Transfer Learning Community: Overcoming Transfer Shock and Increasing Retention of Mathematics and Science Majors

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Scott ◽  
Sara S. Thigpin ◽  
Adrienne O. Bentz
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Underrepresented Students ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Transfer Student ◽  
Peer Mentors ◽  
Transfer Shock ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
The University

The College of Science at Texas A&M University developed a transfer student learning community with one 2-year institution after receiving National Science Foundation funds for scholarships to support students majoring in engineering and science. To date, 89% of the students that matriculated to Texas A&M University under this grant have completed their degrees or are on target to do so. Eighty-three percent of historically underrepresented students supported through the grant have completed their degrees. Lessons learned from success of the grant have been implemented to create a mandatory learning community for every incoming transfer student. Hallmarks of the program include an Academic Boot Camp prior to the start of the semester and monthly meetings. Monthly meetings include intentional advising, campus resources, academic policies, access to peer mentors, and introduction to undergraduate research opportunities. Overall retention rates to the university have risen through this expanded learning community, as have overall grade point averages.

scholarly journals A Project-Centric Curriculum Design

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Dennis Drinka ◽  
Minnie Yi-Miin Yen
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Individual Project ◽  
The University ◽  
And Control ◽  
Small Team

Student success was the motivation for evolving an individual project-based course into a project-centric curriculum. A one semester project was first extended across a sequence of three interrelated courses tied together through their focus on the success of small team projects that spanned those courses. This sequence was then targeted as the core of a redesign of the entire program curriculum focused on project and student success. Currently, the department is in the process of introducing the measurement of project success as a tool for assessment and control of the departments learning objectives. An overview of the design of this curriculum, lessons learned from developing it, and benefits of this type of curriculum in quality of student learning, community engagement, and reputation of the university, will be discussed.

scholarly journals 7. Wider Horizons: Fostering a Culture of Undergraduate Research

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Roxanne Harde ◽  
Neil Haave
Keyword(s):  
Grade Point Average ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Campus Culture ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
Roundtable Discussion ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Student Access ◽  
Academic Conference ◽  
The University

This essay synthesizes our roundtable discussion about how to develop a campus culture of undergraduate research. Our discussion began with descriptions of the University of Alberta, Augustana’s initiatives: Independent Studies courses, the Student Academic Conference, and summer research assistantships. Common concerns from roundtable participants included whether or not student access to undergraduate research should be limited by grade point average, how to implement undergraduate research from first to final year of student degree programs, how to fund undergraduate research, and finally how to approach undergraduate research across the academy.

scholarly journals Enhancing Diversity in Science: Is Teaching Science Process Skills the Answer?

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa Dirks ◽  
Matthew Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
Underrepresented Minorities ◽  
Process Skills ◽  
Introductory Biology ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Science Process Skills ◽  
Science Degree ◽  
The University ◽  
Beginning Students

The Biology Fellows Program at the University of Washington aims to enhance diversity in science by helping students succeed in the rigorous introductory biology classes and motivating them to engage in undergraduate research. The composite Scholastic Achievement Test scores and high school grade point averages of the Biology Fellows are comparable to those of students who are not in the program; however, they earn, on average, higher grades in introductory biology classes than non-Biology Fellows. Underrepresented minorities and disadvantaged students in the program also earn higher grades in the introductory biology classes than do their non-Biology Fellows counterparts. Analysis of the performance of Biology Fellows shows that the program assists students who are not proficient in certain science process skills and that students who lack these skills are at risk for failing introductory biology. This evaluation provides insight for designing programs that aim to enhance the performance of beginning students of biology, particularly for underrepresented minorities, who want to obtain a life science degree.

scholarly journals QEP is HIP: A Case Study Implementing an Institution-wide Undergraduate Research Community of Practice for a Small, Private College Setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Tingle ◽  
Julia Schmitz ◽  
Perry Rettig
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Professional Socialization ◽  
Underserved Populations ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Quality Enhancement Plan ◽  
Faculty Mentorship ◽  
College Setting

Piedmont College’s quality enhancement plan (QEP) emphasizes a developmental and progressive integration of high-impact practices (HIPs) into the academic and social fabric of the institution. The QEP is HIP initiative provides students with multiple opportunities to deepen learning and leadership skills, which leads to improvements in student success, persistence, and retention. However, the institution grappled with how to effectively engage students in effective, meaningful research-based experiences. During the 2nd year of its QEP implementation, a campus-wide undergraduate research symposium was launched to showcase students’ research and creative inquiry in an effort to (a) gain full institutional participation in this crucial HIP and (b) offer the underserved student population (defined as ethnic minority, Pell-eligible, and first-generation students) an opportunity to participate in professional socialization and experience faculty mentorship. This case study shows the initial influences of this HIP on student success (in terms of grade point average [GPA]), students’ perceptions of their own learning, students’ persistence (measured with the Grit Scale), and retention from the 2018–2019 to the 2019–2020 academic year. Specifically, this study compared students who presented their research at the undergraduate research symposium to students who did not. While the immediate influence of this HIP on student persistence/perseverance (grit scores) remains undetermined, the retention rates and GPA appear to have been higher for students who presented, in both the dominant and underserved populations. Furthermore, students reported an increase in perceptions of their own learning. These findings are significant and affirm that undergraduate research communities can be considered a HIP for students, including those of underserved populations.

scholarly journals How Well Do Undergraduate Research Programs Promote Engagement and Success of Students?

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Fechheimer ◽  
Karen Webber ◽  
Pamela B. Kleiber
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
University Of Georgia ◽  
Institutional Data ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Assessment of undergraduate research (UR) programs using participant surveys has produced a wealth of information about design, implementation, and perceived benefits of UR programs. However, measurement of student participation university wide, and the potential contribution of research experience to student success, also require the study of extrinsic measures. In this essay, institutional data on student credit-hour generation and grade point average (GPA) from the University of Georgia are used to approach these questions. Institutional data provide a measure of annual enrollment in UR classes in diverse disciplines. This operational definition allows accurate and retrospective analysis, but does not measure all modes of engagement in UR. Cumulative GPA is proposed as a quantitative extrinsic measure of student success. Initial results show that extended participation in research for more than a single semester is correlated with an increase in GPA, even after using SAT to control for the initial ability level of the students. While the authors acknowledge that correlation does not prove causality, continued efforts to measure the impact of UR programs on student outcomes using GPA or an alternate extrinsic measure is needed for development of evidence-based programmatic recommendations.

Engaging and Supporting Underrepresented Undergraduate Students in Linguistic Research and Across the University

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne H. Charity Hudley
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Underrepresented Students ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Linguistically Diverse Students ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
The University ◽  
Work Done

This article describes my prior work as co-founder and director of the William & Mary Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE), a cross-departmental and cross-school program at the College of William & Mary, designed to support underrepresented undergraduate students in research. I focus first on how this program paved the way for more underrepresented students to major in and do research in linguistics at the College of William & Mary in a way that work done just within the linguistics program could not have done alone. I also describe how, as a result of my research focus on culturally and linguistically diverse students, my role as director of WMSURE expanded into work with admissions and development to recruit students who were interested in linguistics as well as to raise funds to support their research. I detail how a linguistic lens on social justice has provided the platform for spearheading this endeavor to promote the success of underrepresented students and thereby foster broader inclusion and equity efforts at William & Mary and across the university as a whole, providing a model for other linguists to promote similar endeavors elsewhere.

scholarly journals Tracking and Assessing Undergraduate Research Campus-wide: Demographics, Academic Success, and Post-Graduation Plans

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly R Schneider ◽  
Aubrey Kuperman ◽  
Andre Watts ◽  
Danae Barulich ◽  
Tyler Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Time To Degree ◽  
University Population ◽  
University Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

Evaluation must occur at the university level to understand the full impact of undergraduate research (UR). UR assessment is often only completed at the individual program level because of limited technology, time, and/or resources. At our large research institution, we have been documenting a wide variety of research experiences annually since the 2009–2010 academic year through an online portal. With our institutional research team and campus partners, we created interactive dashboards that display involvement in UR by semester and academic year. Here we compile data on students involved in UR compared to the university population as a whole. Consistent trends from this yearly data have shown that non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students, transfer students, and part-time students are less involved in research. However, underrepresented and first-generation involvement tends to trend consistently with the university population, likely because of a wide variety of focused programming. Despite many interventions aimed at engaging students in their first three years, data show that researchers remain mostly seniors. Students are also tracked to graduation and beyond, providing a unique evaluation of UR. Grade point averages and graduation rates tend to be higher for student researchers. Time to degree is similar between researchers and nonresearchers. Students are tracked into graduate school as well and on average have an almost 50% increase in matriculation compared to nonresearchers. There are still gaps in this university-level knowledge, but this portal helps clarify campus-wide involvement and opportunities for enhancement, while serving as a comparison data set and a model system for other universities.

Contemporary Peer Mentoring in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 177-197
Author(s):  
Lenis Colton Brown
Keyword(s):  
Peer Mentoring ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Mentoring Programs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Peer Mentors ◽  
University Leadership ◽  
Successful Recruitment ◽  
Mentoring Practices ◽  
The University

This literature review illuminates how contemporary peer mentoring practices typically function within collegiate settings and delineates strategies for further developing and professionalizing the services they provide. Peer mentoring offers many advantages to the university, including the ability meet the needs of an increasingly diverse study body, which encompasses an array of ages, ethnicities, countries of origin, backgrounds, and abilities; the ability to draw from a large pool of student talent at a relatively low cost; and the improvement of retention rates by helping students navigate and succeed in their new environment. Topics include the main service models of peer mentoring; a consideration of what motivates university leadership, faculty, staff, mentors, and mentees to support peer mentoring programs; and the strategies required to ensure successful recruitment, training, deployment, supervision, and evaluation of peer mentors and the programs they serve. Suggestions for future research are provided.

scholarly journals Efforts at Broadening Participation in the Sciences: An Examination of the Mentoring Experiences of Students from Underrepresented Groups

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. ar26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Prunuske ◽  
Janelle Wilson ◽  
Melissa Walls ◽  
Hannah Marrin ◽  
Benjamin Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Underrepresented Students ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Advanced Degrees ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Mentoring Relationship ◽  
Program Characteristics ◽  
The University

With the primary objective of attracting and retaining students from underrepresented backgrounds in the sciences, evaluation of one institution’s program has been ongoing over the past three years. Interviews with mentors in the program followed by focus groups conducted with mentees reveal key factors that shape undergraduate students’ research experiences. In the present study, attention is given to data gathered from 15 mentees in the program, the majority of whom have enrolled in community colleges, represent low socioeconomic backgrounds, and are nontraditional students. The results from focus groups with the mentees provide information on the benefits of participating in the program, characteristics of good mentors, challenges to the mentoring relationship, and the effects of underrepresented status on pursuit of advanced degrees. Comparisons of mentees’ comments about the mentoring relationship with mentors’ comments reveal similar themes and patterns while also demonstrating interesting differences. The qualitative findings are also juxtaposed with participants’ responses on the Survey of Undergraduate Research Experiences. Taken together, the data enhance our understanding of the experiences of underrepresented students in faculty-mentored research programs and highlight challenges and perspectives of students who are transferring to the university from a community college.

Sustaining University-Community Partnerships in Indigenous Communities: Five Lessons from Papakōlea

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 35-63
Author(s):  
Robert Agres ◽  
Adrienne Dillard ◽  
Kamuela Joseph Nui Enos ◽  
Brent Kakesako ◽  
B. Puni Kekauoha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Urban And Regional Planning ◽  
Culture Of Learning ◽  
Community Values ◽  
University Of Hawai'i ◽  
The University

This resource paper draws lessons from a twenty-year partnership between the Native Hawaiian community of Papakōlea, the Hawai‘i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development, and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai‘i. Key players and co-authors describe five principles for sustained partnerships: (1) building partnerships based upon community values with potential for long-term commitments; (2) privileging indigenous ways of knowing; (3) creating a culture of learning together as a co-learning community; (4) fostering reciprocity and compassion in nurturing relationships; and (5) utilizing empowering methodologies and capacity-building strategies.

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