Advising to Learn: Helping Re-Deciding Students Explore Majors Systematically through a For-Credit Course Margo Coates coates.92@osu.edu Stephanie Elliott elliott.302@osu.edu Sarah Howard howard.933@osu.edu

Session Outline Definition and characteristics of re-deciding students Why we decided to teach a course Details of the course Outcomes of the course Discussion Questions

Overview: About Ohio State Ohio State University is a large, public institution with 200+ majors and 100+ minors New First Year Freshman (Columbus campus) in AU 2016: 7,885 Total undergraduates (Columbus campus) in AU 2016: 45,831 First Year Retention Rate 93%-94% Graduation Rate 4 year 58%-59% 6 year appx 83%-84%

Admissions at Ohio State Major Blind Admissions Students are first admitted to the university, then evaluated for admission to competitive programs Pre-majors Students are admitted as pre-majors in competitive programs and must then do a secondary application after completing pre- requisite courses Most major admissions processes happen after the first or second year Students can move from one college at Ohio State to another OSU allows students to apply to a major regardless of current major/pre-major Students not admitted to their first choice major can move to any major for which they meet eligibility requirements

Re-deciding Students Our working definition: A student who previously was declared in another major/college May be a first-year student, but more often upperclass student Some choose to be re-deciding; others need to reconsider based on lack of progress in declared major (program dismissal)

Re-deciding Student Needs Addressing existing credits Established GPA Possibly limits major options Extended time to degree Possible increased cost Heightened concern about career Frequently moving from a career-directed major (e.g. Engineering, Nursing, etc.) https://pixabay.com/p-608304/?no_redirect

Extrinsic versus Intrinsic Factors Parents encouraged students to go to school, but no particular major goal/support Lack of structure for how to explore majors GPA requirements Major requirements (Firmin and MacKillop, 2008) https://pixabay.com/en/the-structure-lined-pattern-1034946

Extrinsic versus Intrinsic Factors Difficulty in making decisions about long-term plans Lack of awareness of own interests Struggles with finding “best fit” major (Firmin and MacKillop, 2008) http://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/tablet/d/decision-making.html

Re-deciding Students History at OSU Academic Alternatives Advising Program established in late 1980’s to advise students with “advanced credit hours who were in the process of changing academic or vocational directions” (Gordon and Steele, 1992) -Students who had 60 or more earned quarter credit hours earned and who were not making progress towards degree -Students who were denied admission to selected programs -Students unsuccessful in completing prereqs for majors -Students with junior standing who were still undecided -Students with advanced credit hours who needed help exploring several major program options

Re-Deciding Students More recently Students have access to “Major Changer” information through OSU’s LMS Some information available on our department web site for 2nd and 3rd year students specifically Workshops offered in various campus venues about the topic Spring 2015: First offering of EXP 2000 Outside of individual advising appointments, the outreach to this specific population was not very targeted and required that the student initiate the exploration process

Why EXP 2000 What was the need How we advertised the course Campus visibility More structure to re-deciding process for students who want/need it 1 credit hour (7-week) class for students who may need to drop competitive course but remain full time How we advertised the course Advisors In program dismissal letters Now we offer an option for students to have a more structured, dedicated time and process for exploring other majors at the university

Course Design Course goals and objectives Course approval process Sample syllabus available as an online handout Assessing personal interests and strengths Exploring alternate OSU major options Reference available resources to explore careers Course approval process ADD SYLLABUS ONLINE! Several advisors attended course design institute to determine what type of information would be taught, how to “recruit” students for course, implementing course activities to meet objectives. Course had to go through approval process to ensure that we weren’t duplicating efforts of another department, that the course would be beneficial for students, and that it met standards of contact hours for a 1 credit hour course.

Course Objectives Students will assess their personal interests and strengths to help them determine the right fit and declare an appropriate major. Students will be able to determine alternate OSU majors that are attainable based on their academic performance and fit with their academic interests and strengths. Students will be able to reference available resources to explore careers associated with majors of interest.

Course Overview 7 Recitations Intro Majors & Careers Interests/Holland Code Information Gathering Major Feasibility Time to degree Competitive admissions Resume Building Degree Planning https://pixabay.com/en/school-paper-binder-education-934051

Course Overview Recitation 1: Introduction Recitation 2: Majors & Careers Major corresponds directly with career Major is broad

Course Overview R I C E S A Recitation 3: Interests and Holland Code Recitation 4: Information Gathering R I C E S A Doers Thinkers Creators Helpers Persuaders Organizers

Course Overview Recitation 5: Major Feasibility Time to degree Competitive Admission Recitation 6: Resume Building

Course Overview Recitation 7: Degree Plan

Major Assignments Holland Code Assessment & Major Elimination Game http://go.osu.edu/expholland  Feasibility Study Informational Interview Senior student/Alumnus in major of interest Advisor/Faculty member in major of interest Professional in career of interest Degree Plan Milsom & Coughlin (2015) references need to complete personal assessments as a way to learn more about interests and strengths; general education classes as a way to explore, recognize academic strengths Firmin & MacKillop (2008) article supports informational interview assignment: students benefit from talking with students/professors in possible majors to find out realities of that area of study, and from talking to professionals in careers of interest

Pre-Assessment About 45/50 students completed the pre-assessment

Pre-Assessment

Declared Major vs. Major Feasibility Topic This is based on the percentage of students who completed the major feasibility assignment and declared major as of AU16

Changes in major post EXP 2000 28 changed majors, 13 stayed in the same major/pre-major, 7 were in UEXP, 2 were academically dismissed from university by AU16 this is changes from the major they were in prior to taking EXP 2000

Did this class help you make progress towards declaring a new major? 30 of the 50 students who took the course responded to the post assessment

Post-Assessment What did you get out of this class? “The exercises and assignments guided me into learning more about the majors OSU has to offer, and made me think realistically about what each major would require, and the careers they would lead to.” “This class gave me a structured procedure to help me narrow down my interests in majors and career paths.” “How to systematically do research about the major that I am interested in.”

Activity/Group Discussion Who are your students that could benefit? Why might students be re-deciding at your institution? What are the options for re-deciding students at your institution? How could this apply to your institution? Workshop Online modules Course Advising modules/tools Students in “career foreclosure” would benefit from such a course! (Milsom & Coughlin, 2015)

Questions

References Firmin, M.W. & MacKillop, L.M. (2008). Frequent major changing: Extrinsic and intrinsic factors. NACADA Journal, 28(2), 5-13. Gordon, V.N. & Steele, G.E. (1992). Advising major-changers: Students in transition. NACADA Journal, 12(1), 22-27. Hagstrom, S.J., Skovholt, T.M. & Rivers, D.A. (1997). The advanced undecided college student: A qualitative study. NACADA Journal, 17(2), 23-30. Milsom, A. & Coughlin, J. (2015). Satisfaction with college major: A grounded theory study. NACADA Journal, 35(2), 5-14.

Contact Us Margo Coates, coates.92@osu.edu Stephanie Elliott, elliott.302@osu.edu Sarah Howard, howard.933@osu.edu http://exploration.osu.edu