The Power of Proactivity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Duckworth ◽  
Keyword(s):  
College Campus ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
New Students ◽  
Taking Action

Ten years ago, this thought went through Alex Freid's head as he watched the sofas and microwave ovens, the dinner plates and coffee mugs, the refrigerators and rugs piling up and around the dumpsters on his college campus. Graduation was around the corner, and hundreds of seniors were busy purging their apartments and dorms. So much waste, Alex thought to himself. Only a few months later, hundreds of first-year students would be arriving and, almost immediately, going out to buy new versions of what today was being carted off as trash. Somebody ought to store all this stuff over the summer, Alex thought. And then sell it back cheap to the new students come fall. In a flash, Alex realized that he was the “someone” who should do something about the heartbreaking waste. Taking action is what turns well-meaning bystanders into inspiring heroes.

scholarly journals Building Connections in the First-year Undergraduate Experience

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
June Countryman ◽  
Andrew Zinck
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The Past ◽  
Core Courses ◽  
Big Ideas ◽  
Undergraduate Experience ◽  
New Students ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Transition From High School ◽  
Support Students

Concerned about the success rate of new students in our program we designed and implemented a compulsory set of experiences which aim to support students in their transition from high school to university by 1) developing their sense of belonging to a community of learners and by 2) articulating with them the interrelationships among their first year core courses. We initiated various strategies which we have refined in response to student feedback over the past three years. In this paper we describe the pedagogical moves that constitute our initiative and the lessons we learned. We explore essential academic and personal issues that first-year students in all programs face. We share our research findings and address the big ideas that could be applied to any discipline or multi-disciplinary program. Préoccupés par les taux de rétention des étudiants de première année, les auteurs ont conçu et mis en oeuvre un ensemble d’expériences obligatoires dont le but est d’aider les étudiants à effectuer la transition entre l’école secondaire et l’université. Ils ont établi deux objectifs : (a) développer chez les étudiants le sens d’appartenance à une communauté d’apprenants et (b) démontrer les corrélations qui existent entre les cours de base de première année que les étudiants suivent. Diverses stratégies ont été entreprises et plus tard améliorées, à partir des rétroactions fournies par les étudiants au cours de l’étude de deux ans. Cet article présente une explication des actions pédagogiques de cette initiative et explore les questions essentielles académiques et personnelles auxquelles sont confrontés les étudiants de première année dans tous les programmes. Les résultats de cette étude sont résumés et les idées générales qui peuvent s’appliquer à n’importe quelle discipline ou à des programmes multidisciplinaires sont présentées en détail.

Forging Connections: An Investigation of New Students' Perspectives of Their Transition to the University

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Baruch-Runyon ◽  
Zark VanZandt ◽  
S. Auguste Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Minority Students ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Transitional Experience ◽  
University Life ◽  
New Students ◽  
The University

We studied first-year students through an integrated group workshop and longitudinal interviews that focused on students' transitional experience at the university as well as the strategies they developed to adjust to university life. Four themes emerged: the challenges of forming connections to other students with similar interests during the first few weeks on campus, the need to balance competing demands, varied experiences of connection with faculty and staff, and the need for translation of university life for minority students. To address the issues and concerns that emerged from our findings, we offer a number of advisory recommendations and programmatic initiatives. Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory

Becoming a student of English: Students’ experiences of transition into the first year

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Alder
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
New Students ◽  
Uk Higher Education

This study explored the transition to university as experienced by first-year students of English studies. The first year has been identified by existing research as a critical time for new students in terms of their persistence and success on their degree programme. However, there is a need for further research in the current UK higher education climate, especially within subject disciplines. Attempts to account for successful transition have investigated students’ social integration, the institutional environment, and theories of approaches to learning. In particular, the study drew on research into academic socialisation and academic literacies to examine students’ accounts of joining first year and their development of student identities. While describing anxieties and concerns about adjusting to the new practices and discourses of English literature at university level, students’ identification with their chosen subject appeared closely implicated in their engagement with university study and their academic identity formation. The study adopted a phenomenographic methodology suited to suggesting interpretative narratives of the experiences of small groups of participants.

scholarly journals A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Presentation Formats for Instruction: Teaching First-Year Students

2000 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Anne Germain ◽  
Trudi E. Jacobson ◽  
Sue A. Kaczor
Keyword(s):  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Class Session ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
New Students ◽  
Presentation Formats ◽  
The University

First-year experience (FYE) programs offer librarians opportunities to teach new students in a comprehensive fashion. However, large FYE programs can place demands on user education programs that are difficult to meet. Instruction librarians at the University at Albany sought to address this dilemma by developing a Web-based instructional module for one class session. The module was used by a segment of students in the Project Renaissance FYE program, whereas another segment received instruction by a librarian. The effectiveness of the two instructional methods was compared using pre- and post-tests, and was found to be equal. Analysis of the test scores also showed that instruction, regardless of format, makes a significant difference (p < .05) in the number of correct test answers.

scholarly journals Programa de orientación entre iguales en educación superior para la adquisición de competencias instrumentales

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Noemí Merayo Álvarez ◽  
Inés Ruiz-Requies ◽  
Nicole Ávalos Díaz
Keyword(s):  
Academic Failure ◽  
High Rate ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Academic Difficulties ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
New Students ◽  
Mixed Approach ◽  
The University

RESUMENLas necesidades detectadas en los estudiantes de nuevo ingreso de las Escuelas Técnicas Superiores de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación han llevado a plantear iniciativas de mentoría formal en sus grados. Estas carencias están relacionadas con una escasa orientación previa a la Universidad, gran heterogeneidad del alumnado, alto índice de fracaso académico en el primer curso y falta de información acerca de la inserción laboral. Este artículo pretende dar a conocer el programa MENTUm cuya finalidad es que estudiantes de últimos cursos ofrezcan apoyo e incentiven el aprendizaje e integración de estudiantes de primero con el objetivo de detectar las dificultades personales y académicas que presentan y desarrollar competencias instrumentales. La metodología de investigación empleada consiste en un Estudio de Caso desde un enfoque mixto, empleando técnicas tanto cuantitativas como cualitativas con la finalidad de alcanzar la mayor comprensión del programa en una de sus cuatro dimensiones: dar respuesta a las necesidades del alumnado de nuevo ingreso. Para la recogida de información, se han empleado tres técnicas de recogida de datos: cuestionarios, observaciones y entrevistas. Los resultados muestran que las dificultades personales tienen que ver con la falta de concentración, planificación y organización del tiempo, mientras que las dificultades académicas tienen que ver más con la falta de conocimientos previos ante los contenidos de las asignaturas. Como conclusiones hemos constatado que los estudiantes son conscientes desde su ingreso a la Universidad de la importancia de desarrollar competencias instrumentales de aprendizaje autónomo y planificación a medida que transcurre el año académico.ABSTRACT The needs detected in the new students of the Higher Technical Schools of Telecommunication Engineers have led to propose initiatives of formal mentoring in their grades. These shortcomings are related to a poor orientation prior to the University, great heterogeneity of the students, high rate of academic failure in the first year and lack of information about the labor insertion. This article describes the MENTUm program, whose purpose is for senior students to support and encourage the learning and integration of first-year students with the aim of detecting the personal and academic difficulties they present and developing some instrumental skills. The research methodology used consists of a Case Study from a mixed approach, using both quantitative and qualitative techniques in order to achieve a greater understanding of the program in one of its four dimensions: respond to the needs of new students. For the collection of information, three data collection techniques have been used: questionnaires, observations and interviews. The results show that personal difficulties have to do with the lack of concentration, planning and organization of time, while academic difficulties have more to do with the lack of prior knowledge regarding the contents of the subjects. As conclusions, we have verified that the students are aware from their beginning at the University of the importance of developing instrumental skills of autonomous learning and planning as the academic year progresses.

ANALISIS READINESS MAHASISWA BARU DALAM PEMBELAJARAN DARING DI UIN SUNAN KALIJAGA YOGYAKARTA

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-188
Author(s):  
Aulia Faqih Rifa'i ◽  
Sumarsono Sumarsono
Keyword(s):  
Educational Institution ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Method ◽  
Learning Methods ◽  
Learning Readiness ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Online Lectures ◽  
E Learning ◽  
New Students ◽  
The University

As an impact of Covid-19, the learning methods is shifting from conventional into e-learning. Therefore, UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta as an educational institution have to implement online lectures for all students. This event causes the first year students to not having the opportunity to understand how lectures work. On the other hand, lecturers and the university did not yet have a picture of the readiness of new students to study with e-learning method. For that case, the university needs to know if the students are ready to be doing e-learning lectures. This descriptive quantitive research uses a questionnaire and e-learning readiness factors by Chapnik [1] to see the readiness of new students. As a result, the score of new students e-learning readiness is 45.09. Thus, new students of UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta are not ready enough for studying in e-learning methods. This research also provides suggestions about how e-learning methods should be done for the lecturers.

scholarly journals A Life-Line for the Pedagogic Goose: Harnessing the Graduate Perspective in Arts Education

Arts ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Amanda Tinker ◽  
Katherine Greenhough ◽  
Elizabeth Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Design Education ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
Peer Mentors ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Art And Design ◽  
New Students ◽  
Recent Graduates

Studio-based art and design education provides high levels of individual attention but has been criticized for the high demands for space and staff time that it places on institutions. Furthermore, retention and attainment rates in art and design subjects demonstrate that not all students develop the supportive, individual relationships with their tutors that facilitate development as creative practitioners. This article reports a case study of an initiative to improve retention amongst first year students studying Art, Design and Architecture subjects, by utilizing recent graduates, employed as Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs), to create a communications bridge between new students and their subject tutors. The project found that retention rates improved by 50% for these first-year students, who also reported that GTAs are welcoming, approachable, more accessible, and easier to talk to than academic staff. Tutors felt that communication with their students was enhanced by GTAs helping build clear narratives for each student. As the role of GTA becomes more established, further developments will include facilitating peer-to-peer collaboration in the studio through the harnessing and integration of peer mentors to more quickly foster a collaborative and supportive studio culture for new students.

scholarly journals Development of a Tool for Team Formation in Engineering Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel MBURASEK ◽  
Odon MUSIMBI
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Team Formation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Effective Teams ◽  
Fashion Studies ◽  
New Students ◽  
Timely Fashion ◽  
Second Year

Efficient team formation presents challenges both for the industry and the academia, especially among first year students. In academia, the difficulty is due to a lack of familiarity between instructors and new students at the beginning of each semester while in the industry, the issue is the incomplete picture of new employee’s personality by the supervisors. The quality of the team greatly affects both the team member experience as well as the outcome of assigned projects. There is a strong need to create a tool or a program that allows instructors and supervisors to create effective teams with evenly distributed skills amongst the teams in a timely fashion. Studies show that the balance of skills, rather than the presence of highly skilled individuals, leads to successful teams. The ultimate goal is to create a tool that will give teams the opportunity to operate at their maximum potential. This paper focuses on the creation of teams for first year students of engineering. The outcome is based on the results of a project assigned to a team of second year engineering students. The choice of second year students was dictated by the need to have students who had already experienced the adverse effects of malfunctioning teams during their previous projects. The goal of the project was to design a software and user interface for a tool that instructors could use to create optimal project teams in an efficient manner.

They’re Here, Now How Do You Keep Them?

2013 ◽  
pp. 84-102
Author(s):  
Ruth Gannon Cook
Keyword(s):  
Time Management ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Good Time ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
College Age ◽  
New Students ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
The University

This is a case study of a class of first year traditional college-age students enrolled in a class that assessed measures to orient new students and enlist them in becoming committed to completing their degrees. The motivation of the university that designed the course was two-fold: to help students develop good time management and study skills; and to nurture student loyalty to retain them through graduation at this university. The study followed a small class of 18-20 year old first year students through their first semester at a mid-sized western public university. The results of the study indicated that while many factors affect students’ attitudes and retention throughout their college years, simple measures of enlistment and peer-mentoring fared best to positively influence student attitudes and responses in the college-orientation class; and, peer involvement offered the most promise of future brand commitment to student retention at the university.

The LTH Program--A Structured Introductory Process to Improve First-Year Students' Performance and Learning

NASPA Journal ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Bryngfors ◽  
Gerhard Barmen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
First Year ◽  
Education Student ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Technology Program ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
New Students ◽  
Education Personnel ◽  
Institute Of Technology

Swedish higher education personnel have come to realize that they now face a problem in higher education: student retention. They have attempted to resolve the problem in a manner consistent with Swedish ethos. The explorations led to the development of the LTH (Swedish abbreviation for Lund Institute of Technology) program, which combines an orientation process with a support system to help new students in their transition from secondary school to university studies. Essential components of the program seek to stimulate the learning process of students, while encouraging them to find a balance between academic and social activities. Three years experience with the LTH program shows an increase in first-year performance and retention by 50%.

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