While many courses teach skills and data that will eventually be obsolete, the learning and self-management skills developed in a student success course can serve for a lifetime.

An effective course framework contains several key elements. Administrators and faculty can demonstrate their support of your course by assuring that it matches the following criteria:

Credit-Bearing Built Into The Curriculum Presented Over The Term Thirty Or More Contact Hours Well-Scheduled Facilitated By Best Instructors Advertised To Students

CREDIT-BEARING

A well-designed student success course deserves full academic credit. It is the traditional unit by which educational value is measured. Credit is the reward for attendance, participation, and learning the information and skills outlined in a given course. While many courses teach skills and data that will eventually be obsolete, the learning and self-management skills developed in a student success course can serve for a lifetime.

There are several common considerations about credit that might be raised. For example, the number of credits needed for certification or graduation is limited and is already spoken for by academic departments. Or the faculty curriculum committee decides which courses count for credit, and the chairperson views this course as "remedial." In addition, some students may say that the school requires too many credits already.

Dealing with these and other objections requires a strategy. The following techniques have been used successfully in gaining credit for courses.

1. Often, a school appears to be prohibited from offering credit or requiring a student success course while a similar institution in the same state has a required, credit-bearing course already in place. Find out if there are state laws, accreditation rules, or school policies which may impede the effort to grant credit.
2. Bring the focus of conversation to the real issues underlying the need for a student course. For example, if retention or poor academic preparedness is a sufficiently serious concern, difficult obstacles can be overcome.
3. Get help. There are consultants and strategies available to assist you in solving your dilemmas. You may find them among your peers on campus.
4. Substitute a student success course for another first-term course, or integrate student success components into existing introductory courses. Add credits to the existing course if possible.
5. Increase the total number of credits required for graduation, even if they exceed state or accreditation minimums.
6. In some cases, holding out for academic credit may absolutely stop the process of course adoption. When this occurs, request that "transcript credit" be granted to students who complete the course. In addition to the benefit of having your course listed on their official records, it may transfer to another institution where a similar course does carry academic credit.

BUILT INTO THE CORE CURRICULUM

Building a student success course into the core curriculum can maximize its impact on student performance and persistence. All students, including the most well-prepared, can benefit from this type of course.

Raising student expectations about the potential benefits will build enthusiasm and stimulate a greater commitment of energy to the course.

In general, student success courses focus on personal and self-management issues as well as academics. Students with good academic histories may easily succumb to problems which have nothing to do with their academic competency. Past achievement in classroom situations is not necessarily a predictor of a student's ability to set goals, manage time, succeed in relationships, or cope with stress.

When course participation is mandated only of students testing below a certain level, the image of the course becomes "remedial" or "developmental." There are colleges with high admissions standards where student success courses are part of the first-term curriculum for all students.

If your course is not required of everyone, those who don't participate may be precisely the ones who could make the greater contribution to the success of other students. Leaving them out eliminates the possibility of their modeling effective behavior to others in your course.

PRESENTED OVER THE TERM

Best results are obtained in a student success course when it is taught over an entire term rather than offered all at once.

Two important objectives are adaptation of techniques and changed behavior. Transference of skills is difficult when your course is presented prior to the beginning of the regular term, in a short length of time, or in isolation from other courses.

This type of course will be most relevant to students when they can practice newly learned strategies in their other courses. Learning test-taking skills, for instance, is more meaningful when students are actually taking exams.

More value is derived from a student success course textbook when there is adequate time for students to complete a series of assignments. This also reduces the need for lecturing and allows more class time for experiential learning.

THIRTY OR MORE CONTACT HOURS

Student success courses can encompass many objectives - improving academic and life skills, experimenting with new strategies, learning the rules of the institution, forming support groups, and getting acquainted with college and community resources. This is a long agenda. Thirty contact hours is recommended. Some courses carry three units of credit and run 40 hours or more. Don't compromise the success of your course by negotiating insufficient time for its delivery.

WELL-SCHEDULED

Courses scheduled during regular class hours are considered legitimate by faculty and students alike. Be prepared to campaign hard to get your course scheduled properly. This is sometimes so crucial to the success of your course that it may be the last thing you will want to compromise. Any course scheduled at 4:30 of Fridays is almost doomed from the start.

BEST INSTRUCTORS

Your teachers will make or break your course. If one of your jobs is to hire or otherwise select teachers, look for the following attributes:

• trusted by students, so they will experiment with the techniques presented
• ambitious enough to invest extensive time and energy in course preparation
• respected by administrators, so they will listen when the teacher speaks on behalf of students
• cares about students and their futures
• believes that each student can be successful
• represents your institution positively
• allows students to take responsibility for themselves
• encourages students to create their own solutions rather than providing all the answers
• radiates energy and enthusiasm
• listens actively

Teachers who lecture well in their academic field are not necessarily the best student success course instructors. A major course objective is to facilitate changes in how students approach their learning. Interactive, experiential activities promote changes more effectively than a straight lecture format. These activities can include exercises, guest speakers, quizzes and evaluations, assignments, and sharing of experiences. Students are more likely to modify their behavior when they discover that a new method works better.

ADVERTISED TO STUDENTS

Promote the value of your student success course to students and their parents or spouses. Many people have a limited or erroneous concept of extended orientation, college survival, or freshman seminar courses. Involve course instructors, counselors, student services personnel, and others in promoting your course during campus orientation and other initial meetings. It is worth some effort even when your course is required.

Describing the purpose and benefits provides a sense of expectation and helps to build a foundation for desired results.

Raising student expectations about the potential benefits will build enthusiasm and stimulate a greater commitment of energy to the course.

Describing the purpose and benefits provides a sense of expectation and helps to build a foundation for desired results. It may relieve anxiety both for students and for those financing or otherwise investing in their success. They will see the course as something like an insurance policy designed to protect the time, energy, and money being spent on the student's education. Consider doing a mini-course for parents and spouses during orientation week.

Promoting your course can also be accomplished by preparing and supplying flyers for mailings already scheduled for recruiting, admissions, and pre-registration. Consider placing posters advertising the benefits of your course, when and where it is scheduled, and how to get more information. Request that a paragraph about the course benefits be included in a welcome letter from the president of the college. Your course can boost public relations from your school ("We care about student success!") and serve as an excellent recruiting device.

Include high school counselors on your list of potential advocates. Educate them about your course and its benefits to students. They may then recommend it (and your school) to prospective students.