Summary
This activity simulates the process of enrolling in college courses. Students practice creating a course schedule, evaluating scenarios that impact scheduling, and analyzing course requirements. Participants compare the course schedule to a degree plan and create a semester calendar. This scheduling activity complements the Future U: Mock Enrollment Educator resource and is an ideal prep activity before hosting the event.
Essential Question
How can I design a balanced college schedule that aligns with my academic goals and personal responsibilities, while ensuring I am fully prepared for the enrollment process?
Learning Goals
Analyze degree plans, course catalogs, and semester calendars to understand how academic requirements and course offerings align.
Evaluate personal situations and responsibilities to create a balanced college schedule that accounts for work, family, and extracurricular commitments.
Identify knowledge gaps and obstacles in the enrollment process and develop strategies or seek resources to overcome them.
Snapshot
Engage
Students activate and share prior knowledge about post-secondary education, focusing on their understanding of college enrollment processes and related responsibilities.
Explore
Students engage in a hands-on simulation of college course scheduling, using four example program schedules.
Explain
Students practice aligning course schedules with personal and extracurricular responsibilities.
Extend
Students create a personalized mock college course schedule and semester calendar by exploring a college's course catalog and degree plan.
Evaluate
Students reflect on their scheduling activities, identify any remaining questions, and assess which aspects impact their personal situation or academic goals.
Materials List
Lesson Slides (attached)
Scenario cards (attached; one per group)
Scavenger Hunt (attached; one per student)
KWL (attached; optional)
Student laptops or Chromebooks with internet access
Highlighters
(optional)
Colored pens, markers, or pencils
(optional)
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate the following lesson. Display slides 2-4 to introduce the essential question and learning objectives.
Transition to slide 5 and ask students to access the Padlet. Inform participants that they will use the Padlet to complete a modified version of KWHL. On their individual devices, ask students to add a comment to the “Know” and “Want to Know” posts to activate their prior knowledge of postsecondary education. Once all students have added their ideas, read a few aloud and lead a discussion regarding what students already know and what they want to learn in this lesson. Note that students will return to this Padlet near the end of the lesson to reflect on what they learned.
Explore
30 Minute(s)
Transition to slide 6. Ask students to choose from one of the four programs provided on the slide (Accounting, Biology, History, or Math). Tell students that this is a simulation, and they may not be interested in pursuing one of these programs in particular. Explain that this is practice to ensure that they can build a schedule that avoids conflicts with other courses.
Ask students to scan the QR code or type in the link to their chosen program. Next, they will select courses from the menu on the right and drag them to the appropriate slots. Inform students that the narrow boxes are used for the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday time slots while the thick boxes are used for the Tuesday and Thursday time slots. They will need to copy each course to the same time slots across the board. For instance, if they have a M/W/F class at 1:00pm, they need to copy that course box to all three days of the week at 1:00pm. Note that some courses are only allowed at certain time slots.
While doing the card sort, students need to pay attention to the criteria listed in the directions. Discuss these criteria with students:
Their schedule can have no fewer than 12 credit hours and no more than 15 credit hours.
They need 3-9 general education credits (red boxes).
They need 3-6 credits for their major (blue boxes).
As students finish their card sort, check to make sure their schedules look good. Students can submit the form to find out if it is accurate. If there are errors in their schedules, ask them to find the mistakes and fix them.
After students have completed their schedule card sort, ask them to complete an I Notice, I Wonder reflection on a piece of paper. Tell students to turn and talk to the person next to them to share what they noticed and what they wondered after the activity. Encourage students to provide feedback regarding what their partners wondered.
Explain
25 Minute(s)
Transition to slide 7 and put students into 8 different groups, ideally groups of about 3-4 students. Pass out one scenario card to each group. Have groups choose one student’s card sort schedule to complete this activity. In their groups, ask students to read the scenario. Now, return to the card sort and make adjustments to the schedule to ensure that all requirements of the scenario card are met.
Once students have modified their card sort with their group’s scenario card considerations, provide students time to reflect using the Exclaim and Question strategy. Using slide 8, ask students to work as a group to write down one thing they noticed as they modified the schedule and one question that came up as they modified the schedule. Have groups share out either the exclaim or the question they wrote down with the whole class.
Extend
100 Minute(s)
Transition to slide 9 and provide each student a copy of the Scavenger Hunt handout (attached). For this activity, students need individual laptops with internet access. Provide students an overview of the different things they will be searching during their scavenger hunt.
Move to slide 10 and provide students time to select an institution listed on their handout or write in a school they are interested in that may not be listed. After selecting a school, they should visit that school’s website to find a program they would like to pursue. Ask students to write in the degree (i.e., Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Art) and their major (i.e., Elementary Education, Computer Engineering, Journalism). Provide time for all students to establish this information before moving on.
Next, students are going to seek all requirements for their chosen degree program. Transition to slide 11 and prompt students to search for the program requirements and list 8 required courses and 2 elective courses on the Program Requirements chart in the Scavenger Hunt handout. Tell students to list courses from at least 5 different subject areas. Demonstrate how to find course requirements for a degree program. Tell students that if the degree program requires a certain number of credit hours from electives, they should research their options for electives and choose the ones they are most interested in taking to meet that requirement.
Next, transition to slide 12 and tell students that they will be creating a mock course schedule for an entire semester, which is generally about 16 weeks long. To do so, ask students to find their degree program’s plan of study, examine one semester from that plan, and circle or highlight 12 hours of required and recommended courses from their Program Requirements chart. Next, ask students to find the institution’s schedule of courses and choose a semester and year that is currently available. (Note to students that colleges only post the schedules 1-3 semesters ahead.) Students will search for the courses they circled or highlighted on their requirements chart to find what days and times each course is available.
They will then list the course code, course title, instructor, delivery of the class, meeting days and times, and the meeting location on the Course Section Details Table in the Scavenger Hunt hadnout .
Move to slide 13. On the Semester Calendar in the Scavenger Hunt handout, ask students to write in the dates of their chosen semester. Next, have students fill in the calendar with their chosen courses on the first week and then copy this to the remaining weeks for the semester. Encourage students to use different colors for each of their courses on their semester calendar schedule.
Move to slide 14 to finish the scavenger hunt. Tell students that there are key dates they need to be aware of each semester and that those dates are found on the institution’s academic calendar. Ask them to find their institution's calendar and add the key dates to their semester calendar.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Use slide 15 to facilitate students’ reflections. Ask students to reflect on their experience designing a balanced college schedule during the activities using the Aha! Huh? Uh uh instructional strategy. Explain to students that they will frame their reflections as follows:
Aha! - Moments of insight or clarity that stood out during the activities
Huh? - Parts of the scheduling activity that were confusing or unclear
Uh uh - Ideas that didn’t sit well or aspects of the scheduling activity that were disagreeable or troubling
Transition to slide 16 and give students 5–10 minutes to jot down their thoughts in each category. Ask them to share one response from each category with their group. Then, group members will respond to each other. Use the questions on the slide to guide this conversation.
Prompt students to refer back to their KWL chart (either the Padlet or the handout) from earlier in the lesson and facilitate a class discussion. Go through each of the prompts one at a time. Ask a volunteer from each group to share interesting points from their group’s discussion.
Start with “Aha!” moments to highlight positive takeaways. As students listen to their peers’ Aha moments, ask them to note what they learned on the “L” column of their KWL chart. Ask them if any of their ideas for what they wanted to learn became Aha’s for them.
Move to “Huh?” responses to address common areas of confusion and check if there were helpful ideas in the group that addressed these areas. Review any of the ideas they listed in the “Want to Know” on their KWL chart. Determine what they did not get answers for and are still confused about. Provide clarification as necessary.
Conclude with “Uh uh” reflections to explore diverse perspectives and respectfully discuss disagreements.
Follow-Up Activities
Now that students have created a mock course schedule, they are more equipped to successfully participate in Future U: The Enrollment Adventure. The card sort from the Explore section will provide valuable information for this enrollment activity.
Students or teachers can access the College Enrollment and Success Toolbox collection of activities to develop skills and address various topics related to the college enrollment and orientation process.
Research Rationale
Research suggests that a lack of awareness surrounding the college transition can negatively impact students' ability to transfer successfully, particularly for seniors who are first-generation college students (Ricks & Warren, 2021). These students have fewer peers and family members who can provide insights and emotional support through the process (Ober et al., 2020).
Students recognize that college will be more rigorous, less structured, and require more personal responsibility from them. They need opportunities to identify and show themselves that they have the organizational, self-regulation, time management and study skills that will help them succeed (Ober et al., 2020; Ricks & Warren, 2021).
Course registration, applying for scholarships, and getting involved in campus life are topics often cited as confusing and complicated, creating barriers to students making the transition into college (Ricks & Warren, 2021). Increasing students' college knowledge regarding navigating the admissions process, completing applications, and submitting financial aid forms supports college enrollment of first-generation high school seniors (Ober et al., 2020).
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Aha! Huh? Uh uh. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/4414
K20 Center. (n.d.). Exclaim and question. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/94
K20 Center. (n.d.). Future U: The enrollment adventure. Educator resource. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/educator-resource/3839
K20 Center. (n.d.). I notice, I wonder. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/180
K20 Center. (n.d.). KWHL graphic organizer. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/127
K20 Center. (n.d.) Padlet. Tech tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/1077
K20 Center. (n.d.). QR codes. Tech tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/244
Ober, T. M., Ahn, J., Ali, A., Homer, B. D., Moner, A., Azam, A., & Ramos, N. (2020). A mixed-methods analysis of mechanisms to support college enrollment among low-income high school students. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 6(2), 118.
Ricks, J. R., & Warren, J. M. (2021). Transitioning to College: Experiences of Successful First-Generation College Students. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 11(1), 1-15.