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Health/medical and wellness centers
help with your physical well-being. These services vary depending
on the college. Some colleges staff full-time doctors whose services are included as part of tuition while
in other cases, students obtain an insurance policy at a nominal cost to cover these services. Some colleges
also provide a variety of wellness programs which focus on keeping you healthy and fit.
Testing services
help you to perform better on national (standardized) tests and to learn more about
yourself. You can take certain tests and obtain information about registering for others.
• Students who are looking to earn college credit for previous work can take tests such as CLEP
(College Level Exam Program). Many students going on to graduate school will need to take a
particular national exam such as the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) or the GMAT (Graduate
Management Admission Test) depending on their field of interest.
• Most testing services offer a variety of personality inventory and career aptitude tests to help you
learn more about yourself.
Campus security
services help when there are concerns for safety. For example, many schools provide an
escort service for those walking alone at night.
Student centers
or student unions are campus buildings that are often a common meeting place and center
of student life. Student centers typically have recreational options, dining facilities, stores, bulletin boards,
and offices for support services, and also house student clubs and organizations. You are encouraged to
take time to learn more about the particular organizations of interest to you at your school.
Campus ministries
and other religious groups support students in their spiritual life. Ministries are usually
available for students of different faiths.
International studies offices
provide information about programs to study abroad. This may also be a
place for foreign students to gather and receive help, assistance, and support as they adjust to life in a new
country.
Some colleges have
child care services
for students who are also parents with young children.
In addition to your school’s athletic program, many schools offer
intramural activities
and other forms
of recreation for both men and women.
College Learning Environments
You will encounter a variety of different classroom learning environments during your time in college.
While the lecture may be the most common, it by no means is the only environment or even the best
environment (especially for developing a wide variety of learning skills). This section briefly describes
some of the classroom environments you may encounter in college.
Lecture
The lecture is a common learning environment with which you are familiar.
In a typical lecture, students (passively) listen while the instructor (actively)
talks. The lecture is an efficient means to communicate information from an
expert to enhance the information base of students. However, the effectiveness
of a lecture is reduced over time due to peoples’ relatively short attention span.
Unless students think critically about what is being said as they take notes
(which requires active listening), learning is not effective. Finally, the lecture builds only a small
number of skills in the cognitive (thinking) domain without requiring skills in other areas (e.g., social
and emotional).