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    Round Up: Student Success Skills

    by Meghan Kowalski on 2024-08-28T08:00:00-04:00 | 0 Comments

    College can be a crash course in "adulting." Between your class schedule, work shifts, care duties, and other life management, there can be a lot to tackle. Luckily, there are plenty of tools you can turn to for help.

     

    Library Recommendations

    • Learning Express - This online learning platform provides a comprehensive selection of academic and career-related resources including college success skills, career and workplace preparation, basic computer skills, and more. You can learn organizational strategies, time management, note-taking, effective classroom listening, and reading tips. 
    • LinkedIn Learning - This online video training library that provides you with the opportunity to bridge the gap between the career you want and the skills you need. Learn online at your own pace, with their library of more than 16,000 creative, business, and technology courses and more than 200,000 videos on topics ranging from time management to reading skills to how to write an academic paper.
    • Student Success Center - The UDC office dedicated to helping you succeed while you're a Firebird!

     

    A Few Books

    Cover ArtThe Secrets of College Success by Lynn F. Jacobs; Jeremy S. Hyman
     
    Heading off to college? Or perhaps already there? This book's just for you. Winner of the 2010 USA Book News Award for best book in the college category, The Secrets of College Success combines easy-to-follow tips that really work with insider information that few professors are willing to reveal. The over 800 tips in this book will show you how to: Pick courses and choose a major Manage your time and develop college-level study skills Get on top of the core requirements Get good grades and avoid stress Interact effectively with the professor Match college and career, and more. New to this second edition are tips for: Online courses and MOOCs Community Colleges, Engineering Schools, and Arts and Design Colleges E-readers, tablets, and laptops Taking out Student Loans and Paying them Off, and more. Ideal for college students at any stage, and college-bound high school students, The Secrets of College Success makes a wonderful back-to-college or high-school-graduation gift - or a smart investment in your own future.
     
    Cover ArtDeveloping College Skills in Students with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome by Sarita Freedman
     
    Going to college can be a daunting prospect for any young person, but for teenagers on the autism spectrum this is especially true. This book describes the unique needs that ASD students entering further or higher education are likely to have. The author identifies the key skill-sets they will need to develop in order to be successful in college and in life, and shows how they can be helped to develop these. She outlines the skills required for success in further and higher education in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of individuals with ASDs, and explains how those weaknesses can be ameliorated to enable success at college. Describing the unique accommodations and support that students with ASD will need, and the skills for which they will need particular help, she provides effective intervention strategies that can be implemented throughout the period leading up to college entrance. This book is essential reading for psychologists, special educators, educational therapists, high school teachers/career counselors, and other professionals supporting high school and college students on the autism spectrum. Parents of such students will also benefit from the ideas presented in this book.
     
    Cover ArtThe Mindful College Student by Eric B. Loucks; Judson A. Brewer (Foreword by)
     

    The perfect gift for the college-bound student! Based on the popular Mindfulness-Based College (MBC) program at Brown University, this book offers powerful skills to increase academic success and boost mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health--now and for a lifetime. College is a time of transition. It's a time for learning and preparing to make your own way in the world. But if you're like many teens and young adults, the thought of leaving home and being on your own in a new place can also be intimidating--even overwhelming. That's why you need a solid foundation to help you manage stress, stay focused, and maintain healthy habits--in body, mind, and spirit. Grounded in evidence-based mindfulness, The Mindful College Student will help you cultivate the cognitive and emotional skills you need to increase well-being and reach your highest aspirations. You'll also learn positive coping strategies for dealing with stress, sadness, and anxiety--including diet, fitness, and sleep habits. Most importantly, you'll discover three core self-regulation skills to help steer you toward the life you want: self-awareness, attention control, and emotion regulation. Get ready to take on the world with this fun and informative guide, filled with everything you need to face all of the challenges of college life--and beyond!

     

    Cover ArtA Guide to College Success for Post-Traditional Students by Henry S. Merrill
     
    The purpose of this book is to assist post-traditional students to achieve success in the Occupational, Workforce, and Leadership Studies (OWLS) Department and develop their individualized pathway to earn the interdisciplinary Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) degree at Texas State University. Applied baccalaureate degrees incorporate higher-order thinking skills and advanced technical knowledge and skills with applied coursework. BAAS students may also earn college-level credits through prior learning assessment (PLA), evaluating and credentialing knowledge and skills gained outside the classroom. The organization and content of this book provides adult degree program faculty and leaders an example of how one required textbook develops and supports the outcomes and activities in all the core courses of an interdisciplinary degree program designed for post-traditional adult learners. The majority of the students earning the BAAS degree are post-traditional students. They are often defined with some or all of these characteristics: over age 25 years old when starting or returning to college, may not have a traditional high school diploma, enroll part-time, work full-time, are financially independent, have dependents other than a spouse and may be a single parent. These students juggle multiple roles and responsibilities in the family, workplace, and community. Post-traditional students bring rich work/life experiences, may be experiencing personal and/or professional transitions, have clear career goals, and often finance their education. They seek flexible programs including online education, PLA, and accelerated course formats. Thus, post-traditional students want active, collaborative, and interactive learning relevant to career and other roles and goals.
     
    Cover Art20 Secrets to Success for NCAA Student-Athletes by Norm O'Reilly; Andy Dolich; Heather Lawrence; Stan Wilcox (Foreword by); Christopher J. Parker (Afterword by); Rick Burton; Jake Hirshman
     
    The premier NCAA student-athlete handbook, now in a second, updated edition designed for today's competitive market and with a new chapter on name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. Few student-athletes dreaming of athletic stardom ever make it to the pros. Yet, the discipline and skills they've developed while balancing a sport and academics make them ideally suited for satisfying careers elsewhere. The book's authors draw on personal experience, interviews, expert opinion, and industry data to provide a game plan for student-athletes to help them transition from high school to college, navigate evolving rules about NIL rights, and find success in life after college. Modeled after Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, this expanded and updated guide provides a much-needed strategy for student-athletes as they prepare for postcollege careers, while serving as a valuable resource for their parents, coaches, and sports administrators across the country.
     
    Cover ArtYou've Got This by Rachael Alexander 
     
    You can take control of your well-being and mental health. Student life can be overwhelming, with so many issues to deal with including living away from home, workload, deadlines and exams, family pressures and challenging relationships. It is not surprising that you might struggle to cope sometimes. But there are simple and effective ways that you can take ownership of your mental health, meaning you stay stress free, enjoy your university experience and achieve academic success. This book guides you through your student journey from preparing to go to college or university, managing the academic pressures, finding a job, and everything in-between. Relevant scenarios are presented, linked to a series of topics that explore the challenges you might experience, along with self-enquiry reflections which help you to apply the theory to your own experience and key take-aways. The approaches and strategies outlined will help you improve your academic performance, enhance your social skills, learn to manage your emotions, reduce your anxieties, and help you to think in more empowering ways. Combining practical psychological and spiritual guidance, You've Got This is written in a down to earth, jargon-free way, helping you, the reader take responsibility over the most important thing of all - the way you think. Examples of topics covered: I am homesick and feel lonely I feel like I don't fit in I feel anxious about attending lectures I am scared to admit I am struggling at university I feel anxious about submitting my work I am worried if I don't get good grades, I won't get a good job I don't like attending lectures Why do I struggle with my mental health? I think I may have an eating disorder With over 100 topics providing solutions to common challenges faced by the university student, this book is a preventative tool, helping the student stay emotionally balanced allowing academic success. "...This book provides the kind of advice academic staff would want to offer if they could and gives boundless reassurance to parents who might be 'too' close to be able to help at the time. Perhaps most importantly, it offers students an immediate sense of not being alone, not being the only person to experience such fears, anxieties and stresses and instils the capacity to deal with the in ways that will, hopefully, provide them with learning for life." Professor Jonathan Parker, Bournemouth University    

    Tools & Software

    • Grammarly - A writing tool that helps improve your papers. Sign in with your UDC email to get full access!
    • Trello - Stay on top of your projects and an assignments with this well-known organization/to-do list tool
    • Toggl - Figure how how much time you need to do something with this time-tracking tool.
    • Purdue OWL - Stay on top of paper formatting and citation styles.
    • Zotero - Keep track of all of your research in one place. Plus, this tool can help you build your works cited page!

    The Community College's Center for Academic and Career Excellence has a phenomenal list of resources, organized by subject, to help you succeed.

     

    A Little More Reading

     

    What are your favorite tools or tips? Drop them in the comments.

     

    This post was originally published on September 20, 2023.

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