About This Book
This book offers study skills and practices for college and university students to help them make a positive transition to post-secondary education, learn how to be a successful student, and make the most of their learning experience.
ABE. Although the book is useful for any post-secondary student, it was specifically created to provide a textbook for the British Columbia Adult Basic Education provincial level (ABE grade 12 equivalent level) course, Student Success for college upgrading students. Student Success is a course under the Education and Career Planning (EDCP) umbrella in the BC ABE Articulation Handbook, and this textbook includes content to cover all of the learning outcomes listed in the Handbook. The Student Success course can be used as one of the three electives required for the BC Adult Graduation Diploma. The first eight chapters cover the required learning outcomes and the remaining five chapters cover the optional learning outcomes. The optional topics are determined by the institutions offering the course and will vary between different institutions.
General Use. Students don’t need to be taking a Student Success course to benefit from this text. Post-secondary students can use this material to help them become better, more successful students. Faculty can use any parts of it to give to their students in any of their courses as applicable. Others can use applicable life skills chapters.
Open. The book can be used as a resource for students and faculty. Because it is an open educational resource (OER) with a Creative Commons licence, anyone can download the book and use all or part of it, modify and share it. People can access it for free online, download it as a PDF or eBook, or print it.
ZTC (formerly Z-Cred). Funding for the development of this book was provided by the Province of British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training through BCcampus Open Education. The funding was for an ABE Z-Cred initiative (zero cost credential), recently renamed Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC). The intent is to create pathways to graduation with zero cost. BC does not charge tuition for ABE courses—adults upgrading up to the grade 12 level. This initiative would provide pathways to adult graduation with free access to textbooks as well.
Independent modules. The chapters in this textbook are written as independent modules. They don’t build on each other, so students can complete any of the chapters without having completed prior chapters. Accordingly, instructors can use single chapters, or parts of chapters, and incorporate them into other curriculum.
Some of the chapters are useful even for those who are not post-secondary students, such as the chapters on time management, financial budgeting and planning, communication skills, personal wellness, technology skills, and presentation skills. Other chapters are very specific to student life, such as test-taking, study skills, memory skills, referencing sources, transfer credit between post-secondary institutions, online learning, student funding (student loans, bursaries, and scholarships), learning preferences and strengths, learning differences and challenges, and student support services.
Hopefully you will find numerous uses for the content of this book. This book includes a variety of techniques to help you cope with the demands of college and university. There are many useful life skills and student gems included.
Note. This text is a combination of original content and content “remixed” from parts of several open texts and adapted to meet the needs of the Student Success course. For more information, see the copyright statement.
For more information about open education in British Columbia, please visit the BCcampus Open Education website. If you are an instructor who is using this book for a course, please fill out our Adoption of an Open Textbook form.
