Home |
 |
| Leadership and Organization |
|
Mission |
|
By-Laws |
|
Executive Board |
|
Commissions |
|
Past Presidents |
|
ACPA Affiliation |
|
PA Graduate Programs |
|
| Membership |
|
Application |
|
Benefits |
|
| Professional Development |
|
Annual Conference |
|
PCPA Journal |
|
Keystone Seminars |
PCPA Newsletter |
|
| Archives |
|
Minutes
of Meetings |
|
2002
Conference |
|
2001 Conference |
|
2000 Conference |
|
PCPA > Newsletter
Initiatives
to Enhance the Involvement of First-Year Students
Chris Rizzo / Director of Penn State Erie
 |
Printer friendly version >> |
| Links to all articles >> |
Like many
other colleges and universities, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College,
launched a series of new initiatives to enhance the connection and involvement
of first-year students on campus. This article details some of the processes
and actions happening in the office of student activities at the college.
Based upon the literature and our research on first year students, goals
and objectives for efforts emerged as: 1) increasing new student contact
with other students, 2) increasing student involvement and time on campus
during the 1st semester, and, 3) making contact with the new students
early because they form their perceptions and expectations about campus
and involvement early.
To guide the efforts, we asked several critical questions in response to our goals/outcomes: What is the office of student activities currently doing to support new student involvement? Where are some key internal allies and resources outside student affairs related to the topic? How do we know what attitudes and expectations new students possess regarding their co curricular experience? What data on campus do we have or do we need to inform any new efforts?
Responding to our questions, we identified our primary links on campus as admissions/financial aid and the division of undergraduate studies due to the fact that these offices have the most contact with new students before they arrive in the fall. We then met with the two areas to comprehend their operations and understand the data they possess in order to use it to help us reach out to new students before they started classes.
Working with our admissions office and their student tele-counselor program, we added questions to their script asking potential students about their high school activities and what interests they might pursue outside the classroom in college. This information was entered in a database and provided to the office of student activities. Working with financial aid (part of admissions), we discovered new student scholarship applications submitted as part of our college scholarships program. These applications detailed student leadership and involvement activities from high school and held a wealth of information.
We learned the details regarding the division of undergraduate studies' summer academic testing and advising program for first-year students. In this program, new students visit campus for a day. As part of that process, we found that students completed a survey that included a question asking students what they would like to become involved in outside the classroom. We also added information to the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) survey of our first-year students regarding involvement areas to confirm trends we had observed anecdotally about community service and outdoor activities among our students to get real numbers.
Three primary conclusions from our internal research emerged as 1) the office of student activities already offers many student organizations, programs, supports and activities that should meet most new student interests and needs, 2) there are information gaps or other links missing to get that information into the awareness of the first year student before arrival, and, 3) we needed to expand offerings in areas related to outdoor activities and community service.
By asking the division of undergraduate studies to participate in its summer first year counseling, testing and advising program via the creation of a one hour activities session, we targeted information about student organizations and involvements to larger groups of new students than ever before. The daily presentation included a fun, student produced video to both inform and entertain as part of a developmentally focused presentation conducted by a student activities staff member. The presentation provided simple but critical activity and program resource information that gave students a "seek peek" at college life. Following the presentation, a smaller group of interested students scheduled one-on-one involvement consultations with our staff and student leaders trained as facilitators.
The individual involvement sessions were structured conversations designed to extract information about what students do and to get them linked with people, existing opportunities, organizations, and offices on campus. For instance, a high school senior often says, "I'm not involved…I just hang with my friends". Because high school students tend to think in terms limited to personal experience, our team would press that answer to find what is specifically done when "hanging". We then make the possible campus link based upon an expressed student interest or hobby. We also drew information from them to support new student communication efforts using technology. These efforts employed individual student email (pre-arrival), Instant Messaging, cell phones and a student-friendly orientation Web site created specifically for the efforts. (This is important information, as they don't place it on their college application materials.)
To create innovative strategies, we researched teen marketing techniques and found that our approach should meet them in their technological comfort zones. The information we found in our research was eye opening! If advertising media is using these techniques to sell students stuff, why can't we use similar means to help them acclimate to campus? We created early, personal linkages between our staff, current student leaders, student organizations, and peer-to-peer links to form informational and social connections before arrival. For instance, we created our own new student IM lists and students, in turn, created their own communities as they branched off in cyber space together.
Follow up surveys indicate that our primary goals of raising awareness and the level of information regarding activities, programs and services among first year students has been successful. The bigger question is whether or not this information impacts their behaviors and actions to cause involvement.
Lessons Learned
o Reinforce limited but critical themes, messages and connections from the time the student is accepted, during the new student orientation program, and throughout the first semester. Our theme was get involved early as it is the key to success.
o Make it personal using their mediums. Follow up via continued outreach for programs and services based upon the interests they disclose.
o Provide new students with information, options and opportunities along with the knowledge about how and where to go to get ongoing support.
o Get new
student summer contact information in the hands of current student leaders.
There is nothing more powerful than an upperclassman inviting a new student
to club meeting or program.
o Retool and listen to what you are hearing from students. Be flexible,
develop the means to learn.
o Look for allies inside and outside student affairs. If it is not clear to them right up front, explain it to them as a retention effort.
o Increase the effectiveness and training for current student leaders to expand the depth and breadth of leaders on campus. By getting new students involved in more effective organizations, the student leaders then get them into other activities. This impact of the "tipping point" is seen as these student leaders are often involved and many other organizations and tend to bring along many other students to involvement.
o Focus on directing new and interested students to make an impact and teach the leaders of current organizations how to involve new members immediately.
o There are many, many, creative, strong and diverse new students coming to your campus from high school or home school. What do you actually know about them?
o Improvements are always needed and we need to improve every year. Embrace change, as every new class of first year students will bring its own tech-savvy. Be ready to respond. Engage you current students as tech advisors to you on these matters!
Resources/References:
Barefoot, B. The First-Year Experience: Are We Making It Any Better? About Campus, January-February, 2000
Gladwell, G. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Little Brown and Company, 2000
National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition http://www.sc.edu/fye/
The Merchants of Cool. PBS Frontline investigations. Found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
For more information contact:
Chris Rizzo
Director of Student Activities and the Reed Union Building
Penn State Erie
5091 Station Road
Erie, PA 16563
Ph. 814.898.6171
Fax 814.898.6015
clr4@psu.edu
Direct questions, comments to the webmaster: Mark Bauman