FRESHMAN INITIATIVES: MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE MILLENNIAL - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ FRESHMAN INITIATIVES: MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION ¡ ¡ Dr. Patrick Turner Georgia State University Instructor – Freshman Learning Community February 9, 2015

THE CONVERSATION Vague Question Answer Excuses Deflection Blame

WHO ARE THEY?

COLLEGE STUDENTS TODAY MILLENNIALS ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

MILLENNIAL GENERATION Ø Special Born Over 100 1982-2002 million Ø Sheltered ¡ Ø Confident Ø Achievers Largest Technologically generation Savvy Ø Pressured Ø Conventional Ø Team-oriented

IMPRESSIONS Ø Learning style (s) Ø Expectations (unrealistic) § professional and academic abilities § faculty and administrators Ø Consumers ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ (Monaco ¡& ¡Marti, ¡2007) ¡

INFLUENCE ON INSTRUCTION ¡ Challenge traditional programs, services, and instructional strategies offered by many colleges . ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡(Elam, ¡Stratton, ¡& ¡Gibson, ¡2007; ¡Lowery, ¡2004) ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

THEN AND NOW 18 1898 20 2014 4

¡ ¡ But what we don’t know “ M ost will survive the first-year at college and go on to ¡ graduate, but all to many drop out before the freshman year is over” Marina, B., & McGuire, M. (2008)

¡ T he national average of freshmen returning to the same ¡ institution for their sophomore year in 2012-2013 was 58.2% ¡ National Student Clearinghouse Research Center 2014

¡ FRESHMAN RETENTION BY SECTOR ¡ ¡ ¡ Fall 2012 Cohort- Full-Time Retention Rate 90.0 .0 78.7 .7 76.6 .6 80.0 .0 70.0 .0 58.5 .5 60.0 .0 49.6 .6 50.0 .0 40.0 .0 30.0 .0 20.0 .0 10.0 .0 0.0 .0 4-Year P Publi lic 2-Year P Publi lic 4-Year F For-P -Profit 4-Year P Private

First- ¡year ¡Retention ¡and ¡Persistence ¡ (Four-­‑Year ¡Public ¡Institution) ¡ Full-­‑Time ¡Freshman ¡Students ¡ ¡ ¡ 87.74 86.98 ¡ 85.93 85.49 90 ¡ ¡ ¡ 78.96 ¡ 77.47 76.6 76.6 ¡ 80 ¡ 69.4 69.2 ¡ 68.5 68.2 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 70 ¡ ¡ ¡ 60 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 50 ¡ ¡ ¡ 40 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 30 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 20 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 10 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 0 ¡ ¡ Fall 2009 Fall 2010 Fall 2011 Fall 2012 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ National Rate 4-Year Public Institution Persistence ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ (The ¡National ¡Student ¡Clearinghouse ¡Research ¡Center ¡2014) ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

THE RESEARCH QUESTION How do freshmen, sophomores, and former freshman students (dropouts and stop-out) describe and reflect on their first-year college experience? ¡

FOUR MAJOR THEMES Soci cial F Freshmen ctivities Act Aca cademic- c- Development ¡ of ¡ Ad Advis visement t First -Y -Year Effective ¡Study ¡ Support Suppo rt Strategies ¡ Experience Ex ce Instruct ctor-S -Student Relationship

NON-RETURNING FRESHMEN SOPHOMORES TOTAL FRESHMEN Social Freshmen Activities 70% 60% 70% 67% • “I’m in a living and learning community (LLC) so we like to do different events every other day of the week. The LLC is great for the freshmen experience and building friendships” (FM3) • “I didn’t’ really socialize or get involved with campus stuff. I think I am an introvert. I would sit in my room most of the time” (NRM3) Development of Effective Study 80% 80% 40% 67% Strategies • “I got lost during the lecture. I advise students to stay focused, develop study habits, and learn new strategies” NRF5 • “Study groups are helpful because each group member is able to capitalize on the other student’s ideas and knowledge.” SM6 Instructor-Student Relationship 50% 70% 50% 57% • “You had more of a relationship with your high school teachers and then you come to college and it’s like they are just here to do their job and leave. They should act like they care.” SF3 • “My English instructor does a great job of helping and teaching students. He set up one-on-ones” FF1 Academic Advisement- 80% 30% 50% 53% Support • “They could be a little friendlier. I feel like they all hate their jobs.” (NRF2) • “My advisor was great; “maybe an idea would be to get like a small profile of the students and try to suggest to them, like point them in a certain direction.” SM6

¡ IMPLICATIONS ¡ Engagement Ø Social environment Ø Academic environment ¡ ¡ ¡ § Peers ¡ § Instructors § College administrators Ø Experiential learning Obstacles Ø Poor personal study skills Ø Limited academic advisement-support Ø Instructor-student relationship

RECOMMENDATIONS v Provide a balanced social and academic experience v Integrate freshmen workshops into classroom exercises v Promote the instructor-student relationship v Provide aggressive and intrusive student advisement v Involve student organizations v Provide in-house training for academic advisors and faculty

CONCLUSION Ø Colleges and universities must view the first-year as a combination of independent yet interdependent components. The four major themes functioned as critical factors that influenced the social and academic experience. No one theme dominated or functioned as the lynchpin for the freshmen transition. A combined and orchestrated interaction of all the themes framed the overall experience. Ø Millennial freshman students required ongoing academic guidance, feedback, and interaction which helped promote a seamless transition into both the academic and social environment. Ø First-year programs, courses, and/or initiatives should be strategically integrated or threaded into the overall experience.

REFERENCES ¡ Bassey, M. (1999). Case study research in educational settings . Buckingham, England: Open University Press. Burshong, S. (2009). Freshman retention drops, except at 2-year colleges. Chronicle of Higher Education , 55 (21), A17. College Board. (2011). Pay for college . Retrieved from http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/4494.html Elam, C., Stratton, T., & Gibson, D. D. (2007). Welcoming a new generation to college: The millennial students. Journal of College Admission , 195 , 20-25. Hayashi, Y., Nakayama, T., Slingsby, B., Sugimori, H., Takahashi, M., & Yamazaki, H. (2009). Characteristics of qualitative studies in influential journals of general medicine: A critical review. BioScience Trends, 3 , 202-209. Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (2000). Millennials rising: The next great generation . New York: Vintage Books . Jafee, D. (2007). Peer cohorts and the unintended consequences of freshman learning communities. College Teaching , 55 (2), 65-71. Monaco, M., & Martin, M. (2007). The millennial student: A new generation of learners. Athletic Training Education Journal , 2, 42-46. ¡

REFERENCES National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. (2015). First-Year Persistence and Retention Rates by Starting Enrollment n: 2009-2012. http://nscresearchcenter.org/snapshotreport-persistenceretention14/ Rickes, P. C. (2009). Make way for millennials! How today's students are shaping higher education space , Planning for Higher Education, 37 (2), 7-17. The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. (2012). Retention Rates – First-Time College Freshmen Returning Their Second Year . Retrieved from http:// www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?year=2010&level=nation&mode=map&state=0&submeasure=224 Tinto, V. (2009). Taking student retention seriously: Rethinking the first year of college . Retrieved from http://faculty.soe.syr.edu/vtinto/Files/Taking%20Student%20Retention%20Seriously.pdf Williams, D. F. (2011). The impact of career workshops on freshman college students at-risk for dropout: An action research study. College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice , 13 (1), 37-62. ¡

Ò Questions?

CONTACT INFORMATION Dr. ¡Patrick ¡Turner ¡ peturner@gsu.edu ¡ 404-­‑413-­‑7217 ¡ ¡ HAVE AN AWESOME DAY !!!!!!