Course Syllabus
Welcome to Try College 101. General information about this course and its requirements can be found below.
Course Designer: Erika Cole Gillette
Course Description: An introduction to the basic academic, professional, and personal skills you will need to be successful in college. Please keep in mind that this course is designed to support your ability to succeed in other college courses. You will benefit from this course by taking it before or during your college studies.
Getting Started
After familiarizing yourself with the following course syllabus, enroll in this course using the "Enroll me in this course" button located on the left hand toolbar. Once enrolled, navigate to Unit 1 of the course to read the unit introduction and then access the "Unit 1 Activities" page, which provides all links and instructions for unit specific course resources.
Evaluation and Minimum Passing Scores
You will only receive an official grade on your final exam. However, in order to adequately prepare for this exam, we recommend that you work through the materials in each unit. Throughout the course you may find practice quizzes or other assignments that will help you master material and gauge your learning. Scores on these assignments are informational only and do not contribute to your overall course grade. In order to pass this course, you will need to earn a 70% or higher on the final exam. Your score on the exam will be tabulated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam, you may take it again following a 7-day waiting period.
Technical Requirements
This course is delivered fully online. You will be required to have access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and have consistent access to the internet to either view or download the necessary course resources and to attempt any auto-graded course assessments and the final exam.
To access the full course including assessments and the final exam, you will need to be logged into your Saylor Academy account and enrolled in the course. If you do not already have an account, you may create one, free of charge, here. Although you can access some course resources without being logged into your account, it’s advised that you log in to maximize your course experience. For example, some of the accessibility and progress tracking features are only available when you are logged in.
For additional technical guidance check out Saylor’s tech-FAQ and the Moodle LMS tutorial.
Fees
There is no cost to access and enroll in this course. All required course resources linked throughout the course, including textbooks, videos, webpages, activities, etc are accessible for no charge. This course also contains a free final exam and course completion certificate.
Time Commitment
While learning styles can vary considerably and any particular student will take more or less time to learn or read, we estimate that the "average" student will take 83 hours to complete this course. Each overall unit within the course is similarly tagged with an estimated time advisory. We recommend that you work through the course at a pace that is comfortable for you and allows you to make regular (daily, or at least weekly) progress. It's a good idea to also schedule your study time in advance and try as best as you can to stick to that schedule.
It may be useful to take a look at these time advisories and to determine how much time you have over the next few weeks to complete each unit, and then to set goals for yourself. Perhaps you can sit down with your calendar and decide to complete subunit 1.1 through subunit 1.3 (a total of 1.75 hours) on Monday night; the reading for subunit 1.4 (2 hours) on Tuesday night; the remainder of subunit 1.4 and the Unit 1 Assessment ( a total of 2 hours) on Wednesday; subunit 2.1 through subunit 2.3 on Thursday; etc.
Tips/Suggestions
Learning new material can be challenging, so below we've compiled a few suggested study strategies to help you succeed.
Take notes on the various terms, practices, and theories as you read. This can help you differentiate and contextualize concepts and later provide you with a refresher as you study.
As you progress through the materials, take time to test yourself on what you have retained and how well you understand the concepts. The process of reflection is important for creating a memory of the materials you learn; it will increase the probability that you ultimately retain the information.
Although you may work through this course completely independently, you may find it helpful to connect with other Saylor students through the discussion forums or study groups. You may access the discussion forums at https://discourse.saylor.org.
Most units will require you to complete checkpoint exercises that review the textbook information as well as self-reflective short answer questions that ask you to apply the information.
The material in this course is designed to be applied generally across all the other courses you will take during your college experience. As you complete each unit, try to apply that unit's main ideas to other work you are doing as soon as possible.
Pay special attention to all of Unit 1, as it lays the groundwork for understanding the more advanced material presented in the latter units.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:- clarify and state your individual educational goals, and formulate specific plans to work towards the goals;
- design and implement a personal time management plan;
- identify your preferred learning style;
- describe and employ strategies for effective reading;
- describe and employ critical thinking and creative thinking skills;
- adequately describe effective listening, note taking, memory retention, and writing skills, and methods for improving these skills;
- identify and accurately judge the credibility of websites;
- describe and use different methods of exam preparation;
- explain test anxiety and list strategies for reducing it;
- describe the interview process and strategies for successful interviewing; and
- create a resume and a cover letter.
Throughout this course, you'll also see related learning outcomes identified in each unit. You can use the learning outcomes to help organize your learning and gauge your progress.
Suggested Prerequisites
In order to take this course you should:
- have read the Saylor Student Handbook.