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Those of us who work with college students outside of the classroom often spend a great deal of time working to ensure that our students are excelling in their coursework and integrating themselves into the social culture of the campus. Our experience, however, has indicated most undergraduates, particularly first-year students at large research-intensive institutions, seldom if ever have a good grasp on how they are doing in their courses. a conversation we had with a student around the eighth week of courses went something like this. us: How are your classes going? student: Um... OK, I guess. us: You’re not sure? Are you going to class? Have you been turning in assignments? student: Yeah, I go to class. I usually do the homework. I’ve only gotten a couple of things back, and I did OK on those. us: Do you know what you’re getting in the class? student: Not really. I don’t even know how to figure out what I need to …