Persistence Of First-year Students Research Articles

Retention Effects of an Outdoor Orientation Program at a Midwestern University

Outdoor orientation programs are not a new idea. They date back to programs at Dartmouth College in 1935. Since then, these programs have continued to expand to now include over 191 programs at private and public institutions. The effects of these programs, including developing emotional autonomy, mature relationships with peers, a sense of place, and social support, have also been well researched. Beyond student development, the benefits for the university, including improved retention and persistence of first-year students participating in the programs, have also been well established. This paper seeks to add to the established research pattern of the effectiveness of these programs while examining the structure of one such program and its possible contributions to the retention success of its students. Results for the retention of students engaged in the outdoor orientation program for first to second year ranged from a low improvement of 11.9% over university retention rates to a high improvement of 16.3%. For retention across all years, results ranged from 3.9% to 20.9% improvement over university retention. Structural components of the course that research has shown to support its effectiveness included the combination of a weeklong outdoor experience with a formal semester-long classroom course, as well as the inclusion of professional staff/faculty on each experience to increase student support during the return to campus. Subscribe to JOREL

Career Development Among First-Year College Students

The present study investigates the career development of college student persistence decisions through the theoretical lens of social cognitive career theory (SCCT). Specifically, the authors sought to understand the potential role of college self-efficacy in first-year student persistence and academic success at a medium size university. Using a final sample of 401 undergraduates, regression analyses suggested that increased levels of college self-efficacy at the first semester’s end were associated with greater odds of persisting into the Spring semester and of being academically successful, after controlling for gender, ethnicity, first-generation status, high school grade point average (GPA), and initial level of college self-efficacy. Results suggest that college self-efficacy may be an important cognitive variable in college students’ persistence decisions and their academic success, which offers additional information about their early career development and is valuable for career counselors to consider. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Affecting attitudes in first-year computer science using syntaxfree robotics programming

Persistence of first-year students in computer science is a problem. Although there are many factors that determine whether a student can be successful in computer science, research has shown that some attrition is due to personal perception of their ability in computer science. We created a learning experience specifically designed to improve students' self-assessment of their abilities. "Providing robotic experiences through objectbased programming" (PREOP) is a GUI programming environment based on Alice that students use to program autonomous robot controllers. Results show that for students that rate themselves as average programmers, the modules designed around PREOP positively affect the students' intimidation levels.

Teaching Learning Strategies to Increase Success of First-Term College Students

In this study, the authors examined the effect of taking a learning strategies course on grade point average, retention, and graduation rate of 351 first-year students over their first 4 terms in comparison with 351 matched non–course takers. The course taught 4 learning strategies and 8 substrategies to help students overcome procrastination, build self-confidence, take responsibility, learn from lecture and text, prepare for exams, write papers, and manage their lives. First-year students who took the course in their first term had statistically significantly higher grade point averages in each of their first 4 terms. They also demonstrated statistically significantly higher retention rates and were six times more likely to be retained. In addition, they had statistically significantly higher graduation rates than did their matched controls. In particular, graduation rates were 50% higher for students initially in academic difficulty. These findings reveal the value of teaching learning strategies to first-year students by means of a structured course based on educational psychology. This research holds potential importance for other universities and colleges seeking to improve the performance and persistence of first-year students.

The effect of factors related to prior schooling on student persistence in higher education

One way to generate useful information, for both the schooling sector and higher education institutions, about students who continue their studies after school is to assess students' perceptions of themselves. Once reliable profiles of these students have been established and related to student performance, analyses may assist to predict factors associated with the persistence of first-year students and retention rates in higher education. First-year student perceptions were measured at one South African university, using the Alpha Baseline Questionnaire. Applying Tinto's Student Integration Model, the potential effect of first-year students' perceptions of their academic, general and social competence on their academic persistence potential was then determined. It was found, inter alia, that entry-level university students seem to underestimate time requirements of out-of-class work. Students at a lower level of school performance proved to be over-optimistic about their potential to persist and seemed to be over-confident about their academic self-image compared to school leavers who performed at higher academic levels at school. In areas of general and social self-image this pattern continued. The results of the study are important for school counsellors, teachers in both schooling and higher education, and for academic developers in higher education. Findings indicated the need to prepare school leavers to have more realistic expectations of higher education programmes and to support lower level school achievers more effectively for improved retention rates in higher education. South African Journal of Education Vol.24(2) 2004: 119-125