ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS 2009 Fall Convocation Dr Curry Guinn

ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS 2009 Fall Convocation Dr. Curry Guinn (CSC) Kristy Johnson

Why are we here?

University Statement of Academic Expectations for Students In choosing UNCW, you have become part of our community of scholars. We recognize that the UNCW learning experience is challenging and requires hard work. It also requires a commitment to make time available to do that hard work. The university expects you to make academics your highest priority by dedicating your time and energy to training your mind acquiring knowledge. Academic success in critical thinking and problem solving prepares you for the changes and challenges you will encounter in the future. Our faculty and academic support resources are readily available as partners in this effort, but the primary responsibility for learning is yours.

University Statement of Academic Expectations for Students In choosing UNCW, you have become part of our community of scholars. We recognize that the UNCW learning experience is challenging and requires hard work. It also requires a commitment to make time available to do that hard work. The university expects you to make academics your highest priority by dedicating your time and energy to training your mind acquiring knowledge. Academic success in critical thinking and problem solving prepares you for the changes and challenges you will encounter in the future. Our faculty and academic support resources are readily available as partners in this effort, but the primary responsibility for learning is yours.

University Statement of Academic Expectations for Students In choosing UNCW, you have become part of our community of scholars. We recognize that the UNCW learning experience is challenging and requires hard work. It also requires a commitment to make time available to do that hard work. The university expects you to make academics your highest priority by dedicating your time and energy to training your mind acquiring knowledge. Academic success in critical thinking and problem solving prepares you for the changes and challenges you will encounter in the future. Our faculty and academic support resources are readily available as partners in this effort, but the primary responsibility for learning is yours.

Strategies for Success 1: Talk to your professor • Engage in class • Office hours • Email gives you unprecedented access to faculty members.

Strategies for Success 2: Use Academic Resources • Writing center • Tutoring & learning center • Math lab • Teaching assistants • Library resource staff • Career Counseling • Counseling Services

Strategies for Success 3: Learn how to manage your time • Which majors spend the most hours working outside of class? • Why? • How much time will you spend outside of class on a course? • Your academics are a full-time job.

Time Management Strategies • Make a schedule Ø For semester Ø For the week Ø Look at it and revise each day • Study in a non-distracting environment: library, academic lounges, cafe • Study during the daytime • Study the hardest subject first • Bracket your classes to lock you on campus. Ø Schedule an early class and a later class on the same day. Ø Avoid back-to-back classes.

Time Management Caveat You must abandon the idea that you're "entitled" to a certain grade in a course because of the amount of work that you put in (many students bring this idea with them from high school). Just like in the real world, what matters at the university is not effort but results. If it takes you 20 hours to perform a certain task, and someone else does the same task with the same results in 5 hours, you will both receive the same grade. Roger Freedman

Strategies for Success 4: Read the @*#!%& Textbook! • Professors choose the textbooks with care. • Professors tend to tailor the course around the texts. • Students are responsible for material in the book whether the professor explicitly mentions it during classroom lectures or not!

Story. Time: Booted

Strategies for Success 5: Read the syllabus and … • Professors usually lay out expectations pretty clearly in the syllabus. • Do what the professor tells you to do!

Story. Time: Pai Mei

Pai Mei: Moral to the Story? • What does Pai Mei say to Beatrix (Uma Thurman)? • Why does Uma Thurman keep striking the board despite the fact that her hands are getting shredded?

Strategies for Success 6: This isn’t high school. • No one is going to make you do anything. • You are responsible for yourself. • Professors will not overlook tardiness, absences, and late assignments. • Very few “mulligans” or do-overs. • High school is very democratic: everyone in our society is given access to a high school education. But the university is an intrinsically elitist institution. You are only here because you met a demanding set of criteria, and you will only remain here if you work hard and continue to meet an increasingly demanding set of criteria. -- Roger Freedman

Strategies for Success 7: Carefully study your degree requirements • http: //www. uncw. edu/csc/programschecklists. html

Strategies for Success 8: Build relationships with faculty • Eventually, you are going to need references. • Good references. • Faculty can’t give you a good reference unless they know you. • Do extra on class projects. • Get involved in undergraduate research. • Internships.

Strategies for Success 9: Spend time with people with similar goals • Join an academic club in your area. • Anthropology Club, American Medical Student Assn. , Assn. for Computing Machinery, Athletic Training Student Club, Beta (Biology Club), Chapter One (English and Film club), Communications Studies Society, Flicker Film Society, French Club, Geology Club, Gerontology Generations, International Affairs Assn. , Mathematics & Statistics Club, Model United Nations Assn. , National Science Teachers Assn. , Pre-Veterinary Medical Assn. , Recreation Majors, Social Work Student Org. , Society of Physics Students, Sociology and Criminal Justice Club, Spanish Club, Student Health Assn. , Teaching Fellows, Women in Science and Engineering

Etiquette • Be professional • Your instructor is your boss; your classmates are coworkers. • Never, use a cell phone in a classroom even if the class hasn’t started or is over. (Turn ringers off – even buzzers are distracting) • Never disparage another faculty member in front of or within hearing of a faculty member. • If you are going to be absent, alert your professor in advance. Ø Excuses generally are unnecessary, unwanted, and often TMI. Ø That doesn’t mean that absences are excused.

Email Etiquette • Email gives you unprecedented access to faculty members. Ø Include a subject (+ the course number) Ø Include your name (and the course number you are talking about) Ø Think professional. Ø Don’t include too many questions per email. • Sometimes multiple emails is better than one long one.

Academic Honesty • The price for cheating is incredibly severe. • Take an F on an assignment (or turn it in late) rather than cheat. • Plagiarism Ø If it’s not your words, it’s plagiarism. Cite everything. If you are in doubt, cite. Ø If you reword/paraphrase someone else’s words, it’s plagiarism. Cite. If you are in doubt, cite. Ø If it’s not your ideas, it’s plagiarism. If you are in doubt, cite. Ø There is plagiarism detection software. Ø Faculty can smell it. • A student who lets another student copy work is just as guilty of plagiarism and will be punished similarly.

The big secret: You choose your grade • Every one of you is capable of getting an A in any UNCW course for which you have the prerequisites. • You choose what grade you get in every course. • Don’t be distracted by Ø The behavior of your instructors. Ø The quality of your textbook. • Choose to be an ‘A’ student and you will be.