24 th Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience Phoenix, Arizona February 4-8, 2005

Transcription

1 24 th Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience Phoenix, Arizona February 4-8, 2005 A Collaborative Approach to Major/Career Selection and Confirmation Charles Mattis Dean of the First-Year Program Abilene Christian University mattis@acu.edu Jeff Reese Director Abilene Christian University jeff.reese@acu.edu Entering students who are uncertain of their major and career path change programs more frequently, incur more college debt, are less likely to be retained, and take longer to graduate than those who are confident of their choice. The Discovery Program at ACU is a collaborative institutional initiative bringing together the Office of Admissions, the Office of Career and Academic Development, the Office of University Academic Advising, and University Seminar faculty. Using a multi-faceted approach, the Discovery Program actively engages students in the process of career development. Before a student matriculates at ACU, regardless if they have chosen a major, they are encouraged through the Office of Admissions to attend a Discovery Workshop. These workshops give students and their parents insight and information about the importance of career development before a student begins their college career. Students complete a web-based assessment that will be covered during the workshop to determine their highest career development needs, and strategies to meet those needs are discussed. All entering freshmen complete course work in their University Seminar class which included critical decision-making exercises, college career planning, career assessment, and occupational research. Students have the opportunity to connect with ACU alumni working in careers they are considering. These activities culminate in a Discovery portfolio which helps them track their progress through graduation. Students who have not chosen a major by the end of their first semester are required to enroll in the Discovery Course which is a more intentional look at career development. After the implementation of the program, the number of first-year undeclared students dropped 17% from the previous year and 32% from its previous five year high. According to the YFCY Survey, the number of first-year students declaring a major is 16.7% higher than cohort institutions. 82.4% of students in University Seminar agreed or strongly agreed to the statement: "the Discovery portion of the course helped me to evaluate my academic major and career options."

2 Freshmen to sophomore retention was the second highest in the history of the institution. Web-Based Early Alert Programs: Bridging the Gap Between Academic and Student Affairs Deon Botha Career and Academic Counselor Abilene Christian University Jeff Reese Executive Director Abilene Christian University Karen Hater Director, Academic Support Services Rollins College Doug Little Director, First-Year Programs Rollins College Summary: None. Developing a Scalable Career Curriculum to Meet the Needs of First-Year Students Paul A. Gore Director, Career Transitions Research ACT Inc paul.gore@act.org In response to growing recognition of the importance of career development activities the first year seminar, ACT, Inc developed a comprehensive career assessment and exploration program that can be delivered to undergraduate students in the classroom. Specifically, professional staff, instructors, and faculty who have little or no background or training in career development can deliver this scalable curriculum consisting of between one and five class sessions depending on the needs of the instructor. Depending on the length of the curriculum chosen, students will be exposed to formal assessments of career interests, work values, and skills. Moreover, they will have an opportunity to connected results from those assessments to the process of selecting viable academic majors, occupations, or preparing for experiential learning activities or job searches. To increase the probability that the program sustains career exploratory behavior and career

3 development outside of the classroom, the assessment and interactive activities in the curriculum are built to be used in conjunction with DISCOVER, ACT s s computer-assisted career guidance program. The use of this program to drive the classroom curriculum assures that students complete valid and reliable career assessment instruments and can connect results from those instruments to accurate and up-to-date educational and career-related information. In this presentation, we will present a detailed overview of the available curricula, present a demonstration of DISCOVER functionality, and present findings from the recent infusion of this curriculum into FYE seminars at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Iowa. Using Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors to Predict College Outcomes Paul Gore Director ACT, Inc paul.gore@act.org We present a line of research examining the role of psychosocial and study skill factors in understanding college outcomes. Specifically, our presentation will include a summary of findings from three separate studies. The first study presents results from a meta-analysis of psychosocial and study skill factors for two college outcomes: performance and retention. This meta-analysis incorporates 109 studies from the educational persistence and motivational theory literature. Findings suggest that academic self-efficacy, achievement motivation, academic goals, and academic-related skills are important predictors of performance and retention. The second study will describe the development of a psychosocial and study skill factors inventory. The authors used a rational-empirical approach to create ten first-order and three second-order factors. We will present psychometric properties and structural analyses of these factors and discus the strengths and limitations of this study. The third study presents the findings of a large-scale (N> 15,000), nationally representative sample of entering first-year college students at two and four-year institutions who responded to our inventory. These students scores are linked to their ACT record file, which includes standardized test scores, high school academic performance, and demographic data. We plan to address the incremental validity of psychosocial and study skill factors in predicting end-of-first-year academic performance and retention. We believe that these studies highlight an exciting line of research identifying, measuring, and emphasizing the role of psychosocial and study skill factors in educational settings. What Works in Student Retention: Results From a National Survey Wes Habley

4 Principal Associate ACT, Inc Paul A. Gore Director, Career Transitions Research ACT, Inc Student attrition continues to be a concern for institutes of higher education in the U.S. Ten years ago Tinto (1993) reported freshman to sophomore attrition rates of approximately 25% in four-year colleges and universities and 50% in two-year colleges. Recent studies suggest that this trend continues (ACT, 2003). The cost of attrition is high Ð for the student, the institution, and society. In this session we will describe the results from a national survey of over 1000 post-secondary institutions (2 and 4-year colleges and universities). In responding to this survey, participants identified the institutional programs or services they believed were most effective in promoting student retention on campus. Participants also rated the degree to which they believed various institutional or student characteristics contributed to student attrition. To better understand the perceived best practices of high performing schools, we also identified a subset of schools with very high and very low retention and degree completion rates using data from an independent source. We will present results from our analysis of the different practices and attributions of these two groups of schools. We will conclude our presentation by offering recommendations for improving retention efforts on campus Rewarding Academic Excellence Among First-Year Students Glenda Earwood Executive Director Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society glenda@nationalald.org Lee Greenway Director of Communication Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society Constance Staley Professor/Director University of Colorado - Colorado Springs glenda@nationalald.org

5 After Dr. Earwood introduces the program session and panelists, Lee Greenway will give an overview of Alpha Lambda Delta including the Purpose, History, Number of Chapters, Members, Dues, Programs, Workshops, Magazine, Scholarships and Fellowships. Dr. Connie Staley will explain how to start a chapter of Alpha Lambda Delta and talk about her experience advising a chapter of Alpha Lambda Delta at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Dr. Glenda Earwood will present the benefits of rewarding and recognizing academic excellence among first year students including retention, use of chapter for campus service projects, college recognition of academic excellence, opportunity for collaboration between academic and student affairs, and involving parents. Dr. Earwood will give examples of chapter service projects and discuss the Association of College Honor Societies national service project A Matter of Ethics. The audience will be given an opportunity for discussion. "HOW WOULD I KNOW?" A Collaborative Approach to Managing First-Year Students Donald May Assist. Dean for College of Arts & Sciences Andrews University Andrews University may@andrews.edu At the dawn of the new millennium Andrews University s strategic plan included methods for enhanced student success. At the same time Andrews faced a bimodal student population, increased student demands, higher expectations of parents, cut backs, budget restraints, larger teaching loads for faculty, and added responsibilities for advisors. As deans, advisors, faculty and support staff scrambled to meet these rising demands it became apparent that a campus-wide collaborated approach, dynamic in nature, was needed. This Institution initiative session, Collecting and Managing Student Data for Collaborated Interventions for First Year Student Success, will focus on how this type of approach can build first year student success. The session will identify what student information is necessary for managing and establishing effective interventions for first year students. This session will take an in-depth look at methods for collecting, accessing and structuring student information in a way that affords legal access and utilization by advisors, deans, counselors and faculty. The rational for such data collection, and methods for gaining campus wide buy-in and involvement that have lead to a collaborated network of supports, will be discussed. Selected case studies that demonstrate how and why this collaborated and dynamic system has worked at Andrews University will be covered. Areas to be included are: campus team building; electronic student tracking; identifying vital student information; obtaining student releases; ongoing communication with students, parents, faculty, advisors, and counselors; referrals; case management; and student life. A brief overview of data that demonstrates how this type of approach can improve university

6 retention rates will also be included. This session has much to offer for those working in the areas of retention, first year programming, and student success. Attendees will come away with specific ideas on how to collect and utilize vital student information, build campus collaboration and supports, and maintain communication that is relevant and current. Improving Summer Bridge Programs Dan Friedman Director, Freshman Seminar Appalachian State University Beth Marsh Assistant Director, Freshman Seminar Appalachian State University SummerPreview at Appalachian State University is a five-week, residential program designed to acquaint students with the academic and social transitions from high school to college. All incoming freshmen are invited to be a part of the program with approximately 150 students enrolling on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants enroll in Freshman Seminar, a 3-credit hour elective course which acquaints students with the opportunities and demands of college, and one other academic course. Our program, now in its 14th year, is at a crossroads. We are beginning to question who we target and how to create a more academically rigorous experience. Participants in this roundtable discussion will focus on the philosophies behind targeting certain populations, special challenges faced by similar programs (i.e., camp-like atmosphere, lack of student programming, and lack of campus services), evidence of success, and strategies for what works. This conversation should be relevant to any college or university with a summer bridge program. Using the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA) for Individual and Program Assesement in First-Year Courses Peter Wachs Assistant Vice Chancellor Appalachian State University wachspm@appstate.edu

7 The Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA; Winston, Miller, & Cooper, 1999) is a major revision of the Student Developmental Task & Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI; Winston, Miller, & Prince, 1987), The SDTLA is based on Chickering s theory of college student development. It focuses on developmental tasks typical of college students between 18 and 24 years of age, including establishing and clarifying purpose (subtasks: career planning, lifestyle planning, educational involvement, and cultural participation), developing autonomy (subtasks: emotional autonomy, instrumental autonomy, academic autonomy, and interdependence), and developing mature interpersonal relationships (subtasks: peer relationships and tolerance). This presentation will demonstrate how this instrument can be used by students in first-year courses to measure their progress on these developmental tasks. Participants will see the online interface that students use to respond to the questions and also the online report that students receive instantly upon completing the instrument. Approaches for using this information with students in first-year courses will be discussed. In many cases assessment of the effectiveness of first-year courses is confined to what Jean Henscheid (2004) refers to as the the provostial four, i.e. retention rate increases, increased student satisfaction, more efficient time to degree or program completion, and higher than expected grade point averages. A focus on only these types of outcomes ignores the learning outcomes proposed in the design of many first year courses. Many of these learning outcomes are reflected in the subscales of the SDTLA and when used in a pretest/posttest design, it provides important data regarding the effectiveness of first-year courses. In two recent studies we compared the effect of the freshman seminar course after the first semester and also after four semesters. In this presentation we will show how we designed the studies using the SDTLA and what we found. We will also offer some suggestions for others who are interested in this type of assessment. Developing Educational Partnerships to Influence Student Success Joni Petschauer Director, Freshman Learning Communities Appalachian State University petschaerjw@appstate.edu Cindy Wallace Interim Vice Chancellor Appalachian State University wallaceca@appstate.edu Increasing educational costs coupled with declining resources to support unproven practices has given rise to new types of private/public, educational partnerships. Universities have openly sought funds from private foundations and government agencies but have been far more reticent to invite corporate sponsorships into the academic arena for fear that outcomes might be tainted by the financial goals of the funding source. Brokering relationships among diverse and differentlymotivated groups requires clarity of purpose, creativity, and patience in order to insure the

8 educational integrity of such pursuits. In November 2002 and June 2004, Appalachian State University hosted The McGraw Hill Institute for Student Success and Academic Change (ISSAC) as a result of an alliance among Appalachian, the University of North Carolina Office of the President and McGraw Hill Higher Education, Inc. Each of the sponsoring partners brought unique perspectives, desired outcomes, and resources to the table and left with a renewed willingness to work together to ensure student success and influence institutional effectiveness. This session will provide an overview of how these entities came together, the processes used to ensure credible results, the lessons taught by the 20 institutions who participated in ISSAC 2002 and ISSAC 2004, and the lessons learned by the Institute coordinators from being involved in the experience. Furthermore, participants will be asked to identify an idea they would like to have supported by external funds and to brainstorm potential partnerships that could advance their work on behalf of student success. APPALiMOVIE FEST: Using Technology to Reinforce Academic Community Nikki Crees Assistant Director Appalachian State University creesnt@appstate.edu Appalachian State University and Apple Computer have combined efforts over the last two years to put together the annual Appal imovie Festival. The project enables teams of first-semester freshmen to document their freshmen experience at Appalachian in original short films. Although several other institutions have designed similar imovie competitions around freshmen residence halls, Appalachian decided to take the imovie competition into the classroom. Participating teams consisted of up to 6 first-semester freshmen who had a common membership in one of AppalachianÕs academic learning community programs. We will present student reactions to the project, the logistics involved in creating a partnership of this nature, and replication ideas for a single class assignment. Inviting students to explore creative technology can be an amazing tool not only for learning the technology itself, but more importantly for developing valuable skills that we all hope our students are gleaning from a college education: leadership, collaboration, delegation, project design, and critical thinking. Using the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA) for Individual and Program Assessment in First-Year Courses Dan Friedman Director of Freshman Seminar Appalachian State University

9 The Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA; Winston, Miller, & Cooper, 1999) is a major revision of the Student Developmental Task & Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI; Winston, Miller, & Prince, 1987), The SDTLA is based on Chickering s theory of college student development. It focuses on developmental tasks typical of college students between 18 and 24 years of age, including establishing and clarifying purpose (subtasks: career planning, lifestyle planning, educational involvement, and cultural participation), developing autonomy (subtasks: emotional autonomy, instrumental autonomy, academic autonomy, and interdependence), and developing mature interpersonal relationships (subtasks: peer relationships and tolerance). This presentation will demonstrate how this instrument can be used by students in first-year courses to measure their progress on these developmental tasks. Participants will see the online interface that students use to respond to the questions and also the online report that students receive instantly upon completing the instrument. Approaches for using this information with students in first-year courses will be discussed. In many cases assessment of the effectiveness of first-year courses is confined to what Jean Henscheid (2004) refers to as the the provostial four, i.e. retention rate increases, increased student satisfaction, more efficient time to degree or program completion, and higher than expected grade point averages. A focus on only these types of outcomes ignores the learning outcomes proposed in the design of many first year courses. Many of these learning outcomes are reflected in the subscales of the SDTLA and when used in a pretest/posttest design, it provides important data regarding the effectiveness of first-year courses. In two recent studies we compared the effect of the freshman seminar course after the first semester and also after four semesters. In this presentation we will show how we designed the studies using the SDTLA and what we found. We will also offer some suggestions for others who are interested in this type of assessment. The Ideal Academic Advisor J. Maxwell Jackson Argosy University/Sarasota Cheri Tillman FYE Coordinator Valdosta Stae University cgtillma@valdosta.edu Student persistence to graduation is a major concern for colleges and universities. Many students leave during the first six to eight weeks of school. Student retention efforts have to be flexible and varied. Interpersonal relationships appear to have a significant impact on the reason people go to college as well as the reason that they remain in college. StudentsÕ social and interpersonal environments are important factors in persistence. These include relationships with friends, family, and college administrators, faculty and staff. The relationship with an academic advisor is crucial. One of the problems with interpersonal relationships as a focus of theory and research is that they

10 are difficult to measure. After a review of literature related to freshman success and academic advising, the rationale for the use of the Adjective Check List (ACL) to identify an ideal advisor will be presented. Results of a study including 114 Freshman Year Experience students will be shared. The scoring procedures and profile development will be explained, and implications for use of the results discussed. The goal of this presentation is to describe the ideal freshman academic advisor. This topic relates to using assessment and evaluation to inform changing practices. Also, it represents imaginative new ways to build a community and improve retention. Student Affairs professionals will understand the personality traits that college freshmen imagine they want in a future ideal advisor. They will gain new perspectives on hiring, job description development, and advisor training and supervision. Current academic advisors will view the top 100 adjectives freshmen want in an advisor. The program format will be a lecture with PowerPoint and participant involvement. Program participants will share and discuss their own characteristics as well as other ways to use these results. Participants will be asked to contribute to the development of the process. Spreading the Word about Success Leslie Chilton Coordinator of Writing Center Arizona State University (480) leslie.chilton@asu.edu Sandra Nagy Director, Writing Across the Curriculum Arizona State University (480) sandra.nagy@asu.edu Stephen Rippon Director, Academic Success Programs Arizona State University (480) steve.rippon@asu.edu This session, which will outline efforts to create a vital and inclusive "success conference" commmences by reminding audience that for all of our interest and dedication to success programs, we may represent a very small percentage of people on campus aware of retention and persistence concerns and efforts. All professors and administrators are reasonably interested in students staying in college, and staying at their institution, but do they know what resources are available and in place? The "Success at ASU" committee was formed out of interested participants seeking to spread such knowledge, and this committee continues to grow, representing, if not fully, all the university--faculty, administration, advisors, and students. What are the problems of launching a "success conference?"--both in attracting participants in the conference, and attendees. Gaining the

11 support of the president and the provost is a must, but this does not guarantee success. Beyond gaining more knowledge, what can attendees gain?--can the tenure track professor include the conference as professional development? Can a student gain credit? As for content, what are good topics? What topics are best for a faculty-administrative audience, and what topics are best for a student audience? Also, how can topics and the issues of conference "last" beyond the day of its presentation? How can a conference such as this be assessed? Finally, funding a conference is always an issue, and what resources can be called upon? The session will conclude with a summary of the positive aspects of this conference, and how "spreading the word" about success may have its difficulties, but every inch gained is vital. Cohort Management--Developing Ownership in Academic Colleges Carol Williams Assistant Director Arizona State University Carol.Williams@asu.edu Jennifer DeSana Academic Associate Arizona State University jennifer.desana@asu.edu Therese Aguayo Academic Advisor Sr. Arizona State University therese.aguayo@asu.edu Campus Match gives freshmen an opportunity to spend their first semester with 25 students in the same core classes. Students register for a guaranteed, pre-set schedule that includes general studies courses and a student success seminar. Taught by a peer mentor, this seminar (UNI 101) provides students with information on university resources, academic strategies, and campus issues. Campus Match functions both as a registration tool during orientations and as a series of learning communities for freshmen during their first semester. As the Campus Match program began to grow, we realized that we needed to give ownership to the colleges--at first to assure that academic advisors could fill the clusters in the orientations, and later to share the responsibility for managing the program in the fall. Between 1999 and 2002 we increased the number of Campus Match clusters for pre-business students from 5 to 25. When we went to 15 clusters in 2001, academic advisors in the College of Business took responsibility for administering their part of the program as well as teaching own their student success seminar, COB 194. This fall they own their clusters, each of which includes COB 194. They select their courses and recommend them to new freshmen at Orientation sessions. They also recruit, hire, train and supervise COB 194 peer facilitators.

12 Last spring advisors in the College of Education decided to follow the lead of Business. In Fall 2005 their 10 clusters will be similarly autonomous, each including a student success seminar, DCI 194. Ten Years of Lessons Learned: The Tale of Two Summer Programs Stephen Rippon Director of Academic Success Programs Arizona State University (480) steve.rippon@asu.edu Brian A. Richardson Assistant Director Arizona State University (480) brian.richardson@asu.edu Each fall, our institutions of higher education enroll students who show multiple indicators that they will have more than the usual difficulties in transitioning to and succeeding at the university level. Many universities have established transitional programs that engage these students during the summer and continue deliberate support for them as they move through, at least, their first year of university life. The Academy for Collegiate Excellence and Student Success (ACCESS) at Prairie View A&M and the ASU Summer Bridge Program at Arizona State University are bridge-to-college programs that provide intensive support for students at the highest risk not to persist in college and provides them the opportunity to be successful college graduates. The approaches of these two programs were developed on the constructivist model emphasizing the content areas of Math, Reading, and Composition while concentrating on learning strategies which address the demonstrated weak skill areas of problem solving and critical thinking. Despite their similarities in pedagogy, these two programs differ significantly in their structure and scope. This panel discusses the similar results obtained by the rather disparate approaches of these two programs. By way of comparing and contrasting such topics as curriculum, program activities, student support, and funding; the panel investigates both the boot camp approach of the ACCESS program and the more liberal, yet demanding, ASU Summer Bridge Program. Helping College Students Reach for the Stars: A Summer Bridge Intensive Program Olga Carranza Associate Dean Of Student Development Arizona Western College (928) olga.carranza@azwestern.edu

13 Amy Wells Associate Dean Arizona Western College (928) This workshop will highlight an intensive two-week program designed to target the developmental academic needs of at-risk first year community college students. The presenters will share the collaborative efforts between instruction and student services. An exploration of the programmatic struggles and successes as a team of campus staff and faculty refine the program will be summarized. Assessment results and the process of refining the program over the past two years will be discussed along with plans for the third year of the Summer Bridge II Program. The participants will learn about effective developmental processes that assist at-risk students to successfully complete intensive coursework and increase their reading, sentence skills and math scores. An overview is presented about what the students learn to establish an easier academic pathway to success in college, using the tools gained in Summer Bridge II. The results show how the program successfully helps students gain the fundamental knowledge necessary to build toward their first year of college. Issues that will be discussed involve the retention and persistence rates of the Summer Bridge student; the student s ability to register into college level courses after they learn coursework within their areas of weakness; and their orientation into the college system as a new student. Tau Sigma National Honor Society: Meeting the Needs of Transfer Students Lee Colquitt Executive Director Auburn University colquitt@business.auburn.edu Although transfer students make up a substantial percentage of new incoming students at many universities, anecdotal evidence suggests that this is a particularly difficult group of students to recruit and successfully assimilate into the university population. This session will introduce Tau Sigma, an honor society designed specifically to recognize and promote the academic excellence and involvement of transfer students. Because of the difficulty that universities traditionally have had in recruiting and assimilating transfer students along with the underrepresentation of transfer students in many honor societies and other organizations on campus, Tau Sigma as an organization is positioned quite well to serve existing and future transfer students as well as the university. First, Tau Sigma serves its members by recognizing their academic excellence and also serves incoming transfer students by providing motivation for them to excel academically. In addition, Tau Sigma provides its new members with an opportunity to assimilate into the university population by first aligning themselves with a group of students who understand the difficulties of

14 transferring and who also are familiar with the campus and its organizations. Tau Sigma also provides early leadership opportunities for those students who seek them. Tau Sigma also can be quite valuable to the university. Members of Tau Sigma can assist the Admissions Office with the recruitment of transfer students by making recruiting visits to junior colleges and helping with transfer student recruiting events on campus. Tau Sigma also can assist the First-Year Experience Office by helping with orientation sessions geared towards transfer students and assisting with receptions and other functions designed for incoming transfers. Finally, the Alumni and Development Office is served by Tau Sigma given that the increased loyalty and sense of belonging of transfers to the university likely will translate into increased retention of transfers and, ultimately, a larger and more dedicated alumni base from which to generate support. Information Literacy in the First Year: Collaborating, Planning and Assessing at Austin Peay Lori Buchanan Instructional Services Librarian Austin Peay State University buchananl@apsu.edu Gina Garber Digital Services Librarian Austin Peay State University garberg@apsu.edu Susan Calovini Professor of English Austin Peay State University calovinis@apsu.edu Aaron Dobbs Network Services Librarian Austin Peay State University dobbsa@apsu.edu Nancy Snyder Instructional Technology Librarian Austin Peay State University snydern@apsu.edu Elaine Berg Information Services Librarian

15 Austin Peay State University Academic librarians and faculty must respond to Gardner s and Hardesty s challenge.[1] Integrating information literacy into first-year experience courses prepares students to succeed academically. One university s planning, implementation, and assessment of fully integrated information literacy is shared. Audience participation in demonstrated activities used to actively engage students is encouraged. Strong relationships built through various campus initiatives enables collaboration among Austin Peay State University librarians and faculty on the first year course curriculum. The development of knowledge, skills, and values associated with finding, evaluating, and using information that students must apply both in their future academic work and later in the workplace is considered very important. Therefore, the planned curriculum includes information literacy coupled with an assignment that addresses another curriculum issue, the importance of choosing a major and a career path; students are given the opportunity to practice what they learn. Specific freshmen-level information literacy competencies are targeted. Concepts and skills to be emphasized during instruction are determined through analyzing quiz results prior to instruction. The quizzes are part of an open source information literacy tutorial adapted for use by first-year students. Librarians use this formative assessment to guide the concepts they emphasize when they instruct the students. Instructional activities are developed and used in class to actively engage students. As a result, they understand a given concept, are able to apply skills associated with the concept, and develop values related to finding information, evaluating its appropriateness, and using it legally and ethically in the project at hand. Additional summative assessment (faculty/librarian surveys and focus groups) are also used to further improve instruction. Gardiner, J. N. and Hardesty, L. (2004). The Reform Movement for the First Year Experience: What is the Role of Librarians?. Library Issues: Briefings for Faculty and Administrators, 24, Retrieved May 21, 2004, from Web site: [1] Teaching Technology to First-Year Students: A Peer Instructor Approach Robert Major Associate Dean Babson College majorr@babson.edu This presentation will focus on how to effectively use student leaders in an instructor capacity. For many of the leaders selected to participate in this program, this is their first experience as a peer instructor.

16 Session participants will receive an overview of the selection and training process of the mentors. In addition, there will be particular emphasis on how to plan the weekly class material for the students instructors so that they will have enough guidance to effectively conduct the class sessions. The course materials are a combination of textbook cases, student developed cases and skills assessment software. All of the program information is managed through a ÒmasterÓ course management software application. Session participants will receive copies of course syllabi and weekly class outlines along with program summary and evaluations from the past two years. In addition, participants will learn how Babson College effectively utilizes school issued laptops in the curriculum. The presenter will provide evidence of the success of this model, through program evaluations, student and faculty feedback on preparation, and data on performance in individual courses. Finally, the presenter will facilitate discussion on the risks and rewards of integrating student leaders in this capacity. Using Assessment to Provide Feedback to First-Year Students Sherry Woosley Assistant Director Ball State University (765) sawoosley@bsu.edu Because the first-year of college can be a difficult adjustment for students, many institutions have developed programs and systems to ease the transition. Tinto (1993) noted that Prompt feedback to students and to those who can assist students is an essential element in the effectiveness of these systems (p. 171). At Ball State University, two collaborative survey projects provide such feedback. The first project is titled Making Achievement Possible (MAP) because it is structured, literally, to help make student achievement possible and to focus on early interventions. The survey of beginning first-year students was designed to reveal student strengths, to identify areas for further growth, and to facilitate one-on-one interventions with students at risk. Individual information and feedback based on survey responses are provided to residence hall professionals, academic advisors, and students. Also, a variety of group summaries are provided to faculty and professional staff on campus. The second project, Making A Successful Transfer, is a similar project aimed at new transfer students. The projects are models in combining assessment and practice. This presentation is organized into six sections. First, the presentation will provide an overview of the projects, including the widespread, collaborative efforts required to carry them out. Second, the MAP survey will be reviewed and both surveys will be discussed. The third section of the presentation will include a discussion of the reporting techniques, including formats, audiences and examples. Recent assessments of the projects will be discussed in the fourth section. The fifth section will describe new developments in the MAP and MAST programs, including the migration of the MAP project to another university and the use of transfer student focus groups to inform the

17 MAST project. Finally, the session will end with open discussion and questions. References: Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. Implementing a First-Year Common Reader Program on Your Campus Melinda Messineo Assistant Director Freshman Connections Ball State University mmessine@bsu.edu Paul Ranieri Director Ball State University This presentation will provide materials and discussion designed to assist a university in implementing a common reader program. The presentation will begin with a description of Ball State s common reader program inception and current goals. The majority of the time will be spent taking participants through a typical fall semester beginning with how one might solicit titles, continuing through the formation of the selection committee, the first round elimination, the actual reading and assessment, the solicitation of community feedback, the final selection, the author contact, the book ordering, the creation of support materials, the on-line discussion, the book distribution, the discussion groups, the fall programming and finally ideas on how to structure the author s visit. The presentation will address challenges and discuss how the program has changed over time and why. The presentation will include decision points where participants will be alerted to alternative approaches that might also be considered. There will be time for participants to ask questions and share their own insights. The materials that will be provided include sample title solicitation wording, a timeline of the process, an assessment tool for the selection process, a sample list of titles, a book selection committee participant survey, a discussion group leader survey, sample book support materials, and more. Using Assessment to Provide Feedback to First-Year Students Steven S. Graunke Assessment Research Analyst Ball State University (765) ssgraunke@bsu.edu Laura Helms Assistant to the Dean

18 Ball State University (765) Because the first-year of college can be a difficult adjustment for students, many institutions have developed programs and systems to ease the transition. Tinto (1993) noted that ÒPrompt feedback to students and to those who can assist students is an essential element in the effectiveness of these systemsó (p. 171). At Ball State University, two collaborative survey projects provide such feedback. The first project is titled Making Achievement Possible (MAP) because it is structured, literally, to help make student achievement possible and to focus on early interventions. The survey of beginning first-year students was designed to reveal student strengths, to identify areas for further growth, and to facilitate one-on-one interventions with students at risk. Individual information and feedback based on survey responses are provided to residence hall professionals, academic advisors, and students. Also, a variety of group summaries are provided to faculty and professional staff on campus. The second project, Making A Successful Transfer, is a similar project aimed at new transfer students. The projects are models in combining assessment and practice. This presentation is organized into six sections. First, the presentation will provide an overview of the projects, including the widespread, collaborative efforts required to carry them out. Second, the MAP survey will be reviewed and both surveys will be discussed. The third section of the presentation will include a discussion of the reporting techniques, including formats, audiences and examples. Recent assessments of the projects will be discussed in the fourth section. The fifth section will describe new developments in the MAP and MAST programs, including the migration of the MAP project to another university and the use of transfer student focus groups to inform the MAST project. Finally, the session will end with open discussion and questions. References: Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. Student Success: Utilizing a Strengths Perspective Model M. Theresa Bloskey Assistant Director/Counselor Bloomsburg University mbloskey@bloomu.edu The Strengths Perspective model provides a different approach to assessment, goal planning and service delivery. This model adapted from the Social Work Strengths Perspective model of clinical practice focuses on talents, competencies, capacities, visions, values and hopes. Student assessments, goal planning and supportive interventions are grounded in resiliency, rebound, possibility, growth and transformation.

19 Individuals have vast, often untapped and frequently unappreciated, reservoirs of physical, emotional, cognitive, interpersonal, social and spiritual energies, resources and competencies. These strengths are invaluable in constructing the possibility of change, transformation and hope. Students identified as at risk have often developed coping strategies/strengths that are readily dismissed however these strengths can be advantageous in the academic venue. The Strengths Perspective Model of student advising, counseling and coaching can be the route to success for the students particularly when students identify and embrace their personal strengths during their freshmen year. Program Objectives: At the conclusion of this workshop participants will be able to: - identify elements of the Strengths Perspective Model relevant to The First Year Experience - adapt the Strengths Perspective Model to the ongoing student assessment and goal-planning process - facilitate students personal and academic growth and success utilizing the Strengths Perspective Model - generate ongoing assessments and student interventions promoting success particularly for at risk students Slide presentation identifies strategies for assessment, goal planning and techniques for addressing the needs of "at risk" students "Our Best Advice: Seniors Talk to Freshmen" Ann Marie Barry Asst. Dir. Capstone Program Boston College barryam@comcast.net The program will discuss the inception of a class project undertaken by 16 graduating seniors in the Spring of 2004 as part of a Capstone class titled Beyond Conflict at Boston College. Determined to leave a useful legacy, after much debate, students settled on the idea of a legacy of advice. They wished to pass on the wisdom of their four years of experience to incoming students, and to provide them with an instrument that could prove useful throughout their four years. They believed that doing well in school, getting involved on campus and getting to know their way around campus and the Boston area would have been a lot faster and easier process if they were

20 aware earlier, not only of the many helpful resources available to them on campus, but also of the kinds of stresses they would face in interpersonal relationships based on housing, friendships and dating. The consequent booklet, Our Best Advice: Seniors Talk to Freshmen about the things that worry undergraduates most, was designed specifically to help new students adapt to a new life on campus, to put aside their fears, to polish their dreams, and become an active part of the community. Designed and written by the Capstone graduating seniors themselves, the booklet, dgives advice in a variety of areas, including: Top 6 Ways to Get Involved, Get Educated, and Have Fun on Campus; Essential Advice on Choosing the Right Classes Pass-Fail choices Core Courses Deciding on Majors and Minors Registration tips Advising and Studying Abroad; Ten Housing Commandments; Planning Ahead for Freshman Sophomore Year Junior Senior Years; Getting off Campus; Where to Go for Eating Out and Living Necessities; Where and How to spend Great Free Afternoons; Academic Advice on Getting Classes Finding Interests Choosing a Major Procrastination Testing Out of Language Junior Year Abroad Advising Studying but Getting Nowhere; Personal & Social Advice on Roommate Troubles Drinking Hooking Up Feeling Alone and Alienated Friends from Home No Money Off-campus boy/girlfriends No Love-life Worries about Friends. This program will share some of the insights of the seniors as they attempted to address areas of concern usually overlooked by more standard publications, how their approach to effective decision-making within the four-year undergraduate experience evolved, and how the final publication, a 34-page spiral-bound 8.5 sq. booklet took shape. We will talk about the gathering and organization of information, publication format, distribution and response to the booklet, plans for future updates and continuity, as well as problems of production funding. We will also discuss the process by which the booklet ultimately came to be disseminated to freshmen in the university. Peer Mentoring: Integrating Leadership Opportunities into First Year Programs Jodi Webb Director Bowling Green State University (419) jwebb@bgnet.bgsu.edu Julie Baker Bagley Director, Utah Valley Leaders Center Utah Valley State College (419) Mike Jensen Assistant Professor Utah Valley State College (419) Marni Sanft