Institutional efforts to foster community building among first year students: Establishing measures for engineering cohorts and exploring the influences on community and academic progress.

Conference: 2023 ASEE PNW Section Conference
Location: Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington
Publication Date: April 6, 2023
Start Date: April 6, 2023
End Date: April 7, 2023
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44780
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/44780

Paper Authors

Abstract

Abstract Reviewed Presentation

This abstract is intended for presentation only (no full paper). Building community among first-year engineering students is complicated by many factors. The implementation of cohorts, intended to group first-year students, is one of the institutional strategies that may have an influence on student community building and subsequent academic progress. Cohorts of the type implemented at the University are focused on facilitating more common schedules among cohort groups. Common schedules among classroom peers, cohort members, can increase the likelihood that students can meet more easily to study together and engage with their peers outside the classroom. This presentation will discuss three topics; the efforts to implement cohorts through the first-year enrollment processes, initial data analytics to monitor the level of cohort model implementation, and initial success measures being implemented for assessment. The University’s engineering cohort model seeks to measure and enroll students with peers for four common courses, including sections, in their initial semester. These courses include; a 3-credit first-year seminar section with an engineering emphasis, their mathematics course and section, science course and section, and their science laboratory and section. The cohorts are centered around the individual section of the first-year seminar course. The entire enrollment for the course, all sections, ranges between 150-210 students. Individual section enrollment ranges from 18-28 students. These groups of students may share sections of their mathematics, science and science laboratory courses. The cohort model includes three levels. Level 1 has three sub-categories, the count of the number of peers who share the identical mathematics, science, and science laboratory sections. Level 2 also has three categories, the count of peers who share the three possible combinations, mathematics and science, mathematics and science laboratory, and science and science laboratory. Level 3 has one measure, the count of the number of peers that share sections of all three courses, mathematics, science and science laboratory. Initial efforts have emphasized putting data systems in place to quantify the level to which students have been grouped into the cohort levels and categories described. Subsequently, initial enrollments within these types of cohorts have progressed with the partnership of the engineering school and the enrollment teams handling these services for entering first-year students. Five years of data will be presented. The historical data, prior to the effort to improve cohorts, showed that the maximum size of a Level 3 cohort was 5 students (2-3%). The most recent work for Fall 2022, resulted in 54 students (34%) students sharing Level 3 cohorts with 6-9 peers. The work continues as planning improvements in the enrollment process takes place. We are seeking to relate cohort level measures to quantitative impact upon academic performance (GPA) and persistence within engineering. We are also seeking qualitative measures through student surveys.

Citation
Format

(2023, April), Institutional efforts to foster community building among first year students: Establishing measures for engineering cohorts and exploring the influences on community and academic progress. Paper presented at 2023 ASEE PNW Section Conference, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington. 10.18260/1-2--44780

TY - CPAPER
AB - Abstract Reviewed Presentation

This abstract is intended for presentation only (no full paper). Building community among first-year engineering students is complicated by many factors. The implementation of cohorts, intended to group first-year students, is one of the institutional strategies that may have an influence on student community building and subsequent academic progress. Cohorts of the type implemented at the University are focused on facilitating more common schedules among cohort groups. Common schedules among classroom peers, cohort members, can increase the likelihood that students can meet more easily to study together and engage with their peers outside the classroom. This presentation will discuss three topics; the efforts to implement cohorts through the first-year enrollment processes, initial data analytics to monitor the level of cohort model implementation, and initial success measures being implemented for assessment. The University’s engineering cohort model seeks to measure and enroll students with peers for four common courses, including sections, in their initial semester. These courses include; a 3-credit first-year seminar section with an engineering emphasis, their mathematics course and section, science course and section, and their science laboratory and section. The cohorts are centered around the individual section of the first-year seminar course. The entire enrollment for the course, all sections, ranges between 150-210 students. Individual section enrollment ranges from 18-28 students. These groups of students may share sections of their mathematics, science and science laboratory courses. The cohort model includes three levels. Level 1 has three sub-categories, the count of the number of peers who share the identical mathematics, science, and science laboratory sections. Level 2 also has three categories, the count of peers who share the three possible combinations, mathematics and science, mathematics and science laboratory, and science and science laboratory. Level 3 has one measure, the count of the number of peers that share sections of all three courses, mathematics, science and science laboratory. Initial efforts have emphasized putting data systems in place to quantify the level to which students have been grouped into the cohort levels and categories described. Subsequently, initial enrollments within these types of cohorts have progressed with the partnership of the engineering school and the enrollment teams handling these services for entering first-year students. Five years of data will be presented. The historical data, prior to the effort to improve cohorts, showed that the maximum size of a Level 3 cohort was 5 students (2-3%). The most recent work for Fall 2022, resulted in 54 students (34%) students sharing Level 3 cohorts with 6-9 peers. The work continues as planning improvements in the enrollment process takes place. We are seeking to relate cohort level measures to quantitative impact upon academic performance (GPA) and persistence within engineering. We are also seeking qualitative measures through student surveys.
CY - Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington
DA - 2023/04/06
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Institutional efforts to foster community building among first year students: Establishing measures for engineering cohorts and exploring the influences on community and academic progress.
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/44780
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44780
ER -