This guide will help instructors who have used the Canadian Third Edition of Becoming a Master Student to transition to the new Canadian Fourth Edition.
The new Canadian Fourth Edition of Becoming a Master Student provides Canadian college and university students with powerful tools to be successful in college and beyond. As a framework, it guides readers in examining themselves as students and making a successful transition into their educational institution. The text provides essential advice for making the major adjustments into post-secondary education for high school graduates as well as adult learners. This new updated edition includes many improvements to the text of the Canadian Third Edition: new format, new features, more innovative learning techniques and theories, as well as major improvements in chapter content and sequence.
New Format and Features
Based on reports from a special Advisory Board comprised of all Canadian instructors of Student Success, the Canadian Fourth Edition has been redesigned and updated to best suit the needs of today's post-secondary Canadian students.
Additions, updates, and changes include the following:
- New design, sidebars, icons, and logos
New design elements make the Canadian Fourth Edition more attractive, accessible, and easy to use. The magazine style format is retained and new pedagogical features have been added to help students to access information more readily. The Master Student Map (explained below) begins each chapter; a new toolbar highlights the recurring features that appear at the end of each chapter.
The new Master Student logo and icons are based on a tangram, an ancient Chinese puzzle game that is used to create images by rearranging seven sections of a square into different patterns. For many students learning is about putting the pieces together in as many ways as they can. Just as working with the tangram encourages creative thinking, Becoming a Master Student provides the basic building blocks with which a creative and active mind can succeed.
The Master Student Map sets the stage for learning in the chapter opener.
This new feature opens each chapter and acts as a common guide throughout the text. Based on the Learning Style Inventory introduced in Chapter 1, the map is used as a reasoning model to help students understand (1) why each chapter matters, (2) what each chapter includes, and (3) how they can use the chapter. It also encourages students to think about transferring knowledge by asking what if. This model helps students to monitor their thinking and learning throughout the book, especially through the culminating exercise in each chapter, the Learning Styles Application.
- New Put it to Work feature
Each chapter ends with an in-depth article illustrating how the skills covered in the chapter apply to the world of work. This article also discusses how the skills developed in the workplace translate to academic success. Specific attention to Canadian workplace applications is considered in these articles.
- Updated learning styles coverage
Each chapter has common elements to ensure that the needs of each learning style is met: Discovery and Intention Statement Journal Entries, articles, exercises, and Practising Critical Thinking Exercises. A Learning Styles Application at the end of each chapter helps students use the information covered in the chapter and apply it to their lives while experimenting specifically with the four modes identified in the Learning Style Inventory.
Expanded and improved content in Chapter 1 includes an article entitled Learning by seeing, hearing, and moving: The VAK system. A brief inventory helps students identify their preference for learning: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. Claim your multiple intelligences provides students with an overview of Howard Gardner's theory, and includes a comprehensive chart that highlights characteristics, possible learning strategies, and possible careers for each of the intelligences.
- Enhancement of the Discovery Wheel
Completing the Discovery Wheel allows students to see a big picture of the course by reviewing a series of statements related to the chapter content in the text. Students get a preview of the content they will be learning about, and this assessment guides them to areas of the text they may need to refer to right away. This hallmark feature appears at the very beginning and end of the book, in Chapters 1 and 12.
The Discovery Wheel has been revised to reflect the new content covered in the Canadian Fourth Edition of Becoming a Master Student. Students can complete this wheel in the textbook or by visiting the Master Student Web site (http://masterstudent.college.hmco.com).
- Additional Reading and Internet Resources
A new complete text bibliography labelled Additional Reading appears at the end of the text (on page 404). For more practical access, the Internet resources have been placed on the Master Student Web site with updated Canadian links.
- Revised Exercises and Quizzes
Goal setting coverage has been enhanced in this edition. New exercises throughout the text ask students to define and refine their goals. (More information about this is explained in the chapter-by-chapter revisions.)
Revamped quizzes appear at the end of each chapter with the Learning Styles Application page on the reverse side, separated from important text so that students can tear out a single page for marking purposes without losing valuable text.
New Canadian material to note
The Canadian Fourth Edition is based on the Eleventh Edition of Becoming a Master Student ©2006. Careful attention has been taken to ensure that content in the Canadian Edition will be understood by your students. As you review the entire text, take note of the following new Canadian material that has been updated and included in this new edition:
- New quotations and words of wisdom from well-known and lesser-known Canadians
- Current Canadian student financial aid information
- Canadian nutrition and health guidelines
- Canadian disabilities information
- Canadian workplace applications (including information from the Conference Board of Canada and a Canadian survey of students entitled the University Report Card)
- Canadian diversity and demographic landscape
- Canadian Additional Reading sources
- Canadian Web site material and Internet resources
Overview of the Chapters
A look at the Brief Table of Contents (on page v) provides a quick point of comparison of content and organization between chapters in the Canadian Third Edition and those in the new Canadian Fourth Edition.
Chapter | New Canadian Fourth Edition | Previous Canadian Third Edition |
1 | First Steps | First Step |
2 | Planning | Time |
3 | Memory | Memory |
4 | Reading | Reading |
5 | Notes | Notes |
6 | Tests | Tests |
7 | Thinking | Diversity |
8 | Communicating | Thinking |
9 | Diversity | Writing |
10 | Technology | Relationships |
11 | Health | Money and Health |
12 | What's Next? | What next? |
In Brief: What's New in the Chapters?
Introduction: Making Transitions
A new more comprehensive Introduction, entitled Making Transitions, has been expanded to include essential advice upfront for: (1) making major adjustments into post-secondary education for both high school graduates and adult learners, (2) making connections to school and community resources, (3) linking education to the world of work, and (4) helping students understand the importance of following instructions. A new Power Process, Discover what you want, establishes the motivation for students to act on their goals.
Chapter 1: First Steps
Chapter 1 First Steps provides students with several means of self-discovery. Beginning with the Discovery Wheel, students get a picture of their strengths and weaknesses related to the 12 chapters of the text. The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) has been redesigned to make the materials more accessible to students and easier to complete correctly. Notice the blue corner on all of the pages related to the LSI in this chapter. Three new examples to illustrate how the learning cycle works are included on page LSI-6, Cycle of Learning. This chapter also provides students with a chance to understand multiple intelligences, strategies for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning, and metacognition.
Chapter 2: Planning
Chapter 2 Planning takes the place of the former Chapter 2 Time. This revised chapter deals not only with time management strategies, but puts extended emphasis on goal analysis. It includes a new article, Setting and Achieving Goals, and a new Exercise #7 Get real with your goals (formerly Practicing Critical Thinking #16 Divide and conquer your goals in Chapter 8). This new goal setting coverage is expanded throughout the textbook. Students are asked to revisit their goals on page 178 (Exercise #18 Revisit your goals) and page 324 (Exercise #29 Revisit your goals, take 2).
Another new article, More ways to stop procrastination, has been added to provide students with more strategies on a topic frequently reported as a hindrance to first year college student success.
Chapter 2 also includes a beginner's guide to money management. By covering financial matters at the beginning of the book, rather than in a later chapter (formerly in Chapter 11), students get started in planning their finances right from the start.
Chapter 3: Memory
New charts throughout the book help visual learners to better comprehend and remember information. 20 memory techniques (on page 112) includes a chart explaining a new way to make material meaningful. A new technique, Engage your emotions, is highlighted with an image of the brain and the amygdala--the area of your brain that sends neural messages associated with strong emotions.
A new article Pay attention to your attention (on page 117) enhances the Power Process: Be here now and encourages students to focus on their concentrating in class and on homework assignments.
A new exercise, Exercise #11 Use Q-cards to reinforce memory (on page 118) helps students to create more valuable flashcards for improving their long-term memory.
A new sidebar, Keep your brain fit for life provides students with exercise tips for sharpening their memory throughout life.
Chapter 4: Reading
Many Advisory Board members suggested that students need more information on how to appropriately highlight while they are reading. A new sidebar, Five smart ways to highlight a text (on page 139) reminds students that highlighting can be a powerful tool when it is done correctly.
Additionally, several Advisory Board members pointed out that Muscle Reading is sometimes considered a lengthy technique for reading. A new sidebar, Muscle Reading--a leaner approach, presents a shorter variation that your students may find more manageable.
A revised article on English as a second language appears on pages 147-148.
Chapter 5: Notes
Record: The note-taking process flows (on page 163-167) has been revised and reformatted. Students are first introduced to general techniques for note-taking. Then, students are introduced to expanded coverage of the Cornell format, with a new piece of art to illustrate the concept. Mind mapping is covered next, and the new art that accompanies this description uses the same content that appeared in the Cornell format description, but as a mind map. This shows students how the same information can be formatted in a different way. Outlining is highlighted next, and again a new image illustrates how the same content would appear in notes that were taken in the outline format. This section also highlights how students can combine these strategies to make their own format.
Students can practice understanding visuals by reading the new graph of the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve on page 168 in the Review section.
What to do when you miss a class is a new sidebar that was written to help remind students the importance of following up with a classmate and their teacher if they are absent from class (see page 162).
Taking notes while reading (on page 177) now includes new information on taking notes while reading on-line materials.
Students are asked to assess their goals in a new exercise in Chapter 5. Exercise #18, Revisit your goals (page 178) asks students to reflect on the goals they completed in Chapter 2 Exercise #7 (on page 69). Students will be asked to reassess their goals again at the end of Chapter 10.
Chapter 6: Tests
Ways to predict test questions appears earlier in the chapter to highlight for students that this is a strategy to employ before they take tests. This new placement (after What to do before the test) enhances the article strategies, and provides students with an activity that can be employed in group study. Co-operative learning--studying with people (on page 191) includes information on completing assignments in groups.
What to do during the test has been revised (on pages 193-195) to include more suggestions for different types of tests (including multiple choice questions, true/false questions, computer-graded tests, open-book tests, short-answer/fill-in-the-blank tests, matching tests and essay tests).
A new article on page 196 will help your students understand what to do after the test. This article The test isn't over until..., reminds students that they need to be sure they find the answers to incorrect test questions--especially because in college tests are often cumulative. A new chart highlights typical sources of test errors and possible solutions for immediate application.
Chapter 7: Thinking
Becoming a Critical Thinker on pages 219-222 has been revised and reformatted to illustrate how the four basic questions in the Learning Style Inventory can be applied to critical thinking. Students will find the format of this article more accessible--especially if they are trying to write an essay or think critically about an assignment they are completing for class. A new section, Create a critical thinking "spreadsheet," helps students to identify different points of view.
On page 222, a new sidebar, Attitudes of a critical thinker, will help students to identify qualities that master students and critical thinkers may share.
The tangram, an ancient Chinese puzzle game, can be used in your classroom to promote creative thinking. After your students read about the tangram on page 223, have your students cut out the tangram from the inside back cover of the text to try their hand at creating unique patterns.
Expanded coverage on selecting a program of study is in the article "But I don't know what I want to do"--Choosing a program of study. Choosing a program of study requires critical thinking, including linking your program of study to your goals and testing your trial choice of study.
Chapter 8: Communicating
This new Chapter 8 Communicating encompasses both oral and written communication strategies. This takes the place of the previous two chapters, Writing (formerly Chapter 9) and Relationships (formerly Chapter 10), and creates a succinct chapter that includes ideas for effective communication in post-secondary education and in interpersonal relationships through effective writing, speaking, and listening. Chapter 8 includes sections on conflict management, group presentations, writing and delivering speeches, how to give constructive criticism, effective ways to complain, as well as effective writing strategies.
A new sidebar, Making the grade in group presentations on page 272, helps students understand the importance of organizing and co-ordinating to maximize success in group presentations.
Chapter 9: Diversity
Canadian Advisory Board members made several suggestions for incorporating current discussions of diversity for Canadian students. Accepting diversity is discussed as a mosaic--"a piece of art in which each element maintains its individuality and blends with others to form a harmonious whole."
A new article, Overcome stereotypes with critical thinking, on page 288, will help students apply strategies from Chapter 7 Thinking to the topic of diversity.
A new sidebar, The world you live in, on page 297, provides students with a list of web sites that can provide them with information on the changing landscape of the world they live in. Included are links to Statistics Canada and the 2001 Canadian Census.
Chapter 10: Technology
Chapter 10, a new chapter to the Canadian Fourth Edition, deals exclusively with Technology. This chapter assists students in (1) mastering learning in an on-line environment, (2) finding useful, accurate information on the Internet and evaluating these sources, and (3) taking part in on-line communities that promote success. It also includes vital information about using technology to enhance the use of library resources.
Exercise #29 Revisit your goals, take two, is yet another chance for students to assess their progress in your course and in other goals they may have set at the beginning of the semester. This new exercise asks students to revisit their response to Exercise #7 and Exercise #18 (on pages 69 and 178, respectively) and rewrite their long-term goals, mid-term goals, and short-term goals. The process of revisiting goals during the course of working through the textbook will help students to apply this strategy throughout their lives.
Chapter 11: Health
A newly reorganized Chapter 11 Health extends this important topic to include a focus on the total person and maintenance of a sound body and mind. Now a distinct chapter, health coverage has been expanded to include new content on eating disorders, the five dietary guidelines from Health Canada's Food Guide Rainbow, updated information on drug and alcohol abuse, and includes related Canadian resources for students to use.
Chapter 12: What's Next
Career Planning: Begin the process now (beginning on page 370) includes information on transferable skills, general abilities that apply across content areas. This article focusses on career planning as a continuous process and is supported by a new sidebar, Twenty-five transferable skills.
Exercise #32: Recognize your skills, is a new exercise that guides students through a three step process where students list their activities and then identify content skills and transferable skills they already have gained from these activities.
A new article Discover your employability skills (on page 374) highlights the
Conference Board of Canada's Employability Skills 2000+, a list of essential skills to enter, stay in, and progress in the world of work. Jumpstart your education with transferable skills (on pages 375-376) guides students to fully understanding these skills and their application in the workplace.
With so many students working while they are enrolled in a post-secondary institution, this new brief article will help students plan for job hunting, résumé writing and interviews. Use résumés and interviews to "hire" an employer (on pages 377-378) is a new article that provides students with a foundation to begin a more in-depth career planning journey. Cruising for jobs on the Internet (on page 379) employs technology skills to searching for jobs on-line.
A new article Define your values, align your actions (on page 387) expands upon an idea previously included in the Power Process: Be it. The article highlights the values that this book is based upon: focussed attention, self-responsibility, integrity, risk-taking, and contributing.
Exercise #33 The Discovery Wheel--coming full circle is now one of three culminating exercises in the text. Students reassess their behaviours and compare their progress with the Discovery Wheel they completed in Chapter 1. Journal Entry #36 asks students to reflect on the changes they see between their two Discovery Wheels. And Exercise #34 asks students to plan to use this book as a reference guide in the future.
Master Student Profiles
The Canadian Fourth Edition includes seven new Canadian, and one new international, Master Student Profiles to serve as role models to Canadian students. The profile subjects have been chosen for their inspiration to students and especially selected to compliment the contents and the Power Process of each respective chapter. New profiles are noted with an asterisk (*) after their name.
Chapter | Chapter Title | Master Student | Power Process |
1 | First Steps | Roberta Bondar | Ideas are tools |
2 | Planning | Ken Dryden | Be here now |
3 | Memory | Rick Hansen* | Love your problems (and experience your barriers) |
4 | Reading | Carol Shields* | Notice your pictures and let them go |
5 | Notes | Michael Budman and Don Green | I create it all |
6 | Tests | David Suzuki | Detach |
7 | Thinking | Paul Farmer* | Find a bigger problem |
8 | Communicating | Roberta Jamieson* | Employ your word |
9 | Diversity | Irshad Manji* | Choose your conversations and your community |
10 | Technology | Mike Lazaridis* | Risk being a fool |
11 | Health | Michael J. Fox* | Surrender |
12 | What's Next? | Craig Kielburger* | Be it |
