In 2008 frustrated watching capable students struggle, Anoka-Ramsey Community College Psychology instructor, Jennifer LibertyClark attended a well-regarded, national training session on student success called On Course. Last week, LibertyClark joined colleagues from Bemidji State University, St. Cloud Technical College and Inver Hills Community College to host a mini On Course institute for more than 120 faculty members from the Minnesota Colleges and Universities system.

“We are all here to help students succeed,” says LibertyClark. “I wanted to share this phenomenal program with more instructors throughout the system to help with that goal. The keynote speaker, Milissa Troen is a counselor from Inver Hills Community College. They have had huge success with the program and their retention numbers show it.”

During the institute, funded through a grant from the Center for Teaching and Learning, faculty members learned more about the program, which was designed by Skip Downing, and strategies for student success. On Course is currently used at more than 350 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, and is garnering major accolades from instructors and institutions that are seeing tremendously positive changes in students’ ability to succeed in college.

Based on the well-researched habits of struggling students, On Course leads students through processes of s elf-reflection, contemplation, journal writing, and sharing with others in class to learn the tools they need to become successful students.

The program has identified eight strategies of success students:

1. Successful students accept self-responsibility (struggling students believe that what happens to them is determined primarily by external forces such as fate or luck)
2. Successful students discover self-motivation (struggling students have difficulty sustaining motivation, often feeling depressed, frustrated or resentful about a lack of direction)
3. Successful students master self-management (struggling students seldom identify specific actions needed to accomplish a desired outcome, and tend to procrastinate)
4. Successful students employ interdependence to achieve goals (struggling students are solitary, seldom requesting, even rejecting offers of assistance)
5. Successful students gain self-awareness (struggling students make important choices unconsciously, often directed by self-sabotaging habits and outdated life scripts)
6. Successful students adopt life-long learning (struggling students resist learning new ideas and skills, viewing learning as fearful or boring rather than as mental play)
7. Successful students develop emotional intelligence (struggling students live at the mercy of strong emotions such as anger, depression, anxiety, or a need for instant gratification)
8. Successful students believe in themselves (struggling students doubt their competence and personal value, feeling inadequate to create their desired outcomes).

For more information about On Course, contact Anoka-Ramsey Community College Faculty members, Jennifer LibertyClark (Cambridge Campus) at JenniferLibertyClark@AnokaRamsey.edu or 763-433-1853 or Kathryn Markell (Coon Rapids Campus) at KathrynMarkell@anokaramsey.edu or 763-433-1342.

College faculty (shown here in a small group session) from across the state gathered at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Friday, Aug. 13 to attend courses on student success.