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First-year experience programs on college and university campuses are designed to support the academic, social, and institutional transition needs of the first-year student. Retention on campuses has been an issue that educational leaders have been addressing for many years. On average, approximately 20% to 30% of first-year students will not return for the second year. A review of the literature shows that there is a positive impact of such programs on a student’s achievement and retention on college campuses. It also reflects the various factors outside of an institution’s control that can have an impact on the student’s achievement. This qualitative study included one case study that analyzed the experiences of thirteen (13) first-year students who participated in a first-year experience program consisting of an extended orientation camp and an intentional programming model on large, public, 4-year, urban campus in the Southern United States. Findings and discussion from the study revealed: (a) the perceptions of impact that first-year programs have on a student’s belonging, adjustment, success, and support after the first semester of college; and (b) common themes and trends throughout the first six weeks of the participants related to their perceptions of belonging, adjustment, success, and support. Implications of this study also prescribe future research that could explore specific resources, learning outcomes, and retention rates across other urban institutions.

Student Success continues to be a topic of great interest in the Higher Education Literature. Fifty percent of those students who enter a four-year institution actually graduate and 25 % of first year students do not persist into their second year in college. First-year success courses and peer mentoring along with other programming strategies have been developed to improve retention and success for college students during their first-year of college. This study explored how college students from nine different institutions defined college student success. In addition, students from these institutions were surveyed to find out how and if first-year success courses and/or peer mentoring contribute to college student success. Follow-up interviews allowed for a deeper understanding of how first-year success courses and peer mentoring contribute to college student success. The study found a new comprehensive definition for college student success. Also, first-year success courses and peer mentoring do have positive relationships with college student success however, they also have some shortcomings that were identified in this study.

This project presents results from a year-long teacher-research study of 50 students in two sections of first-year composition. The goal of this project is to create writing pedagogy in touch with first-year students' everyday worlds and to represent students as people who enter the classroom with literacies, knowledge, and resources. Using funds of knowledge methodology, this project shows how to use students' existing literacy practices and rhetorical skills to move them to deeper levels of critical literacy. Employing frame analysis, this research shows how contemporary consumerist ideologies inform students' orientations towards their education and demonstrates how to use these ideologies as a bridge to getting students to both question the meaning of a college degree and take an active role in their education. To show some of the tensions that emerge for students moving between the spaces of student life, this project uses activity theory to compare the everyday practices of lecture-hall classes and composition classes. "Third Space" theory is suggested as a way for students and teachers to leave familiar practices and scripts to question larger assumptions about the creation of knowledge. Activity theory is also used to examine students' experiences in campus communities, where it is argued that students feel they are engaging in more authentic learning experiences, though they retain some of the attitudes they have towards their academic work in these communities. Combining activity theory, pedagogical action research, and principles of student-centered teaching, conclusions argue for a paradigm for "student engagement research," a methodology for teacher-researchers to both study students' everyday lives and incorporate student culture into the teaching of writing.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, School of Education, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Alignment of the expectations of engineering faculty and the preparation engineering students receive in first-year mathematics and physics mechanics courses provided the motivation for the work contained in this study. While a number of different aspects of student preparation including intangibles, such as motivation, time management skills, and study skills, affect their performance in the classroom, the goal of this study was to assess the alignment of the mathematics and physics mechanics knowledge and skills addressed in first-year courses with those needed for a sophomore-level statics and dynamics course. Objectives of this study included: (1) development of a set of metrics for measuring alignment appropriate for an engineering program by adapting and refining common notions of alignment used in K-12 studies; (2) study of the degree of alignment between the first-year mathematics and physics mechanics courses and the follow-on sophomore-level statics and dynamics course; (3) identification of first-year mathematics and physics mechanics skills needed for a sophomore-level statics and dynamics course through the development of mathematics and physics instruments based on the inputs from faculty teaching the statics and dynamics courses; (4) analysis of tasks given to the students (in the form of homework and exam problems) and the identification of the mathematics and physics skills required; (5) comparison of the required skills to the skills reported by faculty members to be necessary for a statics and dynamics course; and (6) the comparison of student preparation in the form of grades and credits received in prerequisite courses to performance in statics and dynamics. Differences were identified between the content/skills developed in first-year mathematics and physics mechanics courses and content/skills expected by engineering faculty members in the sophomore year. Furthermore, skills stated by engineering faculty members as being required were not necessarily utilized in homework and exam problems in a sophomore engineering mechanics course. Finally, success in first-year physics mechanics courses provided a better indicator of success in a sophomore-level statics and dynamics course than that of first-year mathematics. Processes used in the study could be applied to any course where proper alignment of material is desired.

With the increase of first-year initiatives throughout postsecondary education around the world, student affairs personnel are becoming more involved with the programs and strategies of the First-Year Experience. This report focuses on the First-Year Seminar (FYS), one of various strategies that could be used as a part of an institution’s First-Year Experience. Student affairs personnel are increasingly being asked to instruct and take part of an FYS course. In this endeavor, these individuals sometimes lack the background and knowledge to begin the process for planning, developing, and teaching such a course. This report provides theoretical foundations, case studies, and descriptions of general considerations for future development of a FYS course by student affairs personnel. / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

February 2003 was the inauguration of the Foundations of Excellence project with an open invitation to chief academic officers at approximately 900 of both the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Council for Independent Colleges (CIC) member institutions. The Policy Center on the First Year of College, under the direction of the Executive Director, John N. Gardner, invited the various campuses to develop standards and guidelines for the first year, which were termed as Foundational Dimensions or simply Dimensions. As a result, over 200 member institutions agreed to participate in the project by establishing campus-wide task forces to look at the initial list of six Dimensions developed by the Policy Center and Penn State research partners. These Dimensions were designed to be essential characteristics of institutional effectiveness in promoting the learning and success of every first-year student. This is a case study of one of the founding institutions of the Foundations of Excellence endeavor, Public State University (PSU). In particular, this study utilizes the Foundations of Excellence Dimensions Statements as a basis to assess Public State University’s first-year experience collaboration efforts. Furthermore, this research is specifically grounded in the 2nd Dimensions Statement of the Foundations of Excellence, looking at what the Public State University first-year experience program looks like through academic affairs and student affairs collaborative partnerships. This study specifically examines PSU’s established partnerships within the First Year Orientation and Advising Committee (FYOAC) and the University College Advisory Council (UCAC) and determines what participants mean by collaboration. Through the use of a rubric, the analysis of the data resulted in a significant finding in reference to collaboration literature. The findings indicated that the literature on academic and student affairs collaboration should include information on institutional culture and investigate whether the underpinnings of institutional culture are actually social systems that are inextricably tied to their external environments, which in turn have a direct impact on foundational benchmarks on collaboration for First-Year Experience programs. Implications of this study’s results are addressed, limitations of this study are discussed, and recommendations for future research are given.