Cohorts: Who’s on Your Team? Abstract The advantages of providing a cohort environment for transitioning students are reviewed. Cohort outcomes for various levels of effort are discussed as are the administrative policies required to establish a cohort program. The key players required to develop and maintain a cohort program are identified and their roles are discussed. Cohort experiences from the University of Toledo and Southern Utah University are presented. Summary Cohorts are mentored groups of students. All of the students in a cohort have the same major, work on the same academic level, have similar class schedules and take several classes together. They regularly meet outside of class (often with their mentor) to study, assess academic progress, discuss career options and socialize. Well functioning cohorts will also meet impulsively. Cohort participation provides students transitioning between any academic level an immediate association with other students in similar circumstances, a group identity, and resources to solve problems. Supporting the highly visible cohort is a dedicated team of faculty, staff and administration. Just like the tip of an iceberg, the mentor and students are only a fraction of the team. Unseen is the organization and structure that accommodates the apparently spontaneous cohort. To get a cohort deliberately scheduled into the same section of two or three courses each semester, someone must reserve required seats prior to open registration, essentially giving cohort students priority registration. Accomplishing this requires the help (and blessing) of Chairmen, Deans, the Registrar, Vice Presidents and the Provost. For entering freshman wanting to participate in a cohort, a first year program must identify students during the application, admission or orientation process. Once cohorts are established recruiters can become part of the team and invite students to participate or perhaps choose the school based on the student-centered design. Assigning students to a unique cohort is often discussed with or recommended by an academic advisor, and the support of course instructors is invaluable. Administrative and financial support is important for social and academic activities because the cohort seeks to support students in developing habits of a professional and collegial life. The power of a pizza arriving during a study hall or a custom printed T-shirt cannot be underestimated! If not part of a school’s or department’s design which rewards faculty for actively supporting student learning, faculty mentors may be more willing to actively participate with a stipend incentive. Of course, training requires time and money so that all of these players can work as a coordinated team. With a winning team and plan, transition woes decrease while enrollment, retention and the time to graduation all naturally improve. A cohort achieves the initially challenging task of coordinating learning and transforming students to become more accountable and authentic learners, and it does it by putting the work of learning in their control.
Cohorts: Who’s on Your Team? By Jill Wilks and Blair McDonald Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah Advantages of providing a cohort environment for transitioning students It’s the first day of another fall term; the new freshmen are on campus and trying desperately to get to their classes on time, or are they? Today’s transitioning students have a wide range of college expectations. Some anticipate intense reading, twenty-page term papers and submersion in classic theory while for others it’s no curfew, new avenues to freely explore, and parties every night! In the midst of this confusion academic programs stand as a lighthouse, an ultimate goal and a path through the chaos. Students in this transition need a well defined purpose that they can adopt and follow. That used to be a major. Today, an increasing number of students commit to attend college without knowing what they really want to study. Every student requires guidance at some level; unfortunately, few students require exactly the same guidance, thus the effectiveness of cohorts. By grouping students using well defined criteria, it is possible to provide common elements of advising in a group setting. Student then begin to utilize other students for information, not just authority figures. Through observation, faculty mentors are able to discern some of the individual needs. Providing a means of handling the problems that are common to all, most or even many students (without boring the remainder) is essential to being able to spend the time required to satisfy the truly individual needs. This creation of an environment where the students interact and suggest solutions to each other’s problems allows faculty to naturally assume a “guide on the side” role and sets the scene for students to reduce dependence and increase interdependence and independence. Cohorts essentially franchise some of the common elements of advising out to the advisees under the oversight of an advisor. The academic needs of students can not be completely separated from the social, moral and even physical needs. All aspects of life must continue to mature and support the academic endeavors for optimal progress; however, it is very difficult to provide direct advice to individuals in most of these areas because what is right for A may be wrong for B. Providing a haven where a wide spectrum of outcomes are allowed and even promoted allows the transitioning student a chance to flex, test their individuality and grow without having to immediately commit to something that isn’t thoroughly understood. Cohorts provide a common thread to every member and the interaction of threads with every other member. In a cohort, students are no longer alone; they have a peer group and a campus identity as early as the first day of classes. The cohort provides the safety net to catch those for whom the general advice is not working. Among the most difficult of advising tasks is discerning the progress of students, especially those that are not progressing at a rate that will likely lead to personal success and program success (timely graduation). Learning that a student is in trouble by reviewing the recorded final grade in a class doesn’t provide an advisor any opportunity to help the student improve. Gaining a means of
recognizing inadequate progress early in a term, opens the door for remedial actions such as additional study time, tutoring, schedule adjustments, and/or support services. In a cohort environment, the mentor observes students working on their homework and the interactions between students from the first day of classes. The strong students naturally help the weak and in doing so both become stronger. The students that have taken courses that are above their ability are quickly identified (they struggle with their homework, and with other students’ explanations of the homework in the first week). After having been identified, these students’ needs can be addressed; as a matter of fact, everyone faces challenges, which builds our character. Cohort outcomes for various levels of effort A cohort plan can be simple and involve only a couple of objectives, or it can be more comprehensive with numerous objectives. The goals of the campus, college, department or program organizing the cohort dictate the complexity. The support required to achieve the goals increases in direct proportion, or maybe even exponentially to the level of complexity, but then so does the payoff! Some common objectives often associated with cohorts are: to attract students to a particular major, retain a greater percentage of students through the transition to the second semester or year, improve student academic performance, acquaint students with their peers within a major, acquaint students with the specific features and resources available in a particular program, to facilitate better and more frequent academic advising, and to get academic, social, and emotional support tools available within a program into the hands of the students. In the simplest case, a single objective such as getting peers to meet each other, forming a cohort may require little in the way of organization, resources and effort. A professor could require that in a syllabus and a writing assignment. A room might be reserved for a particular time each week and students invited to congregate and become acquainted. Free pizza may be all that is necessary to attract an initial crowd, and with the right cohort mentor that’s all that is needed to begin a self sustaining program. Loftier objectives require greater support and organization. Building cohorts around a common academic schedule to provide students peer group recognition and support in their studies requires planning, advertising and follow through. The instructor’s of multiple courses have to cooperate (or at least not object). The registrar has to provide a means of letting participating students enroll in a common schedule. The program may be included in the degree program description in the school catalog. Advisors and mentors have to plan interactions with the cohort that will provide enough early exposure to assess the preparation of everyone in the cohort and insure that they are ready to take the common schedule and a remedial plan needs to be in place for those students that are not prepared so that they can quickly get help without having to leave the cohort. Meeting the single objective of increasing retention Achieving a higher rate of retention can be obtained by improving student satisfaction of a degree program. Students stay in programs for several reasons: one, they are succeeding; two, they believe
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