Koç University holds its student body to high standards, and for KOLT, this means offering students the resources and guidance they need to develop self-efficacy and personal agency (that is, confidence in their ability to regulate and advance their own study process, to seek out resources to fill gaps in their own knowledge, and to improve and expand their skills through effort). During their time at university, students should be mastering the content in their courses, but they should also be
learning how to learn. This distinction is crucial for success in their current coursework, but also for their ongoing and future growth after graduation. Learning how to learn—that is, becoming a good learner—involves developing a specific set of metacognitive skills, attitudes, and behaviors that allow students to acquire, master, evaluate, apply, and eventually even construct their own knowledge. KOLT supports the development of these skills through a variety of services.
These services consist of:
- KOLT Tutoring Center
- Conversation Circle Program
- One-on-One Academic Consultations
- Academic Skills Workshops
In our working definition, a good learner:
- seeks out alternative sources of information in order to meet his / her educational needs.
- takes an active role in determining his/her educational needs.
- makes effective and efficient use of his/her time.
- is aware of his/her learning preferences (styles) and uses that awareness to learn effectively.
- takes initiative to shape his/her learning environment in order to acquire new information efficiently.
- goes beyond acquiring new information to critically evaluating and synthesizing that information.
- can apply his/her knowledge to solve real world problems.
- has an awareness of his/her diverse needs and commitments, in addition to his/her academic needs and commitments, and knows how to budget his/her time and attention to priorities and to meet those needs and commitments.
- monitors and evaluates his/her own progress in achieving his/her academic goals.
- makes use of available technology and digital tools to facilitate his/her academic pursuits, and seeks out further skill development in this area