Eight things the best students know
I’ve been an engineering professor for most of my career. During that time I’ve seen a lot of students who have chosen an effective path for their education. I’ve also seen others who have chosen a harder way. Here’s what the good students seem to know, and that I wish everyone knew.
Things the best students know:
It’s supposed to be hard
Being a university student is difficult, costly, and not always aligned with what young people want to do. The best students don’t get too frustrated by this, in fact, they tend to soak up opportunities to learn and grow – even though it is difficult and costly. Poor students do the opposite; a friend of mine illustrated this well when he said, “university students are the only customers who want less for their money” (you know the elation that sets in when class is canceled? You wouldn’t feel this way about anything else you’ve purchased). A graduate school classmate of mine made this more obvious when he said, “I wish I could just boil this book and drink the water to gain all the information in it.” While that would be cool, none of us actually want it to be easy like that – at least we don’t want to become the product of an easy process. We want – even value – the challenge because we know it helps us stretch and grow. The best students never seem to forget this.
Work ethic and habits influence how difficult university is
A university student’s time is limited and always will be; a full-time engineering student can expect to spend 40-50 hours a week on course work, not to mention the other things in life that need to be taken care of. To thrive in a time-limited setting it is valuable to develop good study/work habits. As the best students try to do this, they know that efficiency and effectiveness are key. Efficiency is largely about how long it takes to complete tasks, and effectiveness is largely about if the work resulted in something good or not. Learning to focus will greatly improve efficiency. I highly recommend that students turn off device notifications during time dedicated to studying. Learning to critically evaluate the quality of one’s own work will help to know if what was created was good or not. This will greatly improve effectiveness.
Efficiency and effectiveness are gained through exercise
The best students participate in the educational program by doing the assignments and exercises before they are due. They know that the exercises were conceived for their development and that the timing is about reinforcing the learning at the time it needs to be reinforced. They know that if they do them, they’ll develop strength. Skip them, and they’ll find they haven’t gained much from the educational program they’re paying for. But it’s not only this. The best students don’t skip assignments. They know that getting a zero kills the overall grade. Whenever I calculate final grades and get ready to post them, I go back and look at each student’s grade and compare it to what I would have expected based on my interactions with the student. Almost always when something is amiss, I’ll realize that the student received a zero on an assignment, which indeed killed their grade.
Grades are about performance, not negotiation skills
The best students don’t try to negotiate for a better grade. They know that the grade is about performance and that an external assessment of performance is valuable. They try to get a better assessment by adjusting their effort/approach not by changing the evaluator’s mind. Simply stated, a student’s grade should be based on his or her growth as demonstrated by the work submitted. The grade should not be based on a student’s ability to negotiate. So while it may be possible to get some professors to change a grade by complaining about it, or the class, or the method of grading, such negotiations don’t change the overall assessment of the student’s growth. This is why the best students don’t approach grades from a negotiation standpoint.
Learning trumps the grade
It is easy and natural to do tasks like homework simply to finish them, as opposed to doing them to learn. The best students don’t do this. Many of them find much more success when they let go of the grade and decide they are in the course to learn, to grow, and to develop skills. These people are open to feedback, correction, and teaching. As a result, they often end up noticeably more capable than those who are solely focused on trying to get the best grade. Not surprisingly, those focused primarily on learning are also organized enough to keep an eye on GPA and end up with great results.
Going to class is not enough
When it comes to classes, there are basically four stages of engagement, and only one of them is to attend the class. The best students tend to understand this and choose to be fully engaged. The first stage of engagement is in preparing for the class period. The best students come prepared, they have the right materials, have done pre-class reading, have gotten adequate sleep and food, and have set their electronic devices to a mode that will best help them be engaged in the class. The second stage of engagement is to simply get to the classroom at the time the class begins. For many, this is a feat, but this alone is not enough. The third stage of engagement is for the student to try to learn what is being taught during the class period. The best students try to understand the objective of the class period, understand why the material is being presented, what they’re supposed to walk away with, and how it helps them develop. The student engaged at this level is not afraid to ask questions since learning is at the center of their motivation. The fourth stage of engagement is in what happens after class. The best students find a way to summarize to themselves or others the main points of the class – often as they’re walking out of it. They tend to ask the question: how does this apply to me and the work I now need to do before the next class?
The computer does what you tell it to
The best students who are taking a computer-based class, like CAD or computing, understand that computers will do exactly what you tell them to do. The best students use this truth to focus their troubleshooting on what they can do differently. For poor students, there is an innate assumption that when things go wrong, there is something wrong with the computer/software. I believe it will slow students down significantly when they think this way. Instead, it is better to recognize that the computer is doing exactly what it’s being asked to do. The best students assume there is something they don’t understand about how they’re telling the computer what to do. This attitude gives the student the power to correct the situation.
Design projects tend to fill the time available
The best students know that design projects are open-ended, and that efforts to solve them will expand to fill the time available. To keep from spending too much time, they engage often with the project sponsor or person who assigned it to better understand what a good and final outcome would be for the project. When requirements lists and/or evaluation rubrics are available, the best students carefully consult them while they are making progress.
One of the things I love about being a professor is that I’m often thinking about life-long learning and the fact that all of us are students. Even I might look at this list and get discouraged, but that’s not the point. The point is that these things – the things the best students know – are things I need to know and start practicing myself. For me, I’m going to work on number six. For you it may be a different one. Whatever it is, I wish you the best.
