1. Effective Strategies: First Year Experience Class
Presenters:
Lorie Hach
Director of Student Success
Richard DeCelles
Retention Director
Lori Sande
Instructor/Coordinator

2. Walmart Minority Student Success Grant Program
Help first-generation students achieve their higher education goals
MSIs — including historically and predominantly black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges and universities
Support existing efforts by MSIs to close retention and persistence gaps and improve graduation rates
Train the trainer model – Mentor/Mentee Institutions
First Grant – IAIA was mentor, SBC Mentee
Second Grant – SBC is the mentor, FPCC Mentee

3. SBC First Year Learning Experience
First Year Learning Experience– Changes
Policy change – First year course sequence
Assignment of first year advisors
Revision to student orientation
Revision of First Year Learning Experience course
Rational – Improvement of student retention and persistence

4. SBC FYE Course Description
The purpose of this course is to provide an opportunity for students to learn and adopt methods to promote their success in school and life. Topics in this course include critical thinking skills, career planning, time organization, test-taking, communication skills, study techniques, questions-asking skills, library use, and personal issues that face many college students.

5. SBC FYE Course Objectives
Read and comprehend textbook and handouts.
Logical and critical thinking of such materials.
Class participation.
Have a solid understanding of successful student values.
Apply this understanding to own personal life.
Apply this understanding to the college life community.
Employ technology to the learning process.

6. SBC FYE Course Changes
The course methodology – Changed in the fall 2011
More group work
More hands on work
Less talking head
Less graded assignments – (course had a large number of assignments with three to five points)
Changed textbook
Rational for the change
Low completion rates
High dropout rates
Numerous complaints to Vice President of Academics that the course was to much like a high school course
High school textbook was used

7. SBC FYE Group and Hands-on Activities
Library visit
Small group discussions on common read
Group work on reasons for class absences, money
Importance of education, personal talents, goal setting (short and long term), learning styles, and time management

8. SBC Outcomes of Change
Fall 2011 the first semester after the change 57% of the students’ successfully completed the course and 66% persisted to the spring semester, with 62% retention to the next fall semester.
% of new students enrolled in PSYC 100 course for the fall 2012 and spring 2013 semester. Fall 2012: 69 enrolled, 29 passed, 42% pass rate. Spring 2013: 38 enrolled, 22 passed for a 58% pass rate.
This is in comparison to completion rate for fall of 2010 which was at 39% and 33% in the spring 2011.

9. FPCC FYE- How Do I Succeed? Course Description
This course offers the entry-level student skills to achieve success in school and life. The student examines topics that contribute to FPCC success: effective use of FPCC Student Services Division; effective use of Financial Aid Service; use of relevant technology; FPCC library skills; career planning skills; learning skills; and critical thinking.

10. FPCC FYE Course Objectives
Upon successful completion the student will:
Demonstrate understanding of the role of the Student Service Division of FPCC.
Demonstrate understanding of principles of critical thinking.
Demonstrate the capacity to complete an education plan.
Demonstrate the capacity to complete scholarship.
Demonstrate the capacity to use essential technology.
Demonstrate the capacity to design an education plan.
Demonstrate the capacity to design a career plan.
Demonstrate understanding of the role of culture in decision making.

11. FPCC Rational for Change and Expected Outcomes
Evidence suggest that significant numbers of students fail to value education sufficiently to sacrifice the time from other aspects of their life for the necessary study time.
We are addressing a need for the faculty to expand mentor roles to guide the students in understanding prioritization and time management.
We have experienced ambivalence concerning the reasons for the low retention rate.

12. FPCC Outcomes
The mentor/student team will identify the individual challenges with the mentor guiding the student’s consideration of barriers to educational success within the context of the appropriate and available resources necessary for resolution.
The learning outcome displays sufficient understanding of course content to use the available recourses to increase student success.

13. FPCC Engagement Activity
Faculty advising/tutoring in Learning Center
Structured presence of the faculty in the learning center
Structured and detailed accounting of student advising categorized by issue (course content, personal, economic).
Role Playing
Self-reflection publication

14. FYE Course Group Engagement Activity
Puzzle Pieces

15. FYE Course
Questions

16. Conclusion
“Let us put our minds together to see what we can build for our children.”
–Tataŋka Iyotaka (Sitting Bull)