Contributed by Zoe Speidel

If you haven’t read Part 1 of “It’s Not Enough to Be Explicit: Why the Hidden Curriculum Should Be Open Access,” I suggest doing so prior to reading Part 2. In it, I discuss the importance of providing knowledge about the hidden curriculum to students in an Open Access format. 

When I share aspects of the hidden curriculum directly with students in my courses, I am careful to choose topics that correspond to the demands of the course as well as the needs and desires of the students. 

In my introductory survey, I ask students how I can support them throughout the term: “What are you most concerned about coming into this course? How can I best support your concerns so that you feel more at ease?” In the introductory discussion, I ask them to share “One or two effective study habits you’d like to adopt while in this course–why are you choosing these? What kind of support will you need to stick to them? How will you get that support?” 

Far and away, the most common response I receive is time management, with avoiding procrastination in a close second. So these are the two I focus on the most. In my weekly videos and announcements, I provide tips and resources on these two issues, especially at key times throughout the term, such as when starting a new module. I also share information about motivation, metacognition, composing effective emails, tutoring opportunities, and student support services.  

But even with all my good intentions, this is a limited approach. All of the topics I provide information about are those that will support students in my course. But students aren’t only in my course. They need a comprehensive guide to college success that will span the breadth of the personal and academic challenges they may face while in college. 

Even though the “hidden curriculum” is typically covered most often in remedial or developmental courses (especially those whose sole focus is college success), this information is important for all students to have. This becomes a social justice issue when we look at the students for whom this kind of information is essential–namely, students who belong to historically marginalized groups, such as those who are first-generation or who come from economically-disadvantaged high schools. Statistically, these students will need additional explicitness about how to be successful in college–not because they aren’t capable of completing the work, but because so much of what creates college success is contextual to the dominant culture of higher education in the US: White, western, and English-speaking.

There are two OER texts on college success that I think are especially strong resources for students at any level: Blueprint for College Success and University 101: Strategize, Study, and Succeed. 

Blueprint for Success in College and Career

Arguably the most comprehensive of these guides, Blueprint for Success in College and Career covers a huge range of hidden curriculum topics from the purpose of college (“What’s College For?”) to chapters on multiple aspects of health, including nutrition, exercise, sexual health, and safety. 

But Blueprint isn’t valuable only for its breadth. Each topic is covered in depth, providing students with useful information, resources, and practice exercises. Many of the chapters use multiple modalities to convey information, including text, videos, and images. For example, chapter 26, “Preparation for Note-Taking,” discusses non-verbal communication (with images and an exercise), active listening (with a video and an exercise), and key information in textbooks and lectures. Some of the chapters are a bit longer and more text-heavy than I would normally want to assign (e.g., “Comprehending College Level Reading by Using the Reading Apprenticeship Approach”), but with some instructor guidance and in-class follow-up, these chapters can be just as valuable. 

The amount of detail in Blueprint could potentially feel overwhelming for some students,but the amount of detail is also part of Blueprint’s strength and success. There are so many topics covered that students will surely come across information they didn’t realize yet they needed to know. Even if an instructor only has time to direct students toward one or two parts of this resource, students will be introduced to an all-inclusive guide to college success.

University 101: Strategize, Study, and Succeed

University 101: Strategize, Study, and Succeed is focused on the academic aspects of student success. The sections are presented in chronological order for a new college student–the first three sections are “Learning in University,” “Plan for Success,” and “Your First Week”–which makes it easy for instructors to identify relevant content at any point of the term. 

The individual chapters in University 101 do not go into great depth, nor do they utilize modalities beyond text and still images. But I find the length, level of depth, and presentation of the chapters to be very approachable. In a course that isn’t focused on college success, the chapters in University 101 are short enough to fit into my students’ busy schedules, since I never want to overburden them with any content that isn’t directly related to the course’s assignments. 

Most of the chapters also provide practice exercises, which I find especially useful for times when I can’t spend class time teaching or discussing the success strategy. For example, in chapter 11, “Create a Weekly Schedule that Works,” students are given a list of principles for creating a schedule, followed by an example schedule, followed by a downloadable schedule template for them to complete on their own. This is the kind of structure that makes me comfortable sending students to these resources, even when I can’t follow up with them because I know they’re being walked through the process of practicing the strategy. 

One thing to keep in mind is that this book is licensed to Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Canada, so some of the language (e.g., “Learning in University”) might be slightly different than what your students are used to. It’s definitely not a reason to avoid this book, but students may need that additional bit of context.  

Conclusion

Suggest whole sections or chapters, refer to them briefly in an email or class session, or create full-fledged assignments to help your students work through the content. However you integrate the content of the hidden curriculum, providing it from a broad, open access resource will ensure that students have access not only to information that will help them in your class, but also to content that will help them achieve well-rounded success throughout college and beyond. 

This post is by Zoe Speidel and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, except where otherwise indicated. Please reference OER and Beyond and use this URL when attributing this work; for more information on licensing, see our Open Access Policy.