SOURCE
Vol. 15
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No. 3
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8
August 2018
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Collaborative Study Sessions Support Student Success
Kerri Leigh Harmon Program Coordinator University of Texas at Austin
For first-year college students, new challenges are a way of life. At the University of Texas at Austin, the Texas Interdisciplinary Plan (TIP) Scholars program, housed within the College of Natural Sciences (CNS), is designed to help at-risk students overcome those challenges. TIP serves about 450 students entering the CNS each year. The Scholars are assigned to TIP based on lower than average SAT scores and a lower probability of graduating in four years, as determined by the matriculation dashboard implemented through the university’s provost office. Other factors characterizing TIP Scholars, such as low socioeconomic backgrounds, first-generation status, and underrepresented populations, also position them as among the most vulnerable students for success in STEM. Since 1999, TIP’s design has evolved to meet the changing needs of students. As a success initiative, TIP intentionally strives for a smallcommunity atmosphere within a large, public Tier 1 institution. TIP also incorporates wrap-around services that foster academic success and a sense of belonging to the university to more than 500 incoming first-year students. These services provide layers of support including peer mentoring, integrated academic advising, common academic experience courses, linked classes, staff–professor cooperation, dedicated student space, collaborative study sessions (CSS), and peer-to-peer student engagement.
“Students who participate in CSS demonstrate learning in higher education and build confidence and relationships by working in these
The TIP Scholars program provides collaborative study sessions and other layers of support for at-risk students at the University of Texas at Austin. Photo courtesy of Kerri Harmon
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settings.
CSS Structure CSS began at UT Austin in 2014 when TIP moved away from traditional student tutoring. This change was implemented after the university learned that the term tutoring held a negative connotation for incoming students and educators viewed it as passive. As opposed to traditional tutoring services, CSS affords students active participation and ownership in the learning process. It is among the most important initiatives of the TIP program. CSS involves a collaboration of trained peer leaders (course assistants), staff, and faculty invested in the TIP community and uses small-group study sessions to help students succeed in the most challenging lower-division CNS courses (e.g., chemistry, biology, Return to Front Page Copyright © 2018 National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina
