Welcome

Welcome to the Unicorn Nation.  Scholar Development is the first required course students will take to begin their NCSSM Online Program experience.  It is designed to prepare you to accept the greater research challenge through having fun following your curiosity to research a topic of interest and tell about it!

 

Course Overview

Scholar Development is a generally asynchronous, but occasionally synchronous (based on your and your group members’ schedules), two-week, online course that will prepare you for the rigors of research at NCSSM.  In addition to individual study, this course requires maturity and initiative to quickly, professionally, and respectfully collaborate within a new group of people.  This is a fast paced course, where groups collaboratively make decisions quickly and move ever forward with creating products of their learning.  Successful completion of this Scholar Development course is require of students before participating in NCSSM Online Program courses.

 

Plan for Success

Register for a two-week session that works with your and your family’s summer schedule.  Budget for about 15 hours per week for this course, but more time may be needed, especially during the second-half of the first week and the first weekend. You do not have to give-up your weekend, but you will need to frequently communicate with your group then. Making progress everyday in this course is essential. Plan to start in the morning of the start-date for your section, or better yet, start early.  Yes, that is correct, students may asynchronously and individually access NCSSM Canvas, read basic information such as the Syllabus, and on their own explore general course resources all before the start-date.  Once you know your start-date, put a reminder in your calendar for four days before.  On that day, check your NCSSM email for an email from ‘NCSSM Canvas’ titled “Course Invitation” which will contain a link for access.  Be sure to check your All-Mail, Spam, etc. email folders to find your invitation email, if needed.  This early soft start, while not required, has proven very helpful to students, especially regarding pacing of group work in this course.  Why so quick of a start?  Trust us.  While you may have been able to do cool stuff at the last minute before, this ain’t that.  Making a quick start and planning your time with your group members between individual study and group work and back again multiple times over the two weeks are critical for success.  Note: The synchronous part of this course is dependent on yours and your group members’ schedules – you may have to be flexible.

 

Learning

Time management, individual study, collaboration in groups, and research & information skills, applicable to all fields of study (sciences, humanities, etc.), are a major focus of this course.  Scholar Development will give you practice in the following valuable life skills: (a) communicating with and presenting virtually and across geography to a variety of constituencies – your classmates, your Instructor, your Librarians, your partners for the final project; (b) communicating digitally in a variety of formats: email, video, chat; (c) learning about and using Library eResources available to you and how to avoid plagiarism; and (d) learning to research using professional journals, and to communicate that research to others.  Instructional content is designed to improve students’ abilities in these research and information literacy competencies: (1) engaging in a research process (inquiry); (2) successfully finding information; (3) critically evaluating information; (4) ethically using information; and (5) effectively communicating information.  Learning aligns with standards, such as the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.

 

Registration

Scholar Development is only offered to NCSSM Online Program students.  Registration is handled by the NCSSM Registrar’s Office.  When contacted by NCSSM to choose your preferences, communicate with your family to select a two-week summer session(s) that works with your and your family’s summer schedule.  Direct SD registration questions to the NCSSM Registrar’s Office: registrar@ncssm.edu

 

Students’ Responses

• “Thank you for organizing this course! I feel much more prepared for the rigor of NCSSM research now, and I’m sure I’ll come back to these pages often.” – Harini R.

• “This is absolutely the best introduction course I’ve ever taken!” – JacksonB.

• “Last modules were the most helpful.” – AndrewB.

• “I like how the readings are engaging and include videos, notes, etc., and are not just paragraph after paragraph.” – HireshS.

• “I feel less text (to read) would be more helpful, as it takes a long time to read, process, and connect everything together.” – JustinG.

• “I found the groupwork aspect of this course to be the most enjoyable. I have learned valuable things about time management, coordination with my group mates, and effectively researching a topic through this course.” – DityaV.

• “I think working in groups really encouraged me to do additional research and pull my own weight, and I ended up really enjoying researching!” – AlyssaP.

• “I was nervous about the course and thought I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I am liking it a lot! Before this course, I had no idea about many factors that contribute to research. I will now be taking a much different research approach.” – MayaC.

• “I love this entire course so far, ESPICALLY making us use NCSSM Google Calendar, VERY helpful [for group work].” – TeamirS.

• “I think this is a very valuable self-led and team revolved course. It teaches individuals to keep on track and also engage with teammates to successfully complete the course. I plan on looking back on these lessons in the future for reference in case I forget some of the lessons I learned.” – FeliceZ.

• “This has been awesome. The information is much more specific, detailed, and in-depth than what I’m used to. (It’s also a bit longer and more repetitive, but I think that makes it easier to remember and therefore more useful.) It’s fun to read.” – NatalieM.

• “Learning about the structure and process of writing a research paper has been extremely beneficial and will certainly better prepare me for my NCSSM classes.” – LinK.

• “The Instructor [Ms. J.] was very supportive of our group and encouraged us throughout the length of course.” – SandhyaV.

• “I want to thank Dr. M. [one of the Instructors] for being there to help and guide us to a higher level of thinking and writing. She was willing and excited to join us for Google Meetings and leave personalized comments on assignments.” – CarterS.

 

 

Instructors and Access

Scholar Development Instructors typically hold advanced degrees in Library Science, as well as other professional educators’ credentials and degrees.  Students may start this course before the start-date of their course section as noted on this page.  Students’ access to NCSSM Librarians, Library eResources, and this course’s materials remains active throughout the Online Program.

 

Instructors’ Perspectives

“Smooth sailing.  I mean, some of the groups are struggling, but it’s the usual struggles, not related to the course but to learning how to make their way in this research project and how to function as a group.  I feel like the course is in a good place!” – Mr.L.

“Some students needed a little reminding [those who were not following the Modules nor reading everything], and others needed a little reassurance, but nothing unusual.” – Mr.L.

“I think this course design is amazing!” – Dr.M.

“I thought the changes from the past year were 100% positive!” – Mr.L.

 

Instructional Design

This completely reimagined Scholar Development online course was created by K. Beisner in 2022 & 2023 & 2024 & 2025, and is for non-commercial, educational use. Some content in this course was inspired by some content in the Scholar Development online course created by K. Beisner, R. Boltz, & K. Mayo in 2020 & 2021. Sources are cited on each individual page in the course. This course, as is, aligns with best practices for information literacy. Modifying content (derivative use) is not allowed. Commercial use is not allowed. When citing this course, please attribute as follows: Beisner, K. (2025). SEM 2000: Scholar Development. https://ncssm.instructure.com/courses/11177