Mark Lanting—Associate Dean Humanities and Social Sciences

1. ASSESSMENT OF A COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE COURSE: ANALYSIS OF A STUDENT RETENTION AND SUCCESS STRATEGY Mark Lanting—Associate Dean Humanities and Social Sciences

2. Dev. Ed. @ KCC • 93% of new college students enrolling at Midwestern Community College (KCC) were required to take one or more developmental classes. • 45% of the incoming freshman needed developmental reading • 48% of the incoming freshman needed developmental writing • 91% tested into developmental mathematics • 7% of entering freshman required no developmental coursework

3. Success Strategies Implemented • Retention and Success Strategies were implemented by KCC • Humanities & Social Sciences Division designed a course: • First Year College Experience (FYCE)

4. What the literature tells us • Tinto (1987): the reasons why students leave college are not exclusively based in the personality of the student, • The complexity and sometimes confusing qualities of the learning environment impact students’ decisions to leave college as well. • Students received little assistance in learning how to navigate their way to completion of a degree or program • “Institutions should ensure that new students enter with or have the opportunity to acquire the skills needed for academic success” (p. 138).

5. What the literature tells us • “Institutions should start as early as possible to retain students” (Tinto, 1987, p. 139). • “Education, not retention, should be the goal of institutional retention programs” (p. 140). • “Programs should be designed to provide each and every person with continued opportunity to grow, both socially and intellectually, while in college” (p.140)

6. First Year College experience (FYCE) • FYCE: an expanded and enhanced version of a current course, College Success Skills (CSS) • HSS felt CSS was insufficient • Was only offered as hybrid or online • Was only a one credit hour course with few requirements • Not much time in class or online modules • Lacked meaningful projects or tasks • Online components difficult to navigate for some developmental students

7. FYCE • Improvements added to make the new FYCE • Face-to-face only • Three-credit hour • New modules designed to help students succeed • Self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses • Self-management • Critical thinking skills development • Improving confidence and communication skills • Study skill strategies • Information literacy • Financial Challenges • Designing a Master Academic Plan

8. FYCE • HSS and Retention Committee desired broad requirement of FYCE • Administration and Advising departments agreed to encourage developmental students to take the First Year College Experience Course beginning in fall, 2012.

9. But wait! How do we know it works??? • Barefoot (2000) saw significant problems with first-year experience programs. • “over 70 percent of U.S. colleges and universities offered special first-year seminars” (p. 15) • Barefoot perceived that institutions “rarely published or disseminated” (p. 13) objective data pertaining to their FYE programs. • Barefoot challenged those involved with FYE programs to discuss publicly what works, and to share tested tools of assessment.

10. At KCC We are ready to assess! • Research is needed: • To demonstrate whether the First Year College Experience Course has an influence on student success • To determine KCC’s course of action • If the course is shown to be a likely factor in students passing their courses and staying in college, KCC may then require all developmental students to take the First Year College Experience course • Research is needed because: • In a data-driven culture of assessment, KCC must evaluate every part of its programs. • Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) informs KCC’s direction • KCC’s agents must synthesize relevant data to demonstrate performance indicators relevant to FYCE

11. Let’s talk! • .At your college, how do you assess your first year experience course? • If you do not currently have an FYE course or aren’t sure about how it’s assessed, what ideas do you have to assess this course? • I’ll show you what I’m doing if you show me what you’re doing! 

12. My approach to assessing FYCE: • For the purpose of my FYCE assessment: • I’m listening to Barefoot (2000): institutions need to look at more than student retention; they also needed to focus on metrics that indicate whether student learning is taking place

13. My approach to assessing fyce • collegiate success will be represented by the individual student persisting, meaning continuing with college studies, with a minimum of 2.5 GPA • passing all classes with a grade of C or better in the semester following First Year College Experience

14. My approach to assessing FYCE: • Examine to what extent developmental students completing the FYCE achieve collegiate success. • Comparative group: Examine to what extent developmental students who did not take FYCE achieve collegiate success. • Have we improved? What are the differences in the collegiate success developmental students achieved who completed FYCE compared to those who completed the old College Success Skills course?

15. Purpose of this assessment • To provide a quantitative analysis to determine the effectiveness of KCC’s FYCE course • To determine the effectiveness of KCC’s intervention designed to help students who are required to take developmental coursework • In order to determine how successful the course is, research is needed to inform best practices.

16. To see what students think… • This course has helped me find a sense of direction as a college student. (A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree • This course has enabled me to analyze my use of time in relation to my goals:(A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree • This course has helped me develop a plan to align my use of time more closely with my goals: (A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree • This course has enabled me to identify different learning styles, evaluate which learning styles are most effective for my academic success, and develop personal strategies for learning that take into account my preferred learning styles. (A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree

17. To see what students think. . . • The Master Academic Plan (MAP) was a useful in helping me think about future semesters:(A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree • The study skills I learned in First Year College Experience were useful in my other classes this semester:(A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree • Taking First Year College Experience helped me understand support services available to students at KCC: (A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree • This course has helped my awareness of my strengths and weaknesses as a college student: (A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree

18. To see what students think • This course has enabled me to examine common college-student choices and relate them to my academic, personal, and financial circumstances: (A) strongly agree; (B) agree; (C) disagree; (D) strongly disagree • How would you rate the textbook used for this course: (A) very good; (B) good; (C) poor; (D) very poor. • Overall, how would you rate this course? (A) very good; (B) good; (C) poor; (D) very poor.

19. Your thoughts? • What would you have asked?

20. Contact Information: • Mark Lanting • mlanting@kcc.edu • 815-802-8709