Challenges for College Freshmen - Part 6 of 6

One major change in college compared to high school is the amount of reading you are expected to master.  You are expected to learn the information you are reading on your own, it often is not repeated in class. Multiple other blogs have addressed how to read and learn, but a brief overview is to:

1. Preview what you are reading.  Look at the entire selection and see what the topic is, how it is organized, and what help is offered in the book (learning objectives, bold print, definitions. Etc.)
2. Be an active reader.  Monitor your comprehension.   Stop periodically and restate in your own words what you just read.   Take margin notes or separate notes.  Look for the organization.  Be alert for signals from the author.
3. After you are done, take a few minutes to go back and review what you have read and your notes.

Another major change both in high school and college is the number of eBooks replacing paper books.  There several benefits (more portable and lower cost) and problems (harder to read and comprehend).  You will find a wide range of “friendliness” with eBooks.  In some cases, you will be able to see all the pages in the section while you are reading one page.  This is very helpful with seeing the big picture and how the information all fits together.  In other cases, you just see the page you are reading.  Some strategies you can use to successfully learn from eBooks and articles on-screen are:

• Preview entire selection so you see the overall organization even if you have to scroll the entire chapter before starting to read.
• Use the same active strategies as when reading print – monitor comprehension, restate information in your own words after each section, reread if not able to restate the information, etc.
• If you are having trouble retaining the information, take separate notes.
• Consider printing out some of the material and annotating.

At my institution the fall semester is about to begin. Next week I am teaching a one-week freshman orientation program.  One thing I share with students in the program is advice from upperclassmen who were on academic probation and what they learned about how to be successful in college.  I will also share this advice in the next blog.  Enjoy the end of summer!

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right  link.