The 3 C’s to success: Overcoming college-bound student obstacles

This presentation will delineate resources and activities, illustrating the collaboration of composition instructors, learning hub tutors, and librarians at ACT. It will present teaching strategies that integrate the 3C’s and aid students in becoming better prepared for the challenges and obstacles they will face in their academic and professional development.

The challenges faced by college-bound, non-native English speaking students can be daunting as they are not yet adept at academic writing, information literacy skills and the 3 C’s : Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration. These skills reflect NEA’s (National Education Association) framework for 21 st Century learning which was created in collaboration with the United States- based Partnership for 21 st Century Skills (P21). This framework presents a holistic view of 21 st Century teaching and learning within the context of core knowledge instruction and emphasizes the importance of implementing and integrating these skills in learning environments. In order to foster these 3 C’s, the writing faculty, the learning hub tutors and the librarians at ACT conducted a needs analysis and devised resources and tools whose aim was to scaffold students’ skills by incorporating the 3 C’s into the writing process and collaborative group projects. This poster presentation will outline the needs analysis of EAP students as well as highlighting methods of instruction, learning hub resources, student activities and final projects, reflecting the three competencies that EAP students will need to master to be adequately prepared for the 21 st Century.​