College is Different - In high school and to a certain extent in college, students rely on their teachers and others to tell tem what they need to know. I often hear students ask: "Is this really important?" "Will this be on the exam?" "Do I have to know this?"  As you advance in your educational pursuits, you will probably discover sooner or later that this approach stops working.

As you become more educated, you will be expected to determine for yourself what is important and what you need to know. This is especially true if you are to be successful in the workplace where teachers are not present for guidance. Extra credit no longer works. You are expected to produce and be the expert in your job. Partial credit does not count for much. If you are responsible for auditing ten companies, and you give them all a clean bill of health while one of them happens to be an Enron, you will get an A- with a 90% score and be congratulated!  But, at work you would probably loose your job!  The workplace is much tougher than college.

Achieve Success - One of my goals for this class is to help you develop the skills that will make you successful on the job. As a result, the course may seem much harder than many others that you have taken. But, it will probably turnout to be much more valuable to you. How do you achieve success in one of my classes?  Consider the following:

Bloom's Taxonomy - Benjamin Bloom created a taxonomy or leaning hierarchy to classify the levels of abstraction found in almost every educational setting:

Knowledge - Recalling facts and information.

Comprehension - A deeper understanding, the translation of knowledge into a new context.

Application - The ability to use information to solve problems.

Analysis - Organizing parts of a whole and seeing patterns.

Syntheses - Using old ideas and information to create new ones.

Evaluation - Comparing and discriminating between ideas, assessing the value.

I am not too interested in the first two levels; it is not that they are unimportant, it is that they are easy. You can look them up in your text or on the Internet. My classes are aimed at the last four levels: application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. If you focus your efforts on these areas, you will be successful.

So, how do you focus your efforts on application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation?  Start by reading and comprehending the textbook.  It will provide you with the knowledge and theory for the course. You paid a lot of money for the textbook so you should get something out of it. But, read it actively and take your learning to the last four levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Ask yourself questions, as you read. Answer them if you can, and if you can't, write them down to help remind you to ask others. Use the following questions as a guide:

What does the author mean by this? (Comprehension)

How can I use this at work and/or at home? (Application)

What are the implications of what I have just read? (Analysis)

What would happen, if I ....?  (Synthesis)

Why is this important? (Application, Analysis, and others)

Is this better than some other method? (Evaluation)

Is there a pattern here? (Analysis)

What in my experience is this like? (Analysis, Synthesis)

Why It Works - As you ponder these questions, you will be incorporating the new knowledge into your existing information framework. You will also be practicing the higher levels of abstraction. But, carry this a step further and follow the same approach in class. Ask questions!

Other Techniques to Help You Learn -

Find additional examples that illustrate the points about which you are reading.

Identify examples that apply the material you are reading.

Work with others to facilitate understanding.

Work together in teams of three or four. This is how work is accomplished in industry.

Explain something to another person to ensure that you really understand.

Discover your preferred learning styles; whenever possible, get your instructor to use them.

Practice using your less preferred learning styles to strengthen them.

Use the following kinds of questions to advantage:

How do I solve problems with Information Technology?

What do I know? List the items.

What don’t I know? List the items.

What don’t I know that I don’t know?

What don’t I know that I need to know to solve the problem?

What information is missing? How can I get it? How can I get the missing information creatively?

What other knowledge, skills, and applications do I have that might apply?

How can I "think outside of the box" to solve the problem?