Active Learning: Strategies for College Success

The text is designed for use in study skills or strategies courses in which instructors want a strong focus on helping students become active, independent learners.

Active Learning is unique because it teaches students about how their characteristics as a learner, their knowledge of the task, the materials to be learned, and their strategies for learning interact to influence academic success in college. Text topics include: motivation, time management, finding and using campus resources, dealing with professors, active learning strategies, test taking strategies, and rehearsal strategies. It takes a hands-on approach to learning new strategies for academic success. Each chapter contains a Research into Practice section, which translates studying and learning research into practices that will benefit the college student. Scenarios in each chapter present students with situations they can identify with and asks them to recognize and solve study problems. Students have ample opportunity for self-evaluation, critical thinking, and practice.

Active Learning is designed for use in study skills or strategies courses in which instructors want a strong focus on helping readers become active, independent learners. The book is unique because it teaches how characteristics of a learner, their knowledge of the task, the materials to be learned, and their strategies for learning interact to influence academic success in college.

Topics include: motivation, time management, finding and using campus resources, dealing with professors, active learning strategies, test taking strategies, and rehearsal strategies. This book takes a hands-on approach to learning new strategies for academic success. Each chapter contains a Research into Practice section, which translates studying and learning research into solid practices. Scenarios in each chapter present readers with situations they can identify with and asks them to recognize and solve study problems. Readers have ample opportunity for self-evaluation, critical thinking, and practice.

For anyone wishing to improve study skills.

Jodi Patrick Holschuh is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas State University. For more than fifteen years, Jodi has been involved in helping students make the transition from high school to college learning. An award-winning teacher, Jodi teaches courses to help students learn effective and efficient study habits as well as courses for graduate students and instructors on how to teach reading and learning at the college level. She has presented many conference papers both nationally and internationally and has written many articles, book chapters, and books on the topic of helping students learn in college. Her research interests include students' beliefs about learning, making the transition from high school to college learning, strategies for academic success, and motivation. When she is not writing, teaching, or researching, Jodi loves rediscovering the world as her son and daughter learn new things. She also loves to read good books and travel to new places.

Sherrie Nist-Olejnik is a professor emeritus at the University of Georgia. Prior to retiring, she was the director of the Division of Academic Enhancement at the University of Georgia. Before becoming director, she taught reading and studying courses to college students in the same division. Dr. Nist received both her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Florida. It was as a graduate student that she first became interested in how students learn, particularly concerning the factors that seem to influence a smooth transition from high school to college, and the academic struggles that first-year students seem to face. Sherrie has published more than eighty articles, textbooks, textbook chapters, and other professional pieces all related to how college students learn and study. She has presented the results of her research in more than 100 national and international professional meetings, and she has received honors and awards for her contributions to both teaching and research. She continues to be active in her field by writing books and consulting. Sherrie loves traveling, cooking, and, of course, reading and learning new things.