Welcome and Introductions / Christine Renaudin
Christine welcomed everyone to this exciting workshop. The goals for the afternoon are to help participants understand the younger students better in order to better meet their academic needs as well as the needs of those working with this particular segment of the campus population.
1) WHO ARE OUR FRESHMEN?
• General Information About Our
Younger Students
Bruce Peterson, Enrollment and Student Academic
Services
Bruce reported that we currently have 1236 Freshmen: 830 women, 406 men.
Some of these students report being very afraid of the situation in the Middle East, not having experienced the Cold War or the Vietnam War.
These younger students are on a "different wavelength" as far as communicating with people goes: they are often more comfortable communicating with professors by email rather than in office hours.
Other facts and data about SSU Freshmen:
81.9% are Caucasian
10% Mexican American
10% other Latino
5% Asian
5% Native American
2% African American
$51,000 is the median family income for the State of California. 55% of our freshmen come from families whose income is $55,000 or greater. The numbers of students from affluent households is increasing, The number of students from poorer households is decreasing, and has been for the past few years; there is a widening gap between rich and poor in our students.
37% of freshmen are in remedial math courses; 39% are in remedial English.
75% of students report spending three hours a week or less on reading for pleasure.
• Trends in academic choices
Janet Swing, Advisor, Enrollment & Student Academic
Services
SSU was either the first or second choice for 90% of our freshmen students. 47% chose it on the basis of size; 38% on the basis of academic reputation;
80% of students say they came to college to learn more about things that interest them.
66% want a General Education
65% came for training in a specific career
64% came for a better job
Note: students could select more than one reason here, so there is overlap in the numbers.
Our freshmen tend to be very social, having been involved in many volunteer and extracurricular activities while in high school.
Most popular choices for those who declare a major are Business and students wanting to be teachers.
• What Kind of Life Do They Lead in
the Dorms?
Mo Phillips, Residential Life
Over the past few years, the number of students living on campus has grown from 900 to currently 1,976. Next year, with the completion of the new, upper division dorms, 650 students will be added.
Most freshmen live in suites with 5-10 people. This can often have a variety of transition issues that many students are not prepared to deal with.
In the residence halls, 33 CSA's work with 30-80 students each.
The staff in the residential community help students in a variety of areas. Some of the issues we deal with include: roommate conflicts; tempers; stress; medications; bringing emotional baggage from home; suicide attempts; shutting down mentally; intense video game play; handling very challenging family issues (e.g., ill family members, divorce, family stress); and so on).
Since the 9/11 tragedy, staff in Residential Life has seen a rise in discipline issues.
Students find it hard to find the quiet needed to study; they haven't yet made the connection that they can go to the library, study room, duck pond, coffee house, etc.
Students underestimate the transition involved in moving from home to the university.
2) WHAT ARE WE DOING TO FACILITATE THEIR TRANSITION INTO THE UNIVERSITY CULTURE
• EMT and the Freshmen Seminar
Christine Renaudin, Chair, Freshmen Seminar Curriculum Committee
and Modern Languages Department:
Christine briefly retraced the history of the EMT program at SSU. First created as a retention tool, which has proven successful, the EMT program has continued to improve and refine its goals, which are:
1- Mentoring relationships between students and instructors;
2- An early and sound knowledge of the services offered by the university;
3- Skills that our new students need to achieve their academic goals;
4- An appreciation of diversity;
5- A support network in which to navigate the new environment more comfortably.
These primary goals have dictated the curricukum components set by the Freshman Seminar Curriculum Committee and listed in the following chart:
Staff/student relationships
Peer mentor/students relationships
Classroom community buiding
Knowledge of facilities:
Tutorial Center
Writing Center
Career Resource Center
Library
Service Learning opportunities
Health Center
Information on issues related to
Drugs and Alcohol
Sexual discrimination
Sexual harrassment
Learning about academic requirements
Reviewing catalog information
Navigating the class schedule
Treating syllabi as contracts
Time management
Study skills
Information competence
Public speaking
Discussing diversity
Understanding differences and their implications in
relationships
Reading about diversity
Appreciating isues of diversity
Writing about diversity
Learning about AS, club and other students organisations
Learning to work with other students
Participating in group projects and
presentations
Drawing on the results of the last three years End-Of-The-Semester Survey designed with the help of Leslie Deming and the Analytical Studies Office, Christine reported that Many of the goals of the class directly help meet some of the transition issues mentioned by earlier speakers. Students who participate in the FS class rate developing mentoring relationships with faculty as being very important; this is clearly one value of the class. The survey also shows our younger students' desire to know more about diversity. In terms of study skills, the survey shows that they value participating in a graded classroom presentation, reviewing information in the classroom schedule, learning about academic requirements, becoming familiar with the library and information competence.
Finally Christine illustrated the content of the FS class by briefly showing her class website, which can be visited at http://www.sonoma.edu/users/r/renaudin/univ102/default.htm/
Further, she reminded participants that the FS class is one component of the larger EMT program.
• What Can You Do To Participate
Wanda Boda, Director of the EMT Program and Kinesiology
Professor
Wanda described the program and how faculty can get involved. She passed out the faculty contract which details the obligations for participation
• Of the Joys and Importance of
Mentoring Students
Geri Olsen, FS Instructor and Psychology Professor
Olsen stated that while she is used to teaching larger classes, she learned how to make the material relevant to the freshmen: personalizing the instruction, listening, and adapting as necessary.
She, too, notes the weighty stresses students are laboring under: roommate conflicts, car accidents, trauma, family issues such as divorce, illness, pain of all sorts.
She often does a "check in" with her students at the beginning of the class, sometimes involving an art process (as this is her art therapy is her academic discipline).
One of the benefits she notes about teaching FS is that there is a wonderful relationship-building among students and teacher. She finds this very rewarding personally and professionally.
3) WHAT TO EXPECT AND TO EXPECT FROM SSU FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
• How Can We Teach Them To Write
Better
Scott Miller, Director, SSU Writing Center
After presenting some background on the connection between developmental readiness and writing ability, he offered some helpful ideas for instructors (see handout). Just because students may have "mastered" writing for typical high school assignments doesn't mean their college writing will be trouble-free, as the quality of writing tends to diminish in proportion to the complexity of the writing task. This is a general rule that is true for all of us.
Above all, Scott stressed that faculty "modeling passionate commitment to their field of study" is as important as engaging instruction and presenting students with challenging literacy tasks.
• About the Library
Karen Brodsky, Librarian:
Karen passed out the ACRL standards for Information Competence. She also passed out information about constructing effective library assignments which stressed critical thinking skills thus getting away from the scavenger hunt approach.
In working with freshmen, Karen has noted some trends: students think that everything is on the Google search engine. Also, they don't seem to know the difference between journals accessed through the web versus a website.
It is important to devise clear assignments, often with step-by-step instructions. Consult with the librarians before giving students an assignment for tips. Also, always make sure the library has a specific resource. As the electronic age changes so rapidly, something that was available one semester might be radically different the next.
4) WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP WITH GE
Rethinking the GE Program with Our
Younger Students in Mind.
Paul Draper, Chair, GE Subcommittee and Theater Arts
Professor:
If, as we learned earlier today, 39% of students need remedial help, then we have to strengthen their skill base. Two out of every five units a student takes is a General Education.
Draper stated that SSU needs to be able to engage students from all majors who take GE courses; we need to have a ready answer to the question of "Why GE?" "Why this course?" "What's in it for me?" He urges faculty to continue to promote the development of strong critical thinking skills in their GE courses. He reminds us that course content as well as GE goals must be met in every GE course.