what the best college students do
This book should be required reading for every student entering college. In it, Ken Bain provides concrete tips for success and uses many examples of real students to illustrate each point. Most of the advice is not surprising; maybe it even seems obvious but judging by many of the students I teach these points need to be made and students need continuous reminding.
Among the insights, he discusses the need for successful students to take ownership of their own learning. After all, learning is something each individual does not something that is done to them. Students need to be active in their own learning.
Also, students need to focus on this deep learning instead of obsessing over grades. It is quite possible to "succeed" in college by getting great grades but learning very little. Is this really the success that we want college students to embrace?
Students need to embrace a growth mindset and be able to deal with failure and learn from it. This is much better than having a fixed mindset which is the view that a student's ability is something they either have or don't and there's not much they can do to improve if they are failing.
Successful students cultivate curiosity, look for interesting problems to challenge them, and can embrace ambiguity as opposed to always looking for the one right answer.
Much of this can be difficult in the classroom, especially if the professor does not encourage or support these traits. But, it is precisely in such environments that successful students need to take charge of their own learning and embrace the skills Bain outlines.
Of course, you don't have to embrace these skills to get good grades. You can study just enough to memorize just enough to pass the exams and then forget what you just memorized. You can keep doing this for most, if not all of, your classes and rack up plenty of good grades; maybe even get on the honor roll and graduate with top honors. But, so what? What have you learned? What will your college degree really be worth after spending 4-6 years learning just enough to get by without really digging any deeper?
Other college students will be putting these skills to good use and thriving in ways that will ultimately count for more in their lives. They will have recognized that learning is a lifelong pursuit, it's enriching and fun and, while it won't be their primary focus, deep learning will also likely lead them to the career success that most students are pursuing.
Among the insights, he discusses the need for successful students to take ownership of their own learning. After all, learning is something each individual does not something that is done to them. Students need to be active in their own learning.
Also, students need to focus on this deep learning instead of obsessing over grades. It is quite possible to "succeed" in college by getting great grades but learning very little. Is this really the success that we want college students to embrace?
Students need to embrace a growth mindset and be able to deal with failure and learn from it. This is much better than having a fixed mindset which is the view that a student's ability is something they either have or don't and there's not much they can do to improve if they are failing.
Successful students cultivate curiosity, look for interesting problems to challenge them, and can embrace ambiguity as opposed to always looking for the one right answer.
Much of this can be difficult in the classroom, especially if the professor does not encourage or support these traits. But, it is precisely in such environments that successful students need to take charge of their own learning and embrace the skills Bain outlines.
Of course, you don't have to embrace these skills to get good grades. You can study just enough to memorize just enough to pass the exams and then forget what you just memorized. You can keep doing this for most, if not all of, your classes and rack up plenty of good grades; maybe even get on the honor roll and graduate with top honors. But, so what? What have you learned? What will your college degree really be worth after spending 4-6 years learning just enough to get by without really digging any deeper?
Other college students will be putting these skills to good use and thriving in ways that will ultimately count for more in their lives. They will have recognized that learning is a lifelong pursuit, it's enriching and fun and, while it won't be their primary focus, deep learning will also likely lead them to the career success that most students are pursuing.
