Working with First-Year STEM Students Session begins at 1PM ET/12PM CT/11AM MT/10AM PT. Please configure your audio by running the Audio Set Up Wizard: Tools>Audio>Audio Set Up Wizard. Pamela Bowen Smith Professor of Speech- Language Pathology, Bloomsburg University Today’s Speaker: What experience do you have working with first- years? Respond below by using the textbox tool (the 4 th icon down on the vertical toolbar to the left)

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The First Year Experience Helping Freshmen Achieve College Success Pamela A. Smith, Ph.D. Professor of Speech Pathology Bloomsburg University Bloomsburg, PA 17815

An Orientation to This Session I have a group of about 70 freshmen in Audiology/Speech Pathology Mostly from PA/NJ but also NY, MD. Our university has a large percentage of students who are first generation college students. Part of the State System of Higher Education Public, 4-year, about 12,000 students We also have grad programs in speech pathology (MS) and audiology (AuD)

“University Seminar” COURSE DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to cultivate skills, values, and attitudes necessary to become confident, capable students and enrich them academically and personally. Such skills lead to success not only in undergraduate study, but also graduate study and professional employment.

What Students Seem to Know They Need Finding services and items on campus How-to and go-to for academics, registration, etc. Practical procedures (BOLT, etc.) Understanding General Education Program Introduction to their major

What Many Think They Don’t Need (but they do) Support Permission to miss home Permission to fear independence Problem solving skills. Self assessment A familiar face This can be hard to provide in a class of 70.

“How will you handle this new-found freedom?”

What did you need from a seminar your first year?

I never had a freshmen seminar. Today’s students’ needs are somewhat different. But not entirely

Differences in Students Comfortable with technology, but don’t necessarily know how to best USE it. Can Google in an instant – but may not be able to evaluate it. They do not know of a time when there was no internet. Therefore, memorization is far less functional for them. Information is always at their fingertips. They need guidance in people skills, problem solving, etc.

General Things – logically follows I don’t respond to s about missed assignments. They must come see me face to face. Need to learn that you cannot just hide behind technology. Need the occasional horror story of someone being cited, fined, etc. for violating confidentiality on social media, losing a placement due to clearances, etc. Need to know that decisions, choices, and consequences ARE THEIRS.

Students are individuals. Be open to that. When you meet the “mini-me.” Good and bad? The one who is overly zealous…or lackadaisical. The one who is not going to make it (can you tell that right away?) The ones who can’t confront their REAL issues. (Ex: Overly achieving “Mac Person” finds herself in an educational technology class, planning to drop it due to “the work load.” But what is her REAL issue?) (Ex: Student who plans to transfer because she was in a really good high school band and our university band is so much smaller and she’s not comfortable with that.)

(Academic) Advisement How do you perceive the role of the advisor?

My Philosophy on University Seminar Teach them skills they need to succeed on our campus ….by using those skills in reflection… …and in expanding thought processes.

Tasks We Do In Seminar Unit on Communication and First Impressions. Write a 250 word paragraph describing Communication Gone Wrong and upload it into the dropbox on BOLT by the due date. Graded: word count, due date Think about communication skills and first impressions with people who can influence your future. Learn to use the dropbox feature FOLLOW DIRECTIONS

Tasks We Do The Parents Who Can’t Let (You) Go Part of the Communication unit Text messaging/ ing Taking the perspective of the parent often helps the students whose parent has a hard time with their child leaving home for college. Recognizing their OWN needs – maybe THEY are having a hard time letting go, too.

Tasks We Do Library Orientation Session (online module) and in-class lit search task. (Our college has a librarian assigned). Learn to complete online modules Computer lab/printer lit search in major. Do as early as possible – students need the library sooner than they think.

Tasks We Do Learning Styles Assessment “How to Make A Jumping Frog” – origami Online test with graphic/grid – print to PDF and post in Dropbox Write reflection paper (250 words) on whether this seems accurate. Learn to print to PDF and post multiple files in the BOLT Dropbox FOLLOW DIRECTIONS

Tasks We Do BU Web Page Scavenger Hunt Online quiz with lots of information about the university, bus schedules, rec center, etc. etc. Learn to take an online quiz Navigate the BU web site to locate needed information.

Other Topics General Education Program How to Talk to Your Advisor Time management Caution with social media Study skills Information about our major The Horrors Your Parents Worry About

Many ways to conduct a freshmen seminar What do your students need? Rather than us trying to MEET THAT NEED…maybe we do better to provide an environment where THEY can try to meet that need. The “tough guy” freshman may be hiding a lot of insecurity – let him/her be OK with feeling insecure. The quiet and reserved freshman may be on the verge of really blossoming – let him/her be OK with being quiet.

MENTOR FRESHMEN Pamela Smith, Ph.D. Bloomsburg University Bloomsburg, PA

February CIRTLCast Series: Learning in the Active STEM Classroom February 3: Using Calibrated Peer-Reviewed Writing in the STEM Classroom Featuring Chad Wayne, University of Houston February 10: Working with First-Year STEM Students Featuring Pamela Bowen Smith, Bloomsburg University February 17: Flipped Classrooms: What Are They, and Why Should You Use Them? Featuring Martha Dunkelberger, University of Houston February 24: Getting the STEM Classroom Right: Engaging Undergraduate Students with Experiential Learning Featuring Dmitri Litvinov, University of Houston