First-year Experience Course Research Articles

Improving accessibility, engagement and usefulness of online information literacy tutorials based on student feedback

PurposeIn order to evaluate a new series of online information literacy tutorials, students in a first-year experience program were invited to take a perception survey. The survey asked respondents if they perceived the tutorials to be accessible, engaging and useful. The feedback informed changes to tutorial learning objects in order to improve student learning of information literacy concepts.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a survey instrument comprised of quantitative and qualitative questions about online tutorial accessibility, engagement and usefulness. All students enrolled in first-year experience courses at the end of the Fall 2022 semester were invited to take the survey.FindingsThe results suggest that the majority of respondents perceive the tutorials as useful for completing college-level assignments (62.5%) and easy to access and navigate (85%). Ratings for engagement are mixed; less than half of respondents perceive the tutorials to be engaging (44%). Analysis of qualitative questions may point to a connection between the perceived usefulness of a tutorial and a user’s engagement with the material.Originality/valueThis paper discusses the evaluation of tutorials comprised of vendor-produced content mixed with institutionally created content. It includes the survey instrument designed to collect student perceptions of these tutorials.

Shifting from climate change denial to acceptance: a mixed-method, semester long case study in an undergraduate first-year experience course

Climate change denial is often treated as a binary opinion. However, an individual can express acceptance of climate change, while still denying other aspects of the field such as its causation by humans, impacts, or our ability to mitigate these impacts. Here, we conduct a semester long survey and discourse analysis of a class of first-year undergraduates as they complete a course on climate change to assess changes in their attitudes on climate denial verse acceptance across these more specific factors. Our results suggest that acceptance of the scientific facts about climate change is higher than acceptance of its impacts and solutions. However, acceptance that personal and societal changes can mitigate climate change increased throughout the term. These results can help create course curriculum with more effectively targeted content to assist in shifting perspectives on climate change in young undergraduates.

Students Ability to Self-Regulate in a First-Year Experience Health Sciences Course

Purpose: Research has shown students in general do better throughout their post-secondary education if they participated in a First Year Experience (FYE) course. Research questions whether first-year students peform better in face-to-face, online, or blended courses. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of first-year health science students in online and blended learning environments and self-regulation, in a FYE course. Methods: The study utilized educational design and research tools designed to create and improve teaching and learning practices. For the design of the learning environment, analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) was implemented. Action-based research (ABR) was utilized for analyzing and improving instructional practices. A survey adapted to evaluate self-regulation was used to evaluate perceptions of self-regulation, goal setting, environment, task strategies, time management, help seeking, and self-evaluation and students’ perceptions of instructional modality. Results: A total of 657 students (online n=295 and blended n=362) consented and participated in the study. Majority of online participants (90%) somewhat agreed to strongly agreed in being efficient in goal setting compared to the blended group at 87%. In the area of environment for studying, 95% of online participants reported having a comfortable, distraction-free environment as compared to the blended group (85%). For the category of learning environment (online vs. blended), 94% of online participants reported being comfortable, compared to 85% in the blended. There was low confidence identified among participants (63%) in the categories of time management, environment, help seeking, and task strategies. Conclusions: Ways to help students improve and expand their self-regulation skills should be developed in the early years of higher education. The study revealed students were not accessing supplemental resources to aid their learning. Therefore, faculty may need to consider streamlining the supplemental resources made available to students, utilizing the ADDIE model to evaluate their course. Increasing faculty and peer face time, could improve self-regulation skills and make students feel a stronger connection to the learning process and potentially overall academic success.

Seeing Reading: Faculty and Students in First-Year Experience Courses Visualize Their Reading Practices

Seeing Reading: Faculty and Students in First-Year Experience Courses Visualize Their Reading Practices

Learning Communities in the Metaverse: Integrating High-Impact Practices and Durable Skills in a First-Year Experience Course Taught Entirely in a Virtual Learning Environment

Learning Communities in the Metaverse: Integrating High-Impact Practices and Durable Skills in a First-Year Experience Course Taught Entirely in a Virtual Learning Environment

As You Like It: Building, Executing, and Assessing an Adaptable Library Instruction Program for First-Year Experience Courses

Providing targeted experiences for first-year students both inside and outside the classroom is essential for building connections and creating a foundation for skill development necessary for academic success. Many first-year programs include a standalone course for incoming students or specific content weaved into existing course offerings. Information literacy skill-building holds an important place in these efforts; therefore, instruction librarians are provided additional opportunities to collaborate with faculty and reach students. Depending upon the size of the institution, however, the sheer number of first-year courses combined with shrinking library staff pose challenges. This Innovative Practices article is one library’s experience with building, executing, and assessing an information literacy program specific to the needs of first-year students in response to these challenges. Offering an array of library resources, collaborating on ideas for instruction delivery, and crafting a more intentional approach to assigning classes are solutions that may be adapted to address scalability and sustainability concerns.

A Comparative Study Assessing In-Person and Online Co-curricular FYE Courses in Business Classes

This research expands on previous findings that co-curricular First-Year Experience (FYE) courses have significant positive impact on first-year business students’ academic performance and university transition. We adapted an existing co-curricular FYE course into an online course and assessed the academic performance, and university transition in comparison to our already successful in-person model. A multilevel modeling analysis shows that online students are experiencing increased university belongingness and successful time management abilities with the course relative to in-person students. In-person students faired better in terms of overall academic performance and transition. Importantly, online students are less likely to perceive their transition as successful, and students with more educational barriers (e.g., financial concerns, lack of social support, generational trauma, etc.) perceive less success regarding their transition. Further, when students have increased sense of belonging, higher self-efficacy, and time management abilities we see an increase in their perceived transition success in the co-curricular FYE courses. Our results suggest that we have been able to adapt these courses to an online learning environment, which is crucial given the realities of a post-pandemic circumstances.

Changes in students' learning skills through the first-year experience course: a case study over three years at a Japanese university

PurposeThis study was conducted to understand students' achievements in learning and to improve the overall curriculum of the first-year experience course.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, a series of questionnaire-based surveys were conducted on students enrolled in the Introductory Seminar for Policy Science, a mandatory first-year experience course offered in the first semester (from April to July) at a university in Japan. The studies were conducted in 2015 (n = 29), 2016 (n = 29) and 2017 (n = 31).FindingsResults revealed that, regardless of the year, students deepened their understanding of policy science and gained increased confidence to explain what group works and reports are throughout the semester. In addition, students' level of worry about life at the university decreased throughout the course in all three years. A stepwise multiple regression analysis (n = 84) revealed that those students who knew what policy science was (B = 0.271) and had the confidence to write their opinions in reports (B = 0.264) more likely answered that they knew what they wanted to study over four years at the university.Originality/valueThis study revealed that the mandatory first-year experience course taught by the same instructor generated similar educational effects for different students in different years. The results elucidated the progressive effects of different components of the course, eliminating possibilities of any bias or specific characteristics of a single group of students.

Development of a Men's Health course for first-year undergraduates using culturally responsive teaching strategies

Purpose A novel first-year experience course was developed using culturally responsive teaching strategies at an undergraduate liberal arts college in the southeastern USA to promote health advocacy and to provide students with an overview of male health. The course focuses on the biological, sociocultural, economic and gender influences that shape men's health beliefs and practices. It also emphasizes health disparities in the USA among Black/African American men compared to other racial groups and intervention strategies to improve health outcomes.Design/methodology/approach The lecture and laboratory components of the course were designed as a blended learning environment with a modified flipped class model. Culturally relevant strategies guided the course design with three focus domains: academic success, cultural competence and sociopolitical consciousness. A community engagement model and service-learning activities were also incorporated in the design. The authors used course grades to gauge learning and implemented a survey to assess students' perception of the knowledge gained in three realms: men's health, health sciences and physical sciences.Findings This report describes the course design, highlights the value of using culturally responsive teaching strategies and service-learning projects to encourage students' active learning. Course activity examples are discussed with student responses. The authors found that students' perception of their knowledge in men's health, health sciences and physical sciences increased and the students performed well in the course.Originality/value This is one of few biology courses in the nation that intentionally focuses on the unique health challenges of Black men, while empowering college students to develop culturally competent strategies to improve their health outcomes. The findings suggest that the students learned the material and that their perceived knowledge on men's health increased. The authors urge other academic institutions and healthcare providers to consider implementation of similar courses in an effort to enhance male health equity.

First-Year Experience Course Impact on Undergraduate International Student Retention and Graduation

As institutions look to improve student retention through first-year experience (FYE) courses, some have implemented courses targeted specifically to the international population. A quantitative comparison of international students who took an FYE course with international students who did not take an FYE course was completed to analyze the differences in retention and graduation rates between the two groups. International freshmen who participated in the FYE course were retained and graduated at significantly higher rates than international freshmen who did not take the course. Aspects of the course that likely led to student retention and graduation are discussed.

Lessons learned from teaching: Reinventing the librarian in credit-bearing courses

Delaware Valley University is a private university located about one hour north of Philadelphia in bucolic Bucks County. The librarians at its Krauskopf Memorial Library have faculty status, which allows us to serve on faculty committees and teach credit-bearing courses. Despite this, librarians have only taught the first-year experience course, which is otherwise taught primarily by staff. This course is heavily scripted and not owned by the faculty, unlike other courses. It does not offer opportunity for course development or for building relationships with teaching faculty, both of which are important for instruction librarians. Most of our instruction librarians only have experience teaching one-shot information literacy sessions and are rarely embedded into a course. Much of the literature on semester-long library classes focuses on information literacy skills. These courses are designed by librarians as an antidote to the one-shot. But what if the information literacy was incorporated into course development? Could students learn research skills in a way that supported the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and inspired students’ interests?

Enhancing Financial Literacy Among College Athletes

College students, including athletes, have limited exposure to financial education prior to enrolling in college (Britt et al., 2015). Athletes juggling two full-time roles as athlete and college student have limited time for financial education and the opportunity to work. Some athletes receive athletic scholarships and some do not, but either way, many athletes must seek additional funding and student loans to pay for college. Huston’s (2010) model demonstrated connections between financial literacy, behaviors, and education to serve as a framework for our study. The purpose of this study was to determine college athletes’ subjective and objective financial literacy, how they applied this knowledge, and their preferred mode(s) of financial education to pilot financial literacy education geared specifically for athletes based on their preferences. Data was collected from two institutions in the same Power 5 conference: monthly spending logs, focus groups, interviews, a financial knowledge survey, and pre- and post-tests flanking a financial literacy module in first-year experience courses and summer bridge. A Money 101 course was piloted over eight weeks, and peer financial counseling was offered. As athletes might gain access to their name, image, and likeness (NIL) for potential income in the near future, financial education is paramount.

Fostering Student-Student Interactions in a First-Year Experience Course Taught Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Online college courses can lack much-needed student interactions without live synchronous sessions. The need for socialization is particularly important for first-year students and has been of particular concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, when isolation is the new norm outside the classroom. Here we provide a perspective on the use of online synchronous sessions in a first-year biology course that encouraged student-student interactions and employed the culturally responsive teaching approach. We used group assignments, modeled on the jigsaw method, during our meetings and provided extra time outside of the dedicated class period to foster student collaboration, conversation, and social presence. We noted high attendance and participation in the synchronous sessions, suggesting effectiveness of the methods we used in student engagement and satisfaction.

Experimental evidence for a first-year experience course plus mentoring on moderate-income university students’ engagement, achievement, and persistence

ABSTRACT Colleges and universities are paying increasing attention to students’ transition into post-secondary education, including the provision of support to freshmen through structured First-Year Experiences (FYEs). Although low- and-moderate-income students are participating in post-secondary education at increased rates, their performance remains behind that of affluent students. We evaluated the effects of a two-arm experimental-assignment treatment for low- and moderate-income U.S. students eligible for Federal Pell grants at a four-year high-research university (N = 178): 57 control condition, 61 in professional learning communities, 60 in community mentoring, with computerized random assignment conducted by an external evaluator. The intensive (3 credit) two-semester research-based FYE plus mentoring program showed no effect on students’ GPA or likelihood of good academic status, probation, or year two persistence. The treated students also showed no differences in fall-to-spring growth or spring level for non-cognitive measures, including academic engagement, amotivation, peer interaction, faculty interaction, and staff interaction. The null findings are consistent across unadjusted treatment-control comparisons, multivariate regression analyses for continuous outcomes, and logistic, probit, or linear analyses of dichotomous outcomes. Our findings have implications for generalizability about FYE effectiveness for low- and moderate-income students and for the design characteristics of FYE programing to reliably improve student outcomes.

Emotion Regulation Training in a First-Year Experience Course: A Qualitative Analysis of Students’ Experiences

ABSTRACT The transition to college is a stressful time that can present many emotional challenges and demands. One way to help ease this transition is through the implementation of emotion regulation skills training in first-year experience courses. However, little is known about how students who receive such instruction implement emotion regulation, and what challenges and difficulties they face in doing so. In the present study, first-semester college students (N= 24) who were enrolled in a first-year experience course and received emotion regulation traitning and reported on their experiences regulating their emotions in their everyday lives. Results of thematic analysis revealed six themes in the experience of emotion regulation: emotion regulation as an effortful process, the impact of regulatory goals on regulatory success, the role of timing, emotional awareness, affective forecasting, and regulatory clarity. Findings highlight the challenges that first-semester college students experience while attempting to regulate their emotions during emotional situations, and may aid counseling psychologists understanding of the transition to college with respect to emotion regulation skill development. Further, findings suggest that implementing emotion regulation training in first-year experience courses can provide a meaningful training ground for the development of emotion regulation during the first semester of college.

The Online First-Year Experience: Defining and Illustrating a New Reality

All incoming students have a first experience with their institution. This article reviews literature on adult education, online learning, and first-year student success to articulate the scope of experiences and programs that ought to be included in institutional efforts aimed at helping adult students be successful in their first year of online education. In addition, three approaches to support these online students in their first year of college are illustrated. Key areas surveyed are online orientation programs, online first-year experience courses, and the co-curricular engagement of online learners. Examination of these cases demonstrates that supporting online first-year students is quite important, particularly given the proliferation of online students and their lag in standard measures of success.

Scaffolding Self-direction with the ACRL Framework: A Reflection-Based Approach

This case study reports on the information literacy component of a pilot first-yearexperience course, U1X, at Concordia University. Based on the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, the information literacy component of U1X was designed to encourage self-direction.
 Through exploring the university’s larger research mission, the module aimed to shift the emphasis from “how to do research correctly” to viewing research as a personal endeavour in which the researcher cultivates the skills necessary to make a meaningful contribution. It encouraged students to reflect on what they could contribute and the skills they would need to do so.
 The design of this module aligned with the U1X syllabus, which included as learning outcomes that students gain an understanding “of the University’s research mission at its highest level” and “of the relationship between research and citizenship.” The module took a similarly “big picture” approach, while also looking at students’ personal development through reflection. This paper will explore the challenges and opportunities of this approach.
 

Implementing a First-Year Experience Curriculum in a Large Lecture Course: Opportunities, Challenges and Myths

This article documents the design, delivery, and evaluation of a first-year experience (FYE) course in media and communication studies. It was decided that CMNS 110: Introduction to Communication Studies would start to include elements to address a perceived and documented sense of disconnectedness among first-year students in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. These elements included coping, learning, and writing workshops facilitated by various services units across campus. We present results from surveys and focus groups conducted with students at the end of the course and discuss the predicaments that the new realities of an accreditation and audit paradigm—under the cloak of the neoliberal university—produce. On one hand the FYE course may help students transition into a post-secondary institution; on the other hand, too much emphasis on the FYE can result in an instrumental approach to education, jeopardizing the integrity of the course. We offer some insights into the challenges and opportunities of implementing FYE curricula within a large classroom setting.

Implementing a First-Year Experience Curriculum in a Large Lecture Course: Opportunities, Challenges and Myths

This article documents the design, delivery, and evaluation of a first-year experience (FYE) course in media and communication studies. It was decided that CMNS 110: Introduction to Communication Studies would start to include elements to address a perceived and documented sense of disconnectedness among first-year students in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. These elements included coping, learning, and writing workshops facilitated by various services units across campus. We present results fromsurveys and focus groups conducted with students at the end of the course and discuss the predicaments that the new realities of an accreditation and audit paradigm—under the cloak of the neoliberal university—produce. On one hand the FYE course may help students transition into a post-secondary institution; on the other hand, too much emphasis on the FYE can result in an instrumental approach to education, jeopardizing the integrity of the course. We offer some insights into the challenges and opportunities of implementing FYE curricula within a large classroom setting.

Hitting it out of the park with game-based learning for FYEs and libraries

Mississippi State University (MSU) Libraries recently held its first library-centered First-Year Experience course. To develop an appealing class for first-semester students, the authors turned to game-based learning in conjunction with a portion of the school identity to teach the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy that they hoped would resonate with the students. This article discusses the games that were implemented along with the corresponding IL framework and assessment of the course. The authors were able to increase student scores from 66.4% (pretest average) to 84.31% (post-test average).