supporting student success in the first year
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Supporting Student Success in the First Year . Supporting Student Success in First Year. New students - life perspectives Changing student profiles What are their needs/expectations? Factors impacting persistence Institutional conditions that lead to student success Best practices. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Supporting Student Success in the First Year
Supporting Student Success in First Year
• New students - life perspectives• Changing student profiles• What are their needs/expectations?• Factors impacting persistence• Institutional conditions that lead to student
success• Best practices
New Students Life Perspectives
– They have never rolled down a car window– Tiananmen Square is the 2008 Olympics
Venue, not the scene of a massacre– “Off the Hook” has never had anything to do
with a telephone– Thanks to MySpace and Facebook,
autobiography can happen in real time– WWW has been an online tool since they
were born
Changing Student Profile• Millennial or Net Generation Students:
– Special, sheltered, confident, team oriented, conventional, pressured, achieving
– Highly impacted by technology– Connections to peers and the world via
technology are unique– They are avid multi-taskers– High levels of communication with parents
Increasingly Diverse Student Body
• Large percentage of our students are first generation
• Increasing numbers of new Canadians are enrolling
• Increasing population of students with disabilities from year to year
• Increases in ethnic and cultural diverstiy
What Do New Students Need?• Significant body of research exists that
examines factors that impact student retention and success
• Ongoing dialogue concerning:– Impact of institutional characteristics vs.
student characteristics– Relationship between academic and non-
academic factors that impact persistence
Practices That Support First Year Persistence
• Practices for the greatest contribution to student success:
Academic AdvisingFirst Year ProgramsLearning Support
Impacts on First Year Persistence
• Strong to moderate relationships:– Academic related skills (S)– Academic self-confidence (S)– Academic goals (S)– Institutional commitment (M)– Social support (M)– Institutional selectivity (contextual influences) (M)– Social involvement (M)– Financial support (contextual influences) (M)
Impacts on First Year Performance
• Strong to moderate relationships:– Academic self-confidence (S)– Achievement motivation (S)– Financial support (M)– Academic goals (M)– Academic-related skills (M)– Social Involvement (M)– Institutional commitment (M)– Social support (M)
What do Students Need?
• Our understanding that:
– retention and success are two different outcomes
– Academic and non-academic factors have different effects on persistence and performance
What Do Students Need?• Ongoing transition support• Collaborative efforts between faculty and
service providers• Support in the formulation of educational
and career goals• Quality, individual academic and social
experiences with faculty, staff and other students
What do Students Expect?• Successful integration into the academic
and social life of the institution• Engaging classroom and co-curricular
activity as a norm of campus life• That the quality and value of the experience
will mirror the costs of their education• Successful transition to employment upon
completion of degree requirements
Conditions that Lead to Student Success
• Lived educational philosophy• Unshakeable focus on student learning• Environments adapted for educational
enrichment• Clearly marked pathways to student
success• Improvement-oriented ethos
Conditions That Lead to Student Success
• Shared responsibility for educational quality across campus
• Student engagement , particularly when academic, interpersonal and extracurricular involvements are mutually reinforcing (Pascarella and Terenzini)
Challenges for Student Development and Support
• Disconnect of commuter students• Customization of support for special
populations• Documenting contributions to learning and
success• Prevalence of mental health issues
Challenges for Student Development and Support
• Increasing collaboration with faculties to facilitate student success
• Lack of appropriate staffing resources in areas that provide support for educational/career goal-setting and for personal counselling
Documented Best Practices Supporting Student Success
• Academic Advising including:– Advising interventions with select student
populations– Integration of advising with first year transition
programs– Advising programs that combine educational
and career planning– Early alert systems
Documented Best Practices Supporting Student Success
• First Year Programs including:– Orientation - both pre-term and extended– Summer bridge programs– First year seminars for credit– Mentoring– Learning Communities
Documented Best Practices Supporting Student Success
• Learning Support including:– Supplemental instruction– Learning assistance centres– Summer bridge programs– Tutoring programs– Assistance with developing study groups
For Further ConsiderationHow do we effectively move toward integrated efforts incorporating both curricular and co-curricular factors into the design and development of programs to create an engaging and supportive learning environment that addresses the social, emotional and academic needs of our students, in order maximize their potential for success?
Questions?Comments?
Suggestions?