Toolkit to Promote Student Success in Gateway Courses

Sometimes when students struggle academically, the cause is due to being under-prepared in literacy, writing, or study skills. Similar to college readiness, these academic skills and supports can be integrated in gateway courses to help students be more successful in all of their courses.

Class Participation

Literacy and Reading Comprehension

Writing

• NIU Writing Assistance
• NIU Writers' Workshop
• Online Guide to Writing and Research (U of Maryland Global)
• What is Writing in the Disciplines? (for faculty)
• Writing in the Disciplines (Excelsior OWL)
• Writing in the Disciplines (U of Tenn-Knoxville)
• Handouts for Writing in the Disciplines (UNC Wilmington)

Notetaking and Studying

When students are motivated, they are more likely to deeply engage in the learning process and to persist when they face setbacks or challenges. Motivation starts with your own excitement for the course and your belief in their ability to succeed.

When students believe they will not be successful, that influences their learning behaviors and often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You can help by demonstrating your own belief in their abilities, building their self-efficacy, and providing appropriate supports to help them achieve more than they believed possible.

First generation students have diverse, intersecting identities. How can we make our teaching and support services more inclusive and draw upon the assets that diverse learners bring to education? There is a two-fold approach to working with all new students: (1) help to decode college and (2) create a more inclusive learning environment through pedagogy.

General Information

• Who’s in First (Generation)?
• Beyond a Deficit View
• The Challenge of the First-Generation Student
• First in the Family: Advice about College from First-Generation Students
• First-Generation College Students More Engaged Than Peers
• Maximizing Success for First-Gen Students
• Think of First-Generation Students as Pioneers, Not Problems
• Using Technology to Help First-Gen Students

Student Success Strategies

• First Generation College Students: Navigating Higher Education
• First-Generation Students Checklist (PDF)

Instructional Strategies

• Strategies to Effectively Teach First Generation Students (South Carolina)
• Teaching First-Generation College Students (Vanderbilt)
• Teaching First Generation College Students Guidebook (PDF)
• Five Things I’ve Learned This Summer
• Let’s Help First-Generation Students Succeed
• Supporting First-Generation Students
• Teaching First-Generation Latinx Students
• What Do Our Syllabi Really Say?

NIU Resources for Students

• NIU First-generation College Students Welcome and Resources
• NIU Breaking Barriers Support Group for First-Generation College Students

NIU Resources for Faculty / Staff

• Engaging Underprepared Students (Video)
• Increase Access, Decrease Costs: Finding Low- or No-Cost Materials for Your Course (Video)
• The Disappearing Student: Helping Students Persist and Succeed (Video)
• Creating a Sense of Belonging in Your Online Course (Video)
• Demonstrating Inclusivity and Equity in Your Course (Video)
• Leveraging Engagement Strategies and Social Interactions to Foster Community (Video)

Even though it can be challenging to reach all of your students in a larger course, it is possible to build community and engage in active, authentic learning strategies. This makes a significant difference in students’ sense of connection and their motivation to learn.

It is tempting to view students who miss assignments as lazy or irresponsible, but the reality may be more complex than that. Students may not turn in assignments because they lack the time and need to prioritize other assignments or responsibilities, they may find the assignment unengaging, or they may think that they won’t be successful. When students do fall behind, catching up may be overwhelming or impossible due to late work and make-up work policies.

Motivating Students

Rethinking Late Work Policies

Ideally, exams measure what students have learned, but they often measure how well students are able to study and manage stress or anxiety, instead. Rethinking assessment strategies and test questions can help students be more successful, but you can also help students prepare more effectively through metacognitive support.

Assessment Strategies

• Writing Good Multiple Choice Test Questions
• Study: High Stakes Tests a Likely Factor in STEM Performance Gap
• A Case for More Testing: The Benefits of Frequent, Low-Stakes Assessments
• How to Design Better Tests, Based on the Research

Helping Students Prepare for Exams

Attendance and active participation are essential elements in learning. Students can be more successful when they know what good participation looks like, when they can see a benefit to participating, and when the classroom culture promotes risk-taking.

• Participation Points: Making Student Engagement Visible
• Recommendations to Increase Student Engagement in Online Courses
• The Lack of Student Attendance: Feed Them Carrots, They Will Come
• Why Student Engagement is Important in a Post-COVID World – and 5 Strategies to Improve It
• Socratic Seminars: Building a Culture of Student-Led Discussion

Simply reaching students can be challenging, at times, if the only tool at our disposal is email. How you use email can increase their responsiveness, and there are alternatives to email you can consider.

• Convenience, Communications, and Control: How Students Use Technology
• How to Optimize Your Student Communications Strategy
• Communicating With Students Without E-Mail or Text Messaging
• 4 Reasons Students Don’t Read Your Emails—and How to Change That

Students’ lives are increasingly complex. Providing non-academic support for mental health, wellness, and finances, as well as helping them to connect with support networks, can help them be more academically successful.