One of the advantages of learning online at Penn State is the ability to complete your course assignments, readings, and other homework on your schedule. The asynchronous pacing of the courses means you can do your work whenever you have the time each week, whether it is in the evening, on weekends, during your lunch breaks, or whenever you can carve out the time.
What do you do if you have a technology question or need some additional resources to help you complete one of your assignments and it is outside of the hours your academic adviser is available?
The Academic Success Kit (ASK) is a resource that has been developed for situations like that.
This Academic Success Kit is a collection of 12 easy-to-use instructional modules that students can access on demand when they need tips or strategies for managing their time, note-taking in online courses, using technology, and more.
Students can enroll and use the Academic Success Kit in Canvas, Penn State’s learning management system where their courses are located and where they are already learning.
The Academic Success Kit has been designed for Penn State World Campus students by the Penn State World Campus staff who support them.
How to access the Academic Success Kit
To access the Academic Success Kit, students must log in to Canvas using their Penn State username and password. Once they are logged in, they can immediately enroll in any of the modules, and once they enroll, the modules will appear in their Canvas profile along with their other courses.
Students can advance through each module at their own pace. The modules also track students’ progress so the students can see how much of the material they have accessed.
How was the Academic Success Kit created?
Penn State World Campus wanted to create an on-demand resource that addresses the topics for extra academic support that students have said they want to build their confidence as online learners.
Penn State World Campus staff members created the modules, from writing the content, curating resources, and designing how the students progress through each module.
For example, the academic coaches contributed to the module on note-taking in an online course, and a student success specialist who has a doctorate in English provided the content in the module on writing discussion board posts in an online course.
Learning designers who create the hundreds of courses in Canvas each semester also designed the modules so they would have the look and feel of a course.
What is in the Academic Success Kit?
One of the topics that students have said they would like to have strategies for is taking notes in an online course. They may be familiar with how to take notes in an in-person classroom, but they may be unsure how that translates to making and keeping notes for online course work.
The Academic Success Kit contains 12 instructional modules on a variety of topics. The topics address various tasks students face as online learners, such as writing discussion posts, participating in a group, preparing for a test, and more.
The 12 modules are:
- Composing Great Discussion Posts
- Improving Your Typing Skills
- Learning Styles and Strategies
- Managing Your Time
- Navigating the Syllabus
- Preparing for a Test
- Taking Notes in an Online Course
- Understanding your SmarterMeasure Score
- Working in Groups Online
- Tech Camp
- Tech Camp: Connectivity
- Tech Camp: Productivity
What are other academic resources that are available to online learners?
Academic advising
Academic advisers help students be successful in their academic journeys.
Undergraduate students will be assigned an academic adviser based on their degree. Academic advisers answer questions and help students stay on track, by planning course schedules and selecting courses to meet the requirements of their degree programs.
Graduate students will be advised by a faculty member in their degree program.
Tutoring
Tutoring is available through Tutor.com, a professional tutoring resource available to students in select courses.
Support on specific academic subjects
Students have access to support for a variety of academic subjects. Support is available for math, statistics, writing, economics, and world languages.
SmarterMeasure
SmarterMeasure is an assessment tool that gives students valuable insights into their strengths and opportunities for growth. The assessment is free, and students who complete it can schedule a consultation with an academic support specialist to review their results.
Learn more about the Academic Success Kit and other academic resources on the Penn State World Campus Student Center website.
