1. Advising to Learn: Helping Re-Deciding Students Explore Majors Systematically through a For-Credit Course
Margo Coates
Stephanie Elliott
Sarah Howard

2. 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

3. 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%

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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.)

7. 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)

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Course Overview 7 Recitations Intro Majors & Careers
Interests/Holland Code
Information Gathering
Major Feasibility
Time to degree
Competitive admissions
Resume Building
Degree Planning

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

16. 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

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

18. Course Overview
Recitation 7: Degree Plan

19. Major Assignments Holland Code Assessment & Major Elimination Game
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

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

21. Pre-Assessment

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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.”

26. 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)

27. Questions

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

29. Contact Us Margo Coates, coates.92@osu.edu
Stephanie Elliott,
Sarah Howard,