First-year Seminar Research Articles

Maximising university education through improved teaching assistant training

Teaching assistants (TAs) play a key role in helping undergraduate university students with their studies. However, there is a lack of formal training provided to TAs and their role is not always clearly defined. Project Associate Professor Mio Tsubakimoto, University of Tokyo, Japan, is seeking to make improvements to this situation by enhancing the education provided to TAs and, in the process, improving university education. FIrst, Tsubakimoto set out to understand the role played by TAs from the perspective of students, teachers and the TAs themselves and build a picture of the set of skills and techniques that make a good TA. To do this she qualitatively and quantitatively studied how the different classes and lectures that make up First Year Seminars (FYS) were taught, as well as surveying TAs, with a view to implementing improvements to TA training. These investigations led to the development and distribution of a guide for TA training and content that incorporates active learning. Following two years of training TAs using the guide, Tsubakimoto repeated the surveys in order to assess the ways in which the implementation of the guide had enhanced TA performance. She found that the presence of trained TAs led to improved student and faculty performance. The research underlined the benefits of the presence of trained TAs in the classroom for university learning, both for the students and for the TAs themselves, enabling them to reach their full potential.

A Proposed Plan to Implement Core Competencies and High-Impact Educational Practices in Saudi Universities in Light of The Experiences of Some International Universities

Although first-year seminars and experiences have been widely considered as a high-impact educational practice, which is used to enhance academic performance, retention, and acquisition of critical 21st Century outcomes, first-year seminars and experiences tend to be loosely defined and assessed in prior studies to highlight its importance in improving the education process as a whole; therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of highimpact educational practices (HIEPs) in preparatory years in Saudi Arabia and international universities, then proposing a plan for efficiently implementing HIEPs in higher education institutions. To achieve that, case-based analysis and the survey analysis method were used wherein qualitative examination of practices in University of California and Indiana University and quantitative assessment of (130) faculty members and students’ perception of Northern Border University was conducted. Case analysis revealed that international universities implement practices suited for their institution and not the stated one i.e., Health Professional Advising Center, undergraduate research programs, or Capital academic internship program in University California, while undergraduate research, service-learning practices, or learning community in Indiana University. Survey analysis on the other hand stated that consisting of the above (20_ years respondents, implementation of core competencies and HIEPs helps in exploring relevant issues and controversies, linking of knowledge and skills, and better students and faculty bond which raise teaching and learning experience. Results revealed that core competencies and HIEPs have a significant influence on the teaching and learning outcomes. As result, an efficient implementation the plan is proposed to activate HIEPs and core competencies in the preparatory year at Saudi universities.

“Come and See for Yourself”: Exploration of Mindfulness Practice by First-Year College Students

This grounded theory study aims at explaining how college freshmen develop and stay engaged with a regular mindfulness practice, and the benefits they experience. The authors investigated an intentional effort to integrate mindfulness practices in the curriculum of a First-Year Seminar and English Composition course. The results presented here support existing findings concerning the integration of mindfulness practice in higher education settings. This study also advances unique findings relative to utilizing classroom settings to introduce first-year students to the practice, as a long as the course follows a regular structure (i.e., attendance, homework assignments). The substantive theory presented describes how students developed a practice routine and made the practice relevant for their academic and personal lives. Recommendations for practice and future research are included.

High-Impact Practices and Their Effects: Implications for the Undergraduate Political Science Curriculum

Part of a broader movement to promote student engagement in educational activities, high-impact practices (HIPs) are purported to deepen learning through such activities as first-year seminars, internships, community-based learning, capstone experiences, study abroad, and research with faculty. Within political science, HIPs are key to efforts to increase civic and political engagement. The discipline is heavily invested in HIPs as vehicles for research, professional development, curriculum, instruction, and student involvement. Addressing disputes among scholars over the efficacy of HIPs, this study examined the effects of upper-year HIPs on student engagement, learning, and satisfaction at a small, private college in the Northeast, measured by responses from seniors to the National Survey of Student Engagement in 2008–2017. Consistent with the literature, the analysis found that community-based learning and research with faculty related positively with: (1) higher-order, reflective, and integrative learning behaviors, (2) personal and general education competencies, and (3) faculty-student interaction. However, community-based learning had the largest impact on arts and sciences majors. Research with faculty, followed by study abroad and capstone experiences, influenced professional studies majors the most. In addition, capstone experiences and study abroad connected positively to satisfaction with the overall educational experience. Depending on their curriculum goals and program mix, political science departments should consider which kinds of HIPs best fit the undergraduate major.

TRANSITION INTO HIGHER EDUCATION: THE STRUCTURE AND PRACTICE OF ACADEMIC ADVISING

This qualitative study aimed to understand how U.S. institutions assist students in transitioning into higher education (HE) and how the individual characteristics and qualifications of academic advisors and administrators at Dream State University assisted first-year students to transition and navigate through the campus. HE comprises not only direct instruction facilitated by the faculty, but teaching is also employed in academic staff’s and academic advisor’s responsibilities (Crookston, 1972; Hunter & White, 2004). Hence, Appleby (2008) states, “Advising is teaching” (p. 85). Academic advisors strive to explore their interests, weaknesses and strengths, and the impact of classes students favor, directing students to resources on campus and encouraging their socialization. Conversing about ethics, beliefs and values with academic advisors, students align their academic engagement and socialization (Bigger, 2005; Campbell, 2008). The higher education system in Azerbaijan is centralized, the organizational structure is highly hierarchical, and the educational leadership executed is traditionally based on the top-down authority (Boer et al., 2017). The four-year higher education institutions (HEIs) do not provide first-year students with academic advising, and such a pivotal component is missing in the higher education culture (Light, 2001). Faculty advisors only advise graduates, academic advising remains fragmented, and mediocracy still exists. The study was based on educational inquiry (Maxwell, 2013), and it drew primarily on interviews (Kvale, 2006). The constructivist and interpretivist frameworks were interchangeably applied. The collected, analyzed, interpreted and utilized data assisted in understanding the organization and delivery of academic advising in a four-year public institution in the U.S.. A purposeful sampling, particularly snowball sampling strategy, was utilized. The saturation applied helped to find distinct knowledgeable individuals. Data triangulation assisted in drawing the evidence from multiple sources, including observation and document review. The construct validity and reliability of findings were addressed and established. There was not revealed any fixed or long-established ways to advise first-year students, except Academic Orientation Programs in fall, spring, and summer terms and First-year seminars. This research occurred right in the middle of a year of significant change in advising at a college level. Loosely coordinated and decentralized advising practice in the College of IT, Technology, and Machinery transitioned and moved under the Undergraduate Studies Office. The big shift in the structure made academic advising delivery somewhat consistent, centrally coordinated, and overseen across the campus. The academic advisors and supervisors’ evaluation and assessment of advising delivery were not completely centralized and unified across campus. There were not fixed or established benchmarks. The evaluation forms and templates differed from college to college, even departments. Recently, a new rewarding component was incorporated into the assessment process. The leadership tended to conduct centralized student surveys and analyze the data to be used as the base for changes by a taskforce. Thus, the departments individually launched students survey to measure student satisfaction on academic advisors’ performance. The leadership attempted to align professional development activities, advisor training program and delivery of advising with NACADA core competency areas. Still, brand-new Advisor Portal launched for fast, constant, and sustainable virtual interaction and communication across campus community and networking was not effectively used as expected. Based on the Academic Advising Model implemented in DSU, the researcher offered an adapted academic advising model to be established as a structure in HEIs in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The centralized Academic Advising Model will assist HEIs to best ensure the first-year students have equal access to quality studies and academically support them. This model is a combination of academic services and student affairs that is a centralized advising unit in which professional academic advisors and faculty are housed in one office.

First-Year Student Transition at the University of the Free State during Covid‑19: Challenges and Insights

First-year seminars and university induction programmes are embedded with academic and social skills required by students to transition into their first year of study. The first-year seminar at the Universityof the Free State is a credit-bearing module called UFS101, and is a prerequisite for degree completion. Students are assessed through summative assessment opportunities throughout the year. In 2020, the UFS101 module embarked on new territory by condensing the contact time for the first semester into a week-long summer school. Furthermore, the summer school was presented a week prior to the start of university, with repeat sessions during the first week of class, and during the March holiday. However, due to national lockdown regulations as a result of Covid-19, a part of the cohort had to self-study the content via an interactive online study guide. This created four distinct groups of students: those who attended face-to-face classes, some face-to-face classes and some self-study, self-study only, and students who could not access the content. In order to measure their transition into university, a questionnaire was distributed to the students, and the results were stratified according to one of the aforementioned categories. Unique similarities and differences were observed in the findings. The results depict that effective content design is at the heartbeat of student transition, but that other factors such as face-to-face interaction with students, and access to resources assist with the transition into university. This study highlighted the need to explore the challenges students experience within their first six months at university, and substantiates that this type of exploration should be routinely conducted to assist with the understanding and implementation of first-year student support.

The Ingredients in Food: Geography, Philosophy, and Team Teaching

Students in The Honors College at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh are required to take a team-taught first-year seminar in their first semester. The seminar is theme-based and taught by two pro...

Beyond Collaboration: Modeling Course Design on Theatre Ensembles for Improved Classroom Culture and Purposeful Learning

The author unpacks and utilizes the pedagogical success of improvisational theatre ensembles, offers core course design elements inspired by improv that match best practices, and gives concrete ideas for immediate use to strengthen community and increase engagement in college classrooms. Ensemble Culture is a framework for building community in the classroom and beyond using creativity, empathy, storytelling, complexity, equity, interdependence, authentic audience, and experiential learning. Educators have seen success through this method in First-year seminars, Quantitative Reasoning courses, introductory seminars, and upper level/advanced courses.

Bicentennial, Interrupted: IUPUI's Pandemic Year 1

Bicentennial, Interrupted: IUPUI's Pandemic Year 1

Developing and evaluating an asynchronous online library microcredential: a case study

PurposeThis paper aims to describe the evolution of an academic library’s approach to first-year student information literacy instruction from face-to-face instruction to a fully integrated online microcredential. The design considerations, motivation theory and evaluation methods used to create and evaluate the course are also discussed, with implications for future library microcredential design, integration and research in campus first-year seminar courses.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, a multi-method approach is used to evaluate an undergraduate asynchronous online information literacy microcredential embedded in a first-year seminar. Two methods (Likert scale survey and coded reflection essays) were used to evaluate whether one method may be more beneficial than the other in future iterations of evaluating microcredentials.FindingsIn looking at a complex cognitive process such as motivation, multiple approaches to analyzing student thoughts may be beneficial. In addition, the role of the first-year seminar instructor, to help students make a connection to library material, is reinforced as is the need to provide students with accurate expectations for time required to complete online asynchronous microcredential courses.Originality/valueThis paper addresses the evaluation of microcredentials in academic libraries and also has implications for other campus departments investigating the creation of microcourses that are integrated into campus programs. These implications can be addressed in the design and development phases of the microcredential using Keller’s attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction model, and in turn, can be improved through iterative evaluation cycles using collected student data.

Testing the Effect of UNIV1000 on Retention in a Regional University in the US

Abstract
 
 Student retention is a major concern for many universities. We use observational data from a regional university located in Alabama to test whether taking a first-year seminar improves student retention rates. Using a linear probit model, we find that taking a first-year seminar course is negatively correlated with retention rates, after controlling for several confounding effects. We perform survival analysis and find that the students who take first year seminar courses have a better survival rate for retention than those that do not take the course. We also find that other macro and micro economic factors are equally important in improving student retention rates, such as labor market opportunities and competition from similar universities.

Assessing First-Year Seminar Performance with College Engagement, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Student Achievement

Retention is concerning in higher education as enrollment continues to increase, including the number of first-generation students. Research supports that student success can be impacted by academic self-efficacy and college engagement and implementing effective first-year seminars (FYS) may improve these constructs. This study examined the relationship between engagement and academic self-efficacy and FYS performance. The relationship of these constructs to academic outcomes (i.e., first-term GPA and persistence) was also explored. FYS performance was significantly related to both engagement and academic self-efficacy and each of these constructs were then positively related to achievement. Suggestions for improving the learning environment are included.

Review of High Impact Practices in Online Education: Research and Best Practices

George Kuh’s (2008) seminal work identified several High Impact Educational Practices (HIPs) that increase student success, retention, and engagement: first-year seminars, common intellectual exper...

Storytelling in a First-Year Seminar

Storytelling in a First-Year Seminar

Who Improves Most? The Differences in First-Year Students’ Learning Attitudes and Behaviors Measured by College Success Factor Index

Utilizing a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design, this study investigated the impacts of participation in a First-Year Seminar (FYS) course on student learning attitudes and behaviors. Using the sample of 1,231 freshmen students in a large, public, research university in the Southeast, the study examined if FYS participation promoted students learning attitudes and behaviors in the following ten areas: responsibility, competition, task-planning, expectation, wellness, time-management, college involvement, family involvement, precision, and persistence. Additionally, the study tested for the differences in changes of students learning attitudes and behaviors among five student populations enrolled in the seminar: first-time in college, summer bridge, international, out-of-state, and teacher pre-professionals. Hotelling's T2 test revealed statistically significant differences in learning attitudes and behaviors between pre and posttests for each of the 10 measured factors, while a two-way mixed design MANOVA indicated that changes in students’ learning attitudes and behaviors were not significantly different for any of the factors depending on the subgroup. The lack of between-group differences demonstrated that the FYS course participation was equally beneficial for students from all populations examined in the study.

Student Experiences in an Online First-Year Seminar Paired with Remedial Mathematics

Educational research has explored the influence of first-year seminars, online course delivery, and developmental coursework on first-year student success, yet there is limited research on how these educational components intersect. A collective case study approach was used to explore the experiences of students enrolled in an online first-year seminar that was paired with a developmental mathematics course. Students reported different motivating factors and expectations for enrolling in the course, yet all expressed a desire to improve their academic performance and confidence. These results help to inform how delivery of an online FYS can support the goals of students and institutions.

Development of the smartphone and learning inventory: Measuring self-regulated use

Smartphone use in learning environments can be productive or distracting depending upon the type of use. The use is also impacted by the learner’s view and understanding of the smartphone and self-regulated learning skills. Measures are needed to specify uses and learner understandings to address the implications for teaching and learning. This study reports on the development of a multi-factor inventory designed to measure multitasking while studying, avoiding distractions while studying, mindful phone use, and phone knowledge. The inventory was completed by 514 undergraduate students enrolled in a first-year seminar. The results indicate good reliability and a three-factor structure with multitasking and avoiding distraction merging into one factor. The resulting measure can support research to improve self-regulation of smartphone use. Suggestions regarding instructional use are provided.

Redefining the roles of master and apprentice: Crossing the threshold through the co-creation of a first-year seminar

Students as Partners is an innovative approach to higher education that seeks to redefine both student and faculty roles and expectations on college campuses through the creation of equitable and inclusive partnerships in a variety of ways. This paper details our research in the co-creation of the curriculum for an undergraduate first-year seminar. It describes our journey from conceptualization to assessment of the course including creating the class, administering it for first-year students in the fall of 2018, and evaluating how successful the course was based on both our own perspectives, as well as student course feedback. Findings suggest that both partners had a transformative experience in which they crossed a threshold, creating new expectations surrounding roles and relationships for future student-faculty partnerships. Additionally, the students enrolled in the course provided feedback about the perceived successfulness of the co-created curriculum and the overall course experience based on our collaborative efforts.

Examining the Benefits of Teaching Active Study Strategies as a Part of Classroom Instruction

When students self-regulate their learning, those using more active strategies demonstrate greater learning than those using passive strategies. The article examines whether teaching active study strategies in a first-year seminar can improve test performance in another course. Using a quasi-experimental approach in two studies, 18 students enrolled in a first-year seminar course received study instruction and selected another course to use these methods. Eighteen control students in a first-year seminar course did not receive study strategy instruction. Results show that when the study-strategy students were required to study for Test 2 using active strategies, they improved more than control students. In Study 2, when study-strategy students were not required to study actively for Test 3, they no longer performed better. This suggest requiring students to study actively improves performance, but research needs to examine how to encourage students to continue studying actively.

Academic Skills, Community Engaged, Leadership, and Global Themed First-Year Seminars: Comparisons in Student Success

In this study, retention and academic performance of students enrolled in four different versions of a first-year seminar at a large, public 4-year university were compared for a 2-year period. The first-year seminars examined were 3-credit courses with either traditional, global, community engagement, or leadership themes and were essentially required of all first-year, full-time students. Statistical analysis using logistic regression and analysis of covariance were employed to determine whether differences existed. In addition, the variables of gender, race, high school grade point average, American College Testing/Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, type of instructor (full time or part time), and enrollment in a learning community were considered covariates in data analysis. The study revealed no significant differences in first-year to second-year retention rate or in academic performance as measured by college grade point average for the four different versions of the seminar; however, enrollment in a learning community did have significant impact on retention, even after controlling for covariates known to strongly affect retention.