ORIN 1541 Foundations for Student Success Syllabus BL2 Fall 2026

Credit Hours 1.00 Lecture Hours 1 Clinical/Lab Hours 0
Type of Credit
CIP Code
24.0199
Course Meeting Time

Mondays & Wednesdays:  10-10:50am

Course Description
This course focuses on a learner's role and responsibility in the learning process. Students will develop active learning strategies and effective study skills to become broadly educated individuals who are creative, critical thinkers able to solve problems and competently communicate. Upon completion, students will understand the purpose of higher education and the value of a college degree in lifelong learning.
General Education Outcomes

General Education Outcomes are the knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and behaviors that students are expected to develop as a result of their overall experiences with any aspect of the college, including courses, programs, and student services, both inside and outside of the classroom. The General Education Outcomes specifically learned in this course are:

  1. Critical Thinking
  2. Responsibility

Faculty Contact Information

Faculty Name
Jess Jaenicke
Faculty Email
Faculty Phone
x8714
Faculty Office Number
L328
Faculty Student Support Hours

Mondays & Wednesdays:  1:50-3:20pm

Tuesdays:  10am-12pm online (in-person by appt.) 

Faculty Information

Professor Jessica Jaenicke 

Course Information

Course Outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses as college students.
  2. Identify strategies for managing their time, money, and stress.
  3. Demonstrate effective communication skills appropriate to the situation.
  4. Apply critical thinking and problem solving skills in a variety of contexts.
  5. Demonstrate proficiency in a variety of study skills.
  6. Develop effective and ethical strategies for locating, evaluating, and using information to inform their ideas.
  7. Articulate what it means to become a learner.
Topical Outline
TOPICS:EXAMPLES:
College Foundations: Suggested Week 1Understanding the value of higher education
 Campus resources
 Using Canvas
Growth Mindset and BelongingSkills, values, and interests inventories
 Community building
 Equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging
 Social interactions and relationships
 Campus events and involvement
Self-AdvocacySetting goals and identifying priorities
 Time management
 Communication strategies
 Managing stress
Career ExplorationCareer Coach
 Career exploration
 Money
Preparing for SuccessCritical thinking and problem solving
 Information literacy
 Active reading
Common Course Materials/Textbooks

Bhargava, Rohit and Jennifer Brown. Beyond Diversity. Ideapress Publishing. (2021).

Textbook/s and Course Materials

There is no textbook used in this course.  All materials used will be provided to you.  

Methods of Evaluation

A variety of assignments will be given throughout the course, including shorter assignments such as discussion board posts and re ection papers, and longer assignments, such as time management and career exploration activities. Points are listed with each assignment and totaled over the course of the semester. Turning in assignments is essential to receiving a passing grade. Grades will be given on the following scale

PointsGrade
100-90%A
89.9-80%B
79.9-70%C
69.9-60%D
Below 60% F
Common Course Assignments

1. Student Passport to Online Learning

2. LASSI Inventory

3. Information Literacy

4. Career Exploration and Academic Mapping

5. Campus Event Participation (2)

6. Financial Literacy

7. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging writing assignment

Academic Division

Liberal Arts & Sciences

Dean, Jennifer Huggins; 815-802-8484; R310; jhuggins@kcc.edu; Division Office- W102; 815-802-8700

Course Policies

Student Support Hours: I encourage all of my students to reach out to me when they have questions, concerns, or a desire for additional support in my classes. If you need to meet outside my scheduled times, please email me to request a weekday appointment (with at least 24 hours advance notice). Also let me know if you prefer to meet virtually) or on-campus. 

Academic Honesty: Students are expected to do their own original work in this class. From brainstorming ideas and reading assigned texts to communicating their ideas in their own words – all the work students do in the process of completing assignments should be their own. If students are struggling with any part of an assignment, I would encourage them to request support from a KCC writing tutor and/or me (the instructor). Tutors and the instructor will help guide students through the process without doing the work for them. While AI-assisted tools might be tempting to use (and even appropriate for these tasks in other circumstances), using them for assignments in this class is prohibited and will be considered a form of cheating or plagiarism. Cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation, fabrication, etc. are all forms of academic dishonesty and they will not be tolerated in this class.
 
Cheating can take many forms in this class: copying or using another student’s work, adjusting format to make papers appear longer (a form of misrepresentation), working in groups on individual assignments (whether openly or in secret), sharing or stealing answers for tests or assignments, using AI to develop part (or all) of an assignment, making up “research” (a form of fabrication), etc. Section 17.6B of the Student Code of Conduct explains that cheating also includes, “Submitting the same paper, report, or other assignment for more than one course without the expressed permission of the faculty member. If a student believes that he/she can complete an assignment that meets the requirements of two or more faculty members, he/she should obtain prior approval from all faculty involved.”
 
Plagiarism is also defined in section 17.6B of the Student Code of Conduct: “Taking, reproducing, and/or using as one’s own, without proper attribution, the ideas, writings, paraphrases, data, reports, graphic designs, or computer codes of published or unpublished work of another person in completing an academic assignment. Prohibited conduct may also include the unauthorized submission for credit of academic work that has been submitted for credit in another course.”
 
Plagiarism in this class includes but is not limited to:
  • submitting someone else’s work and/or AI-generated or AI-assisted writing tools
  • using published material (including materials published online) without proper attribution
  • paraphrasing or quoting someone without attributing the quote in your paper with a correct in-text citation, even if the source is included on the works cited page; improper paraphrase (sometimes referred to as “synonym swapping”) may also be plagiarism if the attempted paraphrase too closely imitates the writing style (including syntax) of the original source
  • failing to clearly indicate when you are using quoted materials by not including (or properly formatting) quotation marks
  • working with someone (without my permission) to write your paper and presenting it as your own
If you are in doubt, ask me or visit the KCC Writing Studio before you submit your assignment.
No form of academic dishonesty is acceptable. Cheating, plagiarizing, misrepresentation, and/or fabrication on any assignment in this class will have consequences and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The severity of consequence (from automatic failure on the assignment to possible immediate failure of the course with no opportunity for the student to withdraw) depends on the instructor's judgment of intentionality. The violation of this course policy will be reported to the Director of Student Success. If the student has a repeated instance of academic misconduct reported to the Director of Student Success, the student may be suspended from the institution.
 
Attendance and Participation: You will find success by showing up and putting forth effort! This is a course where regular and active participation is of critical importance to your learning and to the experience of your classmates. Additionally, research has shown that regular participation (in this class and all your classes) is a strong predictor of your academic success. Therefore, you are expected to actively participate online with course content, your peers, and your instructor. 
 
Expectations for Classroom and Online Behavior

RESPECT.  

Yourself, your peers, me, our time, your opportunity to learn, ALL OF IT! 

Course Calendar

College Policies, Resources and Supports

College Policies

For information related to the Student Code of Conduct Policy, Withdrawal Policy, Email Policy, and Non- Attendance/Non-Participation Policy, please review the college’s Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations webpage, which can be found at catalog.kcc.edu under the Academic Regulations & Conduct Guide. 

Resources

KCC offers various academic and personal resources for all students. Many services are offered virtually, as well as in person. Please visit Student Resources - Kankakee Community College to access student resources services such as:

  • Clubs and organizations
  • Counseling and referral services
  • Office of disability services
  • Student complaint policy
  • Transfer services
  • Tutoring services, etc.