College Success
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ISBN 13: 9781946135063
Publisher: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing
Language: English
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Reviews
Certain sections could also benefit from greater detail. For instance, topics like overcoming fears or setting and maintaining goals are introduced but not deeply explored. Similarly, generalized advice, such as the importance of sleep and... read more
Certain sections could also benefit from greater detail. For instance, topics like overcoming fears or setting and maintaining goals are introduced but not deeply explored. Similarly, generalized advice, such as the importance of sleep and nutrition, overlooks the systemic barriers that often prevent students from meeting these needs. These issues are complex and unlikely to be solved in a generalized text like this, but it would have added value to acknowledge that some of the issues that many student face are complex and not solvable in a chapter.
Despite these limitations, the short chapters provide solid overviews and can serve as effective starting points for micro-activities and discussions in first-year college or high school senior classrooms. While the text lacks depth in some areas, it offers a valuable foundation for building college readiness skills. I would not hesitate to recommend, provided that the instructor addresses some of these areas that the text itself cannot cover in depth.
The text is accurate, but it does lean towards a bias in favor of students in ideal or near-ideal circumstances.
The text would have benefited from a little more focus on problem-solving strategies for students facing significant challenges. The changing nature of Higher Education, and the complex identities of our students, might make this text obsolete in the relatively near future.
The text is clear and accessible. It does a good job of defining common college terms for students.
The terminology and framework of the text are consistent.
The text sections are well-suited to being assigned as smaller reading sections.
The topics in the text are presented in a largely logical fashion. Some of the subjects, like financial literacy, might be better served as an introductory section, but these minor issues are easily fixed by teaching some of the chapters out of sequence.
The interface for the text is easy to navigate and unlikely to confuse students.
The text contains no major grammatical errors.
The text is relatively inclusive in terms of representation, but it could do better with addressing some of the complex challenges that some of these students face in college. The key issue is that the text is so general that it lacks sufficient guidance for students who may be struggling with complex concerns faced by many under-served student demographics. Addressing how students with intersecting under-served identities can navigate common college obstacles would have added valuable depth.
This text is a clear and practical resource that is accessible for first-year college students and easy for instructors to navigate. It is overall successful, with a motivating tone that encourages engagement. The tone can occasionally boarder on toxic positivity that might not resonate with current students, but this potential issue is easily addressed in a classroom setting. The note-taking sections are particularly well-structured, and the key chapter takeaways offer helpful summaries. While the text does rely on many commonly taught high school study practices, this repetition is bound to happen in any college readiness text that is as comprehensive as this one.
The textbook covers a variety of topics about college life and experience. The language used is clear and concise with enough details to facilitate students' understanding. read more
The textbook covers a variety of topics about college life and experience. The language used is clear and concise with enough details to facilitate students' understanding.
The book's content is accurate and gives various information about topics necessary for students to succeed in college. The book is unbiased and could be a helpful resource for students no matter what demographic background they come from.
The content is up-to-date and current in most of the topics it discusses are accurate and would benefit college students or high school students transitioning to college.
The text is written in an easy and clear language that can be understood by both native and non-native English speakers. There are no technical or difficult words that would interfere with the understanding of the text.
The text within the book is consistent with the use of terminology throughout the book and the chapters.
The book has clear and easily readable parts. The book includes several chapters or units; within each chapter, there are sub-topics and sub-headings with clear instructions. The chapters include short readings, exercises, take aways, and review part.
The topics are well-presented. The textbook is divided into sections based on different topics that matter to college students. It focuses on both the academic side and social side of college education.
There are no major interface issues, but I do find It a little too much for students with all the tabs included. It would be more beneficial to include more graphs and pictures or visuals in general. I do like the readability panel or option added to the book.
The book is free of any major grammatical or mechanics errors that can interfere with comprehension. I would highly recommend sticking to the principles of academic writing and avoiding things like the use of contractions for example.
The book is culturally appropriate because it does not offer any offensive or insensitive content to any population or group of people.
Overall, this open book is a great resource for Freshman college students or any upcoming freshman or high school students looking to learn more about what to expect in college. I think I would use it in a First Year Seminar class, and it would be a valuable resource.
"College Success" is comprehensive and covers all the areas and ideas introduced in student success textbooks. The organization of the content in each chapter introduces the topics sequentially, which is conducive to exploring the various topics. read more
"College Success" is comprehensive and covers all the areas and ideas introduced in student success textbooks. The organization of the content in each chapter introduces the topics sequentially, which is conducive to exploring the various topics.
The content is neutral and reflects the experiences of college students who are diverse in experiences and age. Readers of different backgrounds should be able to understand the content.
The strategies in the textbook are relevant to college success but can easily be updated to embed new techniques and theories. They can easily be implemented in the current text or added to the existing content.
The text is clear, and the jargon is adequate for the text.
The terminology and framework of this text are consistent throughout.
The text is broken into sections that are easy to assign at different points. The content and the activities can be reorganized to fit the course at appropriate points without difficulty to the reader.
The chapter sections and activities are arranged logically and clearly but can be adjusted to fit the individual instructor's needs.
There are no significant issues with the display features of this text. It is easy to navigate, and the graphics are not distorted or confusing.
The text has no or few grammatical errors.
Most of the pictorial pictures in the text are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. However, a few appear outdated and inconsistent with the rest of the pictures used in the resource.
The book covers each of the areas I cover in my Learning Skills classes, offering a variety of text about each topic. More materials for public speaking would be useful. Especially how to reduce anxiety and prepare notes and slides. Especially in... read more
The book covers each of the areas I cover in my Learning Skills classes, offering a variety of text about each topic. More materials for public speaking would be useful. Especially how to reduce anxiety and prepare notes and slides. Especially in community colleges, public speaking and class presentations play a major role.
I believe the book is accurate, but some of the chapter and section titles are a bit condescending, or at least my students may perceive them as such. For example, Chapter 5.1, "Are you ready for the big leagues" is obnoxious and my non-traditional students, beginning school after years in the military or jail or after being a parent, will be put off.
I think the book is general enough to work well for a while, but I would like to see how often the text is updated.
Some of the language could be a bit less academic in nature, since the book is introducing students, who may not be fully prepared for college, to higher education. But overall, I think the book does a good job.
Yes - the book is very consistent and easy to navigate for me and my students. We know what to expect from each chapter.
Very well done here. As noted above, the book is very consistent and easy to navigate for me and my students. We know what to expect from each chapter.
I like the straightforward organization and the easy drop-down menu. I use "Communication in the Real World" for my freshman human communication course and appreciate the similar organization. However, I've noticed that updates there are not frequent and I worry that this may be the case here as well.
I also don't like that the name of the author(s) is/are not provided. When I'm teaching research I won't allow my students to cite sources without author names.
Though I would like more visuals and links and "bells and whistles" the interface, as is, is super easy to navigate. I know my students appreciate that and I can supplement with the links to information I like to teach.
I haven't found any major issues with grammar.
I'm spoiled with the book I use now, that specifically addresses Pacific Island cultures, the area where I teach. I think it would be cool to add a chapter that more clearly addresses learning in varying cultures, but the book is, from what I can glean, intended to be as mainstream as possible.
I like that the book is easy to navigate. Most chapters and sections are useful for learning skills classes I teach and I appreicate the quality of information provided.
The book seems to be very comprehensive and covers all of the information that we usually cover in our student success/orientation class. The glossary is clear and easy to follow. read more
The book seems to be very comprehensive and covers all of the information that we usually cover in our student success/orientation class. The glossary is clear and easy to follow.
Most of the information seemed to be accurate, error-free and unbiased. Chapter 10, however, had some concerns for me as it appeared to be provide a biased and privileged approach to health, especially around weight. The sexual health section had good information, but seemed incomplete when talking about STI's.
Yes, the book uses current information and should also be easily updated with more current information.
The book is written clearly and at a level that most students will be able to understand. It uses clear terms and not a lot of jargon.
Yes, it appears to be consistent in terminology and framework.
The book does an excellent job of breaking down each chapter into smaller units with activities and knowledge checking after each section. This makes it very easy to follow and seems less daunting.
Yes, the order of topics make sense and build on one another.
Overall, looks good and easy to read. There were just a few distortion of charts in the reviews and assignments at the end of the chapters.
I did not notice any grammatical errors as I was reviewing the book.
Again, I just feel like Chapter 10 was a little biased and privileged and did not take into account different backgrounds and cultural differences especially when it discussed the weight section and eating disorders.
I look forward to using this book in our Student Success/Orientation class. The information is very thorough and I really like how it is set up and all of the activities that are available to complete with students to deepen their understanding of the material. The only chapter I will probably not use in it's entirety is Chapter 10. I feel like there is information available from other sources that is more thorough, less biased and presented in a more sensitive manner for a more diverse audience.
This text covers its content areas well. There is no glossary, however. Key words are in bold type print that would potentiality be good candidates for a glossary definition. The table of contents is helpful and complete. I particularly like the... read more
This text covers its content areas well. There is no glossary, however. Key words are in bold type print that would potentiality be good candidates for a glossary definition. The table of contents is helpful and complete. I particularly like the visually pleasing way the chapters are organized with key take aways and checkpoint exercises. Overall, this book is very easy to follow and find information.
The content of this textbook appears to be accurate even though some of the statistics are dated. I would like to see updated statistics and videos in a future publication of this book. Considering that this is a free resource for students, it has definitely more assets than draw backs and offers sound advice for new students who want to improve their skills and learn about topics that effect their lives. I will use it for the Summer 2021 semester.
Since this book covers timeless classic topics like time management, testing taking, and note taking, to name a few, the information doesn't go out of style. As I mentioned previously, the statistics and some videos are a bit outdated, but nevertheless interesting as long as you look that them in context with the previous decade. The activities outlined in the chapters are timeless and easy to adapt to changing times. I highly recommend this book for use first year college courses as it has a lot of offer students.
This test is clearly written and easy to understand. With the absence of a glossary, it might be helpful to have a definition of key words on the same page as the first reference to the word. I found even the technical language explaining drugs easy to follow and comprehend. I tried to imagine how English Language Learners would view this book. I think they would be able to understand the references and find it helpful.
The voice and tone of the text is consistent as well as the overall message of the lessons. I did not find any discrepancies in the information.
This book is organized very well, It is easy to locate a particular part of the book or assign certain sections. I found that having the key take aways section color coded green and the checkpoint exercises color coded blue really helps make the book user friendly.
The topis are presented in a way that makes sense to me as an instructor. If one chooses to teach the topics in a different order, it would be easy for both the instructor and student to navigate.
The interface is acceptable, but the images, charts and test blocks do not show up in WORD, which is problematic if the student needs to use the reader in WORD for their coursework. The PDF form is better, but the videos are not clickable. I just used part of words in the link to conduct an internet search of the videos. Some I found, and some I did not. Students might have difficulty navigating this. When I used the epub version with my Aidiko app on my Android phone to view the book the videos we not clickable either and some of the text is piled up and unreadable in some areas.
Overall the grammar was fine. I would have reworded a few areas, but overall it is good.
The cultural context of this textbook seems to be well thought out and sensitive to its readers, in my opinion.
I really am thrilled to have found this textbook and will use it. I love the fact that it is an OER!
I've been using a Cengage "On Course" and I find this OER book to be just as comprehensive if not more. I especially like the end of chapter activities for students as they are deeply reflective. read more
I've been using a Cengage "On Course" and I find this OER book to be just as comprehensive if not more. I especially like the end of chapter activities for students as they are deeply reflective.
This book is accurate, error free and unbiased.
The topics are relevant for all of the different topics of College Success. All topics for college success are covered thoughtfully and thoroughly
This text is written clearly and handles unfamiliar topics in an accessible way.
The framework of this text is one of the things I like most about it. It covers topics in "chunks" that feel doable for the student. It is not overwhelming and has a common sense scope and sequence.
See comments for last category.
I would have liked to see the financial literacy earlier in the text, but this is a personal preference.
The interface is user friendly and consistent with Universal Design for Learning.
No grammatical errors.
I did not observe any insensitive or offensive examples.
I am pleased with this text and plan to use in in the Fall of 2021. I would use it now except that I have to rewrite my Canvas class.
The text does a good job of addressing the breadth of topics generally covered in a college success course. Includes an easily navigable table of contents. read more
The text does a good job of addressing the breadth of topics generally covered in a college success course. Includes an easily navigable table of contents.
Content is accurate and error free. The material is structured for a 4-year, residential campus. So, 2-year colleges would likely need to refine or be selective with the content.
While the text is a few years old, the information is still pertinent for student success. I would have liked to see more use of technology or web elements (videos, graphics, hyperlinks, etc.) to better engage different learning styles.
The writing throughout is clear and accessible for students.
Terms used throughout the text are consistent. Text also utilizes a consistent format by beginning each chapter with a check-in for students and ending each chapter with comprehensive chapter activities.
Sub-chapters are precise, clearly titled and easily navigable. It would be simple for an instructor to determine and assign chapters and/or sub-chapters and from there for students to locate the information. The text also a good job circling back and referencing previous chapters and information.
On the whole the text is organized clearly. Topics are easily located and logically build within a chapter.
There were no significant interface issues. Reading the text as a pdf was the easiest. I was hoping to read the text on an e-reader, but wasn’t able to access it this way.
The text is free from grammatical errors.
The text makes use of inclusive imagery but does not include case studies or student perspectives. Students are expected to learn the material, but do not see themselves in it. Even with student stories, it’s an example story told about the student instead of a story by the student about their own experience.
Overall this is a fine textbook with clear information on topics pertinent to college success courses for traditional, 4-year students. I did not find the text to be particularly culturally response, so students with a variety of identities may not find this text reflective of or speaking to their experiences. For example, in the chapter on faculty interactions, the core ideas are accurate. But what about adult students who are navigating the positionality change of being a student and not a supervisor? Or what about students who don’t interact with instructors not because they’re shy, but because culturally they’re raised not to question authority? This text doesn’t speak to those types of student experiences.
College Success is a comprehensive, user friendly manual on how to navigate through the first year of college. There are 12 chapters ranging from developing study strategies such as note taking and test taking, improving one’s organizational... read more
College Success is a comprehensive, user friendly manual on how to navigate through the first year of college. There are 12 chapters ranging from developing study strategies such as note taking and test taking, improving one’s organizational skills, creating personal and financial wellness, and understanding how to become a critical thinker.
The text was written in 2015 but I found the information to be pertinent to today's college student experience.
Each chapter encourages students to begin to assess their strengths in each category through interactive activities. In addition, there are student stories of success scattered through the text which helps make the text relatable and provide ongoing motivation for the reader.
The writing style and content do take into consideration incoming freshman reading levels.
The chapter summaries bullet point key concepts for quick reviews. The chapter takeaways create solid segues into the following chapters.
Each chapter is very manageable. If class time is brief, most activities can be do independently for homework.
The topics are presented in a logical fashion but if the faculty member wanted to reorganize topics, it would not interfere with the flow of ideas.
All display features were free of any visual distortions.
The writing style is easy to follow and free of any grammatical errors.
I found the diverse student success stories and real life scenarios lend themselves to self reflection.
All in all, College Success is a great text that students will enjoy and keep long after they have successfully completed the first year of college. Highly recommended!
College Success, is comprehensive to the subject matters pertaining to the topic. Chapters 1-3 and 9-124 certainly embody the student experience. This Open Source Textbook has great visuals, and assessment students can rate themselves to see where... read more
College Success, is comprehensive to the subject matters pertaining to the topic. Chapters 1-3 and 9-124 certainly embody the student experience. This Open Source Textbook has great visuals, and assessment students can rate themselves to see where they are on their journey.. The text is set up in an easy, quick flow manner; really gets to the point. Chapter 7 is vital part of college experience to be successful
Accuracy seemed relevant. I feel students would connect to the topics along with taking the assessments.
The text is relevant to today's and future times with discussion on: You and Your College Experience, Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track, Interacting with Instructors and Classes. I believe students could relate to the topics at hand.
The text is clear and concise. Students should be able to navigate easily.
The text is consistency from chapter to chapter including relevant activities and topics for discussion.
I could easily pull certain materials from each chapter as needed to fit the needs of my course, to meet the learning outcomes. The flow of the subjects could be adjusted. Modality base on the need of each student learning style.
Very organized in terms of structure and flow. Text is logical and and clearly written but have added more topics around what it takes to be successful in college.
Easy to navigate between chapters. If anything more examples could be added.
The text contains no grammatical errors that were found.
Culturally we can always improve out examples and be more inclusive of the student body to ensure equity. However this text was not culturally insensitive or offensive.
This is an easy read, with great information for college students to be successful in any college setting and not just for First Year students. Information was relevant and can be tailored to meet the course learning outcomes for each student body.
This text covers a broad range of topics applicable to first year college students of any age, although geared primarily towards the traditional college aged student. read more
This text covers a broad range of topics applicable to first year college students of any age, although geared primarily towards the traditional college aged student.
The textbook is accurate and full of classic information.
Some contemporary updates are in order regarding more recent pedagogy (ex. it is not sufficient to suggest a person "really pay attention" if they have an attention challenge). Some updated techniques would be beneficial to this otherwise very active workbook style text.
The writing is comfortable, accessible and clear. College jargon, especially, is demystified.
The textbook is internally consistent.
A faculty member could easily adapt this text to the depth and length of a first year seminar for 3 credits or a shorter college success seminar for 1 credit. The modularity of the chapters is high. Further, each chapter contains activities that enhance learning, furthering the ability of a chapter to stand alone.
The flow of this text is logical, although anyone using it could easily move chapter assignments around. If I were using this text, communicating with instructors would be closer to the beginning and financial literacy would also be moved up in my assigned reading list.
I reviewed the downloaded PDF version. It is well indexed, easy to navigate and free of technological challenges on my Mac.
I found no grammatical errors.
A broad range of cultural identities appear to be included.
I have used a similar textbook (perhaps the original source) for many years teaching a College Success Seminar. The workbook style is very user friendly.
I was pleased that this text provided a comprehensive review of the topics that reflect the majority of our college's learning outcomes for our new student experience course. I was happy to see that it included many self-evaluation opportunities... read more
I was pleased that this text provided a comprehensive review of the topics that reflect the majority of our college's learning outcomes for our new student experience course. I was happy to see that it included many self-evaluation opportunities for students to reflect on their college journey, along with interactive activities which allow for personal application of topics. The content is written so that it is applicable to both traditional and non-traditional students. I was especially happy to see the depth of the content in the financial literacy chapter.
The chapters appear to be error-free and unbiased and appropriate for all college students. The content can easily be applied to most student's educational situation.
Although the book was published in 2015, I find the content to still be relevant to where students are today as they begin college. In regards to some of the self-assessments, I would have liked to have seen more citations to sources.
The text presents topics in an easy to read manner applicable to a large cross section of student reading abilities. I would have liked to have seen a glossary for easy referral for students who may be working on developing their English language.
The chapters follow the same pattern which allows students to understand the flow of the text. Since the chapters begin with a self-assessment it allows students to reflect on their personal needs for the information that will be presented. Additionally the "Takeaways" are a nice addition to the end of each chapter.
With little exception the chapters are chunked into easily readable "bites" all which reflect the stated learning outcomes by the author. Additionally, each chapter tends to stand on its own, allowing for an instructor to pick and choose what content to use for their course.
The chapters present the topics in an easy to follow and organized format. Because each chapter follows the same basic layout (overview, self-assessment, content, activities, "Key Takeaways") students should find this helpful should they pre-read/skim chapters.
Reading online was easy, although it did not allow for activity working in the activities or assessments. If students were asked to "complete an activity" for submission they would have to print the page (or multiple pages), hand write, scan, and submit.
I did not see any grammatical errors.
Text, images and contend appeared to be culturally sensitive. I would have like to have seen more non-traditional students portrayed in the images and in the content of the chapters.
Overall this text provides the basic topics that can help all students be more successful in their college journey (and also in their professional journey after college). Because of the structure of the text it is easily adaptable to both online and f2f class formats... and allows me to "pick-and-choose" topics with a loss of consistency. I think this is a well rounded text for new college students.
This textbook presents topics that can help both traditional and nontraditional college students succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. The textbook aims to help traditional college students adjust to their new college life by... read more
This textbook presents topics that can help both traditional and nontraditional college students succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. The textbook aims to help traditional college students adjust to their new college life by addressing topics such as new responsibilities, more independence, and a different learning environment from what they had experienced in high school. Students who are returning to school after several years may have to adapt to new class settings, such as online classes, along with working through the challenges that having a full-time job and a family present. This textbook offers information and advice that will help these students navigate through academic and personal issues they may experience while completing their degree.
I haven't found any errors in the content. The text provides students with an accurate account of college life and what it takes to be a successful student.
Overall, I find the text to be relevant for both traditional and nontraditional students. The chapters on motivation, time management, and health, as well as the chapters on the academic skills of reading, note-taking, and writing will always be relevant for students aiming for success. The text includes a section on evaluating online materials (p. 187) that I find particularly relevant since students are increasingly citing material from the Internet in their papers.
The text is written in an easy-to-understand style. Native speakers of English should have no trouble with understanding this text. I also teach some students whose first language is not English, and I feel that this text would not be overly difficult for them if they are able to understand the coursework in their other college classes.
The text is consistent in terminology and framework. The contents of the chapters follow the same pattern. Each chapter starts out with “Where Are You Now?”, “Where Do You Want to Go?”, and “How to Get There?” These exercises provide a good self-assessment tool for the student and motivates the student to use the chapter to make improvements. Also, each section within the chapters, with only a few exceptions, provides the reader with the following: “Learning Objectives”, “Key Takeaways”” and “Checkpoint Exercises,” which provide a good review of the material.
The text makes it easy to adapt the order of the chapters to the needs of the students and the aims of the course. There are ample links within each chapter to other sections of the text for additional and more detailed information on a specific topic, so if an entire chapter is not covered, relevant information from that skipped chapter can be easily accessed if needed.
I think that the topics are presented in a logical, clear fashion for students right out of high school; however, I think for nontraditional students who may have been out of school for some time, it may be necessary to skip some of the earlier sections due to time constraints or jump to topics presented later in the text because of student need. For example, students taking online classes, which usually require a great deal of writing, might need to work on the writing chapter (Chapter 8) early on in the course. Also, it would be beneficial for them to study the chapters on reading (Chapter 5) and note-taking (Chapter 4) before or at the start of their other courses. Whereas, the section on dealing with sudden independence and freedom (Chapter 1) and the section on the demand on students’ time when they belong to athletic teams (Chapter 2) would be appropriate for students just out of high school.
The interface works very well. The table of contents is particularly useful since each listing is inked to its section in the text. Also, throughout the text, links are given to help navigate to related material within the text and on the Internet.
I haven’t noticed any grammatical errors, but I did find a few very minor editing errors that do not interfere with comprehension (an extra word in the last line on page 18, an incomplete practice test question on page 231, smaller font in section 7.1).
I didn’t find the text to be culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. I think the text does a good job of discussing the topic of diversity and its benefits, dedicating Section 2 of Chapter 9 to this topic. In addition to cultural diversity, the text presents other kinds of diversity, such as diversity in regard to race, ethnicity, age, religion, educational background, economic background, and sexual orientation. In this same chapter, the text also includes advice on dealing with prejudice.
I will select this text for use in my “Becoming an Exceptional Student” course. This book covers more than just academic study skills by including material that can help students through the more personal and social issues encountered when entering or returning to college.
This comprehensive text covers all major areas of the student experience when transitioning to college. Chapters cover academic skills, social and campus life, physical and emotional health, financial management, and career planning. At 500 pages,... read more
This comprehensive text covers all major areas of the student experience when transitioning to college. Chapters cover academic skills, social and campus life, physical and emotional health, financial management, and career planning. At 500 pages, the PDF may be imposing to students, and so linking to online sections/modules may be more practical. Two topic areas that I would consider important are lacking: use of a course management system and tracking one's academic progress, and skills for reading and understanding syllabi. A point is deducted for lack of index or glossary, though the Table of Contents is easily navigable and hyperlinked in the PDF document.
The content is accurate and is consistent with other first-year/student success commercial texts.
The topics covered are generally current and relevant to today's incoming students. There are some anachronisms in the text that traditional age students will probably not recognize (the Big Mac commercial jingle, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, MySpace) and in the social media chapter there is a heavy emphasis on Facebook, which few 18-22 year olds seem to use nowadays. A resource link out to a 1983 handout on "bad presentations" makes reference to transparencies. Some links out to other out-of-book resources are broken and need correction or updating.
The text prose is clear, concise, and straightforward. Students of all levels, including first-generation students, should find it accessible.
The structure and framework of the text is consistent from chapter to chapter.
The modularity is a strength of this text. The chapters and subsections are easy to navigate, could be used in a custom order and remixed or reorganized. Chapters open with learning objectives and self-assessments that set up the lesson/chapter content, and close with key takeaways and check point exercises. The exercises are generally thoughtful and do not have to be time-intensive; they could easily be used as in-class activities or homework. Some chapters also include outside the book resources and class discussion prompts.
The order of topics is logical, with an emphasis on academic skills in the early chapters.
The online navigation could be improved with "previous section" and "next section" links for readers that want to read in a linear fashion. Chapter 7.1 of the PDF has small text font.
I found no grammatical errors in this text.
Most of the text is generally inclusive. The chapter on diversity is detailed and written sensitively. Unfortunately, there are some examples that may be considered insensitive elsewhere in the text, and this may be due to having multiple authors. On text pages 55-56 and 409, example scenarios could be interpreted as showing ethnic stereotypes. In the Sexual Health chapter, discussion and the chapter exercise prompts on sexual assault imply an onus on women to avoid being victims of sexual assault, but fails to discuss how students might avoid perpetrating assault, or bystander intervention. I would modify these sections if using the text locally.
If our program does not adopt this text, I would use it for supplementary readings, exercises, and guidance for creating lesson plans.
One strength of the book is the tone. The authors are realistic about the challenges that students may face, but present them in a supportive way and encourage students to have a positive attitude. Throughout the text, the authors remind students that the ultimate responsibility for college success belongs to them, and they give suggestions for how to adapt to less-than-ideal (or less-than-preferred) situations, like being in a large lecture class.
I found College Success to be a highly comprehensive book! It covers just about every area you can think of in regards to student success, and it does so in great depth on each and every topic. This would be a great text to use in a first year... read more
I found College Success to be a highly comprehensive book! It covers just about every area you can think of in regards to student success, and it does so in great depth on each and every topic. This would be a great text to use in a first year experience course-- I've been inspired to try out a lot of the included activities with my own first year seminar course. The book does not include an index, but it doesn't need one as the table of contents is detailed enough to help you find anything you need.
I found the information to be accurate and highly detailed. It properly reflects what it takes to be a successful college student and provides very detailed steps, information, and activities to help students throughout their college journey.
The contents of this book is highly relevant for college students. I think it would be most useful for freshmen, but it would certainly have benefit and merit as well for transfer students and non-traditional students.
This book was very well-written. It was clear, concise, straight forward, in depth, and organized in a way to further enhance clarity.
This book was highly consistent! I really enjoyed that the chapters were framed the same way throughout the book. Each chapter begins with a "where are you now?" assessment for students to gauge where they stand before. The subsections of each chapter have their own learning objectives laid out at the beginning and key takeaways at the end of each subsection. At the end of each chatper, there is a chatper review, chapter takeaways, and a really neat "outside the book" section. This section refers students to additional materials, activities, etc. For example, one of the chapters had information in this section on how students could access career and personality inventories online. Lastly, each chapter concludes with the option for students to make an action list on how they'll apply what they've learned. These interactive components help to further engage students in the topics at hand by having them actually apply the takeaways to their lives.
This text is easily divisible into smaller reading sections. In fact, it's already divided due to the multiple subsections within each chapter! This feature would make assigning group work very easy. You could also cover chapters from this book out of order and it would be fine.
I found the organization to be spot on. It was organized into twelve chapters, and multiple subsections within each chapter. Each chapter was organized in the same manner as I mentioned earlier (learning objectives, key takeaways, etc.). The order of the chapters themselves was logical as well. However, you could easily jump around and read the chapters out of order and the reader would not be confused.
I downloaded the PDF version of this book; it was very easy to read and navigate between chapters.
I found no grammatical errors in this book.
This book is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Students of any background or culture could find this book helpful. There was even a chapter on diversity. Overall, the book utilized inclusive examples and touched on diversity throughout in various ways.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. It has some great activities, helpful resources, and relevant information for any college student. My only complaint would be the length of the book, as I do not see students actually taking the time to read this book from cover to cover. I feel this text would best serve as a supplemental material to a first year experience course that the instructor could reference as needed. I will definitely be using it to supplement lessons in my own class!
College success is a comprehensive guide for college students to thrive in a college environment and graduate with flying colors. The text covers a wide spectrum of topics from preparing for exams to handling the finances. It is very challenging... read more
College success is a comprehensive guide for college students to thrive in a college environment and graduate with flying colors. The text covers a wide spectrum of topics from preparing for exams to handling the finances. It is very challenging to compile supporting materials for a bigger audience such as students since there are a wide difference in the family, educational and financial backgrounds. Nevertheless, the material is a great resource in its current form and have scope for improvement.
Strengths:
Chapter review, figures, key takeaways, checkpoint exercise, activity and learning objectives make the material fun and engaging to read.
It is easier to navigate to individual sections from the index.
Weakness:
A Glossary is missing. For example: if I want to know more student clubs and how to effectively make use of them, I have to use the find feature to look for student clubs. This might be easier to do in a laptop (PDF version) but it is harder to do it in Kindle or other versions.
The preface should be expanded. It is unclear who the target audience is - Is it for college going undergraduates or graduates students. Does it apply for international students?. Can I skip chapters? What is the recommended way to read the different chapters ?.
Further clarification is required for certain sections such as “Making money”. It is important to note that it is illegal to work more than 20 hours a week as an International student. This section is misleading in its current form and could potentially lead to losing the student status. A simple suggestion is to add a paragraph or two asking students to check with the International office before signing up for on-campus jobs. For non-international students, some universities provide an opportunity to work for more than 20 hours by signing a petition with graduate school.
All the activity, checkpoint exercises are great but it would be easier if the students can print everything. Since it is not easy to print out 500 pages, an appendix section which combines all the printable sections into the appendix would be a great choice.
The material (in my opinion) is designed and written as a one-time read. A few paragraphs on “How to monitor all this progress” could be useful.
Content is the highlighting aspect of this material. The text is easy to read with no complicated jargons and presents a compelling case to follow the tips for successful college life.
Strengths:
The figures presented in the material are relevant to the corresponding topics and helps the readers to relate the figures with the content.
The material is unbiased to a specific university or a group. It presents an extensive list of tips.
Finances, Future and Health are some topics which are not really taught in universities. I consider these sections super important for any student to learn early in their career.
Addressing topics such as generation gap, communicating with instructors are very useful for students success.
Weakness:
At certain times, the content seems overwhelming. For example: In page 333/334 of the PDF version, there is an exercise titled “Explore Your Interests for College Clubs and Organizations”. I find it hard to do the exercise without an example or two. I would suggest to include hypothetical examples to help the reader to do the exercise easier.
I could not find material regarding leadership opportunities and the benefits of taking responsibilities. For example Student government.
As I mentioned previously, writing this material is challenging since difficult to write for a wide audience. However, the authors did a great job of keeping the content up-to-date.
Strengths:
Sections such as “The Transfer ticket” on page 463, is still relevant to the students. These sections are very volatile in reference to the new laws and policies from the government.
Weakness:
In page 33 of the PDF version, there is a picture of students participating in a hackathon. Unfortunately, I could not find material where the authors talk about hackathons. Hackathons have become fairly common and are a great way to meet new students and work on cool interesting projects.
I would recommend the authors to include links to other OER material if the reader wants to learn more about a specific topic.
Version control is recommended to keep track of content added and removed.
There is very little information about investing for students. It is important to mention details regarding the IRA (Investment retirement accounts), 401k, negotiating, tips for negotiating salaries with prospective employers and more.
The text is clear and written in accessible prose. However, not all the jargon/technical terminology used are explained in detail. For example; hackathons. I understand that it is not possible to explain each and every term in the document. However, it is possible to suggest reading material for those terms. This, in turn, provides an opportunity to refer to other OER materials and expand the community.
There are no issues with the consistency of the material presented.
The text is broken down into 12 chapters with several subheadings.
Strengths:
The font, spacing, and activities make the chapters easier to read and review.
The text can be easily reorganized to emphasize difference student group and at the same time, it is easier to add sections without much hassle.
Weakness:
None
In my opinion, the text is a compilation of materials from different authors. As mentioned earlier, it is important to explicitly mention the target audience. For example, I believe “Thinking about thought” is not really useful. That said, different readers focus on different aspects. A paragraph or two on how to choose which chapters to read can go a long way in establishing a logical connection to the reader.
I used the PDF version and found it easier to read and navigate. Adding a glossary is recommended.
I was not able to find any grammatical mistakes in the material. However, some sentences especially (For example: “Time Management Tips for Students Who Work” section on page 88) could be passive aggressive instead of assertive.
The text presents generic tips for any student and in no ways culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. The text includes sections that are exclusively allocated to talk about diversity in the classroom. However, I would suggest adding information about culture shock and how to overcome it (preferably under the emotional health section).
This book is a well written text book for both traditional, non-traditional first time in college students, as well as for students who are returning to college after dropping out. It provides a comprehensive road map on how to navigate college,... read more
This book is a well written text book for both traditional, non-traditional first time in college students, as well as for students who are returning to college after dropping out. It provides a comprehensive road map on how to navigate college, career exploration, picking a major, and interviewing for jobs after completing program of study.
This text book paints an accurate picture on how to be a successful college student. It is accurate in outlining the steps the steps to take in order to be a successful college student.
The assessments, information on accessing college resources and time management information are just a few of the tools that are very relevant for both current and future college students.
The information in this text book is comprehensive and clear.
Although I might have organized the chapters in a slightly different order. I find that the book consistently addresses strategies for being a successful student.
The modularity in this text book is very good. The various sections in this book can be easily reorganized and the student would still learn valuable information with being confused.
The flow of this book is smooth. The topics, theme, message, are all clear and easy to comprehensible.
This book is easy to navigate. All images were clear and relevant.
I found no grammatical errors.
Students from any background and culture could find this book useful.
I will definitely use this book in my College Success classes as a supplemental text book.
There is no index or glossary, but I don't think it needs it. It has a good Table of Contents, which is sufficient for navigating the book. read more
There is no index or glossary, but I don't think it needs it. It has a good Table of Contents, which is sufficient for navigating the book.
This isn't a book that would be necessarily accurate, but I do think that it reflects the reality (multiple realities) of new college students; I think it would be more likely to be used by students living together in a dorm or a freshman interest group than non-traditional students, though.
Highly relevant for new students making the transition from high school to college, or from being out of school for a while to college.
It was very easy to read, did not have jargon.
This was a good feature of the book! The exercises and supplementary material (self-tests, reflection activities, etc.) would be so helpful for someone wanting to use this for a class or group.
This could definitely be divided up into nightly or weekly readings to use over the course of a semester, and there are parts of it that can be removed and used by themselves.
No problems here. While it is probably meant to be used as a whole (and makes sense that way), it could be taken apart.
No problems here. Some of the stock photos were distracting though, which is why I gave it a 4.
This was fine. It was easy to read. There was a misspelling though right in the beginning of the book - the second author's introduction is spelled "ahutor" or something. Check that.
This was great! There was actually a chapter on diversity, but each chapter was written to appeal to people from different backgrounds (e.g., nontraditional students, etc.).
No, I think I'll pull a chapter to use for one of my classes that has mostly Freshmen in it, though. Thanks!
This book does a great job covering most of the aspects of college life from academics to satisfying and healthy social lives. One of the areas I would like to see additional content is in the section on critical thinking in the chapter entitled... read more
This book does a great job covering most of the aspects of college life from academics to satisfying and healthy social lives. One of the areas I would like to see additional content is in the section on critical thinking in the chapter entitled "Thinking about Thought".
I didn't notice any glaring errors or issues.
Because the book sticks to the basics, I believe the content to be relatively timeless.
The book is well-written and long portions of text are often broken up with quiz type questions that engage the reader and encourage reflection.
The text is consistent in terms of prose and chapter structure.
I used this text for a seminar-style class for incoming freshman and was able to "cherry pick" relevant sections to assign without impacting my students' abilities to understand the content; the chapters work well on their own and can be assigned in a different order than they appear in the book.
The prose and quizzes are very easy to understand.
I did have some (possibly browser related) issues getting past the first page of each chapter using the direct page link, but after I linked the book into my University's course management software client, it was very easy to use.
I didn't notice any egregious errors.
The book offers a section on diversity that is relatively comprehensive from the point of view of showcasing the benefits of a diverse campus but did not really talk about what students who may identify as being in minority groups might do if they were not feeling included in the campus culture.
College Success is a solid textbook exploring issues related to a college student's first years. It would best be used as part of the curriculum in freshman seminar or information literacy classes.
College Success is a detail oriented text for students new to higher education. The wide array of topics included are those that can assist on how to be a successful first year college student. The length of the book is a concern, but the content... read more
College Success is a detail oriented text for students new to higher education. The wide array of topics included are those that can assist on how to be a successful first year college student. The length of the book is a concern, but the content is very well summarized. I'm unsure if students would actually take the time to read it thoroughly. It could be a valuable text if used in a success course or as supplementatl instruction in a new student colloquia. This could also be useful as an online first semester course with follow up guidance from an advisor (or counselor). It's also generic and applicable to a variety of students. Very comprehensive overall!
The textbook is accurate as the title and topics indicate. It is thorough and has an easy flow to it. It's a text that could be useful with guidance from an instructor, advisor, peer mentor, etc. to assure follow through with some of the topics.
The content appears up to date. Topics included are those that will affect any indvidual in a school setting. It focuses on self exploration and how to make the most out of one's own college experiences. Students will get out of it what they put into it. Topics are very well organized and straightforward. It is a long book but all items are relevant.
The book is very thorough and forthright. Some items are repetive but for a valid reason. It serves as self-reflection to proceed to the next topic.
The framebook of the textbook is very consistent.
The text is divided in sections with appropriate content such as pre-assessments, excercises, and post assessment included. It would be difficult to use in a group student setting, unless the chapters are completed before class, to then have a discussion in class within small group settings.
The topics are clearly covered, but some chapters appear lenghtier than others. It does have a good flow though.
There are some redundancies but the flow is great. When other chapters are highlighted within a context, they are not hyperlinked to be able to refer to easily. It is probably listed as a referral but not in a format to get one 'off-topic'. It would help if they were hyperlinked to open in another window.
I did not notice any grammatical errors.
It is inclusive of various populations but not research focused. It's practical for a new college student.
I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to use this book with first year students at no cost to them. Thanks Creative Commons licensing. The book layout makes it easy to include supplemental materials applicable to a specific institution. It is formatted as a workbook or practical guide for the student that chooses to be successful. Relevant for a first year student.
I find this text to be greatly comprehensive. It includes all topics of a traditional student success text. I found that the chapters were very in depth on each topic. read more
I find this text to be greatly comprehensive. It includes all topics of a traditional student success text. I found that the chapters were very in depth on each topic.
This text was published in 2015. Information contained in general student success text books typically have a fairly long shelf life. I have worked with several publishers during my career. I find it helpful to customize the text to the institution. Again, the general information doesn't change too much; however, connecting students to the institution and their academic departments early is critical for student success, retention and persistence.
Again, the college success text is relevant for extended periods of time. The skills and strategies are time tested and proven to enhance student success.
The text is written on the appropriate reading level for students entering college. I find the chunking of information helpful. This encourages students to skim and read the information. The learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter provides needed structure for most first year students. I have found that many first year students enter college with underdeveloped student success skills (study skills, time management, applying critical thinking, etc.). Furthermore, they come from environments that were structured and guided.
The frame work and consistency is critical, especially with a text about college success. In talking with colleagues from other institutions, we all seem to struggle with the first year seminar content being valued by the students ...... until, they realize they need it. Many times, this happens when students find themselves on academic probation or at risk of being suspended. Being clear to students about the subject matter and explaining to them up front why it is important are key to the success. I like the way this text is formatted.
Although somewhat static file, it provides engagement through the sections at the beginning "Where Are You Now?"; "Where Do You Want to Go?" and "How to Get There". I find this to be a great hook to get students thinking about their college career. As well, the takeaways and exercises keep students active with the content. I also like the links back to information.
The text follows a logical sequence for content; however, it also lends itself to the flexibility for instructors to cover information in varying sequences. This is where I find the ability to customize the text to the institution helpful. Based on student feedback, when I have covered information out of order, they report that they sometimes get confused. With that said, part of college success is to learn to follow your syllabus and be responsible.
The information is definitely presented in a logical sequence for first year students. Sequencing the first year seminar curriculum is always a challenge, because we believe that students need all of the information early in the semester.
I did not encounter any problems access or saving the document. All material was visible and readable.
I found not grammatical errors in the text.
This textbook is written to address first year students regardless of culture or background. The pictures used throughout the text invite a diverse reader population.
I enjoyed the opportunity to review this text. As the Director of our First-Year Seminar, I am always looking affordable, relevant and engaging material for students. Over the past several years, we moved away from using a textbook for multiple reasons, but price being the biggest barrier. After review this text, as part of OER, I would consider using such materials in the future.
The College Success textbook covers everything a College student should know during their first semester in college. The text covers everything from self-assessment questionnaires to career exploration. read more
The College Success textbook covers everything a College student should know during their first semester in college. The text covers everything from self-assessment questionnaires to career exploration.
The text appears accurate in providing thought provoking chapter review that helps students evaluate the learning objectives for each chapter.
The textbook content is up-to-date and students will find the information relevant to their personal and academic lives.
Language within the text is relatable and adequate for students enrolled in a first year seminar course
Terminology and framework used in the text is consistent and students will not have any issues understanding the text contents.
Modularity of the text is very clear, concise and easy to follow.
Organization of the text is simple and organic!
Images and charts are not distracting but keeps visual learners engage with content
No grammatical errors were noticed in this text
Cultural relevance were good but more information needs to be added to the diversity section of the text. Really liked the information on the campus groups because it helps students think about the value of extra-curricular activities in college.
none
College Success is ambitious in its scope, covering a wide range of variables that can affect students' ability to succeed in college. Student affairs practitioners will appreciate this holistic approach to addressing the factors that might... read more
College Success is ambitious in its scope, covering a wide range of variables that can affect students' ability to succeed in college. Student affairs practitioners will appreciate this holistic approach to addressing the factors that might impact student retention. Chapter subject matter ranges from basic time management skills, to a focus on financial and physical well-being.
Students should find the interactive nature of the book appealing, working through the reflective questions in self-inventories that are provided at the start of each chapter. The book provides a platform for students to analyze their readiness for college, while consistently offering practical tips for navigating relationships, resources, and self-regulation. Quizzes, graphics, and activities all provide ways for students to synthesize chapter lessons.
The index of topics is well ordered, making it easy for students to find answers to specific challenges they may be facing.
The book is written to be accessible to students who are working to understand the college experience and the challenges they may encounter. The information provided is developed as opinion and advice, interspersed with references to learning models and strategies.
This textbook is relevant to today's student. Those who are familiar with student retention issues understand that a wide variety of factors may prevent students from progressing towards graduation. Whether intrinsic motivation issues, lack of academic preparedness, or financial struggles, this book asks students to take a realistic view of their circumstance, while providing explicit strategies for resolving their challenges.
The language of College Success lends itself to being accessible to most students. Although new students may not understand the relevance of some topics (e.g. the importance of critical thinking, covered in Chapter 3), the information is available to students to refer to, as the subject matter becomes pertinent to them.
Another strength of the books is the consistent message of "college is different from high school." This message confronts and reminds students of an important theme, as they recalibrate their efforts for a more demanding environment.
The clearly identified learning outcomes articulated at the beginning of each chapter should be helpful to students seeking answers and strategies for success.
If this text were assigned for a first-year success seminar, the instructor could easily pick and choose among the chapters, to provide a learning experience most relevant to the class.
The book provides a way to capture student interest with inventories on the topic at hand, then build on that engagement with a sequencing of subjects that may occur as the semester progresses. Basic academic strategies are presented first, followed by information on relationships, and, health and wellness topics. The information is ordered to anticipate what students may need to know at pivotal moments during the academic year.
The charts and graphs were clear and easy to read. Some website links were not active.
No grammatical errors were detected.
The book incorporates a section on diversity, which examines different aspects of diversity, and promotes the benefits of being part of an inclusive community.
This book is practical, relevant, and crafts its message in an accessible format for new students. With class conversation and interaction, this would make a beneficial first-year seminar text.
This text offers a practical approach to guiding students through their first year of college. It is well organized, clearly written and relevant. The text includes both academic and nonacademic considerations (finance, career, etc.). Both are... read more
This text offers a practical approach to guiding students through their first year of college. It is well organized, clearly written and relevant. The text includes both academic and nonacademic considerations (finance, career, etc.). Both are balanced throughout each chapter and section, giving students an integrated look at their college experience.
Topics are presented in logical order with acknowledgement of best practice and room for student interpretation. Material is consistent with similar texts reviewed as support for first year college students.
Issues addressed in the text include traditional considerations, such as balancing time or deciding on an academic major, as well as more timely considerations including critical thinking and problem solving. References for utilizing web resources are also included. Checkpoint and chapter exercises encourage students to reflect when applying text material to their own situations.
The table contents is comprehensive. Chapters are organized in an “easy to follow” way. There is little to no use of jargon; material is presented in a “straight forward” way.
Chapters and subsections are organized and well detailed in the table of contents. Each chapter begins with a three part introduction covering students’ past habits and suggestions for achieving success in each aspect of their lives as college students. The checkpoint exercises are consistently named and appear in regular patterns throughout each chapter.
Topics are well differentiated. Organization is logical, beginning with an “orientation” to college experience, continuing through active learning (reading, note taking, critical thinking), and ending with financial and career planning.
Flow exists between chapters. Chapters include cross references to connect to issues/topics in other chapters. Each chapter includes delineated subsections, each beginning with learning objectives. Checkpoint exercises and extension activities are clearly labeled.
Chapters and subsections are easy to access in web interface. Navigation is user friendly. However, some issues with page break organization in PDF version.
No evidence of grammatical errors.
The text acknowledges difference of student situations and learning experiences: students with families, “traditional-age” college student, “types” of thinking, and learning preferences. No cultural insensitivities exist.
Very comprehensive book for a first year students. My graduate program is almost 50% first generation students. I believe some of the content and chapters would be helpful for these students as well, especially those who may have graduated from a... read more
Very comprehensive book for a first year students. My graduate program is almost 50% first generation students. I believe some of the content and chapters would be helpful for these students as well, especially those who may have graduated from a school that did not provide support for their undergraduate students. I would like to see more on AVIDs cornell notes.
Materials are clear, unbiased, and accurate. It's approach is made for ALL students at varying levels of experience.
The information is relevant to ALL students in college. It's timely and includes methods that will be used throughout time. I can remember some of the content being shared with me, and as a first generation student, it was this type of content that helped me success in school.
The text is written clear and to the intended audience. I would like to see a comprehensive glossary as there is language/titles that might not be familiar to all students.
I appreciate the consistency of the formatting including the learning objectives, content, and optional activities. Everything is at the professors fingertips and students can return to the text when needed. This would be wonderful for our Freshmen Experience class.
I appreciate the organization of the text as it provides modules that can be tied into course content in a way that doesn't require TOO much additional reading. Additionally, students can visit other modules long after our class, and will be comfortable knowing that each module is set up in a way that is familiar and will make sense. The goal is for them to be able to continue the use of the text and it's content throughout their academic careers.
Excellent organization, structure and flow.
It is easy to navigate through the book. This is not always the case for online textbooks, but I found the links to be useful,allowing for navigation between chapters and areas within chapters. It's fairly simply to find what you need when you need it rather easily.
I did not see any issues with grammar. I would like to see a glossary.
The book appeared culturally sensitive.
This textbook is one that I would consider for a college success class for undergraduate as well as some graduate students. I love that I could share this text with those who need it.
College Success is a comprehensive text, covering a wide variety of relevant topics and activities. A broad range of topics are covered such as interacting with instructors and classes; staying motivated, organized and on track; study skills;... read more
College Success is a comprehensive text, covering a wide variety of relevant topics and activities. A broad range of topics are covered such as interacting with instructors and classes; staying motivated, organized and on track; study skills; goal setting; time management; and personal health choices, to name a few. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and is followed by practical information, supportive activities, and Key Takeaways.
Using the text as a tool for First Year Experience courses may be the best use of this text. Using it as a stand-alone text may be more challenging as it is quite lengthy and there is no glossary or index (PDF format).
As a community college health education instructor, I can verify that the goal setting, time management, health and well-being components of the text are accurate. These skills can help lessen some stress students may experience when adjusting to college life. The authors use sound educational strategies to guide the reader through the text.
The material and content are relevant. This instructor believes it may be necessary to update the tools to meet current electronic media available to students to enhance longevity of the text.
The textbook is clearly written and easy to understand. The supportive activities are well developed and easy to work through.
The layout and format of the text flows in a logical and consistent manner.
The text can easily be divided into smaller reading sections which can be used at different points throughout a course or for individual use.
The topics in the text are presented in a clear, logical fashion as is, yet can be re-organized to suit the needs or desired of the instructor and learners.
Most of the text is easy to follow. Of concern however, is the blank space between some headings and the content which was awkward (PDF format) and could use improving.
This reviewer did not find any grammatical errors in the text.
The textbook is culturally sensitive and non-offensive. The information includes discussion evolving around students of all ages and with diverse backgrounds. It speaks to traditional students, returning students, first-generation students, recent immigrant and international students and students with disabilities. The photos display a wide variety of student ages and ethnicities.
I like the’ Profile of a Successful Student’ which outlines the common characteristics of students who have been successful in college. Good information for those new or returning to the college experience!
Having taught first year seminars for a number of years, the numerous topics covered within the text are the traditional topics for student success including study skill, college orientation and personal choice strategies. This textbook includes... read more
Having taught first year seminars for a number of years, the numerous topics covered within the text are the traditional topics for student success including study skill, college orientation and personal choice strategies. This textbook includes a thorough list of topics for a first year course.
Evidence based practices are located throughout the textbook; however, at times content becomes subjective. Citation of evidence based research would better support accuracy.
The comprehensive topics included contribute to the longevity of the text and would allow for content to be updated easily. Relevance to the target population is unclear. More relevant images and activities would likely better connect learners to this resource.
This textbook avoids educational jargon and confusing terms or language. The content is clearly stated.
The navigation of the book is logical and consistent.
Navigation is challenging as the PDF had no table of contents or index. Navigation through the table of contents and hyperlinks are effective and chunk content into smaller sections.
The topics in the text are presented in a logical manner. Organization may be as simple as instructor preference. A personal preference for organization would begin with college orientation, then follow with study skill strategies, life management strategies, then choosing your major, diversity, critical thinking, etc. Defined topics are distinct enough so an instructor could rearrange as needed.
Page breaks were odd within the PDF at times, headings followed by no content, until the next page, and activities broken in awkward places within tables. There could be improved flow within the PDF, page breaks, and content organization.
The text contained no recognized grammatical errors.
Images and content appear to be culturally sensitive and includes a variety of relationships, diversity and values.
Overall, this was a great textbook that can be an asset to learners. The topics included are comprehensive and well organized! Throughout my years of teaching our first year experience course, I find concise content followed by engaging activities is a best practice for student learning. Since this text is over 500 pages, the content is text heavy and may impede engagement. All in all a great option!
Addresses many topics common in college success textbooks. Occasional use of terms or assumptions about vocabulary that may impact some readers. No obvious glossary. read more
Addresses many topics common in college success textbooks. Occasional use of terms or assumptions about vocabulary that may impact some readers. No obvious glossary.
This books is accurate and addresses a wide range of student experiences without bias.
Students and faculty will benefit from the comprehensive discussion of college writing. This book is current regarding the challenges and benefits of face to face vs. virtual education. These sections as well as others will be easy to update.
In general students will find this book easy to read due to the conversational style and word choice of the authors. However, there are some words used that will require checking with faculty or other sources to assist in determining meaning.
The authors delve into some topics in greater detail than others. Faculty may need to help students understand what a syllabus is and provide support in developing note-taking skills.
The sections in this book could be reorganized or omitted as needed.
I struggled with recognizing the organization of the first chapter. Anecdotes occur more often in some sections than others. Some chapters contain essential information at the end which may require faculty to underscore.
The checkpoint exercises do not line up. Other than that the interface was fine.
Grammatical and easy to follow structure.
I found a wide range of examples and inclusive comments.
The text covers all of the typical topics for a college success textbook. The number of chapters can easily be covered in a 16 week semester. I did not see a glossary or index listed with the text. I think a glossary is essential for students... read more
The text covers all of the typical topics for a college success textbook. The number of chapters can easily be covered in a 16 week semester. I did not see a glossary or index listed with the text. I think a glossary is essential for students new to college.
The accuracy of the text was beyond question. I did not find any errors or bias in the text. The pictures included many types of students.
Because the topics are so general and do not contain many statistics, the basic concepts presented are fairly timeless. I think this text would not have to be updated frequently.
Any terminology that may be unfamiliar to students is clearly explained. Steps for different skills are outlined in a clear and concise manner. The reading level appears to be appropriate for community college students whose reading level may not be at college level.
The text is consistent and it would be easy to assign different sections . The use of checkpoints and key concepts keeps the student focused on the important concepts explained in the chapter. Chapter 6 did not have the section at the end entitled Takeaways. I think the takeaway section is good for students who may not read the entire chapter but would at least review this section.
I love the modularity of the text. Breaking the chapter into sections creates a feeling of having accomplished something by completing each section. The reader is not overwhelmed by the amount to be read. It could be compared to trying to eat an entire cake at one time or just enjoying the cake one bite at a time.
For the most part, I agree with the organization of the text except for the section on choosing a major. Students need to link a major to their career choice, but choosing a major should be discussed earlier in the semester.
The layout of the text is easy to read and navigate. Images were clear and not too intrusive. Charts were easy to understand and appropriately placed within the explanation of the topic. Moving back and forth between pages or skipping to another chapter was easily accomplished.
I did not discover any grammatical errors.
The text was very careful to be inclusive insofar as race and ethnicity was concerned. I did not notice any differently abled students in the pictures. The pictures showed a variety of activities using a variety of students Most of the students appeared to be traditional students. Community colleges often have many non traditional students.
I am very interested in piloting this text with our students because of the cost and interactive nature of the text. The frequent inventories that allow the student to examine themselves, their beliefs and skill levels should maintain their interest. It is truly a text that is all about them.
Very comprehensive book for a first year experience course! The text is organized well and the table of contents makes using the online text simple to navigate. read more
Very comprehensive book for a first year experience course! The text is organized well and the table of contents makes using the online text simple to navigate.
The topic itself can have a slant of opinion since transition issues or tips cannot be as scientific as a math problem. Overall I felt that the text was accurate, error-free, and unbiased.
The content within the book is relevant to first-year students for a long period of time. As students change, the majority of the transitions are going to remain the same/similar.
The text is written clear and to the intended audience.
I appreciate the consistency of the formatting including the learning objectives, content, and optional activities.
This book is perfect for diving up into smaller reading sections for course sessions! You can pick it up at any point to reference or refer students to a particular portion with ease.
YES! I really like the structure and flow of the text.
The interface is clear and easy to navigate! The display features enhance the opportunity for learning.
No issues with grammar!
The living with diversity 9.2 section is probably the weakest portion of the text.
I'm excited about trying portions of the text in my class this fall!
The textbook covers the major topics for student success that would be expected in a book that is now several years old. It has substantial chapters on adapting to college and, to its credit, includes small parts that are directed at... read more
The textbook covers the major topics for student success that would be expected in a book that is now several years old. It has substantial chapters on adapting to college and, to its credit, includes small parts that are directed at non-traditional learners in addition to the primary audience of just-out-of-high-school learners, making it useful at a community college level.
However, it does not include enough information about online learning to be used as a comprehensive guide for students who may be taking primarily online or hybrid classes. As an example, Chapter 4 on note-taking from lectures could use some updating to include taking notes from videos, slide shows, or other online media. Still, this is actually a small failing, and one that can be fixed with some adaptation of the text and/or supplementation through discussion or outside resources.
Materials are clear and accurate. I appreciate the way the sections on critical thinking and meta-cognition avoid mentioning learning styles. In general, it is straight-forward and cites outside sources pretty well in making assertions, though it might help to have more citations about the benefits of certain practices. (For example, a discussion of where the assumption of 2 hours of outside work per hour in the classroom comes from, or why Cornell Notes might or might not work, as it's been studied and found a bit lacking).
Again, the book has some information that's timeless, such as goal-setting information, thinking about thinking, and some general college advice. It would be useful to have more information about the distractions of electronic media and smartphones -- or on how to incorporate these successfully into college study.
This is a very easy text to teach from, and adapting it to meet current standards/technology has not been difficult.
Prose is clear and to-the-point. Examples are useful but short. A few case studies here and there expand the usefulness for students. In the original version (before moving to the UMN site) it had parenthetical definitions or pop-up definitions for all of the terms that are now blue. It would be useful to have a glossary again at the end of each chapter, but most words are explained in context, too.
Tone and information are clear throughout. The objectives are maintained throughout the book and the types of exercises at the end of each chapter are also consistent.
I have used pieces of the text before for a class instead of using the whole, and they divide up well (for the most part). The final three chapters, for instance, are outside of the scope of my 10-week college success class, and it was easy to work without them. There are some links to other chapters in most of the chapters, but the references are rarely critical. Chapter 2 is probably the most difficult to work without -- if it is included, then the basis for goal-setting and time-management and organization that it provides scaffolds the rest of the content.
Activities in all sections and chapters can be used or ignored with no great loss.
This has a pretty logical flow. Not all of chapter 1 seems necessary (depending on the population being taught), and Chapter 2 seems to come a little out of order: time management seems the most critical of the skills being explained here, so putting it before space organization was useful. In fact, Chapter 2 seems like it could be broken into two pieces or taught over two weeks, while Chapter 1 is basically first-day-of-class material. Otherwise, most chapters would correspond neatly to a single week of content (including activities). I found Chapter 7 a little thin -- it could sustain a day's discussion -- while Chapter 8 seems like it's an entire course unto itself (since writing is required on most colleges).
This works fine in any format for reading. If one is using the exercises in the book, then it is necessary to use a format where students can print or copy the exercises easily. The PDF can be edited to make them into templates/fillable forms, but that takes time. The ODT or RTF versions are better for this. The pressbooks version linked here can be awkward for requiring exercise completion, as students will have to rewrite or copy/paste and then worry about spacing for most of them.
Clear, clean, no distracting errors.
The final few chapters try to tackle huge issues in a very basic way. They might be useful, but having an open discussion of campus policies and current events will be more useful. For example, the nutrition and weight chapter conflates weight and health in a way that's offensive, but the sleep chapter would likely be useful for many students. Likewise, the sexual health chapter has some reasonable advice but also suggests that victims are in the best position to prevent sexual assault by following three steps. That's nonsense and is over the border into victim shaming.
I've found major pieces of this work very useful, and I would encourage those considering it to read the chapters most relevant to their course outcomes and adapt when they adopt.
I found the text to be very thorough and comprehensive. It covers important areas that are crucial to the success of 1st year college students, especially those who may not be completely ready for the post-secondary experience. Its length may be... read more
I found the text to be very thorough and comprehensive. It covers important areas that are crucial to the success of 1st year college students, especially those who may not be completely ready for the post-secondary experience. Its length may be daunting ,however all the topic covered are relevant and essential for the student enrolled in a College Success course.
I did not any errors in the text.
In comparison to the text the department has been using for a number of years, the content was both relevant and timely. I did not personally check all the hyperlinks, however the ones that I did were current and active. this is an area that would need and hopefully receives regular maintenance for accuracy.
I found the text clear and easy to follow. The challenge of a college success type book is to able to reach and engage students at various levels. College Success does this. Chapter One set the tone and provides a sound foundation for the chapters that follow.
The uniform structure is carried throughout the book. While not written at a high academic level, the text's language is consistent and is written at a level that readers at different levels will be comfortable reading. The different sections within each chapter provide opportunities for instructor's assessment, self-assessment, and feedback to measure progress.
Each chapter stands on its own merit. While every subject covered is important, it can be difficult to adequately cover all as thoroughly as necessary. The book allows for customizing, enabling teachers to tailor instruction to individual classes.
I found the text easy to follow, with clear divisions of topics. Chapters are divided into very manageable sections. The user can easily jump from section to section or chapter to chapter. The layout is clear, logical, and easy to follow. Although there is a link at the the top of each page to return to the table on contents, the inclusion of an index would be beneficial.
It is easy to navigate your way through the book. Links to move back to the table of contents are helpful. the breakdown of each chapter simplifies the user's search for a particular topic. In spite of the book's length, it is not difficult it identify and locate individual topics.
There were no grammatical errors that I was able to identify.
The book is culturally and gender neutral. It discusses diversity of culture and beliefs and respecting diversity of opinions and is relevant to a diverse college audience.
The book compares very well against the expensive text that was previously being used. The layout is clear, topics are covered thoroughly, and it with the exception of frequently needing to check and update links, it has the staying power to be a credible book for several years. I find it refreshing that the book handles the non-academic topics of "Taking Control of Your Health" and "Taking Control of Your Finances." These are two areas that are seldom covered sufficiently, yet can be crucial to a student's success in college. As the Department Chair, I was excited to find alternatives to expensive print textbooks. College Success does an excellent job of presenting the material while eliminating the financial burden of buying a high priced book.
The content of this book is very comprehensive. The author provides very useful information to consider about college success. It really helps you to understand more about life in college. The information about your health, finances, careers,... read more
The content of this book is very comprehensive. The author provides very useful information to consider about college success. It really helps you to understand more about life in college. The information about your health, finances, careers, etc. are very comprehensive.
This book has accuracy in the information presented.
The information in this text will continue to be relevant for years.
This book presented the information in a clear way. It was easy to understand the author’s information.
The book is very consistent. The author begins each chapter with a self-assessment. Students can survey themselves to know where they are at in their lives, where they want to be and ways they can get there. The author also includes resources links, tips and checkpoint exercises. At the end of each chapter the author presents a list of key takeaway points from the chapter that really summarizes the chapter. Another plus for each chapter is the Learning Objectives in the beginning of each chapter.
The book presented a good modularity. The author organized the book into chapters that are organized into sections.
This book is very organized. The structure and the flow are consistent thought the book.
The book has a good interface. Links to resources websites worked and are very useful for students.
No grammar errors were found in the review of this book.
This book is culturally relevant. The author included a variety of examples of differences in cultures and how in college we have people from different cultures.
I really enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend this book to any instructor. I like the way the author presented the book and how he included these 4 points in each chapter: learning objectives, self-assessment, checkpoint exercises and key takeaway. As I was reading the book I kept thinking I wish I read this book before I went to college. The author of this book seemed very knowledgeable and the information presented in this book will be very useful to my students.
The book is very comprehensive and would be a great resource for traditional college students attending a university for the first time. There is no index or a glossary which would be an advantageous addition to the text. The comprehensiveness of... read more
The book is very comprehensive and would be a great resource for traditional college students attending a university for the first time. There is no index or a glossary which would be an advantageous addition to the text. The comprehensiveness of the text can be overwhelming at times since it attempts to address a multitude of issues that students may encounter during their time in college. It may be more effective to cut back on some of the content and reduce the number of pages overall to provide a more concise guide.
The content was accurate and on a variety of important topics including academic strategies as well as personal and financial well-being which tends to be left out of college success style texts.
The content is mostly up to date with perhaps a few minor revisions needed. Overall, the topics are general and common and will continue to be applicapable to first time university students.
The text is written clearly and is easy to understand. It is not overwhelmingly technical or convoluted.
The text is consistent.
The book is easy to break into smaller, more readable sections; however, this would be helped with an index. The PDF formatting uses too much excess space and breaks pages leaving 2/3 of a page blank or disrupting the content in tables. The text tends to be self-referential but not overly so.
The text is well-organized and flows through topics in a clear, logical manner. The chapters include learning objectives, self-assessments, key takeways and other exercises to engage the reader and make the content more accessible and applicable.
I would like to see more images including charts, etc., as well as updated photographs used. It is text heavy but broken down effectively with sections and sub-headings.
I did not identify any grammatical errors.
The text was not culturally offensive. It addresses diversity of all aspects and encourages personal development and skills that are beneficial when interacting with people across a college campus.
The self-reflective surveys at the beginning of each chapter are a great way for students to assess their current mindset and prepare for the readings ahead. Overall, this is a great comprehensive guide for incoming college freshmen. My only critiques are the length, PDF formatting/ spacing, and lack of interesting visuals/ graphics.
This book was extremely comprehensive in covering the broad topic of "Student Success". COLLEGE SUCCESS covered the typical topics of time management and study skills, but it also gave in depth advice on topics such as finances, personal wellness,... read more
This book was extremely comprehensive in covering the broad topic of "Student Success". COLLEGE SUCCESS covered the typical topics of time management and study skills, but it also gave in depth advice on topics such as finances, personal wellness, and how to interact with professors.
As far as I could tell, the book was accurate, unbiased, and mostly error-free (I think I might have noticed one minor typo).
I found the book extremely relevant. I appreciated that COLLEGE SUCCESS often refers the reader to web-based additional resources, as opposed to other, stagnant resources.
The book is very clear and easy to understand. Additionally, the writing style is very conversational and, thus, accessible to college students.
As far as I could tell, the book is consistent throughout, in terms of framework and terminology.
The book's modularity was appropriate, however, it seems to be missing a table of contents. That made it difficult to go back and review specific sections, especially when viewing the book electronically.
I enjoyed the book's structure/flow. It made sense to me in that topics more relevant to the beginning of the semester were covered first, and so on.
The pictures in the text were often placed oddly. Often the caption would appear after a page break, and the pictures themselves seemed to disrupt the formatting of the text. Additionally, as mentioned above, I would have like a table of contents.
No grammar errors that I noticed.
I thought the book did a great job of identifying different types of students and the challenges/benefits that different groups might face, without falling into stereotypes (both positive and negative).
I really enjoyed COLLEGE SUCCESS! I thought it was comprehensive and encouraged students to reflect deeply on the content with the embedded reading quizzes and activities. I really appreciated the tone of the book; it was relaxed and conversational, while still maintaining a "professional" air. Additionally, there was a constant, underlying message that the student is responsible for his/her learning. That message is critical, but it often gets lost in college success books because they are trying to provide easy solutions, when the reality is that college is hard. My one bit of criticism is that the book is roughly 500 pages, which would make it difficult to get the freshmen in my First Year Experience course to read the entire book.
The text is comprehensive in that it covers a wide variety of topics, and covers them in a straightforward, appropriate, and unassuming manner. However, there is no index or glossary, which makes it more challenging to look over the topics at a... read more
The text is comprehensive in that it covers a wide variety of topics, and covers them in a straightforward, appropriate, and unassuming manner. However, there is no index or glossary, which makes it more challenging to look over the topics at a quick glance.
The content is accurate, and I found no errors within it. I feel this text is unbiased, as it is unassuming in its audience.
I would consider this text nearly timeless. It covers relevant material, and could be easily updated need be. The material is laid out in such a way that one topic provides the building blocks for another.
This text is very clear, and does not use jargon/technical terminology without context. It also has great follow up at the end of each chapter so the reader can briefly review what concepts were presented in each chapter. I think it would be accessible to anyone.
The text is internally consistent in both areas of terminology and framework.
This text could easily be divided up as the instructor sees fit, such as chapter-by-chapter or by sub-chapters for smaller chunks and concepts. The text does not seem to be overly self-referential, it does reference other chapters, but as a resource for referencing, which I believe would be helpful to a student.
The topics are presented in a logical and clear fashion; like I mentioned previously, each one serves as building blocks for other chapters, without it having to be read strictly sequentially.
The text was very easy to interface with; there were no issues accessing images, charges, pictures or links within the text.
I found no grammatical errors while reviewing this text.
This text did a good job of using examples that are inclusive rather than exclusive.
My favorite part about this book is that it is not corny like some other college success books. This book realizes that the reader may be fresh out of high school, or returning after many years, which I feel is not a common theme (and it should be!). It is a long book (495 pages), however it wouldn't have to be used in its entirety. In fact, this is a text I could use for two of the courses I teach, because it covers so much.
The text covers the important areas of college success which are well organized in chapters. The only piece missing is a section on seeking out resources for success and support on campus. read more
The text covers the important areas of college success which are well organized in chapters. The only piece missing is a section on seeking out resources for success and support on campus.
The information presented it time-tested and accurate.
The information in the text will remain relevant for year to come.
The text is clear and written to be understood by the entering college student. It contains some learning terminology but the terms are defined and explained in context.
The writing style is consistent throughout.
Text presents a large amount of information. Although I am not positive that every entering student would read the book in its entirety on their own, the text is divided into chapters would be extremely useful as weekly reading material for a first-year orientation course.
College Success is a well- organized text containing information that every college freshman should know. The chapters are arranged logically with each topic helping to build a skill which builds upon the next. Chapter One delves into exploration of personal values, interests and strengths and Chapter Two progresses logically to development of personal goals. The text culminates in exploration of career choices and selecting a major. In between, each chapter provides skills and tips for academic success including accepting responsibility for learning, time-management, developing study skills and preparation for exams.
The text is easy to navigate and the table of contents provides a good overview of chapter topics.
The text is well written and easily understandable by entering college freshman.
Diversity is appropriately addressed throughout the text. It deals with developing a knowledge and appreciation of diversity of culture and beliefs and respecting diversity of opinions. The text is relevant to the diverse college audience which it targets.
The textbook is holistic in its approach and explores social, physical, emotional and financial health as important components of college success. As an educator with 30 years of experience in advising students at Carnegie One Research institution, I would highly recommend this text as a guidebook for first year college students.
More comprehensive than many other college success books. I could not find an index or glossary and the table of contents had hyperlinks to each chapter. read more
More comprehensive than many other college success books. I could not find an index or glossary and the table of contents had hyperlinks to each chapter.
The book was accurate as far as I could tell. I could see no inconsistencies with other books. However, there were some exercises that did not have a form to go with it (activity in 4.3).
Most of the information has no time limitation. The information has been applicable in the past and will continue to be applicable in the foreseeable future.
Clarity is fine. There is some redundancy, but it is not significant.
The text is consistent and adheres to the goals of the book.
While there are clear breaks to the chapters (learning objectives, summaries, objectives) the book is VERY self-referential. This includes both "discussed in chapter xx" as well as past references. Although there are hyperlinks for these, they do not all work (the chapter 1.6 link in the "activity" does not send you back to 1.3. I find this very frustrating, especially if the book is printed.
I found some of the organization to be out of order. I don't understand why choosing a major would be at the very end of the book?
Although I did not test all of the hyperlinks, I did find some that did not work. Additionally, some words are in different colors that are NOT hyperlinks. Very confusing as to what the purpose of the colored text is. Pictures and charts seem fine unless you print the book out. If that is done, there are no lines on any of the tables. The table of context does not print either.
No noticeable errors.
It is not offensive and specifically addresses diversity on a college campus.
There are some valuable tools in this book. There are checkpoint exercises, self-assessments, learning objectives, key takeaways and exercises to help reinforce the presented information.
This book is comprehensive in most ways. It covers a wide-range of topics which I think would be useful to most beginning college students including staying organized, preparing for exams, interacting with instructors, etc. I felt the style of... read more
This book is comprehensive in most ways. It covers a wide-range of topics which I think would be useful to most beginning college students including staying organized, preparing for exams, interacting with instructors, etc. I felt the style of writing could retain student interest, and included many practical tips which would be helpful. I felt most of this text was thorough, maybe so much that this reading would be difficult to incorporate into a 1-credit hour seminar or course. This text would likely be more appropriate for a 2 or 3-credit course.
In addition, I think the section on the financial aspects of higher education could have been expanded. In my experience, students are very concerned about how higher education will impact their financial future, but are unsure of the complex financial aid system. The book addresses things like loans vs. scholarships, but I felt could have done more to explain the current system of loan-repayment. For example, I was hoping for a chart indicating how certain levels of debt may require certain amounts of monthly repayment. I understand this could be complicated to address, however, could be done more thoroughly.
Content appeared to be accurate error-free, and unbiased.
The content seemed up-to-date. Again I understand financial aid and particularly student loan repayment is an evolving topic/ system, but including current statistics and information about student debt would have been useful.
The book was clear. Some sections could have been more concise.
The book was internally consistent.
The modules within the book were useful, and this type of modularity would likely be crucial for students taking this course (who would not yet be used to collegiate readings or who might be at-risk academically).
There was a clear and easy-to-follow flow throughout.
Most of the interface seemed to be useful. I only ran into a couple issues, which I think would be difficult to avoid.
I did not notice grammatical issues.
The book appeared culturally sensitive. Nothing struck me as offensive in any way.
The interactive style of the textbook (charts, take-aways, chapter reviews) could be useful for the majority of the audience taking a student success course, however could also alienate readers by making them feel patronized. I think within a college success course this is always a dilemma: students will enter the course with such different needs and preferences. Another challenge with this type of general textbook on student success is that it cannot describe resources or aspects of college life which are university/ college specific.
Overall the textbook is informative,clear, and well-written.
The text provided excellent comprehensiveness, ranging from academic success suggestions, personal and interpersonal advice, over-all college success advice, to managing time and money. It was extremely well thought out by beginning each chapter... read more
The text provided excellent comprehensiveness, ranging from academic success suggestions, personal and interpersonal advice, over-all college success advice, to managing time and money. It was extremely well thought out by beginning each chapter with Learning Objectives and ending each chapter with key Takeaways and interesting exercises to continue the learning. The index and glossary inclusion were very helpful as well as the inclusion on on-line opportunities to further explore chapter topics.
I thought the accuracy was very well demonstrated by the well-rounded nature of subjects: something for everyone despite what you already think you know. The only bias was to encourage student success, which is the whole point of the text!
There were occasional relevance to research on the variety of topics presented but these would be relatively easy to update as time goes on and new research occurs.
It was easy to engage in with short chapters that were very focused and enlightening.
The framework and terminology were consistent and well designed.
I thought the chapters were well thought out, to the point and easy to expand on beyond reading the book. I did not find most of the pictures relevant and actually found them a bit dull and boring. They did not add to the text and felt like space fillers more than beneficial.
Excellent, I really enjoyed the format and information presented.
The photos were not engaging, stock type photos that wasted space, for the most part. They did not do justice to the richness of the information and navigation of the text.
No concerns noted at all.
I saw no indiction of cultural insensitivity.
Remove or replace the photos, they did not add to the quality and richness of the text.
The textbook covers a wide variety of topics for college success. There are 12 chapters in all. The textbook is very lengthy, yet there is no index or glossary included. The self assessments at the beginning of each chapter are a good component,... read more
The textbook covers a wide variety of topics for college success. There are 12 chapters in all. The textbook is very lengthy, yet there is no index or glossary included. The self assessments at the beginning of each chapter are a good component, as well as the follow-up exercises at the end of each chapter. Since this book is nearly six years old, I wonder about it inclusiveness to more pertinent up-to-date material especially technology.
I have taught College Success courses for over 20 years and I felt as though this textbook had some good straight-forward information for students. I did not detect any content-specific errors, but there were hints of bias with regards to the text written more towards a recent high school grad audience rather than written for all the types of students. The content was accurate for the most part.
A majority of the content is fine because it is not necessarily time sensitive. However, I was not very pleased with some of the web links or links to supplemental materials (e.g.,a handout about transparencies?).
The text is written in a very practical sense. Many different topic areas are covered in a simple, yet sensible manner. The textbook does have some specialized vocabulary, but it is defined within the text nicely.
The framework on each chapter follows a easy-to-follow pattern such as: where are you now assessment, chapter learning objectives, key take aways, checkpoint exercises, chapter review, outside the book, and make an action list. I thought these were all laid out well and engaging for the student.
Each chapter has many sub sections which breaks the text into palatable reading, especially for freshman students or novice textbook readers. Each chapter and sub section seemed to flow well together. The sub sections of reading are followed by reflective exercises, which provide the student a chance to absorb and retain the material in manageable chunks.
I am concerned with how this textbook appears (formatting, etc.) on tablets and such. I used an iPad and it was good because I was able to go back and forth to the Table of Contents and bookmark sections. However, the PDF version seemed very long and overwhelming to read.
The organization of the book flowed very well. It mirrors the sequence of many similar College Success textbooks.The chapters transitioned very well and throughout the textbook, there is cross-reference to various chapters noted. Instructors still have the ability to use the textbook chapters in the order they chose to teach them in.
Each chapter does offer engaging activities for the student. These activities are for the most part, very clear and straight forward.
A downside is the textbook is very lengthy and navigating in and between the chapters was a bit tedious. The images, photos, and graphics are fine, although there was a lack of robust illustrations throughout the textbook. The book is very text-heavy, which can be a barrier for novice college learners. Additionally, some of the web links were outdated. Lastly, the PDF version would benefit from having a Table of Contents.
There were no grammar errors detected.
The textbook presented and described the various types of students typically found on college campuses today. However, there seemed to be more of a high school grad audience appeal throughout the text rather than to a broader audience of students. The book also thoroughly explains the diversity in learning styles, which is very important for novice college learners to be aware of. There were no blatant examples of cultural insensitivity that I noted. Chapter 9 provides a nice scoop of topics that include: getting along with others, living with diversity, and campus groups. These are very important topics that students will experience within the social world of college
Overall, the textbook has very good merit. Personally, it would need to have some of my aforementioned edits and revisions before I would consider adopting it fully. I would more than likely use the textbook as a supplement to my College Success courses in its current form. For example, I would use some of the assessments and chapter activities for in-class or online discussions. I would also use some of the "outside the book" activities that are at the end of each chapter. In summary, many of the textbook ideas and topics presented are valuable "habits of the mind" for today's college students. I look forward to the updated version of this textbook in the future, one, that I can fully adopt.
The textbook is expansive in the breadth of topics studied, yet detailed in key areas relating to the first year college experience. That being said, the voluminous nature of certain chapters, particularly the first few, may be too much... read more
The textbook is expansive in the breadth of topics studied, yet detailed in key areas relating to the first year college experience. That being said, the voluminous nature of certain chapters, particularly the first few, may be too much information in too dense of a format for the students to whom this text is geared. I am in my 15th year teaching community college and non-traditional students, and experience shows many individuals will tune out rather than read the copious text of those chapters.
However, there is a wealth of information on a wide-ranging set of topics germane to an introduction to the college experience. The material relating to academic skills is thorough, with the inclusion of career, financial and social issues bringing an effective balance to the needs of a modern college student.
The authors skillfully combine tried and true academic concepts with activities and quizzes to reinforce the topic being studied. Examples include active reading, listening, note-taking and basic study skills. The source material is relevant and topical; however, the majority of the content is geared toward the “traditional” student just out of high school living on or near a mostly residential campus.
I saw no substantive errors or overt bias, however the Checkpoint Exercise questions in Section 10.7 concerning how a female student can protect herself at a party does seem to merit more inquiry beyond just the role of the potential “victim” in warding off an assault.
The issues addressed in this textbook are time-worn yet ongoing, hence the core learning material will be relevant for the foreseeable future. Naturally some of the links, particularly to YouTube and other such sites, will become inaccessible. Nonetheless, the authors could easily provide substitutes in any revision, and of course the instructor can always do the same.
Although the text is overly lengthy, the prose is accessible, particularly to the target student base. Technical terms are used sparingly and then defined in an effective way. The language used is generally appropriate and effective in conveying the intended meaning. A glossary of technical terms/definitions used in each chapter would be a welcome addition to any forthcoming revision.
Instructors may wish to assign sections rather than whole chapters to facilitate students actually reading in an active manner. My students currently using this textbook remark that the language style is relatively “easy to read” yet the sheer amount of verbiage can be too much in one setting for the modern college student.
The writing style, terminology, objectives and activities are consistent from chapter to chapter, which flow together well in a logical and effective format.
The authors successfully combined materials into a consistent format for each chapter, which are then broken into sections based upon the learning objectives. These sections can be readily assigned in an a la carte fashion. Instructors can then assign smaller amounts of reading, which would allow the material to be less daunting. Although there are many “self-referential” cites throughout, I found those to be helpful when planning lessons rather than a hindrance.
Each chapter is designed in a similar fashion and flows in a logical progression from section to section/topic to topic. I found organizing the format most effective in the following manner: 1) begin with Chapter Objectives and a “warm-up” quiz, 2) assign the reading of content, and 3) concluding with Chapter Takeaways and Exercises. This process was the most conducive to student learning and personal application.
I assign certain “exercises” both as homework and as in-class activities to form a portion of each student’s class portfolio. These can be helpful to reinforce content and to provide resources to study from prior to an exam.
The PDF version of the textbook does not have a table of contents nor do the first few pages of the chapters include page numbers. The table of contents, particularly where sections are specifically listed, would ease the task of instructor and student in knowing where to actually begin/end the assigned reading.
There is inconsistency in page format from chapter to chapter and some exercises “bleed’ into other material, which makes it more difficult to print handouts or use certain of these opportunities as an in-class activity or “journal entry.”
Illustrations are generally effective in breaking apart the material into manageable parts and do convey important facts and messaging in a visual format. A good example is the “integrating reading into family” chart.
I noticed no grammatical errors.
The textbook, and thus many of the examples, are geared to the traditional, residential student. A few of the references seem outdated, with the conversation concerning the relationship between instructors and “older” students being an example. That being said, I commend the authors for including examples of students from diverse backgrounds, life experiences and academic pursuits. In particular, the focus on differing learning styles brought the uniqueness of each student to the fore. As someone who has extensively worked with “non-traditional” students, I would have appreciated more examples focusing on the specific circumstances of such students. Since there is no true “typical” student, at least where I teach, the textbook does of nice job of trying to touch upon the needs of the many without going into such detail that readers would tune out or be turned off. The balance is difficult and in this instance believe the authors mostly got it right.
As I have noted, this textbook is geared, particularly in the first few chapters, to the “traditional” student. However, that “bias” and any modularity concerns do not dissuade me from recommending this textbook to my colleagues.
I do recommend that the instructor read and dissect each chapter and seriously consider assigning certain sections and activities rather than the chapter as a whole. Printing/interface issues aside, the layout of the chapters is readily manageable to teach on an a la carte basis.
The strong points of the textbook are the substantive material, especially relating to traditional academic topics like reading, note-taking, test tips and the like. The learning objectives are topical and most activities are functional and effective in reinforcing that content.
My students this semester advised me to use this textbook again. However, they recommended that I cut down on the amount of the reading and focus in detail on certain subjects, especially active reading and listening as well budgeting and managing the finances of college. They also remarked many times their appreciation of its being free. In that I concur!
I found the College Success text to be comprehensive. It covers all of the typical areas that college success textbooks cover. I found the information in each chapter covered the subject effectively. The organization of the text is clear and... read more
I found the College Success text to be comprehensive. It covers all of the typical areas that college success textbooks cover. I found the information in each chapter covered the subject effectively. The organization of the text is clear and consistent. Each chapter is broken down into sub parts of the subject, this allows the student to see what is covered and focus on the areas that meet the individual students need.
The content in the text was accurate for the time that it was written. There have been technological advances that could be addressed or updated. The chapters that address actual student skills were mostly accurate. The chapters that cover more of the life skills could use some updating and expansion to meet the needs of non traditional students.
There are parts of College Success that do not change much, such as test taking skills. Since technology is advancing so quickly there are areas that may need some updating. Education and student technical knowledge is being effected by this advancement and will eventual require updating to the text. The arrangement of the text will allow for easy updates.
The language of the text is accessible to students. There is not excessive jargon or technical language used. This makes reading the text closer to the language that the student know and use.
One of the strong points of the College Success text is its consistency. All of the chapters follow the same format. This is especially helpful to online students as they quickly learn how to use the text efficiently. Each chapter is broken down into parts and there is consistent use of objectives and outcomes so that the students know what is expected of them.
Modularity is another strength of the text. The format of the text is consistently divided into well defined parts of the subject. Each area is clearly marked with its particular topic. There are some self-referential parts but they are clear and not frequent. This modularity should allow the student to stop and start again with little confusion about where they left off and what the current topic is.
The organization, structure and flow of the text is logical and clear. The consistency of the structure contributes to the great flow of the text. Within each chapter the information flows smoothly from one part of the subject to the next without interference. The pause between subjects that require self-reflection is a great way to move into a new area.
I found the text easy to move around in. The graphics were appropriate and well placed. There were not many graphics so the students were not overwhelmed by them. The graphics were applicable to the subject and appropriately placed.
I did find any grammguical errors. Nor have any been pointed out to me by my students. The language is fairly neutral and does not use slang.
Cultural relevance is an area that needs some work. The text is mainly written for recent high school graduates. There is mention of non traditional students but not much information relevant to them. My students range in age from high school to older adults. There has been some offense taken to the information in the soft skill areas in chapters 10 &11. Often the older students felt that they already knew the information and that questions asked were to personal. It is hard to know the cultures of the students in an online class unless they speak out. Diversity was covered well in its specific area.
I have used the College Success text in my classes for a year, both face to face and online. I have not had any real problems outside of the fact that I do not teach the class in the order of the text. This has caused a little trouble with self-referencing. I have found that the text meets my needs in most areas. I find it to be comprehensive and relevant to the various subjects. Some students do have trouble reading the text online and have to print it out so that option is a benefit as well. I was very excited to find an OER this complete and easy to access. It saved much time in creating the class as I did not have to find each area individually and create the units.
The book contains a variety of traditionally taught college success topics at most higher education institutions such as study skills, goal-setting, note-taking, test-taking and time/self management. The other topics such as diversity,... read more
The book contains a variety of traditionally taught college success topics at most higher education institutions such as study skills, goal-setting, note-taking, test-taking and time/self management. The other topics such as diversity, communication and health seem to be included to match some of the leading college success books which is a plus.
It is difficult to determine whether some of the self-assessment tools are valid or reliable since they lack references although they seem to assess what they purport to assess. Most chapters contain information that most successful students may already know but this information is good to revisit.
Most of the information is timeless and has been around as part of college success textbooks. Chapters 9-12 may become outdated more quickly than the other chapters.
The books is written clearly and concisely and is very easy to read. However, some parts are written so simply that they may lack depth.
I didn't see any issues with consistency in this book. The topics are well defined and organized.
The chapters are easily realigned to fit any curriculum. However, some parts refer to other chapters/topics without much explanation. The instructor will need to keep this in mind to avoid confusion as to what has been covered and what hasn't.
The organization and structure are fine but I would probably go over the chapters in a different order to improve the flow and to better fit the needs of the populations that are being served.
It is very easy to navigate this book. I didn't find any interface issues. This book seems to be easier to use than traditional e-textbooks.
There are minimal grammatical errors.
The text covers diversity fairly well and appears to be culturally relevant. This is an area that is ever-changing so the text may need to be updated every so often to provide more inclusive information.
This textbook covers all the areas of college success that we cover at our community college. The information on social world, finances, and your health are very comprehensive. read more
This textbook covers all the areas of college success that we cover at our community college. The information on social world, finances, and your health are very comprehensive.
Content is accurate, error-free and unbiased
Published in 2012 I really appreciated the information on the different kinds of students and thought it was very current.
Textbooks was written in jargon student's could learn to understand. Appreciate the highlighted words being defined as you rolled over them with the mouse.
I appreciated the consistency of this textbook the most. Each chapter begins with the student surveying themselves about where they are at, where they want to be and ways to get there. The activities, key take aways, checkpoint exercises, chapter reviews and outside the books are included in each chapter and are ones students would do.
The textbook is divided into sections that can be assigned for a variety of class period chunks. Usually 10 chapters are what we cover in a term class, but I really liked that chapters on finance, health, and social world were included.
The topics are presented in a logical, organized and clear fashion with a pattern in each chapter that students would find helpful.
Enjoyed the interface and the navigation of this text. Easy to go from one section to the next or back to the table of contents.
Found no grammar errors.
This textbook is not culturally insensitive.
This textbook is one that I would consider for a college success class and would use chapters of it in my study skills class.
College Success takes a comprehensive approach to a student's preparation for college. It is a book that should be read by anyone about to undertake college for the first time. Although it does not have an explicit glossary, it defines terms and... read more
College Success takes a comprehensive approach to a student's preparation for college. It is a book that should be read by anyone about to undertake college for the first time. Although it does not have an explicit glossary, it defines terms and addresses a wide range of subjects pertinent to college students from class preparation, to financial literacy, to critical thinking skills. I have some quibbles with emphasis but not in overall comprehensiveness. The authors do a nice job of integrating the concerns of online courses thought the book but another approach might have been separate sections on the demands of online education. Because there is indeed so much to this book (it is almost 500 pages long), the text would lend itself well to an adaptive learning structure where students could concentrates on the areas that they need the most.
Every book has its biases but I think Student Success has a welcome bias toward a student's disposition. As a philosopher, I like the chapter on thinking that includes some basics about epistemology and logical arguments. Otherwise, I did not notice any accuracy issues. See the concluding note. The one obvious blunder that I saw was in a failed effort at redacting one of the authors' names.
This is a book that should be able to hold its value for long periods of time. As changes in curricular delivery occur in higher education, the book would have to adapt. However, for the most part this book should not need any revisions for 5 to 10 years. One of the tradeoffs for the longevity is specificity. For example, College Success has a chapter on "Taking Control of Your Finances." The book could have been more specific about student loans today which would have an appeal for greater relevance but then it would sacrifice some of its longevity.
The book is very understandable and I don't think students will be hindered by jargon or specialized language.
For having multiple authors, I thought the book was very consistent in style and approach.
It seems to me that the chapters of this book lend themselves well to modularity. In fact, this book would make an excellent candidate for an adaptive text (particularly given the quizzes at the beginning of each chapter). Each chapter could start with a short video and the results of the quiz would dictate how much time is spent on each topic. Each topic does stand alone well.
The organization of the text made logical sense to me. I wonder if more could have been done at the beginning of each section to hook the reader into how important it is to be intentional and thoughtful about the college experience.
Generally speaking the interface was solid. However, given the length of the book, I would have liked a quicker method for moving between sections and subsections of the book. Jumping sections means a bit of hunting.
I found no major or recurring grammatical flaws.
I did not notice insensitive language but the book could have done more to proactively address the first time in college student as well as issues of power and privilege. There is enough material available to have robust sections reaching out to underrepresented groups as well as addressing class, gender, and sexual identities.
I have one suggestion that fits nowhere in this assessment. Apparently for the second edition, the authors chose to be anonymous but the anonymity is very clunky. Rather than simply pull the authors' names out of the biographies, the biographies should have been rewritten to explain the expertise of the authors without the crude redaction of their names. Its an odd way to begin the book (and note that one of the redactions was incomplete, leaving one of the author's last names in).
College Success is an umbrella text covering a wide gamete of topics primarily related to the study skills and personal habits associated with a “college lifestyle”. The book was published in 2010, and may not be reflective of what skills are... read more
College Success is an umbrella text covering a wide gamete of topics primarily related to the study skills and personal habits associated with a “college lifestyle”. The book was published in 2010, and may not be reflective of what skills are needed to be a successful college student today’s world. As an example, the digital nature of college is minimaliized. The intended audience for the text appears to be a young, recent high school graduate, the “traditional” college student. The content targets a person who recently had a fairly successful high school experience and who just needs a few organizational tips and behavioral changes to transition into college successfully. References are made to non-traditional students, but more as a passing acknowledgement of their existence rather than inclusion into the heart of the text. The book is well organized with clearly defined chapters and content. As the book progresses, references are made to preceding chapters, so an adopter would need to recognize the embedded associations.
The authors of the text are knowledgeable in their fields. The text has accurate information on study skills related to college success. The vastness of the topics covered may give superficial treatment to some of the content such as Chapter 9, The Social World of College, and Chapter 10, Taking Control of Your Health. Several of the behavioral tips seem outdated. For example, in the chapter on Taking Control of Finances, the suggestion is made to, “Make your own lunches and snacks.” Many of today’s colleges have fixed meal expenses built into overall tuition costs and if the student doesn’t use the meal plan, the money is non-refundable. No financial benefits would come from making your own lunches and snacks. In addition, the text makes frequent references to high school experiences as well as assumptions about what high school’s academic delivery system entails, consequently implying why the student is underprepared for college. Several generalizations are made about the differences between High School teachers and College teachers, which may or may not be accurate. The many references to high school make non-traditional students/home-schooled students seem like outsiders to the composition of a college classroom.
The relevancy of this text depends on the culture of the institution/college the student is entering. For a traditional student headed for a college of predominately tradition courses/majors, the text would be more relevant. There are useful worksheets and word lists found within the chapters of the text. The references to websites and their links need to be updated before using the chapters.
The text is clearly written and uses an informal language style in an effort engage and connect to readers/students. Technical terms are minimally used in the content of the chapters.
The test contains consistently organized chapters and maintains the same framework throughout the book. Each chapter begins with learning objectives, self-assessment activities and follows up with associated worksheets designed to deepen the learning. The chapters highlight key takeaways for each area as well as providing checkpoint exercises.
The text format of chapters would allow a user to adopt individual chapters for specific use. The adopter would need to preview the chapter for references to information presented in previous chapters. In addition, the formatting of the text could make it necessary for an adopter to reconfigure worksheets as some of them start in the middle of a page.
The use of chapters in the text creates a logical/easy to follow organization. It also allows the user to adopt only portions of the overall book deemed useful to personal situations.
The text makes use of clear visual aids to illustrate content. Worksheets and other activities add to the content development.
The text adheres to Standard American English. No errors were found in the content of the text.
The content of the text attempts to include a variety of students as examples within the topic areas, however, the dominant student references are to a young, traditional student with a recent High School background. Considering the changing diversity of students on today’s college campuses, the text lacks broadness and sensitivity. For example, “Instructors enjoy talking with older and other non-traditional students--- even when, as sometimes happens, the student is older than the instructor.” The text makes non-traditional students seem like outsiders to the college culture. Statistics from current research shows that the non-traditional student on campus is beginning to surpass the traditional students in numbers. The text clearly lacks sensitivity and understanding of diversity at many points within the book.
The strengths of this text are in the chapters relating to study skills for a student who is underprepared for the workload of college and just needs a few “tips” to become successful in college. “As you embark on your college career, you have found yourself in an environment like no other.” Much of the implications found within the text are based on the assumption about the student’s high school experiences which result in a student being underprepared for the new world of College. The text focuses on stereotypic campus based college experiences and may not reflect the evolving world of “college” or the diverse options of “college” a student may select from in today’s market. The text focuses on the student changing to fit into the world of college, and minimizes he diversity of students entering college today. This text was published in 2010, so it’s not surprising it could use updating.
Having taught such classes for over twelve years in the community college setting, I noted the inclusion of all of my "essential topics" in this text. I would have liked the addition of a glossary of terms and an index, however. I like the... read more
Having taught such classes for over twelve years in the community college setting, I noted the inclusion of all of my "essential topics" in this text. I would have liked the addition of a glossary of terms and an index, however.
I like the inclusion of graphics, particularly several "student samples," crosswords puzzle assessment features, charts, and other features serving visual learners and for variety in a very text-dominant format. The links to related topics in the book as well as to "outside sources" I also found to be helpful.
One topic I will reference throughout my review is that this book seems to suit a primarily high-school-to-four-year-college demographic. Where "non-traditional students" are mentioned, it is more in third person, as if to inform the primary audience of the fact that non-traditional students will also be classmates although there is some reference actually to non-traditionals in terms of the challenges they, too, face. By non-traditional I reference: older, displaced, veterans, internationals, special needs, GED and Placement test preppers, individuals "mandated" to attend for various reasons, and so on. My "rating" reflects this concern.
I believe the book is accurate (with the exception of an update re: Gardner's Intelligences which now number nine, instead of eight). It appears to be unbiased and error free with the exception of some formatting glitches, e.g., inconsistency in spacing before new chapters, see chapter 5, title page.
The information presented seems "classic," thus, always relevant, to me. The topics are all I feature when I teach such courses. Additionally, I survey my Effective Learning students at the start of the term asking them to prioritize their learning needs, and their lists include the same topics: note-taking, reading comprehension, time management, test-taking and memory skills, etc.
The information is presented with clarity and is easily "readable." I did a quick readability scan of six selections (www.readability.com) and the average score is 11.1, ranging from 6.7 grade readability to 14.2, the mean also 11th grade. The readability is very appropriate for what I believe is the primary readership: high school students just entering a four year college. It would also be easily understood by many entering community college students as well, although our demographic is far more diverse in terms of age, background, and several other factors.
I found the chapter layout and components to be consistent which is very helpful for students as they can more easily predict the kind of learning and responding skills they will need to employ.
I rate this text high in this category. Each chapter has similar components, e.g., Key Takeaways, Checkpoint Exercises, Outside the Book links, and so on, that enhance the core text and learning experience. Because of the inter-text reference links, I also like the ease, then, with which one (instructor or learner) can reference needed background information if the chapters are presented out of order, but in the order an instructor and/or students might prefer.
The topics within each chapter follow a logical organizational pattern, and the chapters follow the usual order one finds in such textbooks. But, as noted earlier, I have changed the order of most textbooks (at least the texts I have used over the years) due to student requests. For example, Week 1 for me is typically learning styles/intelligences, etc. Week 2 heads right into note-taking and summarizing (as students are using those skills immediately in other classes). Week 3 quickly follows with reading comprehension, again, because this is a big-ticket item in the college success world. But this text could be easily used out of sequence because of the inter-text links for background reference.
As noted earlier, the only glitch I noticed was the inconsistency of the formatting re: new chapter layouts (see where chapter 5, for example, starts quite a bit farther down the page than other chapters).
I did not notice any grammatical issues.
The text does not appear to be culturally insensitive, save for one minor issue re: the negative comment about how colleges are now "forced" to accommodate special needs students (I am a former special education instructor, so I notice these things more. However, for the community college demographic, there is the issue, I noted prior, for non-traditional and diverse students to be under-represented in this text, though some effort is made to attend to them (see my final comment).
As I previously commented, as a community college instructor, I noticed that the primary learner strongly implied, here, is, again, the high school student just now starting a four-year college/university. Of course, there is a big market for that demographic. The first chapter, especially, implies this readership although later chapters do include older students, international, married, and working students as well. For this text to be of greater interest to me in the community college, additional non-traditional students would be considered, if not necessarily featured, in case studies or in other illustrations, e.g., veterans, GED and college placement test preppers, special needs students, and so on.
Related to this, it appears, especially in the early pages, that non-traditional students are "spoken" about as opposed to spoken to, i.e., they are referenced more as individuals the recent high school students who are now college freshmen should anticipate in their classes as opposed to and/or referenced as actual readers of the text. Later on, they are more directly addressed as readers/learners.
Another issue I noted is that many of the assessment true/false items seem to be rhetorical rather than probing. On the other hand, I very much like the nature of the reflective prompts that invite the student to describe, list, define, and/or explain their responses to the skills and strategies covered in the chapters. That kind of assessment is, to me, very valuable and more memorable.
The text is very comprehensive in many respects, sometimes to a fault because it might lose students in going into so many different topics. The one subject area that is absent is fixed vs. growth mindset or victim and creator mindset. The text... read more
The text is very comprehensive in many respects, sometimes to a fault because it might lose students in going into so many different topics. The one subject area that is absent is fixed vs. growth mindset or victim and creator mindset. The text instead talks about a student’s attitude, but not as comprehensively as I would have liked.The text goes into a number success issues outside of the classroom including money management, job interviewing, and STI prevention. I have not seen other books of this genre go into such issues.
As a whole, the text is very accurate. There were some issues in the content including gender stereotypes and victim blaming. For example, a quiz asks students the following, “List at least three things a woman can do at a party to ensure she does not become a victim of sexual assault.:” This section aside, I was very impressed with the book’s accuracy.
The text includes current issues in learning which are very relevant to today’s students. Topics include including critical thinking about information gathered from the internet, teachers using podcasts, and online learning. Some hyperlinks and websites need to be updated.
This book is written in accessible and clear language.
I did not note any problem’s with the book’s internal consistency.
The book’s chapters could be used independently and in different courses. Because of the number of topics that the book covers, an instructor might well only want to use half the chapters in a course and I think the book lends itself well to that purpose.
The chapters flow in a logical order and the chapters flow naturally from topic to topic.
The PDF of the textbook does not have a table of contents. The addition of a table of contents would make the book easier to navigate.
I found no significant grammatical errors in the text.
More than other texts that I have read on this subject, this book is inclusive of students from many different backgrounds. It touches on subjects including students who have childcare responsibilities for their siblings, students who are parents, and student athletes. I found the section on preventing sexual assault to have some gender stereotypes and victim blaming but did not find this bias in other sections of the book.
The books acknowledge a wide range of questions which are important for students. It has intrinsic information about various titles with analysis and examples. There are lots of links in each chapter but aren't structured well. read more
The books acknowledge a wide range of questions which are important for students. It has intrinsic information about various titles with analysis and examples. There are lots of links in each chapter but aren't structured well.
I would like to see more practical life examples instead of theoretical assumptions to make it more logical and incorporate global scenario.
It is a great resource for a long time period. The links may have been outdated and thus needs revision.
The authors knows the audience they are catering to and thus have simplified things for students. It is great to see points which are very clear and compact under each title.
Consistent language for students with a similar approach in each chapter and thus makes it easier to navigate through chapters. The fonts are consistent. The exercises are helpful and placed in a good order.
Modularity is not the best in the book. It takes time to explore and navigate through chapters. Once you are in a chapter then it's pretty well organised.
Chapters are well structured. Overall the book is not well ordered and the book is hard to follow for first time viewers who shall face navigating problems. The flow of text in chapters is smooth and transition between the sub chapters is very consistent.
very readable and clear with no major errors
Some repetitions could be avoided
No grammatical errors
Might need to involve more examples but it overall covers a wide audience.
The book looks like an assignment sheet with lots of in-depth work and information. There is a lot of in chapter exercises and guidance which clears the concepts well for a student. It is a good resource for a student and family as it answers a wide variety of questions and creates a good understanding. The do's and don'ts can be used to guide students in their future career as well. It covers topic like college experience, motivation, thinking skills, listening, reading, preparing for tests, writing, social life, health, and finances which are all essential for college success.
This textbooks covers many different subject areas that can help first time college students gain success. I did not see a index or glossy but the is a good review at the end of each chapter. I do think there may be too much information that may... read more
This textbooks covers many different subject areas that can help first time college students gain success. I did not see a index or glossy but the is a good review at the end of each chapter. I do think there may be too much information that may overwhelm a college student.
The content is very accurate and sometimes redundant. I did not notice any errors and I do not believe it is biased.
I think this textbook is up to date and students will still get use out of the book in the future. Being an open textbook updates should be relatively easy.
Other than sometimes repetitive the book is really simple and would be easy to follow for college students, especially freshman. The authors use very simple language for students to understand.
The book is very consistent on the topics that are covered. With so many different authors the terminology and framework are very similar.
The book is broke down to really divide topics for your course. An instructor can go in order or are able to skip chapters and the students would not miss too much except for the subject that the teacher decides to skip. You would have to do this book over one or two semesters to be able to cover all of the subject matter.
The topics covered in the book are very organized and have good structure overall.
I really liked the checkpoint exercises throughout the book that the students can fill out. I feel this will help the student understand the subject better and give them a better understanding of the topic. I think the charts are appropriate to the subject matter and are very helpful. I do not think the display features will distract or confuse the reader.
I did not read any grammatical errors.
I feel the textbook is not insensitive or offensive in any way. I really like the social chapter (Chapter 9) in dealing with the social aspect of college. There are many areas that the text could have addressed in that chapter that would have dealt with gender, race, religion, sex, traditional students, online students, and/or age but I feel that would have distracted from theme of the textbook overall.
I think the book has a lot more positives than negatives but I feel it would be information overload for students who would use this book. I feel it is very long. Although the subject matter is very good and it does have a lot of ways that students can have success in college i am leery on how many college students will actually read the book. I have actually used portions of this book with my wellness class this semester. This is something I will look at using in the future with different classes that i teach, and recommend to peers in the teaching field.
One of the biggest strengths of the book is its ability to clearly articulate different learning styles and explain how students can employ successful study habits in a variety of learning environments. As a long-time student affairs professional,... read more
One of the biggest strengths of the book is its ability to clearly articulate different learning styles and explain how students can employ successful study habits in a variety of learning environments. As a long-time student affairs professional, I hear many students struggle with certain courses of the professor's teaching style, the "boring" text, or another factor. The most successful students know how to adapt to different environments. This starts with an understanding of their own preferences, which "College Success" prepares students for very well. The second step is executing learning strategy which, obviously, is up to the individual student. The exercises in "College Success" are excellent steps for students to begin learning to do this on their own.
I found neither errors nor inaccuracies, however when speaking in terms of the accuracy of the subject material it is important to acknowledge that much of the text is not steeped in research.
The topics covered in this book are current and will stand for many years. The topics and ideas covered have always and will continue to be relevant for students during their collegiate years.
The language and presentation of content is clear and accessible, especially when considering the target audience, that is, the students who might benefit most from the content of this text.
Layout, terminology and language are consistent throughout
Divided into consistent sections from chapter to chapter, the text is easily and readily divisible and easy to digest.
Topics are clearly delineated and organized logically from chapter to chapter and from section to section.
Textbook is free from any significant interface issues and no distortion of images/charts.
I come across no grammatical issues.
The textbook does include some sections which relate to non-traditional students, however, it does not always take into account many of the other exceptions that might be found throughout many diverse college populations from different areas of the country. This text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.
The ability for students to discover their own learning preferences and the direction given towards achieving success in different learning environments is a great strength of this textbook. Another, are the various steps and resources given. The “Key Takeaways” and “Checkpoint Exercises” at the ends of chapters allow for a very structured avenue for learning.
The book is very thorough and comprehensive, almost to a fault. I question whether college students will read the book in its entirety but thankfully, the book is well organized and readers can easily access relevant sections. The closing... read more
The book is very thorough and comprehensive, almost to a fault. I question whether college students will read the book in its entirety but thankfully, the book is well organized and readers can easily access relevant sections.
The closing chapters on interviewing and resume writing are a nice inclusion, making the book truly comprehensive and eliminating the need to purchase another resume writing or job interviewing book. The book emphasizes that career success is similar to academic success which ties the entire text together nicely.
I found no errors or biases whatsoever.
In many ways the topic of this book is timeless. The issues facing prospective and new college students will remain and the text does a good job of addressing the multiple issues that students may face.
As stated above, the book is extremely thorough and there is a tendency to repeat some points. Though the text is presented in a very clear manner, the repetitive sections that may end up effecting the overall clarity of the book for some readers.
The book does a great job of writing in terms appropriate for a college aged audience. At times, it reads a little simplistic but overall the authors do a good job of providing consistent material.
The text does an excellent job of providing checkpoints, short exercises, action lists, and key takeaway sections to allow the reader to process the content.
Topics are clearly presented and logical, thought at times somewhat wordy.
The text includes very clear graphs and visuals to illustrate points but I did notice a few very small redundancies.
I did not notice any grammatical errors.
The text does good job of including sections for non-traditional students without getting bogged down with too many exceptions.
One of the biggest strengths of the book is its ability to clearly articulate different learning styles and explain how students can employ successful study habits in a variety of learning environments. As a long-time student affairs professional, I hear many students struggle with certain courses of the professor's teaching style, the "boring" text, or another factor. The most successful students know how to adapt to different environments. This starts with an understanding of their own preferences, which "College Success" prepares students for very well. The second step is executing learning strategy which, obviously, is up to the individual student. The exercises in "College Success" are excellent steps for students to begin learning to do this on their own.
Combines topics for an orientation to college as a whole (health, campus diversity, finances, etc.) and academic skills important for college (anxiety, reading, note-taking, test taking, engaging with faculty); because of the wide array of topics... read more
Combines topics for an orientation to college as a whole (health, campus diversity, finances, etc.) and academic skills important for college (anxiety, reading, note-taking, test taking, engaging with faculty); because of the wide array of topics the text is an imposing 535 pages, even though it addresses very few topics in any real depth. Navigation is challenging as the .pdf file had no table of contents or index, although within each chapter there is extensive hyperlink navigation to other sections of the text when mentioned.
The material is presented in a self-described theory-free "accessible" language, but the result somes across as a set of ideas on how to be a good student as opposed to research based best practices. Many tips are not universal, for example that professors do not allow students to record lectures, or that a student should study 2 hours out of class for every hour in class. Additionally, there is little useful information or gudielines for online students and no mention of hybrid courses.
Some hyperlinks are already out of date, relatively simple update but wuld require an instructor to check all links. Mentions specific career and academic skills websites that will need to be updated as the field evolves.
The text has clear language and avoids technical terms.
The text is internally consistent.
Due to large number of in-text hyperlinks to other parts of book, would not be able to use only a small section easily.
Use of chapters for individual topics.
Minor formatting issues throughout including text size, page breaks, and paragraphs repeated verbatim in multiple chapters where topics overlap. Some outdated/inactive weblinks.
Limited or no grammar errors, do not affect clarity of text.
The text has a few statements that show a lack of understanding of certain student populations. The concept that ADA "forces colleges to ensure accessibilty" sets a negative tone toward students requesting accomodations. Additionally, although non-traditional learners and online learners are mentioned in a certain way, few of the examples relate to them.
More of a workbook. Has activities and prompts for knowledge checks and low-level reflection. Some activities are unlikely to speak to a more mature student or a student with significant professional work experience. (i.e. word searches as knowledge checks). Campus based activities and language throughout, not inclusive of an online environment. Some sections are very reflective, others require only a few words but all have the same amount of space for reflections. Students with large handwriting will likely need to journal separately. Also, use of slang terms or phrases comes across as ingenuine (ex. go to a comedy club, Chill!, etc.) Overall additional of limited science of learning theory or research would strengthen the validity of the text's suggestions for readers.
College Success covers a wide variety of subjects regarding the success of college students. The order of topics discussed makes sense while also allowing students to easily navigate between subjects they may be needing support or additional... read more
College Success covers a wide variety of subjects regarding the success of college students. The order of topics discussed makes sense while also allowing students to easily navigate between subjects they may be needing support or additional information about.
The content seems to be error-free and accurate. With the changing demographics of college students, it is hard to be able to cover all students needs as well as breadth and depth of topics. There is not always direction to the reader to seek out additional services if they may need. For example, in the text anxiety section, a great addition would have been to include a suggestion that if a student has tried the examples listed in the book and was still experiencing test anxiety, they should connect with an academic advisor or counselor or with disability services.
The text is up-to-date and will allow for easy updates to be implemented. The topics covered are those in which many first year programming and courses cover.
This text is very accessible. There are times I looked for a higher level of discussion because students I work with respond positively to knowing the theory and research behind what is being said. For "traditional" first year students, the text clarity is more than sufficient.
The terminology, language, and framework were consistent throughout the text. The layout is also consistent with each chapter including a pre-self assessment; each section with learning objectives, exercises, and key takeaways; checkpoint exercises between sections and chapter review activities to close.
The nature of this text allowed for easy modularity for the book. Each chapter has sections and most sections as well as every chapter has worksheets to accompany the content. These worksheets allow for the reader to interact, self-assess, and create a plan. It would have been great if each chapter began visually consistently (at the top of a new page, for example). This doesn't take anything away from the content, but as a reader, it would have been more pleasing to the eye.
The topics of College Success are presented in a logical, clear fashion. The topics build off of one another and are referenced throughout the rest of the book.
The text's interface is smooth. Charts and worksheets add to the text both visually as well as contextually.
I did not observe grammatical errors in the text.
There are clear conversation and examples that included a variety of ages, family situations, and names. That being said, the text is written based on a dominant narrative of colleges and is not inclusive of current research, language, and definitions regarding diverse communities.
This text is likely one I will use in the future as I continue to teach first year students. I appreciate the Creative Commons license on the book that would allow for me to add direct campus resource information and allow me to update regarding diverse student needs.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: You and Your College Experience
- Chapter 2: Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track
- Chapter 3: Thinking about Thought
- Chapter 4: Listening, Taking Notes, and Remembering
- Chapter 5: Reading to Learn
- Chapter 6: Preparing for and Taking Tests
- Chapter 7: Interacting with Instructors and Classes
- Chapter 8: Writing for Classes
- Chapter 9: The Social World of College
- Chapter 10: Taking Control of Your Health
- Chapter 11: Taking Control of Your Finances
- Chapter 12: Taking Control of Your Future
Ancillary Material
Submit ancillary resourceAbout the Book
Our primary goal in writing College Success is to help you succeed in college.
According to Department of Education data, 30 percent of college freshmen leave school in their first year and as many as 50 percent never graduate. College Success is designed to help change that.
College Success has a student-friendly format arranged to help you develop the essential skills and provide the information you need to succeed in college. This is not a textbook full of theory and extensive detail that merely discusses student success; rather, this is a how-to manual for succeeding in college. The book provides realistic, practical guidance ranging from study skills to personal health, from test taking to managing time and money. Furthermore, College Success is accessible—information is presented concisely and as simply as possible.
College Success has the following features to help you achieve your goals: Each chapter asks you to evaluate yourself because success starts with recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, your hopes and desires, and your own personal, individual realities. You'll develop your own goals based on these self-assessments, determining what success in college really means for you as an individual. Throughout the book, you will find numerous interactive activities created to help you improve your skills. To assist you with this, the material is presented in easily digestible “chunks” of information so you can begin applying it immediately in your own life—and get the most out of your college education.