Expanded Orientations Make a Difference for Community Colleges, Too!

Expanded Orientations Make a Difference for Community Colleges, Too! Melissa Edson, M.S., & Merril Simon, Ph.D., NCCC Esau Tovar, M.S. Santa Monica College & Santa Monica College, Calif. State Univ., Northridge Santa Monica, California simon_merril@smc.edu 310/434-4012 Susan Maiorano, SMC alumna/UC Berkeley student American College Personnel Association Annual Conference March 18, 2002 Long Beach, California

Need for Project • High probationary rates • Low persistence rates • At-risk population • Replication with larger sample with pilot study 1

Research Questions • What are some of the factors that are related to community college students’ success? • What effect do collaborative approaches used in orientation have on student satisfaction, academic achievement, and persistence? • What effect do collaborative learning approaches employed in English and math classes have on student satisfaction, academic achievement, and persistence? 2

Theoretical Support • Astin’s theory of student involvement • Tinto’s model of social and academic integration • Collaborative learning theories 3

Professional Faculty Involvement • College-wide • Various fields 4

Interventions • Orientation • Provided by team of counseling and instructional faculty • 7.5 hrs. (vs. control of 2 hrs.) • Available for course credit 5

Orientation Activities • Interactive & small groups • Included social integration cases • Provided food • Parent Orientation available • Campus tour • Campus fair 6

Follow-up Interventions • Collaboratively taught English & developmental math classes • Courses from other disciplines: (Biology, Geography, Speech, and Sociology) • Student Success Seminar (Human Development 20) • Other out-of-class activities 7

Interventions(cont’d.) • Follow-up Services • Follow-up Orientation • Advising/Counseling (academic & career) • Mentoring 8

Quantitative Measures • GPA • Deans’ list • Success rate • Persistence • Retention 9

Qualitative Measures • Instructional faculty reflective journals • Student relationship with academic counselors 10

Highlights / Lowlights • Persistence rates • Retention rates 11

Highlights/Lowlights(cont’d.) • Students who participated in SSP orientation expressed a higher level of satisfaction than those regular orientation participants. • The GPA of the study group overall was significantly higher than the control group. 12

Highlights/ Lowlights(cont’d.) • . • Participants expressed a high level of satisfaction with collaborative learning approaches. 13

Highlights/ Lowlights(cont’d.) • The two factors most often mentioned by students as success inhibitors were: (1) job responsibilities and (2) commuting 14

Funding • Matriculation • Title III Grant • Fund for Instructional Improvement–State of California Chancellor’s Office Competitive Grant 15

Replication & Future Planning Modifications • More counseling staff, training and increased use of intrusive advisement • Expansion • Incorporate additional fields of study 16

Recommendations • Provide professional development for faculty on teaching/learning approaches with special emphasis on collaborative learning. • Implement out-of-class activities that promote collaborative approaches and relate to in-class learning/assignments. • Promote collaboration between academic and student affairs. 17

Recommendations(cont’d.) • Make student success an institutional commitment. • Promote evaluation of institutional programs through research. 18

Expanded Orientations Make a Difference for Community Colleges, Too!