th annual conference on the first -year experience using ... · st resume clas advising (2)...
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Presented by:
John Lanning, Ken Bettenhausen,and Nadine Montoya
30th Annual Conference on the First -Year Experience
Using Workshops to Extend Academic Skills
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
An urban research university located on the Auraria campus shared with the Community College of Denver and Metropolitan State College of Denver, and consolidated with the Anschutz Medical Campus
14,000 students in six colleges; 9,000 undergraduate students
1,100 Fall first-year freshmen; 30% freshmen live in on-campus housing
common general education ‘core’ across all colleges
1,300 Fall transfer students, ~35% from community colleges
history as both transfer-in and transfer-out institution
UC DENVER FYS PROGRAM
1988-2000Required seminar of first-year students in College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
2005Quality Undergraduate Education initiative for improved student retention
2006Initiated campus-wide FYS program
2008FYS Course meets Core Curriculum requirements 2009
Initiated Skills Workshops
2010Initiated Peer Advocate Leader (PAL) Program
UC DENVER FYS FORMAT
3-credit hour – one course in Core Curriculum Core requirement – critical thinking and writing
Faculty taught – tenure-track, instructors, and staff Class size – limited to 24 students Campus-wide – encouraged for all new freshmen
Academic content varies – 70-80% In-class, out-of-class academic skills – 20-30%
Engagement through workshops, campus activities, service learning, and academic advising
UC DENVER FYS COURSES
ARTSSources of Creativity
BIOLGlobal Health
Crisis
CHEM Science Behind Environmental
Headlines
COMMEvaluating
Contemporary TV
CRJULaw and Order
ENGRPsychology of
Technology and Industry
GEOGGlobal Climate
Change
HISTFinding Your Way Around Denver
MATHMathematics of Sports, Games and Gambling
MGMTGet Rich or Die
Trying
PSYC What
Psychologists Do
TCEDLearning for the
21st Century
UC DENVER FYS ENROLLMENT
Year,Fall Sections
FYS Enrollment
Average Section
% FY Students
2006 7 99 14.1 10.4
2007 11 190 17.3 17.2
2008 14 289 20.6 26.1
2009 15 358 23.9 32.7
2010 16 378 23.6 34.4
INTEGRATION OF ACADEMIC SKILLS Faculty Expertise
pre-semester training
Skills Text standard text – Ellis, Gardner, Carter, etc. custom text – Carter
Campus Resource Scavenger Hunts Workshops
in-class skills presentations from support offices large-scale presentations by support office staff in/out-of-class workshops from student support offices
VARIATIONS OF ‘WORKSHOP’ CONCEPT
Pre-conference sessions at regional and national meetings FYE, AACU, NACADA, FoE, etc.
Pre-semester faculty or staff development individuals preparing to teach a first-year seminar course
Limited number of required workshop sessions in-class and of out-of-class sessions for FYS students
UC DENVER FYS WORKSHOP CONCEPTThe UC Denver workshop concept is a large number of optional sessions sponsored by student support offices and focused on academic or personal skills.
supplement required in-class skills in Carter text utilize student support office staff for skills expertise extend campus resources beyond orientation increase faculty mentoring in selecting workshops provide student choice to support learning needs improve student satisfaction and retention for FYS students
FALL 2009 WORKSHOPSBeginning with Fall 2009, FYS courses required students to participate in skills-oriented workshops of the student’s choice.
•alcohol
•study skills, test taking
•major selection, career options
•essay support, citations, effective writing
FALL 2009 WORKSHOP ASSESSMENT
overall student evaluation of
3.3 on 5-point scale
positive student comments about mentoring and choice of skills
increased student use of
support offices
lack of registration system led to over
and under subscription of
sessions
too few workshop sessions caused
several skills sessions to be oversubscribed
FALL 2010 SKILLS WORKSHOPS13 support offices provided 145 workshop sessions covering 56 topics.
wide range of academic and personal skills registration system developed by each support office workshops available to FYS and non-FYS students reliance on existing workshops FYS faculty agreed to require three skills workshops FYS faculty had option for in-class skills workshops FYS program provided modest funds to support offices FYS web site to provide list and calendar of workshops
FYS WORKSHOPS - UE WEBSITE
drop-down menus by Officeand interactive
calendar
FALL 2010 WORKSHOPSAuraria Library (9)•MS PowerPoint, data base searching
Career Center (2)•major selection, workforce, 1st resume
CLAS Advising (2)•degree planning, early alert
Commun. Stand. & Wellness (1)•alcohol awareness
Counseling Center (5)•Strengths Quest, emotions, counseling basics
Experiential Learning Center (1)•learning outside classroom
Financial Aid (3)•personal finance, financial aid basics
Health Center (7)•healthy moves, STD prevention, sleep
Learning Resource Center (12)•studying, test taking, learning styles
Phoenix Center (2)•violence prevention, love/sex/lies
Scholarship Office (5)•basics, searching, online application
Student Life (1)•first generation, transforming perspectives
Writing Center (6)•citations, literature reviews, effective writing
Other (?)•Health Careers, Writing Process, Professionalism,
FYS SURVEY ASSESSMENT310 (84.7%) FYS students completed an end-of-semester survey on all aspects of the FYS program. 848 workshop participations – over reported strong student evaluation of workshops – 3.3 to 4.2 (5-pt) workshops contributed to out-of-class engagement activities
workshops – 97% participation rate with 3.7 average evaluation activities – 90% participation rate with 3.6 average evaluation advising – 88% participation rate with 4.1 average evaluation service learning (optional) – 28% participation rate with 3.8 evaluation
workshop skills scored higher than text – 3.7 versus 3.5 89% returning for Fall 2011 – self-reported retention 79% recommendation of FYS to incoming freshmen
WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION ASSESSMENTEach FYS student attending a skills workshop completed a participation/evaluation form.
492 workshop participations – under reported
strong evaluation of individual workshops – 4.3 (5-pt)
several not well attended – 6 of 56 with zero FYS participation
significant variation between FYS sections – grading, mentoring, encouragement, use of peer mentor
in-class workshops scored well, but not above out-of-class Career Center: in-class = 4.2, out-of-class = 4.3 Writing Center: in-class = 3.8, out-of-class = 4.4
student confusion between office ‘visit’ and ‘workshop’
WORKSHOPS – STUDENT COMMENTS
negative comments required aspect of workshops three workshops viewed as excessive workshop participation was part of course grade excessive amount of outside class engagement activities
positive comments workshops listed as best aspect of FYS course learned about campus resources, how student fees used strengthened campus engagement wanted more workshops, especially at end of semester
WORKSHOPS – FACULTY COMMENTSFaculty response to skills workshops is overall very positive.
workshops complement Carter skills text workshop participation is supported by faculty mentoring option of in-class workshops – career, writing, study
difficulty of engaging students in workshops in-class testimonials extra credit when take FYS classmate
positive feedback to faculty from students who participated student confusion from large number of workshops
WORKSHOPS – STAFF COMMENTSOffice directors and support staff were generally supportive of the FYS workshops. increased student exposure to campus resources significant student participation in workshops
participation extends beyond FYS semester strong support for in-class workshop presentations registration systems presented issues
e-mail reminder not available too many no-shows
weak enrollment in several workshop sessions staff time commitment and space can be significant issues workshop content overlap between offices
WORKSHOPS – UE PERSPECTIVEThe Office of Undergraduate Experiences provides an overview of the UC Denver skills workshops.
Increased Communication
FYS faculty and student support offices
Student-Selected Workshops
tailored to interests; avoids negative aspect of required
participation
Faculty Buy-in
integrate student skills with academic content through
mentoring and assignments
Strengthened Engagement Culturestudent engagement outside FYS
classroom
Workshop Success
faculty, student and staff communication
FALL 2011 MODIFICATIONS
Number of workshop sessions
90-100 sessions
Differentiationbetween workshop, activity, and
office visitation separate participation forms
Faculty Commitment stronger and more consistent to
support workshop concept –culture change for some FYS
faculty
Workshop Selectionstronger faculty, and possibly peer
mentor, role in helping students select workshops
Coordinationbetween student support offices for combined workshops around
central topic
Workshop Topicseliminate ineffective workshopsadd health careers workshops
IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONSIf considering using optional skills workshops, please keep the consider the following:
FYS Faculty support is essential for workshop success. Significant staff time is required to coordinate, schedule, and
promote skills workshops. Communication before and after the semester is crucial. FYS website is needed for workshop promotion and calendar
development. Small financial support is very helpful. Culture and communication changes are slow.
CONCLUSIONS Optional skills workshops are the most effective format used at
UC Denver to augment skills in the content-oriented FYS program.
Optional workshop concept should work for both skills- and content-oriented FYS programs.
Communication between academic and student affairs improved significantly.
Space and staff resources may preclude every student support office from participating.
For additional information or details about skills
workshops at UC Denver, please contact:
John Lanning Assistant Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Experiences
303-315-2134 [email protected]
Nadine Montoya Program Coordinator,
Undergraduate Experiences 303-315-2133