E-Source for College Transitions | Vol. 16, No. 1

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Vol. 16

FOR COLLEGE TRANSITIONS

No. 1 December 2018

A publication from the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition

CONTENTS 

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Boosting First-Year Retention With Limited Resources A unique approach, spurred by three strategic initiatives, leads to much-improved retention rates at Washburn University in Kansas. 

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The Catalyst Semester: High-Impact Educational Practices in the City Chicago’s North Park University pilots a cohortbased experiential learning program that embraces innovation while also deepening students’ civic engagement. 

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The Pitch: Experiential Learning in a First-Year Seminar A large university incorporates experiential learning activities into its first-year seminar to help students explore majors while gaining transferrable skills. 

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A Framework for Helping Families Understand the College Transition A private, independent institution improves its approach to orientation with an eye toward managing conflicting messages and creating clearer boundaries. 

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Creating Pathways to Improve First-Generation Student Success Missouri State University works to lessen the retention and graduation gap for a large segment of its population.

Boosting First-Year Retention With Limited Resources At higher education institutions, improving firstyear student retention is a common goal. After a mandate from the Kansas Board of Regents, Washburn University took a unique approach to improving first-to-second-year retention beginning in 2011. In the six years following, the university improved retention from 62.2% to 72.4% without changing the profile of incoming students. Three strategic initiatives, each of which center on data-driven decision making, led to this change.

Alan Bearman

Dean, University Libraries and the Center for Student Success and Retention

Washburn University

Elaine Lewis

Assistant Director, Undergraduate Programs

Virginia Polytechnic and State University

Sean Bird

Associate Dean, University Libraries and the Center for Student Success and Retention

Washburn University

Building a Culture of Student Success First, research related to best practices led to the creation of a first-year seminar (FYS). Securing this course as a graduation requirement initially proved challenging. However, project leaders connected the FYS with Washburn’s newly adopted learning outcome of information literacy and technology, which is rooted in the Association of College & Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (ACRL, 2016). Doing so reinforced legitimacy and faculty buy-in for the course.

A need to support the FYS brought about structural changes to university libraries at Washburn, including the creation of the Center for Student Success and Retention (CSSR). This academic unit, housed as part of the university libraries, took on the

A need to support the first-year seminar at Washburn University brought about structural changes to libraries at the institution, which helped drive a variety of retentionfocused initiatives. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Somers.

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responsibilities of exploratory and specialized academic advising, the tutoring and writing centers, first-year seminars, and a variety of other retention-focused initiatives.

Without an influx of funding to create new positions at the center, leadership opted for a flexible organizational structure. Informed, research-driven decisions led to adoption of the boundaryless organization model, in which removing artificial obstacles (e.g., hierarchy) and promoting quick, proactive changes creates successful organization (Ashkenas, 2002). The CSSR was able to create new positions by reallocating employee responsibilities and positions vacated by retirements within the department. A unit-level data analytics position was one example.

Finally, with the understanding that an FYS would not be enough to improve university retention on its own, the CSSR sought to build a relationship between the analytics position and institutional research. The CSSR saw this as an opportunity to (a) make informed decisions, (b) bring consistency to assessment activities, (c) ask direct questions through institutional research, and (d) identify trends for intervention opportunities. Targeted interventions, made to a narrowed, specific group identified by institutional research, cost significantly less to launch than more conventional interventions to a larger population, as they require fewer personnel. One example: setting up a no-cost re-recruitment effort in which faculty contacted students not yet enrolled for the upcoming term.

Tracking response, referral, and enrollment rates showed the success of the initiative.

Such initiatives succeed because the continual flow of data to the CSSR allows for early identification of intervention points in the academic life of both individual students and entire cohorts.

Boosting Information Literacy The FYS has a vital role in exposing students to and teaching the University Student Learning Outcome of information literacy at Washburn. To highlight the gains of students in this area, the CSSR and university librarians developed an extensive assessment and evaluation process for the FYS. As an example, objective-embedded evaluation showed students’ understanding of the academic integrity element of information literacy did not meet university standards. Librarians made curricular revisions in 2015-2016 that emphasized the importance of academic integrity by developing a new activity, Chipotle Ethics, in which students learn about ethics and integrity through life application. Evaluation of an associated reflection activity showed that students increased their understanding of academic integrity. A drop in the number of instances of plagiarism among first-year students was also linked to this curriculum change.

“To highlight the gains of students in (information literacy), the CSSR and university librarians developed an extensive assessment and evaluation process for the

Using data analytics led to other valuable, retention-focused initiatives in the CSSR. For example, institutional research showed improved retention of commuter students, more specifically those living in the ZIP code 66604 directly adjacent to campus, would

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FYS.

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greatly affect the overall retention rate (Handley, 2016). The data also showed that most of the students in 66604 only enrolled in morning classes. Targeted outreach revealed that these students did not perceive the campus as welcoming and thus took morning classes to free their afternoons and evenings for local employment. Realizing this, members of the CSSR team researched commuter student success, developing a detailed strategy to improve their academic success and retention.

The university libraries and the CSSR collaborated on two specific interventions for commuter students. First, the libraries created a workshop series at noon on weekdays to address life as a commuter student. The workshops provided students lunch and taught success strategies while also showcasing the main university library as a “home base” for commuters. Second, academic advisors at the CSSR worked with commuter students to build course schedules for their academic success. Advisors realized that commuters frequently misjudged the amount of time needed to get to class in the morning, specifically for 8 a.m. courses. To combat this, they worked with students to develop learning-centered schedules, starting their days a bit later and spreading courses into the early afternoon. These targeted, low-cost approaches saw retention of ZIP code 66604 rise from 48% to 68% in just two years.

Conclusion An institutional focus on information literacy directly led to Washburn’s drastically improved retention rates. This idea permeated all decision making at the institution, from research into improved organizational structure and reliance on institutional research, to assisting with strategic retention initiatives, to an information literacydriven FYS curriculum. The shift in focus helped Washburn use available funding to make the largest impact.

References Ashkenas, R. (2002). The boundaryless organization: Breaking the chains of organizational structure. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Association of College & Research Libraries.

(2016, January). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ ilframework Handley, R. (2016, October 15). Washburn University retention analysis: Fall 2015 to fall 2016. Topeka, KS: Strategic Analysis and Reporting, Washburn University.

Contact Alan Bearman alan.bearman@washburn.edu

Related Articles in E-Source Boyette, B. G. (2011). Retention at work: Instituting a student success program.

8(2), 13-14.

Clemson, C., & Whaley, P. (2016). Promoting academic confidence and success in the first college year. 13(3), 4-6.

O’Connor, K. M. (2009). Succeeding in student success: Tracing Lasell College’s retention increase. 6(6), 1-3.

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The Catalyst Semester: High-Impact Educational Practices in the City

Richard Kohng

North Park University is a Christian institution in Chicago that embraces interculturalism and civic engagement as its institutional values, which have been key to the university’s history. More than 40 years ago, university leaders exemplified these values by choosing to remain in the city when a suburban property became available. At that point, the institution began to embrace the city’s residents as potential students and committed to educating an urban population. This emphasis on civic engagement, along with the cultural diversity of the surrounding neighborhoods, led to a significant rise in the number of students of color enrolled at North Park. For example, more than half of the first-year class in 2017-2018 identified as students of color.

Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs

Director of Civic Engagement

North Park University

Jodi Koslow Martin Triton College

In Fall 2015, university administrators supported piloting a cohort-based, experiential learning program called the Catalyst Semester. One of the program’s core objectives was to deepen students’ understanding of civic engagement with high-impact educational practices (HIPs) that leveraged the city of Chicago. North Park students indicate the city’s location as a primary factor in their college selection process; to administrators, embracing Chicago would meet the expectations of students while also embracing innovation. Within this article, we offer an example of a creative approach to crafting an educational environment aligned with North Park’s urban identity.

Overlapping HIPs for Impact Kuh’s (2008) research on HIPs served as the methodological backbone for program development. Knowing these practices had the potential to deepen students’ experience in significant ways, program administrators saw value in overlapping them for further effect. According to Kuh (2008), HIPs consist of “first-year seminars and experiences, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing-intensive courses, collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research, diversity/ global learning, service-learning and community-based learning, internships, and capstone courses and projects” (pp. 9-11). Aiming for a large impact and having already embraced many of these HIPs, faculty and administrators integrated these teaching techniques into an experiential learning opportunity: the Catalyst Semester.

Students in the Catalyst Semester, a cohort-based, experiential learning program at North Park University, meet with a community leader in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood as part of the program. Photo courtesy of North Park University.

Ambitiously launched in Spring 2016, the Catalyst Semester comprised a learning community of first-year commuter and residential students taking two or more Chicago-focused

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classes together that meet general education requirements. Each student in the cohort interned at a city-based community organization and attended weekly curated experiences. The program was small at its inception (12 students), with each student explaining their interest in this new way of learning in their application.

The most innovative part of the program design centered on meaningful integration of the city through general education courses. After significant research on how best to design the experience, faculty teaching in the Catalyst Semester were asked to shape their learning outcomes using the Civic Knowledge and Civic Values rubrics commissioned by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (2015, 2016).

These rubrics helped faculty develop learning outcomes that prioritized civic knowledge and civic values (e.g., open-mindedness, civic negotiation, empathy, social justice; Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2016). In one instance, a mathematics faculty member tailored an introductory course called Just Stats to introduce statistical analysis through examining issues related to social justice, such as the intersection of racial demographics and housing segregation. Homework sets used real-world scenarios that drew upon current issues in Chicago.

All students in the program also took a writing-intensive first-year seminar required of all students. Taught by a program administrator, the course served as a platform to develop first-year students’ writing skills while showcasing the university’s city-centered focus through course content that drew from current issues such as activism and protests relating to racial divides.

In addition to the general education courses offered to students in the program, each cohort was placed in a major-specific course unique to them. For example, students in the business cohort were asked to enroll in an introductory marketing course together.

Faculty had students visit various businesses to see how they built their brand identity in an urban context for local clientele. Such common intellectual experiences (Kuh, 2008) helped cohorts build deeper connections with one another and the city as they studied local civic discourse and practiced civic negotiation skills with their first-year peers (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2016).

Learning Outside the Classroom In addition to classroom work, student learning expanded into the city as members of the cohorts interned with local community-based organizations to better understand Chicago’s challenges. For example, one student interned with Sit, Stay, Read, a citybased nonprofit that placed public schoolchildren with dogs to practice their reading and improve their literacy skills. This student was able to see a creative approach to educating children in public schools. The experience was powerful enough that the student changed her major to elementary education and is now pursuing a career as a teacher in an urban setting.

“Knowing these (high-impact) practices had the potential to deepen students’ experience in significant ways, program administrators saw value in overlapping them for further effect.

The program’s third component consisted of weekly curated experiences in various city neighborhoods. For example, students visited a community center where they met a gang intervention specialist on Chicago’s South Side. Talking with students, Return to Front Page Copyright © 2018 National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina

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the community leader dismantled stereotypes about his community and challenged students to humanize what they saw in the news. Such conversations raised questions about equity and access, allowing students across the socioeconomic spectrum to engage with one another. Those from predominantly white suburban or rural contexts began to see how urban violence can be directly traced to systemic injustices. In this way, community-based learning (Kuh, 2008) served as a critical pedagogical tool for students not familiar with this narrative while also affirming students who deal with such realities daily.

While a full assessment of the program is still in progress, preliminary program enrollment demographics reveal some interesting trends (Table 1).

Table 1 Race/Ethnicity Participants by Semester (N = 123) n

served as a platform to develop first-

Changes in Enrollment

Cohort by semester

“The course year students’ writing skills while

White students (%)

Students of color (%)

Spring 2016

12

83%

17%

Fall 2016

14

7%

93%

Spring 2017

44

36%

64%

Fall 2017

53

42%

58%

Comparing the number of white students enrolled with students of color is significant as related to the institutional narrative. As more students come to North Park from the city, they increasingly represent the demographics of the city. Based on 2017 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, people of color make up 68% of the city’s population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). The enrollment demographics of both the institution as well as the Catalyst Semester program increasingly mirror the city’s population. Through focus groups, program administrators have seen a trend among students from Chicago being drawn to the Catalyst Semester because they desire to learn more about their city—not just their familiar neighborhoods. Bringing diverse students together in an intentionally designed learning community demonstrates North Park’s commitment to civic engagement, as well as a willingness to embrace innovation in the undergraduate curriculum.

The Impact: A Schedule Shift Overlaying HIPs to advance learning objectives through an urban context led to conversations on campus about creating a more comprehensive vision for civic discourse beyond the first year. Indeed, the impact of the Catalyst Semester was one of the factors leading to a shift in the campuswide academic schedule. Faculty ultimately voted to overhaul the university’s weekly schedule to open up Wednesday afternoons for longer educational experiences, thereby creating a weekly civic engagement block on campus. During the 2017-2018 academic year, faculty in more than 100 courses took advantage of the civic engagement block by emulating the Catalyst Semester’s weekly integrative sessions. Setting aside an afternoon on a weekly basis allowed classes

showcasing the university’s citycentered focus through course content that drew from current issues such as activism and protests relating to racial divides.

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to travel as a group and engage in innovative, shared-learning experiences. Students used the block of time to interact with public relations professionals who work with city government, visit a brain bank at a medical school, and tour local businesses with aldermen.

Looking Ahead Curriculum reform at the undergraduate level that embraces innovation, experiential learning, and HIPs is rare in higher education, and taking such a bold approach to integrating the urban identity into North Park’s curriculum has not been easy. The vision of the Catalyst Semester had to be clear and supported by leadership in both academic and student affairs. Student affairs staff were essential in communicating the value of the program and the change in the weekly schedule to students.

Going forward, further assessment will be done to measure impact on students. For now, Chicago is not just a location for North Park, but a key part of the institutional identity that has come to life in students’ educational experience beginning in their first year.

References Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges and Universities.

Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. (2015). Civic Knowledge Rubric. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/ d/0B5EyRIW5aG82QkM2aEF0T2Z4R0k/ view Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. (2016). Civic Values Rubric.

Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/ file/d/0B5EyRIW5aG82OVNsZFR4OGtsdTA/ view U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). QuickFacts, Chicago city, Illinois. Retrieved from https://www. census.gov/quickfacts/chicagocityillinois

Contact Rich Kohng rkohng@northpark.edu

Related Articles in E-Source Kilgo, C. (2012). Colleague spotlight: How effective are high-impact practices?

9(2), 18-20.

Moody, B. L. (2007). Forming connections: Combining orientation and community service. 4(6), 7-9.

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The Pitch: Experiential Learning in a First-Year Seminar Students at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), like those at other institutions, often wrestle with indecision about their major throughout their first year, and sometimes longer. This indecision can lead to anxiety, delayed academic progress, and low GPA (Daniels, Stewart, Stupinsky, Perry, & Loverso, 2011). Data from UNCW’s University College, which oversees first-year student advising and programs, show 17% of students not retained from the first to second year identify as undecided. Undecided students typically report lower self-efficacy and more difficulty making decisions (Bullock-Yowell, McConnell, & Schedin, 2014).

Erika Jean Hanson Academic Advisor and Coordinator, Student Engagement, SAIL Office Waston College of Education University of North Carolina Wilmington

Concerned about the success of its undecided students, UNCW set about helping them.

We found that experiential learning activities allow students who are unaware of their strengths and skills to discover them through action and reflection.

Studies show that students who engage in experiential learning have improved persistence compared to their counterparts (Abdul-Alim, 2011; Prussia & Weis, 2004; Tinto, 1998).

UNCW positioned its first-year seminar, UNI 101, as a significant This student group developed the winning response to a business challenge for Kwipped as part of an experiential retention tool, aiding students in learning initiative at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Photo courtesy of Renee Smith. their transition to the university.

The course includes topics such as academic preparation, the value of diverse ideas, and career exploration. It seemed a natural fit to incorporate an experiential learning component into UNI 101 to help students clarify their major of interest while also developing transferable skills (e.g., critical thinking, problem solving, oral communication, teamwork, collaboration, leadership, technology, professionalism).

Making The Pitch The experiential learning initiative, named The Pitch, required student groups in UNI 101 to research a local business and its customers while also answering a challenge submitted by the business aimed at helping students narrow their major focus. The student groups then worked to determine a solution to best meet the needs of the business before pitching their solution to a business representative in a culminating event at the end of the semester. The Pitch sought to encourage students to explore different interest areas by working on various components of the project.

Over the summer, prospective businesses were contacted via email to gauge their interest in participating. Those that expressed interest were sent a Business Challenge Return to Front Page Copyright Š 2018 National Resource Center for The First-Year ExperienceŽ and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina

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Form explaining the purpose of the project, the role the business would play, example challenges, and space to submit their own challenge, purpose, background, and contact information. Three businesses, Kwipped, nCino, and Wilmington International Airport (ILM), chose to participate and submitted challenges (Table 1). The student groups had to develop a response to each challenge into the “pitch” part of the assignment, which would then be presented as part of their course grade. While each UNI 101 instructor could decide how many points were allotted for the project, those participating made the group project worth 15% of students’ final grade.

Table 1 Challenges Submitted by Participating Businesses Business

Challenge

Wilmington International Airport

Develop a survey tool (iPad-accessible) to collect customer information regarding experience, home location, and purpose of traveling to Wilmington.

Wilmington International Airport

Create a mock-up of a mobile app/kiosk that allows customers to pre-order food from concessions to have waiting at their gate.

Wilmington International Airport

Create a sustainability campaign and slogan, which includes recycling throughout the operational and public spaces of the airport.

Kwipped

Create a marketing campaign to promote the Kwipped brand.

nCino

Develop a strategy to attract top UNCW students to the company on a biannual basis in order to build an intern and hiring pipeline.

After the challenges were submitted, five instructors, each teaching one section of a traditional UNI 101 class, agreed to take part. The five classes of 25 students each amounted to 125 participants. Each class was divided into five groups and assigned one of the five challenges. This was done intentionally so that groups within a class did not compete against one another, with the aim of keeping the class dynamic supportive, positive, and focused. Each instructor could divide groups as they saw fit.

During the fall semester, students worked on these projects inside and outside of class. Many of the groups chose to contact the businesses directly and visit them to better understand the companies and their challenges. For their midterm assignment, students presented their pitches to their respective classes, which gave feedback on their presentation style and ideas. This iterative process helped students further refine their pitches.

“The student groups had to develop a response to each challenge into the ‘pitch’ part of the assignment, which would then be presented as part of their course

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grade.

Getting Feedback In late October, the participating business partners were invited to campus for the culminating event. As student groups gave their five-minute pitches, their respective

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business partners evaluated and scored them based on four criteria: (a) presentation skills; (b) critical-thinking and innovative problem-solving skills; (c) professionalism; and (d) alignment between proposed solution, submitted challenge, and company brand. They also gave written and verbal feedback on what students did well and ways they could improve. While their scores were tallied, students presented their projects to the campus community in a poster session. The winning groups of students were announced as the event concluded. These students received swag bags, recognition on social media, and the chance to interview for internships with the businesses.

While this project pushed students to work collaboratively and build transferable skills, it was primarily created to help them explore possible interest areas for majors and future careers. Table 2 shows how students explored various interests through the ILM mobile app challenge.

Table 2 How Students Taking the ILM Mobile App Challenge Explored Interests by Major Major

Ways to explore interest

Psychology

Understand what customers want, how they would use the app

Communication

App flow to ease information delivery, public speaking delivering the pitch, networking with business representatives

English/creative writing

Write app language, create promo materials, write script for pitch

Business

Impact on ILM, return on investment, cost, marketing campaign

History

What has been done before, history of airport concessions

Art

Mock-up of app and marketing

Criminology

Online security for payment

Environmental studies

Sustainable packaging, environmentally conscious waste disposal at gate and ILM, locally sourced

Foreign languages

Translate app for international customers

Philosophy and religion

Food options for religious observances, ethical practice

Sociology

Current trends at ILM, within the Wilmington community, and trends at other airports

Statistics

Customer travel and concession data, projections

Public health studies

Healthy options, obstacles to healthy eating

Education

Directions on how to use app

Computer science

Create mobile app, online security

Participants See Benefits To assess the assignment’s value, we gathered feedback from business representatives, instructors, and students. The companies providing the challenges were impressed with students’ professionalism and contributions; they have since implemented many of the ideas they received. For example, the winning group from nCino suggested a business representative visit targeted courses to discuss the company and student opportunities there, increase branded marketing, and provide financial incentives for student internships. Over the past three years, nCino has visited classes at least once per Return to Front Page Copyright © 2018 National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina

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semester, added substantially to its branded marketing (e.g., koozies, keychains, tumblers), and offered monetary incentives for all internships.

Our participating UNI 101 instructors all agreed that The Pitch allowed for more practical exploration of career interests. The initiative also led to fruitful conversations about employment-based topics, including dressing and preparing for interviews, networking, writing professional emails, collaborating and resolving conflict effectively, and making presentations.

When we originally introduced the project to first-semester students, they were less than thrilled with the idea. Many found the thought of working with local organizations intimidating. Moreover, non-business majors did not see the project’s relevance. By the end of the semester, however, students overwhelmingly saw the value. These excerpts from students highlight how the project affected them and their future career path: When the semester first began, I was planning on pursuing exercise science, but by the end I realized I wanted to switch to education. I did well in my science classes but realized that I wasn’t finding them very interesting. Then I would work on this project and enjoyed helping my teammates understand the challenge we were given and the research I found. I got to develop our presentation we gave to the airport representative and executives (after we won), which was like a lesson plan.

I am thinking of choosing studio art as my major because I have found that it fits my interests and values the best. On UNC Wilmington’s career page, I began my search by looking under the What can I do with a major in tab. As I kept reading about the studio art major, I realized that participating in the business challenge, where I was in charge of designing/creating an app, helped me discover skills that I did not even know I possessed. Skills such as imagination, creativity, flexibility, patience, work ethic, independence, and strong communication were all abilities that any studio art major should have, all of which I thought I was able to depict in our project.

“For their midterm assignment, students presented their pitches to their respective classes, which gave feedback on their presentation style

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and ideas.

Data from a student survey showed that 20% of those who participated in The Pitch identified as undecided at the start of their first semester. However, 47% of total students surveyed changed their major after taking the course. Although many cited The Pitch as a contributing factor in doing so, only 13% said it was the main reason. As a result, we suggest incorporating several opportunities for students to explore majors throughout the semester.

Lessons Learned The goal of this initiative was to help students explore majors while gaining transferable skills. Although we succeeded, a few changes to the planning process would boost the consistency of students’ experience and ensure they have the resources necessary to complete the project.

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With each instructor controlling the details of their UNI 101 section, including the assignment of groups and class time dedicated to preparing for The Pitch, students involved in the initiative did not have a consistent experience. Hosting meetings over the summer so instructors could build consensus around such details would help with consistency.

Crucial to this project were the businesses and representatives that submitted a challenge, worked with student groups throughout the semester, and provided feedback on their final pitches. Initially, we felt it was best to work with small, local startups, which may need more help than large businesses. However, we ended up with three very different-sized businesses and noticed that the smaller startup had less time to dedicate to students. In the future, we suggest working with larger companies with more resources available for students.

References Abdul-Alim, J. (2011, March). Higher education leaders say experiential learning key to student success. Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Retrieved from http://diverseeducation.com/article/14865/ Bullock-Yowell, E., McConnell, A. E., & Schedin, E. A. (2014). Decided and undecided students: Career self-efficacy, negative thinking, and decision-making difficulties.

NACADA Journal, 34(1), 22-34.

Daniels, L. M., Stewart, T. L., Stupinsky, R. H., Perry, R. P., & Loverso, T. (2011). Relieving career anxiety and indecision: The role of undergraduate students’ perceived control and faculty affiliations. Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, 14(3), 409-426.

Prussia, G. E., & Weis, W. L. (2004). Experiential learning effects on retention: Results from a required MBA course. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 5(4), 397-407.

Tinto, V. (1998). Learning communities: Building gateways to student success. The National Teaching and Learning Forum, 7, 1-11.

Contact Erika Hanson hansone@uncw.edu

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Foote, S. M. (2009). High impact, high engagement: Designing first-year seminar activities and assignments to promote learning and application.

7(1), 9-10.

Gopal, G., & Smith, C. (2010). Enabling firstyear students to achieve academic and social goals through a projectbased course. 7(5), 6-8, 11.

Ward, V. E. (2007). Why aren’t they using Griffith Park? Involving first-year students in field-based research. 4(6), 13-15.

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A Framework for Helping Families Understand the College Transition Bryant University, a private, independent institution in Rhode Island, has included families in its orientation programming for more than two decades, but it recently improved its approach based on the evolving needs of parents and students. Determining the most impactful strategies to partner with parents and educate them about the complexities of college transition required research and reflection.

Realizing that parental involvement positively impacts student success and completion rates (Savage & Petree, 2015), Bryant was challenged to determine how extensively to involve parents in the college experience and how to help establish clear boundaries for families. The university recognized that parents struggle with conflicting messages about their role. While they are inundated with advice on how to protect their investment and motivate their students, they are simultaneously criticized for hyper-involvement. And most Bryant parents understand that sending students to college involves “letting go,” but this runs counter to previous advice about advocating for their children’s education during the K-12 years.

To manage these conflicting messages and create clearer boundaries, Bryant designed an approach with the idea that (a) the emerging-adulthood developmental stage is complex and (b) parents must be educated to know when to step in and when to allow the institution to lead.

A Framework to Combat Transition Issues In general, parents are open to advice, and with college costs rising, they expect institutions to help them and their students navigate the higher education experience.

Bryant has responded by creating programming for orientation and beyond to educate families on the challenges that first-year students face as they transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Similarly, Bryant works to help parents adopt new parenting practices appropriate for emerging adults. Bryant’s approach considers the positive impact of parental involvement, encouraging parents to partner in their students’ success while also accounting for the pitfalls of “helicopter parenting.”

Consistent messaging on the critical areas of first-year adjustment enables families to discuss the transition, allowing them to set realistic expectations and giving them a shared vocabulary. To facilitate ongoing dialogue, Bryant’s assistant dean for student success developed a framework for understanding six facets of college adjustment, based on the work of Hazard and Nadeau (2013): intellectual, social, emotional, cultural, financial, and academic adjustment (Figure 1). This framework allows Bryant to educate parents about transition issues during the first year, engaging them to support their students’ success from a healthy distance.

Laurie L. Hazard

Assistant Dean of Student Success

Bryant University

Stephanie Carter

Director, Academic Center for Excellence

Bryant University

“To facilitate ongoing dialogue, Bryant’s assistant dean for student success developed a framework for understanding six facets of college adjustment.

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“Anecdotal data show that the course helps parents access resources at Bryant to provide

Figure 1. Framework for understanding the six facets of college adjustment.

Adapted from “Foundations for Learning,” by L. Hazard and J. P. Nadeau, 2013. Copyright 2013 by Prentice Hall. Reprinted with permission.

Each year at orientation, staff members at Bryant outline the six areas of adjustment in talks with incoming students and their parents. However, aside from data showing that attendees considered these talks informative and helpful, and from qualitative data indicating that learning about the adjustment areas was valuable, the institution initially had no way to assess the framework’s usefulness.

In 2017, Bryant leveraged a customized online platform to create an optional web-based course experience for parents and families of first-year students built around the six areas of adjustment. The course, Parent Lingo, developed by the authors in collaboration with Innovative Educators, provides an engaging, ongoing resource that includes embedded videos with insights from students and families. Six modules on each adjustment area educate families on the college transition. Parents also learn how these adjustment issues impact first-year students. Information about resources at Bryant related to each adjustment area and how to refer students to these resources, or contact them directly, is included. In addition, parents receive questions to facilitate conversations with their students about the adjustment areas. While families can access discussion boards to post questions and concerns, the course also connects them with an instructor, the assistant dean for student success, who can provide follow-up. Finally, a companion text with more information is available for families to purchase1.

The platform was piloted during orientation in June 2017. The following September, parents received an email with a link to access the course. Every few weeks, new modules were released, with all of them made available by February 2018. Reminders and updates were sent to parents throughout the fall semester and again in January.

1 The recommended companion text is Your Freshman is Off to College: A Month-by-Month Guide to the First-Year by Hazard and Carter (2016).

immediate support. ...

Parents can take questions to the assistant dean for student success, who then connects their students with appropriate

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resources.

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Assessment In the online platform’s first year, Bryant engaged 158 parents or family members. In an online survey embedded in the Parent Lingo course, parents rated overall satisfaction with the experience as high; 86% said the modules they completed were very good or excellent (n = 36) on a 5-point Likert scale, with 5 being excellent and 1 being poor.

The customized platform allows insight into parents’ concerns. When asked which facets of adjustment interested them most, parents rated academic adjustment highest at 75%, followed by financial (67%), emotional (61%), social (53%), intellectual (36%), and cultural adjustment (17%). This information will help tailor future programming for families.

Users provided important qualitative information in their survey comments. Responses indicated the course validated families’ concerns about college adjustment (e.g., “[I learned that] my student is going through the same challenges as other freshmen”). It also helped align parents’ understanding and expectations about their students’ experience, allowing them to talk about the college transition from a more informed point of view (e.g., “As a parent of a reluctant student, it really helped me to hear from actual students and the challenges they faced”). Anecdotal data show that the course helps parents access resources at Bryant to provide immediate support for their students. Parents can take questions to the assistant dean for student success, who then connects their students with appropriate resources. As such, the platform works as an early intervention tool.

The first year of Parent Lingo shows promise as a vehicle to identify at-risk first-year students and guide families. Going forward, families will be more intentionally introduced to the platform at orientation with a handout that includes login information. This will let them access the course immediately, rather than waiting until fall. On the school’s opening weekend, a resource fair will reintroduce families to the platform and allow them to set up their accounts. The goal is to create a sense of belonging for families and prompt them to ask informed questions so they can help students access resources when needed. This strategy is adaptable across all institution types, providing an innovative approach to firstyear student success.

References Hazard, L., & Carter, S. (2016). Your freshman is off to college: A month-by-month guide to the first year. Charleston, SC: Printed by CreateSpace.

Hazard, L., & Nadeau, J. P. (2013).

Foundations for learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Savage, M., & Petree, C. (2015). National survey of college and university parent programs [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2D4PaVj

Contact Stephanie Carter scarter@bryant.edu

Related Articles in E-Source Conkle, M. T., Kidwell, E. A., & Murphy, M. (2008). Program connects first-year students and their families to the college community. 6(1), 6-8.

Fuhst, P. (2006). Activities for parents at orientation at Yavapai College. 3(6), 8-9.

Horneff, B. S. (2004). First-year students offer advice to parents. 2(3), 5-6.

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Creating Pathways to Improve First-Generation Student Success

Tracey A. Glaessgen

Associate Director, Center for Academic Success and Transition

Founded in 1905, Missouri State University (MSU) is a four-year, public, comprehensive, residential institution with a public affairs designation. Out of 26,000 students systemwide, MSU’s first-generation college student population comprises about 34%, about half of whom are Pell Grant-eligible. MSU’s first-generation students have lower retention and six-year graduation rates than their continuing-generation counterparts, similar to national data. Recognizing the higher attrition rate for first-generation students, MSU’s president challenged the school to provide additional support to lessen the retention and graduation gap.

Impact on Student Success

Missouri State University

Kelly S. Wood

Interim Director, Center for Academic Success and Transition

Missouri State University

Mark M. Biggs

Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Missouri State University

Rachelle L. Darabi

Associate Provost, Student Development and Public Affairs

Missouri State University

After examining the data, the university made an important distinction between how the literature categorizes first-generation college students’ deficits in academic preparation (e.g., ACT scores, high school GPA, class rank) and the characteristics of MSU students (Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004). Analysis showed that academically, first-generation MSU students arrive nearly as well prepared as their continuing-generation peers but are retained and graduate at significantly lower rates (see Table 1). Based on recent MSU data, our first-generation students also report lower levels of engagement with faculty, staff, and students; less participation in cocurricular activities; and less overall satisfaction with their college experience. With these findings in mind, we reasoned that MSU’s first-generation students face additional challenges and need other resources to succeed at similar rates as their peers. They also may lack information because they do not have a family member to guide them through their college experience (Lohfink & Paulsen, 2005).

Table 1 Demographics of Fall 2016 First-Time New-in-College Students at MSU (n = 2,956)

ACT average High school GPA

First-generation students (n = 1,117)

Continuing-generation students (n = 1,839)

23.3

24.4

3.6

3.7

Class rank - top 20%

85.0%

84.9%

Pell-eligible

50.3%

20.4%

Ethnicity underrepresented

19.7%

11.7%

Living off campus

17.7%

11.4%

Fall-to-fall retention (FA16 to FA17)

68.9%

82.4%

Note. In Fall 2016, there were 3,143 first-time students enrolled at MSU, but 187 students did not provide information to assess first-generation status.

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Institutional Response Using the guiding principles of increasing cultural capital, campus engagement, and financial resources, MSU created new instructional and advising pathways. From an instructional perspective, all first-time, new-to-college students with fewer than 24 posthigh school hours are required to take the university’s first-year seminar, GEP 101: FirstYear Foundations. The course has three goals: (a) academic skill building, (b) public affairs integration, and (c) campus resource awareness. In 2014, MSU responded to the call to improve the retention rate and overall experience of first-generation students by developing sections of GEP 101 specifically for this group. From Fall 2014-Fall 2017, first-time, newto-college, first-generation students enrolled in designated “first-generation by college” or “college specific” first-year seminar sections. Though the sections shared the same course goals and objectives, students were voluntarily placed based on their first-generation status and/or their college at MSU, which reflected their academic major of choice.

It is notable that students self-selected into these specialized sections during summer orientation. For instance, those identifying as first-generation and finance majors registered for a College of Business section for first-generation students, while those who were finance majors but classified as continuinggeneration might be placed into a college-specific section for the College of Business. On the other hand, some students opted not to participate in these first generation-by-college or college-specific sections. Participation was not required, as MSU did not have enough specialized sections to satisfy the need. The vast majority of the first-year seminar sections, including After recognizing the institution’s higher attrition rate for first-generation students, leaders at Missouri State University the specialized sections, had 30-32 created new instructional and advising pathways. Photo students enrolled. courtesy of Missouri State University During the fall semester, students in the first-generation college sections were surveyed two to three times about their MSU experience. Each survey asked seven to eight open-ended questions about students’ attitudes and likelihood to remain at MSU. The questions included: • What things have you done to improve your learning?

“Analysis showed that academically, first-generation MSU students arrive nearly as well prepared as their continuinggeneration peers but are retained and graduate at significantly lower

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rates.

• Do you plan on staying at MSU? Why or why not? and • In one sentence—what advice would you pass on to future students?

All sections of the first-year seminar require the instructor to hold individual student conferences, with an additional conference after midterm grades are posted. Similarly, all sections contain required assignments related to the course goals and objectives.

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To give first-generation college students another opportunity to connect with faculty, the specialized sections require an interview with an instructor. Prior to teaching a specialized section, the GEP 101 instructors received professional development training focused on data related to first-generation student success, on available campus and community resources, and on helping students gain the cultural capital needed to succeed. As one example of providing this cultural capital, instructors explored university policies and jargon and explained them to students (see Ward, Siegel, & Davenport, 2012).

“MSU began

In addition to the work undertaken in the first-year seminar, MSU began to explore new advising opportunities to engage students and provide cultural capital for new firsttime, first-generation students.

new advising

In MSU’s split-level advising model, declared students are advised within their college, while undeclared students go through an advisement center. In 2017, MSU piloted a proactive advising approach within the College of Arts and Letters conducted by faculty and not professional advisors. The university identified a faculty advisor for each of the seven departments in the college. Realizing that academic advising is one of the few ways that first-generation students are guaranteed one-on-one time with a university representative, MSU staff created a series of workshops for these faculty advisors focused on proactive advising. Three 2-hour professional development workshops took place during the first month of the fall semester, allowing the faculty advisors to use what they learned early in the semester.

Each workshop focused on one of three themes: (a) a rationale for and benefits associated with proactive advising; (b) proactive advising strategies and methods; and (c) key campus resources and personnel. The training stressed how advisors can boost the success of their first-generation advisees simply by meeting proactively at critical periods in the semester (i.e., in the first four weeks of the term, prior to midterms, and before registration). Under this model, the proactive advisor initiates contact rather than waiting for the student to reach out, subsequently recommending appropriate interventions as needed to help advisees persist and succeed.

to explore

opportunities to engage students and provide cultural capital for new first time, first-generation

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students.

Initial Analysis While we are still gathering data, the number of dedicated sections of the first-year seminar has steadily increased over the past three years, partly because of instructor interest but also because of results. As a result of the intervention, the retention gap between first-generation students enrolled in dedicated sections and students in non-specialized sections has decreased from 12% to 2% in recent years (Fall 2016 to Fall 2017). From an advising perspective, MSU has seen a slight increase in retention for first-generation college students taken on by specially trained advisors, but because this proactive advising model just completed its first year, no sweeping conclusions about its long-term impact can be made. Nevertheless, staff response has been positive, with advisors noting improved relationships with their advisees and greater satisfaction as a result of the proactive approach. We will continue gathering data in order to determine the program’s effectiveness.

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Implications

References

The instructional and advising initiatives created to improve first-generation student success at MSU will require additional faculty and training resources. With the success of the specialized sections of the first-year seminar in closing the retention gap for first-generation students, MSU plans to increase the number of such sections offered to accommodate more students. Similarly, with even a slight increase in retention of the first-generation group taken on by proactive advisors in the College of Arts and Letters, more faculty, including those in other colleges, will be tapped for these roles.

Also, because of some initial crossover between first-generation students enrolled in the specialized first-year seminar sections who also have been assigned a proactive advisor, it might be difficult to determine which support initiative is more useful. Tracking the effectiveness of each unique initiative will be important. Ultimately, improving retention and graduation rates for first-generation students at MSU will require multiple interrelated programs working in tandem to provide the additional information and resources this group needs to succeed.

Lohfink, M. M., & Paulsen, M. B. (2005).

Comparing the determinants of persistence for first-generation and continuing-generation students.

Journal of College Student Development, 46(4), 409-428.

Pascarella, E. T., Pierson, C. T., Wolniak, G. C., & Terenzini, P. T. (2004). First-generation college students. Journal of Higher Education, 75(3), 249-284.

Ward, L., Siegel, M. J., & Davenport, Z. (2012). First-generation college students: Understanding and improving the experience from recruitment to commencement. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

Contact Tracey Glaessgen TraceyGlaessgen@missouristate.edu

Related Articles in E-Source Carr, J. M., Jackson, D. D., & Murphy, M. (2014). Using educationally purposeful activities to support first-generation college students in chemistry. 12(1), 4-7.

Miller, A. A. (2016). Supporting the transition and ongoing success of firstgeneration and low-income students.

14(1), 9-12.

SOURCE E-Source for College Transitions (ISSN 1545-5742) is published three times a year by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. The National Resource Center has as its mission to support and advance efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education.

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