While many four-year schools have been offering “intro to college” courses since the ’90s, it took Amy Baldwin four years to convince a publisher that there was a need for student-skills textbooks at community colleges. Currently in its fourth edition, “The Community College Experience” has become a staple of student-skills courses at two-year schools.
Now, Baldwin has created a student-skills textbook with an even more targeted demographic: “The First-Generation College Experience,” specifically designed for freshmen who are the first in their families to attend college.
Baldwin’s textbook guides students through the process of identifying their own learning styles, note-taking, test-taking, dealing with stress and how to communicate this process to families and community.
“Research suggests that first-generation students are more likely to be tied to their families in some way. They are being supported by their families. But often the student is supporting their family too, financially, practically and emotionally,” says Baldwin. “Too many times the message is, ‘You need to be independent and do it on your own.’ The message should be: ‘Let me help you to be interdependent.’”
