Supporting Student Success in the First Year

Supporting Student Success in First Year

• New students - life perspectives• Changing student profiles• What are their needs/expectations?• Factors impacting persistence• Institutional conditions that lead to student

success• Best practices

New Students Life Perspectives

– They have never rolled down a car window– Tiananmen Square is the 2008 Olympics

Venue, not the scene of a massacre– “Off the Hook” has never had anything to do

with a telephone– Thanks to MySpace and Facebook,

autobiography can happen in real time– WWW has been an online tool since they

were born

Changing Student Profile• Millennial or Net Generation Students:

– Special, sheltered, confident, team oriented, conventional, pressured, achieving

– Highly impacted by technology– Connections to peers and the world via

technology are unique– They are avid multi-taskers– High levels of communication with parents

Increasingly Diverse Student Body

• Large percentage of our students are first generation

• Increasing numbers of new Canadians are enrolling

• Increasing population of students with disabilities from year to year

• Increases in ethnic and cultural diverstiy

What Do New Students Need?• Significant body of research exists that

examines factors that impact student retention and success

• Ongoing dialogue concerning:– Impact of institutional characteristics vs.

student characteristics– Relationship between academic and non-

academic factors that impact persistence

Practices That Support First Year Persistence

• Practices for the greatest contribution to student success:

Academic AdvisingFirst Year ProgramsLearning Support

Impacts on First Year Persistence

• Strong to moderate relationships:– Academic related skills (S)– Academic self-confidence (S)– Academic goals (S)– Institutional commitment (M)– Social support (M)– Institutional selectivity (contextual influences) (M)– Social involvement (M)– Financial support (contextual influences) (M)

Impacts on First Year Performance

• Strong to moderate relationships:– Academic self-confidence (S)– Achievement motivation (S)– Financial support (M)– Academic goals (M)– Academic-related skills (M)– Social Involvement (M)– Institutional commitment (M)– Social support (M)

What do Students Need?

• Our understanding that:

– retention and success are two different outcomes

– Academic and non-academic factors have different effects on persistence and performance

What Do Students Need?• Ongoing transition support• Collaborative efforts between faculty and

service providers• Support in the formulation of educational

and career goals• Quality, individual academic and social

experiences with faculty, staff and other students

What do Students Expect?• Successful integration into the academic

and social life of the institution• Engaging classroom and co-curricular

activity as a norm of campus life• That the quality and value of the experience

will mirror the costs of their education• Successful transition to employment upon

completion of degree requirements

Conditions that Lead to Student Success

• Lived educational philosophy• Unshakeable focus on student learning• Environments adapted for educational

enrichment• Clearly marked pathways to student

success• Improvement-oriented ethos

Conditions That Lead to Student Success

• Shared responsibility for educational quality across campus

• Student engagement , particularly when academic, interpersonal and extracurricular involvements are mutually reinforcing (Pascarella and Terenzini)

Challenges for Student Development and Support

• Disconnect of commuter students• Customization of support for special

populations• Documenting contributions to learning and

success• Prevalence of mental health issues

Challenges for Student Development and Support

• Increasing collaboration with faculties to facilitate student success

• Lack of appropriate staffing resources in areas that provide support for educational/career goal-setting and for personal counselling

Documented Best Practices Supporting Student Success

• Academic Advising including:– Advising interventions with select student

populations– Integration of advising with first year transition

programs– Advising programs that combine educational

and career planning– Early alert systems

Documented Best Practices Supporting Student Success

• First Year Programs including:– Orientation - both pre-term and extended– Summer bridge programs– First year seminars for credit– Mentoring– Learning Communities

Documented Best Practices Supporting Student Success

• Learning Support including:– Supplemental instruction– Learning assistance centres– Summer bridge programs– Tutoring programs– Assistance with developing study groups

For Further ConsiderationHow do we effectively move toward integrated efforts incorporating both curricular and co-curricular factors into the design and development of programs to create an engaging and supportive learning environment that addresses the social, emotional and academic needs of our students, in order maximize their potential for success?

Questions?Comments?

Suggestions?