Exploring the Evidence: Reporting Research on First-Year Seminars Volume IV

Exploring the Evidence: Reporting Research on First-Year Seminars Volume IV Angela M Griffin and Jonathan Romm Editors National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® & Students in Transition University of South Carolina, 2008 Cite as: Griffin, A M., & Romm, J (Eds.) (2008) Exploring the evidence, vol IV: Reporting research on first-year seminars Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Retrieved [date] from, http://www.sc.edu/fye/resources/fyr/index.html Sample chapter citation: Friedman, D., & Marsh B (2008) Appalachian State University In A M Griffin & J Romm (Eds.), Exploring the evidence, vol IV: Reporting research on first-year seminars (pp 7-10) Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The FirstYear Experience and Students in Transition Retrieved [date] from, http://www.sc.edu/ fye/resources/fyr/index.html Copyright © 2008 University of South Carolina All rights reserved No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form, by any means, without written permission of the University of South Carolina The First-Year Experience® is a service mark of the University of South Carolina A license may be granted upon written request to use the term “The First-Year Experience.” This license is not transferable without written approval of the University of South Carolina Volume Credits: Copyediting and proofing Tracy L Skipper, Editorial Projects Coordinator Toni Vakos, Editor Emily Mullins, Graduate Assistant Dottie Weigel, Graduate Assistant Layout and design Erin M Morris Contents Foreword v Barbara F Tobolowsky Antioch College Janice Rye Kinghorn, Christine Smith, and Eli Nettles Appalachian State University Dan Friedman and Beth Marsh Babson College 11 Rob Major and Michele Brown Brigham Young University Hawaii 15 Maureen Snow Andrade Indiana University Southeast 21 Donna Dahlgren Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 27 Michele Hansen, Gayle Williams, and Lauren Chism Lourdes College 41 Deborah Schwartz and Kimberly Grieve Metropolitan State University 45 Mary Kirk and Megumi Yamasaki Miami Dade College 49 Valerie De Angelis and Joanne Bashford iii iv Contents Northern Illinois University 53 J Daniel House, Denise Rode, and Beiling Xiao Northern Kentucky University 57 Peg Adams, James H Thomas, and Cyndi R McDaniel Portland State University 61 Christopher Carey and Kerensa Loucks Sam Houston State University 65 Keri L Rogers, Richard F Eglsaer, Mitchell J Muehsam, Beth Caillouet, and Lisa Kan University of California, Los Angeles 69 Marc Levis-Fitzgerald and Nida Denson University of Minnesota 73 Kathleen Peterson and Robin Stubblefield University of Texas at El Paso 79 Maggy Smith, Dorothy Ward, Ann Darnell, and Francisco Martinez University of Washington Bothell 83 Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, J Droege, S Leadley, R M Price, B R Rosenberg, and B Tippens University of Wisconsin - Green Bay 89 Denise Bartell, Deborah Furlong, Scott Furlong, Regan A R Gurong, Andrew Kersten, and Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges University of Wisconsin - Whitewater 97 Chunju Chen, Jeff C Janz, and John W Miller University of Wisconsin - Whitewater 101 Edward J Furlong and Linda Long Wells College 105 Cindy J Speaker West Texas A&M University 111 Mo Cuevas, Amy Andersen, Jessica Mallard, and Russell Lowery-Hart Foreword I n 1993, the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition published its first volume of Exploring the Evidence: Reporting Outcomes of First-Year Seminars It was critical at that time to provide evidence of the value of the course and support its continued development Fifteen years later, we are presenting the fourth volume of the series, and the needs have not changed Although the course is institutionalized at many higher education institutions, evidence from our seminar survey and anecdotally from phone call and e-mail requests suggests that the seminar’s existence continues to be threatened on many of our campuses The seminar has changed a great deal from the early 1990s Today, the seminar tends to be part of an overall approach to the first year rather than an isolated effort to help students through their transition This change is reflected in the great range of courses now offered Seminars may be academic, extended orientations, basic study skills, or a bit of all the above The courses may be required or elective, one or three credits, and embedded in learning communities or stand-alone courses This diversity is apparent in the 22 case studies included here What is also evident in these examples is that the objectives of the assessments are equally varied While some institutions focus on increased persistence and GPAs, others explore questions of engagement, self-confidence, service-learning, intellectual development, peer support, campus supportiveness, career exploration and decision-making, and faculty-student interactions in and out of the classroom These questions require qualitative and quantitative approaches, and you will find both methodologies in these pages Some institutions have created instruments while others use established ones Some employ individual interviews, focus groups, or writing prompts to better understand the student experience Assessment is key to program development and improvement, and many of the institutions discuss how the assessment led to course changes It is important to note that all institutional types are included in this collection as well, representing the fact that the seminar is an important element of the first year at liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and research institutions v vi Foreword Our primary hope is that the variety of the case studies makes this collection a unique and valuable resource as you develop new, reinvigorate old, and/or institutionalize the first-year seminar on your campuses Barbara F Tobolowsky September 16, 2008 Antioch College The Institution Antioch College, located in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is a small, private, residential liberal arts college enrolling 459 undergraduates The majority of our students (53%) describe themselves as Caucasian, 8.3% identified themselves as African American, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American, and 58% are female Students over 25 years of age comprise 5% of our student population Data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey indicate that around 20% of our student body have parents who did not complete a college degree Antioch has a strong cooperative education program Every student alternates terms spent working and taking classes, completing three to four co-op work experiences prior to graduation The Seminar Antioch’s first-year students enter the college through our Core Program, which was piloted in the 2005-2006 academic year as a way to improve retention and increase student preparation for the upper-level curriculum, particularly with respect to integrated learning The Core Program consists of a 15-credit learning community Students learn in a fully integrated, common cohort of approximately 30 students with three classroom faculty members and one co-op faculty member Although the students’ credits represent/ are divided into four distinct areas (four credits in three disciplines reflecting the faculty’s area of expertise plus three credits for “core”), the experiences are truly integrated with all faculty present for the majority of the class time Students may take an additional three credits of electives, but the Core Program makes up the bulk of their academic credit for their first term on campus Each Core Program revolves around a common theme or problem One learning community focused on Citizenship and was led by a professor of art, a historian, and a political scientist Another, called Cool, was led by professors of music, physics, and psychology who described the course in the following way: Antioch College That’s Cool! It’s a word we use all the time, with many different meanings Cool can mean a temperature, an emotional state, a particular psychological and behavioral stance towards the world, the quality of various colors, various styles of music, an exclamation of approval, an expression of amazement, a judgment of suitability to be included in a specialized social group, and more This Core Community will explore the many meanings and associations of the word, including the topics of absolute temperature, the theory of relativity, electronics and digital computers, electricity and magnetism, the physics of sound and recording, jazz from the 1940s and 50s, various genres of popular music from a variety of historical periods, avant garde music, new computerized methods of composition, the Beat generation, various African and European cultural equivalents to American Cool, issues of socialization, alienation, targeted advertising, group dynamics, racial socialization, peer pressure, and ways of dealing with stress and discrimination Be cool, learn about cool, understand cool! Each Core program is designed to support students in acquisition and improvement of basic skills such as writing, quantitative methods, and critical thinking The Core supports acquisition of college-level skills of inquiry and civic engagement The Core program prepares students for experiential learning in their first co-op placement, which occurs at the beginning of their second year Research Design First-year students are expected to enroll in a minimum of 15 credits (one Core Community) and may take up to three additional credits for a maximum load of 18 credits each of their first two terms In order to stay on track to graduate, students must earn an average of 16 credits per study term To avoid warning or probationary status and stay above the minimum standards of progress, students must earn 75% of their registered credits each term Surveys were administered to first-year students during the eighth week of their first term on campus with a response rate of 90% (N = 97) The survey consisted of 60 statements that addressed satisfaction with campus culture, attitudes toward administration, peer relationships, and attitudes toward curriculum Participants rated their agreement on a five-point Likert scale ranging from = strongly disagree to = strongly agree The goal of this study was to address several questions related to retention and student success We address two main questions here: Is participation in Core Program associated with student success as measured by the number of credits earned each term? Is participation in the Core Program associated with student satisfaction as measured by responses to the first-year survey? Findings Based on credit reports from the Registrar’s Office, the average number of credits earned by first-year students increased from 12 in 2004-2005 to 14 in 2005-2006 Retention rates, however, did not improve Based on focus groups, retention issues were shown to be linked to the difficulties of the transition process between programs Tension resulted from offering two curriculums simultaneously—upper-class students still on the old curriculum expressed concerns about the new Antioch College program; first-year students questioned the validity of a program the upper-class students did not have to participate in; and faculty felt pressed to meet the needs of both curriculums Two survey statements—“I am satisfied with my decision to attend Antioch.” and “I am thinking about leaving Antioch.”—were of particular interest in regards to retention These items were significantly correlated with each other (r = -.78, p < 01) A series of correlations were performed to examine which other survey statements correlated with student satisfaction and intention to leave The tables contains the items most strongly correlated, defined as a correlation of +/- 35 or stronger (see Tables and 2) Table Significant Correlates With Satisfaction Satisfaction Positive about learning in an integrated Core 40 Comfortable expressing non-normative opinions 51 Happy with social opportunities on campus 48 Antioch is too radical .42 There are opportunities to make a difference .46 Educational needs can be met here .80 Experiences have been positive .64 Dorm is a good place to study .35 Most upper-level students are open-minded .36 Table Significant Correlates With Intention to Leave Leave Positive about learning in an integrated Core -.38 Comfortable expressing non-normative opinions -.41 Happy with social opportunities on campus -.38 There are opportunities to make a difference -.39 Educational needs can be met here -.78 Experiences have been positive -.63 Antioch College Note that all six strong correlates with intent to leave are also strongly correlated with satisfaction However, satisfaction with decision to attend Antioch also included statements addressing level of radicalism, dorm experiences, and relationships with upper-level students These items were not significantly related with intention to leave Next, a linear regression analysis was performed to examine predictors of satisfaction Each of the nine items from Table was regressed on satisfaction The regression was significant (R = 69, p < 01) Three variables had significant betas, “educational needs can be met here” (β = 52, p < 01), “experiences have been positive” (β = 21, p < 05) and “Antioch is too radical” (β = -.16, p = 05) Because regressing nine variables on satisfaction may compromise power, a third regression was performed examining the same six variables that were regressed on satisfaction The regression was significant (R2 = 69, p < 01) Two variables were significant predictors: “educational needs can be met here” (β = -.56, p < 01) and “experiences have been positive” (β = -.25, p < 05) A linear regression analysis was performed to examine predictors of intent to leave Each of the six items from Table was regressed on satisfaction The regression was significant (R2 = 66, p < 01) Two variables were significant predictors, “educational needs can be met here” (β = -.78, p < 01) and “experiences have been positive” (β = -.45, p < 01) Thus, the most significant predictors of satisfaction and intention to stay were whether students believed that they could have their educational needs met at Antioch College and having positive experiences at the college Student perception that they can get educational needs met here may have a different meaning to students than to faculty Faculty interpreted this as presence of course offerings/programs in a student’s area of interest as well as appropriate support/challenge of the academic program To examine how students might have interpreted this, we examined survey items that significantly correlated with the belief that educational needs can be met at Antioch Table contains the items most strongly correlated with educational needs met, defined as a correlation of +/-.35 or stronger Table Correlates With Believing Educational Needs Could Be Met at Antioch Educational Needs Met Positive about learning in an integrated Core 46 My courses are challenging .40 Staff members are helpful .35 Comfortable expressing non-normative opinions 49 Experiences have been positive .60 Happy with social opportunities on campus 39 Upper-level students are positive role models .39 There are opportunities to make a difference .45 First-year students are satisfied with campus climate .37 ... generation Their learning styles and how they fit the college environment The impact of individual actions on the college and global community The importance of ethics and social responsibility Research. .. permission of the University of South Carolina The First-Year Experience® is a service mark of the University of South Carolina A license may be granted upon written request to use the term ? ?The First-Year. .. Foreword I n 1993, the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition published its first volume of Exploring the Evidence: Reporting Outcomes of First-Year Seminars