SOURCE
Vol. 16
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No. 3
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July 2019
10
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Academic Recovery: The First-Year Seminar for Students on Probation
Michael Dial Assistant Director of First-Year Advising, University Advising Center University of South Carolina
Dating back to the early 1970s, University 101 (UNIV 101), the University of South Carolina’s (UofSC) first-year seminar, has supported almost 100,000 first-year students’ transition to and through the university. Many consider UofSC the birthplace of the modern first-year experience movement. Each fall, about 80% (n = 4,500) of the firstyear cohort enrolls in UNIV 101. For most of this group, the course helps them adjust to the rigor and freedom of the collegiate experience. About 2% (n = 70), though, do not successfully complete UNIV 101. UofSC offers a grade forgiveness policy allowing students to retake up to two classes in which they earned a D or worse. After successfully completing the second attempt, students can apply to have the original grade stricken from their transcript. Those students who fail to complete UNIV 101 also tend to not do well in their other courses and often find themselves on academic probation. For example, in Fall 2017, 35.94% of students who failed UNIV 101 also failed English 101 (ENGL 101). As a comparison, less than 1% of students who successfully completed UNIV 101 failed ENGL 101. At UofSC, first-year students on academic probation and those who fail UNIV 101 are invited to enroll in an Academic Recovery section of UNIV 101 the following spring.
Theoretical Frameworks The Academic Recovery section maintains the learning outcomes of general UNIV 101 sections, while adding an enhanced focus on noncognitive factors including grit (Duckworth, 2016) and the cultivation of growth mindsets (Dweck, 2008). For Spring 2018, course design and individual meetings with students were guided by the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of Human Behavior Change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983), which recognizes that behavior change occurs in stages, with unique milestones along the way. Further, motivational interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2012) and the Appreciative Education Theory-to-Practice Framework (Bloom, Hutson, & He, 2008) shaped instructor interactions with students. The motivational interviews allowed students to observe ways in which their current behavior was inconsistent with their ideal future states. On the other hand, the appreciative education framework is an intentional, collaborative model aimed at helping students optimize their educational endeavors and set and achieve goals.
Course Design First-year students often are surprised when they are put on academic probation, report being unclear on the academic expectations their institution had for them, and express feelings of shame and embarrassment (Barouch-Gilbert, 2015). The Appreciative Advising Inventory (AAI; Bloom et al., 2008), a 44-question survey instrument, was used as an intake and exit survey for students in the Academic Recovery section. During Fall 2017, enrolled students’ lowest reported assets fell within the Positive Identity Return to Front Page Copyright © 2019 National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina
