Enhancing Educational Success for First-Year Students at ISU: Strategies for Support and Challenge

1. Creating a Supportive but Challenging Educational Experience

2. First Year Students at ISU • 53% female • 30% domestic minority • 3.04 average high school gpa • 50% are Pell-funded • 20% are 21st Century Scholars • 64% are first-generation college students

3. First Year Students at ISU • Approximately 12% are conditionally admitted • Survey of Indiana high school students found that students reported studying, on average, fewer than 5 hours per week • Approximately 78% of college students work, and on average, students work about 30 hours per week • About 25% of full-time college students work full time

4. Generation “Y” ORMillennials • Birth Yrs: 1982 to 2002 • 70 to 95 Million • 30% of U.S. population • 34% Minority • “Digital Natives”

5. Influences

6. Sheltered and Special

8. Generation “Y” ORMillennials • Team oriented • Enjoy strong connections with parents and friends • Earlier focus on college, jobs, and salary • Multi-taskers • 20-25% of students who visit a University health clinic for cold symptoms turn out to be depressed • Negotiators

9. What does this mean for how we teach Millenials? • Created by Michael Wesch • Conducted with 200 students at Kansas State University

10. Best Practices for Student Learning & Student Success • Level of academic challenge • Active and collaborative learning • Student interactions with faculty • Enriching educational experiences • Supportive campus environment * George Kuh (2005). Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter.

11. Best Practices for Student Learning & Student Success • Active involvement • Social integration (collaboration and formation of personal relationships) • Personal reflection • Personal meaning • Personal validation Cuseo, J. (2007, July). “Seven Central Principles of Student Success: Key Processes Associated with Positive Student Outcomes.”

12. Building Rapport • Initial rapport built with students can set the tone for the course • Get to know your students, and allow them to get to know you • Maintain and share your sense of humor • Use personal examples • Make appointments to meet with students outside of class • Learn names

13. Express Interest • … about students’ well-being • … about students’ experience in college • … in students’ perceptions of the course • Provide time before and after class to talk with students informally • Reserve some class time for “open forums”

14. Relevance • Connecting course content to students’ lives and experiences • Especially important for minority students and first generation students

15. TheMAP-WorksProcess

16. Information Collected • Profile Information • Gender and race/ethnicity • Entrance exam scores • # credit hours enrolled • Cumulative GPA • Credit Hours Earned • Academic Integration • Academic Self-Efficacy • Basic Academic Behaviors • Advanced Academic Behaviors • Commitment to Education • Self-Assessment • Communication Skills • Analytical Skills • Self-Discipline • Time Management • Health and Wellness • Financial Issues • Social Integration • Homesickness • Peer Connections • Living Environment (on/off campus) • Roommate Relationships • Campus Involvement

17. Identifying Who is at Risk

18. Faculty Roles