I look forward to hearing back from you soon. Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Joe Cougar
College of the Canyons Student
Common etiquette applies during and after the informational interview as well. Be on time, and do not take too much time. Ask for fifteen to thirty minutes, be mindful of the time, and offer to end the interview right after the agreed amount of time. Only stay longer if invited. Send a thank-you note—email is fastest, handwritten by mail is a classy addition, but definitely send at least an e-mail so you know it arrives promptly.
Sample Informational Interview Thank You Email
Subject: Thank you for your time!
Dear Ms. Barkley:
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to speak with me about your work at MPL Incorporated. Your job sounds fascinating! You seem to enjoy your work very much, which, as we discussed, will be important in my own career choice.
I am very intrigued by the work that you do at MPL. The aspect of your work that I find most interesting is your ability to market one product to several different cultures. Your involvement in the different stages of marketing a product captivated me as well.
I appreciate your recommendations about interviews. I will be sure to know all about a company and its products before I interview with them. Your advice was well taken.
Once again, thank you for your time and expertise.
Sincerely,
Joe Cougar
College of the Canyons Student
http://www.linkedin.com/in/joesample
Now that you have been introduced to informational interviewing, think of what careers you’d like to learn more about and who you may want to interview to help you gather more information.
List at least two careers you'd be interested in learning more about and potentially conducting an informational interview for?
1.
2.
Now think of professionals in the field you can arrange an informational interview appointment with. You can find people to interview by asking your friends, relatives, instructors, counselors or contacts through Professional Associations. Think of all your resources.
When you call to set up an appointment, it is important to be prepared, because what you say on the phone and how you say it can influence your ability to land an informational interview appointment. Prepare your phone script below:
Hello. My name is _________________________and I’m a (year in school)__________student attending College of the Canyons. My counselor, (Name of person} __________________ suggested I give you a call because I am interested in (add your interest) ___________________ and would like to find out as much as I can about the
field. Would it be possible to schedule 20 or 30 minutes with you at your convenience, to ask you a few questions and get your advice on how best to prepare to enter the field?
Once the appointment is scheduled. Prepare a list of questions you'd like to ask.
After the interview, reflect on your experience. What information did you find particularly helpful. Is this a career you can see yourself pursuing? Do you have any reservations? Is there any advice that was given that you need to follow up on? Be sure to send a thank you note or email within 24 hours to show your appreciation. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/03%3A_Conducting_Career_Research/3.03%3A_Informational_Interviews.txt |
View the YouTube Video titled “Career Cafe Students” to gain a student’s perspective of how professional associations can help with career research and networking.
Professional Associations are a great way for you to connect with professionals working in the industry you may be considering. These associations are organizations where people in the same profession come together engage and connect with each other to discuss current trends in the industry. The professional associations are a great way for you to make connections and network with professionals in the field you are considering. Most professional associations have membership fees and oftentimes have reduced fees for student membership. They usually host conferences. Check to see if the association you are interested in is hosting a conference nearby. Professional associations often list a job bank with current job openings in the industry. This is a great way for you to see what industry is demanding and what skills, qualifications, and training they are requiring. The more you know now, the better prepared you will be when it is time for you to enter the industry.
Some great online resources to help you locate professional associations are:
Consider your top occupational choice you are interested in at this time and search for professional associations linked to this industry.
1. What is your top occupational choice at this time?
2. Explore two Professional Associations linked to the industry.
3. Give a brief description of the associations and how you think they may be helpful in your career exploration and development.
• Find out what the fees are for signing up and if they provide any discounts for students.
• Are there any upcoming conferences being sponsored by the association? If so, when, where, and how much is registration. Are you considering attending?
3.05: Changes in the Workplace
Since the global financial crisis in 2008, people have been looking at new ways of working that will not leave them so exposed to losing their income. Self-employment is not a new concept — tradespeople and creatives are old hands at obtaining work from various sources — but the emergence of centralized digital platforms selling services or products has led to the explosive growth of the gig economy. Workers are turning away from a 9 to 5 job in favor of independent work where there is no long-term relationship between buyer and seller.
Buyers can be instantly connected to an innovative solution. Uber, Lyft, and Deliveroo offer car-sharing and delivery services, Airbnb opens up homes for rental, and Etsy lets creatives sell their creations. For people looking for local services in the home or office, TaskRabbit and Airtasker make light work of everyday tasks.
For workers who can deliver via the internet, digital platforms have opened up global markets, creating a surge in home workers offering services to startups or businesses needing a more flexible workforce or specialized skills for one-off projects. On platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and People Per Hour, freelancers provide creative services that include website design, content creation, coding, and consultancy. Even legal services are being transformed through platforms such as Lawyers on Demand and Lawpath, making the legal process of setting up a business easier and cheaper.
Why are more people choosing to join the gig economy?
Flexible working. Independent work offers flexibility to students funding tertiary education, to parents caring for young children, and to Millennials and Gen Y looking to swap a corporate career for a portfolio career. Freelancing also offers a top-up income for people already in part-time or full-time jobs.
Greater control
Freelancers control their work and pricing. They may also choose who they work with to match their skills, experience, interests, and values. This gives greater rewards, not limited to or even necessarily financially but in terms of job satisfaction.
Workplace freedom. Freelancers have greater choice over where they work. This flexibility helps provide an improved work-life balance, especially relevant in the U.S. where employees receive only two weeks annual leave and the corporate culture can involve long hours in the office to show commitment. This misguided culture breeds chronic stress with the potential for lower productivity, ill health, and sickness-related absence.
Protection from prejudice and politics. Home-based working environments give freelancers protection from office workplaces that can be toxic, especially in large corporations with a vertical hierarchy and one-way communication rather than an open, collaborative culture. Promotion can be influenced by favoritism in the form of the halo effect or by prejudice based on gender, sexuality, race, or disability.
Motivation from direct responsibility. In traditional workplaces, people can feel removed from the end user, which impacts job satisfaction. Freelancers deal directly with clients and on team projects, they collaborate with colleagues on an equal footing. Knowing that the outcome relates directly to their performance, independent workers can be more motivated to produce high-quality work.
McKinsey’s survey found that workers who are choosing freelance work as their primary income reported higher levels of satisfaction than workers choosing traditional jobs. But while there are myriad benefits to be gained from the growing gig economy, the freelance marketplace is not without its problems.
What are the challenges of independent working and drawbacks of centralized platforms?
Gig workers face issues with income security, employment rights, and credit availability that can deter people from making the switch from permanent employment.
Financial insecurity
Self-employed workers have traditionally charged a higher rate to offset the lack of paid leave, paid sickness absence, pension contributions, and training provided by permanent employers, as well as to cover non-chargeable time. But some clients take a while to pay up or they do not pay up at all and legal proceedings are costly. Digital platforms provide a more secure option because the platform holds the buyer’s payment in escrow until the seller completes the work satisfactorily, but it can take can take two weeks for a buyer’s payment to be made available to the seller. If there is a dispute, sellers may not get paid.
With a low-cost, low-skill entry, the pool of workers competing for gigs on these platforms has swelled, causing a race to the bottom on pricing with workers often accepting below minimum wage rates. Fiverr now has a FiverrPro section that differentiates sellers who provide a professional service and charge a higher fee. Either way, earnings are unpredictable with gaps between gigs making it difficult to meet living costs. Self-employed workers may also be denied access to financial products, such as mortgages, personal loans, and personal pensions.
Data security
Centralized digital platforms are vulnerable to data breaches and cyber-attacks that could make order history, client communications, and outstanding work and payments unavailable.
Lack of transparency
Centralized digital platforms focus on maximizing short-term profit for the platform. While feedback from users is invited on some platforms, policy and process modifications are underpinned by corporate interests. For example, sellers are not given a clear indication of how to rank well in the search algorithm and seller status levels can be affected by order cancellation frequency (even if it is mutually agreed) and review ratings (fair or not).
High fees
Buyers and sellers contribute significantly to centralized freelancing platform success, yet some platforms charge sellers up to 20 percent in fees. While freelancers have a showroom for their business complete with user profile, gig, and administrative facilities, the lack of transparency and excessive control on these platforms is problematic.
Social isolation
Freelance working can be a lonely business with associated risks for mental health. Communication and relationships between buyers and sellers are often short-term and there is no workplace community.
Traditional employment platform
By contrast, economist and author Linda Nazareth says the shift away from regular work is underway and governments, businesses, and individuals are not ready. “The transformation to a gig economy is happening at an astonishing speed in Canada. According to staffing company Randstad Canada, if you add up all the contingent workers, freelancers, independent contractors and consultants, you are talking about 20 to 30 percent of the Canadian workforce being “non-traditional workers” already. That percentage is only going higher. Eighty-five percent of the companies surveyed by Randstad figure that they will increasingly move to an ‘agile workforce’ over the next few years.”
Similarly, Forbes reports an estimated 34 percent of the U.S. workforce worked independently in 2017 rather than as traditional 9 to 5 workers. By 2020, this could reach 43 percent. The Intuit 2020 Report on trends affecting consumers and small businesses around the world says over 80 percent of large corporations are planning to substantially increase their flexible workforce.
Blockchain technology will likely transform the freelance marketplace
Blockchain technology is hailed as the solution to a number of the gig economy challenges. By providing a distributed, transparent, and permanent history of transactions, including user profiles, gigs, orders, and payments, blockchain technology guarantees traceability, accountability, and security.
The Next Web explains how a faster, more transparent, and more secure buyer-seller interaction is facilitated on platforms using the blockchain, such as CanYa where experts and professionals can be hired locally and globally. Transaction data is held on the blockchain, a database that is distributed across individual platform user’s computers, securing it from cyber-attacks or centralized data breaches. When buyers find a suitable service through direct communication with a seller, a smart contract logs the transaction details and performs a decentralized escrow. Funds are locked in the buyer’s account until both buyer and seller agree the work has been completed satisfactorily.
Because there is no intermediary as there is with centralized platforms, CanYa’s fee is much lower at only 1 percent and the seller receives the funds immediately. In CanYa’s case, funds are exchanged in the form of cryptocurrency, tokens issued by startups to raise funds to get their application up and running, as well as to future investors. This shared ownership means that users are highly motivated to ensure the platform is successful.
This decentralized process with the emphasis on collaboration contrasts with the controlling nature of existing centralized platforms. Sellers do not have their services controlled or find their business harmed by unfair reviews or algorithm penalties that force them to behave for corporate advantage. Buyers are given more transparency too and not simply fed the services a centralized platform selects as a match. If data needs to be modified, another block is created without the need for third-party intervention. Freelancers have the freedom to work in a professional manner and grow their business on their own terms.
In addition, blockchain-based platforms offering direct communication and social interaction via social media allow real connections to be made. This helps to address the problem of isolation for freelance workers. On centralized platforms, sellers can receive an order and work on it without knowing the real name of the buyer or even communicating with them. Forbes makes the case that “Through blockchain platforms that allow direct peer-to-peer interaction, buyers and sellers can conduct business in a more social setting while still maintaining security and transparency.” Social interaction also creates trust — people prefer to do business with people they feel connected to.
Highlighted by The News Web as a unique benefit, the mutual ownership of blockchain-based platforms creates a distributed organization that replaces the top-down hierarchy of centralized platforms. The fluctuating prices of cryptocurrencies is a drawback, but CanYa uses a hedge fund to fix token value at the point the contract starts.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) envisions four workplace worlds that operate on a sliding scale from individualism to collectivism, and from fragmentation to integration. In their report Workforce of the future: The competing forces shaping 2030, PwC’s ‘Yellow World’ is one where workers and companies look for greater meaning and relevance in their work. The working week is flexible and Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 is rare. In this world, “Like-minded workers gravitate towards each other, aided by technology platforms,” and they collaborate on projects or ideas.
Much can change in the next decade, but the independent workforce is growing. Governments, businesses, and individuals would be wise to prepare for the possibility of a ‘Yellow World’ where “Technology creates and supports the open, honest, collaborative community”. Unlike centralized platforms that create a culture of competitive individualism, blockchain-based platforms promote a culture of collaboration and co-operation for everyone’s benefit.23 | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/03%3A_Conducting_Career_Research/3.04%3A_Connecting_with_Professional_Associations.txt |
Diversity and inclusion in the workforce is important to understand as you prepare for your future career. Diversity is not simply a box to be checked; rather, it is an approach to business that unites ethical management and high performance. Business leaders in the global economy recognize the benefits of a diverse workforce and see it as an organizational strength, not as a mere slogan or a form of regulatory compliance with the law. They recognize that diversity can enhance performance and drive innovation; conversely, adhering to the traditional business practices of the past can cost them talented employees and loyal customers.
A study by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company indicates that businesses with gender and ethnic diversity outperform others. According to Mike Dillon, chief diversity and inclusion officer for PwC in San Francisco, “attracting, retaining and developing a diverse group of professionals stirs innovation and drives growth.”
Living this goal means not only recruiting, hiring, and training talent from a wide demographic spectrum but also including all employees in every aspect of the organization.
Workplace Diversity
The twenty-first century workplace features much greater diversity than was common even a couple of generations ago. Individuals who might once have faced employment challenges because of religious beliefs, ability differences, or sexual orientation now regularly join their peers in interview pools and on the job. Each may bring a new outlook and different information to the table; employees can no longer take for granted that their coworkers think the same way they do. This pushes them to question their own assumptions, expand their understanding, and appreciate alternate viewpoints. The result is more creative ideas, approaches, and solutions. Thus, diversity may also enhance corporate decision-making.
Communicating with those who differ from us may require us to make an extra effort and even change our viewpoint, but it leads to better collaboration and more favorable outcomes overall, according to David Rock, director of the Neuro-Leadership Institute in New York City, who says diverse coworkers “challenge their own and others’ thinking.”
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), organizational diversity now includes more than just racial, gender, and religious differences. It also encompasses different thinking styles and personality types, as well as other factors such as physical and cognitive abilities and sexual orientation, all of which influence the way people perceive the world. “Finding the right mix of individuals to work on teams, and creating the conditions in which they can excel, are key business goals for today’s leaders, given that collaboration has become a paradigm of the twenty-first century workplace,” according to an SHRM article.
Attracting workers who are not all alike is an important first step in the process of achieving greater diversity. However, managers cannot stop there. Their goals must also encompass inclusion, or the engagement of all employees in the corporate culture. “The far bigger challenge is how people interact with each other once they’re on the job,” says Howard J. Ross, founder and chief learning officer at Cook Ross, a consulting firm specializing in diversity. “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. Diversity is about the ingredients, the mix of people and perspectives. Inclusion is about the container—the place that allows employees to feel they belong, to feel both accepted and different.”
Workplace diversity is not a new policy idea; its origins date back to at least the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA) or before. Census figures show that women made up less than 29 percent of the civilian workforce when Congress passed Title VII of the CRA prohibiting workplace discrimination. After passage of the law, gender diversity in the workplace expanded significantly. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the percentage of women in the labor force increased from 48 percent in 1977 to a peak of 60 percent in 1999. Over the last five years, the percentage has held relatively steady at 57 percent. Over the past forty years, the total number of women in the labor force has risen from 41 million in 1977 to 71 million in 2017.
The BLS projects that the number of women in the U.S. labor force will reach 92 million in 2050 (an increase that far outstrips population growth).
The statistical data show a similar trend for African American, Asian American, and Hispanic workers (Figure below). Just before passage of the CRA in 1964, the percentages of minorities in the official on-the-books workforce were relatively small compared with their representation in the total population. In 1966, Asians accounted for just 0.5 percent of private-sector employment, with Hispanics at 2.5 percent and African Americans at 8.2 percent.
However, Hispanic employment numbers have significantly increased since the CRA became law; they are expected to more than double from 15 percent in 2010 to 30 percent of the labor force in 2050. Similarly, Asian Americans are projected to increase their share from 5 to 8 percent between 2010 and 2050.
(Image by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0)
Much more progress remains to be made, however. For example, many people think of the technology sector as the workplace of open-minded millennials. Yet Google, as one example of a large and successful company, revealed in its latest diversity statistics that its progress toward a more inclusive workforce may be steady but it is very slow. Men still account for the great majority of employees at the corporation; only about 30 percent are women, and women fill fewer than 20 percent of Google’s technical roles (Figure below). The company has shown a similar lack of gender diversity in leadership roles, where women hold fewer than 25 percent of positions. Despite modest progress, an ocean-sized gap remains to be narrowed. When it comes to ethnicity, approximately 56 percent of Google employees are white. About 35 percent are Asian, 3.5 percent are Latino, and 2.4 percent are black, and of the company’s management and leadership roles, 68 percent are held by whites.
Google is not alone in coming up short on diversity. Recruiting and hiring a diverse workforce has been a challenge for most major technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo (now owned by Verizon); all have reported gender and ethnic shortfalls in their workforces.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has made available 2014 data comparing the participation of women and minorities in the high-technology sector with their participation in U.S. private-sector employment overall, and the results show the technology sector still lags.
Compared with all private-sector industries, the high-technology industry employs a larger share of whites (68.5%), Asian Americans (14%), and men (64%), and a smaller share of African Americans (7.4%), Latinos (8%), and women (36%). Whites also represent a much higher share of those in the executive category (83.3%), whereas other groups hold a significantly lower share, including African Americans (2%), Latinos (3.1%), and Asian Americans (10.6%). In addition, and perhaps not surprisingly, 80 percent of executives are men and only 20 percent are women. This compares negatively with all other private-sector industries, in which 70 percent of executives are men and 30 percent women.
Technology companies are generally not trying to hide the problem. Many have been publicly releasing diversity statistics since 2014, and they have been vocal about their intentions to close diversity gaps. More than thirty technology companies, including Intel, Spotify, Lyft, Airbnb, and Pinterest, each signed a written pledge to increase workforce diversity and inclusion, and Google pledged to spend more than \$100 million to address diversity issues.
Diversity and inclusion are positive steps for business organizations, and despite their sometimes slow pace, the majority are moving in the right direction. Diversity strengthens the company’s internal relationships with employees and improves employee morale, as well as its external relationships with customer groups. Communication, a core value of most successful businesses, becomes more effective with a diverse workforce. Performance improves for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that acknowledging diversity and respecting differences is the ethical thing to do.24
Generational Differences in the Workforce
Today we have four different generations in the workforce and each generation differs in terms of values, communication style, and life experiences. Each group brings valuable contributions to the workplace.
Each generation is a subculture with a sense of reality based on formative world and national events, technological innovations and socio-cultural values. To understand how that experience impacts communication, it’s instructive to consider how the different generations view technology and communications media. The following examples are based on an analysis of generational differences:25
Table 3.2 – Examples of Generational Differences
Traditionalists
Baby Boomers
Generation X
Millennials
Generation Z
Technology is . . .
Hoover Dam
The microwave
Internet
Hand-held devices
Virtual
Communicate via . . .
Rotary phones
Touch-tone phones
Cell phones
Internet & Text
Social Media
Every generation develops expertise with communication formats and media that reflect their situational reality. For example, Traditionalists tend to have a more formal communication style, with a strict adherence to written grammatical rules and a strong cultural structure. Baby Boomers tend to prefer a more informal and collaborative approach. Gen X communications tend to be more blunt and direct: just the facts. Millennial and Gen Z communication is technology-dependent. As an Ad Council article notes, these generations are driving a truncation of the English language, shortening words (e.g., totally becomes totes) and abbreviating phrases into one or two-syllable “words,” which may or may not be spoken aloud (e.g., FOMO for “fear of missing out” and TIL for “today I learned”).
For additional perspective, see McCrindle Research “How to Speak Gen Z infographic. These clippings have their roots in texting language: a shorthand that’s optimized for the communications media and immediate gratification expectations of mobile communication.
Texting
Texting is a cross-generational trend—something that nearly all adults in America participate in. For perspective on texting, read onereach.com’s “45 Texting Statistics that Prove Businesses Need To Start Taking Texting Seriously.” A few excerpts, for perspective:
1. Over 80% of American adults text, making it the most common cell phone activity. (Pew Internet)
2. The average adult spends a total of 23 hours a week texting (USA Today)
3. The average Millennial exchanges an average of 67 text messages per day (Business Insider)
4. On average, Americans exchange twice as many texts as they do calls (Nielsen)
5. Only 43% of smartphone owners use their phone to make calls, but over 70% of smartphone users text (Connect Mogul)
Bridging the Generation Gap
Each generation brings not only a frame of reference but also a set of competencies—and expectations—based on how they view the world and their place in it. The challenge for both businesses and individuals is that we now have five generations in the workforce. Differences in generational communication style and media are, effectively, language barriers. To the extent that individuals can’t translate, the communication gaps are a hindrance to effective collaboration and, by extension, achievement of critical goals and objectives. The communication disconnect can also affect employee morale and productivity.
The opportunity in this situation is to leverage specific generational strengths and decrease points of friction. The best case scenario is to create a culture and opportunities that encourage cross-generational sharing and mentoring. As Nora Zelevansky wrote in a piece for Coca-Cola: “In order to master intergenerational communication, it is necessary to understand some broad generalizations about the generations and then move beyond those to connect as individuals.”26
In a related trend, the model of talent management is changing. As discussed in a Sodexo report on 2017 Workplace Trends, we’re moving to a model of shared learning, where workers of all ages contribute to each other’s growth and development.27 Indeed, the researchers identified “intergenerational agility” as a critical aspect of the employee and employer value proposition. Business benefits of intergenerational learning include increased efficiency, productivity and competitive positioning. Two statistics that suggest the culture and communication gaps can be bridged:28
• 90 percent of Millennials believe that Boomers bring substantial experience and knowledge to the workplace
• 93 percent of Baby Boomers believe that Millennials bring new skills and ideas to the workplace.
The diversity of the intergenerational workplace isn’t just a development—it’s a creative opportunity.
Professor Mariano Sánchez of the University of Granada in Spain sees the opportunity in cultivating ”generational intelligence;” specifically, “organizing activities that raise generational awareness, connect generations and help them work better together—exchanging knowledge, ideas, skills and more to enhance the broad skill sets everyone needs in today’s jobs.”29
According to Jason Dorsey, Millennial and Gen Z researcher and co-founder of The Center for Generational Kinetics, “The key is getting each person to recognize that everyone has different communication skills that can be harnessed to best support the organization.”30 Incorporating multiple communication media in meetings and to facilitate ongoing discussion/collaboration allows members of different generations to share expertise and demonstrate the value of a particular medium. Selecting technology that supports multiple ways of communicating and collaborating can also leverage collective strengths and create fertile ground. For example, using a videoconferencing platform allows for participants to connect visually and participate virtually, with audio, screen sharing and recording capabilities.
Activity 3.6: Generational Differences in the Workplace
After reading the section on generational differences in the workplace, reflect on your experiences at school, work and in your community and answer the following questions:
What generation do you identify with?
How closely do you resemble some of the descriptors used to describe this generation? Explain and give examples.
Why do you think it is important to understand the generational differences in the workplace? Explain and give examples.
Understanding the broad generational generalizations are important to help understand different work styles and preferences, however it is essential to move beyond generalizations and connect as individuals.
3.07: Summary
Now that you have completed Unit 3 we will revisit the Unit objectives before moving on to Unit 4. In this unit you have:
• Inventoried online resources to research career information and labor market information.
• Used informational interviews as a way to research careers.
• Explored professional associations as a means to collect career research and network with industry professionals.
• Recognized changes in the workplace and examined the value of diversity in the workplace.
Each part of this unit was designed to help you complete Phase 2: “What’s Out There?” At this time, you should have a better understanding of the World of Work and should be able to start visualizing where you see yourself in regards to your future career.
You have successfully completed Phase 1: “Who Am I” and Phase 2: “What’s Out There?” It is now time to explore Phase 3: “What Factors Might Affect My Choice?” and Phase 4: “Where Do I Go From Here?” These phases will be explored in Unit 4. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/03%3A_Conducting_Career_Research/3.06%3A_Diversity_and_Inclusion_in_the_Workforce.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Recognize factors involved in the decision making process.
• Distinguish internal and external factors that affect making decisions.
• Demonstrate effective goal setting.
• Examine tools for managing stress.
• Choosing your major and educational planning.
• Analyze the value of gaining work experience outside the classroom.
Welcome to Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the career and life planning process. In this unit we will address tools and resources to help you address the following questions:
• Phase 3: What factors affect my choices?
• Phase 4: Where do I go from here?
04: Decision Making and Goal Setting
We make several decisions every day. Some are small and rather simple decisions ranging from what to eat in the morning to what to wear for the day. Other decisions may be more complex and require some planning. When it comes to making big decisions like buying a car, choosing a major/career, or deciding on what school to transfer to it helps to use a rational, logical and ordered process. The Rational Decision Making Process involves 5 steps.
• Step 1: Formulating a goal(s)
• Step 2: Identifying the criteria for making decisions
• Step 3: Identifying alternatives
• Step 4: Performing analysis
• Step 5: Making a final decision
These steps provide structure and disciple to the process. Each step requires you to be proactive while investigating information, collecting data and analyzing information resulting in action.
Application of the Rational Decision Making Process
Let’s apply the steps involved in decision making:
Step 1: Formulating a goal(s)
This step involves assessing the current situation and defining your goal. Ask yourself:
• What is it you want to accomplish?
• Is this a problem to solve or an opportunity to pursue? Knowing the difference will help guide you through the remaining steps and will help you organize your support network.
For example: As a student in this class, I have just finished career assessments and taken time to conduct career research. I now have 4 career options I am considering but don’t know which to pursue. I have learned I am passionate about pursuing a career in the helping profession but can’t decide between: elementary school teaching, social work, nursing or school counselor. These are all possible opportunities for me to pursue!
My goal is to determine which career path is best for me and how do I get there.
Step 2: Identifying the criteria for making the decision
This step involves doing research and gathering relevant information. Ask yourself:
• What information do you currently know about your options?
• What information is missing?
• What sources will help you learn more about your options and who can help you gather more information?
Applying Step 2 to the example above:
• I am familiar with online career research sites addressed in Unit 3. I might consider putting together a chart where I can take notes and do a side-by-side comparison between these different occupations including: duties and responsibilities, educational training, licensing/certification requirements, salary information and current labor market trends and job outlook.
• I can arrange for informational interviews with professionals in each of the careers I am considering to gain a more personalized perspective on each profession.
• I can meet with a counselor to get an overview of the different majors that may be a good fit, develop an educational plan and compare and contrast the different options.
Step 3: Identifying alternatives
There are many ways to get to one place. This step allows you to put together creative options based on the information gathered in Step 2. As you develop your options, consider possible obstacles and challenges you may foresee. This will help you plan and seek necessary support to help overcome them. As you identify alternatives, assess yourself and your current situation to see which of the options seem most attractive to you at this time.
Applying Step 3 to the example above:
Now, I can start putting the information together and analyzing how it best fits my current situation and my needs. After gathering the career information and speaking to professionals in the field, I feel strongly that being an elementary school teacher best aligns with my values and allows me to focus on making a difference while helping children learn and grow. It aligns nicely with my personality preferences, values, interests, character strengths, skills and abilities. My career assessments confirm this path is a suitable option for me. I will now pursue elementary school teaching as my focus!
My research also tells me that I can technically be any major to pursue elementary school teaching. I will need to review all the different majors offered at College of the Canyons to help me narrow down my options.
Step 4: Performing analysis
This step allows you to dive deeper and evaluate alternatives, assess the outcomes of each option and consider how they align with your values to help you narrow down your options. Consider ranking your options and focus on your first choice. Assess your likelihood of success toward each alternative and consider sacrifices you may need to make. You will want to revisit any possible challenges or obstacles you may foresee and address any barriers that may affect your success.
Applying step 4 to the example above:
Now that I have analyzed and researched my major options, and reviewed course descriptions of the required classes for the Liberal Studies and Early Childhood Education, I can compare and contrast each major and assess it with my preferences. I will consider what courses seem more appealing to me and which I might enjoy more.
Step 5: Making a final decision
Now you are ready to establish a plan of action. This involves putting together necessary steps to pursue your desired outcome. Set a date you will start and complete your plan of action. It is important to be realistic as you develop your plan. Consider resources you will need to put your plan into action.
Applying step 5 to the example above:
After researching the classes required for each major, I decide to pursue Early Childhood Education because it does not require as much science and allows me to focus on child growth and development and how children learn and that seems more interesting to me. Now that I have narrowed down my options and decided on a path, I am ready to develop my plan of action!
Next semester, I will:
• Join the TEACH program and the Future Educator’s Club on campus so I can learn more about the teaching profession and gain exposure to the teaching environment.
• Meet with a counselor to establish my student educational plan and review requirements for my associate degree and transfer. I will also use the online MAP – My Academic Planning tool through MyCanyons to develop my educational plan!
• Talk to the department chair of ECE and start networking!
This decision making model described above is linear in nature where one step leads to the next, however, it is important to know that you may revisit a previous step at any time throughout the process. For example, after completing Step 4 and analyzing the situation, you may realize the alternatives generated in step 3 are not of interest to you anymore so you may need to go back to Step 2 and gather more information before moving forward.
Be flexible and open to change. Be patient and know that you are not alone on this journey. There is a lot of support on campus to help you brainstorm, gather information and evaluate your options. You always have options!
Once you decide on a career, your decision will help guide the goals you set for yourself from your college education to your future career. For help to stay on track in this journey, you can seek assistance from the information and resources you learn in this class as well as counselors and career center staff at the college to guide your search. To get started in practicing your decision-making skills, you can try this next activity from California Career Café, a virtual career center for California community college students.31
Try the following decision-making exercise from California Career Café:
32
4.02: Internal and External Factors that Affect Making Decisions
There are many factors that contribute to making decisions. Some factors are internal factors and some are external.
Internal factors are those that you control, they come from within you. Internal factors are influenced by your feelings and thoughts. These can be positive or negative. Positive thoughts will help you with decision making, while negative thoughts will most likely hinder you. Fear is a common internal factor that negatively affects decision-making.
• Fear of failure
• Fear of making the wrong decision
• Fear of rejection
• Fear of letting others down
Unfortunately, fear can lead to paralysis in the decision-making process with “worse case scenarios.” To avoid this from happening, remember FEAR is really an acronym for:
FALSE EXPECTATIONS APPEARING REAL
Remember, you are in control of these internal thoughts and feelings. You hold a lot of power. Use it wisely!
Another internal factor that affects decision-making is self-confidence. Lack of self-confidence can make decision-making challenging and negatively impact your goals. In Unit 1, we addressed the importance of self-confidence in setting yourself up for success. You can either be your best friend through the decision-making process or your worst enemy. The choice is up to you. If you lack self-confidence, the good thing is you can work on building it.
External factors are those that stem from your surroundings. External factors may include expectations from your family, friends, cultural or gender stereotypes and family responsibilities. These factors can influence decision-making in a positive or negative way. It is important to consider external factors when making decisions so you can absorb the positive support and create a plan to counteract the negative.
After making a decision about your career direction, it is important to be mindful of the internal and external factors that may affect your next steps. Once you have narrowed down your career choices, you will want to set a goal and develop a plan of action by setting effective goals.
Activity 4.2: Identifying Internal And External Factors Affecting My Decisions
As you get closer to making decisions about your future career and potential major and educational training you'll need, reflect on the internal and external factors that may hinder or support your progress. Be honest with yourself.
Factors that Hinder My Career Decisions:
Internal:
External:
Factors that Support My Career Decisions:
Internal:
External:
Focus on the factors that you have control over. What can you do about the factors that are currently hindering your ability to fully work towards your fullest potential?
Continue to capitalize on the factors that support your success! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/04%3A_Decision_Making_and_Goal_Setting/4.01%3A_The_Decision_Making_Process.txt |
Setting goals serves as a vehicle to help you get from point A to point B. It is important to establish goals for yourself to ensure progress through the career exploration and planning process.
Success Begins With Goals33
A goal is a desired result that you envision and then plan and commit to achieve. Goals can relate to family, education, career, wellness, spirituality, and many other areas of your life. Generally, goals are associated with finite time expectations, even deadlines.
As a college student, many of your goals are defined for you. For example, you must take certain courses, you must comply with certain terms and schedules, and you must turn in assignments at specified times. These goals are mostly set for you by someone else.
But there are plenty of goals for you to define yourself. For example, you decide what you would like to major in. You decide how long you are going to be in college or what terms you want to enroll in. You largely plan how you would like your studies to relate to employment and your career.
Goals can also be sidetracked. Consider the following scenario in which a student makes a discovery that challenges her to reexamine her goals, priorities, and timetables:
Janine had thought she would be an accountant, even though she knew little about what an accounting job might entail. Her math and organizational skills were strong, and she enjoyed taking economics courses as well as other courses in her accounting program. But when one of her courses required her to spend time in an accounting office working with taxes, she decided that accounting was not the right fit for her, due to the higher-stress environment and the late hours.
At first she was concerned that she invested time and money in a career path that was not a good fit. She feared that changing her major would add to her graduation time. Nevertheless, she did decide to change her major and her career focus.
Janine is now a statistician with a regional healthcare system. She is very happy with her work. Changing her major from accounting to statistics was the right decision for her.
This scenario represents some of the many opportunities we have, on an ongoing basis, to assess our relationship to our goals, reevaluate priorities, and adjust. Opportunities exist every day—every moment, really!
Below is a set of questions we can ask ourselves at any point to help focus on personal goals:
1. What are my top-priority goals?
2. Which of my skills and interests make my goals realistic for me?
3. What makes my goals believable and possible?
4. Are my goals measurable? How long will it take me to reach them? How will I know if I have achieved them?
5. Are my goals flexible? What will I do if I experience a setback?
6. Are my goals controllable? Can I achieve them on my own?
7. Are my goals in sync with my values?
As you move through your college career, make a point to ask these questions regularly.
As you formulate your goals consider the following pointers to help you stay focused:
• Write your goals out and post them where you can see them daily so they are at your forefront and not forgotten.
• Share your goals with others. Stating your goals publicly holds you accountable.
• Identify any obstacles you may encounter along the way and consider solutions. Think of people who may help you overcome the obstacles or help you brainstorm potential solutions.
• Set a deadline for which you plan to accomplish your goal and monitor your progress. Be realistic and patient with yourself.
• Visualize the goal. See a clear mental picture of yourself accomplishing your goal.
• Be persistent and don’t give up. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when needed.
Watch the following YouTube video for an overview of SMART goals – a memory aid in setting and evaluating goals to ensure that they are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Time bound. After watching the video, complete Activity 4.3.
In order to achieve long-term goals (from college on), you will need to first achieve a series of shorter goals. Medium-term goals (this year and while in college) and short-term goals (today, this week, and this month) may take several days, weeks, months, or even a few years to complete, depending on your ultimate long-term goals.
Take a moment and identify your short (today, this week, and this month) and medium-term goals (this year and while in college) that will help you achieve your long-term goal.
1. Identify 1 long-term academic or career goal.
2. Identify two related medium-term and two related short-term goals that will help you achieve your long-term goal.
1. Be SMART about it! Identify Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant , activities to achieve your identified goals by a certain Timeframe.
Review the guidelines below, and fill in the blank sections to the best of your ability.
Guidelines
• Phrase goals as positive statements: Affirm your excitement and enthusiasm about attaining a goal by using positive language and expectations.
• Be exact: Set a precise goal that includes dates, times, and amounts, so that you have a basis for measuring your progress.
• Prioritize: Select your top goals, and put them in order of importance. This helps you understand the degree to which you value each of them. It will also help you better manage related tasks and not feel overwhelmed.
• Take the lead: Identify goals that are linked to your own performance, not dependent on the actions of other people or situations beyond your control.
• Be realistic but optimistic and ambitious: The goals you set should be achievable, but sometimes it pays to reach a little higher than what you may think is possible. Certainly don’t set your goals too low.
• Be hopeful, excited, and committed: Your enthusiasm and perseverance can open many doors!
Goal Priorities
My Precise Goals
What I Am Doing Now To Achieve These Goals
Example:
Long-term goal
I plan to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. My major will be Radio-Television-Film, and my minor will be Spanish
I am attending the college of my choice and getting good grades in my major.
Example:
Related medium-term goal
I would like to study abroad in Spain before I graduate.
I need to get busy with this! I will inquire this week about what I need to do next.
Example:
Related short-term goal
I will need to get financial aid for at least a portion of my studies.
I have filled out the forms for financial aid. Last week I applied for a part-time job.
Identify your
Long-term goal
Identify a related
medium-term goal #1
Identify a related
medium-term goal #2
Identify a related
short-term goal #1
Identify a related
short-term goal #2
Social Aspects of Achieving Your Goals
Setting goals can be a challenge, but working toward them, once you’ve set them, can be an even greater challenge—often because it implies that you will be making changes in your life. You might be creating new directions of thought or establishing new patterns of behavior, discarding old habits or starting new ones. Change will always be the essence of achieving your goals.
You may find that as you navigate this path of change, one of your best resources is your social network. Your family, friends, roommates, coworkers, and others can help you maintain a steady focus on your goals. They can encourage and cheer you on, offer guidance when needed, share knowledge and wisdom they’ve gained, and possibly partner with you in working toward shared goals and ambitions. Your social network is a gold mine of support.
Here are some easy ways you can tap into goal-supporting “people power”:
*A note about social media: More than 98 percent of college-age students use social media, says Experian Simmons. Twenty-seven percent of those students spent more than six hours a week on social media (UCLA, 2014). The University of Missouri, though, indicates in a 2015 study that this level of use may be problematic. It can lead to symptoms of envy, anxiety, and depression. Still, disconnecting from social media may have a negative impact, too, and further affect a student’s anxiety level.
Is there a healthy balance? If you feel overly attached to social media, you may find immediate and tangible benefit in cutting back. By tapering your use, you can devote more time to achieving your goals. You can also gain a sense of freedom and more excitement about working toward your goals.
Dealing with Setbacks and Obstacles
At times, unexpected events and challenges can get in the way of best-laid plans. For example, you might get sick or injured or need to deal with a family issue or a financial crisis. Earlier in this section, we considered a scenario in which a student realized she needed to change her major and her career plans. Such upsets, whether minor or major, may trigger a need to take some time off from school—perhaps a term or a year. Your priorities may shift. You may need to reevaluate your goals.
Problem-Solving Strategies
Below is a simple list of four problem-solving strategies. They can be applied to any aspect of your life.
1. What is the problem? Define it in detail. How is it affecting me and other people?
2. How are other people dealing with this problem? Are they adjusting their time management skills? Can they still complete responsibilities, and on time?
3. What is my range of possible solutions? Are solutions realistic? How might these solutions help me reach my goal/s?
4. What do I need to do to implement solutions?
You may wish to also review the earlier set of questions about focusing with intention on goals.
Be confident that you can return to your intended path in time. Acknowledge the ways in which you need to regroup. Read inspiring words from people who have faced adversity and gained. Line up your resources, be resolved, and proceed with certainty toward your goals.34 | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/04%3A_Decision_Making_and_Goal_Setting/4.03%3A_Effective_Steps_for_Goal_Setting.txt |
Career and life planning, decision-making and goal setting are exciting topics that play an important role in our lives, yet at the same time they are very heavy topics and can induce high levels of stress. Making decisions that will impact your future can feel overwhelming and create negative thoughts, unproductive behaviors and uncontrollable emotions. In this section, we will address how stress can be managed and the important role you play in managing your own stress levels.
This section is focused on helping you identify and understand your stress responses. If stressful situations persist and there are no healthy coping mechanisms developed. The immune system is compromised and disease begins. There are many tools that are available to help us learn healthy ways of dealing with daily ups and downs. This unit will help you explore some very solid, research based tools for dealing with stress.
Two of the most powerful tools most frequently used for managing stress are both simple and free. Both are cultivated through practice. The first tool is re-framing. Re-framing is a matter of mindset. Even though something happens that I may not have planned for, I still have a choice in how I respond to it. I can let “it” ruin my day, or I can figure out how to best deal with the situation and move on. So in other words, I can choose to “catastrophize” the situation, and make myself and those around me have bad day, or I can find a solution to take myself out of the situation. I always have a choice.
Are you generally a positive or negative thinker? If you are a negative thinker, use this opportunity to start to become consciously aware of your thought/perception patterns. Once you become more aware, you can make changes that will help you manage your thought process, thus, changing your intentions, attitudes and outcomes to a more positive lifestyle which will help contribute to managing your level of stress.
Choosing to be mindful is about awareness. By this, I mean really aware of everything going on around you. Mindfulness can be thought of as a moment-to-moment, nonjudgmental awareness, cultivated by paying attention in a specific way that is, in the present moment, and as non-reactively, as non-judgmentally, and as open heartedly as possible, (Jon Kabat-Zinn) Rather than allowing ourselves to be distracted by technology, television, or a myriad of other things, we purposely slow down and take in everything being fully present. Many of those who practice mindfulness call the constant ricocheting of our attention “monkey mind”. I find it amusing that many people to call it multi-tasking. Let's stop fooling ourselves, we cannot multi task, only shift our attention from one thing to another and not give either task the focus and attention it deserves to get the task done well.
Consider these tools when facing stressful situations. Re-framing and mindfulness are powerful tools that can be practiced to help manage stress caused by everyday stressors.35
Stress management is key to overall health. Mindful management of stress improves quality of life and provides a clear mind for learning and making valuable decisions. Nutrition has a very important role in your physical and mental health. In addition, sleep is very crucial to keep balance and keeping brain neurotransmitters working efficiently. Lack of sleep and unhealthy nutrition can affect mood, eating habits, and maladaptive behaviors. Therefore, increasing levels of negative stress can lead to making rash decisions and acquire poor eating habits. Regular participation in health promoting behaviors such as exercise, healthy eating and social connections reduces stress and anxiety. Remember to pay attention to how you are “feeling”. Often times when we suffer an increased amount of stress our mental state is negatively affected. This may cause depression, anxiety, weight gain/loss and feeling lost. Analyze and identify possible resources to help you navigate back to a balanced lifestyle.
The COC Student Health and Wellness Center provides mental health counseling free of charge to students. If you are feeling overwhelmed balancing life challenges, work, school, and personal responsibilities, you may want to speak with a mental health professional. Services through the Student Health Center are confidential and available at both the Valencia and Canyon Country Campus. For more information, speak with your instructor, or visit the Student Health and Wellness site at: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/health/index.php | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/04%3A_Decision_Making_and_Goal_Setting/4.04%3A_Stress_Management.txt |
In Units 1 – 3, we spent a lot of time on self-discovery through engaging in different career assessments and researching career information that may be a good fit based on personal strengths, interests, values, skills, and personality. At this time, you should be getting closer to deciding on a career path that may be a good fit for you. Once you know what career path or industry you are interested in, you are a step closer to choosing your major. Having a general idea of what career path interests you will help you determine which major is the best fit for you.
In the United States and Canada, your academic major—simply called “your major”—is the academic discipline you commit to as an undergraduate student. It’s an area you specialize in, such as accounting, chemistry, criminology, archeology, digital arts, or dance. In United States colleges and universities, roughly 2,000 majors are offered. And within each major is a host of core courses and electives. When you successfully complete the required courses in your major, you qualify for a degree.
Why is your major important? It’s important because it’s a defining and organizing feature of your undergraduate degree. Ultimately, your major should provide you with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and/or behaviors you need to fulfill your college goals and objectives.
In this section, we will look at how to select your major and how your college major may correlate with a career. Does your major matter to your career? What happens if you change your major? Does changing your major mean you must change your career? Read on to find out!36
Take a minute to watch the YouTube Video titled “How to Pick a Major” which will provide you with 5 tips to consider as you get closer to making your decision to declare or confirm your major.
Choosing a college major can have a big impact on your career choices, especially if you are following a technical or vocational program of study. After all, it is hard to become a pharmacist if you study computer networking. Students often get too anxious about choosing a major or program of study. Certainly, many two-year students have a very clear idea of what they are studying and the job they expect to land after completing their degree, and you probably feel confident enough in your choice of major to make the investment for tuition in that program. But there is no need to panic over your choice of major or program of study:
• Your choice of major or program will be important only for your first job after college; most people change careers (not just jobs, but careers) five times or more in their lifetime, so there is no possible major that will cover that level of flexibility.
• Many majors and programs share foundation courses with other majors, so you can usually change your major without having misused your time in courses that will be unrelated to your new major. Chances are, if you change your major, it will be to something similar, especially if you have completed an occupational interest survey as recommended earlier in this class.
• Most students change their major at least once, and many will change majors two or three times before they graduate.
While these thoughts might remove some of the stress of making the choice, there is no doubt that it is not always easy to make your choice. The following tips may make it a little easier…and perhaps fun!
• Follow your dreams. Your first instinct in choosing a field of study is probably based on your dreams and life experience. Make sure you base your choice on your own dreams and interests and not those of a parent, spouse, or friend.
• Make it fun. What do you like to do for fun? What kinds of magazines do you read? What websites are bookmarked on your computer? What kinds of volunteer work have you done? What do the answers to these questions tell you about the kind of career you would enjoy?
• Build on your skills. A good choice of a program of study is not based exclusively on your likes; it should also consider your skills. What courses did you “ace” in high school? Consider also courses that you found challenging in which you learned and enjoyed (it is hard to keep a level of determination to tackle a tough subject if you do not enjoy it). What do these courses tell you about what you are skilled at studying?
• Ask around. Find people who are following the courses of study you are considering. Ask them what they like and dislike about their majors. If you can find recent graduates with that major, ask them about the value of their major.
• Two is better than one. Talk to your counselor about potentially double majoring, as this can be an effective way of preparing yourself for the uncertainties and options of future employment. You may want to consider declaring a minor after you transfer to a four-year university. A minor is a sub-specialty are in a discipline outside your major
• What makes you unique? If you have a major that you would like to pursue that is not offered at your college, find out if you can plan your own major. This option is especially attractive if you want to combine two seemingly different disciplines into a major (Dance and athletics? Sociology and film? Women’s studies and economics?). This may be an option when you transfer to the four-year university.
• Be open to change. Once you have selected a major, do not panic if it turns out to be the wrong choice; consider it a step toward finding the right program for you. Repeat the major selection process, but carefully consider what you learned from your original major choice. Why was it not the right major? (Did it not match your interests? Was the workload too heavy? Were the courses too tough?) What do you know now that you did not know when you made your first selection that you should consider in making a new choice?
What do you need to launch a good career? Employers will look at your education, skills, and experience. Making sure you have the “right stuff” in these three areas is what you should focus on in your college experience.
Resources to Help You Learn More about Choosing a Major
This quote really sets the stage for the journey you are on. Your journey may be a straight line that connects the dots between today and your future, or it may resemble a twisted road with curves, bumps, hurdles, and alternate routes.
To help you navigate your pathway to career success, take advantage of all the resources available to you. Your college, your community, and the wider body of higher-education institutions and organizations have many tools to help you with career development. Be sure to take advantage of the following resources:
The college catalog consists of college policies, procedures and programs. Detailed descriptions of each major, degree requirements and course descriptions are outlined. Take time to see what COC offers in regards to career certificates, associate degrees and transfer.
• Instructional and counseling faculty and academic advisers at your college: Many college professors are also practitioners in their fields, and can share insights with you about related professions. Counselors and academic advisers may also share information about different majors and how they connect to careers.
• Fellow students: Many of your classmates, especially those who share your major, may have had experiences that can inform and enlighten you—for instance, an internship with an employer or a job interview with someone who could be contacted for more information.
• Students who have graduated: Most colleges and universities have active alumni programs with networking resources that can help you make important decisions.
• Your family and social communities: Contact friends and family members who can weigh in with their thoughts and experience.
• The Counseling Department and the HUB: Counseling faculty in these departments have a wealth of information to share with you—they’re also very good at listening and can act as a sounding board for you to try out your ideas.
There are many online resources with free materials that can provide guidance, such as the ones in the table, on the following page.37
Table 4.1 – Major Guidance
Website
Description
Majors at College of the Canyons
Lists current majors at COC with an AA/AS or AA-T/AST. A brief description of each major is
highlighted along with required courses and number of units necessary for the degree.
List of College Majors (MyMajors)
A list of more than 1,800 college majors—major pages include description, courses, careers, salary, related majors and colleges offering major
Take the College Major Profile Quiz (About.com)
Quiz is designed to help students think about college majors, personality traits, and how they may fit within different areas of study
Choosing a College Major Worksheet(Quint Careers)
A six-step process to finding a college major
Common Mistakes Students Make in Choosing a Major
Lists common misperceptions about choosing a major and explains how these misperceptions can cloud future plans
What can I do with this major?
Lists majors and how they connect with careers, provides information about common career areas, typical employers and strategies designed to maximize career opportunities. Additional links are listed to connect to professional association and other resources related to the major.
Explore Careers (BigFuture/The College Board)
Explore careers by selecting “Show me majors that match my interests,” “Show me new career ideas,” and “Show me how others made their choices”
The College Major: What It Is and How To Choose One (BigFuture/The College Board)
When to choose a major, how to choose a major, “you can change your mind,” majors and graduate school, and majors and professions
As you narrow down your career choice and major choice, you can now make a decision in regards to what program you may want to pursue while at COC. The next section reviews the opportunities available to you at COC. As you read over the different programs, make note of which program or programs are of interest to you. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/04%3A_Decision_Making_and_Goal_Setting/4.05%3A_Choosing_your_Major_and_Educational_Planning.txt |
Now that you have explored possible career options, it is time to look at the specific educational training required to help you pursue your career goal. The career you are considering may require specialized industry certification or licensing, an associate degree, bachelor’s degree or a more advanced degree. College of the Canyons offers certificates, associate degree and transfer programs.
Certificates
Certificates are short term training programs that are industry specific. These programs are typically designed to prepare students for employment, job enhancement and/or job advancement. Certificate programs vary in length and generally require less than two years of fulltime study. The required coursework allows students to gain specialized entry level skills and training to prepare for industry certification and licensing.
For example, to become an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), one must become certified by passing an exam offered through the National Registry. Completing the EMT Certificate of specialization at COC prepares students to take the National Registry exam to become certified and gain employment as an EMT. For a list of certificates offered through COC view the counseling site: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/counseling/degrees/certificates.php
Associate degree programs (AA/AS)
The associate degree is a program that requires 60 units. These units are comprised of general education courses and major courses. The AA/AS degree is designed to help students gain employment and or job advancement. For a comprehensive list of associate degrees offered through COC view the counseling site: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/counseling/degrees/majors.php
Associate degree for transfer (AA-T/AS-T)
The AA-T/AS-T degrees are designed to help facilitate the transfer process for California Community College Students to the California State University (CSU) System. It is a 60-unit program comprised of at least 18 units in a specific major and either the CSU GE breadth or the IGETC-CSU GE pattern. The benefit of an AA-T/AS-T is that students are guaranteed admission to one of the CSU schools (a non-impacted CSU) and are guaranteed to have 60 units remaining towards their bachelor’s degree after transfer. For more information go to: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/counseling/degrees/aat-ast.php
Transfer programs
COC has transfer agreements with four-year institutions that allow students to complete their freshman and sophomore general education courses and major preparation work at COC and transfer as a junior. For more information on transfer, go to the Counseling website: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/counseling/transfer/index.php
Overview of the Transfer Process
Perhaps you decided to attend College of the Canyons to save some money or to be able to explore a career before committing to a four-year program. Now you may find that a bachelor’s degree is worth pursuing because it appears to be a requirement for the kind of career you want or because you will be able to boost your income opportunities. If you are thinking about transferring to a four-year program, be sure to follow these steps:
1. Understand the transfer process. The diagram below illustrates the transfer process. While attending College of the Canyons, you may complete your lower division college coursework, which is comparable to what freshmen, and sophomores are doing their first two years of college at the four-year university. This entails completion of the 100 and 200 level courses to satisfy freshman and sophomore general education and major preparation course requirements. If classes are selected wisely, students may earn an AA/AS or AA-T/AS-T degree while also completing transfer admission requirements for the four-year university. Meet with a counselor to discuss your goals and develop a personalized comprehensive student educational plan!
1. Learn more about articulation agreements. Articulation agreements are transfer agreements with the four-year universities. COC has articulations with the UC/CSU systems, private and out-of-state institutions. Understanding the transfer requirements will make for a smooth transition. Transfer agreements may be found on the counseling website at: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/counseling/transfer/index.php
2. Learn more about AA-T/AS-T if you are considering transfer to a CSU school. You may wish to consider the AA-T/AS-T programs offered through COC. These degrees are designed to help facilitate the transfer process for California Community College students to the CSU System. For more information about AA-T/AS-T programs offered at COC go to: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/counseling/degrees/aat-ast.php. To learn more about benefits associated with this transfer option, go visit the “Degree with a Guarantee” website: http://adegreewithaguarantee.com/
3. Determine if you should follow the CSU GE or IGETC GE pattern. If you are considering transfer to a CSU or UC school, you should follow one of these GE patterns.
• If you are interested in a CSU or a UC transfer institution, it is safest to follow the IGETC, as this GE pattern is acceptable by both UC and CSU schools.
• NOTE: The CSU GE and IGETC GE patterns are generally safe for most majors EXCEPT liberal studies students and those with extensive lower division preparation such as most high unit engineering or science majors at any UC campus. Read the special notes on the CSU GE and IGETC regarding which majors and schools do not honor CSU GE or IGETC.
1. Explore www.assist.org. This is the official transfer and articulation system for California’s public colleges and universities. This site houses all the transfer agreements between all California Community Colleges, CSU and UC institutions. You may explore transfer agreements by entering your institution, the transfer institution, and the major you are interested in. Once this information is entered, will be able to view the articulation agreement, which includes the freshman and sophomore level coursework for the major the transfer institution requires prior to transfer. The more major preparation coursework you complete at COC, the less work you have to complete at the four-year university. This saves you time and money! If your major is “highly selective” or “impacted” you will be required to complete all major preparation prior to transfer. Be sure to read the fine print in each articulation agreement. Some schools have very specific requirements in regards to grades and when the major preparation work must be completed.
2. learn more about the transfer process and create an educational plan based on your major and transfer institution.
3. course offered every term. This course provides students with information and resources to facilitate a smooth transfer to the 4-year colleges and universities. Topics include UC/CSU applications, the common app for private and out of state schools, developing a personal statement, major and general education requirements, financial aid/scholarships, personalized student education plans, and analysis of factors involved in the selection of transfer schools.
4. Connect with the Transfer Center. The Transfer Center assists students who wish to transfer to four-year universities in pursuit of a Bachelors degree. Four-year university representatives often hold one-on-one appointments with students in the transfer center to answer individual admission questions. The transfer center hosts an annual transfer fair where different college and university representatives are on campus to answer questions and meet with students. Workshops are held throughout the year to support the transfer process including: CSU Applications, UC Applications, The Common Application, Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program, and personal statements are some of the common workshops. For more information visit the Transfer Center website at: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/transfercenter/index.php
Once you have determined which program(s) you are interested in pursuing, (a certificate, an AA/AS degree, or AA-T/AS-T and/or transfer program) you are then ready to develop your individualized student educational plan. While at COC, you may work on multiple goals. you may earn a certificate, associate degree and/or transfer program if you select your classes wisely! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/04%3A_Decision_Making_and_Goal_Setting/4.06%3A_Opportunities_at_College_of_the_Canyons.txt |
My Academic Plan (MAP)
Online Academic Planning tool through your MyCanyons student portal. To do so, log-in to MyCanyons and go to the Academic Planning section. For step-by-step guidelines on developing your MAP go to: https://www.canyons.edu/_resources/documents/studentservices/enrollmentservices/MAPBrochure.pdf
Your MAP will allow you to track your progress toward your declared program at COC and map out classes necessary to meet your goal. You are encouraged to discuss this plan with a counselor to ensure you have accounted for all necessary requirements! It is important to understand MAP is strictly linked to COC program requirements for certificate and associate degree programs (AA/AS and AA-T/AA-T) and DOES NOT necessarily include ALL transfer requirements, therefore it is essential to review your MAP with a counselor to ensure you are on the right track.
If you are not yet certain about your major that’s ok! Consider what program may best suite you: a certificate, associate degree or transfer. If you have a general idea of what program you wish to pursue you can start focusing on your general education courses and consider taking some exploratory classes next semester to allow you to explore areas of interest.
After reading through section 4.5 Choosing a Major and Educational Planning, it is time to make a decision. Take into account the research you have gathered about different majors using the online resources addressed earlier in this section and answer the following questions:
1. What are your top two career fields you are considering at this time?
2. What kind of entry level training/certification is needed to enter each field (industry certification, Associate Degree, Bachelor Degree or an advanced professional degree)?
3. What kind of program do you need to complete at College of the Canyons to pursue the appropriate training to be competitive for each field (certificate, AA/AS, AA-T/AS-T and/or transfer)? Is this program offered at COC? If not, where is my program offered and what are their admission criteria?
4. What majors are you considering at this time and how do they connect to your future career path?
5. Explain how these potential majors are a "good fit" for you based on information you have gathered through your career assessment results completed in Unit 2 (character strengths, work values, personality preferences, interests, and skills).
6. If you plan to transfer, what four year universities are you considering and what are their transfer admission requirements?
The more you know about the requirements necessary to pursue the career field(s) you are considering, the better you can prepare and make yourself a competitive candidate!
Develop a Skills Based Educational Plan to Align with Your Academic Plan
In this section, we have discussed choosing your major and developing your educational plan to satisfy the necessary requirements for a certificate, AA/AS, AA-T/AS-T and/or transfer goal. At this time, you should have a general idea of what requirements are necessary to achieve your academic goal. Now, we want to further develop your plan through incorporating a skills based educational plan. To get a better understanding of what a “Skills Based Educational Plan” is, view the YouTube Video titled “The Insufficient Degree” and start developing your Skills Based Academic Plan.
It is now time to develop your Skills Based Academic Plan. After viewing the YouTube Video above, think of the skill necessary for your desired career goal. Consider the knowledge you will need to know for this particular career and how you can start working on acquiring that knowledge now.
My Career Goal:
Knowledge Needed
Learning Method
Take a moment and review the "Counseling Roadmap" illustration on the following page.
. Consider connecting with resources and services on campus as recommended below based on where you are in your journey.
Counseling Roadmap
If you are at the START you will want to:
• Turn in transcripts from previous colleges/universities
• Declare your major
• Apply for financial aid
• Take your math and English assessments if you have not yet done so
If you have Up to 15 units you will want to:
• Meet with an academic advisor to develop a one-semester plan
• Familiarize yourself with the Library, the Learning Center (TLC) and the Student Center (including the COC Bookstore, Student Health & Wellness Center and the Student Development Office)
• Consider joining a student club or organization
If you have 15 Units or more you will want to:
• Meet with a counselor to discuss academic major and goals leading to the development of a comprehensive educational plan
• Continue to network on campus and build relationships with faculty, staff and peers
If you have 45 units or more you will want to:
• Review transcripts with a counselor or advisor
• Connect with the Career Center
• Participate in an internship
• Petition for graduation
If you are at the FINISH LINE you will want to:
• Receive and associate degree and/or certificate
• Enter the workforce or transfer to a four-year institution
There is a lot of support on campus to help you each step of the way. Take advantage of the resources available to you and ask for help when necessary. For a comprehensive list of campus resources and services go to the Counseling Forms/Handouts Site and view the handout titled "COC Campus Resources and Services"
Remember, you are not alone on this journey! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/04%3A_Decision_Making_and_Goal_Setting/4.07%3A_Educational_Planning.txt |
An important part of your educational experience at COC is to gain as much experience as you can, both inside the classroom as well as outside the classroom. You will gain valuable knowledge in the classroom through your required coursework and it is equally important to gain "hands-on" experience outside the classroom in the career field you are pursuing. This can be done through work experience, community based learning, volunteer work and/or internships.
If you have carried a part time or full time job, you have gained valuable work experience that contributes to building your resume and proving to employers that you have acquired transferable skills. Oftentimes, employers want to see work experience and this is something you can gain through a part-time job while in college. If looking for a part-time job while attending college, consider trying to get something related to your career interest. Oftentimes taking an introductory course in college can help you get your foot in the door for an entry level position. You may connect with the Career Center on campus for assistance with searching for a part-time or full-time job.
Some courses at COC integrate community based learning in the classroom. Community Based Learning (CBL) is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. As defined by the Chancellor's Office, Community Based Learning:
• Links service to the community with academic study.
• Includes structured reflection to integrate study and service.
• Emphasizes working with individuals and groups on needs defined by the community.
• Includes civic responsibility, service and learning, reflection, and critical thinking as part of the course.
• May also include clarification of career objectives and acquisition of work-related skills.
You may be given an opportunity to engage in a CBL experience as a project for this course. If given the opportunity to engage in CBL, you are highly encouraged to do so. This will definitely help you learn more about yourself and contribute to your vision of where you see yourself in this world of work, while giving back to your community and making a difference. It is a win/win situation for everyone involved. For more information on CBL go to https://www.canyons.edu/academics/learning/index.php
Volunteer work is another great way for you to gain experience and network. Take a minute and view the YouTube video titled "Volunteering May Help You Find Your Next Job."
The Value of Internships
Another way to gain valuable experience outside the classroom is through internships. Internships are short-term opportunities that allow students to gain valuable work experience in a particular career. Throughout this course, you have been researching different career possibilities using online resources and informational interviews. Now it is time to consider doing a “test drive.” It is difficult to decide on something without trying it out. Internships allow you to “test drive” your career of choice. The more you know and the more you experience, the more confident you will be with deciding on your career choice.
College of the Canyons offers internships through the Internship/Cooperative Work Experience Education program (CWEE). The goal of the Internship Program/CWEE is to prepare students for the real world of work. College graduates are realizing that it takes more than a degree or certificate to get a good paying job. It takes work experience too.
Take a moment and view the YouTube video to learn more about the Internship/CWEE Program at COC.
There are many benefits to participating in an internship:
• Internships allow you to gain valuable hands on experience to help build your resume.
• It is a great way to confirm if the career you have selected is a good fit for you and at the same time also allows you to determine if the field is not a good fit.
• They provide you with opportunities to network and meet professionals in the industry you wish to join.
• Oftentimes employers will hire their interns upon graduation.
Some internships are paid and some are unpaid. Regardless, the experience you gain is priceless. Oftentimes employers are looking to hire individuals with specific work experience. This can be difficult for a recent college graduate however, internships provide the necessary experience to help build your resume and show employers you do have hands on, behind the scenes experience.
The Internship Program at COC houses internship opportunities within the MyJobs Database.
You may register for free with MyJobs through Internship/CWEE Department: https://www.myinterfase.com/canyons/Account/LogOn. It takes about 48 business hours for your registration to be processed. Once you are a registered user, you may browse and apply for internships and jobs.
View the YouTube video below for tips on how to get an internship by The Intern Queen, Lauren Berger.
Reach out to the Internship Program at COC for assistance with your internship search! Get started early so you give yourself enough time to prepare your resume, apply and interview!
The Value of Apprenticeships
Another opportunity that allows you to combine BOTH classroom instructional experience with on the job field experience are apprenticeship training programs. An apprentice is usually a full-time employee who is learning while earning. There are many apprentice training programs in high wage technical professions ranging from agriculture, automotive, carpentry, civil services, electrical, heating/ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing, and surveyor, just to name a few. The beginning salary, is usually about half the salary of a fully trained worker and increases as the apprentice learns and performs more complex tasks. Once the apprentice program is completed, the student has earned industry credentials and enters the field as a certified professional.
For information on how to locate apprentice training programs, visit the State of California Department of Industrial Relations.
4.09: Summary
Now that you have completed Unit 4 we will revisit the unit objectives before moving on to Unit 5. In this Unit you have:
• Recognized factors involved in the decision making process.
• Distinguished internal and external factors that affect making decisions.
• Demonstrated effective goal setting.
• Examined tools for managing stress.
• Reviewed online resources to help you with choosing your major and educational planning.
• Analyzed the value of gaining work experience outside the classroom.
Each part of this unit was designed to help you complete Phase 3: “What Factors Might Affect My Choice?” and Phase 4: “Where Do I Go From Here?” You have completed career assessments, used online resources to research career information, addressed decision making and educational planning.
At this time, we hope you have a better understanding of the world of work and can begin to visualize where you see yourself in regards to your future career and what you need to do to get there. This concludes the career exploration component of our course.
Congratulations, you have officially completed each phase of the career exploration and planning process.
• Phase 1: Who Am I
• Phase 2: What’s Out There?
• Phase 3: What Factors Might Affect My Choice?
• Phase 4: Where Do I Go From Here?
You are now ready to begin Unit 5 and develop your self-marketing campaign! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/04%3A_Decision_Making_and_Goal_Setting/4.08%3A_Gaining_Experience_Outside_the_Classroom.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Review the steps involved in creating a productive job search and the importance of networking while building your campaign.
• Create a strong resume and cover letter to make you stand apart from the crowd.
• Illustrate a professional presence through social media to support your campaign.
• Appraise your interviewing skills to help get you in shape for your next job or internship.
As you prepare for your selected career path it is important to make yourself stand out from the crowd. You will do this by designing your own personalized marketing campaign. It is important to understand the steps involved in creating a productive job search and the importance of networking as a framework to building your campaign.
05: Developing your Self-Marketing Campaign
Searching for a job requires patience and perseverance. The process may seem overwhelming at first, however if you treat it like a job and commit the necessary time and effort towards each step, the process will seem more manageable. There are five essential steps to creating a successful job search.
• Step 1: Focus on what you want.
• Step 2: Determine where you want to do it.
• Step 3: Develop your self-marketing campaign.
• Step 4: Build your network.
• Step 5: Take action and commit 100%.
Step 1: Focus on what you want
This step entails evaluating the information you have learned about yourself through self-exploration in unit 2. Taking into consideration your needs, values, interests, personality, strengths, skills and abilities and how you wish to apply them in terms of a career.
At the same time, you probably don’t want just any job. You want a job for specific reasons. These reasons might be the following:
• Starting on your dream career path.
• Supporting yourself in a comfortable way.
• Fulfilling a specific mission or personal legacy.
• Working with people you like and respect.
When you know what you want in your next job, you can search for these specific criteria. If your priority is to start on a specific career path, then you look for growth, advancement, learning, and mentorship in your next job. If you have specific financial obligations that you need to meet (e.g., student loans to repay, family to support, a relocation), then compensation is a main criterion. If you have a mission or legacy you wish to impart (e.g., to help a specific underserved community), then you will be looking at the mission of your next employer to see if it aligns with yours. If you value your relationships and day-to-day interactions with people, then you will be looking closely at who your boss and colleagues will be in your next job. These are just some examples, and people often have multiple considerations. You will want to look closely at your interests and values to determine overall what you want and how you might prioritize jobs that meet some but not all criteria.
Step 2: Determine where you want to do it
This step involves knowing what industry, what function and what geographic location you wish to pursue. The industry you target is the type of business in which you want to work.
Industries include the following examples:
• Arts
• Education
• Energy
• Food
• Fashion
• Health care, pharmaceuticals, and biotech
• Hospitality and leisure
• Financial services
• Government
• Legal
• Luxury goods
• Management consulting
• Manufacturing
• Media and entertainment
• Nonprofit causes
• Retail
• Sports
• Technology
• Telecommunications
• Transportation, aerospace, and automotive
These are just some examples, and they are of very broad industry categories. You can specify even further into subcategories. You will want to subcategorize because if you pick too broad an industry, you will have the same dilution-of-efforts problem as if you haven’t specified an industry at all.
If you look at the arts, subcategories include the following examples:
• Type of art—visual or performing arts
• Type of organization—venues for exhibiting and performing, arts education, artist support, or art supplies
• Sector—nonprofit (e.g., Lincoln Center, a venue for performing arts), private sector (e.g., Warner Music Group, a record label), government (e.g., National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency supporting artists and arts organizations)
It is not enough to say, “I want a job in the arts.” Do you mean visual arts, as in painting or sculpting? Do you mean you’d like to work in a venue, such as a museum or a theater? Do you want to work for educational programs that focus on the arts?
Do you want to work in support of artists—at a foundation that gives grants for creative projects, or at an artists’ union? Do you want to be in and around artists, selling or manufacturing art supplies? Finally, you can be in the arts and work for a nonprofit, a private company, or a government agency. Each of these sectors is very different.
In a later section of this unit, we will give ideas for how to explore different industries and the different subcategories of your industry choices to see what might be right for you. We will also talk about how to research industries for specific organizations and company names and other information that will help you find the jobs you want. You can see already how useful it can be to focus on being specific. Being specific in describing the jobs you want is necessary to find where those jobs are.
Let’s take another example from the list so you can get more ideas on how to break an industry down. If you look at energy, the following subcategories are included:
• Types of energy—oil, gas, coal, nuclear, or alternative
• Types of organizations—exploration companies, utilities, research firms, regulatory agencies, equipment and support, or capital raising
• Sector—nonprofit (the US Energy Association, a nonprofit professional association), private sector (e.g., Exxon Mobil, an oil and gas company), or government (e.g., the Environmental Protection Agency)
If you are interested in energy, you could work for a private company that is involved in many types of energy and at many stages, from exploration to delivery.
You could research energy-related issues for a nonprofit. You could be focused on regulations for a government agency. There are multiple, different possibilities for that single energy industry choice.
Finally, let’s look at sports as a possible interest. Perhaps you have been a long time athlete or a diehard fan. Can you take a personal interest and make it into a career?
• Types of sports—a specific sport (e.g., football) or sports in general
• Types of organizations—sports team (e.g., New York Giants), sports league (e.g., NFL), sports venue (e.g., Madison Square Garden, Meadowlands), sports program (e.g., an after-school program dedicated to foster competitive skills among youth), sports product (e.g., Under Armour), sports retailer (e.g., Footlocker), or sports business (e.g., agencies who represent athletes, marketing and advertising firms who help companies with sports-related campaigns)
• Sector—nonprofit (e.g., Turn 2 Foundation, which supports sports programs and is funded by Derek Jeter, a professional baseball player), private sector (e.g., Under Armour, Footlocker), or government (local departments of parks and recreation)
If you are interested in sports, you might focus on a specific team or sport and look at different organizations involved with that team. Or you might focus on sports in general—perhaps take on the mission of expanding the spectator base, increasing participation among youth, or determining the impact of sports on culture.
Here is a list of possible subcategories for common industries:
Table 5.1 – Subcategories in Common Industries
Overall Industry
Subcategories
Arts
Visual or performing arts
Venues
Education
Artist support and marketing
Arts-related products
Education
Education
Early, elementary, middle school, secondary school, higher education, adult, corporate, and executive
Independent, alternative and charter, public
Regulation and advocacy
Research
Pedagogy
Energy
Oil, gas, coal, nuclear, alternative
Exploration
Utilities
Research
Regulation and safety
Equipment
Capital raising
Food
Catering
Restaurants
Corporate services
Media and journalism
Nutrition science
Regulation and safety
Human rights and food access
Fashion
Retail
Design
Manufacturing
Buying
Media and journalism
Health care,
pharmaceuticals,
biotech
Hospitals, clinics
Pharmacies
Medical equipment
Research
Regulation and safety
Human rights, medical care access, patient
advocacy, privacy
Insurance
Hospitality and
leisure
Hotels, resorts, spas
Leisure versus commercial
Booking and sales
Event planning
Equipment and operations
Financial services
Accounting and audit
Commercial banking
Private banking and asset management
Investment banking
Retail banking
Insurance
Regulation
Consumer advocacy and protection
Government
Federal, state, municipal
Constituents represented (e.g., artists, children, elderly, small business)
Industries represented (e.g., arts, education, health care, banking)
Legal
Professional services, in-house
Criminal, civil
Family, immigration, litigation
Research
Operations and document processing
Regulation
Public Defender
Research
Luxury goods
Retail
Design
Manufacturing
Media and journalism
Management
consulting
Functional specialists: HR, economics, sales,
general strategy, technology
Industry specialists: financial services,
pharmaceutical, nonprofits
Manufacturing
Equipment
Regulation and safety
Union relations
Capital financing
Media and
entertainment
Film, TV, publishing, digital
Content production
Distribution
Marketing
Advertising
Research
Regulation and monitoring
Nonprofit causes
Mission based (e.g., ending poverty, eradicating
polio)
Constituent based (e.g., advocating for the
homeless, protecting consumers)
Programs
Foundations
Retail
Product based (e.g., clothing, office equipment)
Customer based (e.g., children’s, women’s)
Sports
Specific sport or sports in general
Sports team
Sports league
Sports venue
Sports-related education
Sports products and equipment
Sports retailers
Sports agencies, marketing, or advertising
Technology
Hardware
Software
Services
Regulation
Advocacy (e.g., privacy, net neutrality)
Telecommunications
Engineering and design
Manufacturing
Utilities
Regulation
Advocacy
Transportation,
aerospace, and
automotive
Motor, marine, rail, aerospace
Leisure versus commercial use
Engineering and design
Manufacturing
Logistics
Regulation and safety
Consumer protection and access
Function
The function of a job refers to your overall responsibility and what you are doing day to day. Examples of job functions follow:
• Management
• Sales
• Marketing and public relations
• Finance and accounting
• Human resources
• Operations
• Technology
In both of the industry examples for arts and energy, you could be doing many different things within any of the subcategories. If your industry choice leads you to an art museum as a possibility, you might do several things:
• Manage a program or exhibit (management).
• Handle membership or ticket sales (sales). Raise money (at a nonprofit, this is referred to as development).
• Create brochures and advertising (marketing).
• Analyze and report on the finances of the museum (finance and accounting).
• Act as the point person for employees on questions about pay, benefits,
• Day-to-day role and advancement, and other career-related issues (human resources).
• Organize the open and close, facilities, and maintenance or other daily operations (operations).
• Run the customer database (technology).
In a later section of this chapter, we will give ideas for how to explore different functional areas to see what might be right for you.
Geography
Finally, even if you know what you are doing (function) and who you are doing it for (industry), you need to know where you will physically be. Geography is the third element of a well-defined target. How many potential art museums are located in your desired area? If your desired location has few or no art museums, then your search is unrealistic, and you have to expand your industry (to include other types of museums or other types of art-related organizations) or change your geography. If there are art museums in your desired location, but they are all small and do not need the fundraising skills you have, then you need to expand your function (do something else within the art museums) or change your geography. Geography gives you another critical point of focus for your job search.
Aside from physical location, some jobs have another type of geography consideration. You might be targeting a job whose customers, research subjects, or constituents are of a specific geography:
• Chicago-based (geography 1) curator (function) for an art museum (industry) specializing in East Asian Art (geography 2)
• New York City–based (geography 1) equity research analyst (function) specializing in transportation projects (industry) in sub-Saharan Africa (geography 2)
• Washington, DC–based (geography 1) lobbyist (function) specializing in raising awareness for energy alternatives (industry) in the Mississippi
• Delta (geography 2)
• Austin-based (geography 1) marketing manager (function) for a computer manufacturer (industry) is charged with opening up the
• China market (geography 2)
Your job interest may be related to a specific geography, and this definitely should factor in your search. You also must then factor in your physical location.
Step 3: Develop your self-marketing campaign
Your marketing campaign includes how you present yourself both in person and on paper to prospective employers. Developing a strong resume and cover letter is crucial to getting an interview. Resume and cover letter writing and interview techniques will be addressed in greater detail later in this unit.
The way you dress, carry yourself, and physically behave also communicate your job potential. Your nonverbal communication either supports the things you say and how you say them, or it undermines you. If you are an articulate, well-spoken person but dress in a sloppy manner, slouch, and fidget, then your actions belie your verbal communication. Therefore, poise goes hand in hand with communication as a fundamental prerequisite for your search.
Professional Dress Signals Your Professional Maturity
What you wear to different job search functions signals neatness, professionalism, and understanding of general business protocol. A business suit in a dark neutral color is the standard. Black, blue, brown, and gray are neutral colors. Some industries and specific companies within industries dress more casually, so it is important to consult an experienced person in the specific industries and companies that interest you for the most relevant guidelines. For example, in media and fashion, your dress is a signal of how much you know and can fit into that field.
A dark suit would be too bland and look out of place at a fashion-forward company. For general functions, such as career fairs or professional mixers, stick to proper business attire. Even if there are a range of dress options in attendance, it’s best to be more formally dressed. In addition, most job seekers look more professional and put together with a business suit. You probably will carry yourself more professionally, have better posture, and be more alert in a business suit than in casual attire.
If you are attending an event or an interview where business casual is stipulated, this is still neater and more formal than casual attire. Khakis rather than jeans, dress slacks and a sport coat for men, and a sweater set for women are some examples of business casual.
Here is a checklist of things to remember about dressing professionally:
• Dark, neutral colors and a matching suit jacket and slacks or skirt are the standard.
• Shoes should be comfortable and polished. No open-toed styles or very high heels; even in dressy styles, shoes with open toes or very high heels look unprofessional.
• What you wear beneath the jacket will also be seen. For men, blue or white dress shirts are standard, though some other colors are acceptable. For women, stick to blouses with sleeves in case you take your jacket off (sleeveless is too casual). Women should also stay away from frilly camisoles—they can be seen under your jacket and still look like lingerie.
• Cover yourself. No body hair for men or cleavage for women should be visible. Women should make sure skirt lengths are not too short.
• Avoid overly printed ties, lots of jewelry, accessories, or too much makeup, all of which detract from a professional appearance.
• Have a professional briefcase or bag. A backpack or other casual bag diminishes the professional image.
• Fragrance is not recommended because some people are allergic.
• Keep hair neat and off your face so interviewers can see you.
• Don’t wait until you start your job search to make sure you have the appropriate clothes. It takes time to ensure the fit and length is right, and you may need tailoring or other services.
The Way You Carry Yourself Also Signals Professionalism
If you have a great suit but you slouch, that is an incomplete package. Good posture, steady eye contact, and a firm handshake are additional fundamentals to the job search process. Even if you think this is common sense, do not assume that you will be 100 percent put together once your search starts. If you are not used to dressing professionally and interacting with people in a formal business context, then you may have a weak handshake or poor eye contact and not realize it. Before you get busy with interviews, see if you can attend a business event just as a practice run.
Here is a checklist of things to remember about carrying yourself professionally:
• Maintain good posture. You don’t want to be stiff, but you want to stand and sit straight, as it keeps you looking and feeling alert. Practice maintaining good posture over time (interviews can last thirty minutes or longer).
• Maintain steady eye contact, but not 100 percent of the time. It’s preferable to look away from time to time, as glaring or staring at someone makes them uncomfortable.
• Have a firm handshake. Do not break the person’s hand, but do not be hesitant or limp, either.
• Develop a habit of turning off and not checking your cell phone when you are talking to someone.
• Practice eating and speaking formally. There will be situations where you are networking or even interviewing over a meal. You do not want a real interview to be the first time you experience formal dining and conversation.
Body Language and Nonverbal Communication Support or Undermine Your Words
You might look great, carry yourself well, and speak eloquently, but you also communicate with physical gestures and other nonverbal cues. Pay attention to how you use your body during conversations and meetings. You might find that you can’t sit still for long periods of time or that you use a lot of distracting hand gestures. You might be too still and miss opportunities to accentuate points with a nod of the head or finger movement. Some recruiter pet peeves include the following:
• Looking over the recruiter’s shoulder. What are you staring at?
• Fidgeting constantly. How are you going to appear to clients if you can’t sit still?
• Gesticulating in an overly dramatic way. Don’t slam your hands down emphatically on the recruiter’s desk. It looks threatening, not forceful.
• Lack of common courtesy, for example, not covering your mouth when you yawn, cough, or sneeze. How could an employer put you in front of a client with that unmannerly behavior?
• Checking cell phones during meetings or interviews. Is this job less important to you than your cell phone calls?
Start practicing good manners now so these habits are ingrained behaviors before your job search.
Step 4: Build your network
According to www.dictionary.com, networking is a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest. Networking is an essential tool in your job search process and will be discussed in more detail later in this unit.
Step 5: Take Action & Commit 100%
Job searching should be treated like a full time job. It takes time and resources to research the job market and find positions that are a good fit. It takes time to customize your cover letter and resume for each position and to practice interviewing for each individual opportunity.
Finding and managing your time will require trade-offs. A proactive job search takes ten to fifteen hours per week. You will need to take this time from other activities. Before your job search starts, take an inventory of everything that is taking up your time. Create a comprehensive calendar that includes the following:
• Major trips or vacations when you will physically be away
• Critical projects, papers due, or exam weeks when you will be busier than usual
• Regular daily, weekly, or monthly appointments, such as classes, club meetings, or gym workouts
• Job search events that you know about in advance (for many students, include specific deadlines set by your school, such as when you should submit your resume to the employers coming to campus)
Create a comprehensive activity list that includes necessary but non-time-specific activities:
• Homework
• Laundry and housework
• Exercise and self-care
• Volunteer work
• Hobbies
• Ten to fifteen hours of job search activity, some of which must be done during normal business hours
Look at the unscheduled times and your list of activities. Block out where things might go. Be realistic about when you do your best work. If you have more energy in the morning, reserve that time for your job search activity. If you know you can’t concentrate by end of day, use that time for non-thinking activities, such as housework or exercise.
Well before you start your job search, start moving activities around and make arrangements for your replacement if you need to drop activities. You want to have a schedule in place that supports your job search, not crowds it out.
Ideas and Support Systems to Help You Set Up Your Work Space
Your job search is a project, so you need a comprehensive work space. Stocking up supplies in advance of your search enables you to stay focused and not get derailed by a surprise trip to the store. You also want to prepare in advance for services you may need, such as printing, copying, mailing, and faxing. Know the hours of the closest post office and office supply and service store. Know where you can send and receive faxes and where you can do special copying, binding, or printing. Here is a checklist of ideas for a comprehensive work space:
• Build a surplus of office essentials, such as paper, pens, mail supplies, staples, and so forth.
• Have a pen and paper by all phones if you share your workspace with others. This way, your cohabitants can easily take messages for you.
• Audit your computer, phone, and Internet access to ensure that your equipment and communication lines are in order. If you have a slow internet connection, research public access places, such as libraries, and list their availability.
• Create a professional voicemail message for all phones, including your cell phone.
• List post office, office supply, and service store addresses and hours.
• Figure out how to backup computer files, change printer ink, unblock paper jams, and any other minor but critical support services for your equipment. You do not want to be late for a meeting because you were printing a resume at the last minute and it got stuck in the printer.
• Check for privacy. If your work space is part of your bedroom and you will be making video calls, invest in a folding screen or figure out how to position the webcam to keep your environment looking professional.
• Check for quiet. Your job search will involve a lot of phone calls, including interviews. Plan now for a space where you can be heard, hear well, and concentrate.
• Make it a space that energizes and inspires you. Add pictures, fresh flowers, and so forth.
If you have a very organized friend, enlist his or her help in setting up and decorating your space.
Ideas and Support Systems to Help Manage Your Money
Know your budget for your job search essentials in advance. You can price out the work space items listed previously and the professional dress requirements listed earlier. For job search events you already know about, budget for registration fees and transportation costs. If you want to work with a career coach, factor that into your budget.
Another financial consideration is the opportunity cost of the time spent on your search, as opposed to working. If you have to drop a part-time job to launch your search, there is the cost of lost wages. If you are a student and your job search extends past graduation, there is the cost of supporting yourself while you look. How will you pay for your living expenses? How long can you sustain yourself without a job?
Your financial situation affects the execution and timing of your job search, so you need to decide on these issues prior to your search. If you are relying on family or friends to help with your living expenses, have a candid conversation about both of your expectations before you start your search.
You Must Be Confident Your Job Search Will Be Successful
Having confidence in your job search means two things:
1. You believe you will get a job. You know with 100 percent certainty there is a job somewhere out there for you.
2. You believe you will get a job you want. You have a positive attitude about working. You are excited at the prospect of doing the job you are targeting, in the industry you are targeting, and for the companies you are targeting.
You have to know you will be successful, and you have to want that success. If you have just one of these two things, this is not sufficient to project enough confidence in your job search. If you believe you will get a job, but don’t believe it will be something you want, you will appear anxious, frustrated, and full of dread. If you are excited about what you want to do, but don’t believe you will get a job doing it, you will appear as if you are not good enough for your prospective employers.
A confident job seeker is someone who is energized at the prospect of finding his or her dream job. A confident job seeker may not be an expert on resume s, interviews, or other job search tactics, but he or she has an innate knowledge that he or she will be able to figure those things out. This is not arrogance. Prospective employers will shy away from arrogant job candidates who appear to be high-maintenance divas and poor team players. You don’t want to come across as someone who thinks you are better than your future boss or colleagues. Confidence is a healthy, positive attitude.
You Can Proactively Build Confidence into Your Job Search Strategy
Ideally, you have confidence before you start your job search. If confidence has been a struggle your whole life or if you feel overly depressed or anxious about your job search specifically, you should seek help from a guidance counselor, therapist, or other professional resource. You want to rule out any medical conditions, such as depression, as the root cause of your anxiety. If you have some nervousness, but not in a crippling way that keeps you from your job search, you can plan to proactively build and maintain your confidence throughout your job search by surrounding yourself with positive influences:
• Pair up with a job search buddy. Pick someone with a can-do attitude, and agree to support each other during your search. Maybe you can meet once a week or call each other right before a big event (e.g., job interview or career fair).
• Start a job search group. A larger group will have more energy than just one person. A group also has a range of personalities and perspectives that can contribute alternative points of view. A group will also have people at different stages of the search, enabling you all to see different outcomes unfolding.
• Enlist the support of a coach or mentor. A more experienced person can be a great sounding board for ideas and a champion for when you need a pick-me-up.
• Read about successful people. When you see other people’s achievements over adversity, you are able to see your own potential.
• Keep a journal that focuses on the positive. Write down things for which you are grateful. Write down past successes and wins. You will see that you have been successful in other areas, and this can give you the confidence that you can succeed in your job search as well.
Designate an allocated amount of time each day to your job search and don’t get discouraged if landing the job you want is taking longer than you had anticipated. There is something out there for everyone and with patience and hard work, you’ll find the right job!
Online Resources to Support your Job Search
The Career Center is a great resource on campus to help you with your job search. For a more comprehensive list of employment links visit the Job and Career Center Site at http://www.canyons.edu/Offices/CareerServices/Pages/Employment-Links.aspx
The Career Center has a job database filled with part time and full time job opportunities ranging from entry level to professional level positions through the MyJobs Database. We discussed this database earlier in Unit 4 when introducing internships. In addition to internship opportunities, MyJobs houses hundreds of jobs.
The Career Center also hosts job fairs on campus throughout the year. Employers come to campus and share information about current positions they are recruiting for. Check the Career Center website for the next job fair. For more information go to the Career Center website at: http://www.canyons.edu/Offices/CareerServices/Pages/College-of-the-Canyons-Job-Fair-Information.aspx
The Santa Clarita WorkSource Center also hosts events on campus throughout the year. They hold a series of workshops to help facilitate the job search process including job search strategies, resume writing, interviewing, and second chance workshops for students with a record. View their website for upcoming events. http://econdev.santa-clarita.com/santa-clarita-worksource-center/ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/05%3A_Developing_your_Self-Marketing_Campaign/5.01%3A_The_Job_Search_Process.txt |
There is some wisdom in the saying that it’s who you know that brings success in getting a job. Consider the following:
• It is estimated that only 20 percent of new jobs and vacancies are advertised or posted.
• A Web posting for a job typically yields over 150 applicants for a position.
• Sixty to eighty percent of jobs are found through personal contact and networking.
These statistics illustrate the importance of networking and cultivating relationships with professionals in the field your career field.
What exactly is networking?
The process of engaging others in helping reach an objective. In its simplest terms, it is the process of engaging others in helping you reach an objective. Three words in this definition deserve a closer look:
1. Engaging - You are looking to have others do something for you—give you information, guidance, other contacts, or perhaps a recommendation.
2. Objective - You need to be clear about your purpose for networking—it is not merely to collect people’s contact information but to further your career development.
The process of networking involves three basic phases: prospect identification and management, making contact, and follow-up.
A common question/misconception about networking is:
The answer is YES! Absolutely! Even though you aren’t yet graduating from college, there are many benefits to starting now. As a student, you are likely to be applying for part-time jobs, internships, scholarships and even volunteer positions. Networking is a process of building relationships, and the strongest relationships are built over time. Having a good network will help identify interesting and relevant opportunities.
All Contacts Are Equal, but Some Are More So Than Others
The first phase involves identifying whom you should be speaking to and pinpointing the people who can introduce you to them. This is like the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon applied to your own life. Whom do you need to speak to? That really depends on your objectives. If you are trying to learn about an occupation, it can be just about anyone involved with that field. If you are in the process of trying to land an internship or a job, you want to reach the person who will make the hiring decision.
Your objective also defines how you get started with your networking. In the first case, you might want to start with people you met at an industry conference; in the job-specific case, you’ll want to think about whom you know in that company or who might know someone in that company. If you don’t have any contacts who fit that description, whom do you know who lives in the town in which the company is based or in a nearby town?
Your success in this phase of networking will be driven by the quality of the candidates (those who can directly influence your ability to reach your objectives) as well as the quantity (those who will lead you to the most contacts). This is why there is no such thing as a bad contact.
As important as having contacts is your ability to access those contacts when you need to. That is where contact management comes into play. Don’t be caught wishing you could call someone you met three weeks ago…if you could only remember what you did with their business card! There are countless ways to keep track of contacts, from writing names in an address book, to keeping a Rolodex, to using a computer-based contact management system. Choose a system you feel comfortable with—comfortable enough to use regularly.
Let technology help you in this endeavor. Your computer, or smartphone has features for capturing contact information and retrieving it based on keywords, and most will even connect with your calendar for scheduling and reminders. Whatever your choices, invest the time to learn to use them well; you’ll be very glad you did.
Building a network requires consistent work, and a strong network will take time to achieve. That is why we recommend you start building your professional network now—even early in your college career. Your network should include anyone who might have a connection that will help: family, friends, neighbors, past and present coworkers, bosses, people you met through associations and clubs (especially business associations), alumni from your college, and acquaintances you have met via online networking.
Personal Contact
Being in the right place at the right time has much less to do with luck than with the art of personal contact. Contacts are everywhere, and you don’t know when you might turn one to your advantage. You may feel a little awkward following these tips at first, but with practice you will become quite adept at meeting new people and adding them to your network.
• Be prepared. If you are going to a conference, a party, or even a class, know ahead of time which people or kinds of people you want to meet. Be prepared with topics you can steer your contact toward so you don’t spend two minutes awkwardly talking about the weather and then slink away.
• Be confident. Prepare and learn a short introduction for yourself. Be factual, don’t brag, and give enough information about yourself to prompt your contact to ask questions.
• Be curious. The best way to get contacts to want to know you is to show you want to know them. Observe them before you step up to them. Is there something unique about them, the way they are dressed, or perhaps what you may have overheard that you can ask about? “I couldn’t help but notice that lovely necklace; is that from a local designer?”
• Have a good supply of personal cards to give out to contacts; that will prompt them to give you their contact information, too. You don’t have to be in business to have “business cards.” Create a college student business card!
• Be courteous. If someone you know comes up to you while you are speaking with a contact, introduce them; if you see that the contact is getting antsy, tell them you enjoyed meeting them and then move on. Don’t trap them!
• Set yourself up for networking success by discreetly writing a word or two on the back of their card to jog your memory in the future.
Make the Call
What you say in your networking calls or e-mails will depend largely on the objective of your networking effort. (Is it to learn about an occupation or industry? Seek a job-shadowing opportunity? Ask for a job?) But some networking basics and elements of etiquette apply to all contacts:
• Be mindful of your contact’s time. Keep your calls and e-mails courteous but brief. If you are calling, ask if it is a good time to talk.
• If this is a first contact, tell the contact where you got his or her name. “I was referred to you by our friend. Janet Smith” or “My colleague, Richard Stewart, suggested I call you” or “I heard you speak at the International Genius Conference,” (remember the contact source information in your contact database?). This turns an interrupting cold call into a warm call with an interested individual.
• Be specific about how the contact can help you. Know what you are asking for and do so directly. Don’t be shy.
• Use your network for more than just asking for jobs. It is a great vehicle for learning about new trends in the industry, for launching “trial balloons” for ideas or concepts you are developing, and for seeking advice on practical aspects of your occupation.
• Help others in your network. Networking is not a one-way endeavor. Be willing to offer your assistance whenever you can; the fact that you are still in college doesn’t mean you can’t be of value. You may be able to get an introduction to an instructor for a person in the industry or help that person’s daughter learn about your college.
Care and Feeding of Your Network
Much of the success of your networking efforts depends on what you do after you’ve hung up after a call or received an e-mail reply. The first step is to thank your contact for his or her help. Do this right away; any thank-you after twenty-four hours of your contact can be considered late. Find a reason (not just an excuse) to keep in touch with people in your network. If you read an article people in your network would be interested in, send them the link. If you run across a problem, one of your contacts might help you with, don’t be shy—give him or her a call to ask for help. If you meet someone you think a contact would like, make introductions. Send a follow-up note of thanks to a person who gave you a particularly productive lead. Let him or her know what you were able to accomplish. People like to know they are on a successful team. Finally, if a person in your network asks you for help, do what you say you will do.
How to Build Your Network on a Regular Basis, Even If You Are Shy: Venues for Meeting People
Build Your Network Every Day
Great networkers build their networks every day, while keeping in touch with those they have already met. Networking is work, but the rewards far outweigh the effort you will expend.
The most effective way to build a network is to have a genuine interest in every person you meet. Most individuals know when someone wants to know them for what they offer versus wanting to know them for what they can gain from the relationship. Don’t fall into that self-serving trap. Genuine interest in others is the impetus for building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships of give and take, with the emphasis on the give.
Build Your Network Even If You Are Shy
If you are shy and the thought of networking wreaks havoc with your nervous system, certain strategies you can employ immediately will allow you to benefit from networking venues of all kinds.
Step 1: Observe the Networking Masters
We all know people who are natural networkers and who know how to work a room better than most. For those of you who are shy watch people who network effectively. Observe how they meet and greet a variety of people. Notice their body language, especially their smile, posture, handshake, and eye contact. You will naturally pick up pointers from these individuals.
Step 2: Pair Up with Someone Who Is a Good Networker
If you can pair up with a networking master, by all means do. If you have a friend who is extroverted, ask them to attend an event with you and pair up to meet as many people as you can. This can be a very valuable adventure that results in meeting quite a lot of new people.
Step 3: Ask Questions That Get Other People to Talk Easily
You can ask seven questions that will naturally elicit a great response from a person you want to get to know:
1. How did you get your start in this business?
2. What do you enjoy most about what you do?
3. What separates you from your competition?
4. What do you see as the coming trends in this business?
5. What is the strangest (or funniest) incident you have ever experienced in this business?
6. What three or four critical skills are necessary to succeed in this business?
7. What advice would you give to me knowing I want to get my start in this business?
Step 4: Don’t Take Things Personally
When you take the plunge and begin networking and meeting individuals, try to develop a thick skin and don’t take things personally. Some individuals will not want to communicate with you, and that is fine. Move on to those who do. To a large degree, it’s a numbers game, so the more individuals you meet and follow up with correctly, the more will join your network.
Meet People at Different Venues
Your college environment is rich with potential networking contacts. Below are a few opportunities on campus for you to consider networking:
• Join a club on campus: There are so many different clubs on campus ranging from academic clubs, community service clubs, cultural clubs and honor societies just to name a few. Consider contacting the club advisor to learn more about the club and check out their next meeting. Join at least two or three that spark your interest so you have variety in your friends and network. Club membership is a great way to get connected early on in your college career, meet people who have the same interests as you, and learn a tremendous amount. School clubs funnel information to their members about networking events, internships, and full-time opportunities. For a comprehensive list of clubs at COC go to the Student Development site: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/studentdevelopment/clubs/index.php
• Establish a relationship with the Career Center services: Get involved with this group early on. People in career services have relationships with all the companies that come on campus to recruit. Check in with them early in your college career and find out what opportunities exist. The Career Center hosts different workshops and career related activities throughout the year.
• Get to know your professors! They are not only your instructors, but they are connected to industry and have experience in the discipline they teach and have connections. Get to know your instructor more…. ask them about their backgrounds and how they ended up teaching at your school. Ask what they like about it. You will be surprised at what you find out. Some professors will have worked in the business world and will have some good connections for you. You never know until you ask.
• Be curious about people and ask open-ended questions: When meeting someone new, ask them questions like “How did you pick this school?” and listen. A good listener is so hard to find. Open-ended questions often yield a story (sometimes a compelling story), and you learn quite a bit about a person. Ask about their family relationships. Be genuine because it is wonderful to find out about people, and you never know who they know or who their extended family knows.
• Meet as many different types of folks at school as possible: Your school presents opportunities to meet people from all walks of life. Try to meet the president of the college, various administrators, deans (the dean of students is a great contact because that person manages the school clubs), professors, teaching assistants, fellow students, cafeteria workers, the hot dog vendor on the corner, the stationary store owner and clerks, the workers at your favorite coffee shop, security, library staff, and so on. Get to know these folks by (a) being polite and pleasant, (b) being responsible, and (c) recognizing them and knowing them by name. Even if your new acquaintances don’t further your networking objectives, perhaps some will become friends and make your stay at school all the better!
• Keep in touch with your old high school friends: Your high school friends are likely at different schools, but it’s important to maintain contact.
• Your network will only grow this way, and you will enjoy continuing your friendships.
Networking is critical to your success throughout life (Beiderwell, Bruce, Flatworld).
Your Networking Pitch
A networking pitch was originally termed an elevator pitch because in the time an elevator takes to go between floors (generally thirty to forty seconds), you should be able to articulate your value proposition (the skills you have and the position you are seeking). The elevator pitch is also known as the professional pitch, the networking pitch, or simply the pitch.
In thirty seconds or less, be able to introduce yourself in a confident and convincing manner, making a strong impression. If your pitch is too long and drawn out, it lacks conviction. When meeting networking contacts, recruiters, and hiring managers, this is your one chance to make a great impression and present yourself with clarity. No one wants to listen to a long, drawn-out speech. Make your pitch clear and concise, enabling the person who is listening to know exactly what type of job search candidate you are.
Any information you can share that distinguishes you from others is very helpful.
Perhaps you have something unique in your background:
• You speak two or three languages.
• You lived abroad for a particular length of time.
• You achieved something significant athletically or musically.
• You volunteered in a meaningful way and perhaps raised extraordinary funds for various charities.
Distinguish yourself from others in whatever way you can to ensure you are remembered in a positive light.
You will deliver your pitch at different times and occasions, including the following:
• Career fairs present an opportunity to meet representatives from various firms. These individuals will meet many students or candidates, so it is important that you make sure your pitch is short and crisp. Also be certain to do your research on their company, as many candidates do not.
• Networking events enable you to first meet someone in a more relaxed setting.
• Interviews often begin with the interviewer asking for a summary of your background or asking that you take one or two minutes to let them know about you. Include high-level themes in your past (e.g., you’ve always been involved in health care at some point in your schooling and in your career). If themes are not apparent, talk about your achievements and the quality of your efforts.
Consider the following steps as you prepare your pitch.
Step 1: Write Your Pitch
Your pitch should answer the following five questions:
1. What is your educational background? Detail every college or university you attended, your major and minor, and your expected degree and graduation month and year (include your GPA if it is 3.3 or higher).
2. Do you have any pertinent experience in the field in which you are interested?
3. What are your critical skills and strengths? Highlight your top two or three skills.
4. What do you want to do? Be specific regarding industry, function, and geography (see
1. Unit 5 section 5.1 "Step 1: Identify Your Job Search Targets").
1. Why would you be good at the position? Focus on presenting your top two or three skills, and the skills you have that are necessary to succeed at the job you are targeting.
Step 2: Edit Your Pitch
Once your pitch is written, review and edit it accordingly. You should use words that come naturally to you because the more natural the delivery, the more impressive the pitch. Here are some steps you can consider while editing your pitch:
• After you edit the one-page answers to the pitch questions, ensuring that you’ve covered all the important items, cut it to half a page; this forces you to prioritize the essential elements.
• After you edit the half-page document, ensuring that you’ve covered all the important items, cut it in half again (it’s now one-quarter of the page); this forces you to be even more ruthless in prioritizing.
• After you edit the quarter-page document, ensuring you’ve covered all the important items, cut it in half again, leaving only four or five key bullets; this forces you to be concise and select just the most important items.
Step 3: Practice Delivering Your Pitch
Once you have the final pitch in writing, you’ll need to practice, then practice, then practice some more. Your pitch should be spoken in a confident and compelling manner. Deliver your speech out loud to ensure it flows smoothly and addresses your career highlights. Practice it until you have it memorized.
Below is a sample pitch:
Hi. My name is Joe Cougar.
I am currently attending College of the Canyons, majoring in business and communications.
I’ve seen the power marketing has to sell products. I have worked in retail for the past three years and during this time, I have seen sales tripled in cases where items were marketed well. I find this fascinating and know this is the career for me. I thrive on being creative and client focused and enjoy using these skills to grow revenue.
To help you prepare for networking opportunities, take time to develop your pitch. Be sure to follow the guidelines address in section 5.2 and write your pitch in 100 words. Recite it and see how it sounds. Modify it if needed and make sure you practice it with a confident and compelling manner!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/05%3A_Developing_your_Self-Marketing_Campaign/5.02%3A_The_Power_of_Networking.txt |
Marketing Focus
Your resume is a marketing document that sells your candidacy. It provides an outline of your educational background, your work experience, and the key skills you have acquired. Your resume should be marketed in a format that is pleasing to read, efficient in its use of the English language, and so concise that it fits on one page. Once you have approximately ten years of experience, it is more acceptable to have a two-page resume, but until then, you should adhere to a one-page document. Recruiters can frown on the audacity of a college student with a two-page resume. Whether you are not sure you can fill a one-page resume, or whether you think it’s not possible to fit your information to only one page, this section will help you get to your goal: an exceptional, one-page resume.
The following video is an animated look at why résumés are so important. You can read a transcript of the video here.38
Quality, Clarity, and Accuracy
Your resume is the most critical component, or cornerstone, of your marketing campaign and it must meet two important criteria:
1. Your resume must be written in a clear and concise manner so the reader can quickly grasp what you offer as a candidate. Most seasoned recruiters scan a resume in about seven to ten seconds, but do not let that short review time throw you. Recruiters have an eye for the key things to look for in a resume, so a lot of care should be put into its construction. That construction should highlight the following features:
• Your strengths
• Your responsibilities
• Your accomplishments
2. Your resume must be completely error-free. A resume represents you when you are not there. Recruiters look for reasons to reduce the number of resumes to review, so one error can be all that is needed to discard your resume and your candidacy. This is true in both good and bad economies, so take great care to guarantee 100 percent accuracy. Proofread your resume several times, use spell check, and ask someone who is exceptional at proofreading to review it. Always assume that an error lurks somewhere in your resume and review it and review it and review it until you find that error! Resumes often have the following common errors:
• Misspellings (Spell check does not catch every misspelled word; meat will not be corrected if you meant to write meet.)
• Errors in verb tense (Past experiences should be written in the past tense and current experiences in the current tense.)
• Grammatical errors of any kind
• Inconsistent formatting
• Inappropriate length
How to Craft the Perfect Resume
This is a trick title because there is no perfect resume. You could always choose to have a particular bullet point written in ways that are grammatically correct, are results oriented, and use action verbs, but writing a resume is not a perfect science. You could show your resume to five different recruiters and you might get five different opinions. There is no need to worry. The important thing is that it is well-written and highlights your accomplishments (no matter how big or how not so big). It’s important that the format be consistent and that you get an opinion from a professional, whether it is someone from career services, a professor, or a person who is currently working in the field in which you are most interested.
A well-written resume can do seven specific things for you and your job search:
It Represents You When You Are Not There
Your resume can be uploaded to global job boards like Monster, CareerBuilder, and others in a few minutes. It can be sent to a company’s online database with a push of a button. It can then be shared with dozens of recruiters and hiring managers without you even knowing about it. In fact, it’s a lot easier to get your resume in front of a recruiter than it is to have a physical presence in their office; therefore, make certain it’s a well-written, well-positioned document that makes an exceptional first impression.
It Quantifies Your Accomplishments
The best resume quantifies results and accomplishments clearly and easily. Here are some examples:
1. If you reduced errors by 35 percent, if you increased profits by 55 percent, and if 75 percent of your customers are repeat customers, include this information clearly, succinctly, and proudly.
2. If you have been a student teacher with thirty-five students in a classroom and student grades improved by 25 percent, include that as well.
3. If you have worked as an administrative assistant in a dentist’s office and you are part of a marketing team that has increased new patient accounts by 10 percent last quarter, include that!
4. If you worked in the school library and the number of lost books has declined by 50 percent, or if you provide guidance to approximately fifty students per day, that information should be in your resume.
Quantifying your accomplishments gives your resume readers the specific information they need to know about your abilities and to be intrigued by what you can do for them.
It Clearly States Your Abilities
Focus on the results of your actions. Being results oriented helps resume readers understand your abilities. What exactly do you do, or what have you done in the past? Your resume should answer this question very quickly. For example, if you have been responsible for opening and closing a retail store on a daily basis and for managing the register that took in approximately \$5,000 worth of merchandise a day, state that clearly and concisely. If you have written three to four sports articles for your school paper every month for the past three years, include that as well.
The more you quantify your accomplishments, the more your abilities will be understood.
It Shows Your Command of the Written Word
You don’t have to be an English major to make sure that your resume is well written. Visit the career services department and inquire about resume writing workshops. Be sure to participate in them and consider scheduling a 1:1 appointment with a career counselor for additional support with your resume. Ask an older sibling who is in the workplace to review your resume before it goes into cyberspace or to a future employer. Other options include asking a teacher, professor, or perhaps someone with whom you worked with or for in the past to review your resume. Whatever the case, it is your responsibility to have a well-written resume. Remember that if it has one misspelled word, your resume could easily be dismissed, along with your candidacy. It’s critical that your resume be accurate and well written.
It Creates Talking Points for Your Future Interviews
Clearly listing your accomplishments and quantifying those accomplishments can create talking points for your future interviews. For example, perhaps your bullet point is the following:
• Responsible for the intake and outtake of approximately 1,000 books daily, ensuring that all library users are logged into the new electronic database, which has decreased the number of lost books by 80 percent in the past year.
Many individuals have to think about the results of their work. Including this detailed information in your resume actually allows you to easily talk about the value you’ve brought to previous employers. During an interview, with the preceding example in mind, you can easily talk about how you use technology to improve processes. You can discuss the team environment of the library staff and how you are all working toward decreasing the number of lost books. It shows that you have positively affected the bottom line by helping libraries hold onto books versus losing them, which results in unnecessary fees to library users.
It Proves Your Worth to Your Past Employers
Whenever including bullet points about past work, always tie your efforts to the bottom line. Earlier examples in this Unit included the following accomplishments:
• Reducing errors by 35 percent
• Increasing profits by 55 percent
• Boosting repeat sales to 75 percent
Information relating to a company’s bottom line is exactly what employers want to read. Highlighting results like these increases your chances of having your resume noticed.
It Demonstrates What You Can Do for Your Future Employer
Unlike financial investments, past performance is an indicator of future success, so include and quantify your past performance, and future employers will be inclined to believe you can do the same for them. They will believe it, but you have to continue supporting that belief with your exceptional networking and interviewing skills. Interviewing skills will be addressed later in this Unit. Remember, however, that your resume is introductory in nature. You want to get their attention and initiate their interest so your foot can inch ever closer to getting in their door.
Resume Format
Perhaps the hardest part of writing a résumé is figuring out what format to use to organize and present your information in the most effective way. There is no correct format, per se, but most résumés follow one of the four formats below. Which format appeals to you the most?
1. Reverse chronological résumé: A reverse chronological résumé (sometimes also simply called a chronological résumé) lists your job experiences in reverse chronological order—that is, starting with the most recent job and working backward toward your first job. It includes starting and ending dates. Also included is a brief description of the work duties you performed for each job, and highlights of your formal education. The reverse chronological résumé may be the most common and perhaps the most conservative résumé format. It is most suitable for demonstrating a solid work history, and growth and development in your skills. It may not suit you if you are light on skills in the area you are applying to, or if you’ve changed employers frequently, or if you are looking for your first job.
2. Functional résumé: A functional résumé is organized around your talents, skills, and abilities (more so than work duties and job titles, as with the reverse chronological résumé). It emphasizes specific professional capabilities, like what you have done or what you can do. Specific dates may be included but are not as important. So if you are a new graduate entering your field with little or no actual work experience, the functional résumé may be a good format for you. It can also be useful when you are seeking work in a field that differs from what you have done in the past. It’s also well suited for people in unconventional careers.
3. Hybrid résumé: The hybrid résumé is a format reflecting both the functional and chronological approaches. It’s also called a combination résumé. It highlights relevant skills, but it still provides information about your work experience. With a hybrid résumé, you may list your job skills as most prominent and then follow with a chronological (or reverse chronological) list of employers. This résumé format is most effective when your specific skills and job experience need to be emphasized. Hybrid Résumé Examples
4. Video, infographic, and Web-site résumé: Other formats you may wish to consider are the video résumé, the infographic résumé, or even a Web-site résumé. These formats may be most suitable for people in multimedia and creative careers. Certainly with the expansive use of technology today, a job seeker might at least try to create a media-enhanced résumé. But the paper-based, traditional résumé is by far the most commonly used—in fact, some human resource departments may not permit submission of any format other than paper based. Video Resume Examples; Infographic Résumé Examples; Web-Site Résumé Examples
An important note about formatting is that, initially, employers may spend only a few seconds reviewing each résumé—especially if there is a big stack of them or they seem tedious to read. That’s why it’s important to choose your format carefully so it will stand out and make the first cut.
Here are some example templates from College of the Canyons.
Résumé Contents and Structure
For many people, the process of writing a résumé is daunting. After all, you are taking a lot of information and condensing it into a very concise form that needs to be both eye-catching and easy to read. Don’t be scared off, though! Developing a good résumé can be fun, rewarding, and easier than you think if you follow a few basic guidelines. In the following video, a résumé-writing expert describes some keys to success.
Contents and Components to Include
1. Your contact information: full name (avoid nicknames), address, phone number, professional email address
2. Objective: a brief statement sharing what you are looking for and what you have to contribute
3. A summary of your skills: 5–10 skills you have gained in your field; you can list hard skills as well as soft skills (refer to the Professional Skill Building topic in this course)
4. Work experience: depending on the résumé format you choose, you may list your most recent job first; include the title of the position, employer’s name, location, employment dates (beginning, ending). Use brief bullet point statements to list your responsibilities and achievements. Use action words to start each bullet point. Refer Table1 below.
5. Volunteer experience:
6. Education and training: formal and informal experiences matter; include academic degrees, professional development, certificates, internships, study abroad, etc.
7. References statement (optional): “References available upon request” is a standard phrase used at the end of résumés or you may take a proactive approach and create a separate document that lists your references. See sample below
8. Other sections: may include, a branding statement, a summary statement, additional accomplishments, and any other related experiences such as: Computer Skills, Language Skills, Extracurricular Activities or Honors and Awards
Caution
Résumés resemble snowflakes in as much as no two are alike. Although you can benefit from giving yours a stamp of individuality, you will do well to steer clear of personal details that might elicit a negative response. It is advisable to omit any confidential information or details that could make you vulnerable to discrimination, for instance. Your résumé will likely be viewed by a number of employees in an organization, including human resource personnel, managers, administrative staff, etc. By aiming to please all reviewers, you gain maximum advantage.
• Do not mention your age, gender, height or weight.
• Do not include your social security number.
• Do not mention religious beliefs or political affiliations, unless they are relevant to the position.
• Do not include a photograph of yourself or a physical description.
• Do not mention health issues.
• Do not use first-person references. (I, me).
• Do not include wage/salary expectations.
• Do not use abbreviations.
• Proofread carefully—absolutely no spelling mistakes are acceptable.
Top Ten Tips for a Successful Résumé
1. Aim to make a résumé that’s 1–2 pages long on letter-size paper.
2. Make it visually appealing.
3. Use action verbs and phrases. See Table 1 below for a list of action verbs.
4. Proofread carefully to eliminate any spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typographical errors.
5. Include highlights of your qualifications or skills to attract an employer’s attention.
6. Craft your cover letter as a pitch to people in the profession you plan to work in (more on cover letters in the next section)
7. Stand out as different, courageous.
8. Be positive and reflect only the truth.
9. Be excited and optimistic about your job prospects!
10. Keep refining and reworking your résumé; it’s an ongoing project.
Remember that your résumé is your professional profile. It will hold you in the most professional and positive light, and it’s designed to be a quick and easy way for a prospective employer to evaluate what you might bring to a job. When written and formatted attractively, creatively, and legibly, your résumé is what will get your foot in the door. You can be proud of your accomplishments, even if they don’t seem numerous. Let your résumé reflect your personal pride and professionalism.
In the following video, “Résumé Tips for College Students From Employers,” several college graduate recruiters summarize the most important points about crafting your résumé.39
You can download a transcript of the video here.
Table 5.2 - Action Words
accelerated
accomplished
achieved
acquired
administered
advised
analyzed
appointed
approved
arranged
assisted
assembled
audited
attained
delegated
demonstrated
designed
determined
developed
devised
directed
distributed
drafted
edited
educated
eliminated
encouraged
enhanced
enlarged
established
evaluated
examined
exceeded
executed
expanded
expedited
extracted
fabricated
facilitated
formulated
founded
generated
headed
helped
hired
identified
illustrated
implemented
improved
increased
headed
helped
hired
identified
illustrated
implemented
improved
increased
initiated
innovated
inspected
installed
instructed
integrated
interpreted
interviewed
investigated
launched
maintained
managed
marketed
mediate
minimized
monitored
motivated
negotiated
obtained
operated
organized
originated
overhauled
oversaw
participated
performed
persuaded
planned
prepared
presented
prioritized
processed
produced
programmed
promoted
proposed
provided
published
recorded
recruited
regulated
related
remodeled
reorganized
repaired
represented
researched
resolved
restored
restructured
retrieved
reviewed
revised
scheduled
shaped
solved
sorted
spoke
streamlined
summarized
supervised
tabulated
taught
trained
translated
trimmed
upgraded
utilized
validated
worked
wrote
On the next few pages are samples to reference to help you prepare your resume. The resume examples are from College of the Canyons’ Job Search Information & Templates page.
Sample Reference Page
References for Joe Cougar
23450 Any Street Road
Valencia, CA 91355
(661) 555-5555
[email protected]
Jane Jones
Supervisor, JCrew Retail Store, May 2012 – August 2012
Phone: (661) 555-5555
Email: [email protected]
Sarah Canyons
Professor, College of the Canyons, Spring 2016
Phone: (661) 755-5555
Michael James
Phone: (661) 855-5555
As you develop your resume, be sure to have several people review it with you. The Career Center is a great resource on campus to help you with your resume. They have experts available to assist you in creating, critiquing, and drafting your resume. You may meet 1:1 with a Job Developer to get individualized feedback on your resume. For more information visit the Career Center and schedule an appointment (link: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/career/).
Every semester the Career Center organizes a “Resume Rally” in preparation for the Targeted Job and Career Fair event. Connect with the Career Center for more information and to inquire about upcoming events and workshops.
College of the Canyons Career Services and Resume For America have partnered to bring you an excellent online resume builder! You must have a @canyons.edu or @my.canyons.edu email account to use this website. https://resumecompanion.com/resume-builder-edu-2/canyons/
Table 5.3 – Resume Writing Resources40
Website
Description
The Online Resume Builder (from My Perfect resume)
The online résumé builder is easy to use. Choose your résumé design from the library of professional designs, insert prewritten examples, then download and print your new résumé.
Résumé Builder (from Live Career)
This site offers examples and samples, templates, tips, videos, and services for résumés, cover letters, interviews, and jobs.
Résumé Samples for College Students and Graduates (from About Careers)
This site offers a plethora of sample résumés for college students and graduates. Listings are by type of student and by type of job. Résumé templates are also provided.
JobSearch Minute Videos (from College Grad)
This site offers multiple to-the-point one-minute videos on topics such as print résumés, video résumés, cover letters, interviewing, tough interview questions, references, job fairs, and Internet job searching.
42 Résumé Dos and Don’ts Every Job Seeker Should Know (from the muse)
A comprehensive list of résumé dos and don’ts, which includes traditional rules as well as new rules to polish your résumé.
The Career Center provides assistance with career counseling, internship assistance and the job search process. Meet with an expert for professional feedback on your resume.
Activity 5.3: Creating My Resume41
Compile data reflecting your professional and educational skills and accomplishments. Assess the main résumé formats and select one that meets your needs, then create a first draft of your professional résumé.
1. Compile all needed information for your résumé, including your contact information, a summary of your skills, your work experience and volunteer experience, education and training (including your intended degree, professional development activities, certificates, internships, etc.). Optionally you may wish to include job objective, a brief profile, a branding statement, additional accomplishments, and any other related experiences.
2. Select one of the résumé builder tools listed above in the Résumé Writing Resources table.
3. Create your résumé, following instructions at your selected site.
4. Save your document as a PDF file.
5. Follow instructions from your instructor on how to submit your work. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/05%3A_Developing_your_Self-Marketing_Campaign/5.03%3A_Developing_a_Strong_Resume.txt |
5.4 The Cover Letter
A cover letter is a professional business letter that accompanies your resume and introduces yourself to the employer. It states the position you are applying for and your interest in the job and the company. It is designed to hook the reader and spark their interest in reading your resume.
Your cover letter should be engaging, informative, and show your command of the written word. It should flow easily from a reader’s perspective, making the connection between the opportunity and your ability to succeed if given the chance. The tone should be compelling. You should be excited about the opportunity and you should be confident of your ability to succeed (even if you truly lack the confidence).
The format of your cover letter should involve three basic parts:
• The Introduction: The introductory paragraph, states the position you are applying for, how you heard about it, and why you are interested in the position. If someone referred you for the position, mention their name. The goal is to hook the employer and motivate them to want to review your resume and invite you for an interview!
• The Closing: the final paragraph shows enthusiasm for working for the company. Request an interview to further discuss the position and state that you will call within a week to follow-up. Thank the employer for their time and consideration.
The body of the cover letter is the most important part. To help you craft a strong body, it is important to match your qualifications with those the employer is looking for. To help you do this, you will need to study the job description in great detail. Extract the main functions, tasks, and desired qualifications from the job description and give examples from your past work experience to illustrate how you are a good fit.
With each résumé you send out, always include a cover letter specifically addressing your purposes.
Characteristics of an Effective Cover Letter
Cover letters should accomplish the following:
• Get the attention of the prospective employer
• Set you apart from any possible competition
• Identify the position you are interested in
• Specify how you learned about the position or company
• Present highlights of your skills and accomplishments
• Reflect your genuine interest
• Please the eye and ear
The following video features Aimee Bateman, founder of Careercake.com, who explains how you can create an incredible cover letter. You can download a transcript of the video here.42
Table 5.4 - Cover Letter Resources43
Website
Description
Student Cover Letter Samples (from About Careers)
This site contains sample student/recent graduate cover letters (especially for high school students and college students and graduates seeking employment) as well as cover letter templates, writing tips, formats and templates, email cover letter examples, and examples by type of applicant
How to Write Cover Letters (from CollegeGrad)
This site contains resources about the reality of cover letters, using a cover letter, the worst use of the cover letter, the testimonial cover letter technique, and a cover letter checklist
LinkedIn Cover Letter
This site contains articles, experts, jobs, and more: get all the professional insights you need on LinkedIn
Cover Letters (from the Yale Office of Career Strategy)
This site includes specifications for the cover letter framework (introductory paragraph, middle paragraph, concluding paragraph), as well as format and style
COC Career Center
The Career Center provides assistance with career counseling, internship assistance and the job search process. Meet with a an expert for professional feedback on your resume.
Sample Cover Letter Template
Activity 5.4: Creating My Cover Letter
Now that we have reviewed the importance of a cover letter, it is time for you to develop your cover letter. Find a job or internship announcement you would be interested in applying for and craft your cover letter for this particular job/internship opportunity.
Make your cover letter personal and specific to the job/internship announcement and make sure it hooks the employer
Use the cover letter tools listed in the Cover Letter Resources table above to help you create your cover letter. Save your document as a PDF file.
Follow instructions from your instructor on how to submit your work. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/05%3A_Developing_your_Self-Marketing_Campaign/5.04%3A_The_Cover_Letter.txt |
Your online profile is the third component of a compelling marketing campaign. An online profile serves two functions:
1. It’s a marketing tool for the passive job search because the majority of recruiters use online profiles to find qualified candidates.
2. It’s a great networking tool because you can connect with friends, family, former coworkers, and current schoolmates and stay in touch with them easily regardless of where you or they live or work.
Digital Dirt
Various social networking sites allow you to post anything you would like in cyberspace. Twitter, Facebook, and Second Life are a few examples. Four hundred million individuals have a Facebook presence, which enables them to connect and reconnect with current and past friends. Facebook allows you to post pictures of yourself, your friends, your animals, your vacation, and anything else you would like to include. You can post your birthday, your relationship status, your taste in music, and your interests and hobbies. Most employers look to LinkedIn for professional information because LinkedIn is often described as the professional version of Facebook, but employers still will look at your Facebook profile. When three candidates seem equally suited for a position, researching the candidates on Facebook may provide information that becomes the deciding factor. A word to the wise: Ensure that information on your Facebook page can only help your job search.
Foul language and inappropriate pictures of social parties and activities will hurt your ability to land the job you are seeking. Do not rely on privacy settings that you think filter individuals from viewing your information because those settings have often failed job search candidates. Facebook remains a wonderful tool for social networking, however, once something is in cyberspace, it is virtually impossible to delete, so proceed with caution and manage your reputation online professionally!
Reputation Management
Many companies pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars every month to monitor and clean up their online reputations. The process of monitoring your online reputation is called reputation management. Reputation.com, one of hundreds of firms that specializes in “fixing” online reputations, has become popular for companies looking to enhance their online image. Reputation management isn’t just for companies—individuals are using these services to make unflattering things on the Internet about them disappear.
Anything posted on the Internet, from a picture on Facebook to a comment on a blog, will be in cyberspace indefinitely. Consider the case of a New York professor. Eight years earlier, he had been charged with receiving grant money wrongfully. If you googled his name, you would find a press release listing this charge as one of his name’s top search results, even though he had paid the \$2,000 fine. Not exactly something he would want a potential or current employer to see! This is exactly why it is important in career development to be aware of the kinds of things you post—whether you are looking for a job or already have a job. For example, thirteen Virgin Airlines employees were fired for a chat they had on Facebook about the plane’s safety, along with negative comments about customers. In yet another example, a job seeker posted the following to Twitter: “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.” And Cisco, who regularly monitors the Internet for mentions of their name (reputation management), replied, “Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.” Needless to say, the job offer to this future employee was rescinded.
Websites that allow for professional networking can be a great tool but can also be detrimental. For example, BG, a natural gas company, had an employee post his resume on LinkedIn and clicked the “job seeker” box. When his employer saw this, he was fired for expressing interest in other job opportunities, along with his posting of disparaging comments about his employer.
So how exactly can you monitor your online reputation? Here are some tips:
• Google yourself often and see what the search results return.
• Consider changing your privacy settings in Facebook, so people you are not friends with cannot view your profile.
• Change your Facebook setting so you must approve posts that “tag” you.
• Be aware of your company’s policy on posting resumes on websites like LinkedIn.
• Do not talk about work on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media site.
• Never mention your company name on social media sites.
Managing your online reputation can make sure that when an employer or potential employer sees your online persona, they are seeing the side you want them to see. It will show them that you represent the company in a positive light, which can enhance career success.44
Overview of LinkedIn
More than 100 million people are on LinkedIn, the leading online network for professional profiles, and that number grows every day. LinkedIn is different from Facebook because it’s intended only for professional use and to focus on your career. To get started with initial online marketing efforts, LinkedIn is a great first step.
Visit LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com and follow the tutorial to learn aspects about the site and create an account. Use a thumbnail sketch of your resume for your profile. Create a summary section, and bear in mind that this is a great place to include specific keywords on which recruiters and employers may search (e.g., specific technical skills, languages, brand-name companies, industry knowledge).
Who Can You Link To?
Think of ten to twenty people you’d like to connect to, such as peers from past jobs, friends and family, and peers at school. Go line by line through your resume and think of all the people you know from each stage in your career. You can use the LinkedIn search function to search by school, organization name, or another keyword.
As you populate your profile, LinkedIn makes recommendations for people you may know based on the names and keywords you enter. This gives you additional ideas for connections.
Send an invitation to the ten to twenty people you’d like to connect to. Write a personalized request to connect that reminds them how you know them, rather than using the generic templates that LinkedIn provides. With LinkedIn, all the people connected to a profile are visible to people who view that profile (you can shut off this feature, but it is helpful for networking, so most people do not). This means that for your connections, you can see their connections. This also means that the more people you are connected to, the more profiles you can view and the more your profile can be viewed. Increasing your connections improves your marketing reach.
On a regular basis, think of another ten to twenty individuals you can connect to and invite them. You can also upload some contact databases and e-mail accounts, such as Outlook, Yahoo!, and Gmail, into LinkedIn so that you can invite your entire existing network in one effort. Some open networkers will link to anyone who requests a link, or they will reach out to a variety of individuals they don’t know and ask to link to them. Either way is acceptable and whether you link only with people you know well or are willing to link with people you barely know or don’t know depends on your comfort level.
Having your resume details in your LinkedIn profile and connecting to people is the bare minimum for an online profile. To have a profile that is a comprehensive marketing platform, you should consider the next sections, which detail additional options.
Include a Professional Picture or Head Shot
Professional photos are helpful as you start meeting more and more people because some people may remember your face more easily than your name or background.
Add a Summary to Your Thumbnail Sketch
Your LinkedIn profile is basically a thumbnail sketch of your resume. It’s important for you to include a short, succinct summary of your background and where you are now in your career. You should also include each school you’ve attended, along with the years. Include each work experience you’ve been a part of, again, along with the years, in a professional and formal format. This will allow individuals to identify how they have known you in the past.
Include Recommendations
Include recommendations from two or three individuals who know your work. You must be connected to people to request they provide a recommendation.
Recommendations help your marketing because they add a dimension to your profile that is not included in your resume.
Join Groups
Join groups with which you share a common interest. Groups are formed from common associations, such as college alumni groups (be sure to join your school’s alumni group, even if you’ve yet to graduate), industry groups, and mutual goal groups, such as people interested in finding employment. Groups enable you to connect to more people, translating into even more people who will see your profile. You can join approximately fifty groups, and you can also elect to have your group memberships displayed or not displayed on your profile. Tailor your groups to reflect specific professional interests as another way to market yourself as being involved with that area.
Use Applications
Use LinkedIn applications such as reading lists and presentation or blog sharing. With a paper resume, it is unwieldy to include a lot of attachments, such as a portfolio of your work. An online profile allows you to link to an online collection of your work and create a comprehensive view of everything you offer. You can share a list of what you are reading with the Amazon reading list application.
Listing books related to your career targets shows that you are staying current about your target industries and functions and are committed to training and development. You can use the SlideShare application to post PowerPoint presentations you have created. Perhaps as part of a class assignment, you have done a group project that is relevant to prospective employers. If you have a blog and your blog showcases examples of your work, your LinkedIn profile can be set to update with samples of your work whenever you post to your blog. While this level of detail seems onerous for a paper resume, when online it is easy to page through and access as much data as you’d like, so you can offer the reader (in this case, recruiters and employers) much more information.
Maintain Your Profile
Remember that it is important to maintain your online profile. Continually update your LinkedIn profile because as your career grows and changes, so should your LinkedIn profile. Link to new people you meet. Update your summary and experience. LinkedIn also has a status section for more frequent updates that are broadcast to your connections. In this way, you can market your activity on an ongoing basis. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/05%3A_Developing_your_Self-Marketing_Campaign/5.05%3A_Your_Online_Profile.txt |
If your résumé and cover letter have served their purposes well, you will be invited to participate in an interview with the company or organization you’re interested in. Congratulations! It’s an exciting time, and your prospects for employment are very strong if you put in the time to be well prepared.
In this section we look at how to get ready for an interview, what types of interviews you might need to engage in, and what kinds of questions you might be asked.45
First, let’s define the interview. What is an interview? An interview may be defined as a conversation between two or more people in which the interviewer asks questions to obtain information from the interviewee. A better definition might be an exchange of information between the interviewer and interviewee to assess if a match exists between a job’s requirements and a person’s skills and abilities.
The second definition is much more proactive in the case of the interviewee. As an interviewee, you should not passively answer questions, but should employ strategies so you are presented in the best possible light. As an interviewee, you also are responsible for highlighting your strengths in the interview and giving answers that are detailed and results oriented.
As you prepare for your interview, it is important to focus on three things:
1. Know yourself and be able to articulate how you are a good fit for the position.
2. Know your resume well enough to enthusiastically speak about every minute detail.
3. Know the company, the position, and the industry for which you are interviewing.
The interview is your time to shine in person and demonstrate how you are a good fit for the position. The interview process involves three phases: preparation, the actual interview, and the follow up. Preparing for each of these phases will help build your confidence for the big day!
<="" span="">detail through the different career assessments you completed. As you prepare for your interview, you will want to link the information you have gained from your career assessments and articulate them to the employer so you can illustrate how you are a good fit for the job!The preparation phase includes research and practice. Preparation is key to succeeding in the interview process. The following strategies will help you get a second round of interviews:
Research the industry, the company, the competitors, and the interviewer (if possible):
Completing the research step ensures that you have fully researched the company, the industry, and the competition. Knowing how to interview well within the industry and company will help you get a second interview. You also might be able to research the interviewer using Google or http://www.linkedin.com. Having relevant background information might give you helpful hints on how to position yourself. As you research the company, pay particular attention to their mission, values and philosophy. Be able to make connections with how your personal mission, values and philosophy align with the company.
Practice Answering Interview Questions:
There are generally common questions that are consistently asked during interviews. Familiarizing yourself with these questions will help you gain confidence and feel more at ease during the actual interview. We will address these questions a little further in this section. However, for now, be sure you take advantage of the following resources to help you practice.
• Connect with the Career Center on campus and schedule an appointment with a Job Developer for a mock interview. This is a great way to practice and get 1:1 feedback. The Career Center also holds a series of workshops on job search and interview preparation. Check out the workshop schedule posted on their website at: https://www.canyons.edu/studentservices/career/index.php
• As part of this class, you will be participating in a mock interview so this will be great practice.
• Google additional interview questions and look in the mirror as you practice answering these questions. Get an interview buddy to ask you these questions, as well as probing questions, to dig deeper into your answers.
• Be confident when answering questions and stay positive. Do not undersell yourself or underestimate what you have to offer.
• Focus on the results of each of your projects, tasks, and courses. A results-oriented candidate has a better chance getting the second interview and potentially the offer.
Have a Full Dress Rehearsal Three Days before the Interview:
Being prepared reduces stress and improves performance. Here is a checklist of things to do and consider before your interview day.
• Make sure your interview suit is clean and fits perfectly. You should feel very comfortable in the clothes you wear for an interview. This helps build your confidence.
• Pay attention to colors and style. If you are interviewing at a company where the dress is casual, it is still best to dress in a professional, conservative manner. Men and women should consider conservative suit colors such as navy, beige, and black. White or beige shirts give a very professional appearance. If you are not sure, it might help to shop at a professional clothing store.
• Shine your shoes and be certain they are in excellent shape. Women should wear closed-toe shoes with moderate-height heels.
• Take care in all aspects of your appearance, including your hair and nails.
• Bring extra copies of your resume.
• Write down well-researched questions before the day of the interview.
• Carry a professional-looking briefcase that has an inside portfolio containing paper and a pen.
• Keep a small bottle of water in your briefcase in case your mouth gets dry.
• Carry a cloth handkerchief in case your face perspires (for any reason).
Some people sweat more than others and using a handkerchief is more professional (and sanitary) than using your hand. Avoid tissues because they can leave a residue that doesn’t make a very good impression. On a somewhat related note, if you happen to sneeze during an interview, sneeze into your sleeve versus into your hands. The interviewer will not want to shake your hand otherwise!
You will have an opportunity for a full dress rehearsal for the mock interview assignment using The Perfect Interview. The Perfect Interview is a program purchased through the college that will allow you to practice interviewing skills. You will record a mock interview and will work in groups to critique each other. This is a great way to see and hear yourself during an interview. Practice makes perfect! Your instructor will go over this assignment in class.
Know Where You Are Going:
Getting lost on the way to an interview will only increase your stress, so know exactly where you are going, even if you must make a trial trip. Few things are worse than being late or arriving looking like you just did the one hundred-meter Dash.
Establish a Routine to Follow the Day of the Interview:
The most successful interviewees have a routine that includes the following:
• Set two alarm clocks to make sure you wake up early enough to have plenty of time to get ready for the day.
• Have your interview suit ready to go, your shoes polished, a portfolio with two to three copies of your resume and a working pen, and five to seven questions already written down.
• Arrive at least thirty minutes in advance to avoid the slightest possibility of being late. You may wait in your car or a coffee shop until fifteen minutes before the interview. You don’t want to let the interviewer know you are there thirty to forty-five minutes early.
• Read or listen to something inspirational before your interview.
• Carry a small bottle of water in your briefcase in case your mouth gets dry.
The moment you have been waiting for has arrived—the actual interview. Keep the following factors in mind during the interview:
Body Language
It is important to be aware of nonverbal impressions such as your handshake, eye contact and eye movement, posture, and facial and hand expressions. A sizeable percentage of what we communicate comes via body language:
• Eye contact: Maintain good eye contact throughout the interview. It’s OK to look away occasionally, but, for the most part, eye contact should be steady. It shows confidence and inspires trust in all that you say.
• Smile: When you are feeling stressed, a smile usually relaxes your face, which usually helps you to relax overall. An introductory or occasional smile shows that you are enjoying the conversation, and it adds to your confidence factor.
• Firm handshake: Practice your handshake. The Goldilocks approach is best: Don’t crush the interviewer’s hand, but don’t give a soft, floppy handshake, either. Your handshake should be firm and businesslike. If you get nervous to the point of having a sweaty palm, wipe it against your pants leg or skirt just before you shake your interviewer’s hand.
• Posture: Sit up straight with your shoulders back and your feet firmly planted on the ground. It’s fine to cross your legs if you feel more comfortable doing so, but avoid looking too relaxed. You should be poised and fully focused on the interviewer, ensuring that you answer all questions to the best of your ability.
Networking Updates
If you’ve met others in the company, mention that up front. It’s a great way to open an interview because you establish that you’ve already met others at the company, and the interviewer also can contact them for feedback.
Focus
The more focused you are during an interview, the more successful you will be. Focus on the question asked and answer it directly. If you think you have gone off course for any reason, it is OK to ask the interviewer if you are on the right track. Your answer should have a beginning, a middle, and an end that includes a real, tangible, and preferably positive result. Here is an example of a question asked and an effective answer with real, tangible and positive results:
Question: Jenna, what was your biggest contribution to the company you interned with last summer?
Answer: Throughout the summer, we had approximately five to six team meetings where the entire staff of ten engineers and their direct reports were present to discuss the major goal of the summer: the construction of a new courthouse.
I was tasked with drafting the agenda of these meetings and the agenda notes, which verified all that was discussed and agreed upon. The agendas directed complex meetings, and the agenda notes served as key documents that verified and clarified what was discussed and agreed upon during the meetings.
My first draft of the first agenda was much too broad, but with feedback from my manager, I ensured it included all the details necessary to hold a productive and effective meeting and created the structure for the agenda notes document. The agenda notes were typically three to five pages long, and by the second meeting, I was drafting the agenda and publishing the notes without any revisions from my manager.
I received exceptional feedback from several department heads because, in many instances, the notes saved countless hours of work. For example, during the third meeting, we reversed course on a previously agreed-upon strategy for the front columns of the courthouse. One of the key assistant engineers was not at the meeting, and when her peer brought her up to speed, he forgot to mention that the columns were changed from the Roman style columns to the Grecian columns, which needed a more intricate support system from the roof to the courthouse steps. Luckily, she read my agenda notes, which highlighted any course changes in red, and saved about two weeks’ worth of work, which was easily several thousand dollars. It also kept everyone on track regarding the completion date, which is June 2014.
To improve this process overall, I loaded the agenda and the notes into the department’s central files so instead of relying upon hard copies or e-mailed copies, everyone had one place to go for this important document that kept everyone on track. They are still using the improvements I implemented, so I’m very proud of that.
The answer’s beginning set the stage:
• Throughout the summer, we had approximately five to six team meetings, where the entire staff of ten engineers and their direct reports were present to discuss the major goal of the summer: the construction of a new courthouse.
• I was tasked with drafting the agenda of these meetings and the agenda notes, which verified all that was discussed and agreed upon.
• Notice it had a middle that allowed you to understand how things were working:
• My first draft of the first agenda was much too broad, but with feedback from my manager, I edited it to include all the details necessary to hold a productive and effective meeting and create the structure for the agenda notes document.
• By the second meeting, I was drafting the agenda and publishing the notes without any revisions from my manager.
Positive momentum was built throughout the answer, and Jenna shared the positive results of her work:
• I received exceptional feedback from several department heads because in many instances, the notes saved countless hours of work.
• To improve this process overall, I loaded the agenda and the notes into the department’s central files, so instead of relying upon hard copies or e-mailed copies, everyone had one place to go for this important document that kept everyone on track.
• They are still using the improvements I implemented, so I’m very proud of that.
Authenticity and Honesty
Never misrepresent anything about yourself during the interview:
• Don’t indicate you are fluent in a language if you aren’t.
• Don’t mention you know a computer program that you clearly don’t know.
• Don’t mention you’ve been to a certain city if you haven’t been there.
Interviewers have a way of discovering any misrepresentations, so save yourself misery and humiliation by being authentic and honest.
Questions to Ask toward the End of the Interview
At the end of the interview, the interviewer will usually ask if you have any questions. This important step in the interview process is relatively easy and can be done in advance of the actual interview. Use the research you’ve already conducted to formulate five to seven questions you’d like to ask at the end of the interview. The table below includes some topics and potential questions to help you brainstorm as you develop your questions.
Question Your Next Steps
Your final interview question should pertain to the next steps you should take so you will know how to follow up. Be certain your last question accomplishes the following:
• It demonstrates that you are forward thinking and that you tie up loose ends.
• It clarifies the follow-up process.
Update All Parties Relevant to Your Search
If you’ve met other people during your job search and they’ve been helpful in any way, send them an e-mail update as to how you’ve progressed. It will mostly likely be shared with others, so take great care when writing any note to a company Representative.
Map Your Follow-Up Strategy
Once you’ve interviewed for a position, note your expected follow-up on your calendar. If the company representative said you will be contacted in a week, mark that on your calendar. If you aren’t contacted, add another three or four days onto your calendar and then follow up with the company. After that, maintain consistent communication to help produce positive results.
When Things Go Wrong
Sometimes no matter how well you prepare, something still goes wrong. The following strategies will help you manage when things go amiss:
• If you forget to turn your cell phone off and it rings, apologize and quickly turn off the phone. Don’t look at the number of the person calling you.
• If you are late, call in advance to notify the interviewer and ask if the interview can proceed. Apologize when the interview takes place.
• If you have a wardrobe malfunction—a popped button, a run in your stockings, or you spilled coffee on your clothing—a little humor might help.
• If you went on a tangent and did not answer the question directly, check to make sure you are on track or ask that the question be repeated.
The more you practice interviewing, the more prepared you will be. Each interview serves as a learning experience and an opportunity for you to strengthen your interviewing skills. There are different types of interviews for you to become familiar with. The next section will address the different types.
Job Interview Types and Techniques46
Every interview you participate in will be unique: The people you meet with, the interview setting, and the questions you’ll be asked will all be different from interview to interview.
The various factors that characterize any given interview can contribute to the sense of adventure and excitement you feel. But it is also normal to feel a little nervous about what lies ahead. With so many unknowns, how can you plan to “nail the interview” no matter what comes up?
A good strategy for planning is to anticipate the type of interview you may find yourself in. There are common formats for job interviews, described in detail, below. By knowing a bit more about each type and being aware of techniques that work for each, you can plan to be on your game no matter what form your interview takes.
Screening Interviews
Screening interviews might best be characterized as “weeding-out” interviews. They ordinarily take place over the phone or in another low-stakes environment in which the interviewer has maximum control over the amount of time the interview takes. Screening interviews are generally short because they glean only basic information about you. If you are scheduled to participate in a screening interview, you might safely assume that you have some competition for the job and that the company is using this strategy to whittle down the applicant pool. With this kind of interview, your goal is to win a face-to-face interview. For this first shot, though, prepare well and challenge yourself to shine. Try to stand out from the competition and be sure to follow up with a thank-you note.
Phone or Web Conference Interviews
If you are geographically separated from your prospective employer, you may be invited to participate in a phone interview or online interview, instead of meeting face-to-face. Technology, of course, is a good way to bridge distances. The fact that you’re not there in person doesn’t make it any less important to be fully prepared, though. In fact, you may wish to be all the more “on your toes” to compensate for the distance barrier. Make sure your equipment (phone, computer, Internet connection, etc.) is fully charged and works. If you’re at home for the interview, make sure the environment is quiet and distraction-free. If the meeting is online, make sure your video background is pleasing and neutral, like white wall or curtain.
One-on-One Interviews
The majority of job interviews are conducted in this format—just you and a single interviewer—likely with the manager you would report to and work with. The one-on-one format gives you both a chance to see how well you connect and how well your talents, skills, and personalities mesh. You can expect to be asked questions like “Why would you be good for this job?” and “Tell me about yourself.” Many interviewees prefer the one-on-one format because it allows them to spend in-depth time with the interviewer. Rapport can be built. As always, be very courteous and professional. Have handy a portfolio of your best work.
Panel Interviews
An efficient format for meeting a candidate is a panel interview, in which perhaps four to five coworkers meet at the same time with a single interviewee. The coworkers comprise the “search committee” or “search panel,” which may consist of different company representatives such as human resources, management, and staff. One advantage of this format for the committee is that meeting together gives them a common experience to reflect on afterward. In a panel interview, listen carefully to questions from each panelist, and try to connect fully with each questioner. Be sure to write down names and titles, so you can send individual thank-you notes after the interview.
Serial Interviews
Serial interviews are a combination of one-on-one meetings with a group of interviewers, typically conducted as a series of meetings staggered throughout the day. Ordinarily this type of interview is for higher-level jobs, when it’s important to meet at length with major stakeholders. If your interview process is designed this way, you will need to be ultra prepared, as you will be answering many in-depth questions. Stay alert.
Lunch Interviews
In some higher-level positions, candidates are taken to lunch or dinner, especially if this is a second interview (a “call back” interview). If this is you, count yourself lucky and be on your best behavior, because even if the lunch meeting is unstructured and informal, it’s still an official interview. Do not order an alcoholic beverage, and use your best table manners. You are not expected to pay or even to offer to pay. But, as always, you must send a thank-you note.
Group Interviews
Group interviews are comprised of several interviewees and perhaps only one or two interviewers who may make a presentation to the assembled group. This format allows an organization to quickly prescreen candidates. It also gives candidates a chance to quickly learn about the company. As with all interview formats, you are being observed. How do you behave with your group? Do you assume a leadership role? Are you quiet but attentive? What kind of personality is the company looking for? A group interview may reveal this.
For a summary of the interview formats we’ve just covered (and a few additional ones), take a look at the following video, Job Interview Guide—10 Different Types of Interviews in Today’s Modern World.
Interview Venues:
Knowing the four different types of interview venues will help ensure your success:
• The Career Center at on campus hosts job fairs and oftentimes they conduct interviews on campus. If your interview takes place on campus, you will probably receive instructions from your career services office regarding the date and time of the interview. Check with the office to ensure you know how you will be notified. Most career services offices have a general check-in area, a waiting area, and very small interview rooms. It’s best to practice in these rooms ahead of time, so you know exactly what to expect. Some rooms are literally five feet by five feet.
• If your interview takes place off campus, the company with which you are interviewing will send instructions regarding where to report and when. Ensure you know exactly how to get there, and arrive early if at all possible because you probably will need to go through security. Bring the interview schedule with you; it should include the name(s) of the individuals with whom you will interview and their contact information.
If you need to travel via train or plane to an interview, dress professionally on the way there. Wearing yoga pants and flip-flops doesn’t make a good impression, and there is always a chance you will bump into company representatives during your trip.
• Most often, candidates will be interviewed in the interviewer’s office, but there are times when you will be interviewed in a conference room. Some conference rooms are glass-enclosed areas, and it can be distracting to interview as individuals look in and walk by. Regardless of the setting, maintain your focus on the questions asked and the interview at hand.
• Mealtime interviews can be tricky situations because food and drink are involved.
Strike a healthy balance of not being ravenous but not leaving your plate untouched either. Focus your full attention on the conversation and interview at hand. It is wise to stay away from messy marinara sauces and long strings of pasta because they can easily stain your clothing. Forgo alcohol at all costs and certainly if you are not of legal age to consume alcohol. If you are not comfortable with dining etiquette, familiarize yourself with it to increase your comfort level. Know which fork is correct to use for salad versus dinner. Research this so you are prepared in advance. Interviews that take place during a meal can heighten nerves and cause you to spill a glass of water, which doesn’t bode well for your confidence level.
No matter what the venue, dress well and take extra copies of your resume, a portfolio with paper and a pen that works, a list of questions you will ask, and perhaps a bottle of water just in case you need it.
Interview Questions
For most job candidates, the burning question is “What will I be asked?” There’s no way to anticipate every single question that may arise during an interview. It’s possible that, no matter how well prepared you are, you may get a question you just didn’t expect. But that’s okay. Do as much preparation as you can—which will build your confidence—and trust that the answers will come.
To help you reach that point of sureness and confidence, take time to review common types of interview questions. Think about your answers. Make notes, if that helps. And then conduct a practice interview with a friend, a family member, or a colleague. Speak your answers aloud. You will get a chance to practice through your mock interview assignment in class. Your instructor will review detailed instructions with you.47
The more you understand about different types of interview questions, the better you can prepare. This next section reviews the four basic types of interview questions: open-ended questions, specific questions, motivation questions, and unconventional questions
Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions don’t have specific answers. They include questions like the following:
• Tell me about yourself. Walk me through your career. Why did you make the choices you made?
Such questions present an opportunity to tell your story in an engaging, articulate, and compelling way. Explain why you selected the school(s) you selected, your major and your minor, and your GPA (if it’s above 3.3). Describe the jobs you’ve had and how you got them. Did you apply directly or did you get them through networking? What were your most significant accomplishments at each job? Highlight significant accomplishments that may or may not be explicit in your resume. Often, a theme will emerge, but if that isn’t the case, talk about your decisions in a positive light.
• With which skills and functions are you most comfortable? If I were to assign you a project based on your expertise, what would I give you?
• If you enjoy working with clients, talk about your specific achievements and how you helped your clients. Have you served them well enough for them to be repeat customers? Have they referred other clients to you? If you are very strong analytically, give an example of the most analytical project on which you’ve worked and the project’s outcome.
• What are your weakest skills, and how are you addressing them? What areas would your supervisors say you need to develop?
• Everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses. You should do a substantive assessment of your weaknesses prior to an interview. A weakness should never be a critical component of the job for which you are applying. If there is a trick to answering this question effectively, it’s to highlight what you are doing to strengthen each weakness. For example, if public speaking is something you consider a weakness, you can say that to improve this, you raise your hand as much as possible in class, and you volunteer to present whenever possible. The more prepared you are with the content of your presentation, the better you perform.
• What do you do for fun? What do you do in your free time? What do you like to read?
These questions present an opportunity to enthusiastically and specifically discuss what you enjoy doing in your spare time. If you enjoy tennis, talk about how long you have been playing and your favorite player. If you enjoy reading, mention the last great book you read.
Specific Questions
Specific questions have concrete answers and might include the following:
Tell me about this [the interviewer can point to anything on your resume, whether it be a project, an employer, a class, a skill, or a hobby.
• You must be able to quickly and completely discuss any topic from your resume and its relevance to your professional career. You should be able to recount every detail about each project, and enthusiastically relay those details to your interviewer. If you are not enthusiastic about your work, they will not be either. Also highlight the result of your work or any project about which they want to know more.
Tell me about your favorite project, your most significant project, or a project that demonstrates your leadership, project management, analytical, research, or communications skills.
• When answering this question, remember who sponsored the project, the project’s objective and deliverable, steps you took to complete the project, and the results of your efforts. Note your role as well as the roles of other team members. Be specific and quantify the results.
Tell me about a project where something went wrong or tell me about a difficult client.
• Everyone has worked on projects where something went wrong. If we procrastinated, we learned to become more disciplined in our approach to projects. If someone didn’t do their part of the project, which then caused us to do extra work, we learned to communicate more clearly and check the project’s progress on a regular basis.
• We also have worked with difficult clients. The trick is to not say anything negative about a client. If a client was demanding, remember that all clients have a right to make demands. We need to raise our game to ensure they are pleased with the service and our level of professionalism. Never make negative comments about a client, a boss, a peer, or a company. Doing so sends an immediate red flag to the interviewer, so avoid such negativity at all costs. Position everything in a positive light, which can only help your candidacy.
What do you think about current events or significant events in the employer’s industry?
• Interviewers want to know that you are knowledgeable about current events, especially those pertaining to their industry. The very best candidates are well versed in the current news, so be prepared to discuss one or two items. It’s important that you cite the source of the news and what you learned from it. If you did subsequent research about the topic, discuss that as well. It’s an opportunity to highlight your research and your passion for this industry.
Motivation Questions
Interviewers often want to know about a candidate’s motivation by asking the following questions:
With which firms are you interviewing? What positions are you seeking? How will you choose?
• The savviest interviewers know that the best candidates interview with multiple companies. Many candidates are comfortable discussing specific companies with which they are interviewing, and, from a recruiting perspective, it’s fine to mention the company names. If you would rather not discuss this, mention that you are currently interviewing with other companies, but this company is your number one choice and highlight why you want to work there. They should get the hint that you don’t want to mention specific companies.
• No matter what company is interviewing you, ensure that you know why you want to work for that particular company. Know their strong points and know their competitors. Know clearly why you want to work for them versus their competitors.
What do you hope to accomplish in your career? Where do you see yourself in one, five, or more years?
• Your research will help you answer this question. If you’ve conducted some informational interviews, you will have a clear idea of what a career can look like in one, five, and ten years. It is also important to network with peers who have interned at the companies in which you are interested because they can share specific information with you. For example, consulting, investment banking, and brand management have well-defined career paths. Advertising has a defined career path, but it may not be as defined as other businesses and industries.
What questions do you have for the interviewer?
• This can be a make-or-break question because some interviews consist of just this one question. Every interview candidate should enter an interview with five to seven questions written down in advance. These questions should come directly from your research.
Why do you want this position? Why do you want to work with this company?
• Answers to these questions will come from your research. Have a specific reason you want to work at the company doing the exact job for which you are interviewing. Is the brand name very strong, giving you an opportunity to work with the best? Is the brand name not yet a household name, giving you an opportunity to make it so?
• It’s also important to know what skills you will gain in this specific position and which will enable you to be successful. Will the position strengthen your analytical skills? Will it enable you to become a subject-matter expert? Be specific in your answer.
Unconventional Questions
Some interviewers may think you are too rehearsed and may want to inject a bit of stress; perhaps they want to shake you up a bit by asking what may seem to be crazy or certainly bizarre interview questions:
• If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? Why?
• If you were a car, what color would you be? Why?
• If you were an item in the supermarket, what item would you be? Why?
• If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be? Why?
Note that these questions are rare and you probably will not be asked them, but since preparation is key, it’s worth examining why they are asked. These types of questions are asked to get a true glimpse into your personality. The “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?” question could be answered the following way:
• If you were a corporate research analyst who relied purely on your research to describe a stock, and that research would be shared with hundreds of portfolio managers, you might say you were a redwood tree. A redwood is one of the strongest trees on the planet and has roots that grow hundreds of feet into the ground. Not even the strongest of winds can cause the redwood to sway.
• If you were applying to be a technology customer service representative who troubleshoots during their entire day, you may say that you were a palm tree. A palm tree bends and yields to gentle breezes and hurricanes alike, but it survives almost anything that comes its way and stands tall and straight the minute the wind stops.
Unconventional questions have no correct answer, but when asked them, four strategies can help you succeed:
1. Practice answering a few of these types of questions. If you need a few minutes to consider your answer during an interview, it’s fine to ask for a bit of time.
2. Answer by showing something positive or beneficial about you and your personality.
3. Avoid humor and answer the question seriously and sincerely.
4. Work backward to the answer. Think about a characteristic that is important to the job, and then match it to a tree, a fruit, or an item in a supermarket.
As you prepare for interviews and practice your responses to common questions, it is also important to be aware of illegal questions. There are questions that are inappropriate for an employer to ask and knowing these types of questions can help you respond if faced with an illegal question during an interview.
Illegal Questions
Illegal or discriminatory questions include references to the following:
• Age
• Birthplace
• Childcare arrangements
• Ethnicity and race
• Disability
• Marital and family status
• National origin
• Religion
• Sexual orientation
If you are asked any question relating to the preceding topics, it could be for one of two reasons. Either the interviewer is asking an illegal question or the interviewer might not be well versed in interview techniques. Many hiring managers have not been formally trained in interview techniques, and the lack of training can result in asking an illegal question.
It is hoped that the question would be harmless enough so that you can answer it without feeling uncomfortable. If you feel uncomfortable answering something, tactfully say that the question doesn’t relate to the job. Try to move onto another question or ask a question pertaining to the job to get the interview back on track.
If you feel that you were subjected to discrimination, speak to someone at your career services office. They can provide the guidance necessary at this stage of your job search. If that is not possible, consult a friend or professor and ask for guidance in your next steps. This is not a matter to be taken lightly, so it’s important to get help from someone who is familiar with these issues.
Avoid Interviewer Pet Peeves
A number of things can annoy an interviewer and must be avoided at all costs. The following includes a list of things you should not do. Mock interviews are especially helpful at this stage because sometimes candidates are not aware they are doing things that are clear turnoffs to interviewers, so proceed with caution.
Not Being Prepared
Being unprepared is an insult to the interviewer who is investing their time and energy into meeting with you. You should be there on time, have several copies of your resume in your portfolio, focus on answering any question asked, and have a list of questions to ask at the end of the interview.
Negative Body Language
Positive body language such as looking the interviewer in the eye and shaking their hand firmly when saying hello inspires trust. Poor body language can eliminate you as a potential candidate. Practice answering questions with a friend and look them straight into the eye. Smile when you talk about big goals that you have achieved. You may look away now and then, but for the most part hold their gaze throughout the interview. Sit up straight in an attentive position to help ensure you make a good impression.
Appearing Tense
Stress is a vital component of an interview because you want the job and you need to impress. Using that stress to perform better is key, and, with practice, you can appear more relaxed than you actually are. For example, if your palm sweats a bit, discreetly wipe your hand on your pants leg or skirt before you shake the interviewer’s hand. Preparing in advance usually lowers stress, but if you still need additional methods to calm yourself before an interview, try listening to soothing music before entering the building or read something inspirational before the interview. Taking deep breaths before you enter the building can lower stress a great deal.
Blaming Others for Your Poor Performance
Putting anyone or anything in a negative light is not a good strategy for an interview. Criticizing your past peers, boss, or company puts you in a negative light. Interviewers red flag any type of negative comment and might probe for more negative energy lurking in other interview responses.
Not Treating Everyone with Respect
Treat everyone you meet during the day with the utmost respect, whether it is the security guard, the administrative assistant, or the actual interviewer. Be respectful if you are trying to rush through security or if you are holding an elevator for someone. All of these individuals communicate with each other, and if you leave a bad impression with any of them, it could end your candidacy. Be courteous and kind to everyone you meet. Manners do count.
Master the Interview
Control what you can control, and your interview will be more successful. This includes doing the following, but this list is far from exhaustive:
• Assess your strengths and weaknesses before the interview.
• Research the company and its competitors in advance of your meeting.
• Prepare and practice interview questions.
• Create a routine for the day of the interview to ensure you don’t rush or skip important steps.
• Write down five to seven questions to ask at the end of your interview to prove you are motivated to get this job offer.
Remember that interviews are subjective and that a second interview is never a guarantee. Budgets can shift and your targeted company may have to pull an open requisition. Perhaps the company wants to promote from within and they may hire an internal candidate. Many interviewers hire in their own image, regardless of any interviewer training course they may attend. No matter what happens at the end of your interview, it’s important to stay positive and it’s equally important to not take it personally.
Regardless of the interview’s outcome, and especially if you don’t get the job, thank the interviewer for the interaction. Continue to keep in touch because that person can become an important part of your network. Leaving a positive impression can only help your future prospects because jobs for which you would be a perfect fit might open in the near term. Remember also that recruiters and hiring managers tend to move from company to company, and there is a strong likelihood that your paths may cross again. Maintaining positive relationships can only help your career.
Lastly, if you interview for a position and you don’t get it, at least appreciate the value and practice of your experience. Troubleshoot what could have gone better and improve on that one thing. If you are proactive enough at strengthening your interview ability and ensuring you have enough interviews lined up, you increase your chances of getting a job offer.
Below is a list of resources that contain common interview questions and good explanations/answers you might want to adopt.48
Table 5.5 – Resources for Interviews
Website
Description
100 top job interview questions—be prepared for the interview (from Monster.com)
This site provides a comprehensive set of interview questions you might expect to be asked, categorized as basic interview questions, behavioral questions, salary questions, career development questions, and other kinds. Some of the listed questions provide comprehensive answers, too.
Interview Questions and Answers (from BigInterview)
This site provides text and video answers to the following questions: Tell me about yourself, describe your current position, why are you looking for a new job, what are your strengths, what is your greatest weakness, why do you want to work here, where do you see yourself in five years, why should we hire you, and do you have any questions for me?
Ten Tough Interview Questions and Ten Great Answers (from CollegeGrad)
This site explores some of the most difficult questions you will face in job interviews. The more open-ended the question, the greater the variation among answers. Once you have become practiced in your interviewing skills, you will find that you can use almost any question as a launching pad for a particular topic or compelling story.
Why Should We Hire You
From the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business Career Management Office, here is a video featuring representatives from recruiting companies offering advice for answering the question “Why should we hire you?” As you watch, make mental notes about how you would answer the question in an interview for a job you really want.
Activity 5.6: What Makes Me A Great Fit?
Now that we have discussed strategies to help you prepare for interviewing, it is time to apply what you have learned. Take a moment and think of your ideal job.
• Write a paragraph describing your ideal job. Imagine that you are already in this job. What is your job title and what are you responsible for executing? What is the name of the company or organization? What is its function?
• Now identify the top three reasons why you are a great fit for this ideal job. What sets you apart from the competition? List the qualities, skills and values you have that match the job requirements. Provide examples to support your answers. Connect your values to the company’s values.
• Summarize your answer.
5.07: Summary
• Reviewing the steps involved in creating a productive job search and the importance of networking while building your campaign.
• Creating a strong resume and cover letter to make you stand apart from the crowd.
• Illustrating a professional presence through social media to support your campaign.
• Appraising your interviewing skills to help get you in shape for your next job or internship.
• You are now ready to apply for your next job and/or internship. You have the tools and resources necessary for a strong self-marketing campaign! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/05%3A_Developing_your_Self-Marketing_Campaign/5.06%3A_Interviewing_for_Success.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Construct your career vision statement.
• Assess your progress and create your plan of action.
• Prepare to move forward and stay motivated.
06: Turning your Career and Life Planning Vision into Reality
• Where do you see yourself in the next 10, 15, 20 plus years?
• What career path do you want to pursue?
• What kind of work will be meaningful to you and allow you to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day?
• What level of responsibility do you plan to hold?
• What type of work environment will energize you and give you a sense purpose?
• At the start of this class, some came in with a clear vision while others may have been fuzzy. We hope this class has helped clarify your vision in some respect after completing the four phases of career exploration and life planning. Let's take a moment and review the different phases you have completed thus far.
Phase 1: Who am I?
Phase 1 involved getting to know who you are. You completed many different career assessments in unit 2 that allowed you to learn more about your values, character strengths, personality preferences, interests, skills and abilities. Each assessment helped you gain a better understanding of who you are and where you may fit best in the world of work.
Phase 2: What’s out there?
Phase 2 consisted of career research. In Unit 3, you took time to research the world of work through different online career sites such as: the Occupational Outlook Handbook, O*NET, Career OneStop, California Career Cafe, California Career Zone and the State of California Employment Development Department. This phase also involves talking to professionals in the field and gaining hands on exposure through volunteer work or internship experience. The more information you gather about yourself and the world of work, the easier it will be for you to make decisions about your future career path.
Phase 3: What factors affect my choices?
In Phase 3, you took time to explore factors that may affect your career choice and you were asked to make some decisions in regards to timing, finances, location and family and personal responsibilities.
Timing
How much time are you willing to invest in schooling and training towards your educational and career goals? Are you looking for short term training to provide you with the necessary skills for employment? Or is your time more flexible and you may pursue a career that requires 6 or more years of educational training?
Finances
Will the career path you choose allow you to financially support yourself and/or family and provide you with the financial security you desire?
Location
Are you interested in staying local or are you open to moving if necessary to get your career started?
Family and personal responsibilities
How will your career choice affect your personal and family life? Will the career you pursue allow you to balance your family and personal responsibilities?
These are just a few of the many important questions you will need to ask yourself as you start focusing on your future career path.
Phase 4: Where do I go from here?
It is important to stay open minded and be flexible on your journey! Remember, it is ok to revisit the different phases as you see fit. The more time and effort you put into each phase, the more likely you are to make well-informed decisions that contribute to your academic and career goals.
Now that you have completed all four phases, it is time to solidify your career vision statement!
As discussed earlier, career vision statements are very powerful and meaningful when paired with career exploration. Creating a vision statement may take several attempts and rewrites until you identify with your career vision statement. Reflect on your experiences in class and all the knowledge you have gained through the career assessments you have completed and the career information you gathered. While refining your career vision statement be sure to include the following points:
• Address your core values and the impact you wish to make on society
• Address your purpose and goals you wish to achieve in your future career
• Craft your vision statement so that it inspires you, motivates you and energizes you
• Avoid vision killers such as fearful thinking, fixed mindset thinking and negativity
Below are a few examples to get you started:
Career Vision Statement Sample #1:
To make a positive impact in the lives of those I work with, empowering them to believe in themselves and achieve academic, personal and career happiness and success.
Career Vision Statement Sample #2:
To earn my doctorate degree and become the kind of teacher that changes the lives of students for the better, educating them not only about English but about the joys and meaning of life.
Career Vision Statement Sample #3:
I will become a leader in my organization helping transform it into an organization that respects all its stakeholders — while at the same time being the best husband and father I can be.
Visit LiveCareer and read more about “Creating a Career Vision for Your Life: Envisioning Your Ideal Career.”
Once you have crafted a career vision statement you identify with, write is on a 3x5 card and post it where you can see it every day. Recite it to yourself and visualize it. You have the power to make it your reality!
Activity 6.1: My Career Vision Statement
You have engaged in the Career Exploration process throughout this course. Back in unit 2, you engaged in different self-exploration activities and completed different career assessments. You spent time exploring your interests, values, skills, personality preferences, interests, and character strengths and you created a mission statement at the start of the semester. Now it is time to put everything together and craft your career vision statement. Consider…
What's your vision for your future?
Where do you see yourself in 10, 15, 20, plus years?
What career path do you want to pursue?
What kind of work will be meaningful to you?
What work environments will energize you?
What level of responsibility will you carry out?
My Career Vision Statement:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/06%3A_Turning_your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision_into_Reality/6.01%3A_Lets_Revisit_Your_Vision.txt |
At the beginning of this course we highlighted career exploration and understanding of the difference between job and a career. We encouraged you to identify resources and factors related to your personal and career vision. It was the foundation for your evaluation and assessment of four phases we had you complete. The main goal was to have you gain a better understanding of yourself and best fit for the world of work. Thus, allowing you to learn and harness a strong sense of self and increase self-confidence. Imparting you to make informed choices in relation to personal goals and career pathways. Supportive resources were included to help assess your skills, abilities, character strengths and preferences. Making self-discovery intentional and personalized for your present time experience in this class.
As an extension, you used online tools to research and conduct adductive reasoning when exploring the “big picture” of correlating your abilities and skills with potential careers. Hopefully, finding and taking advantage of unknown opportunities in careers which you had not considered. Most importantly, to have a strategic marketing campaign as your personal platform to employers.
Everything you have completed in this course so far is a step closer toward your career search, short term and long-term goals to come. Moreover, we provided with resources on and off campus as well as online links to better guide you moving forward.
We hope you have mastered some strong decision making skills to help you in keeping the pace of pursuing your career. Please continue to network, explore and connect with others in your areas of interest. Stay up to date on market trends and shifts in “new technology” and how it will positively impact certain industries. Do not shy away from learning opportunities and be open to unexpected success.
Career exploration is not a linear process; it is more complex and changes with your growth and mastery of new skills. Retool your marketing campaign as needed and continue to build your self-confidence. Mentor others along the way and maintain a strong network of professionals. Allow yourself to feel uncomfortable and identify new possibilities. Use your career vision statement to remind you of the affirmation and passion you have for your career. Update it and revise your statement to serve as a reminder to continue to explore and achieve new levels in your career.
We have covered a lot of information throughout this course and now it is up to you to apply it to your life. The “Career Exploration and Planning Timeline” below nicely summarizes the career and life planning process while highlighting specific activities for you to consider taking part in. We hope you use this as a checklist to help guide you through your journey at College of the Canyons!
Review the two charts on the following pages. The first one addresses students planning to earn an associate’s degree and/or a career certificate and enter the workforce. The second chart addresses students planning to transfer to a four-year institution after COC. Consider which activities will help you through your career and life planning process as you create your plan of action.
FOR STUDENTS EARNING AN ASSOCIATE OF ARTS DEGREE/CERTIFICATE &
ENTERING THE JOB MARKET DIRECTLY AFTER COC
1st
Y
E
A
R
FALL SEMESTER
• Engage in self-exploration; gain a better understanding of your skills, abilities, values, personality style, and interests.
• Use web resources to learn more information about your major and career path options (see attached).
• Enroll in a Career Exploration Course (Counseling 110).
• Get involved in extracurricular activities on campus. Join a club or organization
• Research COC’s programs/majors and related coursework in the college catalog.
SPRING SEMESTER
• Explore options related to your major by developing relationships with counselors, professors, work colleagues, friends and family.
• Take an introductory course in the major you are considering. Meet with a Counselor for help choosing these classes and to discuss how they relate to your career goals.
• Develop your resume in preparation for a summer job, internship or volunteer opportunity. Meet with an advisor in the Career Center to get your resume critiqued.
• Conduct informational interviews and talk to family, friends, faculty, staff and other professionals in the area you are interested in pursuing.
• Continue to network, participate in student clubs/organizations, attend conferences, and career fairs.
• Begin to explore summer internship opportunities.
SUMMER
• Develop work experience through a summer job, volunteering or interning in the field you are interested in pursuing.
2nd
Y
E
A
R
FALL SEMESTER
• Participate in an internship (fall and/or spring).
• Continue to network by attending career fairs in order to build relationships with employers.
• Submit petition for Associate degree graduation (deadline is the first day of the graduating term).
• Meet with a Counselor to verify all major requirements are met and you are ready for graduation.
SPRING SEMESTER
• Revise and update your resume.
• See a Career Center advisor to complete a mock interview and develop job search strategies.
• Submit resumes/cover letters to target companies. Interview and send follow up thank you letters.
FOR STUDENTS PLANNING TO TRANFER TO A
BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PROGRAM DIRECTLY AFTER COC
1st
Y
E
A
R
FALL SEMESTER
• Engage in self-exploration; gain a better understanding of your skills, abilities, values, personality style, and interests.
• Enroll in a Career Exploration Course (Counseling 110).
• Use web resources to learn more information about your major and career path options (see attached).
• Get involved in extracurricular activities on campus. Join a club or organization
• Develop your student educational plan with a counselor
• Begin exploring transfer schools, admission requirements, and major preparation coursework.
• Attend the College to Career Pathway Event & Transfer Day Events (usually held in early September).
• Research COC’s programs/majors and related coursework in the college catalog.
SPRING SEMESTER
• Continue to research individual transfer schools and gather as much information as you can on the admission process, transfer requirements and deadlines.
• Research career paths your major can lead to (see attached websites).
• Visit the Transfer Center for information on Transfer Admission Guarantee Programs.
• Meet with a Counselor to review your academic and career goals and revisit your educational plan.
• Develop your resume in preparation for a summer job, internship or volunteer opportunity. Meet with an advisor in the Career Center to get your resume critiqued.
• Explore options related to your major by developing relationships with counselors, professors, work colleagues, friends and family.
SUMMER
• Develop work experience through a summer job, volunteering or interning in the field you are interested in pursuing.
2nd
Y
E
A
R
FALL SEMESTER
• Enroll in Counseling 120 – University Transfer Planning course.
• Attend the Transfer Day Event & meet different university representatives (usually held in September).
• Attend Transfer Center workshops for assistance with the UC/CSU application and personal statements
• Submit transfer admission applications for the upcoming fall term. Note applications are usually due by the end of November; however deadlines vary by school.
• Meet with a Counselor to review your transfer goals and make sure you are ready to transfer
• Continue to network through clubs/organizations, attend conferences and career fairs.
SPRING SEMESTER
NOTE: This timeline is based on a two-year transfer model. Be aware that many factors play into the amount of time it takes each individual to transfer. Your specific timeline at COC may vary from this one. Meet with a counselor to discuss your plan.
Activity 6.2: My Plan Of Action
You have spent a lot of time engaging in the career and life planning process and now have a stronger understanding of your academic, career and personal goals for your future. To help you keep your momentum moving forward, develop a plan of action for the upcoming year. Consider the next steps necessary to help you progress towards your academic, career and personal goals? Write out what you need to do in the next month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months. Be specific and be sure to reach out to people that can help support you in your journey!
My next steps include:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.03: Moving Forward and Staying Motivated
You now have the foundational skills and resources to turn your career and life planning vision into reality. It is now up to you to apply everything you have gained in this class to your own personal journey. Along the journey, remember to:
• Apply your growth mindset and embrace challenges as new learning opportunities.
• Recognize your achievements and reward your hard work.
• Be flexible, expect setbacks and revise your plan as needed.
• Practice affirmations to help build your self-confidence.
• Use your resources. Ask for support and guidance along the way.
• Continue to network and build relationships.
• Have fun along the journey. This is your story!
6.04: Summary
In Unit 6 we summarized the major concepts reviewed throughout the course and focused on turning your career and life planning vision into reality. This involved:
Constructing your career vision statement.
Assessing your progress and creating your plan of action.
Preparing to move forward and staying motivated.
You have officially completed all units of this course. At this time, you may have a confident idea in regards to what major and career to pursue and are ready to implement your plan and carry out your career vision statement. For others, you may not have a definite major and/or career set at this time; however, you now have the skills to continue exploring your options. Remember career and life planning is a lifetime process and takes time to develop. Be patient and enjoy the experience. Continue to ask questions, research ideas, speak to professionals and test out your ideas through volunteer work or internships.
We hope you have enjoyed the class and gained new tools as you continue your career journey!
We are so excited for what the future holds for you! | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/Career_and_Life_Planning_(Martinez_and_Shaker)/06%3A_Turning_your_Career_and_Life_Planning_Vision_into_Reality/6.02%3A_Assess_your_progress_and_create_your_plan_of_action.txt |
Thumbnail: www.pexels.com/photo/three-persons-sitting-on-the-stairs-talking-with-each-other-1438072/
01: You and Your College Experience
Learning Objectives
1. List your most important personal values and relate them to a college education.
2. Begin thinking about what kind of career will best match your interests, skills, and personality.
3. Understand how college is different from high school in many ways.
4. Develop a positive attitude about yourself as a college student.
5. Accept responsibility for your college experience and your life.
Succeeding in college is rather like succeeding in life. It’s really much more about you than it is about college. So the most important place to start is to consider why you’re here, what matters to you, and what you expect to get out it. Even if you have already thought about these questions, it’s good to reaffirm your commitment to your plan as we begin to consider what’s really involved in being a college student.
What’s Your Plan?
Take a few minutes and write down short answers to the questions in Activity 1. Be honest with yourself, and write down what you really feel. You are not writing for an instructor here—not what you think someone expects to hear—and you are not being graded on your answers!
Activity 1: Your College Plan
How long do you anticipate being in college?
________________________________________________________
How many courses will you need to take per term to finish college in your planned time period?
________________________________________________________
What do you anticipate will be the most difficult part of completing college?
________________________________________________________
Are you confident you will be able to overcome any possible difficulties in completing college?
________________________________________________________
Were you able to easily answer the questions in Activity 1? How confident do you feel about your plan?
These are important questions to think about for the simple reason that students who have a clear plan and who are prepared to overcome possible obstacles that may arise along the way are much more likely to succeed in college. In other words, just thinking in a positive way about your future can help that future come true!
What Matters to You?
The word values refers to things that matter to a person. What makes you feel good? What things would you be doing if you had all the time, money, and opportunities in the world? Questions like these help us define our own values. Every individual has his or her own values.
Thinking about your own values can help you know what you want from life and from college. Take a moment and consider the list of things in Activity 2 that are valued by some people. For each value, rate how important that thing is to you.
Activity 2: Your Values
Following is a list of things that different people say they value. For each item on this list, indicate how important it is to you yourself by ranking it as very important (5), not important (0), or somewhere in between.
Value Not important Very important
Making a good income 0 1 2 3 4 5
Having good friends 0 1 2 3 4 5
Learning new things about your interests 0 1 2 3 4 5
Having a nice car 0 1 2 3 4 5
Having intelligent conversations 0 1 2 3 4 5
Staying current with the news 0 1 2 3 4 5
Playing sports 0 1 2 3 4 5
Hanging out with friends 0 1 2 3 4 5
Playing computer or video games 0 1 2 3 4 5
Cooking 0 1 2 3 4 5
Online social networking 0 1 2 3 4 5
Sleeping 0 1 2 3 4 5
Reading a good book 0 1 2 3 4 5
Traveling to new places 0 1 2 3 4 5
Shopping 0 1 2 3 4 5
Being liked by others 0 1 2 3 4 5
Studying and reading textbooks 0 1 2 3 4 5
Having nice clothing 0 1 2 3 4 5
Watching television 0 1 2 3 4 5
Enjoying time alone 0 1 2 3 4 5
Getting out in nature 0 1 2 3 4 5
Working your job 0 1 2 3 4 5
Looking good, personal hygiene 0 1 2 3 4 5
Meeting new people 0 1 2 3 4 5
Going to movies or entertainments 0 1 2 3 4 5
Eating nice meals out 0 1 2 3 4 5
Exercising, being physically active 0 1 2 3 4 5
Being your own boss 0 1 2 3 4 5
Having a positive romantic relationship 0 1 2 3 4 5
Engaging in your hobbies 0 1 2 3 4 5
Setting your own schedule 0 1 2 3 4 5
Volunteering your time for a good cause 0 1 2 3 4 5
Cleaning house 0 1 2 3 4 5
Attending classes 0 1 2 3 4 5
Going to religious services 0 1 2 3 4 5
Talking on the telephone, texting, e-mail 0 1 2 3 4 5
Going to parties 0 1 2 3 4 5
Participating in clubs, organized activities 0 1 2 3 4 5
Other: __________________________ 0 1 2 3 4 5
Other: __________________________ 0 1 2 3 4 5
Look back at the values you rated highly (4 or 5) in Activity 2, which probably give a good indication of how you enjoy spending your time. But now look at these things you value in a different way. Think about how each relates to how you think you need to manage your time effectively while in college. Most college students feel they don’t have enough time for everything they like to do. Do some of the activities you value most contribute to your college experience, or will they distract you from being a good student?
Students who enter college with their eyes open and who think about their own values and motivations will be more successful. If you have a good idea of what you want from life, the rest of it can be learned. We’ll start right away in Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track” by helping you stay motivated and manage your time well. The following chapters will then lead you through learning how to study well and everything else.
Thinking Ahead to a Major and Career
If you’ve just begun college, should you already know what career you seek in the future and what courses you should take or what you should major in? Good question!
Some students say they have known from a very early age what they want to do after college, choose the college that is best for that plan, never waiver from the plan and choose each course with the one goal in mind, and then enter their chosen career after college or graduate school. At the other extreme, some students have only a vague sense of direction before beginning college, take a wide variety of courses, select a major only when they reach the point that they must major in something (or perhaps change majors multiple times), and then after college choose to work in an entirely different field.
Some students choose to major in an academic subject simply because they enjoy that subject, never concerned with what kind of job they may get afterward. The traditional idea of the liberal arts education is that you can go to college not to prepare for a specific career but to become a well-educated person who is then in a better position to work in any number of careers.
None of these different approaches to choosing a major and a career is better than others. All students receive the many benefits of college, and all are likely to find a more fulfilling career.
So where are you in this great variety of attitudes about career and major choices?
Assuming you are still early in your college program, the take-home message here is that you don’t need to make any decisions yet. Chances are, as you take courses in a variety of subjects and meet people in many different fields, you’ll naturally discover something about what you really enjoy doing and what career options you may choose to pursue.
On the other hand, help is available for discovering your interests, strengths, and personality factors related to careers. You can learn a lot about your options and what you would be good at by visiting your college’s advising or counseling department. Almost all colleges have tools to help you discover what careers you would most enjoy.
Figure 1.2
Talk with your advisor or visit the career counseling center to learn more about what future careers you may be interested in.
The Strong Interest Inventory is such an assessment tool used by many colleges and universities. You answer a series of simple questions, and the computer-scored tabulation provides information about your interests, strengths, and personality related to different types of careers. This tool can also suggest specific courses, jobs and internships, and extracurricular activities relevant to personal and career interests. Ask your college’s career counseling center if such a tool is available.
Another widely used tool is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI is a personality inventory that identifies you as one of sixteen distinct personality types. Each personality type correlates with happiness in certain careers. Ask your college’s career counselor to see if the MBTI is available for you.
A free online assessment, like the CareerLink Inventory (http://www.mpcfaculty.net/CL/climain.htm), is a relatively simple tool that can teach you a lot about yourself. Follow the steps in the “Outside the Book” section to maximize your results.
Although there’s nothing wrong with starting out without an intended major or career path, take care not to accidentally take courses that end up not counting toward your program goal or degree. You could end up in college longer than needed or have to pay for additional courses. Be sure to read your college catalog carefully and to talk to your academic advisor.
Your Past Educational Experience
It is important to understand how college is different from high school and how well your own past educational experiences have prepared you for what you will find in college. This is another way in which entering college “with your eyes wide open” will prove beneficial.
College is a unique experience for all students—whether you just graduated from high school or are returning to education after years of working. You are transitioning from one form of education to another. Some students have difficulty because of the differences between college and high school.
Generally speaking, however, the college experience is usually different from high school in these ways:
• Time management is more important in college because of varying class and work schedules and other time commitments.
• College instructors seldom seek you out to offer extra help if you’re falling behind. You are on your own and expected to do the work, meet deadlines, and so on, without someone looking over your shoulder.
• There may be no attendance policy for classes. You are expected to be mature enough to come to class without fear of penalties.
• Many classes are large, making it easy to feel lost in a crowd.
• Many instructors, especially in large classes, teach by lecture—which can be difficult for those whose high school teachers interacted a great deal with students.
• College courses require more study time and require you to work on your own.
• Your social and personal life in college may be less supervised. Younger students may experience a sudden increase in freedom to do what they want.
• You will meet more people from more diverse backgrounds in college.
• All of these differences, along with a change in living situation for many students, can lead to emotional changes—both positive and negative.
What does all this add up to? For some students, the sudden independence and freedom can lead in negative directions: sleeping late, skipping classes, missing deadlines, failing to study adequately for tests, and so on. Other students who are highly motivated and work hard in their classes may also have difficulty transitioning to the higher academic standards of college. Suddenly, you’re responsible for everything. That can be thrilling but also a challenge to get used to. All the chapters in this book will help you make this transition successfully.
Liking Yourself as a Student and Why That Matters
Of all the factors that affect how well one does in college, attitude is probably the single most important. A positive attitude leads to motivation, and someone who is strongly motivated to succeed can overcome obstacles that may occur.
In Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”, we’ll discuss things you can do to keep a positive attitude about college and stay motivated in your studies. But your attitude toward yourself as a student matters just as much. Now that you are in college, you are a new person, not just the same person who happens now to be a college student. What do you think of this new person?
If you’re feeling excited, enthusiastic, capable, and confident in your new life—great! Skip ahead to the next section. But if you’re less sure how well you’ll do in your new role, take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone. A lot of new college students, once they begin experiencing the differences from high school, start having doubts. Some may start to feel “I’m not a good enough student” or “I can’t keep up with all this.” Some may become fearful or apathetic.
These feelings, while a perfectly natural response to a big change in one’s life, can hinder one’s motivation and ability to succeed. If you think you can’t make it, that might become true. If you’re sure you’ll make it, you will.
Again, we’ll ask you to think honestly about this. If you have these thoughts sometimes, why is that? Are you just reacting to a low grade on your first test? Are you just feeling this way because you see other students who look like they know what they’re doing and you’re feeling out of place? Most likely, if you have doubts about being able to do well, this is just a reaction to college being more difficult than what you’re used to. It’s mostly a matter of having the right skills for succeeding in college. This book will help you learn them—everything from how to study effectively, how to do better on tests, even how to read your textbooks more effectively.
Why is it that some students need to work on strengthening their skills after beginning college while others seem to waltz right in and do well from the start?
The answer sounds simple but is actually rather complex. There simply are many differences among people. There are differences among high schools as well as one’s past teachers, one’s peer group, one’s family, one’s cultural background, and many other factors. As a result of many different things, some students just need a little more help to succeed in college. No student is better or automatically more capable than another, however, and everyone can learn the skills to succeed.
Self-Management
To succeed in college, you need to take control of your life. Gone are the days when you could just “cruise” through school, or life, or let others motivate you or establish schedules to manage your time. This change presents an exciting opportunity. It’s your first step in your new life and the key to your future. Here are a few thoughts to get you started in the right direction:
• Accept responsibility for your life. You are on equal footing with everyone else and have the same opportunities to succeed.
• Decide what you want to do. Don’t let things just happen—make them happen by deciding that they should happen.
• Realize you can change. You can change your habits to become a better student. You can change your attitudes and become a more positive, motivated student.
• Develop a personalethical code. Do what is right for you and for others. The college world demands ethical standards and rewards responsible, ethical behavior. Be proud of who you are and your good decisions.
• Enjoy your life! Going to college might seem overwhelming at times, but no one is asking you to “give up your life” to succeed in college. Enjoy meeting new people, learning new things, and experiencing the diversity of the college experience. Most college graduates look back on their college years as one of the best periods in their whole lives!
Key Takeaways
• A college education provides many intangible benefits as well as much better prospects for a career you will enjoy.
• Thinking about your personal values and how they relate to your education can help you stay motivated to succeed in college.
• Personality and skill inventories can help you discover the right career for your future and the best major in college.
• Because college is a new and different life experience for most students, taking responsibility for new freedoms and managing time well are critical.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Which of the following are benefits of a college education?
1. A better understanding of the world
2. Developing problem-solving skills
3. Meeting interesting people
4. Making wiser financial decisions in the future
5. All of the above
2. What do you value that will be richer in your future life because you will have a college education?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
What do you value that will you likely have less time or money to spend on while in college?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Life in college usually differs in many ways from one’s previous life in high school or in the workforce. What are the biggest changes you are experiencing now or anticipate experiencing this term?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false:
T F Attitude is one of the most important factors affecting college success.
T F If you sit back, wait patiently, and stick it out long enough, success in college will inevitably come to you.
T F To do well in college, you basically have to give up everything else in life for a while.
T F Most college graduates later look back on their college years as one of the best times in their lives. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/01%3A_You_and_Your_College_Experience/1.01%3A_Who_Are_You_Really.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand how you may be similar to, and different from, other traditional students or returning students.
2. Describe the characteristics of successful students.
Not all college students are the same, and the world of college is therefore sometimes different for different students. Students will answer the following questions in a variety of different ways:
1. Are you attending college directly from high school or within a year of graduation?
2. Are you a full-time student?
3. Is English your first language?
4. Are you the first person in your family to attend college?
5. Have you spent most of your life in a country other than the United States?
6. Are you married or living with a partner? Do you have children?
7. Do you now or have you worked full time?
When thinking about different “types” of students, be careful to avoid stereotyping. While there are genuine differences among individual students, we must never assume an individual person has certain characteristics simply because he or she is a certain “type” of student. For example, if you answered yes to questions 1 through 3 and no to the other questions, you may be called a “traditional” student—young and attending college after high school. The word “traditional” is used simply because, in the past, this group of students formed the majority of college students—even though, at many colleges, these students are now the minority. On the other hand, if you are older and have worked for some years before returning to school, or if you are an international student or are working and attending classes part time, you might be considered a “nontraditional” student. Again, this term comes from past statistics, even though very many colleges have more “nontraditional” students than “traditional” students.
Figure 1.3
Colleges have students of all ages and with diverse backgrounds.
What does that mean to you? First, realize that not everything discussed in this book will apply to you. If you’re eighteen and living away from your family for the first time in a college dormitory, you will likely not face the same issues of finding time for studying as an older student working full time and having children at home. If you’re thirty and returning to school after years of successfully managing a job, you may have to reestablish your study skills but will not face the same issues as a younger student who may be tempted by the sudden freedom of college and have difficulty setting boundaries.
Every student brings certain advantages to college from their background experience. Every student may also face certain kinds of difficulties. Understanding how your own background may impact your own preparedness for college can help you make a good start in your college experience.
“Traditional” Students
We’re putting the quotation marks around the word “traditional,” again, because this group of college students is no longer the majority at many colleges, although the term is still sometimes used by educators. Coming directly or almost directly from high school, “traditional” students are used to attending classes, reading textbooks, and studying and thus may find the transition to college easier. Many are single and unattached and have fewer time commitments to others. Although a high percentage do work while in college, the work is typically part time or during the summer and does not have a severe time impact on their studies. As first-year students, usually living on campus at a four-year college or university, they do not lose time to commuting and typically their housing plan includes meals and otherwise simplifies their living arrangements. In all, many have few responsibilities other than their academic work.
On the other hand, “traditional” students living away from home for the first time may face more psychological and social issues than other student groups. One is away from family and old friends, perhaps forced to cope with an incompatible roommate or living arrangements, and facing all sorts of new temptations. Experiencing this sudden new freedom, many students experiment with or develop habits such as poor dietary and sleep habits, lack of exercise, and sometimes substance abuse or other behaviors that disrupt their academic routine and study habits. Many young students are forced to “grow up” quickly after arriving at college. Some students who do not adjust to the freedoms of college end up dropping out in their first year.
Returning Students
Students returning to their education are often older, may have worked for a number of years, and may be used to living on their own and being financially and psychologically independent. They are often more mature and have a stronger sense of what they want from college; they may be more goal driven. They may be paying their own way through college and want to get their money’s worth. They may be full-time students but frequently are still working and can take only a part-time course load. They often live off campus and may own a home and have a mortgage. They may have children. Because they have made a very deliberate decision to go to college, returning students are often serious students and are motivated to do the work. Having spent time in the work world, they may also have developed good problem-solving and decision-making skills as a result of their “real-world” experience.
On the other hand, returning students may have less time for studying because of work and family commitments. They may feel more stress because of the time and financial requirements of college. Spending less time on campus may contribute to not feeling completely at home in the academic world. They may not have time for many extracurricular and campus activities. Although they may be dedicated and hardworking students, they may also be less patient learning “theory” in courses and want all their coursework to relate directly to the real world.
Other Student Groups
Beyond this difference of age, some other common differences also affect one’s college experience. Students in the following groups may be either “traditional” students by age or returning students.
Commuter Students
Many returning students are commuter students, and it is increasingly common also for many young people after high school to continue to live at home or in their own apartment, coming to campus only for classes. Commuter students often face the same issues of limited time as returning students. They may find it difficult to find time to talk with an instructor outside of class.
First-Generation Students
The phrase “first-generation student” refers to students who are the first in their families to attend college. These students may be “traditional” students enrolled right after high school or may be returning students. Students whose parents did not attend college may be less familiar with some or all aspects of the college experience and thus may have to transition into their new life.
Recent Immigrant and International Students
Many colleges have a significant percentage of students who have recently immigrated to the United States or who are attending college here. What both groups may have in common is coming from a different culture and possibly speaking English as a second language. They may have to make cultural adjustments and accommodations. Language issues are often the most serious obstacle to overcome, especially since so much of college education is based on reading and writing in English.
Students with Disabilities
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits colleges and universities from discriminating on the basis of disabilities and forces them to ensure that both classes and extracurricular activities are accessible to students with disabilities. Accessibility includes both physical accessibility to campus buildings and housing and accessibility to services and aids necessary for effective communication. Students with disabilities have the right to request any accommodations needed to allow them to succeed in college. For more information or to receive answers to any specific questions, contact the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD) at http://www.ahead.org.
Students Who Are Working
The key issue for working students often is time—how to find enough time for studying enough to do well in classes. Since it is very difficult to maintain two full-time schedules—work and school—one or the other may suffer. For those working long hours, Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track” presents many tips for managing your time when you have less of it; Chapter 11 “Taking Control of Your Finances” also suggests ways to cut back on expenses while in college so that you don’t have to work so many hours.
Students with a Family
Typically it is returning students who have families of their own, although younger students may also have families to care for. Having children of your own means you have different priorities from most some students, but a family shouldn’t be viewed as an obstacle to college success. Time may be short, and you’ll have to manage it carefully to avoid falling behind in your studies. Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track” describes some creative ways students can involve their families in the experience to prevent normal student stresses from disrupting family happiness.
Profile of a Successful Student
While it’s important to consider your strengths, it’s also important to develop a plan for moving forward and ensuring you have the knowledge and skills needed to succeed. The following are some of the characteristics of the successful student you can be:
• Successful students have a good attitude and know how to stay motivated. You will learn about this in Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”.
• Successful students have developed good time management strategies, such as scheduling study time and getting started early on assignments and projects. You will also learn about this in Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”.
• Successful students have developed their critical thinking skills and apply them in their studies. Chapter 3 “Thinking about Thought” gets you started in this direction.
• Successful students have effective strategies for taking good notes in class and using them. Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering” guides you through this learning process.
• Successful students have learned how to gain the most from their assigned readings for classes. Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn” presents guidelines for effective reading and taking notes to help you understand and retain information.
• Successful students know how to prepare for and take tests successfully. Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests” tells you what you need to know and presents tips for effective test taking.
• Successful students interact well with their instructors and fellow students in and outside of class. Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” helps you gain these skills.
• Successful students have learned to write well for their classes, an essential aspect of college education. Chapter 8 “Writing for Classes” introduces key principles of effective college writing to get you started.
• Successful students develop social relationships that contribute to, rather than detract from, their educational experiences. Chapter 9 “The Social World of College” will show you how to manage your social life.
• Successful students take control of their health with good habits that help them be better students and feel less stress. Chapter 10 “Taking Control of Your Health” can help you get started on good habits.
• Successful students have control over their finances. Because getting into debt is a very common reason that students have to drop out of college, it’s important to control expenditures and manage your finances well, as we’ll see in Chapter 11 “Taking Control of Your Finances”.
• Successful students are able to transition well from the world of college into their future careers. You will learn these important principles in Chapter 12 “Taking Control of Your Future” to carry forward into your future.
Key Takeaways
• College students vary widely in terms of age, work experience before college, cultural background, family, and other factors that may affect how they learn.
• Traditional, young students just out of high school face a transition involving new freedoms and new situations they may need to master in order to succeed academically.
• Returning students who work and may also have family responsibilities often have time issues and may feel out of place in the college environment.
• Other student groups include commuters, first-generation students, immigrant and international students, students with disabilities, and others, each of whom may need to face additional issues to be successful.
• Regardless of individual differences, all successful students share a number of traits, including a good attitude, effective time management strategies, good studying and test-taking skills, and more.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Are you a “traditional” or “returning” student? List an important advantage you have as a result of being in this classification:
__________________________________________________________________
2. Check off which traits in this list are true of successful students:
They know how to stay motivated.
They don’t need to schedule study periods because they study at every available moment every day.
They know better than to try to think on their own.
They know how to speed-read so they don’t have to underline or highlight in their textbooks.
They avoid talking with their instructors, so they can remain anonymous.
They develop their writing skills.
They eat fast food so they have more time for studying.
They have few friends, because social relationships distract one from academics.
They use several credit cards so they don’t have to worry about finances until after graduation. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/01%3A_You_and_Your_College_Experience/1.02%3A_Different_Worlds_of_Different_Students.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand and make effective use of the four steps of the learning process.
2. Describe the different learning styles of different college students and recognize your own learning preferences.
3. Know how to benefit from your own learning style and how to expand your learning skills with the techniques of other styles.
4. Take action to learn effectively when your learning style differs from your instructor’s teaching style.
One of the first steps for becoming a successful student is to understand the learning process itself. Certain characteristics of effective learning, including the four-step learning cycle, are true of all people. At the same time, people have different learning styles. Understanding these processes is important for maximizing your own learning while in college.
The Learning Cycle: Four Steps to Learning
Adult learning is different from learning in primary and secondary school. In high school, teachers often take much of the responsibility for how students learn—encouraging learning with class discussions, repeating key material, creating study guides, and looking over students’ shoulders to make sure no one falls behind. In college, most of the responsibility for learning falls on the student. You’re free to fail—or succeed—as you choose. This applies as well to how well you learn.
Learning an academic subject means really understanding it, being able to think about it in meaningful ways and to apply that understanding in new situations. This is very different from simply memorizing something and repeating it back on a test. Academic learning occurs most effectively in a cycle of four steps:
1. Preparing
2. Absorbing
3. Capturing
4. Reviewing
Think first about the different situations in which you learn. Obviously you learn during class, whether by listening to the instructor speak or in class discussions in which you participate. But you also learn while reading your textbooks and other materials outside of class. You learn when you talk with an instructor during office hours. You learn by talking with other students informally in study groups. You learn when you study your class notes before an exam. All of these different learning situations involve the same four-step process.
Figure 1.4 The Learning Cycle
Prepare
One student rolls out of bed a few minutes before class and dashes across campus and grabs the last seat in the hall just as the instructor begins a lecture; it takes him a few minutes to find the right notebook in his backpack, and then he can’t find a pencil. He’s thinking about how he should’ve set his alarm a little earlier so he’d have had time to grab a cup of coffee, since he’s having trouble waking up. Finally he settles in his seat and starts listening, but now he can’t figure out what the instructor is talking about. He starts jotting down phrases in his notes anyway, thinking he’ll figure it out later.
Another student looks over his notes from the previous class and quickly glances back at passages he’d highlighted in the textbook reading. He arrives at class a few minutes early, sits up front where he can hear well, and has his notebook open and pencil out. While waiting for the instructor to arrive, he talks to another student about her ideas for the paper due next week in this class.
It’s obvious which of these students will learn more during today’s class lecture. One has prepared and the other has not, and they will experience a huge difference in their understanding of today’s topic. Preparing to learn is the first step for learning. The same is true when you sit down to read your textbook, to study for an exam, or to work on an out-of-class project. Partly you are putting yourself in the right mind-set to learn. But when you review yesterday’s notes to prepare for today’s class, you are also solidifying yesterday’s learning.
Absorb
“Absorbing” refers to the actual taking in of new ideas, information, or experience. This is what happens at the moment a student listens to a class lecture or reads a textbook. In high school, this is sometimes the only learning step taken by some students. They listened to what the instructor said and “regurgitated” it back on the test. But this won’t work in college because learning now requires understanding the topic, not just repeating facts or information. In coming chapters you’ll get tips for improving in this step.
Capture
“Capturing” refers to taking notes. No matter how good your memory, you need to take good notes in college simply because there is so much to learn. Just hearing something once is seldom enough. You have to go back over the material again, sometimes several times again, thinking about it and seeing how it all fits together.
The more effective your note-taking skills, the better your learning abilities. Take notes also when reading your textbooks. You’ll learn methods for taking good notes in later chapters.
Review
The step of reviewing—your class notes, your textbook reading and notes, and any other course materials possibly including recordings, online media, podcasts, and so on—is the next step for solidifying your learning and reaching a real understanding of the topic. Reviewing is also a way to prepare for new information and ideas. That’s why this is a learning cycle: the end of the process loops back to the beginning as you prepare for additional learning.
Reviewing is also the step in which you discover whether you really understand the material. If you do not understand something fully, you may need to reread a section of the book, talk it over with a friend in the class, or go see your instructor.
What’s Your Learning Style?
Different people have different learning styles. Style refers to a student’s specific learning preferences and actions. One student may learn more effectively from listening to the instructor. Another learns more effectively from reading the textbook, while another student benefits most from charts, graphs, and images the instructor presents during a lecture.
Learning style is important in college. Each different style, described later in more detail, has certain advantages and disadvantages compared with other styles. None is “right” or “wrong.” You can learn to use your own style more effectively.
College instructors also have different teaching styles, which may or may not match up well with your learning style. Although you may personally learn best from a certain style of teaching, you cannot expect that your instructors will use exactly the style that is best for you. Therefore it is important to know how to adapt to teaching styles used in college.
Different systems have been used to describe the different ways in which people learn. Some describe the differences between how extroverts (outgoing, gregarious, social people) and introverts (quiet, private, contemplative people) learn. Some divide people into “thinkers” and “feelers.” A popular theory of different learning styles is Howard Gardner’s “multiple intelligences,” based on eight different types of intelligence:
1. Verbal (prefers words)
2. Logical (prefers math and logical problem solving)
3. Visual (prefers images and spatial relationships)
4. Kinesthetic (prefers body movements and doing)
5. Rhythmic (prefers music, rhymes)
6. Interpersonal (prefers group work)
7. Intrapersonal (prefers introspection and independence)
8. Naturalist (prefers nature, natural categories)
The multiple intelligences approach recognizes that different people have different ways, or combinations of ways, of relating to the world.
Another approach to learning styles is called the VARK approach, which focuses on learning through different senses (Visual, Aural, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic):
• Visual learners prefer images, charts, and the like.
• Aural learners learn better by listening.
• Reading/writing learners learn better through written language.
• Kinesthetic learners learn through doing, practicing, and acting.
You can take a free, self-scored online assessment of your VARK learning style at http://www.businessballs.com/freepdfmaterials/vak_learning_styles_questionnaire.pdf.
There are still more systems used by educators to describe the various ways in which people learn. All of these systems can help you learn more about how you as an individual person and college student learn best. You can use the online assessment in the “Outside the Book” section at the end of this chapter to learn more about your style.
Just knowing your style, however, doesn’t automatically provide a solution for how to do your best in your college courses. For example, although you may be a kinesthetic learner, you’ll likely still have textbook reading assignments (verbal learning) as well as lecture classes (listening). All students need to adapt to other ways of learning.
The following sections look at the key ways in which learning occurs in college classes and offer some suggestions about how to adapt your strengths for success.
Reading
Reading skills are critically important in college. Most classes involve reading assignments. Although many instructors may cover some of the textbook’s content in lectures or class discussions, students cannot skip the reading assignments and expect to do well.
If your personal learning style is verbal and independent—that is, if you learn well by sitting alone and reading—then you will likely not have difficulty with your college reading. Here are some tips to help maximize your learning:
• Underline and highlight key ideas when reading.
• Take good notes on your reading, using your own words.
• Write descriptions that summarize information presented in nonverbal modes, such as through charts and graphs.
• Do all optional and supplemental readings.
• Take good notes in class, as you may remember more from your written words than from the instructor’s spoken words.
• If a class involves significant nonreading learning, such as learning hands-on physical processes, study with other students who are kinesthetic or “doing” learners.
If you have a different learning style, then you may need to give more attention to your reading skills. Always allow plenty of time for reading assignments—rushing makes it harder to understand what you are reading. Do your reading at times of the day when you are most alert. Find a quiet, comfortable place conducive to reading.
Try also to maximize your learning through your personal style. If you learn better by listening, for example, sit up front in lecture classes where you can see and hear the instructor better. If needed, ask if you can tape-record an instructor’s lectures and then listen again at a convenient time, such as when commuting to class or work. If you are more of a visual learner, sit in class where you can see PowerPoint slides and other visual presentations most clearly. Use a visual approach in your class notes, as described in Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”. Check out whether video podcasts may be available for reviewing lectures. Try to relate all of these visual images to the textbook’s content when you’re reading an assignment. In addition, pay special attention to illustrations and diagrams in the book, which will further help you understand the written ideas and information. If you are more of an interpersonal learner, form a study group with other students and talk with others about the course topics. Take advantage of your instructors’ office hours to help clarify your understanding after reading assignments.
Listening
Listening skills are as important in college as reading skills. College students are expected to listen to their instructors in class and remember and understand what is said. In discussion classes, listening is important also for participating well in discussions.
Figure 1.5
Many college classes involve lectures.
If your personal learning style favors listening, then you may already be good at understanding class lectures. Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering” provides tips to help you pay close attention, take good notes, and recall the information and ideas you have heard. Here are some more tips:
Figure 1.6
Instructors often use visual aids to help explain concepts and ideas. This helps students with visual learning styles.
• Sit where you can best hear the instructor, away from other distractions.
• Study with other students and listen to what they say about the course material. Hearing them talk from their class notes may be more helpful than reviewing your own written notes.
• Record lectures and listen to them again later when reviewing material before a test.
• When studying, read your notes aloud. Review previous tests by reading the questions aloud and speaking your answers. If a section in your textbook seems confusing, read it aloud.
• Talk with your instructor if you feel you are not understanding course readings.
• Use rhymes or acronyms to recall verbal information. For more information, see Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”.
• Explore supplemental learning aids, such as audio and video podcasts (even from other colleges and universities) on the course’s subject matter.
Seeing
A “seeing” learner learns more effectively through seeing than through reading or listening. Some college courses include demonstrations and physical processes that can be observed. If you are a visual learner, work on developing your reading and listening skills, too, because you will need to learn in these ways as well. Here are some tips to improve learning related to seeing:
• Pay special attention in class to visual presentations, such as charts, diagrams, and images.
• Take lecture notes using a visual approach. Do the same when taking notes on class readings. Use diagrams, different colors, lists, and sketches to help you remember. For more information, see Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”.
• Use video podcasts or other visual aids for reviewing lectures.
• Pay special attention to your textbooks’ illustrations and diagrams.
• If your instructor or textbook uses few visuals to help you understand and recall information and ideas, try to imagine how you would present this information visually to others if you were giving a class presentation. In your notes, create sketches for a PowerPoint slideshow capturing the highlights of the material.
• Study with other students who may learn better by reading or listening, and watch how they explain the material.
Doing
People who learn best by doing are often attracted to careers with a strong physical or hands-on component, which can vary from athletics to engineering. But these students may need to use other learning skills as well. Here are some tips to help maximize your learning related to doing:
• Try to engage all your senses when learning. Even when reading about something, try to imagine what it would feel like if you touched it, how it might smell, how you could physically manipulate it, and so forth.
• Think about how you yourself would teach the topic you are presently learning. What visuals could you make to demonstrate the idea or information? Imagine a class lecture as a train of boxcars and think about what things you would put in those cars to represent the lecture topics.
• When it becomes difficult to concentrate when reading while sitting in a quiet place, get up and move around while studying; make gestures as you read aloud.
• Use your hands to create a range of study aids rather than just taking notes: make charts, posters, flash cards, and so on.
• When taking notes, sketch familiar shapes around words and phrases to help you remember them. Try to associate abstract ideas with concrete examples.
• The act of writing—handwriting more than typing at a keyboard—may increase retention; write key things several times.
• Study with other students who may learn better by reading or listening.
Feeling
Feeling learners focus on the emotional side of information and learn through personal connections. Too often they may feel that a college textbook or a class is “dry” or “boring” if it focuses exclusively on written information. In addition to improving their reading and listening skills, students with this style can enrich their learning by focusing on what they and others feel about the information and ideas being learned. Here are some tips to help maximize your learning related to feeling:
• Try to establish an emotional connection with the topic you are learning. In a history class, for example, imagine yourself as someone living in the period you are studying: what would you feel about the forces at work in your life? In a science class, think about what the implications of a particular scientific principle or discovery might mean for you as a person or how you yourself might have felt if you had been the scientist making that discovery.
• Talk with your instructor during office hours. Express your enthusiasm and share your feelings about the subject. Even instructors who may seem “dry” in a lecture class often share their feelings toward their subject in conversation.
• Do supplemental reading about the people involved in a subject you’re studying. For example, reading an online biographical sketch of a historical figure, scientist, or theorist may open your eyes to a side of the subject you hadn’t seen before and increase your learning.
• Study with other students who may learn better by reading or listening. Talk with them in a personal way about what the material means to them. Try teaching them about the topic while explaining your feelings about it.
• Also try the strategies listed for the “doing” learning style.
Your Style, Your Instructor’s Style
Many college classes tend to focus on certain learning styles. Instructors in large lecture classes, for example, generally emphasize listening carefully and reading well. Don’t worry, however, if these are not your particular strengths, for much of this book focuses on learning study skills and other college skills related to these activities. Take responsibility for your own learning, rather than expecting the instructor to help you through the subject in your own personal way. For example, if you are a visual learner but your instructor simply stands at a podium and lectures, then provide your own visual stimulation by sketching concept maps in your notes or by visualizing how information being presented might look in a pie chart or graph. For more information, see Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”.
As you move further into your college curriculum, you will likely have more small classes with class discussions, demonstrations, group presentations, and other learning activities. Once you are in classes closely related to a career path that interests you, you will find your personal style more relevant to the kinds of material you will be learning.
Much learning in college also comes from interactions with others, who often have different learning styles. Be open to interacting with other students and instructors who are different from you, and you will find yourself learning in ways that may be new to you.
Finally, if a genuine mismatch is occurring between your learning style and your instructor’s teaching style to the extent that you may not succeed in a course, talk to your instructor privately during office hours. You can explain how you best learn and ask for suggestions about other resources that may help you.
Key Takeaways
• People learn through a four-step process, and you can maximize your learning by conscientiously applying all steps throughout college.
• The first step of the learning cycle is to prepare in advance for classes, reading, tests, and other learning.
• The second step is to absorb information and ideas effectively during classes, reading, and other learning experiences.
• The third step, capturing, typically involves taking notes on the learning experience to increase understanding and retention.
• The fourth step is to review your notes, to help solidify the learning and to prepare for repeating the cycle in the next class or reading assignment.
• People have natural learning preferences, affecting how they learn best, such as learning by reading, by listening, by seeing, by doing, and by feeling.
• Students should learn how to use their own learning style to their best advantage while also becoming flexible and working to develop other learning styles.
• Because your learning style may not match your instructor’s teaching style, you need to be flexible and work to develop new learning strategies essential for college success.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Number each the following actions to put them in the correct order of the four steps of the learning cycle:
• ___ Review your class notes to make sure you understand.
• ___ Listen carefully to what your instructor says.
• ___ Prepare for today’s class by looking over your notes on the reading you did for today.
• ___ Take effective notes.
2. How would you describe your personal learning style?
__________________________________________________________________
Name an activity from which you generally learn very well.
__________________________________________________________________
Name a type of learning experience you may have difficulty with.
__________________________________________________________________
For the activity above, list at least two strategies you can use to improve your learning effectiveness when in that situation next time.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. If you experience a situation in which your personal learning style seems to clash hopelessly with an instructor’s teaching style, what is your best course of action?
1. Ask the instructor to teach in a different way.
2. Drop the class.
3. Adapt your style or study with other students.
4. Complain to the dean. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/01%3A_You_and_Your_College_Experience/1.03%3A_How_You_Learn.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe differences between large and small college classes and discuss the implications for learning.
2. Understand courses within your own college program: core courses, electives, and major courses.
3. Describe different skills needed for online courses.
4. Know how to learn your college’s policies and understand their importance.
5. Know what resources your college makes available to students and how to access them.
Big Classes, Small Classes
While most high school classes are fairly small, many college classes are large—up to several hundred students in a large lecture class. Other classes you may take will be as small as high school classes. In large lecture classes you may feel totally anonymous—even invisible—in a very large class. This feeling can get some students in trouble, however. Here are some common mistaken assumptions and attitudes about large classes:
• The instructor won’t notice me sitting there, so I can check e-mail or read for a different class if I get bored.
• The instructor doesn’t know my name or recognize me, so I don’t even need to go to class as long as I can borrow someone’s notes to find out what happens.
• I hate listening to lectures, so I might as well think about something else because I’m not going to learn anything this way anyway.
These comments all share the same flawed attitude about college: it’s up to the instructor to teach in an entertaining way if I am to learn at all—and it’s actually the college’s or instructor’s fault that I’m stuck in this large class, so they’re to blame if I think about or do other things. But remember, in college, you take responsibility for your own learning. Sure, a student is free to try to sleep in a lecture class, or not attend the class at all—the same way a student is “free” to fail any class he or she chooses!
Figure 1.7
In a lecture class, avoid the temptation to cruise the Web or engage in other activities that will distract you from paying attention.
If you dislike large lecture classes but can’t avoid them, the best solution is to learn how to learn in such a situation. Later chapters will give you tips for improving this experience. Just remember that it’s up to you to stay actively engaged in your own learning while in college—it’s not the instructor’s job to entertain you enough to “make” you learn.
There is one thing you need to know right away. Even in a lecture hall holding three hundred students, your instructors do know who you are. They may not know your name right away or even by the end of the term, but they see you sitting there, doing whatever you are doing, looking wherever you are looking—and will form a distinct impression of you. Instructors do have academic integrity and won’t lower your grade on an exam because you slept once in class, but the impression you make just might affect how far instructors go out of their way to offer a helping hand. Interacting with instructors is a crucial part of education—and the primary way students learn. Successful interaction begins with good communication and mutual respect. If you want your instructors to respect you, then you need to show respect for them and their classes as well.
Core Courses, Electives, Majors, and Credits
Every college has its own course requirements for different programs and degrees. This information is available in a printed course catalog or online. While academic advisors are generally assigned to students to help them plot their path through college and take the most appropriate courses, you should also take this responsibility yourself to ensure you are registering for courses that fit well into your plan for a program completion or degree. In general there are three types of courses:
1. Core courses, sometimes called “general education requirements,” involve a range of courses from which you can choose to meet this general requirement. You may need to take one or more English classes and possibly math or foreign language requirements. You will need a certain number of credits or course hours in certain types of core courses, but you can often choose among various specific courses for how you meet these requirements.
2. Required courses in your major are determined by individual academic departments. Whether you choose to major in English, math, engineering, history, a health field, chemistry, business, or any other field, your individual department sets specific required courses you must take and gives you options for a required additional number of credits in the department. You may not need to declare a major for a while, but this is something you can start thinking about now.
3. Electives are courses you choose freely to complete the total number of college credits needed for your program or degree. How many electives you may take, how they “count” toward your total, and what kinds of courses are acceptable as electives all vary considerably among different schools and programs.
Most important is that you understand what courses you need and how each counts. Study the college catalog carefully and be sure to talk things over fully with your advisor. Don’t just sign up for courses that sound interesting—you might end up taking courses that don’t count toward your degree at all.
In addition, each term you may have to choose how many courses or hours to take. Colleges have rules about the maximum number of hours allowed for full-time students, but this maximum may in fact be more than you are prepared to manage—especially if you work or have other responsibilities. Taking a light course load, while allowing more time for studying and other activities, could add up over time and result in an extra full year of college (or more!)—at significant additional expense. Part-time students often face decisions based more on time issues. Everyone’s situation is unique, however, and all students should talk this issue over with their advisor each year or term.
Online Courses
Most colleges now offer some online courses or regular courses with an online component. You experience an online course via a computer rather than a classroom. Many different variations exist, but all online courses share certain characteristics, such as working independently and communicating with the instructor (and sometimes other students) primarily through written computer messages. If you have never taken an online course, carefully consider what’s involved to ensure you will succeed in the course.
• You need to own or have frequent access to a recent model of computer with a high-speed Internet connection.
• Without the set hours of a class, you need to be self-motivating to schedule your time to participate regularly.
• Without an instructor or other students in the room, you need to be able to pay attention effectively to the computer screen. Learning on a computer is not as simple as passively watching television! Take notes.
• Without reminders in class and peer pressure from other students, you’ll need to take responsibility to complete all assignments and papers on time.
• Since your instructor will evaluate you primarily through your writing, you need good writing skills for an online course. If you believe you need to improve your writing skills, put off taking an online course until you feel better prepared.
• You must take the initiative to ask questions if you don’t understand something.
• You may need to be creative to find other ways to interact with other students in the course. You could form a study group and get together regularly in person with other students in the same course.
Figure 1.8
Online courses are increasingly common at colleges and require independent learning.
If you feel you are ready to take on these responsibilities and are attracted to the flexibility of an online course and the freedom to schedule your time in it, see what your college has available.
Class Attendance and Promptness
In some classes at some colleges, attendance is required and absences can affect one’s grade in the course. But even when attendance is not required, missing classes will inevitably affect your grade as well. You’re not learning if you’re not there. Reading another student’s notes is not the same.
Arriving to class promptly is also important. Walking into a class that has already begun is rude to the instructor (remember what we said earlier about the impression you may be making) and to other students. A mature student respects the instructor and other students and in turn receives respect back.
College Policies
A college campus is almost like a small town—or country—unto itself. The campus has its own police force, its own government, its own stores, its own ID cards, its own parking rules, and so on. Colleges also have their own policies regarding many types of activities and behaviors. Students who do not understand the rules can sometimes find themselves in trouble.
The most important academic policy is academic honesty. Cheating is taken very seriously. Some high school students may have only received a slap on the wrist if caught looking at another student’s paper during a test or turning in a paper containing sentences or paragraphs found online or purchased from a “term-paper mill.” In many colleges, academic dishonesty like this may result in automatic failure of the course—or even expulsion from college. The principle of academic honesty is simple: every student must do his or her own work. If you have any doubt of what this means for a paper you are writing, a project you are doing with other students, or anything else, check the college Web site for its policy statements or talk with your instructor.
Colleges also have policies about alcohol and drug use, sexual harassment, hazing, hate crimes, and other potential problems. Residence halls have policies about noise limits, visitors, hours, structural and cosmetic alterations of university property, and so on. The college registrar has policies about course add and drop dates, payment schedules and refunds, and the like. Such policies are designed to ensure that all students have the same right to a quality education—one not unfairly interrupted by the actions of others. You can find these policies on the college Web site or in the catalog.
College Resources
To be successful in college, you need to be fully informed and make wise decisions about the courses you register for, college policies, and additional resources. Always remember that your college wants you to succeed. That means that if you are having any difficulties or have any questions whose answers you are unsure about, there are college resources available to help you get assistance or find answers. This is true of both academic and personal issues that could potentially disrupt your college experience. Never hesitate to go looking for help or information—but realize that usually you have to take the first step.
The college catalog has already been mentioned as a great source of many kinds of information. You should have an updated catalog every year or know where to find it online.
The college’s Web site is the second place to look for help. Students are often surprised to see how much information is available online, including information about college programs, offices, special assistance programs, and so on, as well as helpful information such as studying tips, personal health, financial help, and other resources. Take some time to explore your college’s Web site and learn what is available—this could save you a lot of time in the future if you experience any difficulty.
In addition, many colleges have offices or individuals that can help in a variety of ways. Following are some of the resources your college may have. Learn more about your college’s resources online or by visiting the office of student services or the dean of students.
• Academic advising office. This office helps you choose courses and plan your program or degree. You should have a personal meeting at least once every term.
• Counseling office. This office helps with personal problems, including health, stress management, interpersonal issues, and so on.
• Financial aid office. If you are presently receiving financial aid or may qualify for assistance, you should know this office well.
• Tutoring or skill centers. The title of this resource varies among colleges, but most have special places where students can go for additional help for their courses. There may be a separate math center, writing center, or general study skills center.
• Computer lab. Before almost all students became skilled in computer use and had their own computers, colleges built labs where students could use campus computers and receive training or help resolving technical problems. Many campuses still maintain computer centers to assist students with technical issues.
• Student health clinic. In addition to providing some basic medical care and making referrals, most college student health centers also help with issues such as diet and exercise counseling, birth control services, and preventive health care.
• Career guidance or placement office. This center can help you find a student job or internship, plan for your career after graduation, and receive career counseling.
Figure 1.9
Your college has many resources and many professionals available to help you with any issue that may affect your success as a student.
• Office for students with disabilities. This office may provide various services to help students with disabilities adapt within the college environment.
• Housing office. This office not only controls campus residential housing but often assists students to find off-campus private accommodations.
• Diversity office. This office promotes cultural awareness on campus, runs special programs, and assists diverse students with adjusting to campus culture.
• Office of student affairs or student organizations. Participating in a group of like-minded students often supports academic success.
• Athletic center. Most colleges have exercise equipment, pools, courts and tracks, and other resources open to all students. Take advantage of this to improve or maintain your personal health, which promotes academic success.
• Other specialized offices for student populations. These may include an office supporting students who speak English as a second language, adult students returning to college, international students, religious students, students with children (possibly a child-care center), veterans of the armed services, students preparing for certain types of careers, and so on.
• Your instructors. It never hurts to ask a friendly instructor if he or she knows of any additional college resources you haven’t yet discovered. There may be a brand new program on campus, or a certain department may offer a service not widely promoted through the college Web site.
Everyone needs help at some time—you should never feel embarrassed or ashamed to seek help. Remember that a part of your tuition and fees are going to these offices, and you have every right to take advantage of them.
Key Takeaways
• Even in large lecture classes, attendance is important, along with forming a good impression and paying attention.
• Study the college catalog and talk with your advisor to ensure you understand the role of core classes, electives, and major courses in your program or degree requirements.
• Online courses offer another option in many colleges but require a certain preparedness and a heightened sense of responsibility.
• To avoid inadvertently finding yourself in trouble, know your college’s policies for academic issues and campus behavior.
• Taking advantage of the many resources your college offers to help you with a wide range of academic and personal matters is essential for success in college.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false:
T F If your instructor in a large lecture class is boring, there’s nothing you can do except to try to stay awake and hope you never have him or her for another class.
T F In a large lecture hall, if you sit near the back and pretend to listen, you can write e-mails or send text messages without your instructor noticing.
2. List three things a college student should be good at in order to succeed in an online course.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Use your imagination and describe three different actions that would violate of your college’s academic honesty policy.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Where on campus would you first go for help choosing your courses for next term?
__________________________________________________________________
For help with your math class?
__________________________________________________________________
For a problem coping with a lot of stress?
__________________________________________________________________
To learn about your options for student loans?
__________________________________________________________________
To find a better apartment?
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/01%3A_You_and_Your_College_Experience/1.04%3A_What_Is_College_Really.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand that success in college means much more in the long term than simply passing or getting good grades.
2. Describe situations in which grades do matter—and why it’s important to do as well as you can.
3. Describe why it is so important to be successful in your first year of college.
4. List steps you can begin taking immediately to ensure your success.
Success in college is the theme of this book—and you’ll be learning more about everything involved in success in the following chapters. Let’s first define what success really means so that you can get started, right now, on the right foot.
Understand first that no book can “make” you be successful—it can only offer the tools for you to use if you want. What are you thinking right now as you read these words? Are you reading this right now only because you have to, because it is assigned reading in a course you have to take—and your mind keeps drifting to other things because you’re feeling bored? Or are you interested because you’ve decided you want to succeed in college?
We hope it’s the latter, that you’re feeling motivated—and excited, too—to do a great job in college. But even if you aren’t much concerned at present about these issues, we hope you’ll keep reading and do some thinking about why you’re in college and how to get motivated to do well.
“Success” and “Failure”
So what does “success” actually mean in college? Good grades? That’s what many students would say—at least toward the beginning of their time in college.
When you ask people about their college experience a few years later, grades are seldom one of the first things mentioned. College graduates reflecting back typically emphasize the following:
• The complete college experience (often described as “the best years of my life”)
• Exploring many different subjects and discovering one’s own interests
• Meeting a lot of interesting people, learning about different ways to live
• Learning how to make decisions and solve problems that are now related to a career
• Gaining the skills needed to get the job—and life—one desires
When you are achieving what you want in life and when you are happy and challenged and feel you are living life to its fullest and contributing to the world, then you likely feel successful. When you reach this point, your grades in college are about the last thing you’ll think of.
This is not to say that grades don’t matter—just that getting good grades is not the ultimate goal of college or the best way to define personal success while in college. Five or ten years from now, no one is going to care much about what grade you got in freshman English or Biology 101. A successful college experience does include acceptable grades, of course, but in the end—in your long-range goals—grades are only one component of a larger picture.
How Much Do Grades Matter?
As you begin your college experience, it’s good to think about your attitude toward grades, since grades often motivate students to study and do well on assignments.
Valuing grades too highly, or not highly enough, can cause problems. A student who is determined to get only the highest grades can easily be frustrated by difficult college classes. Expectations that are too high may lead to disappointment—possibly depression or anxiety—and may become counterproductive. At the other extreme, a student who is too relaxed about grades, who is content simply with passing courses, may not be motivated to study enough even to pass—and may be at risk for failing courses.
What is a good attitude to have toward grades? The answer to that depends in part on how grades do matter generally—and specifically in your own situation. Here are some ways grades clearly do matter:
• At most colleges, all students must maintain a certain grade point average (GPA) to be allowed to continue taking courses and to graduate.
• Financial aid and scholarship recipients must maintain a certain grade in all courses, or a minimum GPA overall, to continue receiving their financial award.
• In some programs, the grade in certain courses must be higher than simply passing in order to count toward the program or major.
After graduation, it may be enough in some careers just to have completed the program or degree. But in most situations, how well one did in college may still affect one’s life. Employers often ask how well you did in college (new graduates at least—this becomes less important after one has gained more job experience). Students who are proud of their grades usually include their GPA on their résumés. Students with a low GPA may avoid including it on their resume, but employers may ask on the company’s application form or in an interview (and being caught in a lie can lead to being fired). An employer who asks for a college transcript will see all your grades, not just the overall GPA.
In addition to the importance for jobs, grades matter if you plan to continue to graduate school, professional school, or other educational programs—all of which require your transcript.
Certainly grades are not the only way people are judged, but along with all forms of experience (work, volunteer, internship, hobbies) and personal qualities and the recommendations of others, they are an important consideration. After all, an employer may think, if this person goofed off so much in college that he got low grades, how can I expect him not to goof off on the job?
How to Calculate Your GPA
Because of various requirements for maintaining a GPA at a certain level, you may need to know how to calculate your GPA before grades come out at the end of the term. The math is not difficult, but you need to consider both the grade in every course and the number of credit hours for that course in order to calculate the overall GPA. Here is how you would do the calculation in the traditional four-point scale. First, translate each letter grade to a numerical score:
A = 4
B = 3
C = 2
D = 1
Then multiply each grade’s numerical score by the number of units or hours for that course:
B in Math 101 × 5 hours = 3 × 5 = 15
B in English 4 × 3 hours = 3 × 3 = 9
C in Humanities 1 × 5 hours = 2 × 5 = 10
A in College Success × 3 hours = 4 × 3 = 12
Then add together those numbers for each course:
15 + 9 + 10 + 12 = 46.
Then divide that total by the total number of credit hours:
46 / 16 = 2.87 = GPA of 2.87.
Consult your college’s policies regarding the numeric weighting of + and − grades.
The best attitude to take toward grades in college is simply to do the best you can do. You don’t need to kill yourself, but if you’re not going to make an effort then there’s not much reason to be there in the first place. Almost everything in this book—from time management to study skills to social skills and staying healthy—will contribute to your overall success and, yes, to getting better grades.
If you have special concerns about grades, such as feeling unprepared in certain classes and at risk of failing, talk with your academic advisor. If a class requires more preparation than you have from past courses and experience, you might be urged to drop that class and take another—or to seek extra help. Your advisor can help you work through any individual issues related to doing well and getting the best grade you can.
Can You Challenge a Grade?
Yes and no. College instructors are very careful about how they assign grades, which are based on clear-cut standards often stated in the course syllabus. The likelihood of an instructor changing your grade if you challenge it is very low. On the other hand, we’re all human—mistakes can occur, and if you truly feel a test or other score was miscalculated, you can ask your instructor to review the grade. Just be sure to be polite and respectful.
Most situations in which students want to challenge a grade, however, result from a misunderstanding regarding the expectations of the grading scale or standards used. Students may simply feel they deserve a higher grade because they think they understand the material well or spent a lot of time studying or doing the assignment. The instructor’s grade, however, is based on your actual responses on a test, a paper or other assignment. The instructor is grading not what he or she thinks is in your head, but what you actually wrote down.
If you are concerned that your grade does not accurately reflect your understanding or effort, you should still talk with your instructor—but your goal should be not to argue for a grade change but to gain a better understanding of the course’s expectations so that you’ll do better next time. Instructors do respect students who want to improve. Visit the instructor during office hours or ask for an appointment and prepare questions ahead of time to help you better understand how your performance can improve and better indicate how well you understand the material.
A major aspect of college for some students is learning how to accept criticism. Your college instructors hold you to high standards and expect you to have the maturity to understand that a lower grade is not a personal attack on you and not a statement that you’re not smart enough to do the work. Since none of us is perfect, we all can improve in almost everything we do—and the first step in that direction is accepting evaluation of our work. If you receive a grade lower than you think you have earned, take the responsibility to learn what you need to do to earn a higher grade next time.
Succeeding in Your First Year
The first year of college is almost every student’s most crucial time. Statistics show a much higher drop-out rate in the first year than thereafter. Why? Because for many students, adjusting to college is not easy. Students wrestle with managing their time, their freedom, and their other commitments to family, friends, and work. It’s important to recognize that it may not be easy for you.
On the other hand, when you do succeed in your first year, the odds are very good that you’ll continue to succeed and will complete your program or degree.
Are you ready? Remember that everything in this book will help you succeed in your first year. Motivation and a positive attitude are the keys to getting off to a running start. The next section lists some things you can do to start right now, today, to ensure your success.
Getting Started on the Right Foot Right Now
• Make an appointment to talk with your academic advisor if you have any doubt about the courses you have already enrolled in or about the direction you’re taking. Start examining how you spend your time and ensure you make enough time to keep up with your courses.
• Check for tutoring assistance if you feel you may need it and make an appointment or schedule time to visit tutoring centers on your college campus to see what help you can get if needed.
• Like yourself. You’ve come a long way to reach this point, you have succeeded in taking this first step toward meeting your college goal, and you are fully capable of succeeding the rest of the way. Avoid the trap of feeling down on yourself if you’re struggling with any classes.
• Pay attention to your learning style and your instructors’ teaching styles. Begin immediately applying the guidelines discussed earlier for situations in which you do not feel you are learning effectively.
• Plan ahead. Check your syllabus for each class and highlight the dates of major assignments and tests. Write on your calendar the important dates coming up.
• Look around your classroom and plan to introduce yourself right away to one or two other students. Talking with other students is the first step in forming study groups that will help you succeed.
Figure 1.10
Start getting to know other students right away by talking before or after class. This is often a good way to start a study group.
• Introduce yourself to your instructors, if you haven’t already. In a large lecture, go up to the instructor after class and ask a question about anything in the lecture or about an upcoming assignment.
• Participate in your classes. If you’re normally a quiet person who prefers to observe others asking questions or joining class discussions, you need to take the first step toward becoming a participating student—another characteristic of the successful student. Find something of particular interest to you and write down a question for the instructor. Then raise your hand at the right time and ask. You’ll find it a lot easier than you may think!
• Vow to pay more attention to how you spend your money. Some students have to drop out because they get into debt.
• Take good care of your body. Good health makes you a better student. Vow to avoid junk food, to get enough sleep, and to move around more. When you’re done reading this chapter, take a walk!
Excellent! Start doing these few things, and already you’ll be a step or two ahead—and on your way to a successful first year!
Key Takeaways
• While success in college involves many benefits and experiences, grades remain one important measure of success.
• Acceptable grades are important for continuing your college program and financial aid, for graduate school or other future educational opportunities, and for obtaining a good job in most careers.
• Succeeding is especially important in one’s first year of college because this is the most critical period to avoid the factors that lead to many students dropping out.
• You can launch yourself on a path of success immediately by taking the first steps for help with studies, developing a positive attitude, taking advantage of your personal learning style, starting to practice time management, meeting your instructors and other students, participating actively in your classes, and taking control of your personal health and finances.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. In your college or your specific program, do you need to maintain a minimum GPA in order to continue in the program? (If you don’t know, check your college catalog or Web site.) What is that minimum GPA?
_______________________
What was your cumulative GPA in high school?
_______________________
Because college classes are usually more difficult than high school classes, figure—purely as a starting point—that with the same effort, your college GPA could be a full point (or more) lower than your high school GPA. Does that give you any cause for concern? If so, what do you think you should work on most to ensure you succeed in college?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. For each of the following statements about success in college, circle T for true or F for false:
T F See your academic advisor only when it’s time to register for courses or when the college requires you to.
T F The best way to get help with a class is to pick whoever looks like the smartest student in class and offer to pay that person for tutoring.
T F A positive attitude about yourself as a college student helps you stay motivated to work on succeeding in your classes.
T F Understanding one’s own learning style makes it easier to understand how to apply one’s strengths when studying and to overcome obstacles to learning by adapting in other ways.
T F Meeting other students in your classes is important early on because you can skip classes once you arrange to borrow other people’s notes.
T F Participating in class is a key to being successful in that class. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/01%3A_You_and_Your_College_Experience/1.05%3A_Lets_Talk_about_Success.txt |
Chapter Takeaways
• The first year of college is the most critical. Make the commitment to overcome any obstacles to a successful transition and stay committed and motivated to succeed.
• Although college students differ in many ways, all successful students share certain common traits, including a positive attitude, effective critical thinking skills, good time management skills, effective study skills, interactions with instructors and other students, and good habits for personal health and financial stability.
• You can learn to maximize your learning by attending to each step of the learning process: preparing, absorbing, capturing, and reviewing.
• It is important to understand your personal learning style and use it well in classes, while also making the effort to learn in new ways and work with other students for a more effective overall learning experience.
• Working with your academic advisor and taking advantage of the many resources available at your college are key actions to ensure success.
• Understanding the larger characteristics of college success leads to a richer college experience, supplementing the value of good grades.
• While it may take a few weeks to develop all the skills needed for success in college, there are many steps you can begin taking today to get moving in the right direction.
Chapter Review
Check off every action on the following list that you plan to use in your first year of college to help you be as successful as you can be.
Approach classes and homework exactly as I did in high school
View college as a vital experience preparing me for the rest of my life
Decide immediately what I want to major in and never change my mind as I move forward through my courses
Manage my time well so that I have enough time to study and start on assignments well ahead of the due dates
Attend classes when I think something important will be said and I can’t find someone to borrow class notes from
Adopt a positive attitude and work on staying motivated to succeed
Give up everything else in life while in college
Talk to my advisor so that I take only those classes where the teacher’s style matches my own learning style
Form study groups with other students different from me so I can take advantage of how they learn as well
Be sure to tell all my instructors what I think they want to hear, not what I might really think
Sit in the back row where I won’t be noticed or get asked a question I might not be able to answer
Make good friendships and interact with a wide range of people on campus
Pay very close attention in class so that I don’t have to be concerned with reviewing the course material later
Prepare for each class every day
If I read too slowly, look for a CliffsNotes summary of the reading so I don’t lose time reading whole textbook chapters
Talk to other students to find out what classes and instructors are easiest to keep my GPA up
Take as many online courses as I can so that I can sleep late and get help from friends doing online assignments
To save time, go first to a friendly instructor to learn about any resources the college may have to help me
Take it easy my first year in college, not worrying about grades, to avoid burnout
Check out tutoring services only as a last resort at the end of the term if I’m in danger of failing
Check the class syllabus for important assignments and exam dates and begin scheduling study periods well ahead of time
Get to know my instructors and other students in the class right away
Outside the Book
1. Go online to the free CareerLink Inventory Web site at http://www.mpcfaculty.net/CL/cl.htm and spend a few minutes taking this free assessment of your interests and personality. Completion of the questionnaire leads to a statement of Career Inventory Results, with different career clusters matched to your assessment.
Click on the “cluster title” for several of your best-matched career areas to view specific career possibilities. Clicking on specific career titles will then provide a wealth of career information from the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, including data about the following:
This information will get you started thinking about possible careers that may match your interests. For a more complete survey of your interests, personality, and strengths, visit your college’s career counseling center.
• Go to www.businessballs.com/howardgardnermultipleintelligences.htm#multiple% 20intelligences%20tests and scroll down to the link for “free Multiple Intelligences test (based on Howard Gardner’s model)—in Microsoft Excel self-calculating format, and other versions.” You need Microsoft Excel on your computer to take this free online assessment of your learning style.
Clicking the link will download an Excel spreadsheet with 74 questions. Answer each as directed on the 1 to 4 scale. Your score totals are then shown for each of the “multiple intelligences” learning styles presented earlier in this chapter.
What are your two strongest “intelligence types”?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
What are your two weakest “intelligence types”?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Based on this evaluation, what aspects of college learning might you want to give more attention to? (Refer to Chapter 1 “You and Your College Experience”, Section 1.3 “How You Learn” for ideas to think about.)
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
• Visit your college’s Web site and spend at least thirty minutes exploring available resources. Usually there is a section called “Students” or “Present Students” or “Student Resources” or something similar—apart from all the other information for prospective future students, parents, faculty, courses, and so on. Jot down some of the topics here that you might want to consult again in the future if you were to experience a problem involving money, personal health, academic success, emotional health, social problems, discrimination, or other issues.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Make an Action List
Attitude
My most negative attitude toward college is
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Here’s what I’ll do to be more positive:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Values
My personal values most closely related to a college education are
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I may have to put these values on hold while in college:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Transitioning to College
The most likely problems I’ll have (as a traditional or returning student) transitioning to college are
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Here’s what I’ll do to stay focused in my first year:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Learning Process
In the past, I have paid too little attention to these steps of the learning process:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Here’s what I will begin doing now in my classes to fully use all steps of the process:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Learning Style
This is my preferred learning style:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will begin working to strengthen my learning through these other styles:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Lecture Classes
When I’m bored in a large lecture hall, I frequently do this:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
To pay closer attention, I will try the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
College Resources
I have not paid much attention to these available resources on my campus:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
In the coming weeks, I will check online or in person for information about these offices that may be able to help me succeed:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
College Grades
My grades generally suffer when I
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
To ensure I do well in all my classes, I will now begin to focus on
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Immediate Steps to Success
I have not used my time as well as I might because I’ve been doing the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will immediately start taking these steps to ensure I succeed in my classes:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/01%3A_You_and_Your_College_Experience/1.06%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/diary-journal-pen-notebook-january-614149/
02: Staying Motivated Organized and On Track
Learning Objectives
1. Make short-, mid-, and long-term goals that are realistic and specific and commit to them.
2. Set priorities for reaching your goals as a basis for time management.
3. Develop an attitude for success.
4. Learn to use strategies for staying focused and motivated.
5. Network with other students to help ensure academic success.
6. Solve problems and overcome setbacks that threaten your goals.
Some people are goal oriented and seem to easily make decisions that lead to achieving their goals, while others seem just to “go with the flow” and accept what life gives them. While the latter may sound pleasantly relaxed, moving through life without goals may not lead anywhere at all. The fact that you’re in college now shows you already have the major goal to complete your college program.
A goal is a result we intend to reach mostly through our own actions. Things we do may move us closer to or farther away from that result. Studying moves us closer to success in a difficult course, while sleeping through the final examination may completely prevent reaching that goal. That’s fairly obvious in an extreme case, yet still a lot of college students don’t reach their goal of graduating. The problem may be a lack of commitment to the goal, but often students have conflicting goals. One way to prevent problems is to think about all your goals and priorities and to learn ways to manage your time, your studies, and your social life to best reach your goals. Consider these four students:
To help his widowed mother, Juan went to work full time after high school but now, a few years later, he’s dissatisfied with the kinds of jobs he has been able to get and has begun taking computer programming courses in the evening. He’s often tired after work, however, and his mother would like him to spend more time at home. Sometimes he cuts class to stay home and spend time with her.
In her senior year of college, Becky has just been elected president of her sorority and is excited about planning a major community service project. She knows she should be spending more time on her senior thesis, but she feels her community project may gain her contacts that can help her find a better job after graduation. Besides, the sorority project is a lot more fun, and she’s enjoying the esteem of her position. Even if she doesn’t do well on her thesis, she’s sure she’ll pass.
After an easy time in high school, James is surprised his college classes are so hard. He’s got enough time to study for his first-year courses, but he also has a lot of friends and fun things to do. Sometimes he’s surprised to look up from his computer to see it’s midnight already, and he hasn’t started reading that chapter yet. Where does the time go? When he’s stressed, however, he can’t study well, so he tells himself he’ll get up early and read the chapter before class, and then he turns back to his computer to see who’s online.
Sachito was successful in cutting back her hours at work to give her more time for her engineering classes, but it’s difficult for her to get much studying done at home. Her husband has been wonderful about taking care of their young daughter, but he can’t do everything, and lately he’s been hinting more about asking her sister to babysit so that the two of them can go out in the evening the way they used to. Lately, when she’s had to study on a weekend, he leaves with his friends, and Sachito ends up spending the day with her daughter—and not getting much studying done.
What do these very different students have in common? Each has goals that conflict in one or more ways. Each needs to develop strategies to meet their other goals without threatening their academic success. And all of them have time management issues to work through: three because they feel they don’t have enough time to do everything they want or need to do and one because even though he has enough time, he needs to learn how to manage it more effectively. For all four of them, motivation and attitude will be important as they develop strategies to achieve their goals.
It all begins with setting goals and thinking about priorities.
As you think about your own goals, think about more than just being a student. You’re also a person with individual needs and desires, hopes and dreams, plans and schemes. Your long-term goals likely include graduation and a career but may also involve social relationships with others, a romantic relationship, family, hobbies or other activities, where and how you live, and so on. While you are a student you may not be actively pursuing all your goals with the same fervor, but they remain goals and are still important in your life.
Goals also vary in terms of time. Short-term goals focus on today and the next few days and perhaps weeks. Midterm goals involve plans for this school year and the time you plan to remain in college. Long-term goals may begin with graduating college and everything you want to happen thereafter. Often your long-term goals (e.g., the kind of career you want) guide your midterm goals (getting the right education for that career), and your short-term goals (such as doing well on an exam) become steps for reaching those larger goals. Thinking about your goals in this way helps you realize how even the little things you do every day can keep you moving toward your most important long-term goals.
Write out your goals in Activity 1. You should literally write them down, because the act of finding the best words to describe your goals helps you think more clearly about them. Follow these guidelines:
• Goals should be realistic. It’s good to dream and to challenge yourself, but your goals should relate to your personal strengths and abilities.
• Goals should be specific. Don’t write, “I will become a great musician”; instead, write, “I will finish my music degree and be employed in a symphony orchestra.”
• Goals should have a time frame. You won’t feel very motivated if your goal is vaguely “to finish college someday.” If you’re realistic and specific in your goals, you should also be able to project a time frame for reaching the goal.
• You should really want to reach the goal. We’re willing to work hard to reach goals we really care about, but we’re likely to give up when we encounter obstacles if we don’t feel strongly about a goal. If you’re doing something only because your parents or someone else wants you to, then it’s not your own personal goal—and you may have some more thinking to do about your life.
Activity 1: Personal Goals
Write your goals in the following blanks. Be sure to consider all areas of your life—consider everything important that you want to do between this moment and old age. (While you might aim for three to eight goals in each section, remember that everyone is unique, and you may be just as passionate about just one or two goals or more than eight.)
Short-term goals (today, this week, and this month):
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Midterm goals (this year and while in college):
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Long-term goals (from college on):
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Priorities
Thinking about your goals gets you started, but it’s also important to think about priorities. We often use the word “priorities” to refer to how important something is to us. We might think, This is a really important goal, and that is less important. Try this experiment: go back to the goals you wrote in Activity 1 and see if you can rank each goal as a 1 (top priority), 2 (middle priority), or 3 (lowest priority).
It sounds easy, but do you actually feel comfortable doing that? Maybe you gave a priority 1 to passing your courses and a priority 3 to playing your guitar. So what does that mean—that you never play guitar again, or at least not while in college? Whenever you have an hour free between class and work, you have to study because that’s the higher priority? What about all your other goals—do you have to ignore everything that’s not a priority 1? And what happens when you have to choose among different goals that are both number 1 priorities?
In reality, priorities don’t work quite that way. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to try to rank goals as always more or less important. The question of priority is really a question of what is more important at a specific time. It is important to do well in your classes, but it’s also important to have a social life and enjoy your time off from studying. You shouldn’t have to choose between the two—except at any given time. Priorities always involve time: what is most important to do right now. As we’ll see later, time management is mostly a way to juggle priorities so you can meet all your goals.
When you manage your time well, you don’t have to ignore some goals completely in order to meet other goals. In other words, you don’t have to give up your life when you register for college—but you may need to work on managing your life more effectively.
But time management works only when you’re committed to your goals. Attitude and motivation are very important. If you haven’t yet developed an attitude for success, all the time management skills in the world won’t keep you focused and motivated to succeed.
An Attitude for Success
What’s your attitude right now—what started running through your mind as you saw the “An Attitude for Success” heading? Were you groaning to yourself, thinking, “No, not the attitude thing again!” Or, at the other extreme, maybe you were thinking, “This is great! Now I’m about to learn everything I need to get through college without a problem!” Those are two attitude extremes, one negative and skeptical, the other positive and hopeful. Most students are somewhere in between—but everyone has an attitude of one sort or another.
Everything people do and how they do it starts with attitude. One student gets up with the alarm clock and cheerfully prepares for the day, planning to study for a couple hours between classes, go jogging later, and see a friend at dinner. Another student oversleeps after partying too late last night, decides to skip his first class, somehow gets through later classes fueled by fast food and energy drinks while dreading tomorrow’s exam, and immediately accepts a friend’s suggestion to go out tonight instead of studying. Both students could have identical situations, classes, finances, and academic preparation. There could be just one significant difference—but it’s the one that matters.
Here are some characteristics associated with a positive attitude:
• Enthusiasm for and enjoyment of daily activities
• Acceptance of responsibility for one’s actions and feeling good about success
• Generally upbeat mood and positive emotions, cheerfulness with others, and satisfaction with oneself
• Motivation to get the job done
• Flexibility to make changes when needed
• Ability to make productive, effective use of time
And here are some characteristics associated with a negative attitude:
• Frequent complaining
• Blaming others for anything that goes wrong
• Often experiencing negative emotions: anger, depression, resentment
• Lack of motivation for work or studies
• Hesitant to change or seek improvement
• Unproductive use of time, procrastination
We started this chapter talking about goals, because people’s goals and priorities have a huge effect on their attitude. Someone who really wants to succeed in college is better motivated and can develop a more positive attitude to succeed. But what if you are committed to succeeding in college but still feel kind of doubtful or worried or even down on yourself—what can you do then? Can people really change their attitude? Aren’t people just “naturally” positive or negative or whatever?
While attitude is influenced by one’s personality, upbringing, and past experiences, there is no “attitude gene” that makes you one way or another. It’s not as simple as taking a pill, but attitude can be changed. If you’re committed to your goals, you can learn to adjust your attitude. The following are some things you can start doing.
Be More Upbeat with Yourself
We all have conversations with ourselves. I might do badly on a test, and I start thinking things like, “I’m just not smart enough” or “That teacher is so hard no one could pass that test.” The problem when we talk to ourselves this way is that we listen—and we start believing what we’re hearing. Think about what you’ve been saying to yourself since your first day at college. Have you been negative or making excuses, maybe because you’re afraid of not succeeding? You are smart enough or you wouldn’t be here. Even if you did poorly on a test, you can turn that around into a more positive attitude by taking responsibility. “OK, I goofed off too much when I should have been studying. I learned my lesson—now it’s time to buckle down and study for the next test. I’m going to ace this one!” Hear yourself saying that enough and guess what—you soon find out you can succeed even in your hardest classes.
Choose Whom You Spend Time With
We all know negative and positive people. Sometimes it’s fun to hang out with someone with a negative attitude, especially if their sarcasm is funny. And if we’ve just failed a test, we might enjoy being with someone else who also blames the instructor or “the system” for whatever goes wrong. As they say, misery loves company. But often being with negative people is one of the surest ways to stay negative yourself. You not only hear your own self-talk making excuses and blaming others and putting yourself down, but you hear other people saying it, too. After a while you’re convinced it’s true. You’ve developed a negative attitude that sets you up for failure.
College offers a great opportunity to make new friends. Friendships and other social relationships are important to all humans—and maybe to college students most of all, because of the stresses of college and the changes you’re likely experiencing. Later chapters in this book have some tips for making new friends and getting actively involved in campus life, if you’re not already there. Most important, try to choose friends with a positive attitude. It’s simply more fun to be with people who are upbeat and enjoying life, people whom you respect—and who, like you, are committed to their studies and are motivated. A positive attitude can really be contagious.
Overcome Resistance to Change
While it’s true that most people are more comfortable when their situation is not always changing, many kinds of change are good and should be welcomed. College is a big change from high school or working. Accepting that reality helps you be more positive about the differences. Sure, you have to study more, and the classes are harder. You may be working more and have less time for your personal life. But dwelling on those differences only reinforces a negative attitude. Look instead at the positive changes: the exciting and interesting people you’re meeting, the education you’re getting that will lead to a bright future, and the mental challenges and stimulation you’re feeling every day.
The first step may be simply to see yourself succeeding in your new life. Visualize yourself as a student taking control, enjoying classes, studying effectively, getting good grades. This book will help you do that in many ways. It all begins with the right attitude.
Overcome Fears
One of the most common fears of college students is a fear of failure—of not being able to make the grade. We all know that life is not all roses and that we’re not going to succeed at everything we try. Everyone experiences some sort of failure at some time—and everyone has fears. The question is what you do about it.
Again, think about your goals. You’ve enrolled in college for good reasons, and you’ve already shown your commitment by coming this far. If you still have any fear of failure, turn it around and use it in a positive way. If you’re afraid you may not do well on an upcoming exam, don’t mope around—sit down and schedule times to start studying well ahead of time. It’s mostly a matter of attitude adjustment.
Stay Focused and Motivated
Okay, you’ve got a positive attitude. But you’ve got a lot of reading for classes to do tonight, a test tomorrow, and a paper due the next day. Maybe you’re a little bored with one of your reading assignments. Maybe you’d rather play a computer game. Uh oh—now what? Attitude can change at almost any moment. One minute you’re enthusiastically starting a class project, and then maybe a friend drops by and suddenly all you want to do is close the books and relax a while, hang out with friends.
One of the characteristics of successful people is accepting that life is full of interruptions and change—and planning for it. Staying focused does not mean you become a boring person who does nothing but go to class and study all the time. You just need to make a plan.
Planning ahead is the single best way to stay focused and motivated to reach your goals. Don’t wait until the night before an exam. If you know you have a major exam in five days, start by reviewing the material and deciding how many hours of study you need. Then schedule those hours spread out over the next few days—at times when you are most alert and least likely to be distracted. Allow time for other activities, too, to reward yourself for successful studying. Then when the exam comes, you’re relaxed, you know the material, you’re in a good mood and confident, and you do well.
Planning is mostly a matter of managing your time well, as we’ll see later. Here are some other tips for staying focused and motivated:
• If you’re not feeling motivated, think about the results of your goals, not just the goals themselves. If just thinking about finishing college doesn’t sound all that exciting, then think instead about the great, high-paying career that comes afterward and the things you can do with that income.
• Say it aloud—to yourself or a friend with a positive attitude: “I’m going to study now for another hour before I take a break—and I’m getting an A on that test tomorrow!” It’s amazing how saying something aloud puts commitment in it and affirms that it can be true.
• Remember your successes, even small successes. As you begin a project or approach studying for a test, think about your past success on a different project or test. Remember how good it feels to succeed. Know you can succeed again.
• Focus on the here and now. For some people, looking ahead to goals, or to anything else, may lead to daydreaming that keeps them from focusing on what they need to do right now. Don’t worry about what you’re doing tomorrow or next week or month. If your mind keeps drifting off, however, you may need to reward or even trick yourself to focus on the here and now. For example, if you can’t stop thinking about the snack you’re going to have when you finish studying in a couple hours, change the plan. Tell yourself you’ll take a break in twenty minutes if you really need it—but only if you really work well first.
• If you just can’t focus in on what you should be doing because the task seems too big and daunting, break the task into smaller, manageable pieces. Don’t start out thinking, “I need to study the next four hours,” but think, “I’ll spend the next thirty minutes going through my class notes from the last three weeks and figure out what topics I need to spend more time on.” It’s a lot easier to stay focused when you’re sitting down for thirty minutes at a time.
• Never, ever multitask while studying! You may think that you can monitor e-mail and send text messages while studying, but in reality, these other activities lower the quality of your studying.
• Imitate successful people. Does a friend always seem better able to stick with studying or work until they get it done? What are they doing that you’re not? We all learn from observing others, and we can speed up that process by deliberately using the same strategies we see working with others. Visualize yourself studying in the same way and getting that same high grade on the test or paper.
• Separate yourself from unsuccessful people. This is the flip side of imitating successful people. If a roommate or a friend is always putting off things until the last minute or is distracted with other interests and activities, tell yourself how different you are. When you hear other students complaining about how hard a class is or bragging about not studying or attending class, visualize yourself as not being like them at all.
• Reward yourself when you complete a significant task—but only when you are done. Some people seem able to stay focused only when there’s a reward waiting.
• While some people work harder for the reward, others are motivated more by the price of failing. While some people are almost paralyzed by anxiety, others are moved by their fear to achieve their best.
• Get the important things done first. We’ll talk about managing your academic planner and to-do lists later in the chapter, but for now, to stay focused and motivated, concentrate on the things that matter most. You’re about to sit down to read a chapter in a book you’re not much enjoying, and you suddenly notice some clothing piled up on a chair. “I really should clean up this place,” you think. “And I’d better get my laundry done before I run out of things to wear.” Don’t try to fool yourself into feeling you’re accomplishing something by doing laundry rather than studying. Stay focused!
Network for Success
Making friends with people with positive attitudes not only helps you maintain a positive attitude yourself, but it gets you started networking with other students in ways that will help you succeed.
Did you study alone or with friends in high school? Because college classes are typically much more challenging, many college students discover they do better, and find it much more enjoyable, if they study with other students taking same course. This might mean organizing a study group or just getting together with a friend to review material before a test. It’s good to start thinking right away about networking with other students in your classes.
If you consider yourself an independent person and prefer studying and doing projects on your own rather than with others, think for a minute about how most people function in their careers and professions, what the business world is like. Most work today is done by teams or individuals working together in a collaborative way. Very few jobs involve a person always being and working alone. The more you learn to study and work with other students now, the more skills you are mastering for a successful career.
Studying with other students has immediate benefits. You can quiz each other to help ensure that everyone understands the course material; if you’re not clear about something, someone else can help teach it to you. You can read and respond to each other’s writing and other work. You can divide up the work in group projects. And through it all, you can often have more fun than if you were doing it on your own.
Studying together is also a great way to start networking—a topic we’ll discuss more in coming chapters. Networking has many potential benefits for your future. College students who feel they are part of a network on campus are more motivated and more successful in college.
Tips for Success: Staying Motivated
• Keep your eye on your long-term goals while working toward immediate goals.
• Keep your priorities straight—but also save some time for fun.
• Work on keeping your attitude positive.
• Keep the company of positive people; imitate successful people.
• Don’t let past habits drag you down.
• Plan ahead to avoid last-minute pressures.
• Focus on your successes.
• Break large projects down into smaller tasks or stages.
• Reward yourself for completing significant tasks.
• Avoid multitasking.
• Network with other students; form a study group.
Problem Solving: When Setbacks Happen
Even when you have clear goals and are motivated and focused to achieve them, problems sometimes happen. Accept that they will happen, since inevitably they do for everyone. The difference between those who succeed by solving the problem and moving on and those who get frustrated and give up is partly attitude and partly experience—and knowing how to cope when a problem occurs.
Lots of different kinds of setbacks may happen while you’re in college—just as to everyone in life. Here are a few examples:
• A financial crisis
• An illness or injury
• A crisis involving family members or loved ones
• Stress related to frequently feeling you don’t have enough time
• Stress related to relationship problems
Some things happen that we cannot prevent—such as some kinds of illness, losing one’s job because of a business slowdown, or crises involving family members. But many other kinds of problems can be prevented or made less likely to occur. You can take steps to stay healthy, as you’ll learn in Chapter 10 “Taking Control of Your Health”. You can take control of your finances and avoid most financial problems common among college students, as you’ll learn in Chapter 11 “Taking Control of Your Finances”. You can learn how to build successful social relationships and get along better with your instructors, with other students, and in personal relationships. You can learn time management techniques to ensure you use your time effectively for studying. Most of the chapters in this book also provide study tips and guidelines to help you do well in your classes with effective reading, note-taking, test-taking, and writing skills for classes. Preventing the problems that typically keep college students from succeeding is much of what this book is all about.
Not all problems can be avoided. Illness or a financial problem can significantly set one back—especially when you’re on a tight schedule and budget. Other problems, such as a social or relationship issue or an academic problem in a certain class, may be more complex and not easily prevented. What then?
First, work to resolve the immediate problem:
1. Stay motivated and focused. Don’t let frustration, anxiety, or other negative emotions make the problem worse than it already is.
2. Analyze the problem to consider all possible solutions. An unexpected financial setback doesn’t automatically mean you have to drop out of school—not when alternatives such as student loans, less expensive living arrangements, or other possible solutions may be available. Failing a midterm exam doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to fail the course—not when you make the effort to determine what went wrong, work with your instructor and others on an improved study plan, and use better strategies to prepare for the next test.
3. Seek help when you need to. None of us gets through life alone, and it’s not a sign of weakness to see your academic advisor or a college counselor if you have a problem.
4. When you’ve developed a plan for resolving the problem, work to follow through. If it will take a while before the problem is completely solved, track your progress in smaller steps so that you can see you really are succeeding. Every day will move you one step closer to putting it behind you.
After you’ve solved a problem, be sure to avoid it again in the future:
1. Be honest with yourself: how did you contribute to the problem? Sometimes it’s obvious: a student who drank heavily at a party the night before a big test failed the exam because he was so hung over he couldn’t think straight. Sometimes the source of the problem is not as obvious but may become clearer the more you think about it. Another student did a lot of partying during the term but studied all day before the big test and was well rested and clearheaded at test time but still did poorly; he may not yet have learned good study skills. Another student has frequent colds and other mild illnesses that keep him from doing his best: how much better would he feel if he ate well, got plenty of exercise, and slept enough every night? If you don’t honestly explore the factors that led to the problem, it’s more likely to happen again.
2. Take responsibility for your life and your role in what happens to you. Earlier we talked about people with negative attitudes, who are always blaming others, fate, or “the system” for their problems. It’s no coincidence that they keep on having problems. Unless you want to keep having problems, don’t keep blaming others.
3. Taking responsibility doesn’t mean being down on yourself. Failing at something doesn’t mean you are a failure. We all fail at something, sometime. Adjust your attitude so you’re ready to get back on track and feel happy that you’ll never make that mistake again!
4. Make a plan. You might still have a problem on that next big test if you don’t make an effective study plan and stick to it. You may need to change your behavior in some way, such as learning time management strategies. (Read on!)
Key Takeaways
• Goals should be realistic, specific, and time oriented, and you must be committed to them.
• Setting priorities helps keep you focused on your goals but doesn’t determine how you use your time at all times.
• Attitude is often the major reason students succeed or fail in college. Everyone can work on developing a more positive, motivating attitude.
• Planning, the essence of time management, is necessary to stay focused and continue moving toward your goals.
• Networking with other students helps you stay motivated as well as making studying more effective.
• Since problems and setbacks are inevitable, knowing how to solve problems is important for reaching goals. With a good attitude, most common student problems can be prevented.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Which of the following goal statements is written in a way that shows the person has carefully considered what he or she wants to achieve?
1. I will do better in my math course.
2. I will earn at least a B on my next English paper.
3. I will study more this term.
2. List ways in which a negative attitude can prevent students from being successful in college.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Think about your friends in college or other students you have observed in one of your classes. Choose one who usually seems positive and upbeat and one who sometimes or frequently shows a negative attitude about college. Visualize both their faces—side by side—as if you are talking to both of them. Now imagine yourself sitting down to study with one of them for a final exam. Describe how you would imagine that study session going.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Look back at the four students described at the beginning of the chapter. Each of them is experiencing some sort of problem that could interrupt their progress toward their goals. Think about each student and write down a solution for each problem that you would try to work out, if you were that person.
For Juan:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
For Becky:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
For James:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
For Sachito:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. List a few things you can do if you’re having trouble getting motivated to sit down to study.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/02%3A_Staying_Motivated_Organized_and_On_Track/2.01%3A_Setting_and_Reaching_Goals.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Recognize the importance of organizing your space to your best advantage for studying.
2. Avoid distractions in the space where you are studying.
3. Understand the myth of multitasking and prevent distractions from your personal technology.
Now that you’ve worked up an attitude for success and are feeling motivated, it’s time to get organized. You need to organize both your space and your time.
Space is important for many reasons—some obvious, some less so. People’s moods, attitudes, and levels of work productivity change in different spaces. Learning to use space to your own advantage helps get you off to a good start in your studies. Here are a few of the ways space matters:
• Everyone needs his or her own space. This may seem simple, but everyone needs some physical area, regardless of size, that is really his or her own—even if it’s only a small part of a shared space. Within your own space, you generally feel more secure and in control.
• Physical space reinforces habits. For example, using your bed primarily for sleeping makes it easier to fall asleep there than elsewhere and also makes it not a good place to try to stay awake and alert for studying.
• Different places create different moods. While this may seem obvious, students don’t always use places to their best advantage. One place may be bright and full of energy, with happy students passing through and enjoying themselves—a place that puts you in a good mood. But that may actually make it more difficult to concentrate on your studying. Yet the opposite—a totally quiet, austere place devoid of color and sound and pleasant decorations—can be just as unproductive if it makes you associate studying with something unpleasant. Everyone needs to discover what space works best for himself or herself—and then let that space reinforce good study habits.
Use Space to Your Advantage and to Avoid Distractions
Begin by analyzing your needs, preferences, and past problems with places for studying. Where do you usually study? What are the best things about that place for studying? What distractions are most likely to occur there?
The goal is to find, or create, the best place for studying, and then to use it regularly so that studying there becomes a good habit.
• Choose a place you can associate with studying. Make sure it’s not a place already associated with other activities (eating, watching television, sleeping, etc.). Over time, the more often you study in this space, the stronger will be its association with studying, so that eventually you’ll be completely focused as soon as you reach that place and begin.
• Your study area should be available whenever you need it. If you want to use your home, apartment, or dorm room but you never know if another person may be there and possibly distract you, then it’s probably better to look for another place, such as a study lounge or an area in the library. Look for locations open at the hours when you may be studying. You may also need two study spaces—one in or near where you live, another on campus. Maybe you study best at home but have an hour free between two classes, and the library is too far away to use for only an hour? Look for a convenient empty classroom.
Figure 2.2
Choose a pleasant, quiet place for studying, such as the college library.
• Your study space should meet your study needs. An open desk or table surface usually works best for writing, and you’ll tire quickly if you try to write notes sitting in an easy chair (which might also make you sleepy). You need good light for reading, to avoid tiring from eyestrain. If you use a laptop for writing notes or reading and researching, you need a power outlet so you don’t have to stop when your battery runs out.
• Your study space should meet your psychological needs. Some students may need total silence with absolutely no visual distractions; they may find a perfect study carrel hidden away on the fifth floor in the library. Other students may be unable to concentrate for long without looking up from reading and momentarily letting their eyes move over a pleasant scene. Some students may find it easier to stay motivated when surrounded by other students also studying; they may find an open space in the library or a study lounge with many tables spread out over an area. Experiment to find the setting that works best for you—and remember that the more often you use this same space, the more comfortable and effective your studying will become.
• You may need the support of others to maintain your study space. Students living at home, whether with a spouse and children or with their parents, often need the support of family members to maintain an effective study space. The kitchen table probably isn’t best if others pass by frequently. Be creative, if necessary, and set up a card table in a quiet corner of your bedroom or elsewhere to avoid interruptions. Put a “do not disturb” sign on your door.
• Keep your space organized and free of distractions. You want to prevent sudden impulses to neaten up the area (when you should be studying), do laundry, wash dishes, and so on. Unplug a nearby telephone, turn off your cell phone, and use your computer only as needed for studying. If your e-mail or message program pops up a notice every time an e-mail or message arrives, turn off your Wi-Fi or detach the network cable to prevent those intrusions.
• Plan for breaks. Everyone needs to take a break occasionally when studying. Think about the space you’re in and how to use it when you need a break. If in your home, stop and do a few exercises to get your blood flowing. If in the library, take a walk up a couple flights of stairs and around the stacks before returning to your study area.
• Prepare for human interruptions. Even if you hide in the library to study, there’s a chance a friend may happen by. At home with family members or in a dorm room or common space, the odds increase greatly. Have a plan ready in case someone pops in and asks you to join them in some fun activity. Know when you plan to finish your studying so that you can make a plan for later—or for tomorrow at a set time.
The Distractions of Technology
Multitasking is the term commonly used for being engaged in two or more different activities at the same time, usually referring to activities using devices such as cell phones, smartphones, computers, and so on. Many people claim to be able to do as many as four or five things simultaneously, such as writing an e-mail while responding to an instant message (IM) and reading a tweet, all while watching a video on their computer monitor or talking on the phone. Many people who have grown up with computers consider this kind of multitasking a normal way to get things done, including studying. Even people in business sometimes speak of multitasking as an essential component of today’s fast-paced world.
It is true that some things can be attended to while you’re doing something else, such as checking e-mail while you watch television news—but only when none of those things demands your full attention. You can concentrate 80 percent on the e-mail, for example, while 20 percent of your attention is listening for something on the news that catches your attention. Then you turn to the television for a minute, watch that segment, and go back to the e-mail. But you’re not actually watching the television at the same time you’re composing the e-mail—you’re rapidly going back and forth. In reality, the mind can focus only on one thing at any given moment. Even things that don’t require much thinking are severely impacted by multitasking, such as driving while talking on a cell phone or texting. An astonishing number of people end up in the emergency room from just trying to walk down the sidewalk while texting, so common is it now to walk into a pole or parked car while multitasking!
“Okay,” you might be thinking, “why should it matter if I write my paper first and then answer e-mails or do them back and forth at the same time?” It actually takes you longer to do two or more things at the same time than if you do them separately—at least with anything that you actually have to focus on, such as studying. That’s true because each time you go back to studying after looking away to a message or tweet, it takes time for your mind to shift gears to get back to where you were. Every time your attention shifts, add up some more “downtime”—and pretty soon it’s evident that multitasking is costing you a lot more time than you think. And that’s assuming that your mind does fully shift back to where you were every time, without losing your train of thought or forgetting an important detail. It doesn’t always.
The other problem with multitasking is the effect it can have on the attention span—and even on how the brain works. Scientists have shown that in people who constantly shift their attention from one thing to another in short bursts, the brain forms patterns that make it more difficult to keep sustained attention on any one thing. So when you really do need to concentrate for a while on one thing, such as when studying for a big test, it becomes more difficult to do even if you’re not multitasking at that time. It’s as if your mind makes a habit of wandering from one thing to another and then can’t stop.
Figure 2.3
Multitasking makes studying much less effective.
So stay away from multitasking whenever you have something important to do, like studying. If it’s already a habit for you, don’t let it become worse. Manipulate your study space to prevent the temptations altogether. Turn your computer off—or shut down e-mail and messaging programs if you need the computer for studying. Turn your cell phone off—if you just tell yourself not to answer it but still glance at it each time to see who sent or left a message, you’re still losing your studying momentum and have to start over again. For those who are really addicted to technology (you know who you are!), go to the library and don’t take your laptop or cell phone.
In the later section in this chapter on scheduling your study periods, we recommend scheduling breaks as well, usually for a few minutes every hour. If you’re really hooked on checking for messages, plan to do that at scheduled times.
What about listening to music while studying? Some don’t consider that multitasking, and many students say they can listen to music without it affecting their studying. Studies are inconclusive about the positive or negative effects of music on people’s ability to concentrate, probably because so many different factors are involved. But there’s a huge difference between listening to your favorite CD and spontaneously singing along with some of the songs and enjoying soft background music that enhances your study space the same way as good lighting and pleasant décor. Some people can study better with low-volume instrumental music that relaxes them and does not intrude on their thinking, while others can concentrate only in silence. And some are so used to being immersed in music and the sounds of life that they find total silence more distracting—such people can often study well in places where people are moving around. The key thing is to be honest with yourself: if you’re actively listening to music while you’re studying, then you’re likely not studying as well as you could be. It will take you longer and lead to less successful results.
Family and Roommate Issues
Sometimes going to the library or elsewhere is not practical for studying, and you have to find a way to cope in a shared space.
Part of the solution is time management. Agree with others on certain times that will be reserved for studying; agree to keep the place quiet, not to have guests visiting, and to prevent other distractions. These arrangements can be made with a roommate, spouse, and older children. If there are younger children in your household and you have child-care responsibility, it’s usually more complicated. You may have to schedule your studying during their nap time or find quiet activities for them to enjoy while you study. Try to spend some time with your kids before you study, so they don’t feel like you’re ignoring them. (More tips are offered later in this chapter.)
The key is to plan ahead. You don’t want to find yourself, the night before an exam, in a place that offers no space for studying.
Finally, accept that sometimes you’ll just have to say no. If your roommate or a friend often tries to engage you in conversation or suggests doing something else when you need to study, just say no. Learn to be firm but polite as you explain that you just really have to get your work done first. Students who live at home may also have to learn how to say no to parents or family members—just be sure to explain the importance of the studying you need to do! Remember, you can’t be everything to everyone all the time.
Key Takeaways
• Where you study can have a huge impact on the effectiveness of your study efforts. Choose and organize your space to your advantage.
• How you control your study space can help you prevent distractions, especially those caused by other people or your personal technology.
• Attempting to multitask while studying diminishes the quality of your study time and results in a loss of time.
• Control your study space to prevent or manage potential interruptions from family members or roommates.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false:
T F Your bed is usually a good place to study if you can keep the room quiet.
T F To study well, use the most drab, boring place you can find.
T F An empty classroom can be a good place to get some studying done if you happen to have an hour free between classes.
T F To maintain a clear focus while studying, limit the time you spend checking for e-mail and text messages to every ten minutes or so. Put your cell phone on vibrate mode and keep it in your pocket where you can more easily ignore it.
T F It’s OK to have the television or radio on while you study as long as you don’t give it your full attention.
T F The key to avoiding interruptions and distractions from family members or roommates is to plan ahead for when and where you’ll study.
2. Class discussion exercise: Share stories about distractions caused by roommates and others that you and other students have experienced. Brainstorm together how to handle similar situations next time they arise. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/02%3A_Staying_Motivated_Organized_and_On_Track/2.02%3A_Organizing_Your_Space.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Discover your time personality and know where your time goes.
2. Understand the basic principles of time management and planning.
3. Learn and practice time management strategies to help ensure your academic success.
4. Know how to combat procrastination when it threatens to prevent getting your academic work done.
5. Use a calendar planner and daily to-do list to plan ahead for study tasks and manage your time effectively.
6. Learn effective time management techniques for students who work, students with family, and student athletes.
This is the most important part of this chapter. When you know what you want to do, why not just sit down and get it done? The millions of people who complain frequently about “not having enough time” would love it if it were that simple!
Time management isn’t actually difficult, but you do need to learn how to do it well.
Time and Your Personality
People’s attitudes toward time vary widely. One person seems to be always rushing around but actually gets less done than another person who seems unconcerned about time and calmly goes about the day. Since there are so many different “time personalities,” it’s important to realize how you approach time. Start by trying to figure out how you spend your time during a typical week, using Activity 2.
Activity 2: Where Does the Time Go?
See if you can account for a week’s worth of time. For each of the activity categories listed, make your best estimate of how many hours you spend in a week. (For categories that are about the same every day, just estimate for one day and multiply by seven for that line.)
Category of activity Number of hours per week
Sleeping
Eating (including preparing food)
Personal hygiene (i.e., bathing, etc.)
Working (employment)
Volunteer service or internship
Chores, cleaning, errands, shopping, etc.
Attending class
Studying, reading, and researching (outside of class)
Transportation to work or school
Getting to classes (walking, biking, etc.)
Organized group activities (clubs, church services, etc.)
Time with friends (include television, video games, etc.)
Attending events (movies, parties, etc.)
Time alone (include television, video games, surfing the Web, etc.)
Exercise or sports activities
Reading for fun or other interests done alone
Talking on phone, e-mail, Facebook, etc.
Other—specify: ________________________
Other—specify: ________________________
Now use your calculator to total your estimated hours. Is your number larger or smaller than 168, the total number of hours in a week? If your estimate is higher, go back through your list and adjust numbers to be more realistic. But if your estimated hours total fewer than 168, don’t just go back and add more time in certain categories. Instead, ponder this question: Where does the time go? We’ll come back to this question.
Think about your time analysis in Activity 2. People who estimate too high often feel they don’t have enough time. They may have time anxiety and often feel frustrated. People at the other extreme, who often can’t account for how they use all their time, may have a more relaxed attitude. They may not actually have any more free time, but they may be wasting more time than they want to admit with less important things. Yet they still may complain about how much time they spend studying, as if there’s a shortage of time.
People also differ in how they respond to schedule changes. Some go with the flow and accept changes easily, while others function well only when following a planned schedule and may become upset if that schedule changes. If you do not react well to an unexpected disruption in your schedule, plan extra time for catching up if something throws you off. This is all part of understanding your time personality.
Another aspect of your time personality involves time of day. If you need to concentrate, such as when writing a class paper, are you more alert and focused in the morning, afternoon, or evening? Do you concentrate best when you look forward to a relaxing activity later on, or do you study better when you’ve finished all other activities? Do you function well if you get up early—or stay up late—to accomplish a task? How does that affect the rest of your day or the next day? Understanding this will help you better plan your study periods.
While you may not be able to change your “time personality,” you can learn to manage your time more successfully. The key is to be realistic. How accurate is the number of hours you wrote down in Activity 2? The best way to know how you spend your time is to record what you do all day in a time log, every day for a week, and then add that up. Make copies of the time log in Figure 2.4 “Daily Time Log” and carry it with you. Every so often, fill in what you have been doing. Do this for a week before adding up the times; then enter the total hours in the categories in Activity 2. You might be surprised that you spend a lot more time than you thought just hanging out with friends—or surfing the Web or playing around with Facebook or any of the many other things people do. You might find that you study well early in the morning even though you thought you are a night person, or vice versa. You might learn how long you can continue at a specific task before needing a break.
Figure 2.4 Daily Time Log
If you have work and family responsibilities, you may already know where many of your hours go. Although we all wish we had “more time,” the important thing is what we do with the time we have. Time management strategies can help us better use the time we do have by creating a schedule that works for our own time personality.
Time Management
Time management for successful college studying involves these factors:
• Determining how much time you need to spend studying
• Knowing how much time you actually have for studying and increasing that time if needed
• Being aware of the times of day you are at your best and most focused
• Using effective long- and short-term study strategies
• Scheduling study activities in realistic segments
• Using a system to plan ahead and set priorities
• Staying motivated to follow your plan and avoid procrastination
For every hour in the classroom, college students should spend, on average, about two hours on that class, counting reading, studying, writing papers, and so on. If you’re a full-time student with fifteen hours a week in class, then you need another thirty hours for rest of your academic work. That forty-five hours is about the same as a typical full-time job. If you work part time, time management skills are even more essential. These skills are still more important for part-time college students who work full time and commute or have a family. To succeed in college, virtually everyone has to develop effective strategies for dealing with time.
Look back at the number of hours you wrote in Activity 2 for a week of studying. Do you have two hours of study time for every hour in class? Many students begin college not knowing this much time is needed, so don’t be surprised if you underestimated this number of hours. Remember this is just an average amount of study time—you may need more or less for your own courses. To be safe, and to help ensure your success, add another five to ten hours a week for studying.
To reserve this study time, you may need to adjust how much time you spend in other activities. Activity 3 will help you figure out what your typical week should look like.
Activity 3: Where Should Your Time Go?
Plan for the ideal use of a week’s worth of time. Fill in your hours in this order:
1. Hours attending class
2. Study hours (2 times the number of class hours plus 5 or more hours extra)
3. Work, internships, and fixed volunteer time
4. Fixed life activities (sleeping, eating, hygiene, chores, transportation, etc.)
Now subtotal your hours so far and subtract that number from 168. How many hours are left? ____________ Then portion out the remaining hours for “discretionary activities” (things you don’t have to do for school, work, or a healthy life).
5. Discretionary activities
Category of activity Number of hours per week
Attending class
Studying, reading, and researching (outside of class)
Working (employment)
Volunteer service or internship
Sleeping
Eating (including preparing food)
Personal hygiene (i.e., bathing, etc.)
Chores, cleaning, errands, shopping, etc.
Transportation to work or school
Getting to classes (walking, biking, etc.)
Subtotal:
Discretionary activities:
Organized group activities (clubs, church services, etc.)
Time with friends (include television, video games, etc.)
Attending events (movies, parties, etc.)
Time alone (include television, video games, surfing the Web, etc.)
Exercise or sports activities
Reading for fun or other interests done alone
Talking on phone, e-mail, Facebook, etc.
Other—specify: ________________________
Other—specify: ________________________
Note: If you find you have almost no time left for discretionary activities, you may be overestimating how much time you need for eating, errands, and the like. Use the time log in Figure 2.4 “Daily Time Log” to determine if you really have to spend that much time on those things.
Activity 3 shows most college students that they do actually have plenty of time for their studies without losing sleep or giving up their social life. But you may have less time for discretionary activities than in the past. Something, somewhere has to give. That’s part of time management—and why it’s important to keep your goals and priorities in mind. The other part is to learn how to use the hours you do have as effectively as possible, especially the study hours. For example, if you’re a typical college freshman who plans to study for three hours in an evening but then procrastinates, gets caught up in a conversation, loses time to checking e-mail and text messages, and listens to loud music while reading a textbook, then maybe you actually spent four hours “studying” but got only two hours of actual work done. So you end up behind and feeling like you’re still studying way too much. The goal of time management is to actually get three hours of studying done in three hours and have time for your life as well.
Special note for students who work. You may have almost no discretionary time at all left in Activity 3 after all your “must-do” activities. If so, you may have overextended yourself—a situation that inevitably will lead to problems. You can’t sleep two hours less every night for the whole school year, for example, without becoming ill or unable to concentrate well on work and school. It is better to recognize this situation now rather than set yourself up for a very difficult term and possible failure. If you cannot cut the number of hours for work or other obligations, see your academic advisor right away. It is better to take fewer classes and succeed than to take more classes than you have time for and risk failure.
Time Management Strategies for Success
Following are some strategies you can begin using immediately to make the most of your time:
• Prepare to be successful. When planning ahead for studying, think yourself into the right mood. Focus on the positive. “When I get these chapters read tonight, I’ll be ahead in studying for the next test, and I’ll also have plenty of time tomorrow to do X.” Visualize yourself studying well!
• Use your best—and most appropriate—time of day. Different tasks require different mental skills. Some kinds of studying you may be able to start first thing in the morning as you wake, while others need your most alert moments at another time.
• Break up large projects into small pieces. Whether it’s writing a paper for class, studying for a final exam, or reading a long assignment or full book, students often feel daunted at the beginning of a large project. It’s easier to get going if you break it up into stages that you schedule at separate times—and then begin with the first section that requires only an hour or two.
• Do the most important studying first. When two or more things require your attention, do the more crucial one first. If something happens and you can’t complete everything, you’ll suffer less if the most crucial work is done.
• If you have trouble getting started, do an easier task first. Like large tasks, complex or difficult ones can be daunting. If you can’t get going, switch to an easier task you can accomplish quickly. That will give you momentum, and often you feel more confident tackling the difficult task after being successful in the first one.
• If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stressed because you have too much to do, revisit your time planner. Sometimes it’s hard to get started if you keep thinking about other things you need to get done. Review your schedule for the next few days and make sure everything important is scheduled, then relax and concentrate on the task at hand.
• If you’re really floundering, talk to someone. Maybe you just don’t understand what you should be doing. Talk with your instructor or another student in the class to get back on track.
• Take a break. We all need breaks to help us concentrate without becoming fatigued and burned out. As a general rule, a short break every hour or so is effective in helping recharge your study energy. Get up and move around to get your blood flowing, clear your thoughts, and work off stress.
• Use unscheduled times to work ahead. You’ve scheduled that hundred pages of reading for later today, but you have the textbook with you as you’re waiting for the bus. Start reading now, or flip through the chapter to get a sense of what you’ll be reading later. Either way, you’ll save time later. You may be amazed how much studying you can get done during downtimes throughout the day.
• Keep your momentum. Prevent distractions, such as multitasking, that will only slow you down. Check for messages, for example, only at scheduled break times.
• Reward yourself. It’s not easy to sit still for hours of studying. When you successfully complete the task, you should feel good and deserve a small reward. A healthy snack, a quick video game session, or social activity can help you feel even better about your successful use of time.
• Just say no. Always tell others nearby when you’re studying, to reduce the chances of being interrupted. Still, interruptions happen, and if you are in a situation where you are frequently interrupted by a family member, spouse, roommate, or friend, it helps to have your “no” prepared in advance: “No, I really have to be ready for this test” or “That’s a great idea, but let’s do it tomorrow—I just can’t today.” You shouldn’t feel bad about saying no—especially if you told that person in advance that you needed to study.
• Have a life. Never schedule your day or week so full of work and study that you have no time at all for yourself, your family and friends, and your larger life.
• Use a calendar planner and daily to-do list. We’ll look at these time management tools in the next section.
Battling Procrastination
Procrastination is a way of thinking that lets one put off doing something that should be done now. This can happen to anyone at any time. It’s like a voice inside your head keeps coming up with these brilliant ideas for things to do right now other than studying: “I really ought to get this room cleaned up before I study” or “I can study anytime, but tonight’s the only chance I have to do X.” That voice is also very good at rationalizing: “I really don’t need to read that chapter now; I’ll have plenty of time tomorrow at lunch.…”
Procrastination is very powerful. Some people battle it daily, others only occasionally. Most college students procrastinate often, and about half say they need help avoiding procrastination. Procrastination can threaten one’s ability to do well on an assignment or test.
People procrastinate for different reasons. Some people are too relaxed in their priorities, seldom worry, and easily put off responsibilities. Others worry constantly, and that stress keeps them from focusing on the task at hand. Some procrastinate because they fear failure; others procrastinate because they fear success or are so perfectionistic that they don’t want to let themselves down. Some are dreamers. Many different factors are involved, and there are different styles of procrastinating.
Just as there are different causes, there are different possible solutions for procrastination. Different strategies work for different people. The time management strategies described earlier can help you avoid procrastination. Because this is a psychological issue, some additional psychological strategies can also help:
• Since procrastination is usually a habit, accept that and work on breaking it as you would any other bad habit: one day at a time. Know that every time you overcome feelings of procrastination, the habit becomes weaker—and eventually you’ll have a new habit of being able to start studying right away.
• Schedule times for studying using a daily or weekly planner. Carry it with you and look at it often. Just being aware of the time and what you need to do today can help you get organized and stay on track.
• If you keep thinking of something else you might forget to do later (making you feel like you “must” do it now), write yourself a note about it for later and get it out of your mind.
• Counter a negative with a positive. If you’re procrastinating because you’re not looking forward to a certain task, try to think of the positive future results of doing the work.
• Counter a negative with a worse negative. If thinking about the positive results of completing the task doesn’t motivate you to get started, think about what could happen if you keep procrastinating. You’ll have to study tomorrow instead of doing something fun you had planned. Or you could fail the test. Some people can jolt themselves right out of procrastination.
• On the other hand, fear causes procrastination in some people—so don’t dwell on the thought of failing. If you’re studying for a test, and you’re so afraid of failing it that you can’t focus on studying and you start procrastinating, try to put things in perspective. Even if it’s your most difficult class and you don’t understand everything about the topic, that doesn’t mean you’ll fail, even if you may not receive an A or a B.
• Study with a motivated friend. Form a study group with other students who are motivated and won’t procrastinate along with you. You’ll learn good habits from them while getting the work done now.
• Keep a study journal. At least once a day write an entry about how you have used your time and whether you succeeded with your schedule for the day. If not, identify what factors kept you from doing your work. (Use the form at the end of this chapter.) This journal will help you see your own habits and distractions so that you can avoid things that lead to procrastination.
• Get help. If you really can’t stay on track with your study schedule, or if you’re always putting things off until the last minute, see a college counselor. They have lots of experience with this common student problem and can help you find ways to overcome this habit.
Calendar Planners and To-Do Lists
Calendar planners and to-do lists are effective ways to organize your time. Many types of academic planners are commercially available (check your college bookstore), or you can make your own. Some people like a page for each day, and some like a week at a time. Some use computer calendars and planners. Almost any system will work well if you use it consistently.
Some college students think they don’t need to actually write down their schedule and daily to-do lists. They’ve always kept it in their head before, so why write it down in a planner now? Some first-year students were talking about this one day in a study group, and one bragged that she had never had to write down her calendar because she never forgot dates. Another student reminded her how she’d forgotten a preregistration date and missed taking a course she really wanted because the class was full by the time she went online to register. “Well,” she said, “except for that time, I never forget anything!” Of course, none of us ever forgets anything—until we do.
Calendars and planners help you look ahead and write in important dates and deadlines so you don’t forget. But it’s just as important to use the planner to schedule your own time, not just deadlines. For example, you’ll learn later that the most effective way to study for an exam is to study in several short periods over several days. You can easily do this by choosing time slots in your weekly planner over several days that you will commit to studying for this test. You don’t need to fill every time slot, or to schedule every single thing that you do, but the more carefully and consistently you use your planner, the more successfully will you manage your time.
But a planner cannot contain every single thing that may occur in a day. We’d go crazy if we tried to schedule every telephone call, every e-mail, every bill to pay, every trip to the grocery store. For these items, we use a to-do list, which may be kept on a separate page in the planner.
Check the example of a weekly planner form in Figure 2.5 “Weekly Planner”. (You can copy this page and use it to begin your schedule planning. By using this first, you will find out whether these time slots are big enough for you or whether you’d prefer a separate planner page for each day.) Fill in this planner form for next week. First write in all your class meeting times; your work or volunteer schedule; and your usual hours for sleep, family activities, and any other activities at fixed times. Don’t forget time needed for transportation, meals, and so on. Your first goal is to find all the blocks of “free time” that are left over.
Remember that this is an academic planner. Don’t try to schedule in everything in your life—this is to plan ahead to use your study time most effectively.
Next, check the syllabus for each of your courses and write important dates in the planner. If your planner has pages for the whole term, write in all exams and deadlines. Use red ink or a highlighter for these key dates. Write them in the hour slot for the class when the test occurs or when the paper is due, for example. (If you don’t yet have a planner large enough for the whole term, use Figure 2.5 “Weekly Planner” and write any deadlines for your second week in the margin to the right. You need to know what’s coming next week to help schedule how you’re studying this week.)
Figure 2.5 Weekly Planner
Remember that for every hour spent in class, plan an average of two hours studying outside of class. These are the time periods you now want to schedule in your planner. These times change from week to week, with one course requiring more time in one week because of a paper due at the end of the week and a different course requiring more the next week because of a major exam. Make sure you block out enough hours in the week to accomplish what you need to do. As you choose your study times, consider what times of day you are at your best and what times you prefer to use for social or other activities.
Don’t try to micromanage your schedule. Don’t try to estimate exactly how many minutes you’ll need two weeks from today to read a given chapter in a given textbook. Instead, just choose the blocks of time you will use for your studies. Don’t yet write in the exact study activity—just reserve the block. Next, look at the major deadlines for projects and exams that you wrote in earlier. Estimate how much time you may need for each and work backward on the schedule from the due date. For example,
You have a short paper due on Friday. You determine that you’ll spend ten hours total on it, from initial brainstorming and planning through to drafting and revising. Since you have other things also going on that week, you want to get an early start; you might choose to block an hour a week ahead on Saturday morning, to brainstorm your topic, and jot some preliminary notes. Monday evening is a good time to spend two hours on the next step or prewriting activities. Since you have a lot of time open Tuesday afternoon, you decide that’s the best time to reserve to write the first draft; you block out three or four hours. You make a note on the schedule to leave time open that afternoon to see your instructor during office hours in case you have any questions on the paper; if not, you’ll finish the draft or start revising. Thursday, you schedule a last block of time to revise and polish the final draft due tomorrow.
If you’re surprised by this amount of planning, you may be the kind of student who used to think, “The paper’s due Friday—I have enough time Thursday afternoon, so I’ll write it then.” What’s wrong with that? First, college work is more demanding than many first-year students realize, and the instructor expects higher-quality work than you can churn out quickly without revising. Second, if you are tired on Thursday because you didn’t sleep well Wednesday night, you may be much less productive than you hoped—and without a time buffer, you’re forced to turn in a paper that is not your best work.
Figure 2.6 “Example of a Student’s Weekly Planner Page with Class Times and Important Study Sessions” shows what one student’s schedule looks like for a week. This is intended only to show you one way to block out time—you’ll quickly find a way that works best for you.
Figure 2.6 Example of a Student’s Weekly Planner Page with Class Times and Important Study Sessions
Here are some more tips for successful schedule planning:
• Studying is often most effective immediately after a class meeting. If your schedule allows, block out appropriate study time after class periods.
• Be realistic about time when you make your schedule. If your class runs to four o’clock and it takes you twenty minutes to wrap things up and reach your study location, don’t figure you’ll have a full hour of study between four o’clock and five o’clock.
• Don’t overdo it. Few people can study four or five hours nonstop, and scheduling extended time periods like that may just set you up for failure.
• Schedule social events that occur at set times, but just leave holes in the schedule for other activities. Enjoy those open times and recharge your energies!
• Try to schedule some time for exercise at least three days a week.
• Plan to use your time between classes wisely. If three days a week you have the same hour free between two classes, what should you do with those three hours? Maybe you need to eat, walk across campus, or run an errand. But say you have an average forty minutes free at that time on each day. Instead of just frittering the time away, use it to review your notes from the previous class or for the coming class or to read a short assignment. Over the whole term, that forty minutes three times a week adds up to a lot of study time.
• If a study activity is taking longer than you had scheduled, look ahead and adjust your weekly planner to prevent the stress of feeling behind.
• If you maintain your schedule on your computer or smartphone, it’s still a good idea to print and carry it with you. Don’t risk losing valuable study time if you’re away from the device.
• If you’re not paying close attention to everything in your planner, use a colored highlighter to mark the times blocked out for really important things.
• When following your schedule, pay attention to starting and stopping times. If you planned to start your test review at four o’clock after an hour of reading for a different class, don’t let the reading run long and take time away from studying for the test.
Your Daily To-Do List
People use to-do lists in different ways, and you should find what works best for you. As with your planner, consistent use of your to-do list will make it an effective habit.
Some people prefer not to carry their planner everywhere but instead copy the key information for the day onto a to-do list. Using this approach, your daily to-do list starts out with your key scheduled activities and then adds other things you hope to do today.
Some people use their to-do list only for things not on their planner, such as short errands, phone calls or e-mail, and the like. This still includes important things—but they’re not scheduled out for specific times.
Although we call it a daily list, the to-do list can also include things you may not get to today but don’t want to forget about. Keeping these things on the list, even if they’re a low priority, helps ensure that eventually you’ll get to it.
Start every day with a fresh to-do list written in a special small notebook or on a clean page in your planner. Check your planner for key activities for the day and check yesterday’s list for items remaining.
Some items won’t require much time, but other activities such as assignments will. Include a time estimate for these so that later you can do them when you have enough free time. If you finish lunch and have twenty-five minutes left before your next class, what things on the list can you do now and check off?
Finally, use some system to prioritize things on your list. Some students use a 1, 2, 3 or A, B, C rating system for importance. Others simply highlight or circle items that are critical to get done today. Figure 2.7 “Examples of Two Different Students’ To-Do Lists” shows two different to-do lists—each very different but each effective for the student using it.
Figure 2.7 Examples of Two Different Students’ To-Do Lists
Use whatever format works best for you to prioritize or highlight the most important activities.
Here are some more tips for effectively using your daily to-do list:
• Be specific: “Read history chapter 2 (30 pages)”—not “History homework.”
• Put important things high on your list where you’ll see them every time you check the list.
• Make your list at the same time every day so that it becomes a habit.
• Don’t make your list overwhelming. If you added everything you eventually need to do, you could end up with so many things on the list that you’d never read through them all. If you worry you might forget something, write it in the margin of your planner’s page a week or two away.
• Use your list. Lists often include little things that may take only a few minutes to do, so check your list any time during the day you have a moment free.
• Cross out or check off things after you’ve done them—doing this becomes rewarding.
• Don’t use your to-do list to procrastinate. Don’t pull it out to find something else you just “have” to do instead of studying!
Time Management Tips for Students Who Work
If you’re both working and taking classes, you seldom have large blocks of free time. Avoid temptations to stay up very late studying, for losing sleep can lead to a downward spiral in performance at both work and school. Instead, try to follow these guidelines:
• If possible, adjust your work or sleep hours so that you don’t spend your most productive times at work. If your job offers flex time, arrange your schedule to be free to study at times when you perform best.
• Try to arrange your class and work schedules to minimize commuting time. If you are a part-time student taking two classes, taking classes back-to-back two or three days a week uses less time than spreading them out over four or five days. Working four ten-hour days rather than five eight-hour days reduces time lost to travel, getting ready for work, and so on.
• If you can’t arrange an effective schedule for classes and work, consider online courses that allow you to do most of the work on your own time.
• Use your daily and weekly planner conscientiously. Any time you have thirty minutes or more free, schedule a study activity.
• Consider your “body clock” when you schedule activities. Plan easier tasks for those times when you’re often fatigued and reserve alert times for more demanding tasks.
• Look for any “hidden” time potentials. Maybe you prefer the thirty-minute drive to work over a forty-five-minute train ride. But if you can read on the train, that’s a gain of ninety minutes every day at the cost of thirty minutes longer travel time. An hour a day can make a huge difference in your studies.
• Can you do quick study tasks during slow times at work? Take your class notes with you and use even five minutes of free time wisely.
• Remember your long-term goals. You need to work, but you also want to finish your college program. If you have the opportunity to volunteer for some overtime, consider whether it’s really worth it. Sure, the extra money would help, but could the extra time put you at risk for not doing well in your classes?
• Be as organized on the job as you are academically. Use your planner and to-do list for work matters, too. The better organized you are at work, the less stress you’ll feel—and the more successful you’ll be as a student also.
• If you have a family as well as a job, your time is even more limited. In addition to the previous tips, try some of the strategies that follow.
Time Management Tips for Students with Family
Living with family members often introduces additional time stresses. You may have family obligations that require careful time management. Use all the strategies described earlier, including family time in your daily plans the same as you would hours spent at work. Don’t assume that you’ll be “free” every hour you’re home, because family events or a family member’s need for your assistance may occur at unexpected times. Schedule your important academic work well ahead and in blocks of time you control. See also the earlier suggestions for controlling your space: you may need to use the library or another space to ensure you are not interrupted or distracted during important study times.
Students with their own families are likely to feel time pressures. After all, you can’t just tell your partner or kids that you’ll see them in a couple years when you’re not so busy with job and college! In addition to all the planning and study strategies discussed so far, you also need to manage your family relationships and time spent with family. While there’s no magical solution for making more hours in the day, even with this added time pressure there are ways to balance your life well:
• Talk everything over with your family. If you’re going back to school, your family members may not have realized changes will occur. Don’t let them be shocked by sudden household changes. Keep communication lines open so that your partner and children feel they’re together with you in this new adventure. Eventually you will need their support.
• Work to enjoy your time together, whatever you’re doing. You may not have as much time together as previously, but cherish the time you do have—even if it’s washing dishes together or cleaning house. If you’ve been studying for two hours and need a break, spend the next ten minutes with family instead of checking e-mail or watching television. Ultimately, the important thing is being together, not going out to movies or dinners or the special things you used to do when you had more time. Look forward to being with family and appreciate every moment you are together, and they will share your attitude.
Figure 2.8
Make the most of your time with family, since you’ll also need time alone for studying.
• Combine activities to get the most out of time. Don’t let your children watch television or play video games off by themselves while you’re cooking dinner, or you may find you have only twenty minutes family time together while eating. Instead, bring the family together in the kitchen and give everyone something to do. You can have a lot of fun together and share the day’s experiences, and you won’t feel so bad then if you have to go off and study by yourself.
• Share the load. Even children who are very young can help with household chores to give you more time. Attitude is everything: try to make it fun, the whole family pulling together—not something they “have” to do and may resent, just because Mom or Dad went back to school. (Remember, your kids will reach college age someday, and you want them to have a good attitude about college.) As they get older, they can do their own laundry, cook meals, and get themselves off to school, and older teens can run errands and do the grocery shopping. They will gain in the process by becoming more responsible and independent.
• Schedule your study time based on family activities. If you face interruptions from young children in the early evening, use that time for something simple like reviewing class notes. When you need more quiet time for concentrated reading, wait until they’ve gone to bed.
• Be creative with child care. Usually options are available, possibly involving extended family members, sitters, older siblings, cooperative child care with other adult students, as well as child-care centers. After a certain age, you can take your child along to campus when you attend an evening course, if there is somewhere the child can quietly read. At home, let your child have a friend over to play with. Network with other older students and learn what has worked for them. Explore all possibilities to ensure you have time to meet your college goals. And don’t feel guilty: “day care babies” grow up just as healthy psychologically as those raised in the home full time.
Time Management Tips for Student Athletes
Student athletes often face unique time pressures because of the amount of time required for training, practice, and competition. During some parts of the year, athletics may involve as many hours as a full-time job. The athletic schedule can be grueling, involving weekend travel and intensive blocks of time. You can be exhausted after workouts or competitions, affecting how well you can concentrate on studies thereafter. Students on athletic scholarships often feel their sport is their most important reason for being in college, and this priority can affect their attitudes toward studying. For all of these reasons, student athletes face special time management challenges. Here are some tips for succeeding in both your sport and academics:
• Realize that even if your sport is more important to you, you risk everything if you don’t also succeed in your academics. Failing one class in your first year won’t get you kicked out, but you’ll have to make up that class—and you’ll end up spending more time on the subject than if you’d studied more to pass it the first time.
• It’s critical to plan ahead. If you have a big test or a paper due the Monday after a big weekend game, start early. Use your weekly planner to plan well in advance, making it a goal, for example, to have the paper done by Friday—instead of thinking you can magically get it done Sunday night after victory celebrations. Working ahead will also free your mind to focus better on your sport.
• Accept that you have two priorities—your sport and your classes—and that both come before your social life. That’s just how it is—what you have accepted in your choice to be a college athlete. If it helps, think of your classes as your job; you have to “go to study” the same as others “go to work.”
• Use your planner to take advantage of any downtime you have during the day between classes and at lunch. Other students may seem to have the luxury of studying during much of the afternoon when you’re at practice, and maybe they can get away with hanging out between classes, but you don’t have that time available, at least not during the season. You need to use all the time you can find to keep up with your studying.
• Stay on top of your courses. If you allow yourself to start slipping behind, maybe telling yourself you’ll have more time later on to catch up, just the opposite will happen. Once you get behind, you’ll lose momentum and find it more difficult to understand what’s going on the class. Eventually the stress will affect your athletic performance also.
• Get help when you need it. Many athletic departments offer tutoring services or referrals for extra help. But don’t wait until you’re at risk for failing a class before seeking help. A tutor won’t take your test or write your paper for you—they can only help you focus in to use your time productively in your studies. You still have to want to succeed.
Key Takeaways
• People “use” time very differently. To develop strategies for managing your time, discover your time personality and observe how much time you spend in different activities in the course of a week.
• Plan your schedule with two hours of study time for each hour in class. Use your most alert times of day, break up large tasks into smaller pieces and stages, take breaks to help you stay focused, avoid distractions, and reward yourself for successful accomplishments.
• Procrastination has many different causes for different people but is a problem for most students. Different techniques can help you battle procrastination so you can get the job done.
• Use a weekly calendar planner to block out study times and plan well ahead for examinations and key assignments to achieve success in school.
• Use a daily to-do list along with your weekly planner to avoid overlooking even smaller tasks and to make the most of your time throughout the day.
• Students who work, live with family, or are athletes often face significant time pressures and must make a special effort to stay organized and plan ahead for efficient studying.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. What time(s) of day are you at your most alert?
_________________________
What time(s) of day are you at your least alert?
_________________________
2. What category of discretionary activity (not sleeping, working, studying, etc.) represents your largest use of time?
_________________________
Can you reduce the time you spend in that activity if you need more time for your coursework?
_________________________
3. For each of the following statements about time management, circle T for true or F for false:
T F Think yourself into a positive mood before starting to study.
T F Always study just before going to sleep so that you’ll dream about the topic.
T F Break up larger projects into smaller parts and stages.
T F Get everything done on your to-do list before studying so that you’re not distracted.
T F When feeling stressed by a project, put it off until tomorrow.
T F Talk with your instructor or another student if you’re having difficulty.
T F Try to study at least three hours at a time before taking a break.
T F Reward yourself for successfully completing a task.
T F Avoid studying at times not written in on your weekly planner; these are all free times just for fun.
T F Whenever interrupted by a friend, use that opportunity to take a break for up to thirty minutes.
T F Turn off all electronic devices when reading an assignment except for your laptop if you use it to take notes.
T F Since people procrastinate when they’re distracted by other things that need doing, it’s best to delay studying until you’ve done everything else first.
T F Studying with a friend is a sure way to waste time and develop poor study habits.
T F Use a study journal to observe how you use your time and determine what things are keeping you from getting your work done.
T F There’s no reason to keep a weekly calendar if all your instructors have provided you with a syllabus that gives the dates for all assignments and tests.
T F Studying for a particular class is most effective immediately after that class meets.
4. Without looking at your planner, to-do list, or anything else in writing, quickly write a list of everything you need to do in the next few days. Then look through your planner, to-do list, and any other class notes for anything you missed. What might you have forgotten or delayed if you weren’t keeping a planner and to-do list?
5. Without looking at your weekly or daily schedule, think about your typical week and the times you have free when not in class, working, studying, eating, socializing, and so on. List at least three “downtimes” when you don’t usually study that you can use for coursework when necessary.
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/02%3A_Staying_Motivated_Organized_and_On_Track/2.03%3A_Organizing_Your_Time.txt |
Chapter Takeaways
• It’s important to have short-, mid-, and long-term goals that are specific, realistic, time oriented, and attainable. Goals help you set priorities and remain motivated and committed to your college success.
• Attitude is the largest factor determining success in college. Work to stay positive and surround yourself with positive people, and you’ll find you are motivated to carry out the activities that will help you succeed in your courses.
• Planning ahead, and then following your plan, is the essence of time management. Organize both your space and your time to develop the best study habits. Learning strategies to stay on track, avoid distractions of people and technology, and to prevent procrastination will pay off not only in college but also in your career thereafter.
• Plan your use of time based on your “time personality” after assessing how you typically use your free time. Then use an academic weekly and daily planner to schedule blocks of time most efficiently. Start well ahead of deadlines to prevent last-minute stresses and problems completing your work.
• Because many college students have significant time commitments with work, family, athletics, or other activities, time management techniques are among the most important skills you can learn to help ensure your success.
Chapter Review
1. Describe the characteristics of well-written goals.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. List at least four or five things you can do to develop a positive attitude.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What have you personally found helps motivate you to sit down and start studying?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Describe the most important characteristics of an effective study space.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. How can you prepare for unplanned interruptions while studying?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. After you have analyzed how you typically spend time and have blocked out study periods for the week, you may still have difficulty using that study time well. List additional time management strategies that can help you make the most of the time that you do have.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. If you find yourself procrastinating, what can you do to get back on track?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
8. What can go wrong if you try to micromanage every minute of the day?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
What should you do, instead?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
9. Realizing that any action repeated consistently and frequently will soon become a habit, what should you do with your academic planner every day and every week to establish a strong habit that will help ensure your success in all your college courses to come?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Outside the Book
Make seven copies of the “Study Journal” page following. Near the end of the day, every day for the next week, spend a few minutes reviewing your day and writing answers to those questions. At the end of the week, review what you have written and summarize what you observe about your study tendencies by answering these questions:
1. Did you usually get as much, more, or less schoolwork done as you had scheduled for the day?
________________________________________
If you got less done, was the problem due to scheduling more time than you actually had, or not making effective use of the scheduled blocks of time?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. List the steps you will follow to make your scheduling process work better next week.
_______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What other things did you do repeatedly during the week when you should have been studying? ________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. What were the most common distractions (people or other interruptions) during the week when you were studying? ________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. List ways you can control your study space to avoid these activities and prevent these distractions next week. _____________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. Do you see a pattern in the activities you least enjoyed and had difficulty getting started on? ___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. Review Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”, Section 2.2 “Organizing Your Space” and Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”, Section 2.3 “Organizing Your Time” for specific strategies to use to stay focused and motivated. Make a list here of five or more things you will do differently next week if studying becomes difficult or less enjoyable.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Study Journal for Date: ____________
1. My daily planner had scheduled ______ hours of academic time today (not counting time in class). It turned out that I actually spent about ______ hours on my studies.
At some times I was scheduled to study or do academic work, I was doing this instead:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. The academic time I most enjoyed today was doing ___________________
__________________________________________________________________
I enjoyed this most because _____________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. The academic time I least most enjoyed today was doing _______________
__________________________________________________________________
I enjoyed this least because ____________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. I had the most difficulty getting started on this study activity:
__________________________________________________________________
Why?
__________________________________________________________________
5. I did my studying and other academic work in these places:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. During the time I was studying, I was interrupted by these people:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Other interruptions included the following (phone calls, e-mail, etc.):
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Make an Action List
Goals
I have not yet set realistic, specific, and time-oriented goals for the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
In the coming weeks and months, I will think about and clarify these goals:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Planning Ahead
Too often in the past, I have not started early enough on these kinds of school assignments and studying:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
To ensure I successfully plan ahead to complete all work on time in the future, I will do the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Attitude
I have most difficulty maintaining a positive attitude at the following times:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I can do the following things to “adjust” my attitude at these times to help ensure my success:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Focus and Motivation
When I’m not feeling motivated to work on my studies, I often do these things instead:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will try to use these strategies to keep motivated and focused on my studies in the future:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Study Space
I have the following problems with the places where I usually study now:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will make the following changes in my study space (or I will try these new places) to help prevent distractions:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Time Management
I often feel I don’t have enough time for my college work for the following reasons:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will start using these techniques to make sure I use my available time well:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/02%3A_Staying_Motivated_Organized_and_On_Track/2.04%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand that there are different types of thinking.
2. Identify how each type of thinking contributes to learning.
So what are the various types of thinking skills, and what kind things are we doing when we apply them? In the 1950s, Benjamin Bloom developed a classification of thinking skills that is still helpful today; it is known as Bloom’s taxonomy. He lists six types of thinking skills, ranked in order of complexity: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Figure 3.2 “Types of Thinking Skills” outlines each skill and what is involved in that type of thinking, as updated by Lorin Anderson and David Krothwohl.
Thinking Still What It Involves
1. Remembering and Recalling Retrieving or repeating information or ideas from memory. This is the first and most basic thinking skill you develop (starting as a toddler with learning numbers, letters, and colors).
2. Understanding Interpreting, constructing meaning, inferring, or explaining material from written, spoken, or graphic sources. Reading is the most common understanding skill; these skills are developed starting with early education.
3. Applying Using learned material or implementing material in new situations. This skill is commonly used starting in middle school (in some cases earlier).
4. Analyzing Breaking material or concepts into key elements and determining how the parts relate to one another or to an overall structure or purpose. Mental actions included in this skill are examining, contrasting or differentiating, separating, categorizing, experimenting, and deducing. You most likely started developing this skill in high school (particularly in science courses) and will continue to practice it in college.
5. Evaluating Assessing, making judgments, and drawing conclusions from ideas, information, or data. Critiquing the value and usefulness of material. This skill encompasses most of what is commonly referred to as critical thinking; this skill will be called on frequently during your college years and beyond. Critical thinking is the first focus of this chapter.
6. Creating Putting parts together or reorganizing them in a new way, form, or product. This process is the most difficult mental function. This skill will make you stand out in college and is in very high demand in the workforce. Creative thinking is the second focus of this chapter.
All of these thinking skills are important for college work (and life in the “real world,” too). You’ve likely had a great deal of experience with the lower-level thinking skills (yellow section). The midlevel skills are skills you will get a lot of practice with in college, and you may be well on your way to mastering them already. The higher-level thinking skills (red section) are the most demanding, and you will need to invest focused effort to develop them.
Exercise: Thought Inventory
Think about Figure 3.2 “Types of Thinking Skills”. Are you using all six thinking skills? Reflect on your schoolwork in the past three weeks and identify specific examples where you used each of the thinking skills. Use the comment column to write notes about the skills that are second nature to you and those you would like to develop further.
Skill Set How You Used It in the Past Three Weeks Comments
Remembering and Recalling
Understanding
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Creating
Look at the lists of things you actually did in each case. Notice that there are certain verbs that apply to each skill set. When you see those verbs as a prompt in an assignment or an exam, you will know what kind of thinking the instructor expects from you. Table 3.1 “Thinking Verbs” lists some of the most common verbs associated with each thinking skill.
Table 3.1 Thinking Verbs
Skill Set Verbs
1. Remembering and Recalling Bookmark, count, describe, draw, enumerate, find, google, identify, label, list, match, name, quote, recall, recite, search, select, sequence, tell, write
2. Understanding Blog, conclude, describe, discuss, explain, generalize, identify, illustrate, interpret, paraphrase, predict, report, restate, review, summarize, tell, tweet
3. Applying Apply, articulate, change, chart, choose, collect, compute, control, demonstrate, determine, do, download, dramatize, imitate, implement, interview, install (as in software), participate, prepare, produce, provide, report, role-play, run (software), select, share, show, solve, transfer, use
4. Analyzing Analyze, break down, characterize, classify, compare, contrast, debate, deduce, diagram, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, infer, link, outline, relate, research, reverse-engineer, separate, subdivide, tag
5. Evaluating Appraise, argue, assess, beta test, choose, collaborate, compare, contrast, conclude, critique, criticize, decide, defend, “friend/de-friend,” evaluate, judge, justify, network, post, predict, prioritize, prove, rank, rate, review, select, support
6. Creating Adapt, animate, blog, combine, compose, construct, create, design, develop, devise, film, formulate, integrate, invent, make, model, modify, organize, perform, plan, podcast, produce, program, propose, rearrange, remix, revise, rewrite, structure
Throughout this book, we give tips that will help you develop your thinking skills. You have read about the learning cycle and the importance of applying your knowledge. You will learn tips for remembering information from your notes and classes. Preparing for class requires you to analyze what you know and what you need to learn. The sections on listening and reading will help you develop your understanding skills. Look for those tips and practice them.
In this chapter, we will focus on critical thinking (evaluating) and creative thinking. They deserve specific focus because they are likely to be the skills you have least practice with. These are the skills most helpful for success in college and in “real life.” Creative thinking will help you come up with possible solutions for problems and new ideas. Critical thinking will help you decide which of those ideas have most merit and deserve to be implemented.
Key Takeaways
• We use different types of thinking skills to address different requirements, and these skills are classified in Bloom’s taxonomy.
• You have been using many thinking skills since childhood.
• Two very important thinking skills you will need to develop for success in college and in life are critical (or evaluative) thinking and creative thinking.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List three verbs that are associated with application skills.
____________________
____________________
____________________
2. What is another name for “evaluation” thinking skills?
__________________________________________________________________
3. What thinking skills are associated with each of the following?
1. Compose and design: _______________________________________
2. Tweet and describe: _________________________________________
3. Break down and discriminate: __________________________________
4. Rank and beta test: _________________________________________
5. Enumerate and google: ______________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/03%3A_Thinking_about_Thought/3.01%3A_Types_of_Thinking.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand what critical thinking is and why it’s important.
2. Identify logical pitfalls.
3. Discover assumptions and biases.
4. Practice problem solving and decision making.
5. Know the power of questions.
6. Evaluate information (on and off the Internet).
Americans Have Access to…
• 1 million new books each year
• 5,500 magazines
• 10,500 radio stations
• 65,000 iPhone apps
• 1,000,000,000,000 Web pages
In today’s environment, it is not so critical to “know” a great deal of information. The list above indicates how much information we can easily access. In fact, the abundance of information might be the greater challenge. Your success will depend on what you can do with the information, not just on what you know. How we filter and use that abundance of data is the reason critical thinking has become so important today.
Critical thinking is the ability to discover the value of an idea, a set of beliefs, a claim, or an argument. It requires you to use logic and reasoning to evaluate evidence or information to make a decision or reach a conclusion. Critical thinking is
• a foundation for effective communication,
• the principal skill used in effective decision making,
• at the core of creating new knowledge,
• a way to uncover bias and prejudices.
Critical thinking is a part of everyday life, too. Decisions you make can have a lasting impact on your life, and these decisions benefit from critical thinking. Did you ever decide to quit smoking or to lose weight? Were you successful? How did you decide to attend the college you are in? Was that the right choice for you? In any of these cases, could you have made a better decision if you had better or more information?
The Critical Thinking Process
The critical thinking process is really nothing more than asking the right questions to understand a problem or issue and then gathering the data you need to complete the decision or take sides on an issue.
What is the problem or issue I am considering really about? Understanding this is key to successful critical thinking. What is the objective? A position? A decision? Are you deciding what candidate in an election will do a better overall job, or are you looking to strengthen the political support for a particular cause? Are you really against a recommendation from your dad, or are you using the issue to establish your independence?
Do you understand the terms related to the issue? Are you in agreement with the proponent’s definitions? For example, if you are evaluating a quotation on the health-care system for use in a paper, your objective might be to decide to use the quotation or not, but before you can make that decision you need to understand what the writer is really saying. If a term like “family” is used, for example, does it mean direct relations or extended family?
What are my options? What are choices that are available to you (if you are making a decision), or what are the “sides” (in the case of a position) you might choose to agree with? What are their differences? What are the likely consequences of each option? In making a decision, it might be helpful to ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that might happen in each scenario?” Examining different points of view is very important; there may be dozens of alternative viewpoints to a particular issue—and the validity of each can change depending on circumstances. A position that is popular or politically correct today may not have been a year ago, and there is no guarantee it will be right in the future. Likewise, a solution to a personal problem that was successful for your roommate may not apply to you. Remember also that sometimes the best option might be a combination of the options you identify initially.
What do I know about each option? First, make sure you have all the information about each option. Do you have all the information to support each of your likely options? What is still missing? Where can you get the information you need? Keep an open mind and don’t dismiss supporting information on any position before you evaluate it carefully.
How good is my information? Now it’s time to evaluate the quality of the support of each option or point of view. Evaluate the strengths and the weaknesses of each piece of supporting evidence. Are all the relevant facts presented? Are some facts presented in misleading ways? Are enough examples presented to support the premise? Consider the source of the supporting information. Who is the expert presenting the facts? That “expert” may have a vested interest in the position. Consider that bias, more for understanding the point of view than for rejecting it. Consider your own opinions (especially when working with emotional issues); are your emotional ties to a point of view getting in your way of clear thinking (your own biases)? If you really like a particular car model, are you giving the financial implications of buying that car a fair consideration? Are there any errors or fallacies in your logic? (See Table 3.2 “Fallacies and How to Avoid Them”.)
Fallacies are defects in logic that weaken arguments. You should learn to identify them in your own thinking so you can strengthen your positions, as well as in the arguments of others when evaluating their strength.
Table 3.2 Fallacies and How to Avoid Them
Fallacy Description Examples How to Avoid It in Your Own Thinking
Generalizations Making assumptions about a whole group of people based on an inadequate sample.
Engineering students are nerds.
My economics class is boring, and my friend says her economic class is boring, too—therefore all economics classes are boring.
What kind of sample are you using? Is it large enough to support the conclusions? You may want to increase your sample size or draw a more modest conclusion by using the word “some” or “many.”
False Cause Drawing improper conclusions through sequencing. If A comes before B, then A causes B. I studied biology last term, and this term I’m taking organic chem, which is very confusing. Biology makes chemistry confusing. When making causal statements, be sure you can explain the process through which A causes B beyond their mere sequence.
Personalizations Also known by their Latin names (ad hominem, or “against the man,” and tu quoque, or “you too”). Inserting personalities inappropriately into an argument. Common in political arguments. Against the man: I won’t support Senator Smith’s education bill. He’s had a mistress and marital problems. Focus on the merits and supporting data of an argument, not on the personality or behavior of the people making the arguments.
Everyone Does It Also known by its Latin name (ad populum, or “against many”). Justifying an issue based solely on the number of people involved.
You too: A parent explains the evidence of the risks of binge drinking. The child rejects the arguments, saying, “When you were my age, you drank too.”
It’s healthy to drink only soda; millions of American kids do.
The popular position is not always the right one. Be wary of arguments that rely exclusively on one set of numbers.
Appealing to Authority Using an endorsement from someone as a primary reason for supporting a point of view.
We should oppose higher taxes; Curt Schilling does.
Pitcher Curt Schilling may be a credible authority on baseball, but is he an authority on taxes?
Quoting authorities is a valuable tool to build an argument; make sure the authorities you quote are truly subject matter experts on the issue you are discussing.
Weak Analogy Using irrelevant similarities in two objects to draw a conclusion. Cars and motorcycles are both driven at high speeds on the highway. Car drivers aren’t required to wear helmets, so motorcycle riders shouldn’t have to either. You can draw an analogy between just about any two objects or ideas. If you are using an analogy, make sure you identify the properties relevant to the argument you are making and see if both share those properties. (In the example, the motorcycle does not provide protection to the rider, but the car does. Equating the two vehicles based on traveling speed is not relevant to the argument.)
False Dichotomy Setting up a situation in which it looks like there are only two possible options. If one option is discredited, the other must be accepted. The classic example here is “America, love it or leave it.” Examine your own thinking. Are there really only two options? Look for the third option. If you were asked to develop a compromise between the two positions, what would it look like? What would its strengths and weaknesses be?
You will need to use critical thinking throughout your college years and beyond. Here are some common critical thinking situations and the kinds of questions you should ask to apply critical thinking. Note that critical thinking is central to themes covered in detail throughout this book.
• Personal choices. Examples include “What should I major in?” and “Should I buy a new car?” What do you know about each of your options? What is the quality of that information? Where can you get more (reliable) information? How do those options relate to your financial and emotional needs? What are the pros and cons of each option? Are you open to the points of view of others who may be involved? (See Chapter 11 “Taking Control of Your Finances” and Chapter 12 “Taking Control of Your Future”.)
• Reading, listening, note taking, and studying. What are the core messages of the instructor or author? Why are they important? How do these messages relate to one another or differ? (This is covered in much more detail in Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering” and Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn”.)
• Research papers. What evidence do you need to support your thesis? What sources are available for that evidence? Are they reliable sources? Are there any fallacies in your argument? (This is covered in more detail in Chapter 8 “Writing for Classes”.)
• Essay questions on exams. What is the professor really asking you to do? What do you know about the question? What is your personal belief about the question? What are the beliefs or biases of the professor or quoted authors? What are the arguments against your point of view? What are the most important pieces of evidence you should offer to support your answer? (This covered in more detail in Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests”.)
Tips for Critical Thinking
• Consider all points of view; seriously consider more than two (look for grey areas).
• Keep an open mind.
• Answer three questions about your supporting data:
1. Is it enough support?
2. Is it the right support?
3. Is it credible?
• Look for evidence that contradicts your point of view. Pretend to disagree with the position you are supporting. What parts of your argument are weak? Do you have the supporting facts to overcome that evidence?
• Create a set of criteria you will use to evaluate the strength of information you want to use to support your argument. Ask questions like these:
• What is the source of this information?
• Is the author well respected in the field?
• When was this information developed? Is that important? Why?
• Does the author or publisher have an agenda for publishing the information? How does that agenda affect the credibility of the information?
• Create a table on which you list your main points, then for each one, list the evidence you have to support it. This method will help you visually identify where you have weak evidence and what points actually lack evidence.
• Be willing to admit that you lack information to support a point of view or make a decision. Ask questions or do some focused research to get what you still need.
• Make sure that your assumptions and points of view are supported by facts, not opinions.
• Learn what types of fallacies you use habitually, and then be on the lookout for them. Writers will often rely on certain types of arguments as a matter of habit. Review some of your old papers to identify which fallacies you need to avoid.
• Question your characterizations of others. Are those authorities truly competent in the area you are considering? Are you attacking the opponents of your point of view rather than attacking their arguments?
• Be careful of broad generalizations. Claims that use absolute words like “all,” “none,” “always,” “never,” “no one,” and “everyone” require much more proof than claims that use words like “most,” “some,” “often,” “rarely,” “sometimes,” and so on.
Where Did That Come From?
One of the most consistent uses for critical thinking in your college work is in considering the value of research material and deciding how to use it. The Internet gives you access to an almost unlimited amount of data, and you must choose what to use carefully. Following are some guidelines.
1. Look at the URL, the Web address. It can give you important information about the reliability and intentions of the site. Start with the page publisher. Have you heard of this source before? If so, would you consider it a reliable source for the kind of material you are about to read? Now consider the domain type in the URL, which follows the period after the publisher: “.com” and “.biz” are used by commercial enterprises, “.org” is normally used by nonprofit organizations, and “.edu” is reserved for educational institutions. None of these is necessarily bad or good, but they may give you a sense behind the motivation for publishing this material. Are you dealing with a company or the Web site of an individual—and how might that affect the quality of the information on that site?
2. What can you learn from poking around with navigation tabs or buttons, and what do they tell you about the objective of the Web site? Look for a tab labeled “About Us” or “Biography.”
3. Consider what others are saying about the site. Does the author offer references, reviews, or quotations about the material? What do they say? Check the blogosphere to see what other people think of the author or Web site.
4. Trust your own impressions about the material. Is the information consistent with what you already know?
5. Ask yourself why the Web site was written. (To inform? To provide data or facts? To sell something? To promote a cause? To parody?)
Based on what you learned, ask yourself if the information from this Web site is reliable for your needs. These steps are covered in more detail in Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn”.
Key Takeaways
• Critical thinking is evaluating the strength of your arguments, data, and information.
• Three questions to ask about the support for an argument or position:
1. Is it enough support?
2. Is it the right support?
3. Is it credible?
• Weaknesses in arguments are most commonly logical fallacies. Recognizing them will help evaluate the strength of an argument effectively.
Checkpoint Exercises
Figure 3.3 Crossword: Full of Fallacies
Across Down
1. Fallacy is an error in _____________. 2. Appealing to _______________
3. Also known as the “you too” fallacy 5. Ad ______________; everybody does it
4. False ________; a fallacy based on the order of events 7. To draw conclusions based on a small sample
6. A tendency or inclination which prevents fair consideration of a point of view 9. False ________; a fallacy on forced choice between only two options
8. Weak ______________; irrelevant comparison | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/03%3A_Thinking_about_Thought/3.02%3A_Its_Critical.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Use creative thinking: the competitive advantage in the twenty-first century.
2. Understand the difference between creative thinking and free-form thinking.
3. Practice guidelines for creating ideas.
4. Use rules and directions to create effectively.
5. Understand group creativity: how to conduct effective brainstorming.
America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society—in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage.
Thomas Friedman
Let’s face it: many jobs are subject to outsourcing. The more menial or mechanical the job, the greater the likelihood that there will be someone overseas ready to do the job for a lot less pay. But generating new ideas, fostering innovation, and developing processes or plans to implement them are something that cannot be easily farmed out, and these are strengths of the American collegiate education. Businesses want problem solvers, not just doers. Developing your creative thinking skills will position you for lifelong success in whatever career you choose.
Creative thinking is the ability to look at things from a new perspective, to come up with fresh solutions to problems. It is a deliberate process that allows you to think in ways that improve the likelihood of generating new ideas or thoughts.
Let’s start by killing a couple of myths:
• Creativity is an inherited skill. Creativity is not something people are born with but is a skill that is developed over time with consistent practice. It can be argued that people you think were “born” creative because their parents were creative, too, are creative simply because they have been practicing creative thinking since childhood, stimulated by their parents’ questions and discussions.
• Creativity is free-form thinking. While you may want to free yourself from all preconceived notions, there is a recognizable structure to creative thinking. Rules and requirements do not limit creative thinking—they provide the scaffolding on which truly creative solutions can be built. Free-form thinking often lacks direction or an objective; creative thinking is aimed at producing a defined outcome or solution.
Creative thinking involves coming up with new or original ideas; it is the process of seeing the same things others see but seeing them differently. You use skills such as examining associations and relationships, flexibility, elaboration, modification, imagery, and metaphorical thinking. In the process, you will stimulate your curiosity, come up with new approaches to things, and have fun!
Tips for Creative Thinking
• Feed your curiosity. Read. Read books, newspapers, magazines, blogs—anything at any time. When surfing the Web, follow links just to see where they will take you. Go to the theatre or movies. Attend lectures. Creative people make a habit of gathering information, because they never know when they might put it to good use. Creativity is often as much about rearranging known ideas as it is about creating a completely new concept. The more “known ideas” you have been exposed to, the more options you’ll have for combining them into new concepts.
• Develop your flexibility by looking for a second right answer. Throughout school we have been conditioned to come up with the right answer; the reality is that there is often more than one “right” answer. Examine all the possibilities. Look at the items in Figure 3.4. Which is different from all the others?
Figure 3.4
If you chose C, you’re right; you can’t eat a board. Maybe you chose D; that’s right, too—clams are the only animal on the chart. B is right, as it’s the only item you can make oil from, and A can also be right; it’s the only red item.
Each option can be right depending on your point of view. Life is full of multiple answers, and if we go along with only the first most obvious answer, we are in danger of losing the context for our ideas. The value of an idea can only be determined by comparing it with another. Multiple ideas will also help you generate new approaches by combining elements from a variety of “right” answers. In fact, the greatest danger to creative thinking is to have only one idea. Always ask yourself, “What’s the other right answer?”
• Combine old ideas in new ways. When King C. Gillette registered his patent for the safety razor, he built on the idea of disposable bottle caps, but his venture didn’t become profitable until he toyed with a watch spring and came up with the idea of how to manufacture inexpensive (therefore disposable) blades. Bottle caps and watch springs are far from men’s grooming materials, but Gillette’s genius was in combining those existing but unlikely ideas. Train yourself to think “out of the box.” Ask yourself questions like, “What is the most ridiculous solution I can come up with for this problem?” or “If I were transported by a time machine back to the 1930s, how would I solve this problem?” You may enjoy watching competitive design, cooking, or fashion shows (Top Chef, Chopped, Project Runway, etc.); they are great examples of combining old ideas to make new, functional ones.
• Think metaphorically. Metaphors are useful to describe complex ideas; they are also useful in making problems more familiar and in stimulating possible solutions. For example, if you were a partner in a company about to take on outside investors, you might use the pie metaphor to clarify your options (a smaller slice of a bigger pie versus a larger slice of a smaller pie). If an organization you are a part of is lacking direction, you may search for a “steady hand at the tiller,” communicating quickly that you want a consistent, nonreactionary, calm leader. Based on that ship-steering metaphor, it will be easier to see which of your potential leaders you might want to support. Your ability to work comfortably with metaphors takes practice. When faced with a problem, take time to think about metaphors to describe it, and the desired solution. Observe how metaphors are used throughout communication and think about why those metaphors are effective. Have you ever noticed that the financial business uses water-based metaphors (cash flow, frozen assets, liquidity) and that meteorologists use war terms (fronts, wind force, storm surge)? What kinds of metaphors are used in your area of study?
• Ask. A creative thinker always questions the way things are: Why are we doing things this way? What were the objectives of this process and the assumptions made when we developed the process? Are they still valid? What if we changed certain aspects? What if our circumstances changed? Would we need to change the process? How? Get in the habit of asking questions—lots of questions.
Key Takeaways
• Creative thinking is a requirement for success.
• Creative thinking is a deliberate process that can be learned and practiced.
• Creative thinking involves, but is not limited to, curiosity, flexibility, looking for the second right answer, combining things in new ways, thinking metaphorically, and questioning the way things are.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Feed your curiosity. List five things you will do in the next month that you have never done before (go to the ballet, visit a local museum, try Moroccan food, or watch a foreign movie). Expand your comfort “envelope.” Put them on your calendar.
1. ______________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________
4. ______________________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________________
2. How many ways can you use it? Think of as many uses for the following common items as possible. Can you name more than ten?
Peanut Butter (PBJ counts as one,
regardless of the flavor of jelly)
Paper Clips Honors Level: Pen Caps
3. A metaphor for life. In the movie Forrest Gump, Forrest states, “Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” Write your own metaphor for life and share it with your classmates.
__________________________________________________________________
4. He has eyes in the back of his head. What if we really had eyes in the backs of our heads? How would life be different? What would be affected? Would we walk backward? Would we get dizzy if we spun in circles? Would it be easy to put mascara on the back eyes? Generate your own questions and answers; let the creative juices flow!
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/03%3A_Thinking_about_Thought/3.03%3A_Searching_for_Aha.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Learn to understand the problem.
2. Learn to combine creative thinking and critical thinking to solve problems.
3. Practice problem solving in a group.
Much of your college and professional life will be spent solving problems; some will be complex, such as deciding on a career, and require time and effort to come up with a solution. Others will be small, such as deciding what to eat for lunch, and will allow you to make a quick decision based entirely on your own experience. But, in either case, when coming up with the solution and deciding what to do, follow the same basic steps.
• Define the problem. Use your analytical skills. What is the real issue? Why is it a problem? What are the root causes? What kinds of outcomes or actions do you expect to generate to solve the problem? What are some of the key characteristics that will make a good choice: Timing? Resources? Availability of tools and materials? For more complex problems, it helps to actually write out the problem and the answers to these questions. Can you clarify your understanding of the problem by using metaphors to illustrate the issue?
• Narrow the problem. Many problems are made up of a series of smaller problems, each requiring its own solution. Can you break the problem into different facets? What aspects of the current issue are “noise” that should not be considered in the problem solution? (Use critical thinking to separate facts from opinion in this step.)
• Generate possible solutions. List all your options. Use your creative thinking skills in this phase. Did you come up with the second “right” answer, and the third or the fourth? Can any of these answers be combined into a stronger solution? What past or existing solutions can be adapted or combined to solve this problem?
Group Think: Effective Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a process of generating ideas for solutions in a group. This method is very effective because ideas from one person will trigger additional ideas from another. The following guidelines make for an effective brainstorming session:
• Decide who should moderate the session. That person may participate, but his main role is to keep the discussion flowing.
• Define the problem to be discussed and the time you will allow to consider it.
• Write all ideas down on a board or flip chart for all participants to see.
• Encourage everyone to speak.
• Do not allow criticism of ideas. All ideas are good during a brainstorm. Suspend disbelief until after the session. Remember a wildly impossible idea may trigger a creative and feasible solution to a problem.
• Choose the best solution. Use your critical thinking skills to select the most likely choices. List the pros and cons for each of your selections. How do these lists compare with the requirements you identified when you defined the problem? If you still can’t decide between options, you may want to seek further input from your brainstorming team.
Decisions, Decisions
You will be called on to make many decisions in your life. Some will be personal, like what to major in, or whether or not to get married. Other times you will be making decisions on behalf of others at work or for a volunteer organization. Occasionally you will be asked for your opinion or experience for decisions others are making. To be effective in all of these circumstances, it is helpful to understand some principles about decision making.
First, define who is responsible for solving the problem or making the decision. In an organization, this may be someone above or below you on the organization chart but is usually the person who will be responsible for implementing the solution. Deciding on an academic major should be your decision, because you will have to follow the course of study. Deciding on the boundaries of a sales territory would most likely be the sales manager who supervises the territories, because he or she will be responsible for producing the results with the combined territories. Once you define who is responsible for making the decision, everyone else will fall into one of two roles: giving input, or in rare cases, approving the decision.
Understanding the role of input is very important for good decisions. Input is sought or given due to experience or expertise, but it is up to the decision maker to weigh the input and decide whether and how to use it. Input should be fact based, or if offering an opinion, it should be clearly stated as such. Finally, once input is given, the person giving the input must support the other’s decision, whether or not the input is actually used.
Consider a team working on a project for a science course. The team assigns you the responsibility of analyzing and presenting a large set of complex data. Others on the team will set up the experiment to demonstrate the hypothesis, prepare the class presentation, and write the paper summarizing the results. As you face the data, you go to the team to seek input about the level of detail on the data you should consider for your analysis. The person doing the experiment setup thinks you should be very detailed, because then it will be easy to compare experiment results with the data. However, the person preparing the class presentation wants only high-level data to be considered because that will make for a clearer presentation. If there is not a clear understanding of the decision-making process, each of you may think the decision is yours to make because it influences the output of your work; there will be conflict and frustration on the team. If the decision maker is clearly defined upfront, however, and the input is thoughtfully given and considered, a good decision can be made (perhaps a creative compromise?) and the team can get behind the decision and work together to complete the project.
Finally, there is the approval role in decisions. This is very common in business decisions but often occurs in college work as well (the professor needs to approve the theme of the team project, for example). Approval decisions are usually based on availability of resources, legality, history, or policy.
Key Takeaways
• Effective problem solving involves critical and creative thinking.
• The four steps to effective problem solving are the following:
1. Define the problem
2. Narrow the problem
3. Generate solutions
4. Choose the solution
• Brainstorming is a good method for generating creative solutions.
• Understanding the difference between the roles of deciding and providing input makes for better decisions.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Gather a group of three or four friends and conduct three short brainstorming sessions (ten minutes each) to generate ideas for alternate uses for peanut butter, paper clips, and pen caps. Compare the results of the group with your own ideas. Be sure to follow the brainstorming guidelines. Did you generate more ideas in the group? Did the quality of the ideas improve? Were the group ideas more innovative? Which was more fun? Write your conclusions here.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Using the steps outlined earlier for problem solving, write a plan for the following problem: You are in your second year of studies in computer animation at Jefferson Community College. You and your wife both work, and you would like to start a family in the next year or two. You want to become a video game designer and can benefit from more advanced work in programming. Should you go on to complete a four-year degree?
1. Define the problem: What is the core issue? What are the related issues? Are there any requirements to a successful solution? Can you come up with a metaphor to describe the issue?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Narrow the problem: Can you break down the problem into smaller manageable pieces? What would they be?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Generate solutions: What are at least two “right” answers to each of the problem pieces?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Choose the right approach: What do you already know about each solution? What do you still need to know? How can you get the information you need? Make a list of pros and cons for each solution.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3.05: Chapter Activities
Chapter Takeaways
• Your ability to think critically and creatively is a key to your success in college and in life. You should develop and practice these skills.
• Bloom’s taxonomy provides a framework to describe the many kinds of thinking we need to do. Up to this point, you probably have practiced most of the lower-level thinking skills but have not had much experience with the higher-level skills (critical thinking and creative thinking).
• Critical thinking involves evaluating the strength of ideas or concepts by asking questions about them. Critical thinking will also allow you to identify and weed out logical fallacies that weaken the value of an idea.
• Creative thinking is the process of generating new ideas, concepts, or solutions. This often involves adapting existing ideas or combining them in new ways to create a new solution.
• Problem solving is effectively achieved by applying both critical thinking and creative thinking to generate viable solutions and decisions.
Chapter Review
1. List the six levels of thinking described in Bloom’s taxonomy.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Which thinking skill is most important for short answer quizzes? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. List five verbs that describe the application level of thought.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. What thinking skills are you using if you are blogging? How do you use each one?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. What is critical thinking?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. Why is it important to pose some questions about the source of the material you read? What kinds of questions should you ask?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. What is a logical fallacy? Give an example of two types.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
8. List six words that signal a broad generalization and a recommended alternative that would resolve that problem of each.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
9. What are some ways in which you can feed your curiosity?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
10. Why is brainstorming more effective at generating new ideas than individual work?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
11. List the four steps of problem solving.
1. ___________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________
12. How do you use critical thinking and creative thinking in solving problems?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Make an Action List
Two things I will do to practice Action By when I expect to take the action The expected results of that action
My critical thinking 1.
2.
My creative thinking 1.
2.
My problem solving 1.
2. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/03%3A_Thinking_about_Thought/3.04%3A_Problem_Solving_and_Decision_Making.txt |
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/sculpture...ening-2209152/
04: Listening Taking Notes and Remembering
Learning Objectives
• Identify the roles of listening and note taking in the learning cycle.
Too many students try to get the grade just by going to class, maybe a little note taking, and then cramming through the text right before an exam they feel unprepared for. Sound familiar? This approach may have worked for you in high school where tests and quizzes were more frequent and teachers prepared study guides for you, but colleges require you to take responsibility for your learning and to be better prepared.
Most students simply have not learned how to study and don’t understand how learning works. As we discussed in Chapter 1 “You and Your College Experience”, learning is actually a cycle of four steps: preparing, absorbing, capturing, and reviewing. When you get in the habit of paying attention to this cycle, it becomes relatively easy to study well. But you must use all four steps.
This chapter focuses on listening, a key skill for learning new material, and note taking, the most important skill in the capturing phase of the cycle. These skills are closely related. Good listening skills make you a better note taker, and taking good notes can help you listen better. Both are key study skills to help you do better in your classes.
Figure 4.2: The Learning Cycle
Key Takeaways
• College is very different from high school.
• You must take personal responsibility for your learning.
• Time management is crucial.
• Learning is a cycle of four steps: preparing, absorbing, capturing, and reviewing.
4.02: Are You Ready for Class
Learning Objectives
• Prepare for listening in class and taking notes.
• Use a syllabus.
A professional athlete wouldn’t take the field without warming up first. An effective student won’t go to a class without preparing for it first. To get the most out of a class, you need to get yourself in the right frame of mind. This does not take a lot of time, but it greatly increases your ability to listen actively and take good notes.
Like a good athlete, first you need to get psyched. Clearly visualize your goals. Thinking about the following questions may help:
• What do I want to get out of the class?
• What is the main idea the class will cover?
• How will today’s class help me do better in this course?
Go to class with confidence. The best way to achieve this is to start early and be sure you’ve completed any assignment the instructor gave you in the last class. Think about how today’s material will tie into what you’ve already learned. You should also review the course syllabus to see what the instructor expects to cover in the class and how it relates to what you have learned so far.
Be physically prepared, too:
• Make sure you are getting enough sleep and eating nutritious meals, including breakfast. It’s hard to focus on learning when you’re hungry.
• Make sure you have all materials you’ll need for class (paper, pens, laptop, books, etc.).
• Be punctual. Give yourself plenty of time to get into your seat and organize your space. If you are late, you’ll struggle to get into the right mind-set for listening, and you won’t feel in control of your learning as you try to catch up with the class. If you’re tardy, you also create a distraction for your classmates—and the instructor, who will take notice!
• Clear away all other distractions before the instructor starts. Remember that putting your cell phone on “vibrate” may still distract you—so turn it off, all the way off.
Now, take a deep breath, focus on the instructor, and listen and learn!
Key Takeaways
• To get the most out of a class, get yourself in the right frame of mind.
• Clearly visualize your goals and approach the class with confidence.
• Be physically prepared: rested, punctual, and not distracted. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/04%3A_Listening_Taking_Notes_and_Remembering/4.01%3A_Setting_Yourself_Up_for_Success.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Listen actively in social situations and in class environments.
• Apply strategies that make listening more effective.
• Ask good questions.
Are you a good listener? Most of us like to think we are, but when we really think about it, we recognize that we are often only half listening. We’re distracted, thinking about other things, or formulating what we are going to say in reaction to what we are hearing before the speaker has even finished. Effective listening is one of the most important learning tools you can have in college. And it is a skill that will benefit you on the job and help your relationships with others. Listening is nothing more than purposefully focusing on what a speaker is saying with the objective of understanding.
This definition is straightforward, but there are some important concepts that deserve a closer look. “Purposefully focusing” implies that you are actively processing what the speaker is saying, not just letting the sounds of their voice register in your senses. “With the objective of understanding” means that you will learn enough about what the speaker is saying to be able to form your own thoughts about the speaker’s message. Listening is an active process, as opposed to hearing, which is passive.
You listen to others in many situations: to interact with friends, to get instructions for a task, or to learn new material. There are two general types of listening situations: where you will be able to interact freely with the speaker (everyday conversations, small discussion classes, business meetings) and where interaction is limited (lectures and Webcasts).
In interactive situations, you should apply the basic principles of active listening (see “Principles of Active Listening”). These are not hard to understand, but they are hard to implement and require practice to use them effectively.
Principles of Active Listening
1. Focus on what is being said. Give the speaker your undivided attention. Clear your mind of anything else. Don’t prejudge. You want to understand what the person is saying; you don’t need to agree with it.
2. Repeat what you just heard. Confirm with the speaker that what you heard is what he or she said.
3. Ask speaker to expand or clarify. If you are unsure you understand, ask questions; don’t assume.
4. Look for nonverbal signals as well as the words used. Nonverbal messages come from facial expressions, body positioning, arm gestures, and tone of voice. Confirm these body language messages just as you would verbal messages by saying, for example, “You seem very excited about this idea.”
5. Listen for requests. A speaker will often hide a request as a statement of a problem. If a friend says, “I hate math!” this may mean, “Can you help me figure out a solution to this problem?”
Activity: Listening with Your Whole Body
Think of a person you consider an excellent listener. Picture that person clearly in your mind. Focus on what she does, not what they she is saying. Describe what actions and postures she uses to show she is listening. Put this list on the left-hand side of the page.
Think of a person you consider a poor listener. Picture that person clearly in your mind. Focus on what he does, not what he is saying. Describe what actions and postures he uses to show he is not listening. Put this list on the right-hand side of the page.
Now compare these lists with your own behavior. How many of the body language signals from each side do you think you exhibit? How can you add more of the left column’s attitudes and actions to your own behaviors? How can you control those behaviors you recognize in yourself from the right column?
Listening in a classroom or lecture hall to learn can be challenging because you are limited by how—and how much—you can interact with an instructor during the class. The following strategies help make listening at lectures more effective and learning more fun.
1. Get your mind in the right space. Prepare yourself mentally to receive the information the speaker is presenting by following the previous prep questions and by doing your assignments (instructors build upon work presented earlier).
2. Get yourself in the right space. Sit toward the front of the room where you can make eye contact with the instructor easily. Most instructors read the body language of the students in the front rows to gauge how they are doing and if they are losing the class. Instructors also believe students who sit near the front of the room take their subject more seriously and are more willing to give them help when needed or to give them the benefit of the doubt when making a judgment call while assigning grades.
3. Focus on what is being said. Eliminate distractions. Turn your cell phone off and pack it away in your backpack. If you are using your laptop for notes, close all applications except the one that you use to take notes. Clear your mind and keep quiet. Listen for new ideas. Think like an investigative reporter: you don’t just want to accept what is being said passively—you want to question the material and be convinced that it makes sense.
4. Look for signals. Each instructor has a different way of telling you what is important. Some will repeat or paraphrase an idea; others will raise (or lower) their voices; still others will write related words on the board. Learn what signals your instructors tend to use and be on the lookout for them. When they use that tactic, the idea they are presenting needs to go in your notes and in your mind—and don’t be surprised if it appears on a test or quiz!
5. Listen for what is not being said. If an instructor doesn’t cover a subject, or covers it only minimally, this signals that that material is not as important as other ideas covered in greater length.
6. Sort the information. Decide what is important and what is not, what is clear and what is confusing, and what is new material and what is review. This mental organizing will help you remember the information, take better notes, and ask better questions.
7. Take notes. We cover taking notes in much greater detail later in this chapter, but for now think about how taking notes can help recall what your instructor said and how notes can help you organize your thoughts for asking questions.
8. Ask questions. Asking questions is one of the most important things you can do in class. Most obviously it allows you to clear up any doubts you may have about the material, but it also helps you take ownership of (and therefore remember) the material. Good questions often help instructors expand upon their ideas and make the material more relevant to students. Thinking through the material critically in order to prepare your questions helps you organize your new knowledge and sort it into mental categories that will help you remember it.
A note about tape-recording lectures: You may want to record a lecture to double-check what you heard in class, but it’s usually not a good idea. Depending on a recording may lead you to listen less effectively and think less actively. Additionally, many instructors do not allow students to record their lectures, so recording is usually not even an option.
What to Do If…
• Your instructor speaks too fast. Crank up your preparation. The more you know about the subject, the more you’ll be able to pick up from the instructor. Exchange class notes with other students to fill in gaps in notes. Visit the instructor during office hours to clarify areas you may have missed. You might ask the instructor—very politely, of course—to slow down, but habits like speaking fast are hard to break!
• Your instructor has a heavy accent. Sit as close to the instructor as possible. Make connections between what the instructor seems to be saying and what he or she is presenting on the board or screen. Ask questions when you don’t understand. Visit the instructor during office hours; the more you speak with the instructor the more likely you will learn to understand the accent.
• Your instructor speaks softly or mumbles. Sit as close to the instructor as possible and try to hold eye contact as much as possible. Check with other students if they are having problems listening, too; if so, you may want to bring the issue up with the instructor. It may be that the instructor is not used to the lecture hall your class is held in and can easily make adjustments.
Now That’s a Good Question…
Are you shy about asking questions? Do you think that others in the class will ridicule you for asking a dumb question? Students sometimes feel this way because they have never been taught how to ask questions. Practice these steps, and soon you will be on your way to customizing each course to meet your needs and letting the instructor know you value the course.
• Be prepared. Doing your assignments for a class or lecture will give you a good idea about the areas you are having trouble with and will help you frame some questions ahead of time.
• Position yourself for success. Sit near the front of the class. It will be easier for you to make eye contact with the instructor as you ask the question. Also, you won’t be intimidated by a class full of heads turning to stare at you as you ask your question.
• Don’t wait. Ask your questions as soon as the instructor has finished a thought. Being one of the first students to ask a question also will ensure that your question is given the time it deserves and won’t be cut short by the end of class.
• In a lecture class, write your questions down. Make sure you jot your questions down as they occur to you. Some may be answered in the course of the lecture, but if the instructor asks you to hold your questions until the end of class, you’ll be glad you have a list of the items you need the instructor to clarify or expand on.
• Ask specific questions. “I don’t understand” is a statement, not a question. Give the instructor guidance about what you are having trouble with. “Can you clarify the use of the formula for determining velocity?” is a better way of asking for help. If you ask your question at the end of class, give the instructor some context for your question by referring to the part of the lecture that triggered the question. For example, “Professor, you said the Union troops were emboldened by Lincoln’s leadership. Was this throughout the Civil War, or only after Gettysburg?”
• Don’t ask questions for the sake of asking questions. If your question is not thought out, or if it appears that you are asking the question to try to look smart, instructors will see right through you!
Key Takeaways
• In all interactive learning situations, apply the basic principles of active listening.
• Focus on what is being said, confirm that you heard the right message, ask for any clarification you need, watch for nonverbal messages, and listen for requests.
• Specific strategies are helpful for listening well in a lecture hall.
• Be ready to compensate if your instructor speaks too fast, has a heavy accent that makes understanding difficult for you, or speaks too softly.
• Don’t be shy about asking questions. Asking questions is easier when you are prepared and positioned for success.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List two things you should do before the class to prepare yourself for active listening.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Where should you sit in the classroom? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What are some of the ways instructors signal important material?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/04%3A_Listening_Taking_Notes_and_Remembering/4.03%3A_Are_You_Really_Listening.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain why taking notes is important.
• Use the four primary methods of note taking: lists, outlines, concept maps, and the Cornell method.
• Define which methods support your learning style and the instructor’s teaching style.
• Apply strategies to make note taking more effective.
• Use some effective strategies if you happen to miss a class.
• Organize your notes into effective study guides.
• Use teacher handouts to complement your notes.
• Determine what to do with your notes after the course is complete.
Everybody takes notes, or at least everybody claims to. But if you take a close look, many who are claiming to take notes on their laptops are actually surfing the Web, and paper notebooks are filled with doodles interrupted by a couple of random words with an asterisk next to them reminding you that “This is important!” In college, these approaches will not work. In college, your instructors expect you to make connections between class lectures and reading assignments; they expect you to create an opinion about the material presented; they expect you to make connections between the material and life beyond college. Your notes are your road maps for these thoughts. Do you take good notes? After learning to listen, note taking is the most important skill to ensure your success in a class.
Effective note taking is important because it
• supports your listening efforts,
• allows you to test your understanding of the material,
• helps you remember the material better when you write key ideas down,
• gives you a sense of what the instructor thinks is important,
• creates your “ultimate study guide.”
There are various forms of taking notes, and which one you choose depends on both your personal style and the instructor’s approach to the material. Each can be used in a notebook, index cards, or in a digital form on your laptop. No specific type is good for all students and all situations, so we recommend that you develop your own style, but you should also be ready to modify it to fit the needs of a specific class or instructor. To be effective, all of these methods require you to listen actively and to think; merely jotting down words the instructor is saying will be of little use to you.
Table 4.2: Note-Taking Methods
Method Description When to Use
Lists A sequential listing of ideas as they are presented. Lists may be short phrases or complete paragraphs describing ideas in more detail. This method is what most students use as a fallback if they haven’t learned other methods. This method typically requires a lot of writing, and you may find that you are not keeping up with the professor. It is not easy for students to prioritize ideas in this method.
Outlines The outline method places most important ideas along the left margin, which are numbered with roman numerals. Supporting ideas to these main concepts are indented and are noted with capital letters. Under each of these ideas, further detail can be added, designated with an Arabic number, a lowercase letter, and so forth. A good method to use when material presented by the instructor is well organized. Easy to use when taking notes on your computer.
Concept Maps When designing a concept map, place a central idea in the center of the page and then add lines and new circles in the page for new ideas. Use arrows and lines to connect the various ideas. Great method to show relationships among ideas. Also good if the instructor tends to hop from one idea to another and back.
Cornell Method The Cornell method uses a two-column approach. The left column takes up no more than a third of the page and is often referred to as the “cue” or “recall” column. The right column (about two-thirds of the page) is used for taking notes using any of the methods described above or a combination of them. After class or completing the reading, review your notes and write the key ideas and concepts or questions in the left column. You may also include a summary box at the bottom of the page, in which to write a summary of the class or reading in your own words. The Cornell method can include any of the methods above and provides a useful format for calling out key concepts, prioritizing ideas, and organizing review work. Most colleges recommend using some form of the Cornell method.
The List Method
Figure 4.3: The List Method of Note Taking
The list method is usually not the best choice because it is focused exclusively on capturing as much of what the instructor says as possible, not on processing the information. Most students who have not learned effective study skills use this method, because it’s easy to think that this is what note taking is all about. Even if you are skilled in some form of shorthand, you should probably also learn one of the other methods described here, because they are all better at helping you process and remember the material. You may want to take notes in class using the list method, but transcribe your notes to an outline or concept map method after class as a part of your review process. It is always important to review your notes as soon as possible after class and write a summary of the class in your own words.
The Outline Method
Figure 4.4: The Outline Method of Note Taking
The advantage of the outline method is that it allows you to prioritize the material. Key ideas are written to the left of the page, subordinate ideas are then indented, and details of the subordinate ideas can be indented further. To further organize your ideas, you can use the typical outlining numbering scheme (starting with roman numerals for key ideas, moving to capital letters on the first subordinate level, Arabic numbers for the next level, and lowercase letters following.) At first you may have trouble identifying when the instructor moves from one idea to another. This takes practice and experience with each instructor, so don’t give up! In the early stages you should use your syllabus to determine what key ideas the instructor plans to present. Your reading assignments before class can also give you guidance in identifying the key ideas.
If you’re using your laptop computer for taking notes, a basic word processing application (like Microsoft Word or Works) is very effective. Format your document by selecting the outline format from the format bullets menu. Use the increase or decrease indent buttons to navigate the level of importance you want to give each item. The software will take care of the numbering for you!
After class be sure to review your notes and then summarize the class in one or two short paragraphs using your own words. This summary will significantly affect your recall and will help you prepare for the next class.
The Concept Map Method
Figure 4.5: The Concept Map Method of Note Taking
This is a very graphic method of note-taking that is especially good at capturing the relationships among ideas. Concept maps harness your visual sense to understand complex material “at a glance.” They also give you the flexibility to move from one idea to another and back easily (so they are helpful if your instructor moves freely through the material).
To develop a concept map, start by using your syllabus to rank the ideas you will listen to by level of detail (from high-level or abstract ideas to detailed facts). Select an overriding idea (high level or abstract) from the instructor’s lecture and place it in a circle in the middle of the page. Then create branches off that circle to record the more detailed information, creating additional limbs as you need them. Arrange the branches with others that interrelate closely. When a new high-level idea is presented, create a new circle with its own branches. Link together circles or concepts that are related. Use arrows and symbols to capture the relationship between the ideas. For example, an arrow may be used to illustrate cause or effect, a double-pointed arrow to illustrate dependence, or a dotted arrow to illustrate impact or effect.
As with all note-taking methods, you should summarize the chart in one or two paragraphs of your own words after class.
The Cornell Method
Figure 4.6: The Cornell Method of Note Taking
The Cornell method was developed in the 1950s by Professor Walter Pauk at Cornell University. It is recommended by most colleges because of its usefulness and flexibility. This method is simple to use for capturing notes, is helpful for defining priorities, and is a very helpful study tool.
The Cornell method follows a very specific format that consists of four boxes: a header, two columns, and a footer.
The header is a small box across the top of the page. In it you write identification information like the course name and the date of the class. Underneath the header are two columns: a narrow one on the left (no more than one-third of the page) and a wide one on the right. The wide column, called the “notes” column, takes up most of the page and is used to capture your notes using any of the methods outlined earlier. The left column, known as the “cue” or “recall” column, is used to jot down main ideas, keywords, questions, clarifications, and other notes. It should be used both during the class and when reviewing your notes after class. Finally, use the box in the footer to write a summary of the class in your own words. This will help you make sense of your notes in the future and is a valuable tool to aid with recall and studying.
Using Index Cards for the Cornell Method
Some students like to use index cards to take notes. They actually lend themselves quite well to the Cornell method. Use the “back” or lined side of the card to write your notes in class. Use one card per key concept. The “front” unlined side of the card replaces the left hand “cue” column. Use it after class to write keywords, comments, or questions. When you study, the cards become flash cards with questions on one side and answers on the other. Write a summary of the class on a separate card and place it on the top of the deck as an introduction to what was covered in the class.
I used to tape my lecture classes so I could fill in my sketchy notes afterward. Now that I’m using the Cornell system, my notes are complete and organized in much less time. And my regular five-minute reviews make learning almost painless. No more taping and listening twice.
a student at Southern Methodist University
You will have noticed that all methods end with the same step: reviewing your notes as soon as possible after class. Any review of your notes is helpful (reading them, copying them into your computer, or even recasting them using another note-taking method). But THINK! Make your review of notes a thoughtful activity, not a mindless process. When you review your notes, think about questions you still have and determine how you will get the answers. (From the next class? Studying with a friend? Looking up material in your text or on the net?) Examine how the material applies to the course; make connections with notes from other class sessions, with material in your text, and with concepts covered in class discussions. Finally, it’s fun to think about how the material in your notes applies to real life. Consider this both at the very strategic level (as in “What does this material mean to me in relation to what I want to do with my life?”) as well as at a very mundane level (as in “Is there anything cool here I can work into a conversation with my friends?”).
Instructor Handouts
Some instructors hand out or post their notes or their PowerPoint slides from their lectures. These handouts should never be considered a substitute for taking notes in class. They are a very useful complement and will help you confirm the accuracy of your notes, but they do not involve you in the process of learning as well as your own notes do. After class, review your notes with highlighter in hand and mark keywords and ideas in your notes. This will help you write the summary of the class in your own words.
General Tips on Note Taking
Regardless of what note-taking method you choose, there are some note-taking habits you should get into for all circumstances and all courses:
1. Be prepared. Make sure you have the tools you need to do the job. If you are using a notebook, be sure you have it with you and that you have enough paper. Also be sure to have your pen (as well as a spare) and perhaps a pen with different colored ink to use for emphasis. If you are taking notes on your laptop, make sure the battery is charged! Select the application that lends itself best to your style of note taking. Microsoft Word works very well for outline notes, but you might find taking notes in Excel to work best if you are working within the Cornell method. (It’s easier to align your thoughts in the cue or recall column to your notes in the right column. Just be sure you keep one idea per row!)
2. Write on only one side of the paper. This will allow you to integrate your reading notes with your class notes.
3. Label, number, and date all notes at the top of each page. This will help you keep organized.
4. When using a laptop, position it such that you can see the instructor and white board right over your screen. This will keep the instructor in your field of vision even if you have to glance at your screen or keyboard from time to time. Make sure your focus remains with the instructor and not on your laptop. A word of caution about laptops for note taking: use them if you are very adept at keyboarding, but remember that not all note-taking methods work well on laptops because they do not easily allow you to draw diagrams and use special notations (scientific and math formulas, for example).
5. Don’t try to capture everything that is said. Listen for the big ideas and write them down. Make sure you can recognize the instructor’s emphasis cues and write down all ideas and keywords the instructor emphasizes. Listen for clues like “the four causes were…” or “to sum up.…”
6. Copy anything the instructor writes on the board. It’s likely to be important.
7. Leave space between ideas. This allows you to add additional notes later (e.g., notes on the answer to a question you or one of your classmates asked).
8. Use signals and abbreviations. Which ones you use is up to you, but be consistent so you will know exactly what you mean by “att.” when you review your notes. You may find it useful to keep a key to your abbreviations in all your notebooks.
9. Use some method for identifying your own thoughts and questions to keep them separate from what the instructor or textbook author is saying. Some students use different color ink; others box or underline their own thoughts. Do whatever works for you.
10. Create a symbol to use when you fall behind or get lost in your note taking. Jot down the symbol, leave some space, and focus on what the instructor is covering now. Later you can ask a classmate or the professor to help you fill in what you missed, or you can find it in your textbook.
11. Review your notes as soon after class as possible (the same day is best).This is the secret to making your notes work! Use the recall column to call out the key ideas and organize facts. Fill in any gaps in your notes and clean up or redraw hastily drawn diagrams.
12. Write a summary of the main ideas of the class in your own words. This process is a great aid to recall. Be sure to include any conclusions from the lecture or discussion.
Journal Entry
Choose one of your classes where you normally take notes. Make a conscious effort to use the Cornell method with either the outline or concept map method for taking your notes. Follow as many steps listed previously as possible. Now compare these notes with those you took in the previous class. Are your new notes more useful? What did you like about taking notes this way? What are some of the things you need to work on improving? (Remember this will get much easier with more practice.) Write your thoughts here.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
What If You Miss Class?
Clearly the best way to learn class material is to be at the class and to take your own notes. In college, regular attendance is expected. But life happens. On occasion, you may have to miss a class or lecture. When this happens, here are some strategies you can use to make up for it:
• Check with the instructor to see if there is another section of the class you can attend. Never ask the instructor “Did I miss anything important?” (Think about what that’s saying and you’ll see it’s rather insulting.)
• If the instructor posts his or her lectures as a podcast, listen to the lecture online and take notes. If the instructor uses PowerPoint slides, request a copy (or download them if posted) and review them carefully, jotting down your own notes and questions. Review your notes with a classmate who did attend.
• You may want to borrow class notes from a classmate. If you do, don’t just copy them and insert them in your notebook. They will not be very helpful. When you borrow notes from a classmate, you should photocopy them and then review them carefully and mark your copy with your own notes and questions. Use your textbook to try to fill in the gaps. Finally, schedule a study session with the person who gave you the notes to review the material and confirm your understanding. (See studying with others in Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests”.)
• If none of these options is available for you, use the course syllabus to determine what was covered in the class, then write a short paper (two pages or so) on the material using the class readings and reliable online sources. See your instructor during office hours to review your key findings and to answer any questions you still may have.
Keeping Your Notes
Class is over, and you have a beautiful set of notes in your spiral notebook or saved in your laptop. You have written the summary of the class in your own words. Now what?
Start by organizing your notes. We recommend you use a three-ring binder for each of your subjects. Print your notes if you used a computer. If you used note cards, insert them in plastic photo holders for binders. Group all notes from a class or unit together in a section; this includes class notes, reading notes, and instructor handouts. You might also want to copy the instructor’s syllabus for the unit on the first page of the section.
Next, spend some time linking the information across the various notes. Use the recall column in your notes to link to related information in other notes (e.g., “See class notes date/page”).
If you have had a quiz or test on the unit, add it to your binder, too, but be sure to write out the correct answer for any item you missed. Link those corrections to your notes, too.
Use this opportunity to write “notes on your notes.” Review your summary to see if it still is valid in light of your notes on the reading and any handouts you may have added to your notes package.
You don’t need to become a pack rat with your notes. It is fairly safe to toss them after the end of a course except in the following cases:
1. If the course you took is a prerequisite for another course, or when the course is part of a standard progression of courses that build upon each other (this is very common in math and science courses), you should keep them as a reference and review for the follow-up course.
2. If the course may pertain to your future major, keep your notes. You may not realize it now that they may have future value when you study similar topics or even the same topics in more depth.
3. If you are very interested in the course subject and would like to get into the material through a more advanced course, independent study, or even research, keep your notes as a prep tool for further work.
Key Takeaways
• After effective listening, good note taking is the most important skill for academic success.
• Choose among effective note-taking styles for what works best for you and modify it to meet the needs of a specific class or instructor.
• List notes are generally less effective and not prioritized.
• Outlines work well for taking notes on a laptop when the instructor is well organized.
• Concept map notes are good for showing the relationships among ideas.
• The Cornell method is effective for calling out key concepts and organizing notes for review.
• Instructor handouts and PowerPoint presentations help with—but do not replace the need for—personal note taking.
• If you miss a class, explore your options for replacing your missing notes.
• Keep your notes organized in a way that makes it easy to study for tests and other uses in the future.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Name two advantages of the Cornell system over the list method of note taking.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Describe the benefits of—and potential problems with—taking class notes on a laptop.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. List at least three ways to make up for missing notes because you miss a class.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/04%3A_Listening_Taking_Notes_and_Remembering/4.04%3A_Got_Notes.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Identify what is important to remember.
• Understand the difference between short- and long-term memory.
• Use a variety of strategies to build your memory power.
• Identify the four key types of mnemonic devices.
• Use mnemonics to remember lists of information.
Up to now we have covered how to capture material in your notes. The rest of this chapter is dedicated to strategies for recording ideas and facts in your memory.
The Role of Memorization in Learning
Have you ever gone into an exam you have studied for and drawn a blank on a particular question? Have you ever walked into a room only to forget for a moment why you went there? Have you ever forgotten where you left your keys? How about finding yourself in a conversation with someone whose name you can’t remember? The fact is, memory fails everyone from time to time. It is not surprising that students, with a huge amount of information they must commit to memory (not to mention frequent distractions and interruptions), are often frustrated by their memory.
Let’s start by taking some of the pressure off you. You will not be required to memorize everything your instructor says in a class—nor should you try to. There is way too much to capture. People speak at a rate of 100 to 150 words per minute. An average 50-minute lecture may contain around 7,500 words. By listening effectively and taking notes, your job is to distill the main ideas and a few keywords. These are the things you should choose to memorize.
In your early and high school education, memorization was a key aspect of learning. You memorized multiplication tables, the names of the states, and vocabulary words. Memorized facts ensured your success on multiple-choice questions. In college, however, most of your work is focused on understanding the material in depth. Remembering the year of the 9/11 attack (2001) is far less important than grasping the impact of that attack on American foreign policy. Understanding themes and ideas and being able to think critically about them is really the key to your success in college learning. For more on critical thinking skills, see Chapter 3 “Thinking about Thought”. Although memorization is not the primary key to success, having a good memory is important to capture ideas in your mind, and it helps tremendously in certain subjects like sciences and foreign languages.
How Memory Works
Memory is the process of storing and retrieving information. Think of a computer. In many ways it is an electronic model of the human memory. A computer stores, retrieves, and processes information similarly to how the human mind does. Like the human version, there are two types of memory: short-term or active memory (RAM in the computer) and long-term or passive memory (the computer’s hard drive). As its name suggests, short-term or active memory is made up of the information we are processing at any given time. Short-term memory involves information being captured at the moment (such as listening in class) as well as from information retrieved from our passive memory for doing complex mental tasks (such as thinking critically and drawing conclusions). But short-term memory is limited and suffers from the passing of time and lack of use. We begin to forget data within thirty seconds of not using it, and interruptions (such as phone calls or distractions) require us to rebuild the short-term memory structure—to get “back on task.” Learn more about multitasking in Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests”. To keep information in our memory, we must either use it or place it into our long-term memory (much like saving a document on your computer).
How we save information to our long-term memory has a lot to do with our ability to retrieve it when we need it at a later date. Our mind “saves” information by creating a complex series of links to the data. The stronger the links, the easier it is to recall. You can strengthen these links by using the following strategies. You should note how closely they are tied to good listening and note-taking strategies.
• Make a deliberate decision to remember the specific data. “I need to remember Richard’s name” creates stronger links than just wishing you had a better memory for names.
• Link the information to your everyday life. Ask yourself, “Why is it important that I remember this material?”—and answer it.
• Link the information to other information you already have “stored,” especially the key themes of the course, and you will recall the data more easily. Ask yourself how this is related to other information you have. Look for ways to tie items together. Are they used in similar ways? Do they have similar meanings? Do they sound alike?
• Mentally group similar individual items into “buckets.” By doing this, you are creating links, for example, among terms to be memorized. For example, if you have to memorize a vocabulary list for a Spanish class, group the nouns together with other nouns, verbs with verbs, and so forth. Or your groupings might be sentences using the vocabulary words.
• Use visual imagery. Picture the concept vividly in your mind. Make those images big, bold, and colorful—even silly! Pile concepts on top of each other or around each other; exaggerate their features like a caricature; let your imagination run wild. Humor and crazy imagery can help you recall key concepts.
• Use the information. Studies have generally shown that we retain only 5 percent of what we hear, 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we learn from multimedia, and 30 percent of what is demonstrated to us, but we do retain 50 percent of what we discuss, 75 percent of what we practice by doing, and 90 percent of what we teach others or use immediately in a relevant activity. Review your notes, participate in class, and study with others.
• Break information down into manageable “chunks.” Memorizing the ten-digit number “3141592654” seems difficult, but breaking it down into two sets of three digits and one of four digits, like a phone number—(314) 159-2654—now makes it easier to remember. (Pat yourself on the back if you recognized that series of digits: with a decimal point after the three, that’s the value of pi to ten digits. Remember your last math class?)
• Work from general information to the specific. People usually learn best when they get the big picture first, and then look at the details.
• Eliminate distractions. Every time you have to “reboot” your short-term memory, you risk losing data points. Multitasking—listening to music or chatting on Facebook while you study—will play havoc with your ability to memorize because you will need to reboot your short-term memory each time you switch mental tasks.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat. Hear the information; read the information; say it (yes, out loud), and say it again. The more you use or repeat the information, the stronger the links to it. The more senses you use to process the information, the stronger the memorization. Write information on index cards to make flash cards and use downtime (when waiting for the subway or during a break between classes) to review key information.
• This is a test. Test your memory often. Try to write down everything you know about a specific subject, from memory. Then go back and check your notes and textbook to see how you did. Practicing retrieval in this way helps ensure long-term learning of facts and concepts.
• Location, location, location. There is often a strong connection between information and the place where you first received that information. Associate information to learning locations for stronger memory links. Picture where you were sitting in the lecture hall as you repeat the facts in your mind.
Just for Fun
Choose a specific fact from each of your classes on a given day. Now find a way of working that information into your casual conversations during the rest of the day in a way that is natural. Can you do it? What effect do you think that will have on your memory of that information?
Exercise Your Memory
Read the following list for about twenty seconds. After you have read it, cover it and write down all the items you remember.
Arch Pen
Chowder Maple
Airplane Window
Kirk Scotty
Paper clip Thumb drive
Column Brownies
Oak Door
Subway Skateboard
Leia Cedar
Fries Luke
How many were you able to recall? Most people can remember only a fraction of the items.
Now read the following list for about twenty seconds, cover it, and see how many you remember.
Fries Skateboard
Chowder Subway
Brownies Luke
Paper clip Leia
Pen Kirk
Thumb drive Scotty
Oak Column
Cedar Window
Maple Door
Airplane Arch
Did your recall improve? Why do you think you did better? Was it easier? Most people take much less time doing this version of the list and remember almost all the terms. The list is the same as the first list, but the words have now been grouped into categories. Use this grouping method to help you remember lists of mixed words or ideas.
Using Mnemonics
What do the names of the Great Lakes, the makings of a Big Mac, and the number of days in a month have in common? They are easily remembered by using mnemonic devices. Mnemonics (pronounced neh-MA-nicks) are tricks for memorizing lists and data. They create artificial but strong links to the data, making recall easier. The most commonly used mnemonic devices are acronyms, acrostics, rhymes, and jingles.
Acronyms are words or phrases made up by using the first letter of each word in a list or phrase. Need to remember the names of the Great Lakes? Try the acronym HOMES using the first letter of each lake:
• Huron
• Ontario
• Michigan
• Erie
• Superior
To create an acronym, first write down the first letters of each term you need to memorize. Then rearrange the letters to create a word or words. You can find acronym generators online (just search for “acronym generator”) that can help you by offering options. Acronyms work best when your list of letters includes vowels as well as consonants and when the order of the terms is not important. If no vowels are available, or if the list should be learned in a particular order, try using an acrostic instead.
Acrostics are similar to acronyms in that they work off the first letter of each word in a list. But rather than using them to form a word, the letters are represented by entire words in a sentence or phrase. If you’ve studied music, you may be familiar with “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” to learn the names of the notes on the lines of the musical staff: E, G, B, D, F. The ridiculous and therefore memorable line “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” was used by many of us to remember the names of the planets (at least until Pluto was downgraded):
My Mercury
Very Venus
Educated Earth
Mother Mars
Just Jupiter
Served Saturn
Us Uranus
Nine Neptune
Pizzas Pluto
To create an acrostic, list the first letters of the terms to be memorized in the order in which you want to learn them (like the planet names). Then create a sentence or phrase using words that start with those letters.
Rhymes are short verses used to remember data. A common example is “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Need to remember how many days a given month has? “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November…,” and so forth. Writing rhymes is a talent that can be developed with practice. To start, keep your rhymes short and simple. Define the key information you want to remember and break it down into a series of short phrases. Look at the last words of the phrases: can you rhyme any of them? If they don’t rhyme, can you substitute or add a word to create the rhyme? (For example, in the Columbus rhyme, “ninety-two” does not rhyme with “ocean,” but adding the word “blue” completes the rhyme and creates the mnemonic.)
Jingles are phrases set to music, so that the music helps trigger your memory. Jingles are commonly used by advertisers to get you to remember their product or product features. Remember “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun”—the original Big Mac commercial. Anytime you add rhythm to the terms you want to memorize, you are activating your auditory sense, and the more senses you use for memorization, the stronger the links to the data you are creating in your mind. To create a jingle for your data, start with a familiar tune and try to create alternate lyrics using the terms you want to memorize. Another approach you may want to try is reading your data aloud in a hip-hop or rap music style.
Creative Memory Challenge
Create an acrostic to remember the noble gasses: helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), and the radioactive radon (Rn).
Create an acronym to remember the names of the G8 group of countries: France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada. (Hint: Sometimes it helps to substitute terms with synonyms—“America” for the United States or “England” for the United Kingdom—to get additional options.)
Create a jingle to remember the names of the Seven Dwarfs: Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy.
Mnemonics are good memory aids, but they aren’t perfect. They take a lot of effort to develop, and they also take terms out of context because they don’t focus on the meaning of the words. Since they lack meaning, they can also be easily forgotten later on, although you may remember them through the course.
Key Takeaways
• Understanding ideas is generally more important in college than just memorizing facts.
• To keep information in our memory, we must use it or build links with it to strengthen it in long-term memory.
• Key ways to remember information include linking it to other information already known; organizing facts in groups of information; eliminating distractions; and repeating the information by hearing, reading, and saying it aloud.
• To remember specific pieces of information, try creating a mnemonic that associates the information with an acronym or acrostic, a rhyme or a jingle.
Checkpoint Exercise
1. For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false:
T F Preparing for class is important for listening, for taking notes, and for memory.
T F Multitasking enhances your active memory.
T F If you listen carefully, you will remember most of what was said for three days.
T F “Use it or lose it” applies to information you want to remember.
T F Mnemonics should be applied whenever possible. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/04%3A_Listening_Taking_Notes_and_Remembering/4.05%3A_Remembering_Course_Materials.txt |
Chapter Takeaways
Listening
• Learning involves following a cycle of preparing, absorbing, recording, and reviewing.
• The most important difference between high school learning and college learning is that colleges expect you to take full responsibility for your learning. Many of the support mechanisms you had in high school do not exist in college.
• Listening takes place in two primary situations: where there can be open interaction with the speaker (social conversation, small group discussions, business meetings, and small classes) and where there is limited interaction with the speaker (lectures, online courses, and podcasts).
• In situations where interaction is allowed, active listening principles work well.
• In lecture situations, additional strategies are required. They include physical preparation, seating for listening, eliminating distractions, thinking critically about the material as it is presented, taking notes, and asking appropriate questions.
• Prepare for listening by completing all assignments for the class and reviewing the syllabus. Ask yourself what you expect to gain from the class and how that ties in to the rest of the course material.
• Think critically about what you are listening to. Do you agree with what the instructor is saying? How does it tie to the rest of the material in the course? What does this new material mean to you in “real” life?
Note Taking
• There are four primary ways of taking notes (lists, outlines, concept maps, and the Cornell method).
• Select the note-taking method that best serves your learning style and the instructor’s teaching style. Remember that methods may be combined for maximum effect.
• Completing assignments and reviewing the syllabus can help you define the relative importance of the ideas the instructor presents.
• Don’t expect to capture everything the instructor says. Look for keywords and central ideas.
• Anything the instructor writes on the board is likely to be important.
• Review your notes as soon as possible after the class, to annotate, correct, complete, and summarize.
Memory
• The two types of memory are short-term memory, which allows you to apply knowledge to a specific task, and long-term memory, which allows you to store and recall information.
• The brain commits information to long-term memory by creating an intricate system of links to that information. Strength, number, and variety of links all lead to better recall.
• To create strong links, start by making a conscious decision to want to commit something specific to memory. Link the information to real life and other data from the course. Group like information into “buckets” that create links among the terms you want to remember.
• Use the information. The more you use the information, the more you will activate the links in your brain.
• Eliminate distractions. Every time you are diverted from your task, you need to reboot your short-term memory, weakening the links.
Chapter Review
1. Describe the four steps of active listening.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. How is listening defined?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. List three things you should do to prepare to listen in class.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Where should you sit in a class? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. What should you do with your notes soon after each class?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. Why do you think the Cornell method of note taking is recommended by so many colleges?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. How do short-term and long-term memory differ?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
8. List three ways in which you can create links to help remember ideas.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
9. Why is multitasking dangerous to memorization?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
10. What is a mnemonic?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Make an Action List
Two things I will do to improve Action By when I expect to take the action How I will know I accomplished the action
My listening 1.
2.
My note taking 1.
2.
My memory 1.
2. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/04%3A_Listening_Taking_Notes_and_Remembering/4.06%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
• 5.1: Are You Ready for the Big Leagues?
Think back to a high school history or literature class. Those were probably the classes in which you had the most reading. You would be assigned a chapter, or a few pages in a chapter, with the expectation that you would be discussing the reading assignment in class. In class, the teacher would guide you and your classmates through a review of your reading and ask questions to keep the discussion moving. The teacher usually was a key part of how you learned from your reading.
• 5.2: How Do You Read to Learn?
The four steps of active reading are almost identical to the four phases of the learning cycle—and that is no coincidence! Active reading is learning through reading the written word, so the learning cycle naturally applies. Active reading involves these steps: (1) Preparing, (2) Reading, (3) Capturing the key ideas, and (4)Reviewing.
• 5.3: Dealing with Special Texts
While the active reading process outlined earlier is very useful for most assignments, you should consider some additional strategies for reading assignments in other subjects.
• 5.4: Building Your Vocabulary
• 5.5: Chapter Activities
Thumbnail: www.pexels.com/photo/man-reading-a-book-2861798/
05: Reading to Learn
Learning Objectives
1. Explain how reading in college is different from reading in high school.
2. Understand the importance of reading for college learning.
Think back to a high school history or literature class. Those were probably the classes in which you had the most reading. You would be assigned a chapter, or a few pages in a chapter, with the expectation that you would be discussing the reading assignment in class. In class, the teacher would guide you and your classmates through a review of your reading and ask questions to keep the discussion moving. The teacher usually was a key part of how you learned from your reading.
If you have been away from school for some time, it’s likely that your reading has been fairly casual. While time spent with a magazine or newspaper can be important, it’s not the sort of concentrated reading you will do in college. And no one will ask you to write in response to a magazine piece you’ve read or quiz you about a newspaper article.
In college, reading is much different. You will be expected to read much more. For each hour you spend in the classroom, you will be expected to spend two or more additional hours studying between classes, and most of that will be reading. Assignments will be longer (a couple of chapters is common, compared with perhaps only a few pages in high school) and much more difficult. College textbook authors write using many technical terms and include complex ideas. Many college authors include research, and some textbooks are written in a style you may find very dry. You will also have to read from a variety of sources: your textbook, ancillary materials, primary sources, academic journals, periodicals, and online postings. Your assignments in literature courses will be complete books, possibly with convoluted plots and unusual wording or dialects, and they may have so many characters you’ll feel like you need a scorecard to keep them straight.
In college, most instructors do not spend much time reviewing the reading assignment in class. Rather, they expect that you have done the assignment before coming to class and understand the material. The class lecture or discussion is often based on that expectation. Tests, too, are based on that expectation. This is why active reading is so important—it’s up to you to do the reading and comprehend what you read.
Note: It may not always be clear on an instructor’s syllabus, but a reading assignment listed on any given class date should be read before coming to class on that date.
Key Takeaways
• College reading is very different from high school reading.
• You must take personal responsibility for understanding what you read.
• Expect to spend about two or more hours on homework, most of it reading, for every hour you spend in class.
• Reading is a primary means for absorbing ideas in the learning cycle, but it is also very important for the other three aspects of the learning cycle. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/05%3A_Reading_to_Learn/5.01%3A_Are_You_Ready_for_the_Big_Leagues.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the four steps of active learning.
2. Develop strategies to help you read effectively and quickly.
The four steps of active reading are almost identical to the four phases of the learning cycle—and that is no coincidence! Active reading is learning through reading the written word, so the learning cycle naturally applies. Active reading involves these steps:
1. Preparing
2. Reading
3. Capturing the key ideas
4. Reviewing
Let’s take a look at how to use each step when reading.
Preparing to Read
Start by thinking about why your instructor has chosen this text. Has the instructor said anything about the book or the author? Look at the table of contents; how does it compare with the course syllabus? What can you learn about the author from the front matter of the book (see Table 5.1 “Anatomy of a Textbook”)? Understanding this background will give you the context of the book and help define what is most important in the text. Doing this exercise once per textbook will give you a great deal of insight throughout the course.
Now it is time to develop a plan of attack for your assignment. Your first step in any reading assignment is to understand the context of what you are about to read. Think of your reading assignment in relation to the large themes or goals the instructor has spelled out for the class. Remember that you are not merely reading—you are reading for a purpose. What parts of a reading assignment should you pay special attention to, and what parts can you browse through? As we mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, you will be expected to do a considerable amount of reading in college, and you will not get through it all by reading each and every word with a high level of focus and mental intensity. This is why it is so important to learn to define where to invest your efforts.
Open your text to the assigned pages. What is the chapter title? Is the chapter divided into sections? What are the section titles? Which sections are longer? Are there any illustrations? What are they about? Illustrations in books cost money, so chances are the author and publisher thought these topics were particularly important, or they would not have been included. How about tables? What kinds of information do they show? Are there bold or italicized words? Are these terms you are familiar with, or are they new to you? Are you getting a sense for what is important in the chapter? Use the critical thinking skills discussed in Chapter 3 as you think about your observations. Why did the author choose to cover certain ideas and to highlight specific ideas with graphics or boldface fonts? What do they tell you about what will be most important for you in your course? What do you think your instructor wants you to get out of the assignment? Why?
Anatomy of a Textbook
Good textbooks are designed to help you learn, not just to present information. They differ from other types of academic publications intended to present research findings, advance new ideas, or deeply examine a specific subject. Textbooks have many features worth exploring because they can help you understand your reading better and learn more effectively. In your textbooks, look for the elements listed in the table below.
Table 5.1 Anatomy of a Textbook
Textbook Feature What It Is Why You Might Find It Helpful
Preface or Introduction
A section at the beginning of a book in which the author or editor outlines its purpose and scope, acknowledges individuals who helped prepare the book, and perhaps outlines the features of the book. You will gain perspective on the author’s point of view, what the author considers important. If the preface is written with the student in mind, it will also give you guidance on how to “use” the textbook and its features.
Foreword A section at the beginning of the book, often written by an expert in the subject matter (different from the author) endorsing the author’s work and explaining why the work is significant. A foreword will give you an idea about what makes this book different from others in the field. It may provide hints as to why your instructor selected the book for your course.
Author Profile A short biography of the author illustrating the author’s credibility in the subject matter. This will help you understand the author’s perspective and what the author considers important.
Table of Contents
A listing of all the chapters in the book and, in most cases, primary sections within chapters. The table of contents is an outline of the entire book. It will be very helpful in establishing links among the text, the course objectives, and the syllabus.
Chapter Preview or Learning Objectives
A section at the beginning of each chapter in which the author outlines what will be covered in the chapter and what the student should expect to know or be able to do at the end of the chapter. These sections are invaluable for determining what you should pay special attention to. Be sure to compare these outcomes with the objectives stated in the course syllabus.
Introduction The first paragraph(s) of a chapter, which states the chapter’s objectives and key themes. An introduction is also common at the beginning of primary chapter sections. Introductions to chapters or sections are “must reads” because they give you a road map to the material you are about to read, pointing you to what is truly important in the chapter or section.
Applied Practice Elements Exercises, activities, or drills designed to let students apply their knowledge gained from the reading. Some of these features may be presented via Web sites designed to supplement the text. These features provide you with a great way to confirm your understanding of the material. If you have trouble with them, you should go back and reread the section. They also have the additional benefit of improving your recall of the material.
Chapter Summary A section at the end of a chapter that confirms key ideas presented in the chapter. It is a good idea to read this section before you read the body of the chapter. It will help you strategize about where you should invest your reading effort.
Review Material A section at the end of the chapter that includes additional applied practice exercises, review questions, and suggestions for further reading. The review questions will help you confirm your understanding of the material.
Endnotes and Bibliographies Formal citations of sources used to prepare the text. These will help you infer the author’s biases and are also valuable if doing further research on the subject for a paper.
Now, before actually starting to read, try to give your reading more direction. Are you ever bored when reading a textbook? Students sometimes feel that about some of their textbooks. In this step, you create a purpose or quest for your reading, and this will help you become more actively engaged and less bored.
Start by checking your attitude: if you are unhappy about the reading assignment and complaining that you even have to read it, you will have trouble with the reading. You need to get “psyched” for the assignment. Stoke your determination by setting yourself a reasonable time to complete the assignment and schedule some short breaks for yourself. Approach the reading with a sense of curiosity and thirst for new understanding. Think of yourself more as an investigator looking for answers than a student doing a homework assignment.
Take out your notebook for the class for which you are doing the reading. Remember the Cornell method of note taking from Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”? You will use the same format here with a narrow column on the left and a wide column on the right. This time, with reading, approach taking notes slightly differently. In the Cornell method used for class notes, you took notes in the right column and wrote in questions and comments in the left column after class as you reviewed your notes. When using this system with reading, write your questions about the reading first in the left column (spacing them well apart so that you have plenty of room for your notes while you read in the right column). From your preliminary scanning of the pages, as described previously, you should already have questions at your fingertips.
Use your critical thinking skill of questioning what the author is saying. Turn the title of each major section of the reading into a question and write it down in your left column of your notes. For example, if the section title is “The End of the Industrial Revolution,” you might write, “What caused the Industrial Revolution to end?” If the section title is “The Chemistry of Photosynthesis,” you might write, “What chemical reactions take place to cause photosynthesis, and what are the outcomes?” Note that your questions are related to the kind of material you are hearing about in class, and they usually require not a short answer but a thoughtful, complete understanding. Ideally, you should not already know the answer to the questions you are writing! (What fun is a quest if you already know each turn and strategy? Expect to learn something new in your reading even if you are familiar with the topic already.) Finally, also in the left column, jot down any keywords that appear in boldface. You will want to discover their definitions and the significance of each as you read.
Activity: Try It Now!
OK. Time to take a break from reading this book. Choose a textbook in which you have a current reading assignment. Scan the assigned pages, looking for what is really important, and write down your questions using the Cornell method.
Now answer the following questions with a journal entry.
• Do you feel better prepared to read this assignment? How?
• Do you feel more confident?
• Do you feel less overwhelmed?
• Do you feel more focused?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Alternative Approaches for Preparing to Read
In Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering” you may have determined that you are more comfortable with the outline or concept map methods of note taking. You can use either of these methods also to prepare for reading. With the outline method, start with the chapter title as your primary heading, then create subheadings for each section, rephrasing each section title in terms of a question.
If you are more comfortable using the concept map method, start with the chapter title as your center and create branches for each section within the chapter. Make sure you phrase each item as a question.
Now Read
Now you are ready to start reading actively. Start by taking a look at your notes; they are your road map. What is the question you would like to answer in the first section? Before you start reading, reflect about what you already know about the subject. Even if you don’t know anything, this step helps put you in the right mind-set to accept new material. Now read through the entire section with the objective of understanding it. Follow these tips while reading, but do not start taking notes or highlighting text at this point:
• Look for answers to the questions you wrote.
• Pay particular attention to the first and last lines of each paragraph.
• Think about the relationships among section titles, boldface words, and graphics.
• Skim quickly over parts of the section that are not related to the key questions.
After reading the section, can you answer the section question you earlier wrote in your notes? Did you discover additional questions that you should have asked or that were not evident from the title of the section? Write them down now on your notes page. Can you define the keywords used in the text? If you can’t do either of these things, go back and reread the section.
Capture the Key Ideas
Once you can answer your questions effectively and can define the new and keywords, it is time to commit these concepts to your notes and to your memory. Start by writing the answers to your questions in your notes in the right column. Also define the keywords you found in the reading.
Now is also the time to go back and reread the section with your highlighter or pencil to call out key ideas and words and make notes in your margins. Marking up your book may go against what you were told in high school, when the school owned the books and expected to use them year after year. In college, you bought the book. Make it truly yours. Although some students may tell you that you can get more cash by selling a used book that is not marked up, this should not be a concern at this time—that’s not nearly as important as understanding the reading and doing well in the class!
The purpose of marking your textbook is to make it your personal studying assistant with the key ideas called out in the text. Most readers tend to highlight too much, however, hiding key ideas in a sea of yellow lines. When it comes to highlighting, less is more. Think critically before you highlight. Your choices will have a big impact on what you study and learn for the course. Make it your objective to highlight no more than 10 percent of the text.
Use your pencil also to make annotations in the margin. Use a symbol like an exclamation mark (!) or an asterisk (*) to mark an idea that is particularly important. Use a question mark (?) to indicate something you don’t understand or are unclear about. Box new words, then write a short definition in the margin. Use “TQ” (for “test question”) or some other shorthand or symbol to signal key things that may appear in test or quiz questions. Write personal notes on items where you disagree with the author. Don’t feel you have to use the symbols listed here; create your own if you want, but be consistent. Your notes won’t help you if the first question you later have is “I wonder what I meant by that?”
If you are reading an essay from a magazine or an academic journal, remember that such articles are typically written in response to other articles. In Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”, you learned to be on the lookout for signal words when you listen. This applies to reading, too. You’ll need to be especially alert to signals like “according to” or “Jones argues,” which make it clear that the ideas don’t belong to the author of the piece you are reading. Be sure to note when an author is quoting someone else or summarizing another person’s position. Sometimes, students in a hurry to get through a complicated article don’t clearly distinguish the author’s ideas from the ideas the author argues against. Other words like “yet” or “however” indicate a turn from one idea to another. Words like “critical,” “significant,” and “important” signal ideas you should look at closely.
After annotating, you are ready to read the next section.
Reviewing What You Read
When you have completed each of the sections for your assignment, you should review what you have read. Start by answering these questions: “What did I learn?” and “What does it mean?” Next, write a summary of your assigned reading, in your own words, in the box at the base of your notepaper. Working from your notes, cover up the answers to your questions and answer each of your questions aloud. (Yes, out loud. Remember from Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering” that memory is improved by using as many senses as possible?) Think about how each idea relates to material the instructor is covering in class. Think about how this new knowledge may be applied in your next class.
If the text has review questions at the end of the chapter, answer those, too. Talk to other students about the reading assignment. Merge your reading notes with your class notes and review both together. How does your reading increase your understanding of what you have covered in class and vice versa?
Strategies for Textbook Reading
The four steps to active reading provide a proven approach to effective learning from texts. Following are some strategies you can use to enhance your reading even further:
• Pace yourself. Figure out how much time you have to complete the assignment. Divide the assignment into smaller blocks rather than trying to read the entire assignment in one sitting. If you have a week to do the assignment, for example, divide the work into five daily blocks, not seven; that way you won’t be behind if something comes up to prevent you from doing your work on a given day. If everything works out on schedule, you’ll end up with an extra day for review.
• Schedule your reading. Set aside blocks of time, preferably at the time of the day when you are most alert, to do your reading assignments. Don’t just leave them for the end of the day after completing written and other assignments.
• Get yourself in the right space. Choose to read in a quiet, well-lit space. Your chair should be comfortable but provide good support. Libraries were designed for reading—they should be your first option! Don’t use your bed for reading textbooks; since the time you were read bedtime stories, you have probably associated reading in bed with preparation for sleeping. The combination of the cozy bed, comforting memories, and dry text is sure to invite some shut-eye!
• Avoid distractions. Active reading takes place in your short-term memory. Every time you move from task to task, you have to “reboot” your short-term memory and you lose the continuity of active reading. Multitasking—listening to music or texting on your cell while you read—will cause you to lose your place and force you to start over again. Every time you lose focus, you cut your effectiveness and increase the amount of time you need to complete the assignment.
• Avoid reading fatigue. Work for about fifty minutes, and then give yourself a break for five to ten minutes. Put down the book, walk around, get a snack, stretch, or do some deep knee bends. Short physical activity will do wonders to help you feel refreshed.
• Read your most difficult assignments early in your reading time, when you are freshest.
• Make your reading interesting. Try connecting the material you are reading with your class lectures or with other chapters. Ask yourself where you disagree with the author. Approach finding answers to your questions like an investigative reporter. Carry on a mental conversation with the author.
Key Takeaways
• Consider why the instructor has selected the particular text. Map the table of contents to the course syllabus.
• Understand how your textbook is put together and what features might help you with your reading.
• Plan your reading by scanning the reading assignment first, then create questions based on the section titles. These will help you focus and prioritize your reading.
• Use the Cornell method for planning your reading and recording key ideas.
• Don’t try to highlight your text as you read the first time through. At that point, it is hard to tell what is really important.
• End your reading time by reviewing your notes.
• Pace yourself and read in a quiet space with minimal distractions.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List the four steps to active reading. Which one do you think will take most time? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Think of your most difficult textbook. What features can you use to help you understand the material better?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What things most commonly distract you when you are reading? What can you do to control these distractions?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. List three specific places on your campus or at home that are appropriate for you to do your reading assignments. Which is best suited? What can you do to improve that reading environment?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/05%3A_Reading_to_Learn/5.02%3A_How_Do_You_Read_to_Learn.txt |
Learning Objectives
Recognize strategies for reading special types of material and special situations, such as the following:
• Mathematics texts
• Science texts
• Social studies texts
• Primary sources
• Foreign language texts
• Integrating reading with your family life
• Online reading
While the active reading process outlined earlier is very useful for most assignments, you should consider some additional strategies for reading assignments in other subjects.
Mathematics Texts
Mathematics present unique challenges in that they typically contain a great number of formulas, charts, sample problems, and exercises. Follow these guidelines:
• Do not skip over these special elements as you work through the text.
• Read the formulas and make sure you understand the meaning of all the factors.
• Substitute actual numbers for the variables and work through the formula.
• Make formulas real by applying them to real-life situations.
• Do all exercises within the assigned text to make sure you understand the material.
• Since mathematical learning builds upon prior knowledge, do not go on to the next section until you have mastered the material in the current section.
• Seek help from the instructor or teaching assistant during office hours if need be.
Reading Graphics
You read earlier about noticing graphics in your text as a signal of important ideas. But it is equally important to understand what the graphics intend to convey. Textbooks contain tables, charts, maps, diagrams, illustrations, photographs, and the newest form of graphics—Internet URLs for accessing text and media material. Many students are tempted to skip over graphic material and focus only on the reading. Don’t. Take the time to read and understand your textbook’s graphics. They will increase your understanding, and because they engage different comprehension processes, they will create different kinds of memory links to help you remember the material.
To get the most out of graphic material, use your critical thinking skills and question why each illustration is present and what it means. Don’t just glance at the graphics; take time to read the title, caption, and any labeling in the illustration. In a chart, read the data labels to understand what is being shown or compared. Think about projecting the data points beyond the scope of the chart; what would happen next? Why?
Table 5.2 “Common Uses of Textbook Graphics” shows the most common graphic elements and notes what they do best. This knowledge may help guide your critical analysis of graphic elements.
Table 5.2 Common Uses of Textbook Graphics
Figure 5.3 Table
Most often used to present raw data. Understand what is being measured. What data points stand out as very high or low? Why? Ask yourself what might cause these measurements to change.
Figure 5.4 Bar Chart
Used to compare quantitative data or show changes in data over time. Also can be used to compare a limited number of data series over time. Often an illustration of data that can also be presented in a table.
Figure 5.5 Line Chart
Used to illustrate a trend in a series of data. May be used to compare different series over time.
Figure 5.6 Pie Chart
Used to illustrate the distribution or share of elements as a part of a whole. Ask yourself what effect a change in distribution of factors would have on the whole.
Figure 5.7 Map
Used to illustrate geographic distributions or movement across geographical space. In some cases can be used to show concentrations of populations or resources. When encountering a map, ask yourself if changes or comparisons are being illustrated. Understand how those changes or comparisons relate to the material in the text.
Figure 5.8 Photograph
Wikimedia Commons – public domain.
Used to represent a person, a condition, or an idea discussed in the text. Sometimes photographs serve mainly to emphasize an important person or situation, but photographs can also be used to make a point. Ask yourself if the photograph reveals a biased point of view.
Figure 5.9 Illustration
Used to illustrate parts of an item. Invest time in these graphics. They are often used as parts of quizzes or exams. Look carefully at the labels. These are vocabulary words you should be able to define.
Figure 5.10 Flowchart or Diagram
Commonly used to illustrate processes. As you look at diagrams, ask yourself, “What happens first? What needs to happen to move to the next step?”
Scientific Texts
Science occurs through the experimental process: posing hypotheses, and then using experimental data to prove or disprove them. When reading scientific texts, look for hypotheses and list them in the left column of your notes pages. Then make notes on the proof (or disproof) in the right column. In scientific studies these are as important as the questions you ask for other texts. Think critically about the hypotheses and the experiments used to prove or disprove them. Think about questions like these:
• Can the experiment or observation be repeated? Would it reach the same results?
• Why did these results occur? What kinds of changes would affect the results?
• How could you change the experiment design or method of observation? How would you measure your results?
• What are the conclusions reached about the results? Could the same results be interpreted in a different way?
Social Sciences Texts
Social sciences texts, such as those for history, economics, and political science classes, often involve interpretation where the authors’ points of view and theories are as important as the facts they present. Put your critical thinking skills into overdrive when you are reading these texts. As you read, ask yourself questions such as the following:
• Why is the author using this argument?
• Is it consistent with what we’re learning in class?
• Do I agree with this argument?
• Would someone with a different point of view dispute this argument?
• What key ideas would be used to support a counterargument?
Record your reflections in the margins and in your notes.
Social science courses often require you to read primary source documents. Primary sources include documents, letters, diaries, newspaper reports, financial reports, lab reports, and records that provide firsthand accounts of the events, practices, or conditions you are studying. Start by understanding the author(s) of the document and his or her agenda. Infer their intended audience. What response did the authors hope to get from their audience? Do you consider this a bias? How does that bias affect your thinking about the subject? Do you recognize personal biases that affect how you might interpret the document?
Foreign Language Texts
Reading texts in a foreign language is particularly challenging—but it also provides you with invaluable practice and many new vocabulary words in your “new” language. It is an effort that really pays off. Start by analyzing a short portion of the text (a sentence or two) to see what you do know. Remember that all languages are built on idioms as much as on individual words. Do any of the phrase structures look familiar? Can you infer the meaning of the sentences? Do they make sense based on the context? If you still can’t make out the meaning, choose one or two words to look up in your dictionary and try again. Look for longer words, which generally are the nouns and verbs that will give you meaning sooner. Don’t rely on a dictionary (or an online translator); a word-for-word translation does not always yield good results. For example, the Spanish phrase “Entre y tome asiento” might correctly be translated (word for word) as “Between and drink a seat,” which means nothing, rather than its actual meaning, “Come in and take a seat.”
Reading in a foreign language is hard and tiring work. Make sure you schedule significantly more time than you would normally allocate for reading in your own language and reward yourself with more frequent breaks. But don’t shy away from doing this work; the best way to learn a new language is practice, practice, practice.
Note to English-language learners: You may feel that every book you are assigned is in a foreign language. If you do struggle with the high reading level required of college students, check for college resources that may be available to ESL (English as a second language) learners. Never feel that those resources are only for weak students. As a second-language learner, you possess a rich linguistic experience that many American-born students should envy. You simply need to account for the difficulties you’ll face and (like anyone learning a new language) practice, practice, practice.
Activity: Lost in Translation
Go online and open a Web-based language translator such as Babel Fish (www.babelfish.yahoo.com). In the translation window, type in a phrase that you or your friends might say in your daily conversations, including any slang terms. Translate it to another language (any language will do) and then copy the translation. Then open a new translation window, paste the translated phrase, and translate back from that language to English. Does it match your original phrase? Try this with other languages to see if your results vary. What does this tell you about automated translation programs?
Integrating Reading with Your Family Life
If you are a parent of young children, you know how hard it is to get your schoolwork done with them around. You might want to consider some of these strategies.
• Don’t expect that you will often get long periods of uninterrupted reading time. Find or create short periods of time to do things like scanning the assignment and preparing your questions.
• Schedule your heavy reading for early in the morning or late at night when the children are sleeping. Don’t use that precious uninterrupted time for watching television or washing the dishes; those can be done when the kids are awake.
• Read to your children and then tell them it’s time for everybody to read their own book. (Even very young children like to “read” books by looking at the pictures.) You’ll be surprised how long kids will read, especially when they see Mommy and Daddy reading, too.
• Take your reading with you. You can get a lot of reading done while waiting for your children during music or dance class or soccer practice, or while you wait to pick them up at school.
• Share child-care responsibilities with other students who also have children. This can buy an additional big block of reading time for each of you.
Online Reading
When accessing materials online, you should ask additional questions in order to fully understand the assignment. The Internet provides access to virtually endless numbers of articles on just about any subject. The following five steps will help you understand the “story behind the story” in online materials and also evaluate the reliability of the material, especially if this is a reading you selected yourself for research or independent work.
1. Look at the URL, the Web address. It can give you important information about the reliability and intentions of the site. Start with the page publisher (the words following the “www” or between the “http//” and the first single backslash). Have you heard of this source before? If so, would you consider it a reliable source for the kind of material you are about to read? For example, you might happen upon an article about cholesterol with this URL: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1516. The page publisher identifier shows this is the Web site of the American Heart Association, a reputable source of health information. Now consider the domain type in the URL, which follows the period after the publisher. “.com” and “.biz” are used by commercial enterprises, “.org” is normally used by nonprofit organizations, and “.edu” is reserved for educational institutions. None of these is necessarily bad or good, but it may give you a sense of the motivation for publishing this material. For example, a different article about cholesterol on a pharmaceutical company’s Web site might be biased toward treatment of high cholesterol with a drug the company makes.
2. Look at the page’s perimeter and the “masthead” at the top of the page. What name is listed there? Is it the same entity as the one listed as the publisher in the URL? Are you dealing with a company or the Web site of an individual—and how might that affect the quality of the information on this site? What can you learn from poking around with navigation tabs or buttons: what do they tell you about the objective of the Web site? Look for a tab labeled “About Us” or “Biography”; those pages will give you additional background on the writer.
3. Check the quality of the information. Based on what you learned earlier, ask yourself if the information from this Web site is reliable for your needs. If the material you are reading was originally published elsewhere, was that publication reputable, such as an academic or peer-reviewed journal or a well-known newspaper? If you need the most up-to-date information, check the bottom of the page, where a “last modified” date may be shown. Does the author reference reliable sources? What links does the author offer to other Web sites? Are they active and reputable?
4. Consider what others are saying about the site. Does the author offer references, reviews, or quotes about the material? Check blogs to see what other people think of the author or Web site by searching for the title of the article together with the word “review” or “blog.” Enter the Web site’s URL in the search engine at http://www.Alexa.com to see what other Web sites link to the one you are reading.
5. Trust your impressions about the material. You have recently been exposed to related material in your class and textbooks. What does your “gut” say about the material? Ask yourself why the Web site was written. (To inform and provide data or facts? To sell something? To promote a cause? To parody?) If you are unsure of the quality of the information, don’t use it or check first with your instructor or college librarian before you do.
Additional Resources
University of California Berkeley Library. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
Cornell University Olin and Uris Libraries. http://guides.library.cornell.edu/evaluating_Web_pages
Key Takeaways
• Do all the exercises in math textbooks; apply the formulas to real-world situations.
• Each type of graphic material has its own strength; those strengths are usually clues about what the author wants to emphasize by using the graphic.
• Look for statements of hypotheses and experimental design when reading science texts.
• History, economics, and political science texts are heavily influenced by interpretation. Think critically about what you are reading.
• Working with foreign language texts requires more time and more frequent breaks. Don’t rely on word-for-word translations.
• If you need to read with children around, don’t put off your reading until you have a large block of time; there is much you can do with short reading periods.
• Online materials offer endless possibilities, but select Web sites for information carefully to ensure reliability and currency.
Checkpoint Exercise
Go online and find an article about something you are reading about in a textbook. (Use the five steps to evaluate the article.) Scan both the Web page and the equivalent textbook section and list your questions for both. Are the questions different, or are many similar? How does each author answer those questions? Which do you think is better written and more authoritative? Why? | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/05%3A_Reading_to_Learn/5.03%3A_Dealing_with_Special_Texts.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Recognize the importance of building your vocabulary.
2. Master techniques for building your vocabulary.
Both leaders and advertisers inspire people to take action by choosing their words carefully and using them precisely. A good vocabulary is essential for success in any role that involves communication, and just about every role in life requires good communication skills. We include this section on vocabulary in this chapter on reading because of the connections between vocabulary building and reading. Building your vocabulary will make your reading easier, and reading is the best way to build your vocabulary.
Learning new words can be fun and does not need to involve tedious rote memorization of word lists. The first step, as in any other aspect of the learning cycle, is to prepare yourself to learn. Consciously decide that you want to improve your vocabulary; decide you want to be a student of words. Work to become more aware of the words around you: the words you hear, the words you read, the words you say, and those you write.
Do you have a lazy vocabulary? Wake it up with the “lazy speech” exercise.
Activity: Lazy Speech
Recruit a friend you spend a lot of time with. Give them an index card with the following words written on it and ask them to keep a tally of the number of times you say these words sometime when you are together for an hour or more. If you have a small recorder, give it to the person and ask them to record you at a time you are not aware of it.
• Ummm or Uhh
• Like
• They
• You know
• OK
• Yeah
• Ohmigawd
Include in this list any other words, including expletives, that you may be using without thinking.
Are there words you constantly overuse? Were you surprised at how often you used some of these expressions? Now that you are aware of the frequency you use certain expressions, what strategies can you use to control or substitute more articulate and expressive words for them?
Building a stronger vocabulary should start with a strong foundation of healthy word use. Just as you can bring your overuse of certain words to your conscious awareness in the previous activity, think about the kinds of words you should be using more frequently. Some of the words you might consciously practice are actually very simple ones you already know but significantly underuse or use imprecisely. For example, many students say he or she “goes” instead of he or she “says.” If you take it a step further, you can consider more accurate choices still. Perhaps, he “claims” or she “argues.” Maybe he “insists” or “assumes.” Or it could be that she “believes” or she “suggests.” This may seem like a small matter, but it’s important from both a reader’s and a writer’s perspective to distinguish among the different meanings. And you can develop greater awareness by bringing some of these words into your speech.
These habits are easier to put into action if you have more and better material to draw upon: a stronger vocabulary. The following tips will help you gain and correctly use more words.
• Be on the lookout for new words. Most will come to you as you read, but they may also appear in an instructor’s lecture, a class discussion, or a casual conversation with a friend. They may pop up in random places like billboards, menus, or even online ads!
• Write down the new words you encounter, along with the sentences in which they were used. Do this in your notes with new words from a class or reading assignment. If a new word does not come from a class, you can write it on just about anything, but make sure you write it. Many word lovers carry a small notepad or a stack of index cards specifically for this purpose.
• Infer the meaning of the word. The context in which the word is used may give you a good clue about its meaning. Do you recognize a common word root in the word? (Check Table 5.3 “Common Latin and Greek Word Roots” for common roots.) What do you think it means?
• Look up the word in a dictionary. Do this as soon as possible (but only after inferring the meaning). When you are reading, you should have a dictionary at hand for this purpose. In other situations, do this within a couple hours, definitely during the same day. How does the dictionary definition compare with what you inferred?
• Write the word in a sentence, ideally one that is relevant to you. If the word has more than one definition, write a sentence for each.
• Say the word out loud and then say the definition and the sentence you wrote.
• Use the word. Find occasion to use the word in speech or writing over the next two days.
• Schedule a weekly review with yourself to go over your new words and their meanings.
Table 5.3 Common Latin and Greek Word Roots
Root Meaning Examples
auto self automatic, automobile
bi two bicycle, biplane
bio life biography, biology
chrono time synchronize, chronicle
dict say predict, dictate
gen give birth generate, genetic
geo earth geology, geography, geometry
log thought biology, logic, pathology
manu hand manufacture, manual
phil love philosophy, anglophile
port carry transport, portable
sub under submarine, subtract
vac empty vacuum, evacuate
Where Have You Been All My Life?
The following are some fun ways to find new words:
• Read.
• When you look up a word in the dictionary, look at other interesting words on the same page.
• Solve crossword puzzles.
• Play word games like Scrabble, Boggle, or Pictionary.
• Watch movies.
• Listen to speeches and attend lectures.
• Go to comedy clubs.
• Have discussions (not just casual conversations) with friends.
• Read some more.
Key Takeaways
• The best way to build your vocabulary is to read, and a stronger vocabulary makes it easier and more fun to read.
• Be aware of your own lazy vocabulary and try to avoid those words and expressions.
• Look for new words everywhere, not just in class readings.
• Before you look up a word in the dictionary, infer its meaning based on its context and roots.
• After you look up a word in the dictionary, write your own sentence using the new word. Say the word and definition out loud.
• Use the new word as soon as possible.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Which words do you habitually overuse? Do your friends overuse the same words? How can you collaborate to correct that overuse?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. During the course of the day, find five new words in five different places. What were those words, and where did you uncover them?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What do the words “manuscript,” “scribe,” and “scribble” have in common? Can you detect the same root in these words?
__________________________________________________________________
4. What do you think the root means?
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/05%3A_Reading_to_Learn/5.04%3A_Building_Your_Vocabulary.txt |
Chapter Takeaways
Reading
• Reading, like learning, involves a cycle of preparing, absorbing, recording, and reviewing.
• In college, you will be expected to do much reading; it is not unusual to do two or more hours of reading for every hour you spend in class. In college, you are also expected to think critically about what you read.
• Active reading involves four steps:
1. Prepare for reading by scanning the assignment and developing questions for which you want to discover answers through your reading.
2. Read the material and discover the answers to your questions.
3. Capture the information by highlighting and annotating the text as well as by taking effective notes.
4. Review the reading by studying your notes, by integrating them with your class notes, and by discussing the reading with classmates.
• Before you read, learn as much as you can about the author and his or her reason for writing the text. What is his or her area of expertise? Why did the instructor select this text?
• When scanning a reading, look for clues to what might be important. Read the section titles, study illustrations, and look for keywords and boldface text.
• Do not highlight your text until you have read a section completely to be sure you understand the context. Then go back and highlight and annotate your text during a second read-through.
• Think critically about what you are reading. Do you agree with what the author is saying? How does it relate to the rest of the material in the course? What does this new material mean to you in “real life”?
Special Texts and Situations
• Do all the exercises in math textbooks; apply the formulas to real-world situations.
• Practice “reading” the illustrations. Each type of graphic material has its own strength or purpose.
• Look for statements of hypotheses and experimental design when reading science texts.
• History, economics, and political science texts are heavily influenced by interpretation. Think critically about what you are reading.
• Working with foreign language texts requires more time and more frequent breaks. Don’t rely on word-for-word translations.
• If you need to read with children around, don’t put off your reading until you have a large block of time; learn to read in short periods as available.
• When reading on the Internet, be extra diligent to evaluate the source of the material to decide how reliable that source may be.
• If English is your second language, seek out resources that may be offered on campus. In any case, be patient with the process of mastering college-level English. And always remember this: what feels like a disadvantage in one situation can be a great gift in another situation.
Vocabulary
• Reading and vocabulary development are closely linked. A stronger vocabulary makes reading easier and more fun; the best way to build a vocabulary is to read.
• Look for new words everywhere, not just in class.
• When you encounter a new word, follow these steps:
1. Write it down and write down the sentence in which it was used.
2. Infer its meaning based on the context and word roots.
3. Look it up in a dictionary.
4. Write your own sentence using the word.
5. Say the word, its definition, and your sentence out loud.
6. Find an opportunity to use the word within two days.
Chapter Review
1. Describe the four steps of active reading.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. What part of a textbook should you compare with a class syllabus? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Why is it important to know something about a textbook’s author?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. What time of the day should you plan to do your reading? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. What is the difference between using the Cornell method for taking class notes and using the Cornell method for reading notes?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. Why do you think it is important to pose some questions about the material before you read?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. What should you do if you are getting tired when reading?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
8. List three requirements for a good reading location.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
9. Can you multitask while doing a reading assignment? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
10. Describe the process of evaluating a Web-based reading selection.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Make an Action List
Two things I will do to improve Actions By when I expect to take the action How I will know I accomplished the action
My reading comprehension/understanding 1.
2.
My reading speed 1.
2.
My vocabulary 1.
2. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/05%3A_Reading_to_Learn/5.05%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/laptop-woman-education-study-young-3087585/
06: Preparing for and Taking Tests
Learning Objectives
1. Learn what test anxiety really is.
2. Gain strategies for controlling anxiety.
Take the true-or-false quiz below (circle T for true or F for false). There are no wrong answers.
Activity: Testing Your Test Anxiety
T F I have a hard time starting to study for a test.
T F When studying for an exam, I feel desperate or lost.
T F When studying for an exam, I often feel bored and tired.
T F I don’t sleep well the night before an exam.
T F My appetite changes the day of the exam. (I’m not hungry and skip meals or I overeat—especially high-sugar items like candy or ice cream.)
T F When taking an exam, I am often confused or suffer mental blocks.
T F When taking an exam, I feel panicky and my palms get sweaty.
T F I’m usually in a bad mood after taking an exam.
T F I usually score lower on exams than on papers, assignments, and projects.
T F After an exam, I can remember things I couldn’t recall during the exam.
If you answered true to any of the statements in the table above, you have suffered some of the symptoms of test anxiety. Most of us have experienced this. It is normal to feel stress before an exam, and in fact, that may be a good thing. Stress motivates you to study and review, generates adrenaline to help sharpen your reflexes and focus while taking the exam, and may even help you remember some of the material you need. But suffering too many stress symptoms or suffering any of them severely will impede your ability to show what you have learned. Test anxiety is a psychological condition in which a person feels distress before, during, or after a test or exam to the point where stress causes poor performance. Anxiety during a test interferes with your ability to recall knowledge from memory as well as your ability to use higher-level thinking skills effectively. To learn more about critical thinking and study skills, see Chapter 3 “Thinking about Thought” and Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”, respectively.
There are steps you should take if you find that stress is getting in your way:
• Be prepared. A primary cause of test anxiety is not knowing the material. If you take good class and reading notes and review them regularly, this stressor should be greatly reduced if not eliminated. You should be confident going into your exam (but not overconfident).
• Bounce bad vibes. Your own negative thoughts—“I’ll never pass this exam” or “I can’t figure this out, I must be really stupid!”—may move you into spiraling stress cycle that in itself causes enough anxiety to block your best efforts. When you feel you are brewing a storm of negative thoughts, stop what you are doing and clear your mind. Allow yourself to daydream a little; visualize yourself in pleasant surroundings with good friends. Don’t go back to work until you feel the tension release. Sometimes it helps to take a deep breath and shout “STOP!” and then proceed with clearing your mind. Once your mind is clear, repeat a reasonable affirmation to yourself—“I know this stuff”—before continuing your work.
• Visualize success. Picture what it will feel like to get that A. Translate that vision into specific, reasonable goals and work toward each individual goal. Take one step at a time and reward yourself for each goal you complete.
• It’s all about you! Don’t waste your time comparing yourself to other students in the class, especially during the exam. Keep focused on your own work and your own plan. Exams are not a race, so it doesn’t matter who turns in their paper first. Certainly you have no idea how they did on their exam, so a thought like “Kristen is already done, she must have aced it, I wish I had her skills” is counterproductive and will only cause additional anxiety.
• Have a plan and follow it. As soon as you know that an exam is coming, you can develop a plan for studying. As soon as you get your exam paper, you should develop a plan for the exam itself. We’ll discuss this more later in this chapter. Don’t wait to cram for an exam at the last minute; the pressure you put on yourself and the late night will cause more anxiety, and you won’t learn or retain much.
• Make sure you eat well and get a good night’s sleep before the exam. Hunger, poor eating habits, energy drinks, and lack of sleep all contribute to test anxiety.
• Chill! You perform best when you are relaxed, so learn some relaxation exercises you can use during an exam. Before you begin your work, take a moment to listen to your body. Which muscles are tense? Move them slowly to relax them. Tense them and relax them. Exhale, then continue to exhale for a few more seconds until you feel that your lungs are empty. Inhale slowly through your nose and feel your rib cage expand as you do. This will help oxygenate your blood and reenergize your mind. Chapter 10 “Taking Control of Your Health” has more tips for dealing with stress.
Exercise: Talking Back to Boogie Talk
You’ve learned how negative thoughts contribute to test anxiety and keep you from doing as well as you can. Take some time to disarm your most frequent offenders. From the following list, select three negative thoughts that you have experienced (or write your own). Then fill in the second and third columns for each statement, as shown in the example.
• I don’t know anything.…What’s the matter with me?
• If I fail this test, I’ll flunk the course.
• I should have studied more.…I’ll never make it through.
• I just can’t think.…Why did I ever take this course?
• I know everyone’s doing better than I am.
• If I fail this test, my dad (or husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, teacher) will be mad. I don’t know how I can face them again.
• I’m going to be the last one done again.…I must really be stupid.
• I’m getting really tense again; my hands are shaking.…I can’t even hold the pen.
• I can’t remember a thing.…This always happens to me.…I never do well on anything.
My boogie statement How rational is this thought? Do you have any evidence that it is true? Reasonable reinforcing or affirmation statements you can use to replace it.
Example: I’m drawing a blank.…I’ll never get the answer…I must really be stupid. I’ve missed questions on things that I studied and knew before. I studied this and know it. I’ll visualize where it’s written in my notes to help me trigger my memory.
Key Takeaways
• Some stress before a test or exam is common and beneficial.
• Test anxiety is stress that gets in the way of performing effectively.
• The most common causes of test anxiety are lack of preparation and negative attitudes.
• The key to combating test anxiety is to try to reduce stressors to a manageable level rather than try to eliminate them totally.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List three things you should do before a test or exam to combat test anxiety.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. List three things you can do during an exam to reduce stress.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/06%3A_Preparing_for_and_Taking_Tests/6.01%3A_Test_Anxiety_and_How_to_Control_It.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Face tests with confidence, not anxiety.
2. Learn how to use your class and reading notes to learn the material, not just to pass the test.
3. Gain key strategies for effective studying.
4. Form and participate in study groups.
Figure 6.3
Late-night cramming is not an effective studying strategy!
You have truly learned material when you can readily recall it and actually use it—on tests or in real-life situations. Effective studying is your most important tool to combat test anxiety, but more important, effective studying helps you truly master the material and be able to apply it as you need to, in school and beyond.
In Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering” and Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn”, we set the foundation for effective learning. You learned how to listen and how to take notes. You learned some tricks for improving your memory. You learned how to read actively and how to capture information from written sources. Now we’ll follow up on some of those key ideas and take the learning cycle to its conclusion and a new beginning.
The reviewing and applying stage of the learning cycle involves studying and using the material you have been exposed to in your course. Recall that in Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering” and Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn” we emphasized the importance of reviewing your notes soon after the class or assignment. This review is largely what studying is all about.
Effective studying is an ongoing process of reviewing course material. The first and most important thing you should know is that studying is not something you do a few days before an exam. To be effective, studying is something you do as part of an ongoing learning process, throughout the duration of the term.
Studying Every Day
Studying begins after each class or assignment when you review your notes. Each study session should involve three steps:
1. Gather your learning materials. Take time to merge your class notes with your reading notes. How do they complement each other? Stop and think. What do the notes tell you about your material? What aspects of the material are you unsure about? Do you need to reread a part of your text? Write down any questions you have for your instructor and pay a visit during office hours. It is better to clear up any misconceptions and get your questions answered soon after you are exposed to the material, rather than to wait, for two reasons: (1) the question or doubt is fresh in your mind and you won’t forget about it and (2) instructors usually build their lessons on material already presented. If you don’t take these steps now, you are setting yourself up for problems later in the course.
2. Apply or visualize. What does this material mean to you? How will you use this new knowledge? Try to find a way to apply it in your own life or thoughts. If you can’t use the knowledge right away, visualize yourself using the knowledge to solve a problem or visualize yourself teaching the material to other students.
3. Cement your knowledge. If you use the two-column note-taking method, cover up the right side of your notes with a piece of paper, leaving the questions in the left column exposed. Test yourself by trying to answer your questions without referring to your notes. How did you do? If you are unsure about anything, look up the answer and write it down right away. Don’t let a wrong answer be the last thing you wrote on a subject, because you will most likely continue to remember the wrong answer.
Studying in Course Units
At the end of each unit, or at least every two weeks or so, use your notes and textbook to write an outline or summary of the material in your own words. (Remember the paragraphs you wrote to summarize each class or reading? They’ll be very helpful to you here.) After you have written the summary or outline, go back and reread your outline from the prior unit followed by the one you just wrote. Does the new one build on the earlier one? Do you feel confident you understand the material?
Studying before the Exam
At least a week before a major exam, ask yourself these questions: What has the instructor said about what is included on the exam? Has the instructor said anything about what types of questions will be included? If you were the instructor, what questions would you ask on an exam? Challenge yourself to come up with some really tough open-ended questions. Think about how you might answer them. Be sure to go to any review sessions the instructor or your section leader holds.
Now go back and review your outlines. Do they cover what the instructor has suggested might be on the exam? After reviewing your outlines, reread the sections of your notes that are most closely associated with expected exam questions. Pay special attention to those items the instructor emphasized during class. Read key points aloud and write them down on index cards. Make flash cards to review in downtimes, such as when you’re waiting for a bus or for a class to start.
More Tips for Success
• Schedule a consistent study-review time for each course at least once a week, in addition to your class and assignment time. Keep to that schedule as rigorously as you do your class schedule. Use your study time to go through the steps outlined earlier; this is not meant to be a substitute for your assignment time.
• Get yourself in the right space. Choose to study in a quiet, well-lit space. Your chair should be comfortable but provide good support. Remember that libraries were designed for reading and should be your first option.
• Minimize distractions. Turn off your cell phone and get away from Facebook, television, other nearby activities, and chatty friends or roommates. All of these can cut into the effectiveness of your study efforts. Multitasking and studying don’t mix.
• If you will be studying for a long time, take short breaks at least once an hour. Get up, stretch, breathe deeply, and then get back to work. (If you keep up with your daily assignments and schedule weekly review sessions for yourself—and keep them—there should be almost no need for long study sessions.)
Studying in Groups
Figure 6.4
A study group that is too large is more likely to digress into casual conversation.
Study groups are a great idea—as long as they are thoughtfully managed. A study group can give you new perspectives on course material and help you fill in gaps in your notes. Discussing course content will sharpen your critical thinking related to the subject, and being part of a group to which you are accountable will help you study consistently. In a study group, you will end up “teaching” each other the material, which is the strongest way to retain new material. But remember, being in a group working together doesn’t mean there will be less work for you as an individual; your work will just be much more effective.
Here are some tips for creating and managing effective study groups:
• Think small. Limit your study group to no more than three or four people. A larger group would limit each student’s participation and make scheduling of regular study sessions a real problem.
• Go for quality. Look for students who are doing well in the course, who ask questions, and who participate in class discussions. Don’t make friendship the primary consideration for who should be in your group. Meet up with your friends instead during “social time”—study time is all about learning.
• Look for complementary skills and learning styles. Complementary skills make for a good study group because your weaknesses will be countered by another student’s strengths. When a subject requires a combination of various skills, strengths in each of those skills is helpful (e.g., a group with one student who is really good at physics and another at math would be perfect for an engineering course). Finally, a variety of learning styles is helpful because each of you pick up differing signals and emphases from the instructor that you can share with each other, so you will not likely miss important points.
• Meet regularly. When you first set up a study group, agree to a regular meeting schedule and stick to it. Moving study session times around can result in nonparticipation, lack of preparation, and eventually the collapse of the study group. Equally important is keeping your sessions to the allotted times. If you waste time and regularly meet much longer than you agreed to, participants will not feel they are getting study value for their time invested.
• Define an agenda and objectives. Give your study sessions focus so that you don’t get sidetracked. Based on requests and comments from the group, the moderator should develop the agenda and start each session by summarizing what the group expects to cover and then keep the group to task.
• Include some of the following items on your agenda:
• Review and discuss class and assignment notes since your last meeting.
• Discuss assigned readings.
• Quiz each other on class material.
• “Reteach” aspects of the material team participants are unsure of.
• Brainstorm possible test questions and responses.
• Review quiz and test results and correct misunderstandings.
• Critique each other’s ideas for paper themes and approaches.
• Define questions to ask the instructor.
• Assign follow-up work. If there is any work that needs to be done between meetings, make sure that all team members know specifically what is expected of them and agree to do the work.
• Rotate the role of moderator or discussion leader. This helps ensure “ownership” of the group is spread equally across all members and ensures active participation and careful preparation.
Key Takeaways
• Effective studying happens over time, not just a few days before an exam. Consistent and regular review time helps you learn the material better and saves you time and anguish as exam time approaches.
• The following are three steps to follow in each study session:
• Gather your knowledge.
• Apply or visualize your knowledge.
• Cement your knowledge.
• Study groups are a great idea—provided they are thoughtfully managed.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. What do we mean by “gathering your knowledge”?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. What study habits recommended in this section do you want to develop or improve? What specific steps will you take to start working on them?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Think of your toughest course. Which students in that class would you want to include in a study group? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/06%3A_Preparing_for_and_Taking_Tests/6.02%3A_Studying_to_Learn_%28Not_Just_for_Tests%29.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the kinds of tests you will take in college and how you can learn from them.
2. Learn general strategies to apply when taking tests and quizzes.
Types of Tests
All tests are designed to determine how much you know about a particular subject at a particular point in time. But you should be aware of differences in types of tests because this will help guide how you prepare for them. Two general types of tests are based on their objectives, or how they are intended to be used: formative assessments and summative assessments.
Formative assessments include quizzes, unit tests, pop quizzes, and review quizzes from a textbook or its Web site. Their main objective is to make sure you know the fundamental material before moving on to more challenging topics. Because these quizzes usually don’t count much toward your final grade, many students think they are not very important. In fact, these quizzes are very important, particularly to you; they can help you to identify what you know and what you still need to learn to be successful in the course and in applying the material. A poor result on a quiz may not negatively affect your final grade much—but learning from its results and correcting your mistakes will affect your final grade, on the positive side, when you take midterms and finals! More on this in Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests”, Section 6.6 “Using Test Results”.
Summative assessments include midterms and finals. They are used by the instructor to determine if you are mastering a large portion of the material, and as such, they usually carry a heavy weight toward your final grade for the course. Because of this, they often result in high levels of test anxiety and long study periods.
In addition to this classification by objective, tests can also be grouped into various categories based on how they are delivered. Each type has its own peculiar strategies.
• Paper tests are still the most common type of test, requiring students to write answers on the test pages or in a separate test booklet. They are typically used for in-class tests. Neatness and good grammar count, even if it’s not an English exam. Remember that the instructor will be reading dozens of test papers and will not likely spend much time trying to figure out your hieroglyphics, arrows, and cross-outs.
• Open-book tests allow the student to consult their notes, textbook, or both while taking the exam. Instructors often give this type of test when they are more interested in seeing your thoughts and critical thinking than your memory power. Be prepared to expose and defend your own viewpoints. When preparing, know where key material is present in your book and notes; create an index for your notes and use sticky notes to flag key pages of your textbook before the exam. Be careful when copying information or formulas to your test answers, because nothing looks worse in an open-book exam than misusing the material at your disposal.
• Take-home tests are like open-book tests except you have the luxury of time on your side. Make sure you submit the exam on time. Know what the instructor’s expectations are about the content of your answers. The instructor will likely expect more detail and more complete work because you are not under a strict time limit and because you have access to reference materials. Be clear about when the test is due. (Some instructors will ask you to e-mail your exam to them by a specific time.) Also find out if the instructor allows or expects you to collaborate with classmates. Be sure to type your exam and don’t forget to spell-check!
• Online tests are most commonly used for formative assessments, although they are starting to find their way into high-stakes exams, particularly in large lecture classes that fulfill a graduation requirement (like introductory psychology or history survey courses). The main advantage of online tests is that they can be computer graded, providing fast feedback to the student (with formative tests) and allowing the instructor to grade hundreds of exams easily (with summative assessments). Since these tests are computer graded, be aware that the instructor’s judgment is not involved in the grading. Your answers will be either right or wrong; there is no room for partially correct responses. With online tests, be sure you understand the testing software. Are there practice questions? If so, make sure you use them. Find out if you will be allowed to move freely between test sections to go back and check your work or to complete questions you might have skipped. Some testing software does not allow you to return to sections once they are “submitted.” Unless your exam needs to be taken at a specific time, don’t wait until the last minute to take the test. Should you have technical problems, you want to have time to resolve the issues. To avoid any conflicts with the testing software, close all other software applications before beginning the testing software.
• Electronic tests in the classroom are becoming more common as colleges install “smart classrooms” with technology such as wireless “clicker” technology that instructors may use to get a quick read of students’ understanding of a lecture. This testing method allows for only true-or-false and multiple-choice questions, so it is rarely used for summative assessments. When taking this kind of quick quiz, take notes on questions you miss so that you can focus on them when you do your own review.
• Presentations and oral tests are the most complete means for instructors to evaluate students’ mastery of material, because the evaluation is highly interactive. The instructor can (and likely will) probe you on certain points, question your assumptions, or ask you to defend your point of view. Make sure you practice your presentation many times with and without an audience (your study group is good for this). Have a clear and concise point of view and keep to the allotted time. (You don’t want to miss delivering a killer close if your instructor cuts you off because you weren’t aware of the time!) Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” covers public speaking and class presentations in more detail. Use the same strategies in oral exams.
Tips for Taking Tests
You’ve reviewed the material for a test and feel confident that you will do well. You have brought your test anxiety into control. What else can you do to ensure success on a test? Learn and apply these top ten test-taking strategies:
1. Learn as much as you can about the test. What has the instructor told you about the test? Will it be open book? What types of questions will be on it? Are there parts of the test that will be worth more points than others? Will it be cumulative or just cover the most recent material? Will you have choices about which questions to answer?
2. Try to foresee the questions likely to be on the test. What kinds of questions would you include if you were the instructor? Brainstorm possible questions with your study group. Look for possible questions in your notes. Review past quizzes and tests to see what kinds of questions the instructor likes to ask. Above all, take it seriously whenever your instructor warns, “This will be on the test.”
3. Don’t be tempted to stay up late cramming. Get some exercise and watch what you eat. Cramming is not a substitute for doing your assignments and studying consistently over time. It is far more important to get a good night’s sleep and face your test fresh and well rested. A good workout the day before an exam will help you be fresh and stay focused during the exam (provided you already like to work out; if not, find time to take a long walk). A healthy diet the night before and the day of the exam will give you energy and concentration to do well on the exam. Include “brain foods,” such as those rich in omega-3 oils, and avoid “heavy” foods that are rich in fat and sugar. (After the exam, you can celebrate with a cheeseburger, fries, and milkshake—but not before the exam!)
4. Get to the test site early. Take out all your allowable tools (pencils, pens, calculator, etc.). Turn off your cell phone (yes, all the way off, not on vibrate) as a way of disconnecting from your everyday world. Do some of the relaxation exercises described earlier for controlling test anxiety.
5. Create a test plan. Listen carefully to the directions given by the instructor. When you receive your test, scan the entire test first. Evaluate the importance of each section. Then create a time allocation plan. Decide how much time you should dedicate to each section. You don’t want to spend 80 percent of your time on a question worth 10 percent of the grade.
6. Write it down. Take a couple minutes to write down key facts, dates, principles, statistics, and formulas on a piece of scratch paper or in the margin of the exam paper. Do this while you are still fresh and aren’t yet feeling time pressure (when it will be harder to remember them). Then you can refer to these notes as you take the exam.
7. Read the directions carefully. Then reread them. Do you understand what is expected of you? If not, ask the instructor to be sure you are clear. Too many students lose points simply by not following directions completely!
8. Do the easy questions first. By getting the easy questions out of the way, you’ll feel more confident about the test and have more time to think about the tougher questions. Start with the objective sections of the exam first (multiple choice, true or false, and matching columns). As you answer these questions, keep an eye out for facts or concepts you may want to use later in an essay question.
9. Keep an eye on the time. Keep as close to your plan as possible. If you see that you are running out of time, don’t panic. Move to those questions you think you can still answer accurately within the remaining time.
10. Check your work. This doesn’t mean going through all your calculations again. Start by ensuring that you have complete answers according to the directions. Then look for other common mistakes, such as a misplaced decimal point, dropped words (especially those that can modify the answer, like “not”), and any incomplete or incomprehensible phrases.
Strategies for Math and Science Exams
Math tests require some special strategies because they are often problem based rather than question based.
Do the following before the test:
• Attend all classes and complete all assignments. Pay special attention to working on all assigned problems. After reviewing problems in class, take careful notes about what you did incorrectly. Repeat the problem and do a similar one as soon as possible. It is important that the last solution to a problem in your mind is a correct solution.
• Think about how each problem solution might be applied in a real-world situation. This helps make even the most complex solutions relevant and easier to learn.
• In your study group, take turns presenting solutions to problems and observing and correcting everyone’s work.
• If you are having difficulty with a concept, get help right away. Remember that math especially builds new material on previous material, so if you are having trouble with a concept now, you are likely to have trouble going forward. Make an appointment with your instructor, your teaching assistant, or a skilled classmate. Check with your college’s academic support office to see about a tutor. Don’t be shy about asking for a tutor—tutoring is not just for students needing remedial help; many successful students seek them out, too.
Do the following during the test:
• Review the entire test before you start and work the problems you feel most confident with first.
• Approach each problem following three distinct steps:
1. Read the problem through twice: the first time to get the full concept of the question, and the second time to draw out pertinent information. After you read through the problem the first time, ask yourself, “What is this problem about?” and “What is the answer likely to look like?” The second time through, consider these questions: “What facts do I have available?” “What do I know?” “What measurable units must the answer be in?” Think about the operations and formulas you will need to use. Try to estimate a ballpark answer.
2. Compute your answer. First, eliminate as many unknowns as possible. You may need to use a separate formula for each unknown. Use algebraic formulas as far as you can before plugging in actual numbers; that will make it easier to cancel and combine factors. Remember that you may need two or more tries before you come up with the answer.
3. Check your work. Start by comparing your actual answer to the estimate you made when you first read the problem. Does your final answer sound likely? Check your arithmetic by opposite operations: use multiplication to check division and addition to check subtraction, and so on.
You should consider using these three steps whenever you are working with any math problems, not just when you get problems on tests.
Science tests also are often problem based, but they also generally use the scientific method. This is why science tests may require some specific strategies.
• Before the test, review your lab notes as well as your class notes and assignments. Many exam questions build upon lab experience, so pay close attention to your notes, assignments, and labs. Practice describing the experimental process.
• Read the question carefully. What does the instructor expect you to do? Prove a hypothesis? Describe an experiment? Summarize research? Underline the words that state the objective of the question.
• Look carefully at all the diagrams given with the question. What do they illustrate? Why are they included with the question? Are there elements on the diagram you are expected to label?
• Many science questions are based on the scientific method and experimental model. When you read the test question, identify the hypothesis the problem is proposing; be prepared to describe an experimental structure to prove a hypothesis. When you check your work, make sure the hypothesis, experimental steps, and a summary of results (or expected results) are clear. Some of these elements may be part of the question, while others you may need to provide in your answer.
Key Takeaways
• There is no such thing as an unimportant quiz.
• In addition to studying, prepare for exams and quizzes by getting plenty of rest, eating well, and getting some exercise the day before the exam.
• Cramming is seldom a good strategy.
• Before the exam, learn as much as you can about the kinds of questions your instructor will be asking and the specific material that will be covered.
• The first step to successful completion of any exam is to browse the entire exam and develop a plan (including a “time budget”) for completing the exam.
• Read questions carefully. Underline keywords in questions, particularly in essay questions and science questions.
• Unless points are deducted for a wrong answer, it pays to take educated guesses. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/06%3A_Preparing_for_and_Taking_Tests/6.03%3A_Taking_Tests.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the five principal types of questions.
2. Gain specific strategies for addressing each type of question.
You can gain even more confidence in your test-taking abilities by understanding the different kinds of questions an instructor may ask and applying the following proven strategies for answering them. Most instructors will likely use various conventional types of questions. Here are some tips for handling the most common types.
Multiple-Choice Questions
• Read the instructions carefully to determine if there may be more than one right answer. If there are multiple right answers, does the instructor expect you to choose just one, or do you need to mark all correct options?
• Read each question carefully and try to answer it in your head before reading the answer options. Then consider all the options. Eliminate first the options that are clearly incorrect. Compare the remaining answers with your own answer before choosing one and marking your paper.
• Look for clue words that hint that certain option answers might be correct or incorrect. Absolute words like “never,” “always,” “every,” or “none” are rarely found in a correct option. Less absolute words like “usually,” “often,” or “rarely” are regularly found in correct options.
• Be on the lookout for the word “not” in the stem phrase and in the answer choice options; it is an easy word to miss if you are reading too quickly, but it completely changes the meaning of the possible statements.
True-or-False Questions
• Most of the tips for multiple-choice questions apply here as well. Be particularly aware of the words “never,” “always,” “every,” “none,” and “not” because they can determine the correct answer.
• Answer the questions that are obvious to you first. Then go back to statements that require more thought.
• If the question is stated in the positive, restate it to yourself in the negative by adding the word “not” or “never.” Does the new statement sound truer or more false?
• If you still are unsure whether a statement is true or false and must guess, choose “true” because most tests include more true statements than false (but don’t guess if a wrong answer penalizes you more than one left blank).
Matching Columns
• Start by looking at the two columns to be matched. Is there an equal number of items in both columns? If they are not equal, do you have to match some items in the shorter column to two or more items in the longer column, or can you leave some items unmatched? Read the directions to be sure.
• If one column has a series of single words to be matched to phrases in the other column, read all the phrases first, then all the single words before trying to make any matches. Now go back and read each phrase and find the word that best suits the phrase.
• If both columns have single words to be matched, look to cut down the number of potential matches by grouping them by parts of speech (nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, etc.).
• As always, start by making the matches that are obvious to you, and then work on the ones that require more thought. Mark off all items you have already used so you can easily see which words or phrases still remain to be matched.
Short Answer Questions
Figure 6.5
An essay test requires careful planning of what you want to write.
• Short answer questions are designed for you to recall and provide some very specific information (unlike essay questions, which also ask you to apply critical thinking to that information). When you read the question, ask yourself what exactly the instructor wants to know. Keep your answers short and specific.
Essay Questions
• Essay questions are used by instructors to evaluate your thinking and reasoning applied to the material covered in a course. Good essay answers are based on your thoughts, supported by examples from classes and reading assignments.
• Careful planning is critical to answering essay questions effectively. Note how many essay questions you have to answer and how difficult each question seems. Then allocate your time accordingly.
• Read the question carefully and underline or circle keywords. Watch for words that describe the instructor’s expectations for your response (see Table 6.1 “Words to Watch for in Essay Questions”).
• If time allows, organize your thoughts by creating a quick outline for your essay. This helps ensure that you don’t leave out key points, and if you run out of time, it may pick up a few points for your grade. Jot down specific information you might want to use, such as names, dates, and places. Chapter 8 “Writing for Classes” discusses outlining and other aspects of the writing process in more detail.
• Introduce your essay answer, but get right to the point. Remember that the instructor will be grading dozens of papers and avoid “filler” text that does not add value to your answer. For example, rather than writing, “In our study of the Civil War, it is helpful to consider the many facets that lead to conflict, especially the economic factors that help explain this important turning point in our nation’s history,” write a more direct and concise statement like this: “Economic factors help explain the start of the Civil War.”
• Write neatly and watch your grammar and spelling. Allow time to proofread your essay. You want your instructor to want to read your essay, not dread it. Remember that grading essays is largely subjective, and a favorable impression can lead to more favorable grading.
• Be sure to answer all parts of the question. Essay questions often have more than one part. Remember, too, that essay questions often have multiple acceptable answers.
Table 6.1 Words to Watch for in Essay Questions
Word What It Means What the Instructor Is Looking For
Analyze Break concept into key parts Don’t just list the parts; show how they work together and illustrate any patterns.
Compare Show similarities (and sometimes differences) between two or more concepts or ideas Define the similarities and clearly describe how the items or ideas are similar. Do these similarities lead to similar results or effects? Note that this word is often combined with “contrast.” If so, make sure you do both.
Contrast Show differences between two or more concepts or ideas Define the differences and clearly describe how the items or ideas are different. How do these differences result in different outcomes? Note that this word is often combined with “compare.” If so, make sure you do both.
Critique Judge and analyze Explain what is wrong—and right—about a concept. Include your own judgments, supported by evidence and quotes from experts that support your point of view.
Define Describe the meaning of a word, phrase, or concept Define the concept or idea as your instructor did in class—but use your own words. If your definition differs from what the instructor presented, support your difference with evidence. Keep this essay short. Examples can help illustrate a definition, but remember that examples alone are not a definition.
Discuss Explain or review Define the key questions around the issue to be discussed and then answer them. Another approach is to define pros and cons on the issue and compare and contrast them. In either case, explore all relevant data and information.
Explain Clarify, give reasons for something Clarity is key for these questions. Outline your thoughts carefully. Proofread, edit, proofread, and proofread again! Good explanations are often lost in too many words.
Illustrate Offer examples Use examples from class material or reading assignments. Compare and contrast them to other examples you might come up with from additional reading or real life.
Prove Provide evidence and arguments that something is true Instructors who include this prompt in an exam question have often proven the hypothesis or other concepts in their class lectures. Think about the kind of evidence the instructor used and apply similar types of processes and data.
Summarize Give a brief, precise description of an idea or concept Keep it short, but cover all key points. This is one essay prompt where examples should not be included unless the instructions specifically ask for them. (For example, “Summarize the steps of the learning cycle and give examples of the main strategies you should apply in each one.”)
Checkpoint Exercise
Test your test knowledge.
Figure 6.6 Crossword
Across Down
2. “Always,” “never,” and “every” are words that usually indicate the answer is ___________. 1. It helps to group words in matching columns by ___________________ ___ _______________.
3. A way to organize your thoughts for an essay 4. Clarify, give reasons for something
6. Short answer questions require a __________ answer. 5. Essay questions often have more than one ________ answer.
8. Describe the meaning of a word 7. Show similarities and differences
9. Give a brief, precise description of an idea or concept 12. Most common answer in true and false questions
10. Type of question used to evaluate thinking and reasoning
11. Since instructors need to read many essays, it is important to write _________. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/06%3A_Preparing_for_and_Taking_Tests/6.04%3A_The_Secrets_of_the_Q_and_As.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the importance of academic integrity and the consequences of dishonesty.
2. Identify most common types of academic dishonesty.
Throughout this book we have focused on the active process of learning, not just on how to get good grades. The attitude of some students that grades are the end-all in academics has led many students to resort to academic dishonesty to try to get the best possible grades or handle the pressure of an academic program. Although you may be further tempted if you’ve heard people say, “Everybody does it,” or “It’s no big deal at my school,” you should be mindful of the consequences of cheating:
• You don’t learn as much. Cheating may get you the right answer on a particular exam question, but it won’t teach you how to apply knowledge in the world after school, nor will it give you a foundation of knowledge for learning more advanced material. When you cheat, you cheat yourself out of opportunities.
• You risk failing the course or even expulsion from school. Each institution has its own definitions of and penalties for academic dishonesty, but most include cheating, plagiarism, and fabrication or falsification. The exact details of what is allowed or not allowed vary somewhat among different colleges and even instructors, so you should be sure to check your school’s Web site and your instructor’s guidelines to see what rules apply. Ignorance of the rules is seldom considered a valid defense.
• Cheating causes stress. Fear of getting caught will cause you stress and anxiety; this will get in the way of performing well with the information you do know.
• You’re throwing away your money and time. Getting a college education is a big investment of money and effort. You’re simply not getting your full value when you cheat, because you don’t learn as much.
• You are trashing your integrity. Cheating once and getting away with it makes it easier to cheat again, and the more you cheat, the more comfortable you will feel with giving up your integrity in other areas of life—with perhaps even more serious consequences.
• Cheating lowers your self-esteem. If you cheat, you are telling yourself that you are simply not smart enough to handle learning. It also robs you of the feeling of satisfaction from genuine success.
Figure 6.7
Resist the temptation to cheat by using material from the Internet.
Technology has made it easier to cheat. Your credit card and an Internet connection can procure a paper for you on just about any subject and length. You can copy and paste for free from various Web sites. Students have made creative use of texting and video on their cell phones to gain unauthorized access to material for exams. But be aware that technology has also created ways for instructors to easily detect these forms of academic dishonesty. Most colleges make these tools available to their instructors. Instructors are also modifying their testing approaches to reduce potential academic misconduct by using methods that are harder to cheat at (such as in-class essays that evaluate your thinking and oral presentations).
If you feel uneasy about doing something in your college work, trust your instincts. Confirm with the instructor that your intended form of research or use of material is acceptable. Cheating just doesn’t pay.
Examples of Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty can take many forms, and you should be careful to avoid them. The following list from Northwestern University is a clear and complete compilation of what most institutions will consider unacceptable academic behavior.
1. Cheating: using unauthorized notes, study aids, or information on an examination; altering a graded work after it has been returned, then submitting the work for regrading; allowing another person to do one’s work and submitting that work under one’s own name; submitting identical or similar papers for credit in more than one course without prior permission from the course instructors.
2. Plagiarism: submitting material that in part or whole is not entirely one’s own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source.
3. Fabrication: falsifying or inventing any information, data or citation; presenting data that were not gathered in accordance with standard guidelines defining the appropriate methods for collecting or generating data and failing to include an accurate account of the method by which the data were gathered or collected.
4. Obtaining an Unfair Advantage: (a) stealing, reproducing, circulating or otherwise gaining access to examination materials prior to the time authorized by the instructor; (b) stealing, destroying, defacing or concealing library materials with the purpose of depriving others of their use; (c) unauthorized collaboration on an academic assignment; (d) retaining, possessing, using or circulating previously given examination materials, where those materials clearly indicate that they are to be returned to the instructor at the conclusion of the examination; (e) intentionally obstructing or interfering with another student’s academic work; or (f) otherwise undertaking activity with the purpose of creating or obtaining an unfair academic advantage over other students’ academic work.
5. Aiding and Abetting Academic Dishonesty: (a) providing material, information, or other assistance to another person with knowledge that such aid could be used in any of the violations stated above, or (b) providing false information in connection with any inquiry regarding academic integrity.
6. Falsification of Records and Official Documents: altering documents affecting academic records; forging signatures of authorization or falsifying information on an official academic document, grade report, letter of permission, petition, drop/add form, ID card, or any other official University document.
7. Unauthorized Access to computerized academic or administrative records or systems: viewing or altering computer records, modifying computer programs or systems, releasing or dispensing information gained via unauthorized access, or interfering with the use or availability of computer systems or information.
Key Takeaways
• Being dishonest can have major consequences that can affect not only your college career but also your life beyond college.
• “Everybody does it” and “It’s no big deal at my school” are not valid reasons for cheating.
• When you cheat, you are primarily cheating yourself.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. What are the most common forms of academic dishonesty you have heard about at your school? What should be done about them?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. What resources do you have on campus to learn about correct forms of referencing other people’s work in your own?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/06%3A_Preparing_for_and_Taking_Tests/6.05%3A_The_Honest_Truth.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Effectively evaluate your test results and correct your mistakes.
2. Use your test results as a study guide.
So far, we have focused on how to study for and take tests effectively. This section discusses how to use test results to their greatest benefit. Some of your most important learning begins when your graded test paper is returned to you. Your first reaction, of course, is to see what grade you received and how you did compared with your classmates. This is a natural reaction.
Make sure you listen to the instructor as the papers are returned. What is the instructor saying about the test? Is there a particular point everyone had trouble with? Does the instructor generally think everyone did well? The instructor’s comments at this point may give you important information about what you should study more, about the value of review sessions, and even about possible questions for the next exam.
Although you may be tempted to throw away the exam, don’t. It is a very helpful tool for the next phase of preparing for learning. This is a three-step process, beginning with evaluating your results.
Evaluating Your Test Results
When you receive your test back, sit quietly and take a close look at it. What questions did you get wrong? What kind of mistakes were they? (See Table 6.2 “Exam Errors and How to Correct Them”.) Do you see a pattern? What questions did you get right? What were your strengths? What can you learn from the instructor’s comments?
Now think of the way in which you prepared for the exam and the extent to which you applied the exam strategies described earlier in this chapter. Were you prepared for the exam? Did you study the right material? What surprised you? Did you read the entire test before starting? Did your time allocation work well, or were you short of time on certain parts of the exam?
Table 6.2 Exam Errors and How to Correct Them
Type of Error Examples Corrective Steps
Study and Preparation Errors I did not study the material for that question (enough). Practice predicting possible questions better.
I ran out of time. Join a study group.
I did not prepare enough. Read the entire test before starting. Allocate your time.
Focus Errors or Carelessness I did not read the directions carefully. Allocate exam time carefully.
I confused terms or concepts that I actually know well. Give yourself time to read carefully and think before answering a question.
I misread or misunderstood the question.
Content Errors I studied the material but couldn’t make it work with the question Seek additional help from the instructor.
I didn’t understand what the instructor wanted. Go to all classes, labs, and review sessions.
I confused terms or concepts. Join a study group.
Check and practice your active reading and listening skills.
Schedule regular study time for this course.
Mechanical Errors The instructor misread my writing. Slow down! Don’t rush through the exam. Take the time to do things right the first time.
I didn’t erase a wrong answer completely (on a computer-graded answer sheet).
I forgot to go back to a question I had skipped over.
I miscopied some calculations or facts from my worksheet.
Based on your analysis of your test, identify the kind of corrective steps you should take to improve your learning and test performance. Implement those steps as you begin your preparation for your next class. If you don’t learn from your mistakes, you are doomed to repeat them; if you don’t learn from your successes, it will be harder to repeat them.
Correcting Your Mistakes
The second step in making your test work for you is to correct your wrong answers. The last time you wrote the information (when you took the test), you created a link to wrong information in your memory, so that must be corrected.
• For multiple-choice questions, write out the question stem with the correct answer to form a single correct sentence or phrase.
• For true-or-false questions, write the full statement if it is true; if it is false, reword it in such a way that it is true (such as by inserting the word “not”). Then write the new statement.
• For math and science questions involving calculations, redo the entire solution with the calculations written out fully.
• You need not rewrite an entire essay question if you did not do well, but you should create a new outline for what would be a correct answer. Make sure you incorporate any ideas triggered by your instructor’s comments.
• When you have rewritten all your answers, read them all out loud before incorporating your new answers in your notes.
Integrating Your Test into Your Study Guide
Your corrected quizzes and midterm exams are an important study tool for final exams. Make sure you file them with your notes for the study unit. Take the time to annotate your notes based on the exam. Pay particular attention to any gaps in your notes on topics that appeared in the quiz or exam. Research those points in your text or online and complete your notes. Review your exams throughout the term (not just before the final) to be sure you cement the course material into your memory.
When you prepare for the final exam, start by reviewing your quizzes and other tests to predict the kinds of questions the instructor may ask on the final. This will help focus your final studying when you have a large amount of coursework to cover.
If You Don’t Get Your Test Back
If your instructor chooses not to return tests to students, make an appointment to see the instructor soon after the test to review it and your performance. Take notes on what you had trouble with and the expected answers. Add these notes into your study guide. Make sure you don’t lose out on the opportunity to learn from your results.
Key Takeaways
• Working with exams does not end when your instructor hands back your graded test.
• Quizzes and midterms are reliable predictors of the kind of material that will be on the final exam.
• When evaluating your test performance, don’t look only at the content you missed. Identify the types of mistakes you commonly make and formulate plans to prevent these mistakes in future assessments.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Take time to examine your notes for each course you are now taking. Are your exams and quizzes part of that package? If not, include them now. Review them this week.
2. Compare your exams across two or three courses. What kinds of mistakes do you make on a regular basis? Is there a trend you need to correct?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/06%3A_Preparing_for_and_Taking_Tests/6.06%3A_Using_Test_Results.txt |
Chapter Review I
1. What is test anxiety? What are the three causes of test anxiety you would like to work on controlling?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. When should you start studying for an exam?
__________________________________________________________________
3. Can you multitask while studying? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. What are some of the most common distractions to your studying?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Describe the characteristics of a successful study group.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. What are the two types of assessment? Which of these forms might be called the “student’s assessment”? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. Why would an instructor assign an open-book exam? What types of things should you pay attention to if you are taking an open-book exam?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
8. How might you predict the kinds of questions that will be on an exam?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
9. What should you do right after the instructor hands out the exam?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
10. List five words to watch for in multiple-choice and true-or-false questions.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
11. List five words to watch for in essay questions.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
12. What forms of academic dishonesty are most prevalent on your campus? What can you do to avoid them in your own academic career?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
13. List the five most common types of errors made on exams.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
14. What should you do with your exam after is has been graded and returned to you?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Chapter Review II
The following test will allow you to practice the strategies for each question type outlined in Chapter Review I:
I. Multiple-choice section (10 points)
1. All actions on this list are examples of academic dishonesty except
To avoid running out of time on a test, you should
II. True-or-false section (10 points)
1. ____ You should never use examples when an essay question asks you to illustrate.
2. ____ Beds are a good place to study because they are comfortable and quiet.
3. ____ It’s smart to schedule a specific and consistent time for studying for each course.
4. ____ In true-or-false questions, it is safer to mark true than false if you don’t know the answer.
5. ____ One advantage of studying in a group is that students will encourage each other to do their best work.
III. Matching column section (10 points)
____ 1. Define A. A type of formative assessment
____ 2. Study group B. To describe pros and cons and compare them
____ 3. Weekly quiz C. To describe the meaning of a word, phrase, or concept
____ 4. Discuss D. Your own personalized study guide
____ 5. Class and assignment notes E. Three or four students from a class who meet regularly to review class material and encourage each other
IV. Short answer section (15 points)
1. List three things you should do before a test to prepare your body to perform effectively.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2. Name at least three of the characteristics of successful study groups.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3. List at least four steps you should take before you start writing the answer to an essay question.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
V. Essay section (Choose one; 55 points)
1. Compare and contrast effective studying and cramming.
2. Discuss academic dishonesty and its consequences.
Make an Action List
Two things I will do to… Actions By when I expect to take each action How I will know I accomplished each action
Reduce my testing anxiety 1.
2.
Improve my study effectiveness 1.
2.
Improve my performance on exams 1.
2. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/06%3A_Preparing_for_and_Taking_Tests/6.07%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
Thumbnail: www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-black-adidas-jacket-sitting-on-chair-near-another-man-wearing-blue-jacket-1708988/
07: Interacting with Instructors and Classes
Learning Objectives
1. Describe reasons why it is important to attend classes.
2. Know what to do if you must miss a class.
3. Explain the benefits of participating in class for both students and instructors.
Among the student freedoms in college is the choice not to attend classes. Most college instructors do not “grade” attendance, and some college students soon develop an attitude that if you can get class notes from someone else, or watch a podcast of a lecture, there’s no reason to go to every class at all. What’s wrong with that?
It is in fact true that you don’t have to attend every single class of every course to get a good grade. But thinking only in terms of grades and how much one can get away with is a dangerous attitude toward college education. The real issue is whether you’re trying to get the most out of your education. Let’s compare students with different attitudes toward their classes:
Carla wants to get through college, and she knows she needs the degree to get a decent job, but she’s just not that into it. She’s never thought of herself as a good student, and that hasn’t changed much in college. She has trouble paying attention in those big lecture classes, which mostly seem pretty boring. She’s pretty sure she can pass all her courses, however, as long as she takes the time to study before tests. It doesn’t bother her to skip classes when she’s studying for a test in a different class or finishing a reading assignment she didn’t get around to earlier. She does make it through her freshman year with a passing grade in every class, even those she didn’t go to very often. Then she fails the midterm exam in her first sophomore class. Depressed, she skips the next couple classes, then feels guilty and goes to the next. It’s even harder to stay awake because now she has no idea what they’re talking about. It’s too late to drop the course, and even a hard night of studying before the final isn’t enough to pass the course. In two other classes, she just barely passes. She has no idea what classes to take next term and is starting to think that maybe she’ll drop out for now.
Karen wants to have a good time in college and still do well enough to get a good job in business afterward. Her sorority keeps a file of class notes for her big lecture classes, and from talking to others and reviewing these notes, she’s discovered she can skip almost half of those big classes and still get a B or C on the tests. She stays focused on her grades, and because she has a good memory, she’s able to maintain OK grades. She doesn’t worry about talking to her instructors outside of class because she can always find out what she needs from another student. In her sophomore year, she has a quick conversation with her academic advisor and chooses her major. Those classes are smaller, and she goes to most of them, but she feels she’s pretty much figured out how it works and can usually still get the grade. In her senior year, she starts working on her résumé and asks other students in her major which instructors write the best letters of recommendation. She’s sure her college degree will land her a good job.
Alicia enjoys her classes, even when she has to get up early after working or studying late the night before. She sometimes gets so excited by something she learns in class that she rushes up to the instructor after class to ask a question. In class discussions, she’s not usually the first to speak out, but by the time another student has given an opinion, she’s had time to organize her thoughts and enjoys arguing her ideas. Nearing the end of her sophomore year and unsure of what to major in given her many interests, she talks things over with one of her favorite instructors, whom she has gotten to know through office visits. The instructor gives her some insights into careers in that field and helps her explore her interests. She takes two more courses with this instructor over the next year, and she’s comfortable in her senior year going to him to ask for a job reference. When she does, she’s surprised and thrilled when he urges her to apply for a high-level paid internship with a company in the field—that happens to be run by a friend of his.
Think about the differences in the attitudes of these three students and how they approach their classes. One’s attitude toward learning, toward going to class, and toward the whole college experience is a huge factor in how successful a student will be. Make it your goal to attend every class—don’t even think about not going. Going to class is the first step in engaging in your education by interacting with the instructor and other students. Here are some reasons why it’s important to attend every class:
• Miss a class and you’ll miss something, even if you never know it. Even if a friend gives you notes for the class, they cannot contain everything said or shown by the instructor or written on the board for emphasis or questioned or commented on by other students. What you miss might affect your grade or your enthusiasm for the course. Why go to college at all if you’re not going to go to college?
• While some students may say that you don’t have to go to every class to do well on a test, that is very often a myth. Do you want to take that risk?
• Your final grade often reflects how you think about course concepts, and you will think more often and more clearly when engaged in class discussions and hearing the comments of other students. You can’t get this by borrowing class notes from a friend.
• Research shows there is a correlation between absences from class and lower grades. It may be that missing classes causes lower grades or that students with lower grades miss more classes. Either way, missing classes and lower grades can be intertwined in a downward spiral of achievement.
• Your instructor will note your absences—even in a large class. In addition to making a poor impression, you reduce your opportunities for future interactions. You might not ask a question the next class because of the potential embarrassment of the instructor saying that was covered in the last class, which you apparently missed. Nothing is more insulting to an instructor than when you skip a class and then show up to ask, “Did I miss anything important?”
• You might be tempted to skip a class because the instructor is “boring,” but it’s more likely that you found the class boring because you weren’t very attentive or didn’t appreciate how the instructor was teaching.
• You paid a lot of money for your tuition. Get your money’s worth!
Figure 7.2
In a large class, your instructor will still notice if you are paying attention.
Attending the first day of class is especially critical. There you’ll get the syllabus and other handouts, learn the instructor’s policies and preferences for how the class will function, and often take notes in an opening lecture.
If You Must Miss a Class…
• If you know that you will miss a class, take steps in advance. Tell your instructor and ask if he or she teaches another section of the course that you might attend instead. Ask about any handouts or special announcements.
• Ask another student whose judgment you trust if you can copy his or her notes. Then talk to them after you’ve read their notes to go over things that may be unclear to you.
• It may not be necessary to see your instructor after missing a lecture class, and no instructor wants to give you fifty minutes of office time to repeat what was said in class. But if you are having difficulty after the next class because of something you missed earlier, stop and see your instructor and ask what you can do to get caught up. But remember the worst thing you can say to an instructor: “I missed class—did you talk about anything important?”
The Value of Interaction in Class
As noted earlier, there are many good reasons to attend every class. But it’s not enough just to be there—you need to interact with the the instructor and other students to enjoy a full educational experience:
Figure 7.3
In a small class, it’s easy to interact with the instructor.
• Participating in class discussions is a good way to start meeting other students with whom you share an interest. You may form a study group, borrow class notes if you miss a class, or team up with other students on a group project. You may meet students with whom you form a lasting relationship, developing your network of contacts for other benefits in the future, such as learning about internships or jobs.
• Asking the instructor questions, answering the instructor’s questions in class, and responding to other students’ comments is a good way to make an impression on your instructor. The instructor will remember you as an engaged student—and this matters if you later need extra help or even a potential mentor.
• Paying close attention and thinking critically about what an instructor is saying can dramatically improve your enjoyment of the class. You’ll notice things you’d miss if you’re feeling bored and may discover your instructor is much more interesting than you first thought.
• Students actively engaged in their class learn more and thus get better grades. When you speak out in class and answer the instructor’s questions, you are more likely to remember the discussion.
Are Podcasts and Recordings an Effective Alternative to Attending Class?
Why not just listen to a recording of the lecture—or a video podcast, if available—instead of going to class? After all, you hear and perhaps see the lecture just as if you were there, and you can sleep late and “go” to this class whenever it’s convenient for you. What could be wrong with that?
This issue has received considerable discussion in recent years because many colleges and universities began videotaping class lectures and making them available for students online or in podcasts. There was a lot of debate about whether students would stop coming to class and simply watch the podcasts instead. In fact, some students do cut class, as some always have, but most students use podcasts and recordings as a way to review material they do not feel they grasp completely. A video podcast doesn’t offer the opportunity to ask questions or participate, and even if you pay close attention to watching a video, it’s still a passive experience from which you’re likely to learn much less.
Key Takeaways
• The benefits of attending every class include not missing important material, thinking more clearly about course topics, developing a better relationship with the instructor, and being better prepared for tests.
• When possible, prepare in advance for missing a class by speaking with your instructor and arranging to borrow and discuss someone’s notes.
• Students benefit in many ways from class interaction, including more actively engaging in learning, developing a network with other students, and forming a relationship with the instructor.
• Podcasts, lecture recordings, and similar learning methods can supplement lectures but cannot replace all the benefits of attending class in person.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Why is it more important to interact with your instructors in college than it was in high school?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Give an example of something important you may miss in a class from which you are absent—even if you read a friend’s notes and hear a recording of the lecture.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. List at least three potential benefits of forming a network with other students.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. What can you do as a student to be more engaged during a lecture if you are finding it boring?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/07%3A_Interacting_with_Instructors_and_Classes/7.01%3A_Why_Attend_Classes_at_All.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Understand how to set yourself up for successful participation in class.
2. List guidelines for effectively asking and answering questions in class.
3. Describe how to interact successfully with an instructor in a large lecture class.
4. Explain strategies for effective learning if your learning style is different from your instructor’s teaching style.
We’ve already discussed the many benefits of participating in class as a form of actively engaging in learning. Not everyone naturally feels comfortable participating. Following some general guidelines makes it easier.
Guidelines for Participating in Classes
Smaller classes generally favor discussion, but often instructors in large lecture classes also make some room for participation.
A concern or fear about speaking in public is one of the most common fears. If you feel afraid to speak out in class, take comfort from the fact that many others do as well—and that anyone can learn how to speak in class without much difficulty. Class participation is actually an impromptu, informal type of public speaking, and the same principles will get you through both: preparing and communicating.
• Set yourself up for success by coming to class fully prepared. Complete reading assignments. Review your notes on the reading and previous class to get yourself in the right mind-set. If there is something you don’t understand well, start formulating your question now.
• Sit in the front with a good view of the instructor, board or screen, and other visual aids. In a lecture hall, this will help you hear better, pay better attention, and make a good impression on the instructor. Don’t sit with friends—socializing isn’t what you’re there for.
• Remember that your body language communicates as much as anything you say. Sit up and look alert, with a pleasant expression on your face, and make good eye contact with the instructor. Show some enthusiasm.
• Pay attention to the instructor’s body language, which can communicate much more than just his or her words. How the instructor moves and gestures, and the looks on his or her face, will add meaning to the words—and will also cue you when it’s a good time to ask a question or stay silent.
• Take good notes, but don’t write obsessively—and never page through your textbook (or browse on a laptop). Don’t eat or play with your cell phone. Except when writing brief notes, keep your eyes on the instructor.
• Follow class protocol for making comments and asking questions. In a small class, the instructor may encourage students to ask questions at any time, while in some large lecture classes the instructor may ask for questions at the end of the lecture. In this case, jot your questions in your notes so that you don’t forget them later.
• Don’t say or ask anything just to try to impress your instructor. Most instructors have been teaching long enough to immediately recognize insincere flattery—and the impression this makes is just the opposite of what you want.
• Pay attention to the instructor’s thinking style. Does this instructor emphasize theory more than facts, wide perspectives over specific ideas, abstractions more than concrete experience? Take a cue from your instructor’s approach and try to think in similar terms when participating in class.
• It’s fine to disagree with your instructor when you ask or answer a question. Many instructors invite challenges. Before speaking up, however, be sure you can explain why you disagree and give supporting evidence or reasons. Be respectful.
• Pay attention to your communication style. Use standard English when you ask or answer a question, not slang. Avoid sarcasm and joking around. Be assertive when you participate in class, showing confidence in your ideas while being respectful of the ideas of others. But avoid an aggressive style that attacks the ideas of others or is strongly emotional.
• When your instructor asks a question to the class:
• Raise your hand and make eye contact, but don’t call out or wave your hand all around trying to catch his or her attention.
• Before speaking, take a moment to gather your thoughts and take a deep breath. Don’t just blurt it out—speak calmly and clearly.
• When your instructor asks you a question directly:
• Be honest and admit it if you don’t know the answer or are not sure. Don’t try to fake it or make excuses. With a question that involves a reasoned opinion more than a fact, it’s fine to explain why you haven’t decided yet, such as when weighing two opposing ideas or actions; your comment may stimulate further discussion.
• Organize your thoughts to give a sufficient answer. Instructors seldom want a yes or no answer. Give your answer and provide reasons or evidence in support.
• When you want to ask the instructor a question:
• Don’t ever feel a question is “stupid.” If you have been paying attention in class and have done the reading and you still don’t understand something, you have every right to ask.
• Ask at the appropriate time. Don’t interrupt the instructor or jump ahead and ask a question about something the instructor may be starting to explain. Wait for a natural pause and a good moment to ask. On the other hand, unless the instructor asks students to hold all question until the end of class, don’t let too much time go by, or you may forget the question or its relevance to the topic.
• Don’t ask just because you weren’t paying attention. If you drift off during the first half of class and then realize in the second half that you don’t really understand what the instructor is talking about now, don’t ask a question about something that was already covered.
• Don’t ask a question that is really a complaint. You may be thinking, “Why would so-and-so believe that? That’s just crazy!” Take a moment to think about what you might gain from asking the question. It’s better to say, “I’m having some difficulty understanding what so-and-so is saying here. What evidence did he use to argue for that position?”
• Avoid dominating a discussion. It may be appropriate in some cases to make a follow-up comment after the instructor answers your question, but don’t try to turn the class into a one-on-one conversation between you and the instructor.
Lecture Hall Classes
Figure 7.4
Don’t use your cell phone during class time.
While opportunities are fewer for student discussions in large lecture classes, participation is still important. The instructor almost always provides an opportunity to ask questions. Because time is limited, be ready with your question or comment when the opportunity arises—and don’t be shy about raising your hand first.
Being prepared is especially important in lecture classes. Have assigned readings done before class and review your notes. If you have a genuine question about something in the reading, ask about it. Jot down the question in your notes and be ready to ask if the lecture doesn’t clear it up for you.
Being prepared before asking a question also includes listening carefully to the lecture. You don’t want to ask a question whose answer was already given by the instructor in the lecture. Take a moment to organize your thoughts and choose your words carefully. Be as specific as you can. Don’t say something like, “I don’t understand the big deal about whether the earth revolves around the sun or the sun around the earth. So what?” Instead, you might ask, “When they discovered that the earth revolves around the sun, was that such a disturbing idea because people were upset to realize that maybe they weren’t the center of the universe?” The first question suggests you haven’t thought much about the topic, while the second shows that you are beginning to grasp the issue and want to understand it more fully.
Following are some additional guidelines for asking good questions:
• Ask a question or two early in the term, even on the first day of class. Once the instructor has “noticed” you as a class participant, you are more likely to be recognized again when you have a question. You won’t be lost in the crowd.
• Speak deliberately and professionally, not as you might when talking with a friend. Use standard English rather than slang.
• If you’re very shy about public speaking or worried you’ll say the wrong thing, write down your question before asking. Rehearse it in your mind.
• When you have the opportunity to ask questions in class, it’s better to ask right away rather than saving a question for after class. If you really find it difficult to speak up in a large class, this is an acceptable way to ask your question and participate. A private conversation with an instructor may also be more appropriate if the question involves a paper or other project you are working on for the course.
A note on technology in the lecture hall. Colleges are increasingly incorporating new technology in lecture halls. For example, each student in the lecture hall may have an electronic “clicker” with which the instructor can gain instant feedback on questions in class. Or the classroom may have wireless Internet and students are encouraged to use their laptops to communicate with the instructor in “real time” during the lecture. In these cases, the most important thing is to take it seriously, even if you have anonymity. Most students appreciate the ability to give feedback and ask questions through such technology, but some abuse their anonymity by sending irrelevant, disruptive, or insulting messages.
Teaching Style versus Learning Style
As you learned in Chapter 1 “You and Your College Experience”, students have many different learning styles. Understanding your learning style(s) can help you study more effectively. Most instructors tend to develop their own teaching style, however, and you will encounter different teaching styles in different courses.
When the instructor’s teaching style matches your learning style, you are usually more attentive in class and may seem to learn better. But what happens if your instructor has a style very different from your own? Let’s say, for example, that your instructor primarily lectures, speaks rapidly, and seldom uses visuals. This instructor also talks mostly on the level of large abstract ideas and almost never gives examples. Let’s say that you, in contrast, are more a visual learner, that you learn more effectively with visual aids and visualizing concrete examples of ideas. Therefore, perhaps you are having some difficulty paying attention in class and following the lectures. What can you do?
• Capitalize on your learning strengths, as you learned in Chapter 1 “You and Your College Experience”. In this example, you could use a visual style of note taking, such as concept maps, while listening to the lecture. If the instructor does not give examples for abstract ideas in the lecture, see if you can supply examples in your own thoughts as you listen.
• Form a study group with other students. A variety of students will likely involve a variety of learning styles, and when going over course material with other students, such as when studying for a test, you can gain what they have learned through their styles while you contribute what you have learned through yours.
• Use ancillary study materials. Many textbooks point students to online resource centers or include a computer CD that offers additional learning materials. Such ancillary materials usually offer an opportunity to review course material in ways that may better fit your learning style.
• Communicate with your instructor to bridge the gap between his or her teaching style and your learning style. If the instructor is speaking in abstractions and general ideas you don’t understand, ask the instructor for an example.
• You can also communicate with the instructor privately during office hours. For example, you can explain that you are having difficulty understanding lectures because so many things are said so fast.
Finally, take heart that a mismatch between a student’s learning style and an instructor’s teaching style is not correlated with lower grades.
Key Takeaways
• To prepare for class participation, come to class ready, sit in front, and pay attention to the instructor’s words and body language.
• Use good communication techniques when asking or answering questions in class.
• Take advantage of all opportunities to interact with your instructors, even in large lecture classes.
• If your learning style does not match the instructor’s teaching style, adapt your learning and study with other students to stay actively engaged.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. For each of the following statements about class participation, circle T for true or F for false:
T F To avoid having to answer a question in class when you don’t know the answer, sit in the back row and avoid making eye contact with the instructor.
T F If you haven’t finished a reading assignment before coming to a lecture class, bring the book along and try to complete the reading during the lecture.
T F Although it is OK to disagree with something in your textbook, never disagree with something the instructor says in a lecture.
T F If you are asked a question but don’t know the answer, it’s best to be honest and admit it.
T F Before raising your hand to ask a question, take a moment to consider whether maybe it’s a stupid question.
T F Because you don’t want your instructor to form a poor impression of you, wait a week or two into the term before starting to ask questions in class.
T F If you’re shy, it’s best never to speak up in class at all.
T F If you are struggling with a class during the first two weeks of the term, it’s always best to drop the class immediately because the situation won’t improve.
2. List two things you can do if you are having difficulty understanding what your instructor is talking about.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/07%3A_Interacting_with_Instructors_and_Classes/7.02%3A_Participating_in_Class.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe additional benefits for interacting with your instructor beyond the value for that particular course.
2. List guidelines for successfully communicating individually with an instructor, such as doing so during office hours.
3. Write e-mail messages to instructors and others that are polite, professional, and effective.
4. Know how to graciously resolve a problem, such as a grade dispute, with an instructor.
5. Understand the value of having a mentor and how interactions with instructors, your academic advisor, and others may lead to a mentoring relationship.
6. Explain what is needed to succeed in an online course and how to interact with an online instructor.
So far we’ve been looking at class participation and general interaction with both instructors and other students in class. In addition to this, students gain very specific benefits from communicating directly with their instructors. Learn best practices for communicating with your instructors during office hours and through e-mail.
Additional Benefits of Talking with Your Instructors
College students are sometimes surprised to discover that instructors like students and enjoy getting to know them. After all, they want to feel they’re doing something more meaningful than talking to an empty room. The human dimension of college really matters, and as a student you are an important part of your instructor’s world. Most instructors are happy to see you during their office hours or to talk a few minutes after class.
This chapter has repeatedly emphasized how active participation in learning is a key to student success. In addition, talking with your instructors often leads to benefits beyond simply doing well in that class.
• Talking with instructors helps you feel more comfortable in college and more connected to the campus. Students who talk to their instructors are less likely to become disillusioned and drop out.
• Talking with instructors is a valuable way to learn about an academic field or a career. Don’t know for sure what you want to major in, or what people with a degree in your chosen major actually do after college? Most instructors will share information and insights with you.
• You may need a reference or letter of recommendation for a job or internship application. Getting to know some of your instructors puts you in an ideal position to ask for a letter of recommendation or a reference in the future when you need one.
• Because instructors are often well connected within their field, they may know of a job, internship, or research possibility you otherwise may not learn about. An instructor who knows you is a valuable part of your network. Networking is very important for future job searches and other opportunities. In fact, most jobs are found through networking, not through classified ads or online job postings.
• Think about what it truly means to be “educated”: how one thinks, understands society and the world, and responds to problems and new situations. Much of this learning occurs outside the classroom. Talking with your highly educated instructors can be among your most meaningful experiences in college.
Guidelines for Communicating with Instructors
Getting along with instructors and communicating well begins with attitude. As experts in their field, they deserve your respect. Remember that a college education is a collaborative process that works best when students and instructors communicate freely in an exchange of ideas, information, and perspectives. So while you should respect your instructors, you shouldn’t fear them. As you get to know them better, you’ll learn their personalities and find appropriate ways to communicate. Here are some guidelines for getting along with and communicating with your instructors:
Figure 7.5
Your instructor can often help explain course topics.
• Prepare before going to the instructor’s office. Go over your notes on readings and lectures and write down your specific questions. You’ll feel more comfortable, and the instructor will appreciate your being organized.
• Don’t forget to introduce yourself. Especially near the beginning of the term, don’t assume your instructor has learned everyone’s names yet and don’t make him or her have to ask you. Unless the instructor has already asked you to address him or her as “Dr. ____,” “Ms. _____” or Mr. _______,” or something similar, it’s appropriate to say “Professor _______.”
• Respect the instructor’s time. In addition to teaching, college instructors sit on committees, do research and other professional work, and have personal lives. Don’t show up two minutes before the end of an office hour and expect the instructor to stay late to talk with you.
• Realize that the instructor will recognize you from class—even in a large lecture hall. If you spent a lecture class joking around with friends in the back row, don’t think you can show up during office hours to find out what you missed while you weren’t paying attention.
• Don’t try to fool an instructor. Insincere praise or making excuses for not doing an assignment won’t make it in college. Nor is it a good idea to show you’re “too cool” to take all this seriously—another attitude sure to turn off an instructor. To earn your instructor’s respect, come to class prepared, do the work, participate genuinely in class, and show respect—and the instructor will be happy to see you when you come to office hours or need some extra help.
• Try to see things from the instructor’s point of view. Imagine that you spent a couple hours making PowerPoint slides and preparing a class lecture on something you find very stimulating and exciting. Standing in front of a full room, you are gratified to see faces smiling and heads nodding as people understand what you’re saying—they really get it! And then a student after class asks, “Is this going to be on the test?” How would you feel?
• Be professional when talking to an instructor. You can be cordial and friendly, but keep it professional and on an adult level. Come to office hours prepared with your questions—not just to chat or joke around. (Don’t wear sunglasses or earphones in the office or check your cell phone for messages.) Be prepared to accept criticism in a professional way, without taking it personally or complaining.
• Use your best communication skills. In Chapter 9 “The Social World of College”, you’ll learn the difference between assertive communication and passive or aggressive communication.
Part-Time and Returning Students
Students who are working and who have their own families and other responsibilities may have special issues interacting with instructors. Sometimes an older student feels a little out of place and may even feel “the system” is designed for younger students; this attitude can lead to a hesitation to participate in class or see an instructor during office hours.
But participation and communication with instructors is very important for all students—and may be even more important for “nontraditional” students. Getting to know your instructors is particularly crucial for feeling at home in college. Instructors enjoy talking with older and other nontraditional students—even when, as sometimes happens, a student is older than the instructor. Nontraditional students are often highly motivated and eager to learn. If you can’t make the instructor’s office hours because of your work schedule, ask for an appointment at a different time—your needs will be respected.
Part-time students, especially in community colleges where they may be taking evening courses, often have greater difficulty meeting with instructors. In addition, many part-time students taking evening and weekend classes are taught by part-time faculty who, like them, may be on campus only small amounts of time. Yet it is just as critical for part-time students to engage in the learning process and have a sense of belonging on campus. With effort, you can usually find a way to talk with your instructors. Don’t hesitate to ask for an appointment at another time or to meet with your instructor over a cup of coffee after class before driving home. Assert yourself: You are in college for reasons just as good as those of other students, and you have the same rights. Avoid the temptation to give up or feel defeated; talk with your instructor to arrange a time to meet, and make the most of your time interacting together. Use e-mail to communicate when you need to and contact your instructor when you have any question you can’t raise in person.
E-mail Best Practices
Just as e-mail has become a primary form of communication in business and society, e-mail has a growing role in education and has become an important and valuable means of communicating with instructors. Virtually all younger college students have grown up using e-mail and have a computer or computer access in college, although some have developed poor habits from using e-mail principally with friends in the past. Some older college students may not yet understand the importance of e-mail and other computer skills in college; if you are not now using e-mail, it’s time to learn how (see “Getting Started with E-mail”). Especially when it is difficult to see an instructor in person during office hours, e-mail can be an effective form of communication and interaction with instructors. E-mail is also an increasingly effective way to collaborate with other students on group projects or while studying with other students.
Getting Started with E-mail
• If you don’t have your own computer, find out where on-campus computers are available for student use, such as at the library or student center.
• You can set up a free Web-based e-mail account at Google, Yahoo! or other sites. These allow you to send and receive e-mail from any computer that is connected to the Internet.
• If you don’t have enough computer experience to know how to do this, ask a friend for help getting started or check at your library or student services office for a publication explaining how e-mail works.
• Once you have your account set up, give your e-mail address to instructors who request it and to other students with whom you study or maintain contact. E-mail is a good way to contact another student if you miss a class.
• Once you begin using e-mail, remember to check it regularly for messages. Most people view e-mail like a telephone message and expect you to respond fairly soon.
• Be sure to use good e-mail etiquette when writing to instructors.
If your instructor gives you his or her e-mail addresses, use e-mail rather than the telephone for nonurgent matters. Using e-mail respects other people’s time, allowing them to answer at a time of their choosing, rather than being interrupted by a telephone call.
But e-mail is a written form of communication that is different from telephone voice messages and text messages. Students who text with friends have often adopted shortcuts, such as not spelling out full words, ignoring capitalization and punctuation, and not bothering with grammar or full sentence constructions. This is inappropriate in an e-mail message to an instructor, who expects a more professional quality of writing. Most instructors expect your communications to be in full sentences with correctly spelled words and reasonable grammar. Follow these guidelines:
• Use a professional e-mail name. If you have a funny name you use with friends, create a different account with a professional name you use with instructors, work supervisors, and others.
• Use the subject line to label your message effectively at a glance. “May I make an appointment?” says something; “In your office?” doesn’t.
• Address e-mail messages as you do a letter, beginning “Dear Professor ____.” Include your full name if it’s not easily recognizable in your e-mail account.
• Get to your point quickly and concisely. Don’t make the reader scroll down a long e-mail to see what it is you want to say.
• Because e-mail is a written communication, it does not express emotion the way a voice message does. Don’t attempt to be funny, ironic, or sarcastic, Write as you would in a paper for class. In a large lecture class or an online course, your e-mail voice may be the primary way your instructor knows you, and emotionally charged messages can be confusing or give a poor impression.
• Don’t use capital letters to emphasize. All caps look like SHOUTING.
• Avoid abbreviations, nonstandard spelling, slang, and emoticons like smiley faces. These do not convey a professional tone.
• Don’t make demands or state expectations such as “I’ll expect to hear from you soon” or “If I haven’t heard by 4 p.m., I’ll assume you’ll accept my paper late.”
• When you reply to a message, leave the original message within yours. Your reader may need to recall what he or she said in the original message.
• Be polite. End the message with a “Thank you” or something similar.
• Proofread your message before sending it.
• With any important message to a work supervisor or instructor, it’s a good idea to wait and review the message later before sending it. You may have expressed an emotion or thought that you will think better about later. Many problems have resulted when people sent messages too quickly without thinking.
Resolving a Problem with an Instructor
The most common issue students feel with an instructor involves receiving a grade lower than they think they deserve—especially new students not yet used to the higher standards of college. It’s depressing to get a low grade, but it’s not the end of the world. Don’t be too hard on yourself—or on the instructor. Take a good look at what happened on the test or paper and make sure you know what to do better next time. Review the earlier chapters on studying habits, time management, and taking tests.
If you genuinely believe you deserved a higher grade, you can talk with your instructor. How you communicate in that conversation, however, is very important. Instructors are used to hearing students complain about grades and patiently explaining their standards for grading. Most instructors seldom change grades. Yet it can still be worthwhile to talk with the instructor because of what you will learn from the experience.
Follow these guidelines to talk about a grade or resolve any other problem or disagreement with an instructor:
• First go over the requirements for the paper or test and the instructor’s comments. Be sure you actually have a reason for discussing the grade—not just that you didn’t do well. Be prepared with specific points you want to go over.
• Make an appointment with your instructor during office hours or another time. Don’t try to talk about this before or after class or with e-mail or the telephone.
• Begin by politely explaining that you thought you did better on the assignment or test (not simply that you think you deserve a better grade) and that you’d like to go over it to better understand the result.
• Allow the instructor to explain his or her comments on the assignment or grading of the test. Don’t complain or whine; instead, show your appreciation for the explanation. Raise any specific questions or make comments at this time. For example, you might say, “I really thought I was being clear here when I wrote.…”
• Use good listening skills. Whatever you do, don’t argue!
• Ask what you can do to improve grade, if possible. Can you rewrite the paper or do any extra-credit work to help make up for a test score? While you are showing that you would like to earn a higher grade in the course, also make it clear that you’re willing to put in the effort and that you want to learn more, not just get the higher grade.
• If there is no opportunity to improve on this specific project, ask the instructor for advice on what you might do on the next assignment or when preparing for the next test. You may be offered some individual help or receive good study advice, and your instructor will respect your willingness to make the effort as long as it’s clear that you’re more interested in learning than simply getting the grade.
Tips for Success: Talking with Instructors
• When you have a question, ask it sooner rather than later.
• Be prepared and plan your questions and comments in advance.
• Be respectful but personable and communicate professionally.
• Be open minded and ready to learn. Avoid whining and complaining.
• There is no such thing as a “stupid question.”
Controlling Anger over Grades
If you’re going to talk with an instructor about your grade or any other problem, control any anger you may be feeling. The GPS LifePlan project of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System offers some insights into this process:
• Being upset about a grade is good because it shows you care and that you have passion about your education. But anger prevents clear thinking, so rein it in first.
• Since anger involves bodily reactions, physical actions can help you control anger: try some deep breathing first.
• Try putting yourself in your instructor’s shoes and seeing the situation from their point of view. Try to understand how grading is not a personal issue of “liking” you—that they are really doing something for your educational benefit.
• It’s not your life that’s being graded. Things outside your control can result in not doing well on a test or assignment, but the instructor can grade only on what you actually did on that test or assignment—not what you could have done or are capable of doing. Understanding this can help you accept what happened and not take a grade personally1.
Finding a Mentor
A mentor is someone who is usually older and more experienced than you who becomes your trusted guide, advisor, and role model. A mentor is someone you may want to be like in your future career or profession—someone you look up to and whose advice and guidance you respect.
Finding a mentor can be one of the most fulfilling aspects of college. As a student, you think about many things and make many decisions, large and small, almost daily: What do you want to do in the future? How can you best balance your studies with your job? What should you major in? Should you take this course or that one? What should you do if you feel like you’re failing a course? Where should you put your priorities as you prepare for a future career? How can you be a better student? The questions go on and on. We talk about things like this with our friends and often family members, but often they don’t have the same experience or background to help us as a mentor can.
Most important, a mentor is someone who is willing to help you, to talk with you about decisions you face, to support you when things become difficult, and to guide you when you’re feeling lost. A mentor can become a valuable part of your future network but also can help you in the here and now.
Many different people can become mentors: other students, family members, people you know through work, your boss. As a college student, however, your best mentor likely is someone involved in education: your advisor, a more experienced student, or an instructor. Finding a mentor is another reason to develop good relationships with your instructors, starting with class participation and communication outside of class.
A mentor is not like a good friend, exactly—you’re not going to invite your instructor to a movie—but it does involve a form of friendship. Nor is a mentor a formal relationship: you don’t ask an instructor to become your mentor. The mentor relationship is more informal and develops slowly, often without actively looking for a mentor. Here’s an example of how one student “found” a mentor:
As a freshman taking several classes, Miguel particularly liked and admired one of his instructors, Professor Canton. Miguel spoke up more in Canton’s class and talked with him sometimes during office hours. When it was time to register for the next term, Miguel saw that Canton was teaching another course he was interested in, so he asked him about that course one day during office hours. Miguel was pleased when Professor Canton said he’d like to have him in his class next term.
By the end of his first year of college, Miguel seemed to know Canton better than any of his other instructors and felt very comfortable talking with him outside of class. One day after talking about a reading assignment, Miguel said he was enjoying this class so much that he was thinking about majoring in this subject and asked Professor Canton what he thought about it. Canton suggested that he take a few more classes before making a decision, and he invited Miguel to sit in on a seminar of upper-level students he was holding.
In his second year, Miguel’s interests turned in another direction as he began to think about his future job possibilities, but by then he felt comfortable enough talking with Canton that he occasionally he stopped by the professor’s office even though he was not taking a class with him. Sometimes he was surprised how much Professor Canton knew about other departments and other faculty, and Canton often shared insights about other courses he might be interested in that his advisor had not directed him to. When Miguel learned about a summer internship in his field and was considering applying, Canton not only volunteered to write him a letter of recommendation but even offered to help Miguel with the essay part of the application if he wanted.
Some colleges have more formal mentoring programs, and you should become involved in one if you have this opportunity, but often a mentoring relationship occurs informally as you get to know an instructor or another person over time. In your first year, you don’t go searching frantically for a mentor, but you should begin interacting with your instructors and other students in ways that may lead, over time, to developing that kind of relationship.
Similarly, your academic advisor or a college counselor might become a mentor for you if you share interests and you look up to that person as a role model and trusted guide. Your advisor is so important for your college success that if you feel you are not getting along well, you should ask the advising department to switch you to a different advisor. Take the time to build a good relationship with your advisor, the same as with instructors—following the same guidelines in this chapter for communication and interaction.
Relating to an Instructor of an Online Course
Online courses have grown tremendously in recent years, and most colleges now have at least some online courses. While online learning once focused on students at a distance from campus, now many students enrolled in regular classes also take some courses online. Online courses have a number of practical benefits but also pose special issues, primarily related to how students interact with other students and the instructor.
Some online courses do involve “face time” or live audio connections with the instructor and other students, via Webcasts or Webinars, but many are self-paced and asynchronous, meaning that you experience the course on your own time and communicate with others via messages back and forth rather than communicating in real time. All online courses include opportunities for interacting with the instructor, typically through e-mail or a bulletin board where you may see comments and questions from other students as well.
Figure 7.6
Online courses let you study when you want, where you want.
Many educators argue that online courses can involve more interaction between students and the instructor than in a large lecture class, not less. But two important differences affect how that interaction occurs and how successful it is for engaging students in learning. Most communication is written, with no or limited opportunity to ask questions face to face or during office hours, and students must take the initiative to interact beyond the requirements of online assignments.
Many students enjoy online courses, in part for the practical benefit of scheduling your own time. Some students who are reluctant to speak in class communicate more easily in writing. But other students may have less confidence in their writing skills or may never initiate interaction at all and end up feeling lost. Depending on your learning style, an online course may feel natural to you (if you learn well independently and through language skills) or more difficult (if you are a more visual or kinesthetic learner). Online courses have higher drop-out and failure rates due to some students feeling isolated and unmotivated.
Success in an online course requires commitment and motivation. Follow these guidelines:
• Make sure you have the technology. If you’re not comfortable reading and writing on a computer, don’t rush into an online course. If you have limited access to a computer or high-speed Internet connection, or have to arrange your schedule to use a computer elsewhere, you may have difficulty with the course.
• Accept that you’ll have to motivate yourself and take responsibility for your learning. It’s actually harder for some people to sit down at the computer on their own than to show up at a set time. Be sure you have enough time in your week for all course activities and try to schedule regular times online and for assignments. Evaluate the course requirements carefully before signing up.
• Work on your writing skills. If you are not comfortable writing, you may want to defer taking online courses until you have had more experience with college-level writing. When communicating with the instructor of an online course, follow the guidelines for effective e-mail outlined earlier.
• Use critical thinking skills. Most online courses involve assignments requiring problem solving and critical thinking. It’s not as simple as watching video lectures and taking multiple-choice tests. You need to actively engage with the course material.
• Take the initiative to ask questions and seek help. Remember, your instructor can’t see you to know if you’re confused or feeling frustrated understanding a lecture or reading. You must take the first step to communicate your questions.
• Be patient. When you ask a question or seek help with an assignment, you have to wait for a reply from your instructor. You may need to continue with a reading or writing assignment before you receive a reply. If the instructor is online at scheduled times for direct contact, take advantage of those times for immediate feedback and answers.
• Use any opportunity to interact with other students in the course. If you can interact with other students online, do it. Ask questions of other students and monitor their communications. If you know another person taking the same course, try to synchronize your schedules so that you can study together and talk over assignments. Students who feel they are part of a learning community always do better than those who feel isolated and on their own.
Key Takeaways
• Additional benefits of getting to know and networking with instructors include receiving references and academic advice.
• Interacting with college instructors contributes to the growth and intellectual maturity that are part of what it means to be “educated.”
• Prepare in advance before meeting with an instructor and communicate respectfully, honestly, and sincerely. Your efforts will be repaid.
• It is especially important for part-time and nontraditional students to make the effort to interact with instructors.
• Follow accepted guidelines for professional use of e-mail with instructors.
• It is worthwhile speaking with an instructor when you disagree about a grade because of what you will learn in this interaction.
• Finding a mentor can be one of the most fulfilling experiences in college. Getting to know your instructors may be the first step toward find a mentor.
• Online courses involve special issues for effective learning, but you must make the effort to interact with the instructor and other students in a way that encourages your success.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. Name three benefits you might gain from talking with an instructor weeks or months after the course has ended.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. What should you do before going to see your instructor during office hours?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false:
T F The instructor of a large lecture course will recognize you even if you sit in the back and try not to be noticed.
T F Instructors appreciate it when you talk to them in the kind of language you use with your best friends.
T F Whining and complaining is the best way to convince an instructor to change your grade.
T F It is acceptable to ask an instructor if you can rewrite a paper or do extra-credit work to help make up for a poor grade.
4. Write an appropriate opening for an e-mail to an instructor.
__________________________________________________________________
5. Think for a few minutes about all the past instructors you have had. Would you like to get to know any one of them better, perhaps as a mentor? What personality traits does this person have that would make him or her your ideal mentor? (If no instructor you have met so far is your idea of a perfect mentor, write down the traits you hope to find in an instructor in the future.)
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
1Adapted from “How to Communicate and Problem Solve with Your Instructor,” http://www.gpslifeplan.org/generic/p...-professor.pdf (accessed December 27, 2009). | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/07%3A_Interacting_with_Instructors_and_Classes/7.03%3A_Communicating_with_Instructors.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Know how to overcome nervousness and anxiety associated with public speaking and giving class presentations.
2. Effectively use the six-step process to prepare for and deliver a class presentation.
3. Create effective visual aids for use in class presentations.
4. Work with a group to successfully plan and deliver a class presentation.
Public speaking—giving an oral presentation before a class or another group of people—is a special form of interaction common in education. You will likely be asked to give a presentation in one of your classes at some point, and your future career may also involve public speaking. It’s important to develop skills for this form of communication.
Public speaking is like participating in class—sharing your thoughts, ideas, and questions with others in the group. In other ways, however, public speaking is very different. You stand in front of the class to speak, rather than from your usual seat—and for most students, that changes the psychology of the situation. You also have time outside of class to prepare your presentation, allowing you to plan it carefully—and, for many, giving more time to worry about it and experience even more anxiety!
Overcoming Anxiety
Although a few people seem to be natural public speakers, most of us feel some stage fright or anxiety about having to speak to a group, at least at first. This is completely normal. We feel like everyone is staring at us and seeing our every flaw, and we’re sure we’ll forget what we want to say or mess up. Take comfort from knowing that almost everyone else is dreading giving class presentations the same as you are! But you can learn to overcome your anxiety and prepare in a way that not only safely gets you through the experience but also leads to success in your presentation. The following are proven strategies for overcoming anxiety when speaking in public:
• Understand anxiety. Since stage fright is normal, don’t try to deny that you’re feeling anxious. A little anxiety can help motivate you to prepare and do your best. Accept this aspect of the process and work to overcome it. Anxiety is usually worst just before you begin and but eases up once you’ve begun.
• Understand that your audience actually wants you to succeed. They’re not looking for faults or hoping you’ll fail. Other students and your instructors are on your side, not your enemy. They likely won’t even see your anxiety.
• Reduce anxiety by preparing and practicing. The next section discusses the preparation process in more detail. The more fully you prepare and the more often you have practice, the more your anxiety will go away.
• Focus on what you’re saying, not how you’re saying it. Keep in mind that you have ideas to share, and this is what your classmates and instructors are interested in. Don’t obsess about speaking, but focus on the content of your presentation. Think, for example, of how easily you share your ideas with a friend or family member, as you naturally speak your mind. The same can work with public speaking if you focus on the ideas themselves.
• Develop self-confidence. As you prepare, you will make notes you can refer to during the presentation. You’re not going to forget what you want to say. The more you practice, the more confident you’ll become.
Guidelines for Presentations
Preparing and delivering a presentation in class (or in business or other settings) is a process very similar to the learning process discussed in Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”, Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn”, and Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests” and the writing process discussed in Chapter 8 “Writing for Classes”. The process breaks down into these six basic steps:
1. Analyze your audience and goals
2. Plan, research, and organize your content
3. Draft and revise the presentation
4. Prepare speaking notes
5. Practice the presentation
6. Deliver the presentation
Step 1: Analyze Your Audience and Goals
Who will see and hear your presentation—and why? Obviously, other students and the instructor. But you still need to think about what they already know, and don’t know, about your topic. If your topic relates to subject matter in class lectures and readings, consider what background information they already have and be careful not to give a boring recap of things they already know. It may be important, however, to show how your specific topic fits in with subjects that have been discussed already in class, especially in the beginning of your presentation, but be sure to focus on your new topic.
New terms and concepts may become familiar to you while doing your research and preparation, but remember to define and explain them to other students. Consider how much explanation or examples will be needed for your audience to grasp your points. If your topic involves anything controversial or may provoke emotion, consider your audience’s attitudes and choose your words carefully. Thinking about your audience will help you find ways to get their attention and keep them interested.
Be sure you are clear about the goals for the presentation. Are you primarily presenting new information or arguing for a position? Are you giving an overview or a detailed report? Review the assignment and talk with the instructor if you’re unsure. Your goals guide everything in the presentation: what you say, how much you say, what order you say it in, what visual aids you use, whether you use humor or personal examples, and so forth.
Step 2: Plan, Research, and Organize Your Content
Starting with the assignment and your goals, brainstorm your topic. Jot notes on specific topics that seem important. Often you’ll do reading or research to gather more information. Take notes as you would with any reading. As you research the topic at this stage, don’t worry at first about how much content you are gathering. It’s better to know too much and then pick out the most important things to say than to rush ahead to drafting the presentation and then realize you don’t have enough material.
Organizing a presentation is similar to organizing topics in a class paper and uses the same principles. Introduce your topic and state your main idea (thesis), go into more detail about specific ideas, and conclude your presentation. Look for a logical order for the specifics in the middle. Some topics work best in chronological (time) order or with a compare-and-contrast organization. If your goal is to persuade the audience, build up to the strongest reason. Put similar ideas together and add transitions between different ideas.
While researching your topic and outlining your main points, think about visual aids that may help the presentation.
Also start thinking about how much time you have for the presentation, but don’t limit yourself yet in the outline stage.
Step 3: Draft and Revise the Presentation
Unless required by the assignment, you don’t need to actually write out the presentation in full sentences and paragraphs. How much you write depends on your own learning and speaking style. Some students speak well from brief phrases written in an outline, while other students find it easier to write sentences out completely. There’s nothing wrong with writing the presentation out fully like a script if that helps you be sure you will say what you intend to—just so you don’t actually get up and read from the script.
You can’t know for sure how long a presentation will last until you rehearse it later, but you can estimate the time while drafting it. On the average, it takes two to three minutes to speak what can be written on a standard double-spaced page—but with visual aids, pauses, and audience interaction, it may take longer. While this is only a rough guide, you can start out thinking of a ten-minute presentation as the equivalent of a three to four-page paper.
Never wait until the last minute to draft your presentation. Arrange your time to prepare the first draft and then come back to it a day or two later to ask these questions:
• Am I going on too long about minor points? Could the audience get bored?
• Do I have good explanations and reasons for my main points? Do I need more data or better examples? Where would visual aids be most effective?
• Am I using the best words for this topic and this audience? Should I be more or less informal in the way I talk?
• Does it all hold together and flow well from one point to the next? Do I need a better introduction or transition when I shift from one idea to another?
Visual Aids in Presentations
Except for very short informal presentations, most presentations gain from visuals—and visual aids are often expected. If encouraged or allowed to include visuals in your presentation, plan to do so. Consider all possible types:
• Charts or graphs
• Maps
• Photos or other images
• Video clips
• Handouts (only when necessary—they can be distracting)
Use the available technology, whether it’s an overhead projector, PowerPoint slides, a flip chart, or posters. (Talk to your instructor about resources and software for designing your visuals.) Follow these guidelines:
• Design your visuals carefully. Here are some basic rules:
• Use a simple, neutral background. A light-colored background with text in a dark color works best for words; a dark background used like matting works best for photos.
• Minimize the amount of text in visuals—more than eight words per slide is usually too much. Avoid simply presenting word outlines of what you are saying. Make sure text is large enough for the audience to read.
• Don’t use more than two pictures in a slide, and use two only to make a direct comparison. Montages are hard to focus on and distract the viewer from what you’re saying. Use images only when they support your presentation; don’t use clip art just as decoration.
• Don’t put a table of numbers in a visual aid. If you need to illustrate numerical data, use a graph. (Microsoft Excel can make them for you easily.)
• Don’t use sound effects. Use a very brief recording only if directly related to your main points.
• Don’t use visual special effects such as dissolves, spins, box-outs, or other transitions. They are distracting. Use animation sparingly and only if it helps make a point.
• Don’t use so many visuals or move through them so quickly that the audience gives all its attention to them rather than to you.
• Practice your presentation using your visual aids, because they affect your timing.
• Explain visuals when needed but not when they’re obvious.
• Keep your eyes on your audience, only briefly glancing at visuals to stay in synch with them.
• Don’t hand out a printout of your visuals. Your audience should keep their eyes on you instead of fiddling around with paper.
Step 4: Prepare Speaking Notes
As mentioned earlier, it’s not a good idea to read your presentation from a written page rather than deliver it. To keep your audience’s attention, it’s important to make eye contact with them and to use a normal speaking voice—and you can’t do this if you keep your eyes on a written script.
Speaking notes are a brief outline for your presentation. You might write them on index cards or sheets of paper. Include important facts and data as well as keywords for your main ideas, but don’t write too much. (If you forget things later when you start practicing, you can always add more to your outline then.) Be sure to number your cards or pages to prevent a last-minute mix-up.
Think especially about how to open and close your presentation, because these two moments have the most impact of the whole presentation. Use the opening to capture the audience’s attention, but be sure it is appropriate for your audience and the goals. Here are some possibilities for your opening:
• A striking fact or example (illustrating an issue or a problem)
• A brief interesting or humorous anecdote (historical, personal, or current event)
• A question to the audience
• An interesting quotation
Then relate the opening to your topic and your main point and move into the body of the presentation.
Your closing mirrors the opening. Transition from your last point to a brief summary that pulls your ideas together. You might end with a challenge to the audience, a strong statement about your topic, or a personal reflection on what you have been saying. Just make sure you have a final sentence planned so that you don’t end up uncomfortably fumbling around at the end (“Well, I guess that ends my presentation”).
Step 5: Practice the Presentation
Practice may be the most important step. It is also the best way to get over stage fright and gain confidence.
Practice first in an empty room where you imagine people sitting, so that you can move your eyes around the room to this “audience.” The first time through, focus on putting your outlined notes into full sentences in your natural speaking voice. Don’t read your notes aloud. Glance down at your notes only briefly and then look up immediately around the room. Practice two or three times just to find the right words to explain your points and feel more comfortable working with your notes. Time yourself, but don’t obsess over your presentation being the exact length required. If your presentation is much too long, however, adjust it now in your notes so that you don’t start memorizing things that you might accidentally still say later on even though you cut them from your notes.
Once you feel good speaking from your notes, practice to add some more polish to your delivery. You might want to record or videotape your presentation or ask a friend or roommate to watch your presentation. Pay attention to these aspects of how you speak:
• Try to speak in your natural voice, not in a monotone as if you were just reading aloud. If you will be presenting in a large room without a microphone, you will need to speak louder than usual, but still try to use a natural voice.
• In usual conversation, we speed up and slow down and vary the intensity of our words to show how we feel about what we’re saying. Practice changes in your delivery style to emphasize key points.
• Don’t keep looking at your notes. It’s fine if you use words that are different from those you wrote down—the more you rehearse without looking at your notes, the more natural sounding you will be.
• Be sure you can pronounce all new words and technical terms correctly. Practice saying them slowly and clearly to yourself until you can say them naturally.
• Don’t forget transitions. Listeners need a cue when you’re moving to a new idea. Practice phrases such as “Another important reason for this is…” or “Now let’s move on to why this is so.…”
• Watch out for all those little “filler” words people use so often, such as “like,” “you know,” “well,” and “uh.” They’re very distracting to most audiences. Listen to or watch your tape to see if you are using these fillers or ask your friend to point it out.
• Pay attention to body language when practicing. Stand up straight and tall in every practice session so that you become used to it. Unless you have to stand at a podium to use a fixed microphone in your presentation, practice moving around while you speak; this helps keep the audience watching you. Use hand and arm gestures if they are natural for you, but don’t try to make up gestures for the presentation because they will look phony. Most important, keep your eyes moving over the audience. Practice smiling and pausing at key points.
• Finally, it’s a good idea to be ready in case of an accident. Most likely your presentation will go smoothly, you’ll stay on track with your notes, and your PowerPoint slides will work fine, but sometimes a mishap happens. Be ready to joke about it, rather than becoming flustered. If the computer fails and you lose your visuals, say something like, “Well, that’s a shame, I had some really great photos to show you!” If you drop your index cards or notes, or accidentally skip ahead in your presentation and then have to backtrack, make a joke: “Sorry about that, I was so excited to get to my next point that I’m afraid I lost control there for a moment!” Let your audience laugh with you—they’ll still be on your side, and you can defuse the incident and move on without becoming more nervous.
Step 6: Deliver the Presentation
Be sure to get enough sleep and eat a healthy breakfast. Don’t drink too much caffeine or else you’ll become hyper and nervous. Wear your favorite—and appropriate—clothing and comfortable shoes.
Figure 7.7
You may use computerized visual aids when you give a presentation to a class.
Remember, your audience is on your side! If you’re still nervous before your turn, take a few deep breaths. Rehearse your opening lines in your mind. Smile as you move to the front of the room, looking at your audience. You’ll see some friendly faces smiling back encouragingly. As you start the presentation, move your eyes among those giving you a warm reception—and if you see some student looking bored or doing something else, just ignore them. But don’t focus on any one person in the audience for too long, which could make them nervous or cause them to look away.
Don’t keep looking at your watch or a clock: If your rehearsal times were close to your assigned time, your presentation will be also. If you do notice that you’re running behind schedule, it may be that you’re saying too much out of nervousness. Use your notes to get back on track and keep the pace moving. But it’s better to deliver your presentation naturally and fluidly and be a bit long or short than to try to change your words and end up sounding unnatural.
At the closing, deliver your last line with confidence, sweeping your eyes over the audience. If appropriate, ask if there are any questions. When you’re done, pause, smile, say “Thank you,” and walk back to your seat.
Later on, ask other students and your instructor for comments. Be open minded—don’t just ask for praise. If you hear a suggestion for improvement, file that in your memory for next time.
Group Presentations
You may be assigned to give a presentation in a small group. The six-step process discussed previously works for group presentations, too, although group dynamics often call for additional planning and shared responsibilities:
1. Schedule a group meeting as soon as possible to get started. Don’t let another student put things off. Explain that you’re too busy and won’t have time at the last minute.
2. Begin by analyzing your audience and your goals together as a group to make sure everyone understands the assignment the same. Discuss who should do what. While everyone should talk about what content to include, from here onward, you will take on specialized roles. One or more may begin research and gathering information. Others who are good writers may volunteer to draft the presentation, while one or more others may develop the visual aids. Those who have public speaking experience may volunteer to do all or most of the speaking (unless the assignment requires everyone to have a speaking role). You also need a team leader to keep everyone on schedule, organize meetings, and so on. The best team leader is an even-tempered student with good social skills, who can motivate everyone to cooperate.
3. Steps 2 and 3 can likely be carried out individually with assigned tasks, but group members should stay in touch. For example, the person developing the visuals should be talking to those doing the researching and drafting to see what visuals are needed and get started finding or creating them.
4. Before preparing notes in step 4, meet again to go over the content and plan for visuals. Everyone should be comfortable with the plan so far. Make final decisions about who will do each section of the presentation. Set the time for each segment. Then speakers should prepare their own speaking notes. Let someone with strong speaking skills open or close the presentation (or both), with others doing the other parts.
5. The whole group should be present for practice sessions in step 5, even if not everyone is speaking. Those not speaking should take notes and give feedback. If one student is doing most of the presenting, an alternate should be chosen in case the first choice is sick on the scheduled day. The alternate also needs to practice.
6. During the delivery, especially if using technology for visual aids, one student should manage the visuals while others do the presenting. If several students present different segments, plan the transition from one to another so that the presentation keeps flowing without pauses.
Additional Resources
For Class Presentations
Using PowerPoint. A step-by-step illustrated tutorial for learning how to create effective visual presentations with PowerPoint. https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials/powerpoint/
“How to Give a Bad Talk.” A humorous look (with some very good advice) on what not to do when preparing for and giving a class presentation. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~pattrsn/talks/BadTalk.pdf
Class presentations on YouTube. Search YouTube with the phrase “class presentation” and look for video examples of actual students giving class presentations. Observing and critiquing the presentations of other students are good ways to get started preparing your own and learning from others. Here’s a good example of a student group presentation on a topic we can all relate to (how body language works):
(click to see video)
In this presentation, take note of
• how students make good eye contact with the audience;
• the first student’s natural speaking voice and tone, and how she did not have to use her note cards very often (obviously she practiced well);
• some differences among these students;
• the use of PowerPoint slides within the presentation (some better than others);
• the appropriate occasional use of humor;
• the division of presentation responsibilities within the student group;
• each presenter’s interaction with the audience.
Key Takeaways
• Public speaking skills are important because you will likely give presentations in class and perhaps in a future job.
• Overcome anxiety about public speaking by understanding your feelings, preparing well and practicing your delivery, and focusing on your subject.
• Follow a six-step process to prepare and deliver a presentation:
1. Analyze your audience and goals
2. Plan, research, and organize your content
3. Draft and revise the presentation
4. Prepare speaking notes
5. Practice the presentation
6. Deliver the presentation and seek feedback
• Use visual aids to support a presentation, creating visuals that are relevant, attractive, and powerful.
• The success of a group presentation depends on effective group meetings, successful division of roles, and repeated group practices.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. If you have given a class presentation in the past, what worked best for you? (If you have not given a presentation yet as a student, what aspect do you think will be most difficult for you?)
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Name the two most important things you can do to reduce anxiety about a class presentation you will have to give.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. For each of the following statements about class presentations, circle T for true or F for false:
T F Although you are delivering the presentation to the class, your real audience is your instructor, so you don’t need to waste time defining terms and concepts he or she already knows.
T F Organizing a presentation or speech is similar to organizing topics in a paper you write for class.
T F When creating visual aids, put as many photos as you can in each PowerPoint slide to have the strongest impact.
T F In case your memory goes blank while giving a presentation, write the full presentation out so that you can read it aloud.
4. Describe how best to use body language (facial expressions, eye movements, gestures, etc.) when giving a presentation.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. If you were assigned along with three other students to give a group presentation in the class using this textbook, what would be your preferred role in the preparation stages? Your least preferred role? If you had to take your least preferred role, what single thing would you want to work hardest on to make the presentation successful?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/07%3A_Interacting_with_Instructors_and_Classes/7.04%3A_Public_Speaking_and_Class_Presentations.txt |
Chapter Takeaways
• Actively engaging in your college education is essential for success, including attending classes, participating, and communicating with your instructors.
• Students benefit in several important ways when they participate in class and feel free to ask questions.
• Successful participation in class and interaction with your instructor begin with fully preparing for class and working on communication skills.
• Networking with instructors has additional benefits for your future and may lead to finding a helpful mentor.
• Both impromptu speaking in class and more formal class presentations help develop key skills.
• Learning to work well in a group is an element of college success.
Chapter Review
1. List as many benefits of participating in class as you can think of.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Consider the instructors in your current classes. Which instructor have you spoken with the least (in or outside of class)?
__________________________________________________________________
Are you hesitant to speak up in this class—or to see the instructor outside of class? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
When you have a question for this instructor about an assignment or reading, which form of communication would be most appropriate?
__________________________________________________________________
3. List ways to be prepared if you have a question to ask in a large lecture class.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Think ahead through to the end of your college experience. If you were to develop a mentoring relationship with one of your present instructors, what sorts of things might you talk about in the future with that instructor after the current class has ended?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Review the six stages for preparing and giving a class presentation. Which stage(s) do you feel you personally need to pay special attention to next time you are assigned a presentation?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
What specifically can you plan to do to ensure your success in those stages in your next presentation?
Outside the Book
Choose your current class with the largest enrollment and decide to ask the instructor a question in the next class or during office hours. Prepare by carefully reviewing your class and reading notes and select a subject area that you do not feel confident you fully understand. Focus in on a specific topic and write down a question whose answer would help you better understand the topic. Go to class prepared to ask that question if it is relevant to the day’s discussion or lecture; if it is not relevant, visit your instructor during office hours and ask the question. If this is your first time talking with this instructor, remember to introduce yourself and explain your interest in the topic as you ask the question. Remember that your second goal is to begin establishing a relationship with this instructor.
Make an Action List
Attending Class
I sometimes don’t go to class because
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I’ll keep myself motivated to go to every class by
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Participating in Class
I tend to participate most in this class:
__________________________________________________________________
I need to make an effort to participate more in this class:
__________________________________________________________________
I need to participate more because
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will take the following steps to be ready to ask a question:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Attending Lecture Classes
I tend to do these nonproductive things if I feel bored in a lecture:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will work on staying more actively engaged in lectures in these ways:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Talking with Instructors Outside of Class
I have not yet spoken to this instructor outside of class:
__________________________________________________________________
Within the next two weeks, I will stop by during office hours to talk about the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
This instructor’s office hours are
__________________________________________________________________
Using E-mail
The following are my worst e-mail habits:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
The following current instructors prefer student questions through e-mail:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will follow these professional e-mail practices:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Speaking Publicly
I am nervous about giving class presentations because
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I realize that the best way to overcome my anxiety about public speaking and succeed in class presentations is to
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/07%3A_Interacting_with_Instructors_and_Classes/7.05%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Define “academic writing.”
2. Identify key differences between writing in college and writing in high school or on the job.
3. Identify different types of papers that are commonly assigned.
4. Describe what instructors expect from student writing.
Academic writing refers to writing produced in a college environment. Often this is writing that responds to other writing—to the ideas or controversies that you’ll read about. While this definition sounds simple, academic writing may be very different from other types of writing you have done in the past. Often college students begin to understand what academic writing really means only after they receive negative feedback on their work. To become a strong writer in college, you need to achieve a clear sense of two things:
1. The academic environment
2. The kinds of writing you’ll be doing in that environment
Differences between High School and College Writing
Students who struggle with writing in college often conclude that their high school teachers were too easy or that their college instructors are too hard. In most cases, neither explanation is fully accurate or fair. A student having difficulty with college writing usually just hasn’t yet made the transition from high school writing to college writing. That shouldn’t be surprising, for many beginning college students do not even know that there is a transition to be made.
In high school, most students think of writing as the subject of English classes. Few teachers in other courses give much feedback on student writing; many do not even assign writing. This says more about high school than about the quality of teachers or about writing itself. High school teachers typically teach five courses a day and often more than 150 students. Those students often have a very wide range of backgrounds and skill levels.
Thus many high school English instructors focus on specific, limited goals. For example, they may teach the “five paragraph essay” as the right way to organize a paper because they want to give every student some idea of an essay’s basic structure. They may give assignments on stories and poems because their own college background involved literature and literary analysis. In classes other than English, many high school teachers must focus on an established body of information and may judge students using tests that measure only how much of this information they acquire. Often writing itself is not directly addressed in such classes.
This does not mean that students don’t learn a great deal in high school, but it’s easy to see why some students think that writing is important only in English classes. Many students also believe an academic essay must be five paragraphs long or that “school writing” is usually literary analysis.
Think about how college differs from high school. In many colleges, the instructors teach fewer classes and have fewer students. In addition, while college students have highly diverse backgrounds, the skills of college students are less variable than in an average high school class. In addition, college instructors are specialists in the fields they teach, as you recall from Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes”. College instructors may design their courses in unique ways, and they may teach about specialized subjects. For all of these reasons, college instructors are much more likely than high school teachers to
• assign writing,
• respond in detail to student writing,
• ask questions that cannot be dealt with easily in a fixed form like a five-paragraph essay.
Your transition to college writing could be even more dramatic. The kind of writing you have done in the past may not translate at all into the kind of writing required in college. For example, you may at first struggle with having to write about very different kinds of topics, using different approaches. You may have learned only one kind of writing genre (a kind of approach or organization) and now find you need to master other types of writing as well.
What Kinds of Papers Are Commonly Assigned in College Classes?
Think about the topic “gender roles”—referring to expectations about differences in how men and women act. You might study gender roles in an anthropology class, a film class, or a psychology class. The topic itself may overlap from one class to another, but you would not write about this subject in the same way in these different classes. For example, in an anthropology class, you might be asked to describe how men and women of a particular culture divide important duties. In a film class, you may be asked to analyze how a scene portrays gender roles enacted by the film’s characters. In a psychology course, you might be asked to summarize the results of an experiment involving gender roles or compare and contrast the findings of two related research projects.
It would be simplistic to say that there are three, or four, or ten, or any number of types of academic writing that have unique characteristics, shapes, and styles. Every assignment in every course is unique in some ways, so don’t think of writing as a fixed form you need to learn. On the other hand, there are certain writing approaches that do involve different kinds of writing. An approach is the way you go about meeting the writing goals for the assignment. The approach is usually signaled by the words instructors use in their assignments.
When you first get a writing assignment, pay attention first to keywords for how to approach the writing. These will also suggest how you may structure and develop your paper. Look for terms like these in the assignment:
• Summarize. To restate in your own words the main point or points of another’s work.
• Define. To describe, explore, or characterize a keyword, idea, or phenomenon.
• Classify. To group individual items by their shared characteristics, separate from other groups of items.
• Compare/contrast. To explore significant likenesses and differences between two or more subjects.
• Analyze. To break something, a phenomenon, or an idea into its parts and explain how those parts fit or work together.
• Argue. To state a claim and support it with reasons and evidence.
• Synthesize. To pull together varied pieces or ideas from two or more sources.
Note how this list is similar to the words used in examination questions that involve writing. (See Table 6.1 “Words to Watch for in Essay Questions” in Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests”, Section 6.4 “The Secrets of the Q and A’s”.) This overlap is not a coincidence—essay exams are an abbreviated form of academic writing such as a class paper.
Sometimes the keywords listed don’t actually appear in the written assignment, but they are usually implied by the questions given in the assignment. “What,” “why,” and “how” are common question words that require a certain kind of response. Look back at the keywords listed and think about which approaches relate to “what,” “why,” and “how” questions.
• “What” questions usually prompt the writing of summaries, definitions, classifications, and sometimes compare-and-contrast essays. For example, “What does Jones see as the main elements of Huey Long’s populist appeal?” or “What happened when you heated the chemical solution?”
• “Why” and “how” questions typically prompt analysis, argument, and synthesis essays. For example, “Why did Huey Long’s brand of populism gain force so quickly?” or “Why did the solution respond the way it did to heat?”
Successful academic writing starts with recognizing what the instructor is requesting, or what you are required to do. So pay close attention to the assignment. Sometimes the essential information about an assignment is conveyed through class discussions, however, so be sure to listen for the keywords that will help you understand what the instructor expects. If you feel the assignment does not give you a sense of direction, seek clarification. Ask questions that will lead to helpful answers. For example, here’s a short and very vague assignment:
Discuss the perspectives on religion of Rousseau, Bentham, and Marx. Papers should be four to five pages in length.
Faced with an assignment like this, you could ask about the scope (or focus) of the assignment:
• Which of the assigned readings should I concentrate on?
• Should I read other works by these authors that haven’t been assigned in class?
• Should I do research to see what scholars think about the way these philosophers view religion?
• Do you want me to pay equal attention to each of the three philosophers?
You can also ask about the approach the instructor would like you to take. You can use the keywords the instructor may not have used in the assignment:
• Should I just summarize the positions of these three thinkers, or should I compare and contrast their views?
• Do you want me to argue a specific point about the way these philosophers approach religion?
• Would it be OK if I classified the ways these philosophers think about religion?
Never just complain about a vague assignment. It is fine to ask questions like these. Such questions will likely engage your instructor in a productive discussion with you.
Key Takeaways
• Writing is crucial to college success because it is the single most important means of evaluation.
• Writing in college is not limited to the kinds of assignments commonly required in high school English classes.
• Writers in college must pay close attention to the terms of an assignment.
• If an assignment is not clear, seek clarification from the instructor.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. What kind(s) of writing have you practiced most in your recent past?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. Name two things that make academic writing in college different from writing in high school.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Explain how the word “what” asks for a different kind of paper than the word “why.”
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/08%3A_Writing_for_Classes/8.01%3A_Whats_Different_about_College_Writing.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe how a writing class can help you succeed in other courses.
2. Define what instructors expect of a college student’s writing.
3. Explain why learning to write is an ongoing task.
4. Understand writing as a process.
5. Develop productive prewriting and revision strategies.
6. Distinguish between revision and editing.
7. Access and use available resources.
8. Understand how to integrate research in your writing.
9. Define plagiarism.
Students are usually required to take at least one writing course in their first year of college. That course is often crucial for your success in college. But a writing course can help you only if you recognize how it connects to your other work in college. If you approach your writing course merely as another hoop you need to jump through, you may miss out on the main message: writing is vital to your academic success at every step toward your degree.
What Do Instructors Really Want?
Some instructors may say they have no particular expectations for student papers. This is partly true. College instructors do not usually have one right answer in mind or one right approach to take when they assign a paper topic. They expect you to engage in critical thinking and decide for yourself what you are saying and how to say it. But in other ways college instructors do have expectations, and it is important to understand them. Some expectations involve mastering the material or demonstrating critical thinking. Other expectations involve specific writing skills. Most college instructors expect certain characteristics in student writing. Here are general principles you should follow when writing essays or student “papers.” (Some may not be appropriate for specific formats such as lab reports.)
Title the paper to identify your topic. This may sound obvious, but it needs to be said. Some students think of a paper as an exercise and write something like “Assignment 2: History 101” on the title page. Such a title gives no idea about how you are approaching the assignment or your topic. Your title should prepare your reader for what your paper is about or what you will argue. (With essays, always consider your reader as an educated adult interested in your topic. An essay is not a letter written to your instructor.) Compare the following:
Incorrect: Assignment 2: History 101
Correct: Why the New World Was Not “New”
It is obvious which of these two titles begins to prepare your reader for the paper itself. Similarly, don’t make your title the same as the title of a work you are writing about. Instead, be sure your title signals an aspect of the work you are focusing on:
Incorrect: Catcher in the Rye
Correct: Family Relationships in Catcher in the Rye
Address the terms of the assignment. Again, pay particular attention to words in the assignment that signal a preferred approach. If the instructor asks you to “argue” a point, be sure to make a statement that actually expresses your idea about the topic. Then follow that statement with your reasons and evidence in support of the statement. Look for any signals that will help you focus or limit your approach. Since no paper can cover everything about a complex topic, what is it that your instructor wants you to cover?
Finally, pay attention to the little things. For example, if the assignment specifies “5 to 6 pages in length,” write a five- to six-page paper. Don’t try to stretch a short paper longer by enlarging the font (12 points is standard) or making your margins bigger than the normal one inch (or as specified by the instructor). If the assignment is due at the beginning of class on Monday, have it ready then or before. Do not assume you can negotiate a revised due date.
In your introduction, define your topic and establish your approach or sense of purpose. Think of your introduction as an extension of your title. Instructors (like all readers) appreciate feeling oriented by a clear opening. They appreciate knowing that you have a purpose for your topic—that you have a reason for writing the paper. If they feel they’ve just been dropped into the middle of a paper, they may miss important ideas. They may not make connections you want them to make.
Build from a thesis or a clearly stated sense of purpose. Many college assignments require you to make some form of an argument. To do that, you generally start with a statement that needs to be supported and build from there. Your thesis is that statement; it is a guiding assertion for the paper. Be clear in your own mind of the difference between your topic and your thesis. The topic is what your paper is about; the thesis is what you argue about the topic. Some assignments do not require an explicit argument and thesis, but even then you should make clear at the beginning your main emphasis, your purpose, or your most important idea.
Develop ideas patiently. You might, like many students, worry about boring your reader with too much detail or information. But college instructors will not be bored by carefully explained ideas, well-selected examples, and relevant details. College instructors, after all, are professionally devoted to their subjects. If your sociology instructor asks you to write about youth crime in rural areas, you can be sure he or she is interested in that subject.
In some respects, how you develop your paper is the most crucial part of the assignment. You’ll win the day with detailed explanations and well-presented evidence—not big generalizations. For example, anyone can write something broad (and bland) like “The constitutional separation of church and state is a good thing for America”—but what do you really mean by that? Specifically? Are you talking about banning “Christmas trees” from government property—or calling them “holiday trees” instead? Are you arguing for eliminating the tax-free status of religious organizations? Are you saying that American laws should never be based on moral values? The more you really dig into your topic—the more time you spend thinking about the specifics of what you really want to argue and developing specific examples and reasons for your argument—the more developed your paper will be. It will also be much more interesting to your instructor as the reader. Remember, those grand generalizations we all like to make (“America is the land of the free”) actually don’t mean much at all until we develop the idea in specifics. (Free to do what? No laws? No restrictions like speed limits? Freedom not to pay any taxes? Free food for all? What do you really mean when you say American is the land of the “free”?)
Integrate—do not just “plug in”—quotations, graphs, and illustrations. As you outline or sketch out your material, you will think things like “this quotation can go here” or “I can put that graph there.” Remember that a quotation, graph, or illustration does not make a point for you. You make the point first and then use such material to help back it up. Using a quotation, a graph, or an illustration involves more than simply sticking it into the paper. Always lead into such material. Make sure the reader understands why you are using it and how it fits in at that place in your presentation.
Build clear transitions at the beginning of every paragraph to link from one idea to another. A good paper is more than a list of good ideas. It should also show how the ideas fit together. As you write the first sentence of any paragraph, have a clear sense of what the prior paragraph was about. Think of the first sentence in any paragraph as a kind of bridge for the reader from what came before.
Document your sources appropriately. If your paper involves research of any kind, indicate clearly the use you make of outside sources. If you have used those sources well, there is no reason to hide them. Careful research and the thoughtful application of the ideas and evidence of others is part of what college instructors value. (We address specifics about documentation later on.)
Carefully edit your paper. College instructors assume you will take the time to edit and proofread your essay. A misspelled word or an incomplete sentence may signal a lack of concern on your part. It may not seem fair to make a harsh judgment about your seriousness based on little errors, but in all writing, impressions count. Since it is often hard to find small errors in our own writing, always print out a draft well before you need to turn it in. Ask a classmate or a friend to review it and mark any word or sentence that seems “off” in any way. Although you should certainly use a spell-checker, don’t assume it can catch everything. A spell-checker cannot tell if you have the right word. For example, these words are commonly misused or mixed up:
• there, their, they’re
• its, it’s
• effect, affect
• complement, compliment
Your spell-checker can’t help with these. You also can’t trust what a “grammar checker” (like the one built into the Microsoft Word spell-checker) tells you—computers are still a long way from being able to fix your writing for you!
Turn in a clean hard copy. Some instructors accept or even prefer digital papers, but do not assume this. Most instructors want a paper copy and most definitely do not want to do the printing themselves. Present your paper in a professional (and unfussy) way, using a staple or paper clip on the left top to hold the pages together (unless the instructor specifies otherwise). Never bring your paper to class and ask the instructor, “Do you have a stapler?” Similarly, do not put your paper in a plastic binder unless the instructor asks you to.
The Writing Process
Writing instructors distinguish between process and product. The expectations described here all involve the “product” you turn in on the due date. Although you should keep in mind what your product will look like, writing is more involved with how you get to that goal. “Process” concerns how you work to actually write a paper. What do you actually do to get started? How do you organize your ideas? Why do you make changes along the way as you write? Thinking of writing as a process is important because writing is actually a complex activity. Even professional writers rarely sit down at a keyboard and write out an article beginning to end without stopping along the way to revise portions they have drafted, to move ideas around, or to revise their opening and thesis. Professionals and students alike often say they only realized what they wanted to say after they started to write. This is why many instructors see writing as a way to learn. Many writing instructors ask you to submit a draft for review before submitting a final paper. To roughly paraphrase a famous poem, you learn by doing what you have to do.
How Can I Make the Process Work for Me?
No single set of steps automatically works best for everyone when writing a paper, but writers have found a number of steps helpful. Your job is to try out ways that your instructor suggests and discover what works for you. As you’ll see in the following list, the process starts before you write a word. Generally there are three stages in the writing process:
1. Preparing before drafting (thinking, brainstorming, planning, reading, researching, outlining, sketching, etc.)—sometimes called “prewriting” (although you are usually still writing something at this stage, even if only jotting notes)
2. Writing the draft
3. Revising and editing
Involved in these three stages are a number of separate tasks—and that’s where you need to figure out what works best for you.
Because writing is hard, procrastination is easy. Don’t let yourself put off the task. Use the time management strategies described in Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”. One good approach is to schedule shorter time periods over a series of days—rather than trying to sit down for one long period to accomplish a lot. (Even professional writers can write only so much at a time.) Try the following strategies to get started:
• Discuss what you read, see, and hear. Talking with others about your ideas is a good way to begin to achieve clarity. Listening to others helps you understand what points need special attention. Discussion also helps writers realize that their own ideas are often best presented in relation to the ideas of others.
• Use e-mail to carry on discussions in writing. An e-mail exchange with a classmate or your instructor might be the first step toward putting words on a page.
• Brainstorm. Jot down your thoughts as they come to mind. Just write away, not worrying at first about how those ideas fit together. (This is often called “free writing.”) Once you’ve written a number of notes or short blocks of sentences, pause and read them over. Take note of anything that stands out as particularly important to you. Also consider how parts of your scattered notes might eventually fit together or how they might end up in a sequence in the paper you’ll get to later on.
• Keep a journal in which you respond to your assigned readings. Set aside twenty minutes or so three times a week to summarize important texts. Go beyond just summarizing: talk back about what you have been reading or apply the reading to your own experience. See Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn” for more tips on taking notes about your readings.
• Ask and respond in writing to “what,” “why,” and “how” questions. Good questions prompt productive writing sessions. Again, “what” questions will lead to descriptions or summaries; “why” and “how” questions will lead you to analyses and explanations. Construct your own “what,” “why,” and “how” questions and then start answering them.
• In your notes, respond directly to what others have written or said about a topic you are interested in. Most academic writing engages the ideas of others. Academic writing carries on a conversation among people interested in the field. By thinking of how your ideas relate to those of others, you can clarify your sense of purpose and sometimes even discover a way to write your introduction.
All of these steps and actions so far are “prewriting” actions. Again, almost no one just sits down and starts writing a paper at the beginning—at least not a successful paper! These prewriting steps help you get going in the right direction. Once you are ready to start drafting your essay, keep moving forward in these ways:
• Write a short statement of intent or outline your paper before your first draft. Such a road map can be very useful, but don’t assume you’ll always be able to stick with your first plan. Once you start writing, you may discover a need for changes in the substance or order of things in your essay. Such discoveries don’t mean you made “mistakes” in the outline. They simply mean you are involved in a process that cannot be completely scripted in advance.
• Write down on a card or a separate sheet of paper what you see as your paper’s main point or thesis. As you draft your essay, look back at that thesis statement. Are you staying on track? Or are you discovering that you need to change your main point or thesis? From time to time, check the development of your ideas against what you started out saying you would do. Revise as needed and move forward.
• Reverse outline your paper. Outlining is usually a beginning point, a road map for the task ahead. But many writers find that outlining what they have already written in a draft helps them see more clearly how their ideas fit or do not fit together. Outlining in this way can reveal trouble spots that are harder to see in a full draft. Once you see those trouble spots, effective revision becomes possible.
• Don’t obsess over detail when writing the draft. Remember, you have time for revising and editing later on. Now is the time to test out the plan you’ve made and see how your ideas develop. The last things in the world you want to worry about now are the little things like grammar and punctuation—spend your time developing your material, knowing you can fix the details later.
• Read your draft aloud. Hearing your own writing often helps you see it more plainly. A gap or an inconsistency in an argument that you simply do not see in a silent reading becomes evident when you give voice to the text. You may also catch sentence-level mistakes by reading your paper aloud.
What’s the Difference between Revising and Editing?
Some students think of a draft as something that they need only “correct” after writing. They assume their first effort to do the assignment resulted in something that needs only surface attention. This is a big mistake. A good writer does not write fast. Good writers know that the task is complicated enough to demand some patience. “Revision” rather than “correction” suggests seeing again in a new light generated by all the thought that went into the first draft. Revising a draft usually involves significant changes including the following:
• Making organizational changes like the reordering of paragraphs (don’t forget that new transitions will be needed when you move paragraphs)
• Clarifying the thesis or adjustments between the thesis and supporting points that follow
• Cutting material that is unnecessary or irrelevant
• Adding new points to strengthen or clarify the presentation
Editing and proofreading are the last steps following revision. Correcting a sentence early on may not be the best use of your time since you may cut the sentence entirely. Editing and proofreading are focused, late-stage activities for style and correctness. They are important final parts of the writing process, but they should not be confused with revision itself. Editing and proofreading a draft involve these steps:
• Careful spell-checking. This includes checking the spelling of names.
• Attention to sentence-level issues. Be especially attentive to sentence boundaries, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and pronoun referents. You can also attend at this stage to matters of style.
Remember to get started on a writing assignment early so that you complete the first draft well before the due date, allowing you needed time for genuine revision and careful editing.
What If I Need Help with Writing?
Writing is hard work. Most colleges provide resources that can help you from the early stages of an assignment through to the completion of an essay. Your first resource may be a writing class. Most students are encouraged or required to enroll in a writing class in their first term, and it’s a good idea for everyone. Use everything you learn there about drafting and revising in all your courses.
Tutoring services. Most colleges have a tutoring service that focuses primarily on student writing. Look up and visit your tutoring center early in the term to learn what service is offered. Specifically check on the following:
1. Do you have to register in advance for help? If so, is there a registration deadline?
2. Are appointments required or encouraged, or can you just drop in?
3. Are regular standing appointments with the same tutor encouraged?
4. Are a limited number of sessions allowed per term?
5. Are small group workshops offered in addition to individual appointments?
6. Are specialists available for help with students who have learned English as a second language?
Three points about writing tutors are crucial:
1. Writing tutors are there for all student writers—not just for weak or inexperienced writers. Writing in college is supposed to be a challenge. Some students make writing even harder by thinking that good writers work in isolation. But writing is a social act. A good paper should engage others.
2. Tutors are not there for you to “correct” sentence-level problems or polish your finished draft. They will help you identify and understand sentence-level problems so that you can achieve greater control over your writing. But their more important goals often are to address larger concerns like the paper’s organization, the fullness of its development, and the clarity of its argument. So don’t make your first appointment the day before a paper is due, because you may need more time to revise after discussing the paper with a tutor.
3. Tutors cannot help you if you do not do your part. Tutors respond only to what you say and write; they cannot enable you to magically jump past the thinking an assignment requires. So do some thinking about the assignment before your meeting and be sure to bring relevant materials with you. For example, bring the paper assignment. You might also bring the course syllabus and perhaps even the required textbook. Most importantly, bring any writing you’ve done in response to the assignment (an outline, a thesis statement, a draft, an introductory paragraph). If you want to get help from a tutor, you need to give the tutor something to work with.
Teaching assistants and instructors. In a large class, you may have both a course instructor and a teaching assistant (TA). Seek help from either or both as you draft your essay. Some instructors offer only limited help. They may not, for example, have time to respond to a complete draft of your essay. But even a brief response to a drafted introduction or to a question can be tremendously valuable. Remember that most TAs and instructors want to help you learn. View them along with tutors as part of a team that works with you to achieve academic success. Remember the tips you learned in Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” for interacting well with your instructors.
Writing Web sites and writing handbooks. Many writing Web sites and handbooks can help you along every step of the way, especially in the late stages of your work. You’ll find lessons on style as well as information about language conventions and “correctness.” Not only should you use the handbook your composition instructor assigns in a writing class, but you should not sell that book back at the end of the term. You will need it again for future writing. For more help, become familiar with a good Web site for student writers. There are many, but one we recommend is maintained by the Dartmouth College Writing Center at www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/ma...ent/index.html.
Plagiarism—and How to Avoid It
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of material from a source. At the most obvious level, plagiarism involves using someone else’s words and ideas as if they were your own. There’s not much to say about copying another person’s work: it’s cheating, pure and simple. But plagiarism is not always so simple. Notice that our definition of plagiarism involves “words and ideas.” Let’s break that down a little further.
Words. Copying the words of another is clearly wrong. If you use another’s words, those words must be in quotation marks, and you must tell your reader where those words came from. But it is not enough to make a few surface changes in wording. You can’t just change some words and call the material yours; close, extended paraphrase is not acceptable. For example, compare the two passages that follow. The first comes from Murder Most Foul, a book by Karen Halttunen on changing ideas about murder in nineteenth-century America; the second is a close paraphrase of the same passage:
The new murder narratives were overwhelmingly secular works, written by a diverse array of printers, hack writers, sentimental poets, lawyers, and even murderers themselves, who were displacing the clergy as the dominant interpreters of the crime.
The murder stories that were developing were almost always secular works that were written by many different sorts of people. Printers, hack writers, poets, attorneys, and sometimes even the criminals themselves were writing murder stories. They were the new interpreters of the crime, replacing religious leaders who had held that role before.
It is easy to see that the writer of the second version has closely followed the ideas and even echoed some words of the original. This is a serious form of plagiarism. Even if this writer were to acknowledge the author, there would still be a problem. To simply cite the source at the end would not excuse using so much of the original source.
Ideas. Ideas are also a form of intellectual property. Consider this third version of the previous passage:
At one time, religious leaders shaped the way the public thought about murder. But in nineteenth-century America, this changed. Society’s attitudes were influenced more and more by secular writers.
This version summarizes the original. That is, it states the main idea in compressed form in language that does not come from the original. But it could still be seen as plagiarism if the source is not cited. This example probably makes you wonder if you can write anything without citing a source. To help you sort out what ideas need to be cited and what not, think about these principles:
Common knowledge. There is no need to cite common knowledge. Common knowledge does not mean knowledge everyone has. It means knowledge that everyone can easily access. For example, most people do not know the date of George Washington’s death, but everyone can easily find that information. If the information or idea can be found in multiple sources and the information or idea remains constant from source to source, it can be considered common knowledge. This is one reason so much research is usually done for college writing—the more sources you read, the more easily you can sort out what is common knowledge: if you see an uncited idea in multiple sources, then you can feel secure that idea is common knowledge.
Distinct contributions. One does need to cite ideas that are distinct contributions. A distinct contribution need not be a discovery from the work of one person. It need only be an insight that is not commonly expressed (not found in multiple sources) and not universally agreed upon.
Disputable figures. Always remember that numbers are only as good as the sources they come from. If you use numbers like attendance figures, unemployment rates, or demographic profiles—or any statistics at all—always cite your source of those numbers. If your instructor does not know the source you used, you will not get much credit for the information you have collected.
Everything said previously about using sources applies to all forms of sources. Some students mistakenly believe that material from the Web, for example, need not be cited. Or that an idea from an instructor’s lecture is automatically common property. You must evaluate all sources in the same way and cite them as necessary.
Forms of Citation
You should generally check with your instructors about their preferred form of citation when you write papers for courses. No one standard is used in all academic papers. You can learn about the three major forms or styles used in most any college writing handbook and on many Web sites for college writers:
• The Modern Language Association (MLA) system of citation is widely used but is most commonly adopted in humanities courses, particularly literature courses.
• The American Psychological Association (APA) system of citation is most common in the social sciences.
• The Chicago Manual of Style is widely used but perhaps most commonly in history courses.
Many college departments have their own style guides, which may be based on one of the above. Your instructor should refer you to his or her preferred guide, but be sure to ask if you have not been given explicit direction.
Checklists for Revision and Editing
When you revise…
Check the assignment: does your paper do what it’s supposed to do?
Check the title: does it clearly identify the overall topic or position?
Check the introduction: does it set the stage and establish the purpose?
Check each paragraph in the body: does each begin with a transition from the preceding?
Check organization: does it make sense why each topic precedes or follows another?
Check development: is each topic fully explained, detailed, supported, and exemplified?
Check the conclusion: does it restate the thesis and pull key ideas together?
When you edit…
Read the paper aloud, listening for flow and natural word style.
Check for any lapses into slang, colloquialisms, or nonstandard English phrasing.
Check sentence-level mechanics: grammar and punctuation (pay special attention to past writing problems).
When everything seems done, run the spell-checker again and do a final proofread.
Check physical layout and mechanics against instructor’s expectations: Title page? Font and margins? End notes?
Key Takeaways
• A writing course is central to all students’ success in many of their future courses.
• Writing is a process that involves a number of steps; the product will not be good if one does not allow time for the process.
• Seek feedback from classmates, tutors, and instructors during the writing process.
• Revision is not the same thing as editing.
• Many resources are available to college writers.
• Words and ideas from sources must be documented in a form recommended by the instructor.
Checkpoint Exercise
1. For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false:
T F Intellectual freedom means that college instructors have no specific expectations for student writing.
T F Since your instructor knows what you are writing about, you do not need to worry about titling your paper.
T F The writing process begins when you start writing the first paragraph of a paper.
T F If you discover at some point in the writing process that you have to make significant organizational changes or even change your thesis, then you must have misunderstood the assignment.
T F Copying directly from another’s text is the only serious form of plagiarism.
T F The Internet is a free zone of information; Web sources need not be cited.
T F All college instructors expect citations to be made in exactly the same way. | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/08%3A_Writing_for_Classes/8.02%3A_How_Can_I_Become_a_Better_Writer.txt |
Learning Objective
Understand the special demands of specific writing situations, including the following:
• Writing in-class essays
• Writing with others in a group project
• Writing in an online class
Everything about college writing so far in this chapter applies in most college writing assignments. Some particular situations, however, deserve special attention. These include writing in-class essays, group writing projects, and writing in an online course.
Writing In-Class Essays
You might well think the whole writing process goes out the window when you have to write an in-class essay. After all, you don’t have much time to spend on the essay. You certainly don’t have time for an extensive revision of a complete draft. You also don’t have the opportunity to seek feedback at any stage along the way. Nonetheless, the best writers of in-class essays bring as much of the writing process as they can into an essay exam situation. Follow these guidelines:
• Prepare for writing in class by making writing a regular part of your study routine. Students who write down their responses to readings throughout a term have a huge advantage over students who think they can study by just reading the material closely. Writing is a way to build better writing, as well as a great way to study and think about the course material. Don’t wait until the exam period to start writing about things you have been studying throughout the term.
• Read the exam prompt or assignment very carefully before you begin to respond. Note keywords in the exam prompt. For example, if the exam assignment asks for an argument, be sure to structure your essay as an argument. Also look for ways the instructor has limited the scope of your response. Focus on what is highlighted in the exam question itself. See Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests” for more tips for exam writing.
• Jot notes and sketch out a list of key points you want to cover before you jump into writing. If you have time, you might even draft an opening paragraph on a piece of scratch paper before committing yourself to a particular response. Too often, students begin writing before they have thought about the whole task before them. When that happens, you might find that you can’t develop your ideas as fully or as coherently as you need to. Students who take the time to plan actually write longer in-class essays than those who begin writing their answers right after they have read the assignment. Take as much as a fourth of the total exam period to plan.
• Use a consistent approach for in-class exams. Students who begin in-class exams with a plan that they have used successfully in the past are better able to control the pressure of the in-class exam. Students who feel they need to discover a new approach for each exam are far more likely to panic and freeze.
• Keep track of the time. Some instructors signal the passing of time during the exam period, but do not count on that help. While you shouldn’t compulsively check the time every minute or two, look at your watch now and then.
• Save a few minutes at the end of the session for quick review of what you’ve written and for making small changes you note as necessary.
A special issue in in-class exams concerns handwriting. Some instructors now allow students to write in-class exams on laptops, but the old-fashioned blue book is still the standard in many classes. For students used to writing on a keyboard, this can be a problem. Be sure you don’t let poor handwriting hurt you. Your instructor will have many exams to read. Be courteous. Write as clearly as you can.
Group Writing Projects
College instructors sometimes assign group writing projects. The terms of these assignments vary greatly. Sometimes the instructor specifies roles for each member of the group, but often it’s part of the group’s tasks to define everyone’s role. Follow these guidelines:
• Get off to an early start and meet regularly through the process.
• Sort out your roles as soon as you can. You might divide the work in sections and then meet to pull those sections together. But you might also think more in terms of the specific strengths and interests each of you bring to the project. For example, if one group member is an experienced researcher, that person might gather and annotate materials for the assignment. You might also assign tasks that relate to the stages of the writing process. For example, one person for one meeting might construct a series of questions or a list of points to be addressed, to start a discussion about possible directions for the first draft. Another student might take a first pass at shaping the group’s ideas in a rough draft. And so on. Remember that whatever you do, you cannot likely keep each person’s work separate from the work of others. There will be and probably should be significant overlap if you are to eventually pull together a successful project.
• Be a good citizen. This is the most important point of all. If you are assigned a group project, you should want to be an active part of the group’s work. Never try to ride on the skills of others or let others do more than their fair share. Don’t let any lack of confidence you may feel as a writer keep you from doing your share. One of the great things about a group project is that you can learn from others. Another great thing is that you will learn more about your own strengths that others value.
• Complete a draft early so that you can collectively review, revise, and finally edit together.
• See the section on group presentations in Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes”, Section 7.4 “Public Speaking and Class Presentations” for additional tips.
Writing in Online Courses
Online instruction is becoming more and more common. All the principles discussed in this chapter apply also in online writing—and many aspects are even more important in an online course. In most online courses, almost everything depends on written communication. Discussion is generally written rather than spoken. Questions and clarifications take shape in writing. Feedback on assignments is given in writing. To succeed in online writing, apply the same writing process as fully and thoughtfully as with an essay or paper for any course.
Key Takeaways
• Even in in-class essays, using an abbreviated writing process approach helps produce more successful writing.
• Group writing projects require careful coordination of roles and cooperative stages but can greatly help students learn how to improve their writing.
• Writing for an online course puts your writing skills to the ultimate test, when almost everything your instructor knows about your learning must be demonstrated through your writing.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List three ways in which a process approach can help you write an in-class essay.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. Describe what you see as a strength you could bring to a group writing project.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Explain ways in which writing in an online course emphasizes the social dimension of writing.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/08%3A_Writing_for_Classes/8.03%3A_Other_Kinds_of_Writing_in_College_Classes.txt |
Chapter Takeaways
• Successful writers in all contexts think of writing as
• a process,
• a means to learn,
• a social act.
• Paying close attention to the terms of the assignment is essential for understanding the writing approach the instructor expects and for shaping the essay.
• Using the writing process maximizes the mental processes involved in thinking and writing. Take the time to explore prewriting strategies before drafting an essay in order to discover your ideas and how best to shape and communicate them.
• Avoid the temptation, after writing a draft, to consider the essay “done.” Revision is almost always needed, involving more significant changes than just quick corrections and editing.
• Virtually all college writing builds on the ideas of others; this is a significant part of the educational experience. In your writing, be sure you always make it clear in your phrasing and use of citations which ideas are your own or common knowledge and which come from other sources.
• College writing extends throughout the curriculum, from your first writing class through to your last term, including writing in class on examinations, group projects, and online courses. Through all this great variety of writing, however, the main principles of effective writing remain consistent. Work to develop your college writing skills at this early stage, and you will be well served throughout your education and into your career thereafter.
Chapter Review
1. Complete this sentence:
The main reason I am in college right now is
__________________________________________________________________
2. Look for abstract or general words in what you just wrote. (For example, if you wrote, “I want a better job,” the key general word is “better.” If you wrote, “I need a good education for my future,” the general words are “good” and “education.” Circle the general word(s) in what you wrote.
3. Write a sentence that gives your personal definition of your general words. (For example, if you wrote “I want a better job,” what makes a job better to you personally?)
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Now look at the why of what you’ve written. Why did you define your reason for being in college in the way that you did? Why this reason and not other reasons? Think about this for a minute, and then jot down a statement about why this is important to you.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Now look at the what involved in your reasoning. What specifically do you expect as a result of being in college? What are you gaining? Try to come up with at least three or four specific examples related to your reasoning so far.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. Imagine you are assigned to write an essay for this prompt: “Argue for a particular benefit of a college education.” Look back at what you’ve written so far—is it headed in this direction? Write down a tentative thesis statement for such an essay.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. Look back at what you wrote for questions 5 and 6 to see if you have the beginning of a list of topics you might discuss in an assigned essay like this. Test out a possible outline by jotting down a few key phrases in the order in which you might discuss your ideas in the essay.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
8. Think about what you have just been doing in the previous questions. If you took this exercise seriously and wrote out your responses, you might actually be ready to begin writing such an essay—at least as prepared as you might be for an in-class exam essay. You have just gone through the first step of the writing process although very quickly. If you spent a few minutes thinking about your ideas, clarifying your reasons and thinking of developing your thesis through examples and explanations, you are in a better and stronger position to begin writing than if you’d started immediately with the prompt. Your essay will be much more successful.
Outside the Book
1. Use this exercise for the next paper you write in any of your college classes. Your goal is not merely to write a great paper in that class but to learn what writing process techniques work best for you. Plan to begin just as soon as you are given the assignment. Try to use each and every one of these strategies (review them in the chapter), even if some things seem repetitious. Your goal is to find out which techniques work best for you to stimulate the most thought and lead to the best writing.
• Read the assignment and make sure you understand exactly what is expected.
• Sit down with a piece of paper and jot some notes as you brainstorm about your topic.
• Talk with another student in the class about what you’re thinking about your topic and what you might say about it.
• Write a journal entry, written strictly to yourself, about what you think you might do in your paper.
• Write down some questions to yourself about what your paper will be covering. Start your questions with “why,” “how,” and “what.”
• Send a classmate an e-mail in which you describe one of the points you’ll make in your essay, asking them for their opinion about it.
• When your classmate responds to your e-mail, think about what they say and prepare a written response in your notes.
• Write a statement of purpose for the paper and a brief outline listing key points.
• Show your outline to your instructor or TA and ask if you’re on the right track for the assignment. (You can ask other questions, too, if you have them, but try this step even if you feel confident and have no questions at all. You might be surprised by their response.)
• Write a fuller outline—and then go ahead and draft the paper.
2. Return to this exercise after receiving the paper back from your instructor. If you feel the paper was successful, think back to the techniques you used and circle steps above that you felt were particularly helpful and contributed to your success. If you are dissatisfied with the paper, it’s time to be honest with yourself about what happened. When unhappy about their grade on a paper, most students admit they didn’t spend as much time on it as they should have. Look back at the list above (and other writing strategies earlier in this chapter): what should you have done more fully or more carefully to make sure your paper got off to a good start?
Make an Action List
Past Writing
My worst writing habits have been the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
To overcome these bad habits in college, I will take these steps:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Sentence-Level Mechanics
I generally make the following specific errors (things my past teachers have marked):
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I can learn to correct errors like these when proofreading and editing by
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Writing Process
I generally rush through the following stage: (circle one)
• Prewriting
• Drafting
• Revising/proofreading
I will spend this much time on this stage in my next college paper:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will use these strategies to ensure that I successfully move through this stage:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Seeking Help
I am most likely to need help in these areas of writing:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will use these resources if I need help in these areas in my next course paper:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/08%3A_Writing_for_Classes/8.04%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/people-man-woman-dreadlocks-party-2589091/
09: The Social World of College
Learning Objectives
1. Explain the benefits of social interactions with a variety of people in the college environment.
2. List personal characteristics and skills that contribute to one’s ability to get along well with others.
3. Improve your communication skills.
4. Use online social networking beneficially.
5. Balance your social life with your schoolwork.
6. Describe how to successfully resolve a conflict with another person.
Interdependence
Humans are social creatures—it’s simply in our nature. We continually interact with other students and instructors, and we can learn a great deal from these interactions that heighten the learning process. This frequent interaction with others forms a state of interdependence. College students depend on their instructors, but just as importantly, they depend on other students in many ways.
As important as our interactions with others are, we do not automatically possess the skills that help us form good relationships and make the most of our experiences. Consider how these two college students are different:
John often arrives just as class is beginning and leaves immediately afterward. He makes little effort to talk with other students in the classroom, and after class he goes off to study alone or to his part-time job, where he spends most of his time at a computer screen. He is diligent in his studies and generally does well. After two months, he has not gotten to know his roommate very well, and he generally eats alone with a book in hand. He stops by to see his instructors in their offices only if he missed a class due to illness, and on weekends and holidays he often hangs out at his parents’ house or sees old friends.
Kim likes to get to class early and sits near others so they can talk about the reading for class or compare notes about assignments. She enjoys running into other students she knows from her classes and usually stops to chat. Although she is an older working student who lives alone off campus, she often dines in a campus café and asks students she meets in her classes to join her. After two months, with the approach of midterms, she formed a study group with a couple other students. If she feels she doesn’t understand an important lecture topic very well, she gets to her instructor’s office a few minutes ahead of office hours to avoid missing out by having to wait in line. A few weeks into the term, she spent a weekend with a student from another country and learned much about a culture about which she had previously known little.
These students are very different. Which do you think is more fully enjoying the college experience? Which do you think is more likely to do well academically? Most of us fall somewhere between these two extremes, but we can learn to be more like Kim and more actively engage with others.
Recognize the Value of Social Interaction
Building good relationships is important for happiness and a successful college experience. College offers the opportunity to meet many people you would likely not meet otherwise in life. Make the most of this opportunity to gain a number of benefits:
• A growing understanding of diverse other people, how they think, and what they feel that will serve you well throughout your life and in your future career
• A heightened sense of your own identity, especially as you interact with others with different personalities and from different backgrounds
• Emotional comfort from friendship with someone who understands you and with whom you can talk about your problems, joys, hopes, and fears
• An opportunity to grow with wider intellectual and emotional horizons
College often offers an opportunity to be stimulated and excited by new relationships and interactions with people who will challenge your thinking and help you become your best. Still, it can be difficult to get started with new relationships in college.
Making New Friends
Some people just make friends naturally, but many first-year college students are more shy or quiet and may need to actively seek new friends. Here are some starting points:
1. Keep all doors open for meeting new people. If you live in a dorm, literally keep the door open. Try to sit with different people at meals so you can get to know them better. Study in a common area or lounge where you’ll be among others.
2. Be open in your interests. Don’t limit yourself to people who share only certain interests. Meeting people by studying together is an excellent way to get to know people with different interests.
3. Don’t try to get involved in everything going on around you. Committing to too many activities or joining too many social groups will spread your time too thin, and you may not spend enough time with anyone to get to know them.
4. Let others see who you really are. Let people get to know the things you’re interested in, your real passions. People who really know you are more likely to become good friends.
5. Make an effort to get to know others, too. Show some interest. Don’t talk just about your interests—ask them about theirs. Show others that you’re interested, that you think they’re worth spending time with, and that you really do want to get to know them.
6. Once a friendship has started, be a good friend. Respect your friends for what they are and don’t criticize them or talk about them behind their back. Give emotional support when your friends need it and accept their support as well when you need it.
Are You Shy?
If you’re shy, try meeting and talking to people in situations where you can interact one-to-one, such as talking with another student after class. Start with what you have in common—“How’d you do on the test?”—and let the conversation grow from there. Avoid the emotional trap of thinking everyone but you is making new friends and start some conversations with others who look interesting to you. You’ll soon find other “shy” or quiet people eager to interact with you as well and get to know you.
Shy people may be more likely to feel lonely at times, especially while still feeling new at college. Loneliness is usually a temporary emotional state, however. For tips for how to overcome feelings of loneliness, see the section on loneliness in Chapter 10 “Taking Control of Your Health”, Section 10.6 “Emotional Health and Happiness”.
Communication Skills
Communication is at the core of almost all social interactions, including those involved in friendships and relationships with your instructors. Communication with others has a huge effect on our lives, what we think and feel, and what and how we learn. Communication is, many would say, what makes us human.
Oral communication involves not only speech and listening, of course, but also nonverbal communication: facial expressions, tone of voice, and many other body language signals that affect the messages sent and received. Many experts think that people pay more attention, often unconsciously, to how people say something than to what they are saying. When the nonverbal message is inconsistent with the verbal (spoken) message, just as when the verbal message itself is unclear because of poorly chosen words or vague explanations, then miscommunication may occur.
Miscommunication is at the root of many misunderstandings among people and makes it difficult to build relationships.
Figure 9.2
Miscommunication is at the root of many misunderstandings.
Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” discusses oral communication skills in general and guidelines for communicating well with your instructors. The same communication skills are important for building and maintaining significant relationships.
Remember that communication is a two-way process. Listening skills are critical for most college students simply because many of us may not have learned how to really listen to another person. Here are some guidelines for how to listen effectively:
• Talk less to listen more. Most people naturally like to share their thoughts and feelings, and some people almost seem unable to stop talking long enough to ever listen to another person. Try this: next time you’re in a conversation with another student, deliberately try not to speak very much but give the other person a chance to speak fully. You may notice a big difference in how much you gain from the conversation.
• Ask questions. To keep the conversational ball rolling, show your interest in the other person by asking them about things they are saying. This helps the other person feel that you are interested in them and helps build the relationship.
• Watch and respond to the other person’s body language. You’ll learn much more about their feelings for what they’re saying than if you listen only to their words.
• Show the other person that you’re really listening and that you care. Make eye contact and respond appropriately with nods and brief comments like “That’s interesting!” or “I know what you mean” or “Really?” Be friendly, smile when appropriate, and encourage the person to keep speaking.
• Give the other personfeedback. Show you understand by saying things like “So you’re saying that…” or asking a question that demonstrates you’ve been following what they’re saying and want to know more.
As you learn to improve your listening skills, think also about what you are saying yourself and how. Here are additional guidelines for effective speaking:
• Be honest, but don’t be critical. Strongly disagreeing may only put the other person on the defensive—an emotion sure to disrupt the hope for good communication. You can disagree, but be respectful to keep the conversation from becoming emotional. Say “I don’t know, I think that maybe it’s…” instead of “That’s crazy! What’s really going on is.…”
• Look for common ground. Make sure that your side of a conversation relates to what the other person is saying and that it focuses on what you have in common. There’s almost no better way to stop a conversation dead in its tracks than to ignore everything the other person has just said and launch into an unrelated story or idea of your own.
• Avoid sarcasm and irony unless you know the person well. Sarcasm is easily misunderstood and may be interpreted as an attack on the other person’s ideas or statements.
• Don’t try to talk like the other person, especially if the person is from a different ethnic or cultural background or speaks with an accent or heavy slang. The other person will feel that you are imitating them and maybe even making fun of them. Be yourself and speak naturally.
• While not imitating the other person, relate to his or her personality and style of thinking. We do not speak to our parents or instructors the exact same way we speak to our closest friends, nor should we speak to someone we’ve just met the same way. Show your respect for the other person by keeping the conversation on an appropriate level.
• Remember thatassertive communicationis better than passive or aggressive communication. “Assertive” in this context means you are honest and direct in stating your ideas and thoughts; you are confident and clear and willing to discuss your ideas while still respecting the thoughts and ideas of others. A passive communicator is reluctant to speak up, seems to agree with everything others say, hesitates to say anything that others might disagree with, and therefore seldom communicates much at all. Passive communication simply is not a real exchange in communication. Aggressive communication, at the other extreme, is often highly critical of the thoughts and ideas of others. This communication style may be sarcastic, emotional, and even insulting. Real communication is not occurring because others are not prompted to respond honestly and openly.
• Choose your conversations wisely. Recognize that you don’t have to engage in all conversations. Make it your goal to form relationships and engage in interactions that help you learn and grow as a person. College life offers plenty of opportunities for making relationships and interacting with others if you keep open to them, so you needn’t try to participate in every social situation around you.
Some students may have difficulty in the opposite direction: their social lives may become so rich or so time consuming that they have problems balancing their social lives with their schoolwork. Online social media, for example, may eat up a lot of time.
Online Social Networking
Most college students know all about Facebook, Twitter, blogging, chat rooms, and other social networking sites. Current studies reveal that over 90 percent of all college students use Facebook or MySpace regularly, although older students use these sites less commonly. The media have often emphasized negative stories involving safety concerns, obsessive behavior, a perceived superficiality of social interaction online, and so on. But more recently, online social networking has been found to have several benefits. Many of those who once criticized Facebook and MySpace are now regularly networking among themselves via LinkedIn, Plaxo, and other “professional” networking sites.
Following are some of the benefits of Facebook—some clear to those using it, others revealed only recently by research in the social sciences:
• Facebook and other forms of online networking makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family at a geographical distance. College students who have moved away from former friends seem to make the transition more easily when they stay in touch. Maintaining past relationships does not prevent most people from making new friends at college.
• Facebook provides users with increased “social capital,” which is a sum of resources gained through one’s relationships with people. Facebook users gain information, opportunities for participation in activities and groups, greater knowledge about others, some interaction skills, and so forth. Social capital is also associated with self-esteem, success in some endeavors, and general happiness.
• Facebook makes it easier for people who are shy or otherwise slow to initiate or respond to interactions with others to participate socially in a group. Online network sites also offer an outlet for self-expression and sharing.
• For many college students, interactions on Facebook strengthen personal relationships rather than detracting from them.
• Acknowledging that online social networking is a reality for most college students, many college administrators and instructors also use it to stay in better touch with students, to provide information and encouragement, and to help students experience the full richness of the college experience. Your college may have a Facebook page where you can learn much about things happening around campus, and you may even receive tweets about important announcements.
Figure 9.3
Still, online social networking is not 100 percent beneficial for all college students. Someone who becomes obsessed with constantly updating their profile or attracting a huge number of friends can spend so much time at their computer that they miss out on other important aspects of college life. Hopefully by now everyone knows why you should never post compromising or inappropriate photos or information about yourself anywhere online, even as a joke: many employers, college admissions offices, and others may find this compromising material in the future and deny you the job, internship, graduate program, or other position that you want. It’s important also to protect your identity and privacy on online sites.
Overall, online networking in moderation can help enrich one’s life. When used to build relationships, gain information, and stay in touch with a larger community, it can contribute to success in college. Most college students use Facebook ten to thirty minutes a day. If you’re spending more than that, you might ask yourself if you’re missing out on something else.
Balancing Schoolwork and Social Life
If there’s one thing true of virtually all college students, it’s that you don’t have enough time to do everything you want. Once you’ve developed friendships within the college community and have an active social life, you may feel you don’t have enough time for your studies and other activities such as work. For many students, the numerous social opportunities of college become a distraction, and with less attention to one’s studies, academic performance can drop. Here are some tips for balancing your social life with your studies:
• Keep working on your time management skills, as you learned in Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”. You can’t just “go with the flow” and hope that, after spending time with friends, you have enough time (and energy) left over for studying. Make a study schedule that provides enough time for what you need to do. Study first; socialize after.
• Keep working on your study skills, as you learned in Chapter 4 “Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering”, Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn”, and Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests”. When you have only a limited amount of time for studying, be sure you’re using that time as effectively as possible as you read assignments and prepare for class, organize your notes after class, and prepare for tests.
• If you can’t resist temptations, reduce them. If you are easily distracted by the opportunity to talk with your roommate, spouse, or family members because you study where you live, then go to the library to study.
• Make studying a social experience. If your studying keeps you so busy that you feel like you don’t have much of a social life, form a study group. You will learn more than you would alone by gaining from the thoughts of others, and you can enjoy interacting with others without falling behind.
• Keep your social life from affecting your studying. Simply scheduling study time doesn’t mean you’ll use it well. If you stayed up late the night before, you may not today be able to concentrate well as you study for that big test. This is another reason for good time management and scheduling your time well, looking ahead.
• Get help if you need it. If you’re still having difficulty balancing your study time with other activities, talk with your academic advisor or a counselor. Maybe something else is keeping you from doing your best. Maybe you need some additional study skills or you need to get some extra help from a tutor or campus study center. Remember, your college wants you to succeed and will try to help those who seek help.
A Note on Greek Life
Fraternities and sororities appeal to many students on many campuses. You meet a lot of people quickly and have a social life provided for you almost automatically, with many events and parties as well as usually an active house life. Many people have formed lasting, even lifelong relationships with their fraternity and sorority friends. On the other hand, this living and social experience may limit the kinds of people you meet and present fewer opportunities to interact with others outside the Greek system. If there are frequent activities, it may be important to learn to say no at time when studying becomes a priority. If you are interested in but not yet committed to this life, it’s worthwhile to find out what the houses at your school are really like, consider what your life would likely be like in a fraternity or sorority, and think about how it may impact your college goals.
Overcoming Difficulties and Resolving Conflicts
Conflicts among people who are interacting are natural. People have many differences in opinions, ideas, emotions, and behaviors, and these differences sometimes cause conflicts. Here are just a few examples of conflicts that may occur among college students:
• Your roommate is playing loud music in your room, and you need some quiet to study for a test.
• You want to have a nice dinner out, but your spouse wants to save the money to buy new furniture.
• Your instructor gave you a C on a paper because it lacks some of the required elements, but you feel it deserves a better grade because you think it accomplished more important goals.
• Others at your Greek house want to invite only members of other fraternities and sororities to an upcoming party, but you want the party to be more inclusive and to invite more diverse students.
• Your partner wants to have sex with you, but you want to wait until you get protection.
So how can such conflicts be resolved? Two things are necessary for conflict resolution that does not leave one or more of the people involved feeling negative about the outcome: attitude and communication.
A conflict cannot be resolved satisfactorily unless all people involved have the right attitude:
• Respect the options and behaviors of others. Accept that people are not all alike and learn to celebrate your differences. Most situations do not involve a single right or wrong answer.
• Be open minded. Just because at first you are sure that that you are right, do not close the door to other possibilities. Look at the other’s point of view. Be open to change—even when that means accepting constructive criticism.
• Calm down. You can’t work together to resolve a conflict while you’re still feeling strong emotions. Agree with the other to wait until you’re both able to discuss it without strong emotions.
• Recognize the value of compromise. Even if you disagree after calmly talking over an issue, accept that as a human reality and understand that a compromise may be necessary in order to get along with others.
With the right attitude, you can then work together to resolve the issue. This process depends on good communication:
• Listen. Don’t simply argue for your position, but listen carefully to what the other says. Pay attention to their body language as you try to understand their point of view and ask questions to ensure that you do. Paraphrase what you think you hear to give the other a chance to correct any misunderstanding.
• Use “I statements” rather than “you statements.” Explain your point of view about the situation in a way that does not put the other person on the defensive and evoke emotions that make resolution more difficult. Don’t say, “You’re always playing loud music when I’m trying to study.” Instead, say, “I have difficulty studying when you play loud music, and that makes me frustrated and irritable.” Don’t blame the other for the problem—that would just get emotions flowing again.
• Brainstorm together to find a solution that satisfies both of you. Some compromise is usually needed, but that is usually not difficult to reach when you’re calm and have the right attitude about working together on a solution. In some cases, you may simply have to accept a result that you still do not agree with, simply in order to move on.
The process of conflict resolution is discussed more fully in Chapter 10 “Taking Control of Your Health”. In most cases, when the people involved have a good attitude and are open to compromise, conflicts can be resolved successfully.
Yet sometimes there seems to be no resolution. Sometimes the other person may simply be difficult and refuse to even try to work out a solution. Regrettably, not everyone on or off campus is mature enough to be open to other perspectives. With some interpersonal conflicts, you may simply have to decide not to see that person anymore or find other ways to avoid the conflict in the future. But remember, most conflicts can be solved among adults, and it’s seldom a good solution to run away from a problem that will continue to surface and keep you from being happy with your life.
Roommate Issues
At many colleges students just out of high school must live in a campus residence hall. Other students may live in a shared apartment with new roommates. This is the first time many students have had to share a room, suite, or apartment with others who were not family members, and this situation may lead to conflicts and strong feelings that can even affect your academic success.
As in other interactions, the keys to forming a good relationship with a roommate are communication and attitude. From the beginning, you should talk about everyone’s expectations of the other(s) and what matters most to you about where you live. Don’t wait until problems happen before talking. It’s often good to begin with the key practical issues: agreeing on quiet hours for study (limiting not only loud music but also visits from others), time for lights out, neatness and cleaning up, things shared and private things not to touch.
Show respect for the other’s ideas and possessions, respect their privacy, and try to listen more than you talk. Even if your roommate does not become a close friend, you can have a harmonious, successful relationship that makes your residence a good home for both of you. Millions of college students before you have learned to work this out, and if both (or all) of you respect each other and keep communication open and nonconfrontational, you will easily get through the small bumps in the road ahead, too. Follow these guidelines to help ensure you get along well:
• Anticipate problems before they happen. Think about things that you consider essential in your living environment and talk with a new roommate about these essentials now.
• Deal with any problem promptly. Don’t wait until a behavior is well established before speaking up, as if the other person will somehow catch on that it aggravates you. It may be as simple as a roommate using your coffee cup or borrowing your toothpaste without asking, but if you say nothing, trying to be polite, the habit may expand to other things.
• Be patient, flexible, and willing to compromise. It may take a while for each of you to get used to each other and to establish a communication pattern of openness so that you can be honest with each other about what really matters.
• Be warm, use humor, and be sensitive. Telling someone that they’re doing something bothersome can be very difficult for many people. Think before speaking, looking for the best way to communicate what you feel. Remember, you’ll be spending a lot of time around this person, so do you really want them to think of you as bossy or obsessive-compulsive?
• Get out more. Sometimes it helps to spend more time elsewhere on campus, studying in the library or another quiet place. You just might need a certain amount of time a day alone. That’s fine, but don’t expect your roommate to have to leave just to give you that time alone!
But What If You Really Have a Roommate Problem?
In some situations and with some people who will not compromise and do not respect you and your needs, a roommate can be a serious problem. In some circumstances, you may able to move to a different room. Room changes usually are not granted simply because you “don’t get along,” but certain circumstances may justify a change. The following are some examples:
• Your roommate smokes in the room.
• Your roommate uses illegal drugs, drinks alcohol underage, or conducts other illegal activities in the room.
• Your roommate repeatedly refuses to limit activities at any hour to allow you to sleep.
• Your roommate does anything that threatens your physical well-being or safety.
• Your roommate denies you your rights to practice your religion or other basic rights.
If you have a problem like this, first talk with your resident advisor (RA) or other residence hall authority. They will explain the process for a room change, if warranted, or other ways for managing the problem,
Dealing with Harassment
Although college campuses are for the most part safe, secure, and friendly places where social and intellectual interaction is generally mature and responsible, harassment can occur in any setting. Harassment is a general term referring to behavior that is intended to disturb or threaten another person in some way, often psychologically. Typically the person or people doing the harassment target their victim because of a difference in race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sex, age, sexual orientation, or disability.
Acts of harassment may be verbal, physical, psychological, or any other behavior intended to disturb another person. Bullying behavior, name-calling, belittling, gesturing obscenely, stalking, mobbing—any action intended to torment or deliberately make another person uncomfortable or feel humiliated is harassment. Harassment may also be intended to manipulate a targeted person to act in some specific way.
Sexual harassment is a special term referring to persistent, unwanted sexual behaviors or advances. Sexual harassment may begin with words but progress to unwanted touching and potentially even rape. Sexual harassment is discussed in more detail in Chapter 10 “Taking Control of Your Health”.
Many types of harassment are illegal. In the workplace, a supervisor who tells off-color sexual jokes around an employee of the opposite gender may be guilty of sexual harassment. Students who deliberately malign members of another race may be guilty of committing a hate crime. Physically tormenting another student in a hazing may be judged assault and battery. Any discrimination in the workplace based on race, religion, age, sex, and so on is illegal. On a college campus, any harassment of a student by a faculty member or college employee is expressly forbidden, unethical, and also possibly illegal.
Harassment of any type, at any time, of any person, is wrong and unacceptable. You will know it if you are harassed, and you should know also that it is your basic right to be free of harassment and that your college has strict policies against all forms of harassment. Here’s what you should do if you are being harassed:
1. Tell the person to stop the behavior—or if you feel at any risk of harm, get out of the situation immediately.
2. Document the incident, particularly with ongoing harassment. Keep notes of the details. Tell someone you trust about the situation.
3. Report the harassment to the appropriate college authority. If you are unsure which to go to, go to the dean of students first.
Changing Family Relationships
The college years are a time of many changes, including one’s relationships with parents, siblings, and one’s own children and partners. Any time there is change, issues may arise.
Figure 9.4
A video communication program like Skype makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family.
As in other relationships, try to understand the other’s perspective. Honesty is particularly important—but with tact and understanding. Here are some tips for getting along:
• Understand that your parents may not change their attitudes toward you as quickly as you yourself may be changing. They may still think of you as a younger person in need of their continued guidance. They will worry about you and fear that you might fall in with the wrong crowd or engage in risky behavior. Be patient. Take the time to communicate, and don’t close yourself off. Let them gradually accept you as a more mature person who can make your own decisions wisely.
• Stay in touch. You may be busier than ever and feel you haven’t time for a phone call or e-mail, but communication is very important for parents—especially if they are now empty nesters without other children at home. Even if they seem to want too much involvement in your life and to make decisions for you, realize that this at least in part is simply a desire to stay in touch with you—and to feel they still matter in your life.
• Use your best listening skills. Understanding what they’re really feeling, which is often simply a concern for you born of their love for you, will usually help you know best to respond.
• Be assured that over time your parents and other family members will get used to your being on your own and will accept your ability to make your own decisions. Time itself often solves issues.
• With your own family, now that you are busier than ever with classes and work, you may need to pay special attention to ensuring you stay active in family relationships. Schedule times for family outings and make room in your days for casual interactions. But remember, it’s not how much time you spend together but the quality of that time, so give your family your full attention when you are together.
Key Takeaways
• A rich, diverse social life is an important dimension of the college experience that contributes also to academic success.
• Getting along with others involves communication skills and a willingness to interact with different people in a number of different ways.
• Effective listening skills are as important as expressing yourself well verbally and nonverbally.
• Online social networking used in moderation can be beneficial.
• Balancing one’s social life with schoolwork requires time management skills as well as good study skills.
• Because social interactions frequently involve conflicting values, behaviors, or ideas, it’s important to respect others, stay open minded, be open to compromise, and understand how to resolve conflicts.
• Acknowledge that family relationships will likely change after you enter college and work to ease the transition for everyone.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List three or four guidelines for interacting successfully with others.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. You are talking after class with another student with whom you’d like to be friends, but you’re distracted by a test you have to study for. If you’re not careful, what nonverbal communication signals might you accidentally send that could make the other person feel you are not friendly? Describe two or three nonverbal signals that could give the wrong impression.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What are the best things to say when you’re actively engaged in listening to another?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. For each of the following statements about effective communication, circle T for true or F for false:
T F Avoid eye contact until you’ve gotten to know the person well enough to be sure they will not misinterpret your interest.
T F Using the same slang or accent as other people will make them see you respect them as they are.
T F Communicating your ideas with honesty and confidence is usually more effective than just agreeing with what others are saying.
T F Communicating with people online is seldom as effective as calling them on the telephone or seeing them in person.
T F It’s usually best to accept spontaneous opportunities for social interaction, because you’ll always have time later for your studies.
5. You are upset because your roommate (or a family member) always seems to have several friends over just when you need to study most. Write in the space below what you might say to this person to explain the problem, using “I statements” rather than “you statements.”
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. If another person is acting very emotionally and is harassing you, what should you not do at that moment?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/09%3A_The_Social_World_of_College/9.01%3A_Getting_Along_with_Others.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Define diversity and explain the benefits of a diverse college campus for all students.
2. List ten or more ways in which different groups of people can have significant differences, experiences, and perspectives.
3. Explain why all college students are more successful academically in a diverse environment and list several additional benefits of diversity for all students.
4. Describe the valuable characteristics of “nontraditional” older college students.
5. Explain what students can do to foster multiculturalism and celebrate diversity on campus. For students who have few experiences with diversity in the past, outline steps that can be taken to gain cultural sensitivity and a multicultural outlook.
6. Describe how instructors help create a positive, inclusive learning environment in the classroom.
Ours is a very diverse society—and increasingly so. Already in many parts of the country, non-Hispanic whites comprise less than 50 percent of the population, and by 2020 an estimated one in three Americans will be a person of color, as will be about half of all college students. But “diversity” means much more than a variety of racial and ethnic differences. As we’ll use the term here, diversity refers to the great variety of human characteristics—ways that we are different even as we are all human and share more similarities than differences. These differences are an essential part of what enriches humanity.
We’ll look first at some of the ways that people differ and explore the benefits of diversity for our society generally and for the college experience. While we should all celebrate diversity, at the same time we need to acknowledge past issues that grew from misunderstandings of such differences and work together to bring change where needed.
What Diversity Really Means
Differences among people may involve where a person was born and raised, the person’s family and cultural group, factual differences in personal identity, and chosen differences in significant beliefs. Some diversity is primarily cultural (involving shared beliefs and behaviors), other diversity may be biological (race, age, gender), and some diversity is defined in personal terms (sexual orientation, religion). Diversity generally involves things that may significantly affect some people’s perceptions of others—not just any way people happen to be different. For example, having different tastes in music, movies, or books is not what we usually refer to as diversity.
When discussing diversity, it is often difficult to avoid seeming to generalize about different types of people—and such generalizations can seem similar to dangerous stereotypes. The following descriptions are meant only to suggest that individuals are different from other individuals in many possible ways and that we can all learn things from people whose ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, backgrounds, experiences, and behaviors are different from our own. This is a primary reason college admissions departments frequently seek diversity in the student body. Following are various aspects of diversity:
• Diversity of race.Race refers to what we generally think of as biological differences and is often defined by what some think of as skin color. Such perceptions are often at least as much social as they are biological.
• Diversity of ethnicity.Ethnicity is a cultural distinction that is different from race. An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common identity and a perceived cultural heritage that often involves shared ways of speaking and behaving, religion, traditions, and other traits. The term “ethnic” also refers to such a group that is a minority within the larger society. Race and ethnicity are sometimes interrelated but not automatically so.
• Diversity of cultural background.Culture, like ethnicity, refers to shared characteristics, language, beliefs, behaviors, and identity. We are all influenced by our culture to some extent. While ethnic groups are typically smaller groups within a larger society, the larger society itself is often called the “dominant culture.” The term is often used rather loosely to refer to any group with identifiable shared characteristics.
• Diversity of educational background. Colleges do not use a cookie-cutter approach to admit only students with identical academic skills. Diversity of educational background helps ensure a free flow of ideas and challenges those who might become set in their ways.
• Diversity of geography. People from different places within the United States or the world often have a range of differences in ideas, attitudes, and behaviors.
• Diversity of socioeconomic background. People’s identities are influenced by how they grow up, and part of that background often involves socioeconomic factors. Socioeconomic diversity can contribute a wide variety of ideas and attitudes.
• Diversity ofgender roles. Women have virtually all professional and social roles, including those once dominated by men, and men have taken on many roles, such as raising a child, that were formerly occupied mostly by women. These changing roles have brought diverse new ideas and attitudes to college campuses.
• Diversity of age. While younger students attending college immediately after high school are generally within the same age range, older students returning to school bring a diversity of age. Because they often have broader life experiences, many older students bring different ideas and attitudes to the campus.
• Diversity of sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians make up a significant percentage of people in American society and students on college campuses. Exposure to this diversity helps others overcome stereotypes and become more accepting of human differences.
• Diversity of religion. For many people, religion is not just a Sunday morning practice but a larger spiritual force that infuses their lives. Religion helps shape different ways of thinking and behaving, and thus diversity of religion brings a wider benefit of diversity to college.
• Diversity of political views. A diversity of political views helps broaden the level of discourse on campuses concerning current events and the roles of government and leadership at all levels. College students are frequently concerned about issues such as environmentalism and civil rights and can help bring about change.
• Diversity of physical ability. Some students have athletic talents. Some students have physical disabilities. Physical differences among students brings yet another kind of diversity to colleges—a diversity that both widens opportunities for a college education and also helps all students better understand how people relate to the world in physical as well as intellectual ways.
• Diversity of extracurricular abilities. As you remember from your college applications, colleges ask about what you do outside of class—clubs, activities, abilities in music and the arts, and so on. A student body with diverse interests and skills benefits all students by helping make the college experience full and enriching at all levels.
These are just some of the types of diversity you are likely to encounter on college campuses and in our society generally.
The Benefits of Diversity
Figure 9.5
Diversity in the classroom is a goal of college admissions offices.
The goal of many college admissions departments is to attract diverse students from a broad range of backgrounds involving different cultural, socioeconomic, age, and other factors—everything in the preceding list. But why is diversity so important? There are many reasons:
• Experiencing diversity at college prepares students for the diversity they will encounter the rest of their lives. Learning to understand and accept people different from ourselves is very important in our world. While many high school students may not have met or gotten to know well many people with different backgrounds, this often changes in college. Success in one’s career and future social life also requires understanding people in new ways and interacting with new skills. Experiencing diversity in college assists in this process.
• Students learn better in a diverse educational setting. Encountering new concepts, values, and behaviors leads to thinking in deeper, more complex, and more creative ways, rather than furthering past ideas and attitudes. Students who experience the most racial and ethnic diversity in their classes are more engaged in active thinking processes and develop more intellectual and academic skills (and have higher grade point averages) than others with limited experience of diversity.
• Attention to diversity leads to a broader range of teaching methods, which benefits the learning process for all students. Just as people are different in diverse ways, people from different backgrounds and experiences learn in different ways. College teaching has expanded to include many new teaching techniques. All students gain when instructors make the effort to address the diverse learning needs of all students.
• Experiencing diversity on campus is beneficial for both minority and majority students. Students have more fulfilling social relationships and report more satisfaction and involvement with their college experience. Studies show all students on campus gain from diversity programs. All the social and intellectual benefits of diversity cited in this list hold true for all students.
• Diversity experiences help break the patterns of segregation and prejudice that have characterized American history.Discrimination against others—whether by race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or anything else—is rooted in ignorance and sometimes fear of people who are different. Getting to know people who are different is the first step in accepting those differences, furthering the goal of a society free of all forms of prejudice and the unfair treatment of people.
• Students of a traditional college age are in an ideal stage of development for forming healthy attitudes about diversity. Younger students may not yet have reached a point at which they can fully understand and accept very different ideas and behaviors in others. The college years are a time of growth and maturation intellectually, socially, and emotionally, and a sustained experience of diversity is an opportunity to heighten this process.
• Experiencing diversity makes us all better citizens in our democracy. When people can better understand and consider the ideas and perspectives of others, they are better equipped to participate meaningfully in our society. Democratic government depends on shared values of equality and the public good. An attitude of “us versus them,” in contrast, does not further the public good or advance democratic government. Studies have shown that college graduates with a good experience of diversity generally maintain patterns of openness and inclusivity in their future lives.
• Diversity enhances self-awareness. We gain insights into our own thought processes, life experiences, and values as we learn from people whose backgrounds and experiences are different from our own.
While all the benefits described have been demonstrated repeatedly on campuses all across the country in study after study, and while admissions and retention programs on virtually all campuses promote and celebrate diversity, some problems still remain. Society changes only slowly, and sadly, many students in some areas—including gay and lesbian students, students with disabilities, and many minority students—still feel marginalized in the dominant culture of their campuses. Even in a country that elected an African American president, racism exists in many places. Gays and lesbians are still fighting for equal rights under the law and acceptance everywhere. Women still earn less than men in the same jobs. Thus society as a whole, and colleges in particular, need to continue to work to destroy old stereotypes and achieve a full acceptance of our human differences.
Multiculturalism is not political correctness. We’ve all heard jokes about “political correctness,” which suggests that we do or say certain things not because they are right but because we’re expected to pay lip service to them. Unfortunately, some people think of colleges’ diversity programs as just the politically correct thing to do. Use your critical thinking skills if you hear such statements. In the world of higher education, truth is discovered through investigation and research—and research has shown repeatedly the value of diversity as well as programs designed to promote diversity.
Older “Nontraditional” Students and Diversity
Sometimes overlooked among the types of diversity on most college campuses are older students, often called nontraditional students, who are returning to education usually after working a number of years. While many college students are younger and enroll in college immediately after high school, these older students help bring a wider range of diversity to campuses and deserve special attention for the benefits they bring for all students. As a group, older students often share certain characteristics that bring unique value to the college experience overall. Older students often
• have well-established identities and broader roles and responsibilities on which to base their thinking;
• more fully represent the local community and its values;
• have greater emotional independence and self-reliance;
• have well-developed problem-solving, self-directing, and decision-making skills;
• can share important life lessons and insights not found in textbooks;
• have relationships and experience with a greater variety of people;
• can be positive role models for younger students with less experience and maturity.
In many ways, these “nontraditional” students benefit the campus as a whole and contribute in meaningful ways to the educational process. Both instructors and “traditional” students gain when older students share their ideas and feelings in class discussions, study groups, and all forms of social interaction.
Accepting and Celebrating Diversity and Working for Change
More than anything, multiculturalism is an attitude. Multiculturalism involves accepting and respecting the ideas, feelings, behaviors, and experiences of people different from oneself—all the forms of diversity described earlier. America is not actually a “melting pot” in the sense that people from diverse backgrounds somehow all become the same. America has always included a great diversity of ideas, attitudes, and behaviors. For example, the constitutional separation of church and state, a fundamental principle present since early days in the United States, guarantees that people of all religion have the same freedoms and rights for worship and religious behavior. People of diverse religious backgrounds are not expected to “melt” together into one religion. Other laws guarantee the equal rights of all people regardless of skin color, gender, age, and other differences—including more recently, in some states, equality under the law for those with diverse sexual orientation. The United States does not even have an official national language—and many government and other publications in various geographical areas are offered in a variety of languages as well. In short, America as a nation has always recognized the realities and benefits of diversity.
Colleges similarly make commitments to ensure they respect and value differences among people and promote a wide understanding of such differences. Most colleges now have formal diversity programs to help all students not only accept and understand differences among students of varied backgrounds but also celebrate the benefits for all.
What Students Can Do
While diversity exists in most places, not everyone automatically understands differences among people and celebrates the value of those differences. Students who never think about diversity and who make no conscious effort to experience and understand others gain less than others who do. There are many ways you can experience the benefits of diversity on your college campus, however, beginning with your own attitudes and by taking steps to increase your experiences with diverse individuals.
Acknowledge your own uniqueness, for you are diverse, too. Diversity doesn’t involve just other people. Consider that you may be just as different to other people as they are to you. Don’t think of the other person as being the one who is different, that you are somehow the “norm.” Your religion may seem just as odd to them as theirs does to you, and your clothing may seem just as strange looking to them as theirs is to you—until you accept there is no one “normal” or right way to be. Look at yourself in a mirror and consider why you look as you do. Why do you use the slang you do with your friends? Why did you just have that type of food for breakfast? How is it that you prefer certain types of music? Read certain books? Talk about certain things? Much of this has to do with your cultural background—so it makes sense that someone from another cultural or ethnic background is different in some ways. But both of you are also individuals with your own tastes, preferences, ideas, and attitudes—making you unique. It’s only when you realize your own uniqueness that you can begin to understand and respect the uniqueness of others, too.
Consider your own (possibly unconscious) stereotypes. A stereotype is a fixed, simplistic view of what people in a certain group are like. It is often the basis for prejudice and discrimination: behaving differently toward someone because you stereotype them in some way. Stereotypes are generally learned and emerge in the dominant culture’s attitudes toward those from outside that dominant group. A stereotype may be explicitly racist and destructive, and it may also be a simplistic generalization applied to any group of people, even if intended to be flattering rather than negative. As you have read this chapter so far, did you find yourself thinking about any group of people, based on any kind of difference, and perhaps thinking in terms of stereotypes? If you walked into a party and saw many different kinds of people standing about, would you naturally avoid some and move toward others? Remember, we learn stereotypes from our cultural background—so it’s not a terrible thing to admit you have inherited some stereotypes. Thinking about them is a first step in breaking out of these irrational thought patterns.
Examples of Cultural Differences in Body Language
While we should be careful not to stereotype individuals or whole cultures, it is important to be aware of potential differences among cultures when interacting with other people. For example, body language often has different meanings in different cultures. Understanding such differences can help you better understand your interaction with others. Here are a few examples:
• Some Americans clap their hands together to emphasize a point, while some French clap to end a conversation.
• Many Americans cross their legs when seated and thus may point the bottom of their shoe toward another person; many Japanese find this gesture offensive.
• Many Americans may wave their index fingers at someone else to make a point, but this gesture is often offensive to Mexicans and Somali, who may use that gesture only for dogs.
• In America, men and women shake hands with each other, but in some other cultures, handshakes across genders are not acceptable.
• In America, eye contact is generally considered polite and a sign of interest, whereas in many Asian cultures, people show their respect for others by bowing their head slightly and consider steady eye contact aggressive.
Activity: Challenge Your Thinking
Read each of the following scenarios quickly and respond immediately without stopping to think. There are no right or wrong answers.
Scenario 1. You are walking home down a dark sidewalk when ahead you see three people standing around. Something about the way they are hanging out makes you a little frightened to walk past them.
Be honest with yourself: what did you just imagine these people looked like?
____________________________________________________________________________
Why do think you might have associated this particular mental picture with the emotion of feeling frightened?
____________________________________________________________________________
Scenario 2. In a café on campus, you see a student from another country sitting alone—someone you know casually from a class—and you walk over and are just about to ask if you can join him, when two other students also from his country appear and sit down with him. You hesitate.
Would you have hesitated if this person had the same cultural background as you? What makes this situation different?
____________________________________________________________________________
As you hesitate, you overhear them conversing in a language other than English.
Be honest with yourself: how does that make you feel now?
____________________________________________________________________________
Scenario 3. A couple you know invites you to join them and one of their friends, whom you have not met, on a “double date”—a movie and dinner after. When you meet them outside the theater, you see that their friend, your date, is of a race different from your own.
Are you surprised or shocked? What is your first reaction?
____________________________________________________________________________
Do you anticipate any more difficulty making conversation with your date than with anyone else whom you have just met?
____________________________________________________________________________
Should your friends have told you in advance? Why or why not?
____________________________________________________________________________
If they had told you, would that have made any difference? Explain.
____________________________________________________________________________
Now think for a minute about how you responded in these scenarios. Did your mental image in the first scenario involve a negative stereotype? What images in the media or society might have contributed to that response? The second and third scenarios involve simple situations in which you couldn’t help but note some difference between you and another person. What might you feel in such situations in real life? Again, there is no “right” answer, and an awareness of differences is normal and natural even if it may cause some discomfort at first. On the other hand, if you have had significant experiences with diverse others, you might have read these scenarios and simply wondered, “So what? What’s the big deal?” It’s worthwhile thinking about what that means.
Do not try to ignore differences among people. Some people try so hard to avoid stereotyping that they go to the other extreme and try to avoid seeing any differences at all among people. But as we have seen throughout this chapter, people are different in many ways, and we should accept that if we are to experience the benefits of diversity.
Don’t apply any group generalizations to individuals. As an extension of not stereotyping any group, also don’t think of any individual person in terms of group characteristics. People are individuals first, members of a group second, and any given generalization simply may not apply to an individual. Be open minded and treat everyone with respect as an individual with his or her own ideas, attitudes, and preferences.
Develop cultural sensitivity for communication. Realize that your words may not mean quite the same thing in different cultural contexts or to individuals from different backgrounds. This is particularly true of slang words, which you should generally avoid until you are sure the other person will know what you mean. Never try to use slang or expressions you think are common in the cultural group of the person you are speaking with. Similarly, since body language often varies among different cultures, avoid strong gestures and expressions until the responses of the other person signify he or she will not misinterpret the messages sent by your body language.
Take advantage of campus opportunities to increase your cultural awareness. Your college likely has multiculturalism courses or workshops you can sign up for. Special events, cultural fairs and celebrations, concerts, and other programs are held frequently on most campuses. There may also be opportunities to participate in group travel to other countries or regions of cultural diversity.
Take the initiative in social interactions. Many students just naturally hang out with other students they are most like—that almost seems to be part of human nature. Even when we’re open minded and want to learn about others different from ourselves, it often seems easier and more comfortable to interact with others of the same age, cultural group, and so on. If we don’t make a small effort to meet others, however, we miss a great opportunity to learn and broaden our horizons. Next time you’re looking around the classroom or dorm for someone to ask about a class you missed or to study together for a test or group project, choose someone different from you in some way. Making friends with others of different backgrounds is often one of the most fulfilling experiences of college students.
Work through conflicts as in any other interaction. Conflicts simply occur among people, whether of the same or different background. If you are afraid of making a mistake when interacting with someone from a different background, you might avoid interaction altogether—and thus miss the benefits of diversity. Nothing risked, nothing gained. If you are sincere and respect the other, there is less risk of a misunderstanding occurring. If conflict does occur, work to resolve it as you would any other tension with another person, as described earlier.
Take a Stand against Prejudice and Hate
Unfortunately prejudice and hate still exist in America, even on college campuses. In addition to racial prejudice, some people are also prejudiced against women, people with disabilities, older adults, gays and lesbians—virtually all groups that can be characterized as “different.” All campuses have policies against all forms of prejudice and discriminatory behaviors. But it is not enough for only college administrators to fight prejudice and hate—this is a responsibility for all good citizens who take seriously the shared American value of equality for all people. So what can you as a college student do?
• Decide that it does matter. Prejudice threatens us all, not just the particular group being discriminated against in a specific incident. Don’t stand on the sidelines or think it’s up to the people who may be victimized by prejudice or hate to do something about it. We can all do something.
• Talk with others. Communication has great value on campuses. Let others know how you feel about any acts of prejudice or hatred that you witness. The more everyone openly condemns such behavior, the less likely it is to reappear in the future. This applies even if you hear another student telling a racist joke or putting down the opposite sex—speak up and tell the person you find such statements offensive. You don’t want that person to think you agree with them. Speaking up can be difficult to do, but it can be done tactfully. People can and do learn what is acceptable in a diverse environment.
• Report incidents you observe. If you happen to see someone spray-painting a hateful slogan, for example, be a good citizen and report it to the appropriate campus office or the police.
• Support student groups working for change. America has a great tradition of college students banding together to help solve social problems. Show your support for groups and activities that celebrate diversity and condemn prejudice. Even if you are a shy, quiet person, your attendance at a parade or gathering lends support. Or you can write a letter to the editor in a student newspaper, help hand out leaflets for an upcoming rally, or put up posters on campus. Once you become aware of such student activities on campus, you’ll find many ways you can help take a stand.
• Celebrate diversity. In many ways, you can learn more about diversity through campus programs and activities. The more all students participate, the closer the campus will come to being free of prejudice and hate. Be a role model in how you act and what you say in relation to diversity, and you may have more effect on others than you realize.
Dealing with Prejudice
If you yourself experience prejudice or discrimination related to your race or ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or any other aspect of diversity, don’t just try to ignore it or accept it as something that cannot be changed. As discussed earlier, college students can do much to minimize intolerance on campus. Many overt forms of discrimination are frankly illegal and against college policies. You owe it to yourself, first and foremost, to report it to the appropriate college authority.
You can also attack prejudice in other ways. Join a campus organization that works to reduce prejudice or start a new group and discuss ways you can confront the problem and work for a solution. Seek solidarity with other groups. Organize positive celebrations and events to promote understanding. Write an article for a campus publication explaining the values of diversity and condemning intolerance.
What if you are directly confronted by an individual or group making racist or other discriminatory remarks? In an emotionally charged situation, rational dialogue may be difficult or impossible, and a shouting match or name-calling seldom is productive. If the person may have made an offensive remark inadvertently or because of a misunderstanding, then you may be able to calmly explain the problem with what they said or did. Hopefully the person will apologize and learn from the experience. But if the person made the remark or acted that way intentionally, confronting this negative person directly may be difficult and not have a positive outcome. Most important, take care that the situation does not escalate in the direction of violence. Reporting the incident instead to college authorities may better serve the larger purpose of working toward harmony and tolerance.
Journal Entry
If you are in the dominant cultural group on your campus, write a paragraph describing values you share with your cultural group. Then list things that students with a different background may have difficulty understanding about your group. If your racial, ethnic, or cultural background is different from the dominant cultural group on your campus, write a paragraph describing how students in the dominant culture seem to differ from your own culture.
Look back at what you just wrote. Did you focus on characteristics that seem either positive or negative? Might there be any stereotypes creeping into your thinking?
Write a second paragraph focusing on yourself as a unique individual, not a part of a group. How would others benefit from getting to know you better?
Key Takeaways
• Diversity refers to a great variety of human characteristics, and ways in which people differ.
• Diversity in the college environment has many benefits for all students, faculty, and others. Students learn more in a diverse setting, are better prepared for the future, and contribute more fully in positive ways to society.
• Nontraditional students bring many unique characteristics to the college environment that help enrich all students’ social and educational experiences.
• Multiculturalism involves respecting the ideas, feelings, behaviors, and experiences different from oneself in any way. Colleges promote both diversity in the student body and multiculturalism among all students.
• As an individual, each of us can gain the benefits of diversity as we challenge our own stereotypes, understand and celebrate differences in others, and learn to interact well with others different from ourselves. Take advantage of campus opportunities to increase your cultural awareness and to form social relationships with diverse others.
• Although we would hope that all college campuses would be free of hate and discrimination, it can become necessary to take a stand against prejudice.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List as many types of diversity as you can think of.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Write a description of someone who is of a different race from yourself but who may not be different ethnically.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. List several characteristics of your own cultural background that may be different from the cultural background of some others on your campus.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. For each of the following statements about diversity, circle T for true or F for false:
T F A diverse educational environment is primarily good for students from minority groups.
T F Students of traditional college age are usually already too old to be open to new ideas and attitudes learned from others with diverse backgrounds.
T F We gain insights into ourselves when we learn from others who are different from ourselves.
T F You can better understand an individual from a cultural group other than your own if you apply generalizations about that other culture to the person.
T F The best way to avoid a conflict that may arise from cultural differences is to interact only politely and in superficial ways with people who seem different from yourself.
5. Is it a cultural observation or a stereotype to say, for example, that Mexicans are more relaxed about time commitments than Americans? (Think a minute before answering. How would you justify and explain your answer if challenged? Could both answers be right in some way?)
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. List at least three ways you may be able to increase your cultural awareness and understanding of diversity on your campus.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/09%3A_The_Social_World_of_College/9.02%3A_Living_with_Diversity.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe several benefits of participating in campus life by joining organized groups and participating in campus activities.
2. Identify how participation in organized activities can promote multiculturalism and a better understanding of diversity.
3. List several ways you can learn about groups and activities on your own campus.
The college social experience also includes organized campus groups and activities. Participating in organized activities requires taking some initiative—you can’t be passive and expect these opportunities to come knocking on your door—but is well worthwhile for fully enriching college interactions. The active pursuit of a stimulating life on campus offers many benefits:
• Organized groups and activities speed your transition into your new life. New students can be overwhelmed by their studies and every aspect of a new life, and they may be slow to build a new life. Rather than waiting for it to come along on its own, you can immediately begin broadening your social contacts and experiences by joining groups that share your interests.
• Organized groups and activities help you experience a much greater variety of social life than you might otherwise. New students often tend to interact more with other students their own age and with similar backgrounds—this is just natural. But if you simply go with the flow and don’t actively reach out, you are much less likely to meet and interact with others from the broader campus diversity: students who are older and may have a perspective you may otherwise miss, upper-level students who have much to share from their years on campus, and students of diverse heritage or culture with whom you might otherwise be slow to interact.
• Organized groups and activities help you gain new skills, whether technical, physical, intellectual, or social. Such skills may find their way into your résumé when you next seek a job or your application for a scholarship or other future educational opportunity. Employers and others like to see well-rounded students with a range of proficiencies and experiences.
• Organized groups and activities are fun and a great way to stay healthy and relieve stress. As Chapter 10 “Taking Control of Your Health” discusses, exercise and physical activity are essential for health and well-being, and many organized activities offer a good way to keep moving.
Participating in Groups and Activities
College campuses offer a wide range of clubs, organizations, and other activities open to all students. College administrators view this as a significant benefit and work to promote student involvement in such groups. When you made your decision to attend your college, you likely received printed materials or studied the college’s Web site and saw many opportunities. But you may have been so busy attending to academic matters that you haven’t thought of these groups since. It’s a good time now to check out the possibilities:
Figure 9.6
Check bulletin boards on campus to learn about cultural events.
• Browse the college Web site, where you’re likely to find links to pages for student clubs and organizations.
• Watch for club fairs, open houses, and similar activities on campus. Especially near the beginning of the year, an activity fair may include tables set up by many groups to provide students with information. Talk with the representatives from any group in which you may be interested.
• Look for notices on bulletin boards around campus. Student groups really do want new students to join, so they usually try to post information where you can find it.
• Stop by the appropriate college office, such as the student affairs or student activities office or cultural center.
• If you are looking for a group with very specialized interests, check with the academic offices of departments where many students with that interest may be majoring.
• Consider a wide variety of types of organizations. Some are primarily social; some are political or activist; some are based on hobbies (photography, chess, equestrianism, bird watching, videogaming, computer programming); some involve the arts (instrumental music, choral singing, painting, poetry writing, drama club); some are forms of physical recreation (rock-climbing, ballroom dancing, archery, yoga, table tennis, tai chi, team sports); some focus on volunteerism (tutoring other students, community service projects, food drives); and others are related to academic or intellectual pursuits (nursing club, math club, chess club, engineering club, debate club, student literary magazine).
• Consider other forms of involvement and roles beyond clubs. Gain leadership experience by running for office in student government or applying for a residence hall support position. If you are looking for a job, consider what kinds of people you’ll have the opportunity to interact with. Chapter 11 “Taking Control of Your Finances” will give you more tips for finding a job.
• If your campus doesn’t have a group focused on a particular activity you enjoy yourself, think about starting a new club. Your college will help you get started; talk with the student activities or affairs office.
Whatever your interests, don’t be shy about checking out a club or organization. Take chances and explore. Attending a meeting or gathering is not a commitment—you’re just going the first time to see what it’s like, and you have no obligation to join. Keep an open mind as you meet and observe other students in the group, especially if you don’t feel at first like you fit in: remember that part of the benefit of the experience is to meet others who are not necessarily just like everyone you already know.
Exercise: Explore Your Interests for College Clubs and Organizations
Write things you may be interested in doing with others in each of these categories.
Clubs Related to Hobbies and Personal Interests Sports, Exercise, Physical Fitness Interests Related to Your Major Area of Study Purely for Fun
Bridging the Generation Gap
Is there still a “generation gap” in our society? Maybe not in the same sense as when that phrase came into being in the 1960s, but it remains generally true that most people naturally gravitate toward others of similar age. Even in the open, accepting environment of most colleges, many students interact primarily with others of similar age—which, sadly, misses a great opportunity for both older and younger students to learn from each other.
Younger, “traditional” students just out of high school usually live in residence halls and immediately meet other students of the same age. New students who are just a few years older, who usually have spent some time in the workforce before returning to their education, are more likely to live in a house or apartment and probably spend less time on campus interacting with other students. Some students may be decades older than both traditional and most untraditional students, returning to college sometimes with the desire to change careers or simply to take classes of special interest; their lives may be so well settled in other respects that they have little interest at all in the social world of college. Students in all of these groups may be slow to initiate interactions with each other.
This is one of the great benefits of organized campus groups and activities, however. Regardless of your age or background, you can attend a meeting of those with similar interests and have the opportunity to meet people you simply would not have crossed paths with otherwise. Age barriers rapidly break down when people share the same interests.
When and How to Say No
For all the benefits of an active social and campus life, too much of any good thing can also cause trouble. If you join too many groups, or if you have limited time because of work and family commitments, you may spend less time with your studies—with negative results. Here are some guidelines for finding a good balance between social life and everything else you need to do:
• Don’t join too many organizations or clubs. Most advisors suggest that two or three regular activities are the maximum that most students can handle.
• Work on your time management skills, as described in Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track”. Plan ahead for study time when you don’t have schedule conflicts. If you have a rich social life, study in the library or places where you won’t be tempted by additional social interaction with a roommate, family member, or others passing by.
• Don’t be afraid to say no. You may be active in a club and have plenty of time for routine activities, but someone may ask you to spend extra time organizing an upcoming event just when you have a major paper deadline coming up. Sometimes you have to remember the main reason you’re in college and just say you can’t do it because you have to get your work done.
• If you really can’t resolve your time conflicts, seek help. Talk with your advisor or a college counselor. They’ll help you get back on track.
Key Takeaways
• College students with an active social life and who interact with the campus community are generally more successful academically as well.
• Organized groups and activities promote a more varied and diverse social experience.
• Students participating in organized groups and activities gain skills that may become important for job and other professional applications.
• Most campuses offer a large variety of opportunities for involvement in clubs, associations, and other activities.
• Take the initiative to find organizations and activities you will most enjoy.
• To balance your social life and academic studies, avoid joining too many organizations and use your time management skills.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. List two specific skills (technical, intellectual, or social) that you personally may gain or improve by participating in a campus club or organization.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. What events or campus groups have you noticed on a campus bulletin board or poster recently that caught your eye?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What academic subject might you major in? Imagine yourself joining a club formed by students in that major. What kinds of things might you do or talk about in such a club? (Use your imagination as you consider how you can have fun with others in such a club.)
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/09%3A_The_Social_World_of_College/9.03%3A_Campus_Groups.txt |
Chapter Takeaways
• An active social life and social interaction with a variety of people on campus contribute to college students’ well-being and overall academic success.
• Successfully interacting with diverse others requires effective communication skills, including both listening skills and assertive communication rather than passive or aggressive communication.
• Social interaction can be heightened by productive and moderate online networking.
• Time management and study skills help one avoid problems when balancing social life and academic studies.
• To prevent or resolve conflicts that may occur in any social interaction, maintain an attitude of respect for others, be open minded and willing to compromise, and know how to work together calmly to resolve conflicts.
• Diversity on campus is beneficial for all students, not just those from ethnic or minority groups. The wider perspectives of students from different backgrounds and the greater variety of teaching methods help everyone gain more fully in educational experiences. Socially, students develop a more mature worldview and are better prepared for interacting with a diverse world in the future.
• Multiculturalism involves an attitude of respect for the ideas, feelings, behaviors, and experiences of others who differ from oneself in any way. Colleges promote both diversity in the student body and multiculturalism among all students.
• To gain a multicultural perspective, challenge your own learned stereotypes while you learn more about other cultural groups. Understanding what can be learned from others leads to celebrating the diversity found on most campuses.
• Take a personal responsibility both for broadening your own social world and for speaking out against prejudice and discrimination wherever encountered.
• Take advantage of campus opportunities to increase your cultural awareness and to form social relationships with diverse others. Organized campus groups and events can help you broaden your horizons in many beneficial ways.
• Participation in campus clubs and other organizations is not only fun and a good way to reduce stress but also helps develop social, intellectual, and technical skills that may serve you well in your future career or other endeavors.
Chapter Review
1. List at least three benefits of social interaction with a variety of different people on your college campus.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Describe what is involved in being a “good friend” to someone you have just recently met.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What can you do to demonstrate that you are really listening to the other person in a conversation?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Mark each of the following communication strategies as passive, assertive, or aggressive:
• Showing your very critical reaction to another’s ideas: _________________
• Agreeing with everything another person says: _________________
• Hesitating to say something the other may disagree with: _________________
• Being honest and confident when expressing your ideas: _________________
• Joking sarcastically about something the other says: _________________
• Offering your opinion while respecting other opinions: _________________
5. True or false: Interactions on Facebook can strengthen one’s personal relationships with others and make it easier to participate socially in a group.
6. Give two examples of how you can use time management skills to ensure you get your studies done while still maintaining an active social life.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. Write an “I statement” sentence you might say to prevent a heated argument with another student who has just told a sexist joke.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
8. Imagine this scenario: eight white college students between the ages of eighteen and twenty from a large U.S. city are spending a summer in a poverty-stricken rural Indonesian village in a volunteer project. Describe several behavioral characteristics of these students as an ethnic minority group that may not be understood by the villagers.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
9. Imagine yourself working in your chosen career five years from now. Describe two experiences you may have in that career for which your current experience with diverse people on campus may help prepare you.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
10. What insights into your own attitudes, behaviors, or values have you gained through interactions with others different from yourself? Think of specific aspects of yourself that you have come to view in a new light.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
11. What’s wrong with the following statement? “People are what they are and you can’t change them. The best thing you can do when someone’s showing their prejudice is just walk away and don’t let it bother you.”
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
12. As you read the chapter section on clubs and organizations and all the possibilities that are likely on your campus, what thoughts did you have about your own interests? What kind of club would be ideal for you? If your college campus happens not to have that club at present, would you get together with others with similar interests to start one?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
13. Read this case study and answer the following questions:
The International Student Office is sponsoring South Asian Night, a celebration in which students from this region will be showcasing their cultures and ethnic foods. Two groups of students, from India and Pakistan, have had disagreements during the planning and rehearsals. They have argued about how much time each group is allotted for their performances and how high on the evening’s agenda their performances are scheduled. The conflict escalates and threatens cancellation of the whole celebration, which the school and the campus community have been looking forward to.
1. If you were the director of the International Student Office, how would you handle this situation?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. What would you say to these two groups of students? What process would you use?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Outside the Book
1. Visit your college’s Web site and look for a section on student activities and organizations. Try to identify two or three groups you might be interested to learn more about.
2. Next time you walk across campus or through the student center, stop to look at bulletin boards and posters. Look for upcoming events that celebrate cultural diversity in some way. Read the information in detail and imagine how much fun the event might be while you also learn something new. Then ask a friend to go with you.
3. Go to www.understandingrace.org/liv...rts/index.html—a Web site of the American Anthropological Association—and take the short online sports quiz. Many things have been said about why certain races or people from certain geographic areas excel at certain sports. People often talk about differences in biology and other differences among ethnic groups as related to sports. How much is true, partly true, or blatantly false? How much do you know about what are real or not real differences?
Make an Action List
Friendships
Sometimes I’m not as good a friend as I could be because I
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will work on the following things to be a better friend:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Social Interaction
Sometimes I have difficulty interacting well with these people:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will use these communication techniques for more successful interactions in the future:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Communication Style
Sometimes I am too passive when talking with these people:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I can do these things to be more assertive in my communication:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Balance of Studies and Social Life
I sometimes don’t get enough studying done because I am busy doing the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will ensure I have enough time for studying by taking these steps:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Family Life
Since I am so busy with college now, I may have ignored my relationship(s) with
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I will do better to stay in touch by
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Diversity on Campus
I admit to knowing very little about these groups of people I often see on campus:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
By this time next year, I hope to be more culturally aware as a result of doing these things more often:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Campus Activities
I would really enjoy doing the following one thing more often with other people:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
To participate in this activity with a variety of people, I will look on campus for a club or group such as the following:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I can do these things to learn more about this club:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/09%3A_The_Social_World_of_College/9.04%3A_Chapter_Activities.txt |
Thumbnail: www.pexels.com/photo/woman-sleeping-on-a-wooden-table-3767371/
10: Taking Control of Your Health
Learning Objectives
1. Explain why good nutrition is important.
2. List health problems related to being overweight and obesity.
3. Explain the general principles of good nutrition.
4. Make good choices about foods to emphasize in meals and snacks.
Most Americans have a real problem with food. Overeating causes health problems, but what and how you eat can also affect how well you do as a student.
Why Are So Many Americans Overweight?
Americans are eating too much—much more so than in the past. One-third of all Americans twenty years or older are obese. Another third of all adults are overweight. That means that two-thirds of us are not eating well or getting enough exercise for how we eat. There are many intertwined causes of this problem in American culture.
Why are being overweight and obesity a problem? Obesity is associated with many medical conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. Although some health problems may not appear until later in life, diabetes is increasing rapidly in children and teenagers. Worse, the habits young adults may already have or may form during their college years generally continue into later years.
But it’s not just about body weight. Good nutrition is still important even if you don’t have a health problem. What you eat affects how you feel and how well you function mentally and physically. Food affects how well you study and how you do on tests. Doughnuts for breakfast can lower your grades!
Why Do Students Find It So Tough to Eat Healthily?
If Americans have trouble eating well in an environment that encourages overeating, college students often have it even worse. It seems like food is everywhere, and students are always snacking between classes. Fast food restaurants abound. There may not be time to get back to your dorm or apartment for lunch, and it’s just so easy to grab a quick pastry at the coffee spot as you pass by between classes.
It’s the eating by habit, or mindlessly, that usually gets us in trouble. If we’re mindful instead, however, it’s easy to develop better habits. Take the Nutrition Self-Assessment to evaluate your present eating habits.
Nutrition Self-Assessment
Check the appropriate boxes.
Usually Sometimes Seldom
1. I take the time to eat breakfast before starting my day.
2. I eat lunch rather than snack throughout the day.
3. When I’m hungry between meals, I eat fruit rather than chips or cookies.
4. I consciously try to include fruit and vegetables with lunch and dinner.
5. There is food left on my plate at the end of a meal.
6. I try to avoid overeating snacks at night and while studying.
7. Over the last year, my eating habits have kept me at an appropriate weight.
8. Overall, my eating habits are healthy.
Eating Well: It’s Not So Difficult
The key to a good diet is to eat a varied diet with lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains and to minimize fats, sugar, and salt. The exact amounts depend on your calorie requirements and activity levels, but you don’t have to count calories or measure and weigh your food to eat well. Following are the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) general daily guidelines for a two-thousand-calorie diet.
• Grains (6 ounces)
• Eat whole grain cereals, breads, rice, or pasta.
• Vegetables (2.5 cups)
• Eat more dark green veggies like broccoli and spinach
• Eat more orange vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes
• Eat more beans and peas
• Fruits (2 cups)
• Eat a variety of fruit
• Minimize fruit juices
• Milk (3 cups)
• Choose low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt, and other milk products
• If you don’t drink milk, chose lactose-free products or other calcium sources such as fortified foods
• Meat and beans (5.5 ounces)
• Choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry
• Roast, broil, or grill the meat
• Vary protein sources, including more fish, beans, peas, and nuts
• Minimize these (check food labels):
• Solid fats like butter and margarine and foods that contain them (avoid saturated and trans fats)
• Watch out for high-sodium foods
• Minimize added sugars
• Exercise
• Be physically active for at least thirty minutes most days of the week.
Figure 10.2 The “My Plate” emphasizes healthful food choices.
If You Need to Lose Weight
If you need to lose weight, don’t try to starve yourself. Gradual steady weight loss is healthier and easier. Try these guidelines:
1. Check your body mass index (BMI) to see the normal weight range for your height (see “Additional Resources” below for more information).
2. Go to http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ for help determining your ideal caloric intake for gradual weight loss.
3. Set your goals and make a plan you can live with. Start by avoiding snacks and fast foods. Try to choose foods that meet the guidelines listed earlier.
4. Stay active and try to exercise frequently.
5. Keep a daily food journal and write down what you eat. Simply writing it down helps people be more aware of their habits and motivated to eat better.
6. Visit the student health center on your campus and ask for more information about weight loss programs.
7. Remember, no one plan works for everyone. Visit the online resources listed later for a variety of approaches for weight loss.
Avoiding the Freshman Fifteen
The “freshman fifteen” refers to the weight gain many students experience in their first year of college. Even those whose weight was at an appropriate level often gained unwanted pounds because of changes in their eating habits.
Start by looking back at the boxes you checked in the Nutrition Self-Assessment. Be honest with yourself. If your first choice for a snack is cookies, ice cream, or chips, think about that. If your first choice for lunch is a burger and fries, have you considered other choices?
Tips for Success: Nutrition
• Eat a variety of foods every day.
• Take a multivitamin every day.
• Take an apple or banana with you for a snack in case you get hungry between meals.
• Avoid fried foods.
• Avoid high-sugar foods. After the rush comes a crash that can make you drowsy, and you’ll have trouble paying attention in class. Watch out for sugary cereals—try other types with less sugar and more fiber.
• If you have a soft drink habit, experiment with flavored seltzer and other zero- or low-calorie drinks.
• Eat when you’re hungry, not when you’re bored or just because others are eating.
• If you find yourself in a fast food restaurant, try a salad.
• Watch portion sizes and never “supersize it”!
Eating Disorders
The most common eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating.
Anorexia is characterized by excessive weight loss and self-starvation. The individual usually feels “fat” regardless of how thin she or he becomes and may continue to eat less and less. If your BMI is lower than the bottom of the normal range, you may be developing anorexia.
Bulimia is characterized by frequent binge eating followed by an attempt to compensate for or “undo” the overeating with a behavior such as self-induced vomiting or laxative abuse.
Binge eating disorder is characterized by frequent binge eating without compensatory behavior to “undo” the overeating. Binge eating usually leads to weight gain and eventual obesity.
More than ten million Americans suffer from an eating disorder. The causes are complex, and the individual usually needs help to overcome their obsession. Eating disorders hurt one’s health in a variety of ways and can become life threatening. The signs of a possible eating disorder include the following:
• Eating secretly when others can’t see
• Having a strong fear of being overweight or gaining weight
• Only eating a limited number of foods
• Exercising obsessively
• Lacking a monthly menstrual period
Getting Help for Eating Disorders
Don’t feel ashamed if you obsess over food or your weight. If your eating habits are affecting your life, it’s time to seek help. As with any other health problem, professionals can provide help and treatment. Talk to your doctor or visit your campus student health center.
Additional Resources
BMI calculator. Find out how your weight compares with normal ranges at http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi.
Diet planning. How much should you eat to maintain the same weight? What if you want to lose weight? Find out at http://www.choosemyplate.gov/.
Calorie counter, nutritional database, and personal diet log. If you’re really serious about losing weight and want to keep a daily log of your progress, try this online tool: http://www.caloriecount.com/.
Eating disorders. For information about causes and treatment of eating disorders, go to http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.
Key Takeaways
• Good nutrition and an appropriate body weight are important for health and wellness. You’re also more successful academically.
• Eating well does not require counting calories or obsessing over everything you eat. Focus on whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetables, and low-fat meats and dairy products. Minimize processed snacks and foods high in saturated fats, trans fats, sodium, and sugar.
• If you need to control your weight, a variety of healthful plans are available to help you eat foods you like and still lose weight without suffering unduly.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. What health problems may result from obesity?
__________________________________________________________________
2. List three or more snacks that are healthier than cookies, chips, ice cream, and doughnuts.
__________________________________________________________________
3. How many cups of fruit and vegetables should you eat every day?
__________________________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/10%3A_Taking_Control_of_Your_Health/10.01%3A_Nutrition_and_Weight_Control.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. List the physical and mental health benefits of regular exercise.
2. Plan a program of regular exercise that you enjoy and can maintain.
Does Exercise Really Matter?
Exercise is good for both body and mind. Indeed, physical activity is almost essential for good health and student success. The physical benefits of regular exercise include the following:
• Improved fitness for the whole body, not just the muscles
• Greater cardiovascular fitness and reduced disease risk
• Increased physical endurance
• Stronger immune system, providing more resistance to disease
• Lower cholesterol levels, reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease
• Lowered risk of developing diabetes
• Weight maintenance or loss
Perhaps more important to students are the mental and psychological benefits:
• Stress reduction
• Improved mood, with less anxiety and depression
• Improved ability to focus mentally
• Better sleep
• Feeling better about oneself
For all of these reasons, it’s important for college students to regularly exercise or engage in physical activity. Like good nutrition and getting enough sleep, exercise is a key habit that contributes to overall wellness that promotes college success. First, use the Exercise and Activity Self-Assessment to consider your current habits and attitudes.
Exercise and Activity Self-Assessment
Check the appropriate boxes.
Usually Sometimes Seldom
1. I enjoy physical activity.
2. Exercise is a regular part of my life.
3. I get my heart rate up for twenty to thirty minutes several times a week.
4. I enjoy exercising or engaging in physical activities or sports with others.
Write your answers.
1. What physical activities do you enjoy?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. How often each week do you engage in a physical activity?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. If you feel you’re not getting much exercise, what stands in your way?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Overall, do you think you get enough exercise to be healthy?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Do you feel a lot of stress in your life?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. Do you frequently have trouble getting to sleep?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
How Much Exercise and What Kind?
With aerobic exercise, your heart and lungs are working hard enough to improve your cardiovascular fitness. This generally means moving fast enough to increase your heart rate and breathing. For health and stress-reducing benefits, try to exercise at least three days a week for at least twenty to thirty minutes at a time. If you really enjoy exercise and are motivated, you may exercise as often as six days a week, but take at least one day of rest. When you’re first starting out, or if you’ve been inactive for a while, take it gradually, and let your body adjust between sessions. But the old expression “No pain, no gain” is not true, regardless of what some past gym teacher may have said! If you feel pain in any activity, stop or cut back. The way to build up strength and endurance is through a plan that is consistent and gradual.
For exercise to have aerobic benefits, try to keep your heart rate in the target heart rate zone for at least twenty to thirty minutes. The target heart rate is 60 percent to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate, which can be calculated as 220 minus your age. For example, if you are 24 years old, your maximum heart rate is calculated as 196, and your target heart rate is 118 to 166 beats per minute. If you are just starting an exercise program, stay at the lower end of this range and gradually work up over a few weeks. “Additional Resources” below includes an online calculator that estimates your target heart rate depending on your present level of fitness.
Enjoy It!
Most important, find a type of exercise or activity that you enjoy—or else you won’t stick with it. This can be as simple and easy as a brisk walk or slow jog through a park or across campus. Swimming is excellent exercise, but so is dancing. Think about what you like to do and explore activities that provide exercise while you’re having fun.
Do whatever you need to make your chosen activity enjoyable. Many people listen to music and some even read when using workout equipment. Try different activities to prevent boredom. You also gain by taking the stairs instead of elevators, walking farther across campus instead of parking as close to your destination as you can get, and so on.
Exercise with a friend is more enjoyable, including jogging or biking together. Some campuses have installed equipment for students to play Dance Dance Revolution. Many Nintendo Wii games can get your heart rate up.
You may stay more motivated using exercise equipment. An inexpensive pedometer can track your progress walking or jogging, or a bike computer can monitor your speed and time. A heart rate monitor makes it easy to stay in your target zone; many models also calculate calories burned. Some devices can input your exercise into your computer to track your progress and make a chart of your improvements.
The biggest obstacle to getting enough exercise, many students say, is a lack of time. Actually, we all have the time, if we manage it well. Build exercise into your weekly schedule on selected days. Eventually you’ll find that regular exercise actually saves you time because you’re sleeping better and concentrating better. Time you used to fritter away is now used for activity that provides many benefits.
Campus Activities Can Help
Most campuses have resources to make exercise easier and more enjoyable for their students. Take a look around and think about what you might enjoy. A fitness center may offer exercise equipment. There may be regularly scheduled aerobic or spin classes. You don’t have to be an athlete to enjoy casual sports such as playing tennis or shooting hoops with a friend. If you like more organized team sports, try intramural sports.
Additional Resources
Exercise guidelines and more information. See http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/index.html.
Target heart rate calculator. Find your target heart rate to experience the benefits of aerobic exercise (based on age only) at www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-li...-20046887?pg=2.
Target heart rate calculator based on age and current fitness level. See http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm.
Key Takeaways
• Regular exercise has many benefits for your body and mind. You’ll also be a better student.
• It is easier to make exercise a regular part of your life if you explore your interests and join activities with others. The time you spend exercising will be made up for with increased ability to concentrate when it’s time to study.
Checkpoint Exercises
1. It is recommended that college students get _________ minutes of aerobic exercise at least ________ times a week.
2. List at least two ways to make exercise more fun.
___________________________________________________ | textbooks/socialsci/Counseling_and_Guidance/College_Success/10%3A_Taking_Control_of_Your_Health/10.02%3A_Activity_and_Exercise.txt |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.