How to succeed in this course

We want you succeed in this course -- and in all of your college courses -- so we offer these brief tips.

Take control of your time

There are a lot of small reading and writing assignments in this course that build upon each other, one by one.  It is crucial that you keep pace with these assignments in order to succeed in the course -- you will not achieve your learning outcomes if you end up skipping assignments (and that will harm your final grade as well).  We strongly advise that you set up a regular schedule for completing your assignments every week:

  • Use our calendar.  Consult the Canvas Calendar or the specific Course Summary agenda for this course to see all of the dates for upcoming lectures, discussions, and assignments in this class.
  • Use your calendar.  Set up a personal calendar system on your laptop, tablet, or phone (or on paper!) to block out time to complete readings, get yourself ready for lecture and discussion, and complete assignments.
  • Finish early.  Don't save assignments to the last minute -- build in some lead time so that if something unexpected happens in your life, you can handle it and still have time to complete your work.
  • Read ahead.  Try to read a week ahead in the class if you can.  By knowing what is coming up next, you'll have a better understanding of why we've assigned each task and how tasks fit together.
  • Ask for help.  If you get into a tough spot and need an extension on an assignment, email your instructor to ask.

Ask for help when you need it

This class is full of resources ready to help you:

  • Your instructors.  Your instructor emails are listed right at the top of the Home page of this website -- please email them if you need help, if you want to ask for an excused absence, or if you want to request an extension on an assignment. 
  • Your advisers.  The professional career advisers at SuccessWorks Links to an external site. are ready to help you with any career development questions or concerns, even after this course ends.  And remember you can always reach out to your academic adviser as well.
  • Your peers.  You should also feel free to reach out to fellow students in your discussion section as well.  

In addition, here are a variety of technology support resources available to you.

Care for your mental, physical, and emotional health

Especially in our current global pandemic, we know that every social situation and challenge comes with an extra set of stressors and uncertainties.  Please prioritize your mental, physical, and emotional health -- you can't take care of your classes and grades without taking care of yourself first.  Consider using the chart below to periodically reflect on how you're doing -- and on how the important people around you are doing as well:

stress-levels-chart.jpg

Remember that in our course, students may request extensions on assignments or excused absences if they are experiencing personal health and wellness emergencies.  Please reach out to us for help if you need it.  

Below are a variety of other student wellness support resources available across the UW - Madison campus.