When asked to select from a list of possible report topics, board members identified “student success” as the one of most interest. Thinking about how we can help students succeed academically requires understanding who students are today and how they’re different from previous generations of students. A national snapshot in the form of a list may be helpful:
College attendance
patterns have also changed.
· Larger numbers of students go to school part-time: 28% of today’s students attend part-time.
In addition to increased diversity, the current picture of college students includes many who take minimal academic course work in high school, delay entrance into college, are part-time, take longer than four years to complete college, and travel or “browse” – that is, use their college years as a time to travel and explore, transferring several times, or as the “browsing” metaphor suggests, viewing higher education as a mall, moving from one college or university to the next, shopping and browsing.
While Fort Lewis College students don’t precisely match the national characteristics listed above, many elements are shared by our student body. Fort Lewis students are also diverse. Over 25% are minorities. Also, in accord with the national statistics, many of our students need remedial work. Approximately 50% of first time freshmen at FLC take at least one remedial course.
They also reflect the multi-institutional pattern that is increasingly common nationwide. About 26% of our new students are transfers[7] and approximately 42% of FLC graduates are students who transferred from another institution to Fort Lewis.[8] Sixty percent of our transfer students attended more than one college before coming to FLC.
How do we help this diverse group – with wide-ranging interests, goals, academic preparation, work and family responsibilities – succeed academically? Advising, academic programs, teaching techniques, course content, institutional organization, and student services – that may have been adequate 30 years ago – are changing to support the educational and academic success of today’s students.
Academic
Advising and Registration
Student advising and registration is a critical element in helping students succeed. An Academic Advising Center (AAC) was established at FLC in 1998. Prior to that, in addition to students being assigned faculty advisors, advising was accomplished via summer group advising and orientation. When the college was somewhat smaller, its student body more homogeneous, and its curriculum less complex, advising was significantly simpler, but increased complexity at FLC and in higher education generally has made effective advising more difficult. Establishment of the AAC staffed by faculty plus improved new student advising via the office of New Student Advising and Registration (created in 2001) was a response to these changes.
The Academic Advising Center, a hybrid faculty/centralized advising system, has improved service to students by 1) advising students directly, 2) promoting principles of good advising across campus, and 3) revitalizing advising as an important faculty responsibility. AAC staff members are liaisons to departments and train faculty in the ins-and-outs of advising. They share their considerable experience regarding how to talk about the curriculum so that it makes sense to students, helping them make wise curricular choices. The AAC supports student-faculty advising relationships by providing specific and general resources. In addition, having a campus office and staff dedicated to advising has promoted a deeper understanding of our curriculum. As an institution, we know more about which courses really work for which students and that translates into further improved advising.
The way we do intake advising was revolutionized last fall with the creation of New Student Advising and Registration (NSAR). NSAR shares office space with AAC. Its director and staff contact all new freshman and transfer students as soon as they are admitted and immediately initiate one-on-one advising. Beginning freshman need to take courses that interest them, that will excite them and promote their goals (getting started with a major or general education requirements or exploring possible interests), that fit with individual academic preparation and develop necessary academic skills, in addition to fitting with work and sleep schedules. NSAR orients new students to the curriculum and guides them through what can be the daunting task of schedule building. Before they ever step on campus, NSAR is a resource and important contact point for new freshman.
The freshman year is widely acknowledged as the critical college year. What are the challenges and how can faculty teach freshmen in ways that promote real learning and engagement in academic life? Even though Fort Lewis has always considered potential for excellence in teaching in hiring new faculty, not all faculty are prepared to teach and engage students at the highest level. Even experienced faculty need to adjust how they teach in different courses (upper- vs. lower-division, or general education vs. major, for example), to a changing student body (this term vs. 5 or 10 years ago), in addition to recognizing and responding to the unique needs of individual students. Think for a moment about your own college days and the changes that have transpired since. Or, think about your own children or grandchildren. What gets them thinking and motivates them to learn independently?
Engaging students today in academics is a different and more complex challenge than it has been in the past. A recent reorganization in Academic Affairs is bringing a clearer focus to the importance of the freshman year and what we can do to get new students connected to the academic enterprise. A new position – Assistant Vice-President of Academic Affairs – is responsible for existing first year programs along with the revision or development of other first year programs.
Currently these include:
· Integrated Learning (a 17 credit hour block program for new freshman);
· Honors (topic focused forums that bring new honors students together in small classes);
· Writing (freshman writing courses that emphasize writing in order to learn conventions of academic scholarship and become part of academic conversations);
· Human Heritage (a 2-term interdisciplinary course sequence designed especially for first year students);
· Introduction to the Liberal Arts (a course for frosh who have not declared a major, designed to facilitate exploring possible majors).
In addition, the new Assistant Vice-President for Academic Affairs is responsible for the Academic Advising Center, New Student Advising and Registration, the academic portion of new student orientation, the Learning Assistance Center, Disabilities Services, Developmental Studies (remedial courses, tutoring), basic skills assessment (to place students in the appropriate writing and quantitative courses), and the Program for Academic Advancement (academic support services for first generation college students through an ongoing federal grant).
Faculty development opportunities are also sponsored by Academic Affairs. An example: This summer thirty-some Fort Lewis faculty read Teaching College Freshman[9] and met to discuss revising freshmen level courses and implementing teaching strategies based on a more informed understanding of who these students are and what the current research, best practices, and innovations are regarding effective teaching. In addition, a workshop on collaborative learning was offered in conjunction with Fall Conference 2002.
Efforts to enhance freshman course offerings and develop effective pedagogies are priorities in promoting student success as are finding ways to get students connected to major departments, each other, and the campus community. Events like the Biology Department Brunch (Biology faculty invite majors and perspective majors) and the Art Department Advising Night (an introduction to the options in the Art major, group advising, and pizza) reach out to new students.
Research on college teaching and learning recognizes that students often benefit from collaborative rather than isolated learning experiences. That is, they like to work and learn together. We know anecdotally that Fort Lewis students readily embrace opportunities to work closely with faculty on research or to take intensive field based courses or to be involved in service learning (in the community) or to participate in collaborative pedagogies in an otherwise traditional classroom. Further development of these kinds of educational experiences supports learning and increases opportunities for students to make positive connections to the institution and the academic enterprise. Identifying academically relevant ways to engage students outside of course work is also important, for example, recognizing and rewarding student leaders who work as tutors or mentors to other students.
Students who are under-prepared academically need help focusing on college goals and learning how to learn. Advising is extremely important for these students. Courses that have been “freshman-ized” – designed or revised and taught with an average FLC freshman today in mind – are important. Academic support services such as the Learning Assistance Center and writing and math tutoring are essential and need to be highly visible. Workshops that target specific problems – such as math anxiety, study skills, or “what to do if you get a down slip” – are being planned and will target this group of students.
A lot is known about how to help students succeed academically. Institutional structures that implement best practices and draw on research in teaching and learning are required. In addition to the know-how and the will to put these in place, additional resources are needed. However, this raises questions about how much and what kind of resources we ought to commit to these efforts. What are the returns – promoting educational aims, measured educational achievement, retention – and which are most important? And, given today’s attendance patterns, what is the appropriate balance of responsibility – between student, faculty, institution, parent, state – for engaging students in coherent and meaningful learning experiences?
[1] American Council on Education Center for Policy Analysis, Access & Persistence: Findings from 10 Years of Longitudinal Research on Students., 2002.
[2] Barbara Schneider and David Stevenson, The Ambitious Generation, 1999, reported in Association of American Colleges and University’s Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, 2002.
[3] National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics. 2001.
[4] The Education Trust, Thinking K – 16, 1999, reported in Association of American Colleges and University’s Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, 2002.
[5] National Center for Education Statistics, Condition of Education, 2001, reported in Association of American Colleges and University’s Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, 2002.
[6] Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac, 2001-2002.
[7] FLC Role and Mission Report, 2001.
[8] On average for the last six years, 54% of our graduates entered as freshman and 42% entered as transfers. Conversation with Amy Stenslien, Director of Institutional Research, FLC, October 28, 2002.
[9] Bette LaSere Erickson & Diane Weltner Stromer, Teaching College Freshmen, Jossey-Bass, 1991.