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FoE Steering Committee Minutes
February 26, 2009
Present: Susan Hill, Donna Vinton, Gretta Berghammer, Kristin Moser, David Grant, Lyn Countryman,
Jean Neibauer, Melissa Payne, Siobahn Morgan, Jessica Moon, Kristin Woods, Jon Buse, Bev Kopper
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Learning Dimension Report Discussion
a. Process: Subgroups for performance indicators
b. Jean & David’s summary: UNI not doing a bad job – but we could do a lot more if we
had resources but also with the resources we do have; we could build on writing, esp. in
the first year; UNI does assessment in so many ways – but we are comparing apples &
oranges when doing it, so hard to make general conclusions based on such assessments;
faculty development very important – faculty are key to learning – to help coordinate
first year efforts; economics of doing this makes it difficult – requires a lot of
coordination
c. PI 1: Learning Goals
- Important to not look at these in terms of our silos (academic & student
services) – need to look at these across the board.
- There are some out there – but there is no universal set across the board.
- MAPP data will be included in College Portrait within a couple of years once we
get enough numbers.
d. PI2: Student Engagement
- How faculty engage students in their classroom – methods, depending on class
size, content, etc.
- Reporting D’s & F’s isn’t mandatory at UNI – not all instructors are providing
sufficient feedback to students during their first year
- We dump people into our LAC courses expecting them to know what it’s all
about, and they don’t know.
- Tests may not be given in time for feedback for midterm D’s & F’s.
- Midterm is way too late for giving feedback.
- Within the first 3-6 weeks students decide if they’re coming back the next
semester.
- What can we do to facilitate engagement during that first semester, even in the
first few weeks?
- Faculty don’t fill these out because they may think students already know
they’re in trouble. We don’t know that it alerts others on campus there are
problems.
- Students who are flunking aren’t the ones who are really concerned? Is it our
responsibility as faculty to take care of those folks? Do we want to keep their
students here? They don’t know how to study, they don’t know that they’re
doing bad, because they can’t figure out what the signals are. They are still
operating on a high school mentality.
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- There needs to be a way to track students’ performance – one central location
where things are coming in – before midterm.
- E-mail program – this person is doing horribly and I don’t know what to do
about it. (e.g., early warning system)
- Hard to warn for large classes – we just don’t know the students well enough –
this is a very different culture for students.
- We need to communicate with the high schools what the academic
expectations are in college, esp. for large classes. Also, what is scientific
study? e.g., Intro to Psych – extended Oprah time
- Average student comes in with 12 hours of dual credit so they think they know
what college is like
- We can also build in the argument for a freshman seminar here because the
students need to be trained. Make this argument even stronger! If we think
it’s important enough, then we should do it.
- Some goals of a freshman seminar and of engagement could be incorporated
into already existing classes. They need to hear the message more than just in
a freshman seminar.
- College Writing & Research has 82% of freshman + Oral Comm course both have
small class sizes. But they have transient instructors – so faculty development
must include them also. We need staff meetings of the instructors.
- Multiple section classes (esp. math department where there are different
books) – hard to help folks in the academic learning center because there are
different texts. There needs to be a common text in large multiple section
classes. OR at the very least same learning outcome discussions.
- Low-cost: common pieces expected to go into syllabi. “Success in this course
requires ….” We could come up with items such as these. This could be an
action item. Homework assignment in which they respond to the things on
the syllabus. But who will police this? Make it voluntary, with pilot things
going with faculty who want to work with first-year students.
- Remember that the majority of students do just fine. We are not completely
failing here.
- There is a student orientation session on sample syllabi – they could highlight
the common parts.
- P. 5 differential attention – faculty perceptions of what they do for these groups
– they are asked more to respond to these groups of students. We pay
attention to more groups than others. Don’t make the interpretation that it’s
because of the reputation of the school.
- P. 6 differences in perceptions in asking questions – are faculty answering the
question in reference to smaller sections & students to larger sections?
Perhaps students are comparing to engagement in high school, esp. to how it
felt as a senior.
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e. PI3: Course Outcomes
- List top 5 highly enrolled courses somewhere.
f. PI4: Courses with High DFWI Rates
- Which courses have high DFWI?
1. Physics
2. India
3. Calc 1
4. Life Sciences
5. Economics
- Were these based on freshman data in CPI?
- What percentages of courses do faculty complete D/F reports? (?about 1/3)
- Follow up happens with D/F reports – faculty need to know what happens.
- DOR would be a great partner for any cornerstone for anything extra we do as a
freshman.
- Are retention rates going from 1-2 year different for on-campus and off-campus
folks?
g. PI5: Placement
- Do a better job of placing students in courses in similar learners. They do this
with Math classes.
- Earmark courses that most freshman take – start it one week early just for the
freshman – makes it very clear what the expectations are, trial assignments.
Very structured program outside of class also. [like a BRIDGE program]
- A portion of class every Friday to deal with freshman, in some of those classes
(Melissa’s experience). Upper-classman provided support also.
- ACT of 20 is break point for placement. This seems to be pretty accurate for
placement purposes. They also ask questions about courses taken for
placement.
- For students who need additional writing or math, it is problematic. Thus we
have a couple of developmental courses – but there aren’t enough sections of
them to meet the need.
- College Writing Basics – what is happening with the initial test-out writing
sample? Melissa indicated this has been a problem, because they got help
with their writing at the Writing Center. It’s taught by adjuncts with separate
monies.
- Could we test them at orientation or prior to orientation, during admission
decisions? And perhaps treat them with some type of BRIDGE program? ACT
writing sample is not required because the other regents’ institutions don’t
require it.
- If we could have a tiered LAC system, then we could address specific outcomes.
First year classes, second year classes, third year classes, fourth year classes.
It would help us plan in the summer time.
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- PSEOA (Post Secondary Enrollment Options Act) – Iowa has a lot of students
doing this. Are the community colleges meeting the standards Iowa has set
up? ACT scores have started falling. The average time in college is 2.6 years
to a degree with this current plan. Only 67% with AA go on to 4 year
institutions. If they start at a 4 year institution, they are more likely to get a 4
year degree – we should advertise around this.
h. PI6: Out of Class Learning
- peer academic advising or regular advising – one is in student affairs and one is
in academic affairs – make that clear.
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CHALLENGES/OPPORTUNITIES
- Transfer system – they are going right into their major. They are suspended if
they don’t do well after their first semester. We need a graduated deficiency
system for them. That is good evidence to support starting here. Learning
curve is very steep for juniors coming in.
- Perhaps we should have lesser tuition costs for first 2 years (to match
community colleges) & then up tuition for jr./sr. years.
- Do we have a unified message about transfer credit we could offer? Could have
this discussion in Transitions dimension.
- We’re not good about talking about our academic strengths – we need to sell
ourselves that it is challenging and that we will help you. We are not that
huge.
- In Jr. High they start getting the messages that they can be dual enrolled.
Next time, start with challenges/opportunities.
NEXT WEEK:
- Freshman LAC courses
- Finish learning dimension report
- Early warning system options