University Studies for Student Veterans
This course facilitates a seamless transition from military service to college. This course provides extra support, academic tune-ups, and guidance to help veterans navigate the cultural differences between the military and higher education, ensuring long-term academic success.
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Course Description
- Seamlessly transition from military service to college life with comprehensive support.
- Acquire strategies to maximize academic success from the outset of the college journey.
- Fine-tune military-acquired skills for optimal application and success in a higher education setting.
- Develop the ability to navigate and adapt to the distinct cultural differences between military and higher education environments.
To learn more, you can take the following courses in this series:
Course Prerequisites
The content has been tailored specifically for student veterans currently pursuing higher education, active duty service members who aspire to start school or return to school soon, and higher education professionals who work to support student veterans at their schools.
What You Will Learn
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- Understand what metacognition is, reflect on how they study, and learn strategies for developing a growth mindset.
- Boost comprehension and retention of material through reading and note-taking strategies.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the distributed study model and practices for studying in groups to begin studying for a final exam on the first day of class.
- Read faster and more effectively by deploying new approaches to consuming different kinds of reading assignments.
- Recognize the most important features of effective college writing and how to incorporate them into a writing assignment.
- Explore the power of a time audit and the Pomodoro technique to help better manage time and study.
- Employ tips to best navigate campus, such as what the “hidden curriculum” is and why it matters.
Course Outline
Module 1: Metacognition and Mindset
Module 2: Active Reading and Note-Taking
Module 3: How to Study for Technical Courses
Module 4: Hard Reading, Good Writing
Module 5: Effective Time Management
Module 6: Navigating Campus Culture
Instructors
Before joining the Columbia University Center for Veteran Transition and Integration as a Curriculum Designer in 2016, R.J. served as an Associate Dean of Students at Columbia University’s School of General Studies where he directed the Academic Resource Center and served as the lead instructor for University Studies, a transition course for first-year, non-traditional students. An award-winning teacher, R.J. has advised college students at Columbia, Cambridge, and Harvard Universities, and has taught courses in English and American literature, literary history, close reading, academic skill-building, and English for Speakers of Other Languages. R.J. holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and anthropology from Columbia University (2003), a Master of Letters in English literature from the University of Cambridge (2005), and is currently pursuing doctoral work in English literature.