Students’ Perceived Barriers, Benefits & International Programmatic Preferences

Study abroad experiences can change college students by contributing to their development of self-awareness, communication skills, and ability to navigate the unknown. The objective of this study was to determine students’ perceived barriers, benefits, and preferences for international programs (IP). Undergraduate students in large-enrollment, required courses by major, and all freshman orientation undergraduate courses in Bumpers College were targeted and all grade classifications were represented (n = 672). Based on a five-point Likert-type scale (1 = completely disagree to 5 = completely agree), students reported “cost is too high” (M = 3.93, SD = 1.00) and being “too busy with school” (M = 3.54, SD = 1.10) as the barriers keeping them from participating in an IP. Using the same Likert-scale, students reported “socially/culturally learn more about a host country” (M = 4.61, SD = 0.67) and “life-changing opportunity” (M = 4.60, SD = 0.66) as the most influencing benefits. Students were most interested in short-term, faculty-led programs (n = 234, 27.2%) with a length of two to three weeks (n = 224, 30.7%) during summer session I (n = 307, 39.4%). Students reported they would like to learn more information about future IPs through email (n = 278, 34.8%), classroom visits (n = 111, 13.9%), and their academic advisors (n = 108, 13.5%). Assessing student’s barriers, benefits, and preferences for IPs will guide Bumpers College program development. It is important to focus IP efforts on students’ needs and interests, while also providing meaningful, engaged learning in all environments. Keywords: agricultural education; barriers and benefits; international programs; study abroad

Using the GoodWork™ Model to Introduce First-Year Students to the Expectations of Academia

In this article, we present a GoodWork™-inspired Summer Reading Assignment and Freshman Orientation program to introduce first-year students to the culture of higher education. We believed that the GoodWork™ model would be a useful tool for helping students to understand our university’s expectations for excellence, ethics, and engagement in their academic work. Assessment data showed students’ ability to apply the concept of GoodWork™ as well as their high level of satisfaction with the program and the value that they found in learning about GoodWork™ as they embarked on their first year of undergraduate study.

The YMCA and the Origins of Freshman Orientation Programs

Most insightful historical work pinpoints the rise of freshman orientation programs in the mid 1920s as one instance of administrative specialization emerging to fill the advising and socialization void left by faculty taken with academic particularization. Although the press of the historical moment is indeed relevant, institutionalized freshman orientation did not emerge in the historical moment of the 1920s sans progenitor. Rather, specific students sensed the needs of their peers and acted upon their intuition much earlier as a latent orientation function of their manifest religious intent. This research illustrates the lineage of freshman events and college socialization interventions that accumulated over several decades and demonstrates that they were initiated originally by students themselves, specifically through the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Student Associations found across the United States and many parts of Canada.