GEL 101: Student, University Community

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  GEL 101: Student, University Community
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a fully asynchronous first-year seminar course (GEL 101) course for undergraduate students by Dr. Shannon Nolan-Arañez at California State University San Marcos. The open textbook provides tools and tips for success in college. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to lower the barriers to access course related content. Most student access the open textbook at Open Stax College Success which is also hyperlinked through Cougar Courses.

Course Title and Number: GEL 101: Student, 
University Community
Brief Description of course highlights:  Designed to equip students with the basic skills, concepts, and knowledge necessary to become a lifelong learner. Examination of current theory and research regarding the information age, health and wellness, career development, and psychological assessment. Practical application of the theory and research. Includes information literacy and technology skills, group and teamwork, and learning styles. May not be taken for credit by students who have received credit for ESM 111, ESW 120, GEL 110 or GEL 120. Enrollment restricted to students with Freshman standing. Satisfies GE Area: E

Student population: All majors are represented in this course. Typical students are from the southern California region. No prerequisites to taking GEL 101. 

Learning or student outcomes: 

1. Wellness:
   • Assessing personal wellness along a number of dimensions including physical, psychological, and social. 
   • Acquiring and analyzing information on wellness from Student Health Services and other campus resources. 
2. Academic Success Skills: 
   • Designing and implementing an effective time management plan that meets your personal schedule and the demands of coursework. 
   • Assessing your personal learning style, study skills/test taking strategies and develop a plan to improve in these areas. 
3. Academic and Career Planning:
   • Researching different majors (or confirm your major).
   • Developing a personal academic plan that includes university requirements, general education courses, and courses of major. 
   • Researching various career options
   • Understanding the career development process and explore key factors (skills, interests, values, personality, and abilities) affecting career/major choice. 
   • Identifying and contacting an academic advisor, a career advisor, and a faculty advisor. 
4. Institutional Awareness and Resource Utilization:
   • Listing the campus resources available to students. 
   • Identifying common student needs and the appropriate campus resources to address those needs. 
   • Identifying the variety of ways students can become active participants in the campus community outside of the classroom. 
5. Information Literacy and College Level Research:
   • Formulating a research topic and write a relevant thesis.
   • Using electronic database to locate and retrieve information related to a thesis. 
   • Critiquing scholarly versus popular press literature.
   • Writing a college level research report and produce and related oral presentation. 
6. Moral and Ethical Decision Making: 
   • Locating and analyzing the CSUSM policies on Academic Honesty, Drug-Free Campus and Smoking, Nondiscrimination, Sexual Assault, and Student Discipline. 
   • Clarifying your own values while understanding the values and ethical practices of our university community. 

Key challenges faced and how resolved: Students often feel overwhelmed by the transition from high school to college. Students are often living on campus, away from home, and dealing with stress. To resolve this, I include mindfulness and community building in each class.

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: College Success
Brief Description: “OpenStax College Success is a comprehensive and contemporary resource that serves First Year Experience, Student Success, and College Transition courses. Developed with the support of hundreds of faculty and coordinators, the book addresses the evolving challenges and opportunities of today’s diverse students. Engagement, self-analysis, personal responsibility, and student support are reflected throughout the material. College Success also includes an array of student surveys and opinion polls, and OpenStax will regularly provide the results to adopting faculty.” – OpenStax
Please provide a link to the resource
https://openstax.org/details/books/college-success
Author:  AMY BALDWIN, UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
Student access:  Canvas, our campus’ course management system and OpenStax.
Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  $47.63
License: Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0. See the textbook linked here. 

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  To save students money and it easily integrated with Canvas, our learning management platform.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? It is one of the two suggested texts provided by our department.

Sharing Best Practices: I learn every single student’s name by week 3. I do a get-to-know you survey and take notes about every student as they share their stories. Devises such as earbuds and cellphones are distractions and I help students “arrive” mentally and physically by asking them to put them away before we do roll and our mindfulness practice. I also do an anonymous feedback/check-in in week 7 or 8 to see what students are feeling and thinking and then I adjust the rest of the semester as needed. For example, I learned that students were having a hard time with passing the quizzes because they were timed so I changed the setting to give double time and it helped students feel less stress and ultimately score better on quizzes thereafter. 

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. For the cost of textbooks is a barrier to students succeeding in GEL 101. I have learned that most of our students have multiple priorities and demands from work, family, and mental health, especially in the wake of COVID-19. I feel like many course materials do not adequately address mental health and emotional regulation, necessary to help heal adolescent brains. 

Instructor Name:  Dr. Shannon Nolan-Aranez
I am a lecturer faculty at California State University San Marcos. I teach GEL 101 (First-Year Seminar), UNIV 100A: Growth Mindset, Resiliency and Success, UNIV 200, Academic Recovery. 

Please provide a link to your university page.
First-Year & University Programs.

Please describe the courses you teach.  First-year seminar and academic recovery courses. I teach life-skills like mindfulness, emotional regulation, time management, self-awareness, and community building.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  I teach from the heart. My students are humans first, student second. I spend time during each class meeting doing mindfulness and community building. I believe that my students are each unique and that their learning depends on their ability to garner meaning from their lived experiences and campus resources.