Getting Started

This course, LEH 250, is a General Education Core Course that is designed to help you adjust to college, build your academic skills, and begin your work as a scholar.

Overview

We all come to college for better- to be better, do better, live better. This “better” can be different from one person to another, but all of us-- faculty and students alike-- want to be better as a result of being part of Lehman College. After all, college is a big commitment of time, money, and energy. In fact, while 66% of graduating high school seniors immediately enrolled in college after graduation in 2019, many of them will not finish in 4-6 years because college is tough (and not just academically). While we don’t yet know how many of these students from 2019 will graduate, we do know that 37.9% of adults 25 or older in the United States have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

So, what does that mean for you? Knowing that college is tough is a good first step. Knowing that you have earned your seat here at Lehman College is important too. You were accepted to Lehman because you are capable. Over the next years, you will use your strengths and capabilities to become educated, empowered, and engaged- the three characteristics of a Lehman graduate. 

We define educated graduates as:

·     Independent thinkers, who actively and skillfully cultivate the capacity to conceptualize, analyze, evaluated, synthesize and communicate

We expect empowered graduates to be 

·     Confident thinkers, who recognize the power of informed inquiry for solving problems

We consider engaged graduates to be 

·     Citizens, who contribute to their local, national and global communities using reason, integrity, empathy, accuracy, humility and civility

Lehman graduates are the people that can meet the challenges of our changing world.  But how do we become the people our world needs?

Your classes have been designed to develop aspects of the Lehman graduate. Even if you are not aware of it, your classes are carefully structured to prepare you for different aspects of being educated, empowered, and engaged. 

As a Lehman college student, you will develop your:

·     Critical thinking skills

·     Competence within one discipline (a discipline is a field of study and your major falls within the discipline)

·     Quantitative reasoning, information literacy, and research skills

·     Communication skills

·     Ability to work collaboratively with others

·     Leadership potential

·     Multicultural, global, and ethical awareness of diverse peoples and communities

For more information on each of these, read https://www.lehman.edu/engage/ 

What you learn in class is very important--but so is direction. You’ll need to have goals to move forward in your education and career- in your life. 

Your first step is to think about what you want from your life. How will you know that you are doing well (achieving) and good (improving the world)? Setting goals will help with this.

Data above comes from:

·     https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=51

·     https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html

Course Structure

LEH 250 has three different themes, which we call pillars.

You will complete your College Success Skills modules as directed by your instructor. Each module is set up for you to work through independently, with resources and a final assignment for each.

Academic skills and the Disciplinary Deep Dive will be instructor-led in your class with faculty leading your work and referring to the resources available on Bb.

It's import that you stay on top of all three. Together they will help you have a successful first semester and college career.

Apps and more apps

There are Apps that you can install to access Lehman things and make your life easier.  Here are suggestions to start:

·     Lehman College (Gives you access to Lehman 360 and all the apps that are part of that.

·     Blackboard Interact with Blackboard, get notifications about announcements and new assignments, and take other actions.

·     CircleIn Interact with your classmates, form study groups, work on group projects and more.  This is also linked from the Blackboard menu.

·     Microsoft 365 You have free access to Microsoft 365, use your CUNYfirst login information: firstname.lastnameXX@login.cuny.edu where the XX is the last two digits of your EMPLID. This includes a calendar that you can use to plan your semester.

·     There are also lots of other useful apps for tracking homework, organizing projects that also can help you be successful in college.