Chapter 1: Success as a student

Question 1

Why is higher education a transformational experience?

Answer 1

this is because of
the unique opportunities it off ers …
★ to study interesting subjects
★ to feel stretched intellectually
★ to explore new ideas
★ to engage in a wide range of new activities, not
easily available elsewhere
★ to fi nd out about yourself and how you rise to the
challenge of academic study
★ to consider the kind of person that you want to be
in the world
★ to make friends that can last for life.

Question 2

How can you make your success a reality?

Answer 2

The more you engage with your course and actively
hunt out the enjoyment in study and student life,
the greater the likelihood that you will not only
survive the experience, but thrive and excel, too.

Question 3

How can you make the experience of higher education work for you? (How will you ‘take charge’ of your experience as a student?)

Answer 3

Be an active agent on behalf of your own success.
1. Take charge
2. Put the hours in
3. Be well-informed
4. Develop the right mindset
5. Understand higher level study
6. Use the opportunities
7. Decide what you want
8. Make wise choices that work for you
9.Think through

Question 4

Define “Take charge”?

Answer 4

Plan how you will use your
time as a student to gain your
broader life and career aims.
Don’t wait to be told – find out.
Don’t wait to be asked – do it.
Don’t wait to be inspired –
inspire yourself.
Don’t wait for opportunities –
create them.
Don’t rely only on feedback from
others; learn to make sound
evaluations of your work.
Don’t neglect your well-being –
include it in your goals.

Question 5

Define “Put the hours in”?

Answer 5

Expertise is largely a
factor of how many
hours you spend on an
activity. This applies to
study as for other skills.
Using that time
effectively is, of course,
just as important.

Question 6

Define “Be well-informed”?

Answer 6

Investigate. Read.
Ask. Double check

Question 7

Define “Develop the right mindset”?

Answer 7

Intellectually curious and
open to new perspectives.
Strongly motivated and
determined to succeed.
Resilient, persistent and
persevering

Question 8

Define “Understand higher level study”?

Answer 8

How and why it is
different.
What is expected.
What you need to know
about the conventions
and culture.
What is regarded as
important in your subject
and what gains the best
grades

Question 9

Define “Use the opportunities”?

Answer 9

Use resources, support and
facilities on campus, online, in
the local area, through student
organizations.
Use feedback from tutors.
Take extra classes, learn new
skills, stretch yourself.
Learn something outside of
your subject area – take up a
new language or complete an
enterprise project.
Use chances of a work
placement or year abroad.
Network with others.
Make friends for life

Question 10

Define “Decide what you want”?

Answer 10

★ from your study
★ from the broader
experience of being in
Higher Education.

Question 11

Define “Make wise choices that work for you”?

Answer 11

To achieve what you
want, choose the right …
★ degree subject
★ modules or topics
★ use of your time in
and out of class

Question 12

Define “Think through”?

Answer 12

★ how your studies contribute
to your broader life plan and
career ambitions
★ how other opportunities
at college or university can
forward your ambitions

Question 13

“Your vision of success as a student” Why does it matter?

Answer 13

To return on your
investments.
Students invest a great deal of time, energy and money in their education, so success matters.
If you can formulate a clear vision of what success as a student means to you, you are more likely to achieve it.

Question 14

“Your vision of success as a student” How does it help?

Answer 14

If you can formulate a clear vision of what success as a student means to you, you are more likely to achieve it.
The way
you conceive of success will influence
how you spend your time and direct
energies which, in turn, will affect your
achievement and experience.

Question 15

What is expected from you?

Answer 15

As a student, you are expected to have the following
characteristics.
1. Independence
2. Self-motivation
3. Openness to working with
others
4. Ability to work thing out for yourself
5. Ability to set goals to improve
your work
6. Ability to organize your time
7. Ability to work out when and
how you learn best

Question 16

How is higher level study different?

Answer 16

1. Study is different
2. The role of the ‘teacher’ is
   different
3. Knowledge is being created
4. Intellectual curiosity; learning
   community

Question 17

How Study is different?

Answer 17

As a student in Higher Education, the most
noticeably different features are likely to be:
★ the teaching methods, especially the emphasis on
independent study
★ the assumption that you have the maturity and
intelligence to ‘get on with it’, managing your own
study, goals and life
★ that academic work is more difficult and complex
★ the strong emphasis on ‘understanding’ rather
than ‘information’
★ learning how knowledge is created
★ that time may seem to operate differently: good
time management skills are essential.

Question 18

How role of the teacher is different?

Answer 18

Teachers at this level are usually known as lecturers,
tutors or professors.

Question 19

How knowledge is created?

Answer 19

Higher Education is about creating knowledge as
well as teaching it and learning about it. Depending
on the subject, this is through:
★ thinking, discussion and writing to develop
theoretical understandings
★ experimenting to test out theories
★ investigating original sources or past knowledge,
finding new ways of looking at these and bringing
new interpretations
★ applying knowledge and understanding to new
situations.

Question 20

What is Intellectual curiosity; learning community??

Answer 20

Studying at this level is about being part of an adult
learning community in which everyone, students
and lecturers, are active in finding out new things
for themselves and sharing them with others. It is
assumed that you are intellectually curious, keen
to find things out for yourself and to contribute to
developing new understandings.
Universities play an important role in:
★ encouraging research into new areas
★ leading debate on contemporary issues
★ critiquing existing understandings
★ synthesising knowledge
★ generating new understandings of the world
★ stimulating economic development
★ … as well as teaching students.

Question 21

What are you required in “Intellectual curiosity; learning community” to do?

Answer 21

Depending on your institution, teaching is likely to
be designed in ways that encourage you to do the
same. Typically, you are required to:
★ engage with debates in your subject
★ hunt out answers for yourself
★ develop your capacity to think in more creative,
systematic and subtle ways
★ be open to new perspectives
★ undertake projects
★ consider the broader significance and relevance of
what you find out

Question 22

What does “Understanding higher level study” mean?

Answer 22

As you become more expert,
you become aware of what lies behind some of
the generalizations.
1. Journeying into the unknown
2. Culture, conventions and values
3. ‘Learning the rules of the
game and the system

Question 23

WHat does “ Journeying into the unknown” mean?

Answer 23

Your tutors’ research or scholarship
may be at the ‘cutting edge’ of what is known, as
will much of the recommended reading. As a result,
course material may take you to that ‘edge’ too. You
may study issues where:
★ the answers are not yet known
★ there may be no ‘easy answers’
★ there isn’t a clear ‘right’ or ‘wrong’
★ research findings are ambiguous or contradictory
★ knowledge advances in very small steps – or may
seem to be going backwards
★ there are conflicting points of view.

Question 24

What does “Culture, conventions and values”?

Answer 24

Each subject
discipline has its own:
★ ways of looking at the world
★ culture, conventions and methodologies
★ specialist terminology, so that it can convey
precise and specific meanings.
~~It enables you, in time, to conduct your own
research using secure methodologies. This means
that you need to learn:
★ the specialist language of the subject
★ what is valued, and why, within the subject
discipline
★ how knowledge has developed and is developing
in the subject – and how to do this for yourself.

Question 25

What does “Learning the rules of the game” mean?

Answer 25

success is easier if you are
familiar with the system. In this context, that means understanding such things as:
★ how you will be taught
★ what gets good grades
★ how language is used and the right style and level
of formality
★ academic conventions
★ making the best use of opportunities to develop skills and experience

Question 26

Independent study: Benefits

Answer 26

1. More control over your study/spare time
2. More choice about when/where/how to study
3. More responsibility
   for your own success
4. More choice about how much
   energy you devote
5. No teacher looking over you
6. More control over choice of topics

Question 27

Independent study: Challenges

Answer 27

1. To manage time effectively/meet deadlines.
2. To use time effectively building your CV etc
3. recognise the difference between study-spare time
4. To create structures/organise a place to study/work out the best places and times
5. To keep on target with little guidance/ keep yourself motivated./ take responsibility ..

Question 28

Independent study: Risks

Answer 28

1. Wasting study time
2. Missing opportunities
3. Forgetting
4. No rest
5. Getting stuck in old habits
6. Failure to understand
7. Not addressing weaknesses
8. Letting things slip.
9. Falling behind in your work. 10. Losing motivation

Question 29

What are “Academic Skills”?

Answer 29

1. Research skills
2. Thinking skills
3. Understanding academic
   conventions
4. Written and communication skills

Question 30

Teaching: what to expect in Higher Education?

Answer 30

The study week/ Lectures/ Tutorials/ Seminars/workshops/‘crits’/
Other typical teaching methods:
-Independent study
-Group work and collaborative learning
-TEL(technology enhanced learning)
-Work-based learning and work placements
- Distance learning

Question 31

What is a skill?

Answer 31

To be skilled is to be able to perform a learned
activity well and at will.(A skill is a learned ability rather than an outcome
achieved through luck, effort etc)

Question 32

What are study skills? (How many categories? name them.)

Answer 32

The term ‘study skills’ is used here to refer to
abilities, habits, understandings and attitudes
that enables success for you.
These can be categorised into four easy-to remember, inter-related areas:
1 Self
2 Academic
3 People
4 Task

Question 33

Why are study skills important?

Answer 33

Study skills help you to:
 1 know what you are doing
 2 organise your independent study
 3 build your confidence
 4 reduce study stress
 5 improve the quality of your work
 6 enjoy study more
 7 study more efficiently
 8 save time
 9 avoid unnecessary errors
10 gain better grades.

Question 34

Why everybody has a unique starting point?

Answer 34

The skills you will need and develop will be a unique
combination.
INNER: You, the student, with your
particular circumstances, goals,
educational history, current
abilities and habits
MIDDLE: The course and overall learning
environment in their entirety, which
create new learning challenges
OUTER: The combination of skills you need, personally,
to manage those challenges to best effect

Question 35

Self-efficacy skills: managing yourself for study–why?

Answer 35

Good self-management is essential in higher education because of the increased expectations for
autonomous learning and personal responsibility, and the level of challenge.

Question 36

Self-efficacy skills: managing yourself for study–How to?

Answer 36

Self efficacy is a broad concept; it involves such skills, qualities and attitudes as these 10 below:
1. Engagement: taking an active part in shaping
your learning and success.
2 Autonomy: being able to think for yourself, and
to make good choices to direct your own study.
3 Managing your mindset: adopting the right
attitudes to drive your success and inspire you.
4 Enhancing personal performance: always
looking to improve further, using feedback, data,
observation and reflection.
5 Personalizing learning: identifying and
applying approaches that work best for you.
6 Applying strategies: creative, reflective,
effective, active, well-motivated (C·R·E·A·M).
7 Time-management: using time to best effect;
ensuring your work is submitted on time.
8 Well-being and self-care: balancing study,
work and life; managing stress.
9. Managing your learning environment:
coping with the broader learning context.
10 Self-reflection: thinking meaningfully about
the consequences of your actions and thought
patterns for your study, well-being and future.