Engagement and Accountability at Queensborough Community College

using the Epsilen Social Learning Platform

Michele CuomoAssociate Dean for Academic AffairsQueensborough Community College

of the City University of New York

Queensborough Community College

An open access urban institution in the most diverse county in the United States

FRESHMAN ACADEMIES

Enhanced academic and student support for all first-time full-time freshmen

High Impact Educational PracticesWhat they are, who has access to them and why do they matter?

By George D. Kuh

“The results of participating in these high-impact practices are especially striking for students who are further behind in terms of their entering academic test scores. The benefits are similarly positive for students from communities that historically have been underserved in higher education.”

High Impact Practices of the Freshman Academies

• e-Portfolio • Cornerstone• Learning Communities• Service Learning• Writing Intensive

All 5 High Impact Practices at Queensborough currently adopt Epsilen Engage tools for social learning and reflection

Epsilen and EPorfolio

http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/eportfolio/

College 101 Orientation: My Academic Plan and ePortfolio

• Questions to Help You Make the Most of College:

• Am I working as hard as I can and choosing a wide array of courses—not just those in which I know I will do well?

• Am I working with my adviser to chart a pathway through college that challenges me and will ensure that I learn what I need to learn?

• Am I pursuing opportunities, both in the classroom and beyond, to apply what I am learning in the real world—through internships, leadership in student groups, study abroad, service learning, or undergraduate research?

• • -- from Liberal Education/America’s Promise: Association of

American Colleges and Univeristies

Introduction to College Life Course and ePortfolio

Epsilen and the Student Wiki Interdisciplinary Group

(SWIG)"To reflect is to look back over what has been done so

as to extract the net meanings which are the capital stock for intelligent dealing with future experiences. It

is the heart of intellectual organization and of the disciplined mind" (DEWEY 87)

SWIG as a High Impact Practice

• Common Intellectual Experience• Cornerstone Course• Global/Diversity Learning• Service Learning• Virtual Learning Community

A New Culture of Learning• The old ways of learning are

unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world.

• New media forms are making peer-to-peer learning easier and more natural.

• Peer-to-peer learning is amplified by emerging technologies that shape the collective nature of participation with those new media.

“Songs of our Fathers”by a Freshman Composition Student in collaboration with his peers

• The process followed during the Student Wik Interdisciplinary Wiki Group:

• English 103 Student – writes an essay and shares it with an Acting student

• The Acting Student "PRESENTS" the composition • The English Student REFLECTS on the collaboration process • Based on the project's collaboration, the English Student

revises/finalizes his essay and creates a DIGITAL STORY

Queensborough Digital Storytelling Example

Student Essays as Dramatic Texts

“I chose this character because it reminded me of myself. When I was young my family moved from predominantly black West-Indian neighborhood to a mostly white community. On my first day of the new school, I thought I was watching a “Happy Days” episode with a bunch of Richie Cunninghams. Her closeness to her family is the same as mine. Family is very important to me”

-Navin, Theatre 120 Student on an essay by Farima from Afghanistan, -EN 101 student

Service Learning

“One of the students from education informed me that I am on my way to self-actualization which means that I continually try to be the best by satisfying my cognitive need through reading books and articles. It actually makes sense…I strive for knowledge.”Student #3, Basic Skills Class

Results in Retention

92.7% of first time/full time students in the Fall 2009 SWIG project cohort enrolled in Spring 2010

88% of all ft/ft Fall 2009-Spring 2010 (Freshman Academy Students)

65% for all ft/ft Fall 2006-Spring 2007

The Assessment Protocol for Freshman Academies

A research design used to assess the effectiveness of Freshman Academies via multiple investigative methods.

• Student Surveys• Faculty Surveys• Administrative Databases

The Academies Provide:

• High Impact Practices• Freshman Coordinators• General Education Outcomes Rubrics

used in the classroom

Measures of Success

• Higher course success rates• Higher retention rates• Higher credit completion rates• Higher student and faculty engagement with

the college• Higher degree-attainment rates

Cohort Comparisons

Baseline Cohort: First-time, full-time freshmen from Fall 2006

Academy Cohort:First-time, full-time freshmen from Fall 2009

Separate analyses of remedial and non-remedial students.

Half-Year and One-Year Retention

Cohort Year Initial Cohort N

Half-Year Retention

One-Year Retention

2006 Fall Cohort 2,051 82.3% 65.8%

2009 Fall Cohort 3,226 88.0% 71.4%

For further information:

Michele CuomoAdministration 503

Queensborough Community College222-05 56th Ave

Bayside, NY 11364jmcuomo@qcc.cuny.edu

www.qcc.cuny.edu718-631-6344

Acknowledgements:Bruce Naples, Director of Academic Computing CenterEd Hanssen, Eportfolio DirectorJo Pantaleo, Service Learning DirectorVictor Fichera, PI for the Freshman Academies Protocol