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College Knowledge: What Your Students May Not Know

Author: Margie Whalen Subject: All Subjects Created: 2017-08-24
From The Author My colleague and friend Michael tells this story about his first year as a community college student; it illustrates the assumptions we sometimes make as teachers and as institutions. Michael wanted to be a good student, so he committed himself to being responsible. Having sorted out the difference between lecture hours and lab hours, when he saw on his English class鈥檚 syllabus a listing of 鈥淥ffice Hours,鈥 he dutifully made that part of his routine. For FIVE to SIX weeks, he went every Wednesday afternoon to his professor鈥檚 office. He never knocked on the door. He never entered the office. He just sat at a table outside and did his homework. Eventually, his professor stuck her head out the door and asked, 鈥淐an I help you?鈥 鈥淥h, no thanks,鈥 Michael replied confidently; 鈥淚鈥檓 just completing my office hours.鈥 To her credit, the professor did not smirk, did not guffaw. She smiled, invited him in, and explained just what 鈥渙ffice hours鈥 meant. We miscommunicate with students all the time. We use academic language and terms that they do not know, casually, in lectures, and on our syllabi. We forget that many of them simply do not have 鈥渃ollege knowledge.鈥 Many of them are the first in their families to go to college; they have no context for terms as varied as 鈥渙ffice hours,鈥 鈥渕atriculation,鈥 鈥渄eans,鈥 or 鈥渃umulative G.P.A.鈥 Finding time鈥攎aking time鈥攖o help orient them to the new world they have entered can be a way of making college seem less alien, less confusing, less unwelcoming. This toolkit offers some ways to help students build their 鈥渃ollege knowledge鈥 in low-stakes, quick ways, empowering them to negotiate their way through the unfamiliar landscape of a college campus. - Margie Whalen

Impact on Faculty

This toolkit will provide a low-stakes way to orient students and to begin to build their "college knowledge"--their familiarity with the terms we use that are particular to academia.

Toolkit Survey

Toolkit Overview

Attached is a list of academic terms that beginning (and long-time) students don鈥檛 know鈥攐ften to their detriment. I know; I鈥檝e tried this list with students in English classes, both at the 67 and 68 level, and the number of the terms that are unfamiliar might startle you.

The unfamiliarity of these terms can interfere with their ability to understand and follow instructions, their ability to make use of campus resources, and their ability to advocate for themselves. Ideas about ways to work on these are included in the "Steps to Implement" section.

Steps To Implement

There is a variety of approaches that you might try for helping students familiarize themselves with these terms. Here are some suggestions:

1. First, consider this list as a starting point. What other terms about college itself do your students need to know to succeed in your class? Are there resources鈥攍ike the LAC, the MARC, TC鈥檚, SI鈥檚鈥攖hat they should know about? What might you add to the list? Remember to focus not on content terminology; the emphasis here is on college knowledge.

2. Next, consider how you might integrate these 鈥渃ollege knowledge鈥 vocabulary terms in to your class. You might, for instance, simply give students your revised list and have students work in pairs or small groups to see what they already know. (You could even tell them the story about my friend Michael to begin; he has given us permission to use the story as an example.) This might be a good warm-up activity during the first week of class, perhaps on the first day, giving students a chance to talk to each other and feel comfortable before diving in to the subject matter of your course.

3. You might choose instead to do this a little later in the course鈥攁fter the first quiz or exam or especially taxing activity. Students might feel more motivated to learn the names of resources, for instance, if they have been less than successful on a first test.

4. Faculty who use the 鈥淨uestion of the Day鈥 approach to calling roll might project the list of terms onto the board, and as they call each student鈥檚 name, they could ask the students to choose one term that they know (or don鈥檛 know) and talk about it.

5. You could simply write one term a day on the board and use it as a teaser as students begin to settle down and transition from commuting, parking, and rushing to class. Students could be asked to keep a list of terms and their own definitions, and they could be offered an extra credit point or two on a quiz. (This seems paltry, but students enjoy even the slightest chance for extra credit, even in instances when it will have no real effect on their grade for the course.)

6. Any creative approach would do鈥攆lash cards, bingo games, whatever you can find (make) the time to do. Just remember that students who feel disconnected from the campus are often the first to disappear; if we can make them 鈥渙wn鈥 the institution and its arcane terminology (What鈥檚 up with the whole 鈥渂ursar鈥 thing, anyway?), that will be good for students.

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