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We
have asked the project liaisons to let
us know how their college has followed up on the conference.
We'll post their updates here.
Beloit
At our team meeting during the conference, we discussed the following:
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We would like to facilitate on-campus discussions on advising-Perhaps
some sort of conference that looks at ways to integrate student
affairs and academic affairs perspectives. We need to have advising
that "strikes at the heart of liberal education".
- We
would like to facilitate discussions of writing programs. Perhaps
we can have a conference on writing that includes several ACM
schools.
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We would like to see general discussions of the sophomore slump.
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One issue that is of importance is engaging prospective and new
students in discussions of what the liberal arts mean. One school
has beginning discussions of the "aims of education". Perhaps
we can exchange ideas about this. The Beloit people are talking
about revising the booklet of guides presented to students at
the start of the First Year Initiatives program to include some
personal statements about education from students at various stages
of their academic careers. This might include recent graduates.
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We might have a conversation on the liberal arts that includes
admissions people.
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The ACM might have a conference on infusing the curriculum with
international education. This would include some discussions of
study abroad, but not be limited to that.
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It might be helpful to have on-campus integration of various initiatives
within institutions.
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It might be helpful to share information across the ACM on various
surveys-particularly those like CIRP that provide ideas about
student characteristics.
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It might be useful to have a conference of seniors-we could ask
them about what made a difference for them, using some of the
methodology employed by Richard Light.
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It would be helpful to learn more about the demographics of our
faculty, particularly new faculty, in order to help with faculty
concerns and faculty development.
At
a later, follow-up meeting of the Beloit participants on March 16,
the following ideas were discussed:
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Again, the question of a conference on advising was advanced.
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For Beloit, we have a spring semester First Year Initiatives pilot
program for those first year students who are starting at the
College in the spring. We would be interested in the experiences
of other schools with similar programs.
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How about a traveling program that allows international students
to learn more about the US by visiting a number of ACM campuses?
The question of peer relationships between international students
and domestic students is of some importance-how can we enhance
that?
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Can we have a conference or discussion of the connection between
international issues and within US diversity? Put differently,
can we talk about the question of ethnicity and its relationship
to international concerns?
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There was some discussion of capstone programs and the possibility
of sharing information with others about capstones.
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The question of minority student recruitment efforts came up briefly.
- In
summary, the Beloit participants had many ideas for new discussions,
conferences and workshops based on the themes and concerns raised
in the ACM engaging students conference.
Coe
We came away with three plans, of varying degrees of specificity.
One is the need to have more conversations on our campus about liberal
arts values and practices and the distinctiveness of a liberal arts
education, particularly among employees of the college. We agreed
that this conversation needs to include staff, probably at many
levels and across many departments, and should not be limited to
faculty. A second plan is to broaden the First Year Seminar summer
reading program to include more selections (rather than the single
story or article we currently assign), and selections that more
specifically reflect liberal arts values. Finally, we decided that
we would like to pilot a set of conversations with graduating seniors
about how their experiences at Coe have changed them and prepared
them for the next step. This was inspired in part by Richard Light’s
assertion of the value of getting students to reflect on their educational
experiences and goals. It also follows from the first idea, above,
the wish to see more conscious discussion of the liberal arts on
campus. With the encouragement of the Dean of Faculty and President,
we are currently underway with our planning for these conversations.
(Gina Hausknecht, 2 April 2003)
Cornell
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The College is exploring the expansion of its first-year writing
requirement beyond a single course to a portifolio requirement,
completed over students' first three semesters. Two faculty committees
are currently working on this project, supported by an ACM grant.
As a part of this project the College will also consider the organization,
staffing and funding of the writing center and other aspects of
academic support. This is a two-year project, with planning taking
place this year and a trial implementation tentatively scheduled
for next year.
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A faculty committee is examining advising at the College, with
the aim of enhancing the advisor/advisee relationship in the first
year. The committee is beginning its work a) by considering data
provided by the College's Office of Institutional Research on
students' evaluations of advising and b) by reviewing our advsing
handbook for possible revision.
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The College adopted a new process of new-student registration
this year. The new process is intended to improve students' course
selections for the first two terms on the One-Course-At-A-Time
calendar and to provide advisors and advisees the opportunity
to meet several times during New Student Orientation. Previously,
students registered for these terms over the summer. Initial reactions
from faculty, administrators, and students suggest that this new
procedure was very successful. A faculty committee is conducting
a systemic evaluation. The committee will report on its findings
this fall and will make suggestions for improving the process
in subsequent years.
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The all-college First Year Experience Committee continues to meet
twice each month to monitor new programs and consider new intiatives
to enhance the the experience of first year students. Currently
the committee is reviewing the extensive changes in New Student
Orientation implemented this year. (Chris Carlson, 10 September
2003)
Lake
Forest
The Lake Forest College team benefitted from individual and panel
discussions on topics relating to First-Year and Second-Year programs,
as well as sessions on advising. It was useful to be able to compare
notes with other colleges and brainstorm about new possibilities,
especially with a diverse group of professors, deans and staff members.
Our campus intends to follow up with a mini-grant proposal to develop
our current focus on Chicago as an extended classroom, for first-year
students, and beyond. We have established a working group of thirteen
students, faculty and staff to address ways to enhance our curriculum
with Chicago resources. After defining the scope of our current
engagement with the city, we plan to meet with others who can provide
input regarding models of experiential education, including First-Year
Studies professors who are currently teaching Chicago-intensive
first-year seminars funded by a Mellon grant, and others involved
in Chicago-based programs. The conference was instrumental in raising
issues of student engagement and providing a means for us to move
forward on this initiative. (Cynthia Hahn, 3 September 2003)
St.
Olaf
This
committee should be renamed the Committee on the First Year Experience.
Currently, several different committees, groups, and individuals
each contribute their piece to the first year experience of our
students. The groups / committees that now exist in part to serve
first year students on campus include the following: Week I committee;
Academic Advising Center; the Lilly Committee; the CEL; the various
Conversations; first year writing and Religion 121; the ad hoc committee
on linked courses that arose out of the discussion of First Conversations;
Residential Life; the Dean of Students Office; the Registrar's Office;
the Academic Support Center; the library. We do not foresee tampering
with any existing committees, but we do believe strongly that we
need to see the College's programs for first year students as a
coherent whole, and that a coordinating committee will be an important
part of this effort.
The Committee on the First Year Experience will gather information
from groups across campus that plan for first year students, and
we will also read and discuss together some of the literature on
the first year experience (including books mentioned at the conference).
We will then, in consultation with others across campus, define
more clearly the objectives and goals of the First Year Experience
as a whole (both academic and student life aspects) at St. Olaf
College. We will create a guiding document for this purpose that
can be shared with various constituencies (faculty, staff, students,
parents, etc.). Eventually, we expect to see our efforts at coordination,
coherence, and clarity reflected in the College's information that
goes to new students and parents, in print and via the web. Not
only should the information reflect a clear sense of our purpose
and the role of each piece of the first year experience in that
purpose, but it should be pared down to a minimum and be presented
in the most effective way possible.
We will also work with the Week I (orientation week for new students)
committee to plan for fall 2003. In Beloit, we began to formulate
an idea for a "New Student-Faculty-Alumni Symposium" to take place
on the Sunday of Week I (students arrive on Saturday; classes begin
the following Thursday). As we conceive it right now, the symposium
would begin with chapel, and then include a plenary session introducing
the theme of the symposium (=Vocation and the Liberal Arts). Break-out
sessions would feature a large number of alumni who will tell their
own personal stories of life after college and how it relates to
their college experience and their sense of vocation. After the
break-out sessions, new students would meet as a group with their
faculty advisors to reflect on what they have heard. This afternoon
would form an important and valuable introduction to the orientation
activities that will take place on Monday (departmental information
sessions, schedule planning workshops, study skills sessions etc.)
and Tuesday (meetings with advisors to plan for first semester and
registration).
As a third task, our committee will continue to formulate more clearly
and carry out our ACM First Year Experience project and submit a
grant application to the ACM. Through this project we intend to
extend the opportunities for first year students to participate
in learning communities beyond the current Conversations programs.
This will involve a rethinking of the notion, first formulated in
the "First Conversations" initiative, of linking courses that first
year students take. This initiative will require a clear understanding
of the goals of courses for first year students, and it will involve
a faculty development component to be worked out. This linking will
be tied directly to the Lilly Grant that the College just received.
Linked to these initiatives should be some means to assess the impact
of the first year experience on our students, and to share our findings
with the rest of the ACM. (Mary Cisar, 12 March 2003)
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