Restructuring Faculty/Instructor Training and Support for FY - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Restructuring Faculty/Instructor Training and Support for FY Seminar Courses

Lisa Kamody

UC 1900 Course Coordinator

Kris Kumfer

UC 1000 Course Coordinator

¡

• Four-year, public research university founded in 1804; oldest in the

Northwest Territory

• Athens campus located in Southeastern Ohio
• Nine undergraduate colleges offering more than

250 majors

• 17,375 undergraduate students on the Athens

campus (2013-14)

• 4,244 first-year students (2013-14)

Ohio University:

Session Agenda

• Ohio University
• Learning Community Programs
• FY Seminar Courses
• Instructor Training & Support

¡

In the beginning (Fall 1999), there were two pilot learning communities… with 40 students and a temporary seminar course.

¡ ¡ ¡

¡

At Ohio University, a Learning Community is:

A group of students who take a common set of courses together or share a common experience around their academics. PSY 1010 MATH 1200 FAR 1500

History of Involvement in OHIO Learning Communities

• Fall, 1999 – PILOT 2 communities, 40 students
• 2000-01 – 6 communities, 93 students
• 2001-02 – 9 communities, 147 students
• 2002-03 – 10 communities, 140 students
• 2003-04 – 14 communities, 239 students
• Fall 2004 – 16 communities, 279 students
• Fall 2005 – 38 communities, 638 participants
• Fall 2006 – 57 communities, 1026 participants
• Fall 2007 – 115 communities, 1925 participants
• Fall 2008 – 142 communities, 2177 participants
• Fall 2009 – 148 communities, 2417 participants
• Fall 2010 – 162 communities, 2704 participants
• Fall 2011 – 174 communities, 2637 participants
• Fall 2012 – 172 communities, 2869 participants
• Fall 2013 – 194 communities, 3293 participants
• Fall 2014 – 217 communities, over 3500 participants

Wendy Merb-Brown Director Lisa Kamody UC 1900 Course Coordinator Kris Kumfer UC 1000 Course Coordinator Wendy Rogers LC Leader Coordinator UC 1900 Instructors (150) UC 1000 Instructors (58) Learning Community Leaders (200) Sandy Smith Administrative Coordinator

Learning Community Programs

Graduate Assistants (4)

¡ ¡ Seminar Courses

• UC 1000: Mastering the University Experience

(Undecided and undeclared students in University College)

• UC 1900: Learning Community Seminar

(Students within Arts & Sciences, Business, Communication, Education, Engineering and Technology, Fine Arts, Health Sciences and Professions, or International Studies)

UC 1000: Mastering the University Experience ¡ ¡

• 2-credit hours
• 20 student class size
• Class meets once per week for 110 minutes (15-week

semester)

• 53 sections offered fall 2014
• 839 participants
• Required for University College students

UC 1000: Mastering the University Experience

Instructors: (58)

• UNC Academic Advisors (job expectation),
• College Student Personnel graduate students (practicum credit or GA

expectation)

• Faculty (overload contract)
• University administrators from all over campus (overload contract).

Instructors also serve as the primary academic advisor for students throughout the first year or until they declare a major. History of the course previously offered as a separate first-year experience elective course (UC 115).

UC 1900: Learning Community Seminar

• 1-credit hour
• 25 student class size
• Class meets once per week for 80 minutes (15-week

semester)

• 143 sections offered fall 2014
• 2,171 participants

UC 1900: Learning Community Seminar ¡

Instructors: (150)

• Faculty appointed by academic colleges (overload contract)
• University administrators from all over campus (overload

contract)

LC staff meet with each academic department to gain feedback about their LC the prior fall as well as to begin to plan for the upcoming year. This commitment of time has produced an increased level of support for LCs within the academic units. ¡

Challenges

• Experienced faculty express challenge in teaching the

FY seminar course

• Separate cultures for instructor training
• Separate operational structures
• Varying student experience
• No common learning outcomes
• Transitioning from quarters to semesters

Observations

• Faculty looking to LC staff for guidance with FY student

transition concerns.

• Common FY students needs across seminar courses
• Need to create learning outcomes for seminar courses
• Intrigued by the potential to collaborate and design a

combined instructor training.

• Connect lesson plans with new learning outcomes

Developing Our Learning Outcomes

• Resources:
• Office of Institutional Research
• “A Faculty and Staff Guide to Creating Learning

Outcomes”. Gahagan, Dingfelder & Pei, 2010

• Combined efforts to create measurable learning
• utcomes for all areas of our LC program.
• Created pre-tests & post-tests.
• Updated lesson plans to better connect with new

learning outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify and recall student success services offered through a minimum of three Ohio University campus resources. 2. Evaluate your academic success skills (time management, study strategies and stress management). 3. Understand and articulate your personal interests, values and strengths relating to available Ohio University majors and minors/ certificates. 4. Construct a comprehensive academic plan for use throughout your first year at Ohio University 5. Identify at least two benefits of connecting with faculty beyond the classroom (and beyond the LC seminar instructor).

UC 1000/1900 Instructor Training

• Day-long combined training in May
• Provided oatmeal breakfast bar & lunch
• Provided LC materials at instructor check-in
• Compensation
• Combined sessions
• Specific course content at the end of the day

Combined Resources

• “Customized Version of Thriving in College and Beyond.

Research Based Strategies for Academic Success & Personal Development. Designed Specifically for Ohio University”. Cuseo, Thompson, Campagna & Fecas, 2013.

• Binders with supporting material from Kendall Hunt
• E-Codes for Peer Mentors
• Semester calendar
• Service opportunities

Shared Programming

• Alcohol education
• Study skills workshops
• Career Leadership Development Center
• Library resources
• Lunch “brown-bag” workshops
• Textbook workshop with author

Blackboard Sites

• 1. Instructor-to-Copy
• Written to the student
• 2. Instructor Resources
• Training materials
• Campus resources & updates
• Programmatic announcements
• Statistics tracking

Inaugural LC Banquet

Inaugural LC Banquet

Inaugural LC Banquet ¡

Instructor Evaluations

80.5% of instructors felt that the training prepared them for their FY seminar course. 86.4% of instructors utilized the Instructor Resources BlackBoard site. 91.7% of instructors would rate their experience with the LC Program as good, great or exceptional. 92.8% of instructors believe their seminar course covered topics that helped to further the success of FY students.

¡

Future Plans

• Update learning outcomes for each lesson plan
• Re-invest in combined instructor training
• “Difficult Dialogue” in-class activities to compliment the

textbook.

• Spring semester learning communities (international

students, transfer, delay start & retakes).

• Possibly growth with additional graduate assistant

Questions ¡ ¡

• What are some of the challenges with FY seminar

course instructors at your institution?

¡Ohio University Presentations at FYE

¡

Monday, February 9th: 3:00pm- Controversial Conversations: A Collective Exploration into Facilitating Difficult Dialogues (Dallas G) 4:15pm- Applying Appreciative Advising to the Supervision of Peer Leaders (Greenville Ave) Tuesday, February 10th: 8:00am- Holistic Assessment: Exploring Comprehensive Measurements of Learning Communities (Trinity 7) 10:30am- Proactively Meeting the Needs of First-Year First Generation Students (Fair Park 1)

THANK YOU!