Most people accept the often-used four word formula for
success, i.e., “make yourself more useful,” which frequently involves getting
more education. As they begin to think about
their educational options, Reynolds is certainly on the radar screen for those
who live in and around Greater Richmond.
So they’ll be asking you questions like, “Does Reynolds offer
fill-in-the-blank program?” “What’s it
cost to go to Reynolds?” “How are the
teachers?” “Is it hard?” etc., etc., until they get to, “How do I get off to a
good start?” and this is where you can really shine as someone’s college
advisor.
In the opinion of this writer, the three most important
items on the how-do-I-get-a-good-start list include,
1.
Take your college placement tests for reading,
writing and math, and follow the recommendations.
2.
Before your classes start, participate in a FREE
Reynolds orientation program such as SOAR (Student Orientation, Advising, and
Registration) or a SOAR derivative.
These programs are only a few hours in length but they can be THE
decisive factor in getting a good start.
3.
During your first semester include
SDV100-College Success Skills in your schedule of classes. Don't be tempted to blow this class off as
inconsequential because there is solid evidence that students who take this course
and take it seriously simply do better in terms of grades and persistence. An even better way to take this course is
when it’s linked up with another course to form what’s called a “learning
community.”
Uh Oh! A new term has
just been introduced; what is a “learning community”? A learning community (LC) is when two course
sections in the same semester are linked together and the same students enroll
in both course sections. Professors work together to coordinate assignments,
content, and improve crossover learning between the courses. WHY?
Just as with SDV 100, students tend to do better in and as a result of
LC participation. They’re happier, more
engaged in their classes as well as with their professors and with other
students.
One of Reynolds most popular learning communities links
SDV100 with ENG111 (Composition Skills I) and this LC is branded as “Getting a
Clue” or simply “Clue.” As you may suspect ENG111 is as writing course
so by linking ENG111 with SDV100, students are able to reinforce the college
success and survival skills discussed in SDV100 by writing about them in ENG111.
Think of synergy. Clue will assist its
students along the path to making certain critical life choices (like picking a
major, a career, or a transfer college) by teaching how to set goals, improve
productivity, and develop the habits needed to ensure success in school and in
life. Reynolds’ Clue LC was awarded the
Virginia Community College System’s first-place honors for Excellence in
Education in the spring of 2010. Keep up
the good work guys.
Somewhere above I mentioned your information
networks. Another thing that these LCs
tend to accomplish is helping students to form their own reliable information
networks; which is simply an outgrowth of enrolling the same group of students
in two (or occasionally more) course sections.
These students see each other twice as often and it gets easier to pick
out who’s reliable and who’s just taking up a seat in class, and then to
approach another student (hopefully one of the reliable ones!) to form a study
group or ask about a homework assignment.
So a direct benefit to you of these learning communities is that your
gang will stop bugging you with all these questions when they begin to use
their own newly-formed information networks!
The following quotes come from three of Reynolds’
Clue LC students,
This class really did restore my confidence
in both my writing and myself. The
realization that I’m going to make it in college, that I can do this, is priceless
to me and I’m so grateful.
I have found myself, for the first time,
open to the discoveries of knowledge that college can provide. As I have come to realize, college is not
about grades or tests (though their importance is not lost on me), but rather
being able to open your mind to the possibilities of further ways of thinking…
I have learned more about myself in four months than I had in the previous
twenty-one years.
Honestly, if I hadn’t taken this LC I would
still be following the path of something that just wasn’t right for me. It’s
intimidating to venture off the path and out of a career that I thought was
right for me, but I know that it is necessary. All of these years I was very
close minded about thoughts of other careers and possibilities.
Charlie Peterson is Assistant Dean of Educational Support
Services, Professor and Director of Learning Communities at Reynolds Community
College
