Academic Quality Improvement Program - First-Year Program Design
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September, 2008 |
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A. Give a short identifying title (under 10 words) to this Action Project.
First-Year Program Design
B. Describe the goal(s) of this Action Project (in 100 words or fewer).
This 24-month project will assess, design, and recommend revisions in the first-year program—including both academic and co-curricular components. Using a backward design model, the project will identify program goals and learning outcomes for first-year Day schedule students, determine assessment strategies, and then develop and recommend a plan—informed by best practices and the Foundations of Excellence criteria—to strengthen community around first-year learning. It will also put into place new or revised structures to improve student learning for Augsburg’s first-year program. One component of the plan will be an “Integrated Term” pilot project to begin in Fall 2009.
C. Please identify the single AQIP Criterion which this Action Project will primarily affect
Category 1: Helping Students Learn
D. Please describe your institution's rationale for addressing this Primary criterion at this time. Why is this project and its goal(s) one of your "vital few"?
Augsburg has had a first-year experience (FYE) program, in various formats, since 1987. The current Augsburg Seminar (AugSem) program has recently had a poor reputation among some students and faculty, even though the non-credit program of weekly meetings led by faculty of one or two linked courses, with assistance from student Orientation Leaders, does help many students with their transition to college. In Fall 2007 the new Director of AugSem gathered evaluations of the AugSem program from department chairs, held conversations with every AugSem faculty member, and reviewed student comments on course evaluations and from Orientation Leaders who work with the AugSem program. This data suggest it is time for a revision of the AugSem program.
Some main weaknesses of the current AugSem program are reputation—relating both to student and faculty buy-in (it’s seen by too many as a “waste of time”), unclarity and to poor communication about its purpose, and uneven faculty-orientation leader (OL) relationships (some misunderstandings or disagreement about the role of OLs).
In addition, we know that some students “fall through the cracks” and do not all get the support they need to persist to achieve their goals. Augsburg could also improve the way we shape learning experiences for students so that they are better prepared for being leaders in a complex world that requires cross-disciplinary knowledge and integrated approaches to problems.
The College appointed an AugSem Design Team in Spring 2008. The team revised AugSem slightly for Fall 2008, providing clear parameters, making it more flexible, and allowing for more faculty creativity in shaping their syllabi. While most AugSem faculty seem pleased with these provisional adjustments, the Design Team and other faculty, staff, and students agree that further investigation of possible changes is warranted. The Augsburg Seminar program was developed several years ago, and other aspects of our first-year transition program have developed on an ad hoc basis. With the initial work of the AugSem Design Team, this is a critical juncture to revisit these models. We want to have greater intentionality around first-year success and transition, and we are seeking a better return on the investment of institutional dollars and of faculty, staff, and student leaders’ time in our first-year programs.
We think the action project goals would be well served by conducting a comprehensive review and redesign of the first-year program, including both academic and co-curricular components, as well as addressing institutional processes and practices that may affect first-year students’ sense of belonging and their abilities to navigate Augsburg and to succeed academically. While the AugSem Design Team began this work in Spring 2008, we recognize that it needs more sustained and focused attention within a broader umbrella of first-year program revisions.
In addition, while retention is consistently a concern of institutions like Augsburg that are heavily dependent on tuition dollars, college-wide discussion of budgetary matters this spring suggests that faculty members may be particularly open, at this time, to engage in substantive conversations about psycho-social and other factors that research shows contribute to student persistence in college. This action project does not have improving retention as its primary objective, but as an element of our continuous improvement efforts, we hope that strengthening our teaching and learning environments through careful design and delivery of first-year programs will also have a positive effect on student persistence.
E. List the organizational areas (or institutional departments and divisions) most affected.
The following areas will be affected most significantly in the changes we anticipate.
Reporting to the Academic Affairs Division:
The Augsburg Seminar
Academic Advising
Academic Skills Office
Center for Teaching and Learning
Departments of English, Mathematics, and Religion
Faculty teaching critical thinking (GST 100) or predominantly first-year courses
Reporting to the Student Affairs Division:
Department of Residence Life
Campus Activities and Orientation
Center for Counseling and Health Promotion
Reporting to the Enrollment Management Division:
Admissions
Enrollment Center (includes registrar, financial aid, and student accounts)
Institutional Research
Interim Director of Retention
The following offices or programs will also be involved in First-Year Program Design because of their close work with first-year students or because they would like to influence the options we consider in developing revisions to the first-year program.
Reporting to directly to the president or crossing divisional lines:
Diversity Committee
Campus Ministry
Athletics
Reporting to the Academic Affairs Division:
[General Education] Augsburg Core (AugCore) Subcommittee
Center for Service, Work and Learning
Augsburg Abroad
Library
Information Technology
Assessment Committee
Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity
Other programs specific to particular populations of first-year students: Honors Program; CLASS – Center for Learning and Adaptive Student Services; TRiO Student Support Services; International Student Advising; Conditional Admit Program; AASK – Augsburg Advantage at St. Kate’s (for prospective students who could be admitted to Augsburg after more preparation)
Reporting to the Student Affairs Division:
StepUP (for students in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction)
American Indian Student Services
Asian and Asian American Student Services
Hispanic/Latino Student Services
Pan-Afrikan Student Services
LGBTQIA Services
Access Center (for students with documented physical disabilities)
Though the AQIP project is focused on traditional-age students, we expect that some of what we learn and design through the project may be relevant to helping students learn in our Augsburg for Adults programs also. We will make sure that Augsburg for Adults leaders are involved in conversations about this action project.
F. List and briefly describe the key organizational process(es) that you expect this Action Project to change or improve.
There are three key organizational processes that we will address:
- selection, training, professional development, and support of faculty, staff, and student leaders who work with first-year students;
- communication, decision-making, collaboration, and program planning among various individuals and offices to enhance first-year student learning; and
- assessment of first-year student learning
At present, we anticipate structuring the work of the action project through a Coordinating Council and four work teams. Though the specific charges for the four teams need to be more carefully constructed, briefly, the teams’ work would be distinguished as follows.
AugSem Design Team: supports the ongoing work of faculty, Orientation Leaders, and first-year students in the Augsburg Seminar—the existing academic student success transition program—and proposes ways to revise this program or to design an academic program replacing it that is suitable to the needs of the College.
First-Year Learning Team: assesses current practices and coordinates and supports first-year learning that occurs alongside the Augsburg Seminar, such as in the residence halls, counseling center, or Academic Skills office, and through various support programs, volunteering, or internships. This team’s work, for example, might include developing a “first-year culture” where faculty and staff who work significantly with first-year students collaborate in their professional development.
First-Year Transitions Team: assesses current practices and coordinates and supports first-year student transitions from the time of their first admission inquiries through the first few days of college and again through the transition from being a first-year student, where there is considerable support, to becoming sophomores who take more responsibility.
Co-curricular Involvement Team: assesses current practices and coordinates and supports student learning that occurs across the college experience through practical experience and application. This team’s work will focus on various programs that assist students in developing a sense of belonging and leadership skills.
The First Year Coordinating Council is made up of its co-chairs (Director of Augsburg Seminar and Dean of Students), two members of each of the first-year teams (co-chairs or the chair and a representative), and two students. Its role is to coordinate the work of the project among the teams. The council will develop a first-year philosophy; identify student learning outcomes for the first year; coordinate its work with the college assessment committee; review, make decisions, and recommend changes in policy and practice; prepare needed reports; and gain administrative support and budget for work of the various first-year teams.
After the first year of the AQIP project, we may want to reorganize the teams. It is possible that the Coordinating Council might eventually become “a permanent advisory board to assist policymakers and decision makers in matters pertaining to first-year student success” as M. Lee Upcraft, John N Gardner, and Betsy O. Barefoot recommend in Challenging & Supporting the First-Year Student: A Handbook for Improving the First Year of College (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005, p. 518).
G. Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project (from kickoff to target completion)..
A 24-month project will allow us to accomplish the assessment and most of the design work as well as putting into practice some changes and preparing additional revisions or pilot programs for implementation in the following year.
Fall 2008 will largely be spent on developing clarity about the scope and organization of the project; securing project buy-in from various constituents; crafting a first-year philosophy; testing the adequacy of potential student learning outcomes developed this past summer by the AugSem Design Team and revising them as needed; devising an overall assessment plan for the first-year program—including identifying specific assessment strategies for all first-year program components and student learning outcomes; and inviting creative ideas for potential first-year academic structures to achieve some of the student learning outcomes.
Spring 2009 will focus on assessing existing first-year transitions, first-year learning, and co-curricular involvement policies, practices, processes, structures, and programs; identifying aspects of these areas where we would like to make changes for the upcoming summer orientation or academic year; and implementing changes that can be done effectively in a short time frame—either as pilot efforts or for the long-term.
The second year will include implementing the Integrated Term pilot project and some first-year program components that can be developed independently of major structural changes, as well as improving collaboration and processes, and securing institutional approvals and preparing for implementation of major revisions.
H. Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing..
Diane Pike, a respected faculty member with significant experience in assessment and currently the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, will advise the co-chairs and the First-Year Coordinating Council about assessment matters. She will also organize focus groups or other means of assessment related to the project itself, in order to provide regular feedback for the chairs, the Coordinating Council, and Augsburg Vice Presidents, who will then adjust the action project appropriately.
We may also seek assistance from the Foundations of Excellence program or other Centers focused on first-year learning.
I. Describe the overall “outcome” measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals.
There are three primary outcome measures: (1) persistence of first-year students to their sophomore year — both overall persistence rates and within sub-categories, e.g. first-generation; (2) achievement of first-year student learning outcomes — by NSSE and/or other appropriate measures yet to be adopted or developed; and (3) achievement of other project goals developed through early discussions by the Coordinating Council and project teams. These might be related to improving the quality of inputs, resources, processes, and experiences we provide for first-year students.
In Spring 2010, co-chairs will work with Diane Pike to provide an assessment of the project’s success.
J. Other Information.
While Bev Stratton, named below, will be the AQIP contact person, Sarah Griesse will co-chair the project with her. Below is her contact information:
First name: Sarah
Middle Initial: L
Last Name: Griesse
Title: Dean of Students
Email: griesse@augsburg.edu
Phone: 612-330-1489
The action project also builds on the energy for first-year learning reform and the efforts of a cross-disciplinary team of faculty and staff who attended the 2007 National Summer Institute on Learning Communities at the Evergreen State College. During the 2007-2008 year, this team (now including six professors and three staff members) successfully navigated Augsburg’s institutional approval processes and will begin a three-year pilot project offering an “Integrated Term” for 90 first-year Day-schedule students who start in Fall 2009. The theme will be “Fate of the Earth 101: Consumption of Food, Fuel, and Media in Contemporary Culture.”
The collaborative process used by this team and the resulting integrated program structure honors the 2007 recommendations of the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ decade-long LEAP initiative (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) where educational, business, community and policy leaders advocate inquiry-based learning communities for educating leaders for the twenty-first century. While developing the Integrated Term is not part of the First Year Program Design action project’s work, its program structure and the efforts of its team may provide helpful models as action project leaders both learn from and incorporate this ongoing work into first-year plans.
K. Project Leader/Contact Person
First name: Beverly
Middle Initial: J
Last Name: Stratton
Title: Director of the Augsburg Seminar and
Professor of Religion
Email: stratton@augsburg.edu
Phone: 612-330-1063