The First Year Experience: Where We Are July-August 2007
Draft 10/4/07
Dimensions and
Indicators1
1. Philosophy
1. Campus FY
philosophy
2. Influence on campus
policy and practice?
3. Disseminated and
funded?
Programs, policies and procedures, activities
1. Commitment to student learning and retention is
in Strategic Plan: Goal 3, Build a learning
environment that facilitates student development and
success.
We will design our services so that all our
students may take maximum advantage of a
learning environment truly conducive to
educational effectiveness
Objective: Facilitating student success
Indicator: Increase Freshman to sophomore retention
rate
2. No campus-wide specifically FY philosophy, no
unit responsible for FY coordination, nothing to
disseminate or to fund at campus level.
GE goals statement, restriction of GE courses to
lower-division, Eng 100 policy on completion in FY
(24 cr)
Data and documentation: Existing and
coming
Univ 101 program description/goals
Other units’ mission statements/goals?
Student Success Committee April 06 report
Available data: outcomes of 101: students who
took 101 and track their GPAs and persistence;
characteristics of students (freshman, senior?);
compare 101 grade distribution with those of
other FY courses [Brendan has a report
already]
Entering student survey to all new students:
exists and can be revised to include needs
assessment; involve all entering students
New: How to make the survey compulsory to
everyone; Under discussion: Follow-up survey:
needs assessment,
[Used to be a FY coordinator and Univ 101 involved How many complete Eng 100 in first year?
1
Upcraft, M.L., Gardner, J.N. & Barefoot, B.O. (2005). Challenging and supporting the first-year student: A handbook for
improving the first year of college. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Nine dimensions and indicators presented by John Gardner at preconference workshop, International Conference on The First-Year Experience, July 9, 2007.
faculty; no longer funded]
Math requirement?
FY average credit hours? Completing Gen Ed?
Individual OSA units may have a philosophy. E.g,
Univ 101 group has a well-articulated statement.
VC-SA is compiling vision and goals statements
from all SA units. (Not complete as of 9/28/07)
3. Not presently a specific focus of academic units.
Other: Orientation funding is fee-based $55/student
and $25/parents. Advising is part of orientation but
students may get advising w/out orientation and
w/out fee. There used to be a $50 fee for faculty to
participate in summer advising sessions.
2. Organization2
1. Existing
organizational
structure(s) and
evaluation; a steering
committee
2. Funding
3. Integrated approach
4. Faculty/staff
development
2
1. No organizational structure, steering committee,
or coordinator; evaluation of own services by
individual units?
2. Funding for individual programs through OSA,
federal agencies; courses are covered by Academic
Affairs (Eng 100, Math Lab, Writing Center]
3. Not integrated outside of OSA, perhaps not as
integrated within OSA as it could be.
4. None specifically for FY, but other faculty
development opportunities address issues of
importance to FY: workshops on improving writing
instruction, including Freshman Comp; Offices of
VC Academic Affairs and Student Affairs funded a
dozen participants in the 20th International
1. List of units involved in FY activities,
program descriptions/missions/goals.
Orientation is starting an evaluation process:
student/parent satisfaction. [Banner entries on
who went to Orientation, then track those who
did not and who did; student attribute list goes
from Brendan to KENNY]
2. MELLON: survey of OSA and other studentcentered grants
Includes all programs that serve freshmen; may include programs that serve other students as well, e.g., Math Lab
3. Learning
1. Articulated and
assessed FY learning
goals
2. Effective pedagogies
in high-risk gateway
courses
3. Measures of out-ofclass learning
4. Appropriate course
placement
5. Developmental
support
Conference on the First-year experience , July 9 –
12, 2007; Office of Academic Affairs and Kīpuka
funded two participants in the National College
Learning Center Association’s conference “Learning
Centers by Design” September 2007; annual new
faculty orientation includes sessions on student
learning and Student Affairs’ support, not specify
FY
Colleges, VCAA; STEM Keaholoa, Kīpuka,
1. Univ 101 course objectives are formulated and
reviewed by instructors
Regular review of English 100 goals, norming
exercises among instructors.
Gear Up project sessions involving Hilo and
Waiakea High School English teachers, Community
College, and UH Hilo writing instructors in the
articulation, alignment and sequencing of learning
goals from High School English through Freshman
Composition; a common rubric was designed and
will be tested and evaluated this AY.
2. STEM-funded peer tutoring, data for DFW
STEM courses; we do not know what is going on in
most 100-level courses
3. Service learning included in some Univ 101
sections; on-campus employment in academic
settings. Calculus for Physics majors.
4. Writing Placement Exam, English Proficiency
Test, Math Placement Test, Chemistry Placement
Test, Computer Skills Exam (CoBE). Math follow
up study indicated that while placement testing
appears to improve student performance in Math
NSSE freshman data on academic challenge and
other academic issues.
Data on student success, retention, etc.
Student Success Committee April 06 report
Set as benchmark? Percentage of freshmen in
good standing at end of freshman year (cum
GPA of 2.0)
Set as benchmark? Percentage of freshmen
undeclared in first semester that have declared
by end of first year.
First-year transfers also need our attention; they
are harder to track than “first year fulltime
freshmen.”
1. Data on Univ 101 and retention/success [see
section “philosophy”]
2. STEM data on gateway courses
3.
4. Some placement data available—placement
scores and coursework avail on Banner
4. Transitions [into
college]
1. Articulating
expectations about
performance, conduct
2. Communication
about and among
support networks
3. Helping students
establish connections
4. Academic advising
103, it does not appear to improve student
performance in 104 or 205.
5. Courses: Math 103, Eng 100T, cooperation with
HawCC for pre-Eng 100 and mixed in Math
Tutoring and academic guidance: STEM-Keaholoa
peer tutoring program, Kīpuka ,MAAP, PALS,
SSSP, Athletics: tracking;
Writing Center, Math Lab: some tracking
5. Developmental course data? what is
available?
MAAP, PALS, Gear-Up, Upward Bound, Early
Admissions, STEM Keaholoa Summer Bridge
Program, Foundations of Excellence, American
Diploma Project, Advising Center, Orientation,
Admissions, Housing Office
1. Student orientation includes statement of
expectations; recruiting trips and visits by AcadAdv
and Admissions Offices; some syllabi
2. Student orientation, Housing Office, Student
Life?, Women’s Center; STEM; campus-wide
tutoring network to be developed this year (as
encouraged by Learning Centers By Design
conference)
3. UHAnnounce to student hawaii.edu accounts,
International Student mail-fowarding; departmental
activities for majors (Math, CS, Psy, Marine
Science, others?); on-campus employment in
academic settings; STEM; Student Association and
student organizations (Student Life), Kipuka,
Housing Office, Women’s Center; Fall 06 Housing
learning community pilot; 2007 new student
orientation included networking sessions for transfer
Admissions data, retention to second year and
beyond
Student Success Committee April 06 report
1. Data on orientation? Follow-up?
2. Housing information?
3. Documenting dept. and other activities?
STEM has some data
4. How/what is AdvCtr tracking?
students, non-trraditional and returning students, and
commuter students.
4. Academic advising center (academic year,
summers, off-island advising)
5. Faculty/Campus
Culture
1. Institution involves
faculty and staff in FY
2. FY expectations are
explicit at point of hire
3. Rewards for FY
involvement
6. All Students
1. Understand and
meet needs of special
groups of FY students
2. Understanding and
meeting needs of all FY
students
7. Diversity
1. Support students’
1. Just beginning: FYE 2007 conferences, FYE
project; Congress Admissions Committee (While
there was a Congress Student Success Committee in
2006, which combined the former Congress
Admissions and Retention Committees, it was not
renewed in 2007; when the Admissions Committee
was broken out of the Student Success Committee
and reformed for 2007-2008, the Retention
Committee was not reformed.
2. Faculty job descriptions mention teaching and
advising but not FY; ? recent hires in Math,
Chemistry are specifically pedagogy -focused?
RANDY?
3. None at present
Policies for withdrawal, complete withdrawal,
probation, dismissal, readmission, follow-up;
Counseling outreach for students on probation;
1. Univ 101 and ongoing programs of support for
special needs: OSA
2. Orientation and Advising Center; Writing Center,
Math Lab
Women’s Center, Student Life
1. Title III project to train specific faculty to
1. [report on participation, follow-up]
2. job descriptions, hiring facts
3.
Data on h.s. performance, admissions, retention,
tracking students thru career
1. Univ 101 variant syllabi
2. AdvCtr materials, WC and Math Lab usage
data
Student diversity data, course inventory,
syllabus survey?
exposure to diverse
ideas
2. Support students’
interaction with diverse
people
3. Institution conveys
standards for behavior in
a civil and open
environment
8. Roles and Purposes
1. Communicate the
institution’s sense of
educational purpose
2. Provide students the
opportunity to explore
their motivation for
higher education
3. Communicate
institution’s rationale for
its requirements
9. Assessment and
Improvement
1. Ongoing assessment
of student learning and
program performance in
terms meaningful to
integrate native Hawaiian values into teaching and
course content; GE world cultures requirement;
H/A/P requirement
Chancellor’s Committee on Diversifying the Faculty
formed 2007
2. Sociocultural makeup of student body, staff, and
to some extent faculty makes this inevitable
3. UH system and UH Hilo nonviolence in the
workplace policy
2007 Joint Academic Affairs and Student Affairs
workshop to help faculty work with disruptive
and/or distressed students
4.
University, program, dept. web pages; program
goals and outcomes; syllabi
1. Student and faculty Orientation sessions
2. Univ 101, introductory courses, major advising
(presumably), major capstone and seminar courses
(offered in some majors)
1.
2.
3.
3. Requirements are publicized, not justifications?
[CHECK CATALOG]
1. ETS MFT administered by CS, CoBE; Political
Science, Physics, Psychology; other funded
assessment projects (2006-200&) completed by
CoBE, English, Math, Nursing ; pass rates on
NCLEX recorded by Nursing; natural science
seminar presentations; tracking of number of users
Banner entries on who went to Orientation, then
track those who did not and who did; student
attribute list goes from Brendan to KENNY;
BRENDAN will check on adding code for this;
AALA will find student to enter];
institution
by Math Lab and Writing Center; tracking of student New initiative: establish ID swiping for all
performance in peer-tutored high-risk science/math
services in order to document usage,
2. Using assessment
courses by STEM Keaholoa
participation
practices and results for 2.Analysis and application of results to program
improvement
improvement: Departments whose projects were
3. Adopt other
funded with VCAA assessment support funds were
strategies for
required to include in their completion reports
assessment/improvement information as to how the results would be used for
program improvement. Not all departments
complied.
Contract renewal requires responses to student evals
Univ 101 seminar series are reviewed by students
and this may lead to modifications.
The Writing Intensive committee has engaged the
services of a consultant to develop effective
assessment strategies