The most important class you can take is the one that helps you successfully navigate all the others
For many first-time-in-college and transfer students transitioning to the University of Central Florida (UCF) can be stressful. YouScience, found that 75% of high school graduates felt unprepared to make important decisions about college and career. To help position students to thrive academically and professionally, UCF offers Strategies for Student Success (SLS 1501), a three-credit hour elective course designed to help students transition to college life and become highly competitive UCF Knights.
“SLS 1501 is a partnership between UCF’s College of Community Innovation and Education and College of Undergraduate Studies (CUGS),” says Dr. Theodorea Regina Berry, CUGS Dean. “Leveraging the expertise of the faculty and staff of both colleges and enhances learning outcomes.”
“All incoming students should take this course, even those who have been exposed to college curriculum while still in high school,” adds UCF Academic Program Coordinator Aliandra Burgos. “Because the reality is that once you’re fully in the university environment, it’s completely different than being a high school student taking college courses.”
SLS 1501 teaches students important academic and study skills that will assist them in building a strong academic foundation. Students taking the course learn how to confidently perform college-level tasks, such as:
- Setting effective short- and long-term goals
- Effectively managing their time and prioritizing tasks
- Thinking critically
- Understanding peer-reviewed research
- Delivering effective presentations
- Writing college-level papers in APA format
- Exploring potential careers and interests
- Identifying the important co-curricular and high-impact practices that correlate to their intended major
“College instructors will assume that students have these skills when they walk into their classroom,” said UCF LEAD Scholars Academy Director Dr. Stacey Malaret, who teaches the online version of SLS 1501. “The Strategies for Success course gives students the opportunity to learn, practice and apply these skills step-by-step so they have that foundation to help them succeed in future classes.”
SLS 1501 has been designated an integrative-learning experience course, meaning that students are not just introduced to a topic but have corresponding assignments that require them to put those concepts into action.
“We’ll learn about resumes, and then students create a resume. Or we’ll talk about how to research articles on the library website, then the students are asked to complete a review using those skills,” said Malaret. “Throughout the course, we combine theory with practice.”
The online version of SLS 1501 was recently recognized as a high-quality course by UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning. Courses earn that distinction by making lessons and assignments easy to understand and by including interactive elements.
“For example, the videos are captioned and the assignments include an embedded video explaining in detail how to complete the assignment,” explained Malaret. “I have an open hour every week where I’ll answer questions and present the content for that week, and all of that gets recorded for students to access 24/7 if needed.”
Fun, challenging, exciting, intimidating: College life can be all of those things, and for students just working toward their bachelor’s degree, the transition can be overwhelming. Taking SLS 1501 can greatly improve students’ self-efficacy and ability to successfully navigate their individual pathway to graduation.
SLS 1501 is geared towards incoming students, but anyone can take the course. It’s available in both face-to-face and online formats for summer B, fall and spring semesters. For more information, visit the SLS 1501 webpage.