A. Basic Information &endash; Fall 2000
Number of students enrolled: 727 freshmen enrolled in fall 2000 (typically 70% of all first-time freshmen enroll in the Freshman Seminar course).
Number of permanent staff: 29 professional staff (Student Service Professional IIs and higher and Management Personnel Plans) participate in the program and teach the Freshman Seminar course.
Number of temporary faculty: 23 faculty (10 lecturers, 5 tenure-track, and 8 tenured) from various departments participate in the EMT program and teach the Freshman Seminar course. Departments are paid 6 units of release time for faculty time.
Number of courses: 1
Number of sections: 28
Number of GE courses: 0
Number of focused sections: 7 focused sections including: Careers in Education (2), Exploring Business, Video Production, Staging the Freshman Year Experience, International Cultures, and The Learning Community
Program Coordinator: Dr. Lorraine Morales
B. Learning Objectives
The Educational Mentoring Team (EMT) program is an advising and college orientation program for all incoming first-time freshmen, all of whom are assigned to an EMT. One of the most important roles the EMT plays is in providing quality and timely academic advising to all incoming freshmen regarding appropriate coursework and educational and career planning, thereby easing students’ transition to the university. Embracing several theoretical constructs and incorporating the Freshman Seminar (University 102) along with a strong advising component has resulted in a dynamic student transition program that combines the best of the academic community &endash; a faculty member, student services professional, and a peer mentor.
Four primary retention theories have evolved over the years: the college fit theory, student involvement theory, student/faculty interaction theory, and academic and social integration theory. These theories highlight the complexity of interactions between students and the institutions they attend.
The college fit theory speaks to the "match" of the student to the university in terms of attributes including level of academic preparation, as reflected by SAT scores and high school GPAs, and student expectations. The university demands certain skills or attitudes in order for the student to be successful. The closer the demands match the student skill and expectations, the greater the likelihood of success.
Student involvement theory (developed by Astin) asserts that the greater the students’ involvement in campus life (academic life, interaction with faculty, and campus life), the greater the likelihood of academic success and persistence. Students spending a great deal of time in their academic pursuits, participating in extracurricular activities, and interacting with faculty outside of the classroom have a greater degree of satisfaction and are likely to persist.
The Student/Faculty interaction theory places the relationship between students and faculty at the center of success and retention. Faculty serves as the cultural interpreters of the university and influence the students’ values and norms. This theory focuses a great deal on the time faculty spend outside the classroom in advising, presentations, cultural and athletic events, and the like. Vincent Tinto addresses the importance of faculty connecting with students in order for the student to believe that they have a place in the academic culture and community of the campus. These interactions, both in and out of the classroom, increase the likelihood of success and often lead to persistence.
The concept of academic and social integration (Tinto) incorporates much of the above theories and asserts that the greater the student integration with the norms of the university’s culture, the greater the chance of success and persistence. With grades representing academic achievement and integration, the social integration is accomplished through extracurricular activities, interactions with faculty and administrators, participation in campus groups, and peer interactions. To the extent the student develops a support base and is connected to the university, the student will be successful.
As the most visible component of the EMT Program, the Freshman Seminar class provides early connection of students to faculty and staff. In addition to the advising described above, EMTs assist freshmen in their sections with problem-solving and/or referrals for housing, career, counseling, and other areas of concern for new students. The teams also participate in the "early-warning system" and mid-term evaluation via mandatory mid-term grade reporting, and, at the end of the school year, complete the hand-off of students to departmental advisors, if student has declared a major..
Two sets of learning objectives (for students and for EMTs) will be described below.
Learning goals for Freshman Seminar students
See Appendix I for description, mission, goals and objectives of the Freshman Seminar
First, it is important to distinguish the difference between a discipline course and a ‘university’ course. Transition seminars have long been utilized in higher education and personal development issues have been at the core of facilitating students’ transition to university, as well as their personal growth. Consequently,the Freshman Seminar is not a strictly an academic course; the Seminar encompasses activities and learning experiences which fall outside the bounds of a traditional academic course. Academic content is not lacking, however. The academic focus of the Freshman Seminar is the university as an institution of higher education and the student’s personal understanding of her/his place within that institution. Students are introduced to the values of higher education with a focus on their own subjective experience of the university as a place of learning and growth. A "meta-academic" addition to this essential content of the seminar may be found in the focus placed on the development of academic skills (see below). The academic components of the Freshman Seminar course include utilizing the library, technology, study skills, etc.
In addition, according to the guidelines set forth by the curriculum committee, students are to be asked to do a variety of reading which will address these content issues; the readings are to be an integral part of class discussion. The choice of individual readings is up to the EMT; however, the expectation is that all sections will incorporate a significant reading component. Similarly, all sections are to incorporate a project which requires some use of the library that is related to the academic content of the course as described above. The Information Competence Grant recently awarded will allow the piloting of an enhanced research component in selected sections, a collaborative project between faculty and librarians which, if successful, may become part of the regular University 102 curriculum. See Appendix II for core expecations of the Freshman Seminar.
Students enrolled in the Freshman Seminar are expected to:
1. Make a successful academic and social transition from high school to college;2. Build a mentoring relationship with a faculty member as well as with a student services professional;
3. Become acquainted with the programs, services and facilities available to assist in the transition from high school to college;
4. Develop the skills to achieve their academic goals;
5. Become acquainted with diversity as an integral part of a university education;
6. Develop a support group among their peers;
7. Feel connected with their academic environment, including faculty;
8. Know how to access and use computing and information resources from the beginning of their college career;
9. Have achieved an awareness and appreciation of diverse populations;
10. Receive accurate information regarding their academic progress.
Again, we would note that because of the particular nature of the course, learning objectives in the Freshman Seminar may not entirely resemble learning objectives in a more traditional academic setting. A learning objective may be defined as a statement establishing a measurable behavioral outcome, used as an advanced organizer to indicate how the learner's acquisition of skills and knowledge is being measured.
Students have to learn how to make successful transitions and we have to help them learn to do so. To make successful transitions, one has to be able to gather information (i.e., learn to identify available resources); to discern social mores (i.e., develop an understanding of the culture of the new environment); to create support structures (i.e., identify and develop a relationship with a mentor or a peer support group); to ensure that one understands accurately how well one is performing and how one's interactions are being received (i.e., interpret correctly information about one's academic performance); and to make mid-course corrections based on the feedback from the environment.
These things can be learned and can be practiced, and when we say things about how much students change in the course of their college careers, we are very often talking about how these skills have developed.
With regard to information about academic progress, this process is very much dependent on the good will of the faculty at large in submitting mid-semester grades (see above). When this process works, instructors generally require a meeting with each student individually to discuss the student’s progress; these meetings are one of the required elements of the course, without which students are apt to receive NC for the course; hence, successful completion of the course as evidenced by a grade of CR is a fairly good indicator that a student has indeed attended an intensive advisory meeting with the instructors and has been apprised of her/his academic progress and is working to improve that progress when necessary.
At present, the curriculum committee has not articulated different learning objectives for the themed/focused sections. Some (but not all) of the themed sections will offer more extensive advising in particular areas of interest to the students (e.g. business); by contrast, other sections have a focus which is simply designed to bring together students according to their interests (e.g. athletics, theatre). However, each section is responsible for the same set of general goals and objectives. In order to develop a list of objectives specific to each themed section, each team must provide the curriculum committee with extensive documentation of their specific objectives.
Given the particular nature of the course, we have done our best to describe the learning objectives of the Freshman Seminar in terms of the course’s mission statement, goals and objectives. It may be that further refinement of the wording of these objectives is necessary.
Learning goals for EMTs
The learning objectives and assessment instruments for faculty are included in the interim program review because we were asked to do an interim program review for the whole EMT program. Due to the multiple facets of this program, it does not fit well into this model. If the interim program review had focused solely on the freshman seminar class, it would not have included this information, but rather would have focused only on student learning.
EMT (faculty, staff, and peer mentor) are expected to acquire and/or benefit from:
11. A better understanding of new freshmen;12. Enhanced knowledge of student experiences in the residence halls and issues facing commuter students;
13. Increased problem-solving skills in dealing with student issues with other faculty;
14. An increased awareness of and ability to implement academic advising policies, especially in GE;
15. Professional development opportunities (for faculty and staff);
16. Leadership development opportunities (for the peer mentors);
17. A partnership between student services professional and the faculty which offers the faculty enhanced knowledge of young adult developmental psychology;
18. Monthly open forum sessions and opportunities to exchange ideas and share information;
19. Seminars on pedagogy two times per semester.
C. Alignment of EMT Functions with the Learning Goals of the Program
D. Program Assessment Approach
Informal Program Assessment
Given the nature of the program, there is continuous and on-going monitoring of course learning objectives and results. EMTs discuss the program frequently at monthly brown-bag luncheons and workshops; the Freshman Seminar Curriculum Committee also meets semi-weekly to discuss course objectives, course content, assessment tools, and other areas of potential improvement for the course.
Formal Assessment of Student Learning
The EMTs teaching the seminar sections currently use 2 major instruments for assessing the Freshman Seminar class: surveys and focus groups. There are three types of surveys: a mid-semester survey and two end-of-semester surveys.
1. Mid-semester survey. An informal mid-semester survey is administered in November, the results of which are available immediately. This survey allows EMTs to assess their class and make adjustments as necessary. This instrument offers a preliminary assessment of learning objectives 2 and 6, listed above.
Successful transition from high school to college is measured by student success over the course of the year (i.e. student persistence, GPA). Mentoring is very much a subjective experience, and therefore it is necessary to rely on students’ self-reports in our assessments. We hope to measure our effectiveness as mentors using the end-of-semester survey (specifically, question 1, and then subquestions 1-7) as well as through our general perceptions of interactions with students. In addition, the spring semester focus groups should provide rich information about the mentoring aspect of the seminar.
Students’ development of a support group among peers is similarly measured by the mid-semester survey (question 5) at a point in time when that measurement is most important, that is to say, while the students are still making progress toward successful completion of their first semester of college.
2. End-of-semester surveys. The end-of-semester survey is curriculum based, and designed to assess the effectiveness of the seminar’s educational activities and the achievement of learning outcomes. Although some of the survey items may reflect program objectives, the survey was not intended to assess the effectiveness and value of the EMT Program as a whole.
The problem of self-selection biases is inherent in studies of this nature. Assessment reports from other institutions (such as Chico State, for example) also point to self-selection biases as a limitation of their freshman program evaluations. To offset this limitation to some degree we can, in the future, attempt to determine more precisely the characteristics of incoming freshmen in both groups.
Two nearly identical end-of-semester survey instruments are used in the assessment of the Freshman Seminar/EMT Program. These instruments allow for an extensive assessment of learning objectives 1-10, listed above, and provide for comparison with students not enrolled in the Freshman Seminar.
The objective of feeling connected to the academic community is also measured through the end-of-semester survey, as well as by more objective measurements, such as interviews with faculty within the disciplines, oral presentations on campus resources and services, etc. Moreover, although this is, again, a section-dependent measure, many sections require students to produce a portfolio of work at the end of the semester that demonstrates their achievement of all of the above-stated objectives. See Appendix III for a description and development of the end of semester survey . Sample surveys are also attached.
3. Focus groups. Beginning in spring 2001, focus groups will be conducted every other spring semester. These groups will elicit students’ perceived needs to be successful during the second semester and remain at the University. This instrument will augment the assessment of learning objectives 1-10, listed above.
Formal Assessment of Faculty and Staff Learning
In order to determine if goals, objectives and expectations for EMT members are met, an exit interview for participating faculty, staff and peer mentors will be developed. This instrument will assess learning objectives 11-19, listed above.
Sequencing
The mid-semester and end-of-semester surveys will be administered every semester the Freshman Seminar is taught. Focus group interviews will be conducted every other spring. The exit interview for EMT members will be administered as each team member completes her/his tenure in the program.
E. Feedback Process
Mid-semester survey results are shared at a mid-semester mini-conference for EMT members.
End-of-semester survey results are shared at the January and/or end-of-year workshop with EMT members and an extensive written evaluation is submitted to the Vice-Provost.
F. Establishment of the Assessment Process
Assessment Instrument Used
The program conducted a mid-semester survey and an end-of-semester survey at the end of the fall 2000 semester.
Assessment and Basic Findings
Informal Assessment Findings. General topics of interest or concern surfacing at frequent lunchtime discussions and workshops for EMTs are noted and discussed by the Freshman Seminar Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee’s action items based on these discussions are given below.
Mid-semester Survey Findings.
A total of 727 mid-semester surveys were administered in November of the fall 2000 semester, and 503 (69%) students responded. 78% of students reported having developed a good relationship with their instructors and 77% indicated they had had an opportunity to participate in-class discussions and group activities. Students also indicated that 95% of the time, all members of the EMT were active in class. These statistics point to general success in objective 2. However, students were almost evenly split as to whether the Freshman Seminar helped them to develop a support group among their peers (see objective 6). This issue will be addressed in future EMT workshops. See Appendix IV for a sample of students’ narrative comments (most common themes are listed on this list) on the mid-semester survey.
End-of-Semester Survey Findings
For the first time, the Office of Assessment Studies employed a survey instrument and broad-based assessment effort that allowed comparison of Freshman Seminar students to a control group. 559 Freshman Seminar students completed the new end-of-semester survey (a response rate of 79%). A modified version of the survey was sent to 382 freshmen not enrolled in UNIV 102; 20% of those students returned completed surveys to the Office of Assessment Studies via mail. This comparison effort enhanced our ability to determine the value and contribution of the Freshman Seminar to students’ academic success and social adjustment to college life.
The end-of-semester Freshman Survey findings are a rich source of information. The majority of Freshman Seminar students gave high agreement ratings to three of the five primary objectives presented in the survey, namely mentoring, services, and diversity. On two of these five measures &endash; mentoring and diversity &endash; Freshman Seminar students’ ratings were significantly greater than the ratings of other freshmen.
For example, Freshman Seminar students reported appreciably greater gains than the other freshmen in terms of learning the University’s academic requirements and specific requirements in general education and their majors. In addition, Freshman Seminar students reported significantly greater gain with respect to the critical academic skills of information literacy and familiarity with the library and its services.
Freshman Seminar students rated the primary objective of diversity very highly. Further, Freshman Seminar students reported high gain scores on three of the most essential goals associated with the diversity objective. The findings suggest that students attending Freshman Seminar gain a greater appreciation of diversity and an enhanced ability to successfully engage in relationships with people different from themselves.
Survey results indicate a few areas of weakness which should be addressed in future offerings of the Freshman Seminar. A significant number of students also indicated that the sharing of their written work was not a focus of their section, and that use of the Writing and Tutorial Centers was not fostered. One in ten students indicated that learning about service learning opportunities was not included in their classes; one in five stated that course readings (if any) were not used as a basis for classroom discussion. Time management and study skills were also rated low in comparison with other skill objectives. All of the aforementioned objectives are included in the description of the course that all sections are asked to implement. That not every section was able to do so is not surprising; the course content of the Freshman Seminar is rich, and it is a challenge to incorporate every objective. Nonetheless, ways to improve on achieving these objectives will become the focus of discussions at future workshops.
For a complete evaluation of the results of the survey, please see Appendix V.
Report to the Program Faculty
The above findings will be presented to the EMTs in a written report that will subsequently be discussed at the end of the year workshop in April 2001.
Action items based on above findings
Based on informal assessment of the Freshman Seminar, the Curriculum Committee plans to:
Based on the mid-semester surveys, the topic of developing student support groups will be addressed in future EMT workshops.
Based on the end-of-semester surveys, the following objectives will be reviewed in greater depth at future EMT workshops:
Freshman Seminar
UNIV 102
Description
Freshman Seminar is a two-unit introductory course for first-time freshmen at Sonoma State University. It is taught by an Educational Mentoring Team, consisting of a faculty member, a professional staff member, and a student peer mentor.
Mission Statement
Freshman Seminar is built upon a commitment to student success in the university community. It is designed to create a learning community, and a foundation of skills and knowledge that will help students develop the habits of thinking and learning necessary in a complex, technologically sophisticated, and multicultural world.
Focus areas
*Goals
*End-of-semester survey five areas of focus are based on these goals.
Sonoma State University - University 102
Core Expectations
Sonoma State University - University 102
Core Expectations
While University 102 encourages diversity and creativity in teaching styles, certain content and experiential commonalities are expected in all sections. The following are a set of core expectations for University 102 instructors:
° Syllabus. Every student must have a copy of the class syllabus. The syllabus, at a minimum, must include:
1. The Freshman Seminar Mission Statement provided by the Curriculum Committee;
2. Contact information for all members of the Educational Mentoring Team;
3. Enumeration of all course requirements;
4. Required textbooks, if applicable;
5. Instructors’ attendance policy indicating that students must attend class or incur a
grade penalty;
6. Instructors’ grading policy;
7. Class calendar, including critical advising dates and topics to be covered.
° Community Building. A key aspect of Freshman Seminar is building a sense of community among the students and a feeling of trust within the group. To accomplish this, instructors need to facilitate risk-taking and self-disclosure among the students and the members of the Educational Mentoring Team, provide a safe and confidential atmosphere for the disclosure to happen, and help students develop skills in the areas of communication, cross-cultural understanding, and conflict resolution.
° Writing. Students in Freshman Seminar should have the opportunity to reflect on their first-year experience amply in writing, for example, in the form of weekly assignments or in longer pieces assigned at the discretion of the instructor. Instructors should provide written feedback on assignments. Students should be strongly encouraged to utilize the Writing Center. Weekly journal writing, also with instructor feedback, is highly recommended, as is the sharing of student writing in class.
° Reading. Reading assignments from a variety of sources and formats are encouraged. Any assigned readings should be incorporated into classroom discussion. Use of a textbook is optional.
° Homework. It is expected that students in Freshman Seminar spend an average of two to three hours weekly on out-of-class assignments/activities. Homework may involve a combination of reading, writing, group projects, advising, meetings with peer mentor, participation in extra-curricular activities, field trips, etc. Homework assignments that support the student’s reflection on/integration of their overall freshman educational experience are particularly encouraged.
° Oral Communication Skills. Students should have the opportunity to participate frequently in individual and group presentations and class discussions. Each student should have at least one graded oral communication activity. The use of experiential activities is encouraged.
° Use of the Library. University 102 students are required to become acquainted with the university library: the physical arrangement and the library website which is the primary access point for retrieving information. In addition, students should be given an assignment which directly relates to course content in which they are required to retrieve information, either through the library catalog and/or using a periodical database. (An exception may be made during the Fall 2000 semester.)
° Suggested optional materials. Instructors are strongly recommended to encourage purchase and foster active use of the University Catalog, schedule of classes and weekly planner (distributed at Summer Orientation).
° Grading. University 102 is a CR/NC course. As per university policy, students must achieve at least the equivalent of a C- to obtain university credit for the course. Grades on writing and other homework assignments should be incorporated into the final grade calculation.
° Course Evaluation. Every section must administer the course evaluation distributed by Assessment and Analytical Studies.
° Finals Week. As per university policy, if the instructor is not giving a formal examination, he/she is expected to hold the class for other educational purposes such as a special summary or evaluation during the scheduled period of finals week.
End-of-Semester Survey Description
The End-of-Semester Freshman Seminar Survey is comprised of three parts. The first section of the survey contains demographic questions; the second section is composed of five statements regarding the fundamental or overarching goals of the program, to which students are asked to respond on a five-point Likert scale: 1=strongly agree, 2= disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, and 5=strongly agree. The third section is comprised of thirty-seven items that describe specific class related activities, educational goals and outcomes. Students are asked to rate each item using a Likert-type scale: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, and F=0, with the additional option of does not apply. Students are instructed to mark does not apply, "if the activity or aspect was not included in your class." The specific activities and outcomes include, but are not limited to: academic skills, interpersonal skills, knowledge and use of campus resources, and interactions with others in the campus community.
The ‘companion instrument’ entitled the End-of-Semester Freshman Survey duplicates the aforementioned survey in almost every way. One question was eliminated from the demographic section, and two were substituted in its place. In addition, three items from the third section of the original survey were omitted because they refer to unique elements of UNIV 102.
We will continue to track, over time, the performance and persistence of both UNIV 102 and non-UNIV 102 students. The measures employed in this longitudinal assessment include students’ college GPAs and retention rates. We foresee the inclusion of time-to-degree in future longitudinal assessments.
There were a few noteworthy demographic differences between the two groups:
1. Nearly half of the Freshman Seminar students reported attending a one and a half-day session of orientation, compared to 40% of the other freshmen. Forty-five percent of the other freshmen attended a one-day session, compared to 40% of the Freshman Seminar students. Seven percent of the Freshman Seminar students attended Summer Bridge, whereas none of the other freshmen reported Summer Bridge attendance.
2. Freshman Seminar students were more likely to report living on campus than the other freshmen (87% and 81%, respectively).
3. The ratio of males to females in the Freshman Seminar group was very close to our University-wide ratio. Females were over-represented in the other freshmen group, comprising 80% of the respondents.
4. The Freshman Seminar students were a more diverse group than the other freshmen, with slightly higher proportions of Hispanic/Latino students, Asian students, Black students, and Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders.
Mid-semester Survey
Mid-semester Survey
(Most common comments are summarized in italics below)
End-of-Semester Survey Results