U101 Instructors:

University 101 instructors will find many useful resources and assignment ideas on the ACE website. Study skill development is especially important in the first-year, and ACE wants to help students effectively transition their study habits from high school to college.

Below are syllabus and assignment ideas for your University 101 classes.

Academic Success Presentations: Request an ACE Academic Coach to present to your U101 class about study skill development and academic success strategies. You can select up to four topics to cover during the Academic Success presentation. Request a date and time online.

Out-to-Lunch: Have students interact with a professor outside of class by participating in the Out-To-Lunch program. Then have students write a response paper about their experience. Most students find this experience extremely rewarding. Students can pick up an OTL ticket at ACE office of Housing Area office. Visit the Out-to-Lunch webpage for more information and to print a list of suggested questions students may ask their professor.

ACE Academic Success Appointment: Have students schedule an academic success consultation with an ACE Coach and write a short essay about what they learn. Students can schedule an appointment online and request a variety of study skill topics they would like to discuss with their ACE Coach. Study skill topics include time management, exam preparation, note-taking skills, avoiding procrastination, and much more. Students can also bring instructors an “ACE verification form” confirming the date and time of the ACE appointment.

LASSI: Have students take the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) and visit an ACE Coach to learn more about improving their study habits. Students can print out their results and identify their academic strengths and weaknesses. This can be a stand-alone assignment or a supplement to an academic success presentation.

Academic Plan: lan: Have students set semester or year goals by completing an Academic Plan and bring it to class. This comprehensive document encourages students to think through several areas of their academic success by planning ahead for advising, meeting with professors, mapping academic goals, and much more.

Learning Styles and Self-Assessments: Have students discover their learning style by taking one of ACE’s learning style inventories to gain more information about they learn best. Students can choose from three learning style inventories including the VARK, Barsch, or the Index of Learning Styles. ACE also offers several other self-assessments, including the StrengthsQuest StrengthsFinder.

VARK : ACE offers all U101 classes an opportunity to have students quickly and easily identify their learning style online by taking the VARK (Visual, Auditory, Read-Write, Kinesthetic) questionnaire. After your students take the VARK, you (the instructor) are able to view their results. Simply take the following steps:

1) Refer students to the USC VARK website

2) Next to “Student ID” have the student include their first and last name (this will be for your records)

3) Next to “Subject” have students select the instructor last name (all U101 instructors are entered into the database

4) As an instructor, you can access your students’ results through the following website: http://www.vark-learn.com/subscription/staff/index.asp?access=SCAROLINA (Simply email ACE@sc.edu for the username and password).

Time Management Worksheets: Have students complete a Time Balancing Worksheet and learn how to effectively manage their time while avoiding procrastination. Time management is the number one skill to master in college!

Refer a student to ACE: If you think one of your students would benefit from meeting with an ACE Coach, please refer him/her to ACE using the Instructor referral form. ACE coaches work individually with students to develop their study skills, time management habits, and goal setting. When you refer a student to ACE, one of our ACE Coaches will get in touch with the student to set up an appointment.

U101 ACE Instructor Brochure (.pdf)

Visit the U101 website