1. “Our Stories” Developing a Virtual Community of First-Year Voices
Jennifer Sears, Assistant Professor, English, NYCCT
Karen Goodlad, Assistant Professor, Hospitality Management, NYCCT
Ashwin Satyanarayana, Associate Professor, Computer Engineering Technology, NYCCT
Sandra Cheng, Associate Professor, Humanities, NYCCT
Mery Diaz, Assistant Professor, Human Services, NYCCT
Philip Kreniske, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Columbia University

2. think back to one moment in your first semester at college
think back to one moment in your first semester at college. How were you feeling? what do you remember most?
Sandra to hand out postit notes as people walk in. Karen to introduce and lead the activity. We will read their responses (2 min)

3. “Our Stories” Developing a Virtual Community of First-Year Voices
Jennifer Sears, Assistant Professor, English, NYCCT
Karen Goodlad, Assistant Professor, Hospitality Management, NYCCT
Ashwin Satyanarayana, Associate Professor, Computer Engineering Technology, NYCCT
Sandra Cheng, Associate Professor, Humanities, NYCCT
Mery Diaz, Assistant Professor, Human Services, NYCCT
Philip Kreniske, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Columbia University

4. First Year Learning Communities at City Tech
A LC is a group of students who enroll in two or more courses. 
LCs involve cooperative learning, alternative assessment in the classroom, cross-disciplinary writing assignments, and critical thinking activities. 
When compared to the general population at the College, students in LC earn higher GPAs, have higher retention rates, and demonstrate greater satisfaction.
A LC is a group of students who enroll in two or more courses, generally in different disciplines that are linked together by a common theme, in an academic semester. 
One of the eleven high-impact educational practices recognized nationally to improve first year student persistence and retention is First-Year Learning Communities (LC). 
LCs involve cooperative learning, alternative assessment in the classroom, cross- disciplinary writing assignments, and critical thinking activities. 
LCs first came to our institution, City Tech, through a Title V Grant in 2000 and were adopted by the college in 2005. 
When compared to the general population at the College, students in LC earn higher GPAs, have higher retention rates, and demonstrate greater satisfaction.
Include Bar Graph (Karen)

5. “Our Stories” digital writing project
“Our Stories” is a digital writing project which extends the student’s network beyond the physical and temporal limits of class meeting times. 
Students in our LC were given the opportunity to share their personal stories of the transition from high school to college on a digital platform called OpenLab, a campus-wide, open digital WordPress platform for teaching, learning, and sharing. 
Over the course of a semester, LC students were prompted with the same prompt three times, at the beginning of the semester, roughly in the middle of the term, and in the last weeks.
Too many words, reduce the content (Phil)

8. Challenging Transition to College
Interactive media
Audience theory
Sense making
Nervous & Excited
Challenging Transition to College
Change the color (Karen and Phil)

9. Two main challenges that first year students face
Economics
Low income households (FLI) students are more likely to work during college and researchers have suggested that this relates to lower levels of engagement in the college community. 
FLI students who left school cite economic hardship, and a desire to earn income as the main reason for dropping out.
Belonging
FLI students are also more likely to question if they belong in college. Researchers have noted this challenge that FLI students feel they are straddling two cultures, one from home, and one at school, and yet not really belonging in either.
Phil to make changes. 

10. Summary of Prominent Tags from student blog posts at the beginning of the semester

11. Summary of Prominent Tags from student blog posts at the beginning of the semester

12. 73%
68%
Tags of first year students who demonstrated “happiness” when THEY had a sense of belonging

13. Peer Mentors Pictures of Peer Mentors (Students working together)
Focus on Community via this forum (with a sense of belonging)
Success of Our Stories project is dependent on Peer Mentor involvement. Peer mentors are trained before the start of the semester and assigned to each learning community. Peer mentors respond via comment on student posts.

14. conclusions Visual Reflection
What were the connections between what you wrote in the beginning?