Printable learning contract - Learning Contract - 2 credit Workshop Survey.pdf

ESC 101: Introduction to College Learning & Student Success

Introductory, 2 credit

Non-liberal, Basic Communications (partial)/Educational Studies

Instructor: Lisa D’Adamo-Weinstein, 

 PURPOSE

This is an introductory workshop based survey course. The purpose of this study is to allow students to develop a personalized student success plan through participation in individual appointments and a series of Academic Support workshops.  Students will meet individually with the course instructor and participate in the Academic Support/Pieces of Success workshop series in order to better understand how they learn best and to create their own individualized academic success plan for their coursework at Empire State College. Students will be asked to write short reflection papers after each workshop and a final self-analysis paper.

 LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this study, students should be able to… 

• Identify and manage their learning strengths and challenges,
• Incorporate traditional and technology-based resources into their learning,
• Use effective strategies in different learning engagements,
• Create positive learning environments for themselves,
• Increase their academic skills self-confidence while decreasing stress, &
• Improve their academic performance and development as a life-long learner.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES & COURSE MATERIALS

 Course Materials

All materials for the course will be available during the workshops and via links and downloadable documents sent either via e-mail from the instructor and/or on the website - http://necacademicsupport.pbworks.com/ESC101. Students will be asked to actively engage in using these resources to expand their understanding of their academic studying strategies; self-management and organization abilities; perspectives on academic success/failure; and critical thinking, reading writing and academic research skills. Students will also be asked to apply newly learned strategies to their other academic coursework and reflect on their effectiveness.

Participation Activities

• Individual appointments – Students will meet individually with the instructor and/or learning coaches twice during the term. These meetings should each last approximately one hour.  The goals of these meetings are to develop a plan for which workshops the students will attend and to review the workshop experience.

• The first meeting should occur during the first week of the term and will include a self-assessment activity.
• The second meeting should occur during weeks 13 or 14 and will be used to review all of the workshop reflective essays and discuss the final reflective paper.

• Academic Skills Workshops – All students will be required to participate in five out of the ten Academic Skills Workshop/Pieces of Success topics offered during the academic year.  Attendance/participation can happen either in person (Latham or Saratoga) or online (http://bit.ly/NECworkshops), but attendance is mandatory at five of these workshops.   Workshop schedules are made available annually in June for August – April (spanning the September through March terms) and an additional schedule comes out for the months of May - July in late March. The workshop schedules are available on the current schedule page (http://bit.ly/currentworkshopschedule) of the Academic Support website (http://necacademicsupport.pbworks.com/).

Written Activities

Students will write six 1-2 page reflective essays based on their reactions to/insights gained from the six workshops in which they participated in throughout the course of the term. Students will write a final reflective 3-5 page self-analysis paper.

 METHOD AND CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

The student will be evaluated on the completion of all assignments and engagement in the learning process.  Evaluation will be based on students’ ability to demonstrate a clear understanding of the workshop materials while applying them to their individual learning situations.  All verbal and written activities will be evaluated by the instructor for their scope, content, and clarity of ideas.  Both written and verbal ideas must be focused and fully developed in order to achieve credit. 

 PLAN FOR REGULAR FEEDBACK 

Expectations of the Student: The student is expected to attend individual appointments and workshops on time. There are many opportunities for students to pick and choose the workshops that interest them the most, students should not wait until the end of the term to make progress in the study.   The student is expected to work independently, to “actively” not only attend workshops and appointments, but to also keep up with their assignments by submit their reflective essays to the instructor within a week of participating in a workshop. In order to get timely feedback and to fully engage in the learning process, assignments must be submitted in a timely manner throughout the term and not all at the end of the term.

Expectations of the Instructor: A grading rubric and instructions sheet will be provide for the reflective workshop papers and final reflective essay assignment so students will know the expectations of the instructor and will understand the calculations underlying the grading process. The instructor is expected to provide timely feedback (typically within a week of receiving the assignment) to all assignments in both written and verbal forms so the students will be able to identify areas for improvement and be able to track their progress.