First-Year Islanders Dr. Susan Wolff Murphy Director qep.tamucc.edu fyi.tamucc.edu.

First-Year IslandersDr. Susan Wolff Murphy

Director

qep.tamucc.edu

fyi.tamucc.edu

First-Year Islanders

Texas A&M University Corpus Christi has launched a bold new program that engages faculty to ensure first-year students a successful transition from high school to college.

The First-Year Islanders program was born from our desire to create a best-in-class quality enhancement plan that supports our academic strengths within the University’s mission.

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What is a QEP and why is it important?

As part of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) re-affirmation

process, a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is a carefully designed and focused

university-wide initiative to improve student learning. The selection of QEP topic is an

important decision the University will make together as faculty, staff, and students

pursue one clear objective: to enhance student learning on our

campus. Several months of discussion lead to the final selection of our QEP topic.

SACS requires that the topic selected for a QEP be creative and vital to the long-term

improvement of student learning. SACS also requires evidence that developing the

QEP has engaged the entire university community in the process. While a QEP is a

required element in SACS reaffirmation, more importantly our QEP process will

provide an opportunity for everyone to talk and work

inclusively to positively enhance student learning.

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FYI CommitteeFYI Director: Dr. Susan Wolff Murphy

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Dr. Mary Bantell Associate Professor Nursing and Health SciencesDr. Adolfo Benavides Associate Dean BusinessDr. David Billeaux Associate Vice Pres. Academic Affairs Dr. Kent Byus Professor BusinessMs. Margaret Dechant Associate Vice Pres. Enrollment ManagementMs. Ann DeGaish Dean Of Students Student AffairsDr. David Grisé Associate Professor Science & TechnologyDr. Bridgette Hardin Associate Director Planning & Inst. Effect. Dr. Mark Hartlaub Associate Professor Liberal ArtsMs. Amanda Hill Student Dr. J. Carlos Huerta Professor Liberal ArtsMs. Yolanda Keys Assistant Professor Nursing and Health Sciences Ms. Courtney Lee Student Dr. Joseph C. Loon Professor Science & Technology Dr. Frank Lucido Professor Education Dr. Gerardo Moreno Director CASADr. James Needham Dean Community OutreachDr. Robert Nelsen Associate Vice Pres. Academic Affairs Dr. Nancy Nelson Professor EducationMs. Erin Nuckols Student Ms. Christine Shupala Director Bell LibraryDr. Blair Sterba-Boatwright Associate Professor Science & TechnologyMs. Sarah Sutton Librarian Bell LibraryDr. Robert Wooster Professor Liberal Arts

Timeline

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The Research

First-time Freshman Academic Performance in First Fall Term

Courtesy of the Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness

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First-time One Year Retention Rate by Academic Standing in First Fall Term

Courtesy of the Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness

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First-time Freshman First Term GPA by Course Fall 1996 – Fall 2008

Courtesy of the Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness

GPA btwn 2.19 and 2.0

GPA below 2.0

First-Year Islanders

First-Year Islanders

The First-Year Islanders plan enhances and improves the academic experience of students attending their first year at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

By implementing this plan, TAMUCC reinvests itself in its first-year experience and pursues its mission of excellence, engagement, and expansion, particularly relation to undergraduate teaching and learning.

We have defined three major areas of intervention.

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Interventions

1. Inaugural Programs including the Wave Bridge, FYI Convocation and Field Day To celebrate our First-Year Islanders and help them transition to TAMU-CC.

2. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) 10-12 professional staff and faculty work together to discover new ideas and practices related to first-year students.

1. Collaborative faculty communities of practice Faculty teaching barrier courses in history, math, political science, and biology work together to make evidence-based changes to their courses to meet the needs of first-year students.

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Inaugural Programs

The intent of these two events is to welcome students, to create opportunities for students to meet faculty and staff, and provide everyone involved with first-year students with a visible recognition of their importance to the institution and of the key life transition students are making.

Administered by Ann DeGaish and Gerry Moreno

GOALS• To change student behavior and attitudes•The goal of these programs is to reach the point where the percentage of WAVE students using academic support services at CASA will be equal to or greater than percentage of all other first-year students.

ASSESSMENT OF GOALS•To measure the success of the WAVE Bridge, CASA will track WAVE students’ compliance with the ASAP contracts, student GPA, probation, and retention data.

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FYI Welcome Event/Field Day

WELCOME EVENT/FIELD DAY•Mandated for all first-year students •Partnership between Student Affairs & CASA•Fun, social activity to help the First-Year Islanders develop friendships and a sense of belonging to the institution •First-year professional staff and faculty will be encouraged to participate

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FYI Convocation

CONVOCATION•Formally induct the class into the institution •Mandated for all first-year students •Partnership between Student Affairs & CASA•Held at the Performing Arts Center•President Flavius Killebrew will welcome the incoming class and will introduce the speaker. •Faculty and Professional Staff will wear regalia.•First-Year Islanders will receive a gift bag with FYI items, coupons, and other information.

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WAVE Bridge

WAVE BRIDGEThe purpose of the bridge will be to “get students’ feet on the ground.” We will prioritize:

•Ensure students have access to information on resources and support services to address basic needs, and that students know how to access them.

•Ensure students have information on and understand financial aid, knowledge of available funding sources, realistic budget expectations/needs, payment plans, etc.

•Ensure that each student has an appropriate schedule and academic plan.

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WAVE Bridge

WAVE BRIDGE

• Ensure books are available at the start of the semester in the bookstore and alternative payment options are made known (i.e. emergency book loan).

• Ensure students are made aware of academic challenges/issues such as knowing location of classes, understanding syllabi, understanding the importance of attendance, faculty expectations, behavior in the classroom, time management, stress management, academic resources, important deadlines and higher education terminology.

•Discuss work commitments and expectations for college in terms of time and impact of work on academic performance.

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FYI Shift to Reflective Practice

WHAT IS REFLECTIVE PRACTICE?Donald A. Schön (1987) argues for the value of professional knowledge gained by “reflection in action,” that thinking that occurs when a professional “responds to the unexpected or anomalous by restructuring some of her strategies of action, theories of phenomena, or ways of framing the problem; and she invents on-the-spot experiments to put her new understandings to the test” (p. 35).

By augmenting our expertise with resources and scholarship, we believe that faculty and professional staff can become more informed about first-year students and strategies to help them succeed academically, socially, emotionally, and otherwise.

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Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

WHAT IS A PLC?Professional Learning Communities have been shown to “provide a fundamentally different and promising way to think about how teachers can deepen their practice and improve their craft in support of student learning” (Lieberman & Miller, 2008, p. 2).

GOALSPromoting first-year student learning to encourage reflective practice and greater engagement, reward, and recognition of teaching at the first-year student level.

ASSESSMENT Participants will make evidence-based changes in their practices, with increasing numbers of participants making changes over time.

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Communities of Practice (COP)

WHAT IS A COP?Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wenger, 1998). COP are a way of supporting teaching and learning through providing a systematic vocabulary for dialogue among those involved in the organization.

GOALSStudents demonstrate mastery of the Student Learning Outcomes of barrier courses.

ASSESSMENT•Direct measure of course-level student learning outcomes, using COP-created rubrics. •Secondary data will be student GPA in these courses.

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FYI Professional Development

FACULTY RENAISSANCE CENTERThese professional development activities will be administered in the FACULTY RENAISSANCE CENTER, and will provide momentum and visibility for it in its new location, Library 218, 218A, and 218A1.

Susan Wolff Murphy, Sara Chapa, and Joseph Doan will be moving into the new First-Year Islanders / Faculty Renaissance Center office as soon as possible this spring.

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Spring 2010

fyi.tamucc.edu

SACS COC On-Site VisitMarch 9-11, 2010

Town Halls: March 4 1-2 UC Ballroom A&BMarch 8, 2-3 UC Ballroom A

Student Rally: March 2, 11-1, UC entrance

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