1. What this Innovative Practice does and how it works.

 

NMU’s First Year Experience (FYE) program was designed to assist students to make a successful transition from high school to college. The FYE mission is to enhance student satisfaction, success, retention and graduation.   NMU's FYE program has three goals:

1.       Students will develop strategies and attitudes to maximize academic success;

2. Students will become familiar with campus resources and how to use them;
3. Students will develop positive relationships with faculty, staff, student leaders, and peers.

When a student participates in FYE, they pre-register for a “block” of courses prior to their arrival on campus.   FYE offers several major-specific blocks, as well as blocks of courses for undeclared students that focus on career planning.   Within the block, students have the same classes and professors as the other students in the group.   This offers an excellent opportunity to develop friendships, form study groups and experience courses with others who are pursuing similar academic interests.

A part of each block of courses is a 2 credit course, UN 100, entitled Freshman Seminar.   The Freshman Seminar course is designed to introduce the student to college life and expectations, and to empower students with the life skills necessary to make a successful transition to college life.   UN 100 class sections are small (< 25) and use a discussion format.   UN 100 is co-taught by a faculty member and a teaching intern, who is a junior or senior undergraduate student.  

The FYE program is further subdivided based on the student’s admission status.     

·          The First Year Program is available to students who have been admitted to NMU in good standing.   Students self-select into this program.

·          The Freshman Probation Program is for students who have been admitted to NMU on probation.   They do not meet one of the criteria for regular admission (either ACT or GPA).   Students are mandated to participate in the FYE program as a condition of their enrollment.

·          The College Transition Program is for students who are pursuing a diploma or certificate in the Food Management or Construction Management programs.   Students are mandated to participate in the FYE program as a condition of their enrollment.

 

2. What motivated us to develop or adopt this Innovative Practice.

 

The primary motivation was to improve student retention and graduation rates.   Initially the program was developed for students admitted to the University in good standing.   The Freshman Probation Program and the College Transition Program with two blocks at the Associate Degree level were added in 2000 and 2007 as a result of positive outcome data.   Students in the First Year Program have higher GPA’s and   increased retention rates compared to regularly admitted students not participating in the FYE program.   These data suggested that at-risk students could also benefit from program participation.

 

3. How long it took us to develop and implement this Innovative Practice.

5. What resistance we faced in developing and implementing this Innovative Practice, and how we reduced or overcome it.

 

We faced resistance from all of the stakeholders involved in this program during programmatic development.   Faculty were not convinced of the educational benefits to the program, suggesting that the credits earned would “water down” the curriculum.   The administration suggested that resources could be better directed to other programs.   Finally, student involvement was low, and those students who participated indicated, while they were in the program, that they did not value their experience.   Interestingly, those same students said that the program provided “value added” experience once they had completed the program.

The resistance to the program was largely overcome by the data that we collected, clearly indicating the value of the program.   National data indicated that First Year Programs helped students make the transition from high school to college.   Data cited in this report clearly demonstrated that program participation increased student retention, a factor that was especially noted as important as the high school student base overall in the Midwest began to decline.   The curriculum was standardized across sections, increasing student satisfaction so much that students began asking for a second semester of the FYE program.   During the 2007-08 academic year, we added 4 sections of the FYE for the second semester; at the time of this writing, 2 days before the start of that semester, all but 4 seats are filled in these sections.

 

6. What it costs us to maintain and operate this Innovative Practice, and what it saves us.

 

7. How we measure or check whether this Innovative Practice performs the way we intend it to.

 

One of the primary goals of this Innovative Practice was to increase retention rates.   To determine if this goal was met, retention rates for FYE and non-FYE students were compared after the third and the fifth semesters.   The retention rates have been from five to eleven percent higher for FYE students than for non-FYE students over the course of the program at both the three and five semester comparison period.   We have also analyzed data on the achievement of good academic standing, defined as the percent of students achieving a GPA of 2.0 or higher after the first semester.   In all but one data collection period, the percent of students achieving good standing has been from three to fifteen percent higher for students who participate in FYE compared to the non-FYE students.

 

8. Print or web documents available that provide more detail and explanation about this Innovative Practice.

9. How our organization currently uses this Innovative Practice.

 

Currently, more than half of our incoming Freshmen enroll in FYE classes.   Based on the success of these students, measured primarily by retention and student grades, we have expanded the program to students who come into the university with a probationary (Freshmen Probation status, or enrolled in the College Transition Program) status.   The program is heavily promoted at all first year orientation sessions.   We are currently piloting a second semester of the FYE program; after determining the “value added” of this program to student success, we will determine if we should continue to offer the program.

 

10. Whom one should contact at our institution for more information or help about this Innovative Practice.

 

Susan VerDuin

Coordinator, First Year Experience

Northern Michigan University

2001 CB Hedgecock Building

Marquette , MI   49855

(906)   227-1459

sverduin@nmu.edu