Why do you and other Cascadia students have to take COLL101?

At Cascadia, we take it as our responsibility to help prepare you for colllege success. To that end, COLL101—College Strategies–is a common required course here. Most Cascadia College students take COLL101 because it is a prerequisite to ENGL2012 and other courses that make up the Areas of Study and Academic Plans they hope to pursue.  Besides that though, we really believe we can help set you up for success with this course. Below is the official course description of COLL101 College Strategies, and you can find the course learning outcomes here:

This course introduces students to the higher education system and to the habits and skills of successful college students. Together we’ll explore Cascadia’s educational framework, learning model, institutional values, academic resources, and academic plans and career paths. Students will practice critical and contextual thinking, navigate learning technologies, gain experience in collaborative work and active learning, and develop information literacy skills. By the end of the quarter, students will have produced actionable academic learning plans and identified practical learning strategies that they can use in future courses. This course may be linked with another course in order to integrate students’ development within a specific disciplinary context.  NOTE: Students are expected to take this course within the first 30 credits earned at Cascadia College, or in their first year of attendance if attending part-time. This course serves as a prerequisite to ENGL&102, ENGL&235, and EDUC&205 with a minimum grade of 2.0.

You might like to know that all COLL101 students complete at least 5 common assignments and share some other common experiences. That said, each course is a little different, depending on the instructor and the themes, books, and additional goals they choose. COLL101 sections are also delivered in different ways, face-to-face, hybrid, online.

What will we do uniquely in this version of COLL101?

• Our class’s purpose and theme is depicted in the image on the syllabus cover; we will focus on Building Capital for College Success.

• Capital represents the resources that you develop to enhance your life, and it comes in many forms: cultural, financial, human, social, navigational.

• College Success represents the outcomes you seek at Cascadia College and beyond.

• We’ll use the theme to practice successful learning strategies and small group work.

• We will explore that theme as we read together the award-winning book $2.00 A Day by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer (2015) together.  I think you’ll be moved by the stories in the book about how hard some people must work to attain capital.