Textbook Overview
Overview
Foundations for College Success was written to provide information and resources about learning strategies, study skills, and how to locate and engage with academic support to help you succeed as you transition to college. This resource also provides an opportunity for you to learn about course topics directly from experts at Sam Houston State University.
About the Textbook
There are a number of available textbooks to support student learning in first-year seminars, but these resources can come at a considerable cost. To help reduce those costs, faculty and staff at SHSU have collaborated on an open educational resource (OER) to support students enrolled in UNIV 1101: Learning Frameworks. Open educational resources are publicly available to copy, use, and adapt by others. Most importantly, they are free to students.
Foundations for College Success was written to provide information and resources about learning strategies, study skills, and how to locate and engage with academic support to help you succeed as you transition to college. This resource also provides an opportunity for you to learn about course topics directly from experts at Sam Houston State University. Topics covered in this resource include the following:
- Health & Wellness
- Financial Literacy
- Information Literacy
- Memory
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Strategies
- Math Strategies
- Advising
- Career Exploration
Editors
Forrest Lane is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University. He holds a M.S. in higher education administration and a Ph.D. in educational research from the University of North Texas. He served as Editor of the Journal of the First Year Experience and Students in Transition from 2017-2021 and Greater Texas Foundation (GTF) Fellow from 2018 -2020. His research focuses programs that support student learning, motivation, and transition into college.
Heather F. Adair is the Instruction Librarian in Newton Gresham Library and an Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Texas. She brings over 23 years of experience in K-12 instruction and leadership. She currently coordinates instruction in and through the Library while supporting research in the Mathematics & Statistics and Library Science & Technology Departments, as well as serving as the Children’s Literature Librarian. Her research focuses on integrating active learning strategies and information literacy across the disciplines in higher education.
Health and Wellness for College Students
This chapter helps improve students’ opportunities for academic and personal success in college by introducing health and wellness as foundational components of their success. It provides practical guidance in evidence-based health maintenance and emphasizes elements of wellness including the mind-body-spirit connection, nutrition, active lifestyle, social support, and self-awareness. This chapter also presents symptom-based summaries for recognition and self-care for health conditions and illnesses commonly encountered by college students. Students utilizing what they learn from this chapter will be better equipped for academic performance, college engagement and retention, and lifetime learning about their own health.
Author
Mary Manis, MD, MS is an Assistant Professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is board certified in Family Medicine and provides primary care in the SHSU Physicians Clinic. Her commitment to improving health outcomes for underserved patients, her involvement with ELEVATE Healthy Campus Initiative, and her Bearkat son, Eric led her to write this textbook chapter.
Understanding Financial Literacy
This chapter will help you learn to reach your personal life goals by implementing financial planning and strategies to protect yourself, manage your money today, and put yourself in a better position for tomorrow. How you act today impacts your tomorrow.
Author
Content from this chapter was adapted from College Success, an open educational resource “designed to meet the course needs of a one-semester course, workshop, or seminar for first year experience or college transition students” (Baldwin, 2020, preface). The senior contributing editor of this text is Amy Baldwin, an award-winning community college professor who serves as Director of the Department of Student Transitions at the University of Central Arkansas.
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Introduction” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-introduction
References
Baldwin, A. (2020). College success. OpenStax. CC-BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/details/books/college-success
Memory
This chapter explores the fundamental principles of memory. Memory is the process by which the human brain acquires, sorts, stores, retains, and retrieves information received and processed from the external environment. An important aspect of memory is effectively retaining and retrieving information once it is processed and stored. Understanding the concepts and components of memory, how memories are formed and processed, and why consciously and effectively mastering the process of memorization is fundamental to student success.
Author
Autumn Smith-Herron is a Parasitologist, specializing in host/parasite ecology as well as the epidemiology of parasitic diseases transmitted from introduced to native species. She earned an M.S. in biological science/parasitology from Sam Houston State University and a Ph.D. in wildlife science from Texas A&M University - Kingsville. She serves and the director of Texas Invasive Species Institute at Sam Houston State University. Her current research encompasses host parasitic models ranging from the protozoans of invertebrates to the Helminth communities within birds and mammals.
Critical Thinking: The Foundation for Decision-Making
Humans have a tendency to have biases and use partial thinking. Engaging in critical thought takes practice, reflection, persistence, and time. To make matters worse, critical thinking is conceptualized in a multitude of ways in various fields and by different practitioners. In this chapter, we delve into what critical thinking is and what it is not. We briefly examine some different definitions, or branches, of critical thought you will encounter in your college experience. We also introduce you to various, potential, barriers that keep us from engaging in the process of critical thinking.
Author
Steven Koether works in the College of Science & Engineering Technology at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) as the coordinator, principle investigator, and lead instructor for the Foundations of Science program. He coordinates the SHSU American Democracy Project Committee and the SHSU Graduate and Undergraduate Instructor Academy Planning Committee. Steven is active with various SHSU First Year Experience and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as well. He serves as a civic fellow and steering committee member for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities - American Democracy Project (AASCU - ADP). Steven recently served as a National Blended Course Consortium Faculty Fellow, an AASCU - ADP initiative, to develop Science for Citizens, a general education science course to promote critical thinking and scientific literacy. He received his BS from Texas A&M University (TAMU) and MS in Biology from SHSU. Steven spent 6 yrs in K-12 education as a science teacher, campus administrator, and ultimately a district administrator before moving to SHSU. He is currently working towards a doctorate in adult education at TAMU.
Notetaking & Reading Strategies
In this chapter, we will explore two skills most of us think we’ve already mastered, or at least can do well enough to get by: reading and notetaking. The goal is to make sure you’ve honed these skills well enough to lead you to success in college.
Author
Content from this chapter was adapted from College Success, an open educational resource “designed to meet the course needs of a one-semester course, workshop, or seminar for first year experience or college transition students” (Baldwin, 2020, preface). The senior contributing editor of this text is Amy Baldwin, an award-winning community college professor who serves as Director of the Department of Student Transitions at the University of Central Arkansas.
Attributions
This chapter is a derivative of “Reading and Notetaking” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/5-introduction
References
Baldwin, A. (2020). College success. OpenStax. CC-BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/details/books/college-success
Succeeding in College Mathematics
Although success in mathematics relies on many of the same universal study habits used for courses generally, there are aspects of mathematics courses that require different skills to be successful. In this chapter, we will explore those differences and strategies to maximize your success.
Author
David Dippel, Ed.D. is a lecturer in the department of mathematics and statistics. He earned an Ed.D. from Argosy University, and M.S. from the University of Houston, and a B.S. from Stephen F. Austin State University.
Its All About the Relationship: Making Advising and Mentoring Work for You
Academic Advisors are individuals who help students make the most of their educational experience. They assist students in making good educational decisions. But not all students have a clear understanding of the role or know the best way to build a productive relationship with an advisor. In this chapter, students will gain information to help them communicate effectively with an advisor, manipulate schedules to better understand a degree plan, learn how to figure grade point averages, as well as discover ways to be more proactive in their own educational journey.
Authors
Megan St. Vigne serves as the Director of Academic Advising at Sam Houston State University. She earned a M.S in academic advising from Kansas State University and a B.S. in sports management from the University of North Texas.
Justin Matherne is an associate academic advisor at Sam Houston State University. He earned an M.S. in sports management from Sam Houston State University and an B.G.S. in interdisciplinary studies from Louisiana State University.
Dr. Price serves as a faculty member with SHSU and holds degrees from The University of Colorado in Boulder, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and the PHD from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to pursuing the doctoral degree, Dr. Price taught elementary school for 13 years. She served in the roll of professor and director of the Doctoral Program in Literacy in the department of Language, Literacy and Special Populations at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) for 10 years. During that time, Dr. Price taught courses in literacy and special education at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral level. She has authored numerous articles and has presented at several national and international conferences on the topic of literacy. In 2014, Dr. Price was named Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs in the College of Education. In that role, she served as a liaison between the 6 doctoral programs, the 15 master’s degree programs and the University Graduate Studies Department. In the fall of 2018, she returned to a full time position as Professor in the School of Teaching and Learning.
Career Exploration
This chapter will cover many factors that go into Career Exploration and the difficulties that may arise. It will outline important steps in the process, such as: understanding the self and understanding career options. Together these create the capacity to make effective career decisions, and how to address decision-making problems. Although the majority of the chapter focuses on creating plans, a key piece of the chapter is to push the reader to be open to new opportunities as they arise. The conclusion will have students utilize various aspects covered in the chapter to engage in their own career exploration.
Author
Cory McGregory, MA., graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in 2018, and my previous work experience is primarily in Career Counseling and Academic Advising. I am passionate about helping students match up their interests, personalities, and values with academic pathways to help them work towards their career goals. I greatly enjoy helping students write their own stories.