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College Tips for Success

Below you'll find some tips that I've curated that help set up students for success in college. These are based on my experiences and from a number of websites found at the end of this post.

Academic

Course Specific

1. Be on time
2. Pay attention in class
3. Participate and ask questions
4. Read the syllabus
5. Dedicate yourself to studying in the way that you've found works best for you
6. Work ahead if at all possible. If class ends early or you finish a lab early, that's not free time, that's time to dedicate to another area of study, either in the course or from another course.
7. Seek out help and student support services
8. Be consistent

Degree Specific

1. If you are deciding between adding another minor/major and being more involved on campus, you should get more involved. After college, very few people will care about your majors and minors, but they will care about your experiences.

Co-Curricular

1. Join a club or two in your interest area. The more that you can do to apply your learning, the better your educational experience.
2. Try to find a part-time job that relates to your major. It may take a year or two, but try to work towards doing something in your field. It will help for finding internships and may help provide the years of experience that you need for entry level jobs after graduation.
3. Take advantage of student centered support services. Professional Development, Experiential Learning and other services are there to help you.

Para-academic

1. Pursue a healthy lifestyle - This means getting enough sleep, exercising and eating well
2. Seek out and maintain positive relationships
3. Maintain balance
4. Don't study in your room - separate your room from work if you can

https://collegeinfogeek.com/42-things-i-learned-freshman-year/
http://www.bestcollegevalues.org/15-proven-tips-for-being-successful-in-a-college-class/
https://www.canyons.edu/Offices/Counseling/Pages/College-Success-Tips.aspx
https://www.scholarships.com/resources/college-prep/college-classes/top-10-tips-for-passing-college-classes/

Standard Class Information

Below you'll find information related to courses that I teach. You'll note at the bottom that this information is under constant revision in order to best reflect my current philosophy of teaching.

Office Hours

I do not schedule set office hours. I'm generally available and at work between 8:30AM and 7:00PM M-TH and 8:30 to 5:00 on Fridays save for class, research, advising, program meetings, faculty meetings, recruiting visits and other meetings that pop up. With this number of meetings and their often unpredictable nature, I try to make sure that I'm scheduled for meetings rather than random drop by. I also often times work on the weekends between 12:00 and 5:00 at work, but if I'm not at work, I can probably be found at Monks, Jitterz or if its late enough Jubeck's. This means that in order to meet me, you should e-mail first and check when I'm available and then schedule a meeting. You can also try my doodle meetme page to try to request a meeting. I will also hold on-line office hours on twitter, follow @EngagedBrain for updates. By scheduling meetings our time can be more productive because I can prepare for the meeting rather than have to drop whatever I'm working on and try to switch gears.

Lecture Attendance 

Students are required – and expected - to attend all of the classes for every course.  While I will not enforce a daily attendance policy, a failure to attend will reflect poorly in your participation portion of your final grade.  A portion of this grade is reflected in the critical thinking journals, which are randomly distributed throughout the course. If you are going to miss a lecture, please do your best to let me know before class. Also, please do your best to let me know if you have to leave class early. If you need to step out of class to take a break or use the bathroom or for another personal reason, there is no need to ask for permission or let me know.

Class/Lecture Characteristics

All courses have some mixture of lecture/discussion/small group work and student presentations. The mix of these will depend on the particular lecture and the course topic and level. In my reflections, I find that the less I talk, or maybe the more focused my talk is during a class, the better the class goes, so I try to tend towards more active and student driven work.

Absences and Make-ups

It is expected that you will turn in each assignment and take each examination at the scheduled time. A make-up exam can be taken only for excused absences. Unless highly unusual circumstances prevail, approval for excused absences must be obtained prior to the scheduled exam. If you fail to take an examination (an unexcused absence), you will receive a score of zero for that exam.

College Sponsored Events

If you are involved in intercollegiate athletic competitions, theater and choral performances, or debate (or other academic based co-curriculars), and have activities that may conflict with this course you should follow these instructions from the College’s official policies:  

1.     Submit a copy of your team/organization’s schedule to your instructors no later than the first day of class with all specific course conflicts highlighted.

2.     Through oral and email notification, communicate with your instructor(s) at least one class prior to each class that you are scheduled to miss to coordinate how you will make up and turn in missed work.  Your course syllabus may require greater advance notice of a pending absence.  You are expected to make up coursework missed (or an appropriate equivalent) by the original due date.

3.   Forward all relevant changes to the schedule to your instructors as soon as you are notified.

4.    Submit all course syllabi and schedule of course commitments to coach/moderator as soon as possible.

5.   It is a privilege to participate in college sponsored events.  Students found to be intentionally abusing this policy will lose the opportunity to participate in college sponsored events.

This policy does not cover practice/pre-game for any college sponsored event, or academic/co-curricular conferences. Even if your scheduling conflicts are due to college-sponsored activities, there are many “nonreplicable” activities in this course that cannot be made up.  

Posting of Lectures

PDF’s of the lectures will be posted on the eLearn page for your reference.  I will do my best to post lectures within 24 hours after the lecture. This is for both practical (I’m often working on these until the last minute) and pedagogical (I like you to take your own notes) reasons. Please note that these PDFs are not comprehensive in their information as much of what we study in class is through discussion and activities.

Academic Integrity

Loras College’s policy: “Dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, etc.) in class and/or assigned work will result in total loss of credit for the class and/or assigned work. Dishonesty in examinations, which are not final examinations, will result in total loss of credit for the examination. Dishonesty in final examinations will result in the grade of Fail for the course. All cases of student dishonesty are reported in writing to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs by the faculty member. The student may appeal cases of dishonesty to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs.”

Cell phones, etc

Please turn off or silence all electronic devices during class. I will remember to do the same. Feel free to use a computer/tablet for taking notes in class. If you want to record a lecture for personal use, please get my permission and do not post or share it publicly. While I encourage the use of computer in class and try to make purposeful use of them, I do not what you to distract others with your computer usage. There is evidence that off-task computer use affects not only the user but the other students within eye-shot of them, so it took me a long time to consider the data, but it is my hope that everyone remains respectful so that we can harness the power of using computers in class.

Twitter/Social Media

I use several on-line technologies in my courses including (but not limited to) Twitter, YouTube, Blogger, Wordpress, and Tumblr. I do this for several reasons: to practice social media skills, to practice public engagement and communication, and to practice using modern technologies. This means that I require you to follow two twitter handles @LorasNeuro (for program and college announcements) and @EngagedBrain (for class and research announcements). This means that you need to either use your personal twitter handle or create an anonymous one for the purposes of this class (How to sign-up, Getting started).

Getting Help

If you find that you are having difficulties with the any of the material please contact me as soon as possible! Do not wait until late in the course. It is difficult to significantly improve your grade if there are only a few weeks left in the course.  I am happy to help you. Its my job and something that I like. Honestly, I probably do a better job explaining and working with you 1-on-1, but with time constraints try to work with everyone in class. If you are not able to see me during hours that I'm available, we can make other arrangements. You can also find resources at various centers including the Library, Writing Center, Office of Academic Support and Student Counseling Center.

Assignments

If I can't find your assignment or its corrupted or there is some problem with it at the due date, that's a problem and will be considered late. In general, the deadline for assignments should be considered a last resort deadline. I think that everything should really be aimed to be done and turned in the day before the deadline to account for any problems with the submission.

Midterm Grades

Often times my classes are not scheduled in a way to provide accurate feedback of your midterm performance. Yes, I'm sorry that the classes are backend loaded, but I think that it works best for the material, concepts and our learning goals. So that means that at midterm you will all automatically receive a "B-" regardless of what you've done in class so far (unless you're "failing" in which case you will receive an "F"). I'll make sure that I have submitted the things that I've assessed at midterm, but it will be up to you to calculate what that means.

Late Work

10% off everyday after initial due date. No assignments accepted after 10 days past due. Can you have an extension? Sure, any extension only costs 10% per day past the deadline. I don't think that I ever include deadlines or assignments that are not included in the syllabus at the beginning of class. As I note above, the deadline is really the last possible time to have the assignment done and really you should aim to have the assignment done a day before the deadline. Lastly, I will note that any assignment turned in before 5:00AM the day after the assigned deadline will not incur the 10% penalty, though some assignments have hard 9:00PM deadlines and are noted in the syllabus, general assignment page.

Due Time

Assignments are due at 9:00PM on the due date unless otherwise noted. However, I will note that any assignment turned in before 5:00AM the day after the assigned deadline will not incur the 10% penalty as you have decided to impose your own penalty on yourself by foregoing sleep. Late work and due time are not applicable to finals, these are due at the specific time with no exceptions.

Electronic File Naming Conventions

Any file you submit should be in the form:
Lastname_Firstname_Year_AbbreviatedAssignmentName
e.g., Kurczek_Jake_2016_Draft or Kurczek_Jake_2016_AB1

*These policies will be continually updated over time, make sure to check back

FAQ

1. I missed last class, did I miss anything?

Yes, you missed last class and anything that we did during class. Most assignments are turned in on-line so you likely didn't miss an opportunity to turn something in.

2. Can we have class outside?

No, I'm too easily distractible. I also likely find "nice" temperatures for most people to be too warm to be comfortable for me.

3. Do we have class the day before a break?

Are we scheduled to have class on that day or is it part of the break? If our class day falls on the day before break, we will still have class. Is it ok for you to miss it? Sure, you just lose points for that day related to whatever measure assesses that.

4. Its the end of the semester, can we talk about the class?

Well, that depends, do you want to know more about the course topics, maybe, but the end of the semester isn't the best time. I might be able to recommend another class where we can talk about similar topics. Do you want to talk about your grade? No, you're too late. Although I mentioned above that the course is heavily backend loaded, you should have a pretty good idea about what's going on in the course and your performance. The week before finals or the week of finals is too late, and we can't really fix what's already happened. For this reason, you should talk to me at the first sign or worry that you have so that we can proactively figure out how to be successful in the course.

HuB Lab

Our lab is now set up in Hennessy Hall. Our lab proper is in Hennessy 362 and our testing suites are 4 suites in Hennessy 370A. You can find Hennessy Hall on the Campus map below. I've highlighted Hennessy in the black rectangle. It is at the intersection of Edina Street with Alta Vista Street. 

To get to our lab. From the picture above, enter the double doors to the left of the car. Take the metal stairwell to the third floor. You'll see a sign for the Timothy Gannon Psychology labs on your left and a doorway. Go through the doorway and our lab meeting area is straight in front of you, room 362. The testing suites are just around the corner. From the stairwell, go through the doorway and to your left. At the turn in the hallway go right and you'll find 370A, the entrance to the testing suites as the first door on your left. You can find some pictures of the lab on our website.

Serious Academics

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When you think of academics, did the picture above come to mind. Cold marble staircases, old white professors, and even older, whiter marbled busts of professors or benefactors to the university. If so, you may have thrown your hands up in praise when you read this missive about the use of social media in higher education. I read through the article a few times, each time more convinced that it was a troll article that in a day or two, after the obvious social media uproar, was going to come back and say, "See, look at the power of social media in higher education." But alas, it appears to be someone's actual opinion that 21st century culture and technology has no place in our apparent 20th century academic paradigm.

So to show that I am a serious academic, this is my primer for college students and curating their digital presence (as well as other on-line tips).

wikimedia commons

1. Get a gmail account along the lines of first.name.last-name@gmail.com. Why gmail? I like how well integrated the google products are across different aspects of on-line life, from blogging (like right here, right now), to e-mail communication, time management (calendar), to storage of digital files (Drive) and photos (Google Photos).  This e-mail allows you to sign-up for further things I recommend below and moves you past your middle school or high school identity Br@1nSl@y3r@hotmail.com.
2. Get twitter. This is where we can start to really think about our on-line presence. You can stay with your name for twitter, but if you have a common name, or you think that you see a future in something on-line related, you may think about creating an on-line brand/identity. I use EngagedBrain because it communicates a few things. I'm a neuroscientist (that's the brain part), but more importantly, engagement (in two senses) explains how I approach teaching and research in that I want to help students really engage with the material and also engage with the public through science communication and outreach. This identity should then be used throughout the different outlets online.
3. Start something about your academic interests. 
1. A blog- I like blogger (see above), but also use wordpress (which is more attractive and extensible - for example you can turn a wordpress site into a personal webpage with a blog component).
2. A podcast
3. Infographics
4. Reach out to people. The easiest step is putting things out on the internet. The next step and most difficult is to then live there. Ask people questions, respond to people who have comments on your work. 
5. Join networks - I have profiles on linkedin, neurotree (and relatives), google scholar, research gate, orcid, impactstory, klout, menedley, zotero, github and figshare. Is that too many? Probably, but each has a slightly different purpose and is used to greater or lesser extents.

Other on-line tips

1. Get an RSS curator. I love google reader, but switched to feedly when google canned the previous product. This allows you to bring your interests together in a common place. I also use flipboard as an app.
2. Start a one-page landing website. You can use wix, weebly or any number of other free services. This will curate your networks and interests. Or if you really want to work on your on-line skills, look into learning some html, css, and javascript. I like twitter bootstrap and use it on my website.

Why do all this?

1. Helps you become an expert in your interests. It takes a lot of work to produce stuff and allows you to really explore topics deeply.
2. Helps your communication. Being able to communicate across different genres/disciplines/outlets are great and fundamental skills. Employers want people who can speak and write clearly no matter what your field.
3. It helps people! We can't be experts in everything, but if we can use our fundamental skills in information acquisition and vetting we can look to the products of others to help us understand.
4. Allows you to own your on-line presence

Revealing the "Hidden" Curriculum

As students head back to school or arrive on college campuses for the first time, they are being inundated with tips (25, 10, 42, 50, 36). Some time ago, I wrote about "noncognitive" contributions to college success and these contributions dovetail nicely into the so called hidden curriculum. These are the things that you won't find in the hundreds of tips provided earlier. This curriculum is a side-effect of the practices and principles of primary and secondary education that are not necessarily aimed to be taught.

So in case you feel like you missed something in high school here are the hidden aspects of learning that may help you in college:

• Be comfortable reaching out for help and support. Most colleges have Writing Centers, Supplemental Instruction, Teachers Assistants, Lab Assistants, Library Instruction, Offices for Disabilities, Mental Health Centers, Alumni and Employment services and many more. These centers serve to support and enhance your experiences both in- and outside of the classroom.
• Every time you attend a new class, even if its with a professor that you've had before, the rules may be different. That means different cultural norms, different cultural expectations, and different teaching pedagogies.

As I started to write on this particular topic, I've started to notice that its difficult, if not impossible to write about one hidden curriculum as it is affected by the particular norms, expectations and values of any given institution. So instead I'll give a few other unmentioned tips:

• Focus on fewer but more engaging opportunities. In other words, do more with less. You don't need to be a part of every club on campus or every service opportunity. Focus on the opportunities where you can be more than a passive participant and see what opportunities you can become a leader in. This also means starting early. Most campuses have activity fairs early in the first semester. See my advice immediately below and try a number of things, but then focus on the ones that seem to be the most interesting/helpful.
• Don't be afraid to try new things, but also know when to give up and focus on others.
• Ask questions. This gives you perspective. The more questions you can ask from the more people, the better you can understand where you are and why.
• There's much more to classes in college, but doing well in classes set a baseline for your ability to take full advantage after college
• Some opportunities you'll have are unique, take them if they compete with common activities.
• You'll be pushed an pulled in new directions. Some of your values, beliefs and thought processes will be challenged. How you handle these challenges will likely be some of your most formative experiences. This is likely the point that hits closest to the "hidden curriculum". Those who are best able to pick up on the beliefs, practices and values of a place and adopt them position themselves to succeed. However, those who either aren't able to pick up on the practices or for whom the beliefs and values don't line up with their own will have problems. A challenge we see across college campuses today is how students are trying to bring their college's values/beliefs in line with their own. Should students just accept that they can't change colleges and survive/bear the mismatch for four years or should they attempt to work with colleges to have the colleges slowly adapt/change. Change will take more than 1 year/4 years which is frustrating for students, but changing an institution engrained in beliefs/values stretching back decades, centuries and millennia (when we look at college more generally), shaping an institution to a new image will take time. Poor and lazy advice is to grin an bear it. Equally poor advice is to look for complete revolution. The most useful and beneficial advice is to find the areas most ripe for change and focus on those. I'll call this the Ship of Theseus revolution, because while the overall ship stays the same, the pieces its made of are replaced slowly over time.
• Take advantage of everything a college has to offer. As I said above, there are tons of support services but these services and others are meant to prepare you for your future. Apply for grants/fellowships/internships and other opportunities. Work with alumni and other outward facing offices. Choose employment that can give you the skills necessary for your future employment. Take advantage of the subsidized entertainment on campus.

As I first started to look into the hidden curriculum, I was under the assumption that there was going to be a certain set of ideas that were meant to be communicated, but were just never explicitly mentioned. So while I can't reveal a particular curriculum, the best advice I can give is to ask questions and then ask you to think (and act), how will you handle being in an environment that may not line up with your beliefs, values and expectations.

Decision Making in Older Adults

We makes, tens, hundreds (thousands?) of decisions each day. But what happens to our decisions as we get older. Do changes in our brain lead to changes in our behavior? Today I sit down with Dr. Kameko Halfmann, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology at St. Norbert College to talk about her research and a recent paper published by her and collaborators in Frontiers.

www.thebluediamondgallery.com/

Music is Marathon Man from Audionautix provided by the Creative Commons License.