We would like to imptove the information for new students on our college website at present the website has lots of factual information about courses we would like to include more advice for new students.we would like appreciate your views on topic such as study skilld living in a new city , dealing with finances and making new friendsplease write to the website director explaining what short of advice new students might find useful
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Answer:
Colleges and universities around the country will be starting a new academic year in the next few weeks. Students and their parents will be arriving on campus with carloads of boxes to move into residence halls. Campus maintenance crews are preparing the grounds, and construction teams are trying to finish campus remodeling and building projects.
And faculty, adjuncts and graduate students are planning their classes. Now’s the time to do some thinking that can improve the course — making it a better learning experience for your students and a better teaching experience for you.
1. Reflect on how the course contributes to the students’ big picture of learning
Salman Khan, in his One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined, reminds us as educators that students become more engaged in learning when they see the value of the course beyond preparing for an exam or completing a graduation requirement. Especially if you are teaching an introductory course, help the students connect with the value of that subject area. Your approach to the course could help some students decide to take more courses — or even major — in the field. For the other students, they will have a better understanding of the concepts as they connect to life issues.
2. Align SLOs with course content – readings and assignments
Especially the first time you teach a course and especially for new faculty members, the tendency is to select a good textbook and then structure the course to match the textbook chapters. Start first with what the Student Learning Outcomes are for the course – which you may be determining but also may be determined by the overall curriculum structure. In Understanding by Design, Grant P. Wiggins and Jay McTighe explain the process for mapping out a course — starting first with the student outcomes and then designing appropriate activities and assignments.
3. Consider how you can help every student accomplish the goals of the course
New York Times Magazine - Who Gets to Graduate?“Who Gets to Graduate?” is Paul Tough’s New York Times Magazine cover story that addresses the issue of why so many capable students (successful high school students) start college but fail to graduate — and what the University of Texas is doing to help those students be successful. Led by Prof. David Laude, the University of Texas has implement a series of do-able strategies that all of us can be using in our own classes, including helping all students feel capable instead of needing remedial help and using peer mentors.
4. Help students see potential college majors and career options for themselves
UF PRSSA students
These students were on the way to the PRSSA national convention. Being involved in a professionally focused student organization helps students be more engaged with their academic work.
The college women chronicled in sociologists Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Laura T. Hamilton’s book “Paying for the Party” wound up in one of two tracks — the party pathway or the professional pathway. The process that led to the party pathway was conscientious decision-making on the part of some of the college women (and even their parents), including requesting to live in a “party dorm.” But some of the women wound up on the party pathway or not on the party pathway but not engaged in their academic work because they had difficulty in selecting a major. The key to being on the professional pathway often was having a faculty member who talked with the students about career options or made a course of such interest that they chose that field as a major. Professionally focused student organizations also helped students get more engaged in their academic work.
5. Review your textbook (course readings) selection
Check online to see what other textbooks (readings) could be used for your course. Typically the textbook decision must be made several months before the course starts to give campus bookstores time to order the book and to allow students time to seek alternative purchasing opportunities to save money. Be aware of different options for the textbook — traditional textbook purchased, traditional textbook rented, online textbook (which typically has a limited access time, such as one month or the length of the semester).
6. Check calendar dates
Every semester presents some scheduling challenges due to university holidays (i.e., Labor Day, Veterans Day, Homecoming, Thanksgiving) and religious observances. Also consider the special deadlines and responsibilities you have – the conference you are attending, a conference paper deadline, your doctoral student’s qualifying exam date, etc. Also think about any special personal dates, like hosting the big family Thanksgiving reunion or helping with your daughter’s Girl Scout troop’s big camping trip.