Work-in-Progress: Addressing Recruitment Issues with Potential Transfer Students from State Technical Colleges

Shannon Conner; Luke Duncan; Louise Averitt; D. Boyer; Marian Kennedy

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Issues Facing STEM Programs at Rural Two-Year Colleges
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40802
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40802
Download Count: 175

Paper Authors

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D. Boyer Clemson University

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Research Associate Professor - Department of Engineering & Science Education
Educational Proposal Writer - Office of the Associate Dean for Research
College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences

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biography

Shannon Conner Clemson University

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Graduate Student Researcher at Clemson University.

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Marian Kennedy is an Associate Professor within the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Clemson University. Her research group focused on the mechanical and tribological characterization of thin films. She also contributes to the engineering education community through studying the process/impacts of undergraduate research and navigational capital into graduate school.

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Abstract

In this work-in-progress paper we present emergent recruitment issues encountered during an ongoing design-based project with participants from two-year colleges for an NSF-funded scholarship program. Our hope is to connect with researchers who have previously explored similar issues or may be experiencing them in their current work. Student Pathways in Engineering and Computing for Transfer Students (SPECTRA) is an NSF S-STEM program that provides financial assistance to students transferring from the South Carolina Technical College System into Engineering or Computing majors at Clemson University [1]. SPECTRA also assists students by connecting them with peers at the technical colleges who move together through the transfer process to Clemson and are supported by the SPECTRA program until graduation. In addition to exploring the experiences of current SPECTRA participants, we investigate how the project can be scaled to include more students and sustained after NSF support ends.

The 2021-2022 academic year is the third of the five-year program, although, given emergent recruitment issues, we foresee application for a no-cost extension. The primary concern is the low number of students currently supported in comparison to our goals, highlighting recruitment for further examination. We planned to support up to twenty students in year 1, 52 students in year 2, 70 students in year 3, but our actual numbers in the first three years are 7, 12, and 28 students. Given this trend, our concern over how we recruit students into SPECTRA is now at the forefront of our work. The program is not reaching those students who are eligible, and low recruitment has limited the quality of research needed to inform the construction of a sustainable program. To explore recruitment, we have added interviews with potential students at the technical colleges. In addition to this interview process, we have reviewed our internal practices, analysed existing public information and social media from similar programs, and reviewed existing literature from related research and practice.

We identified aspects that may have impacted our current situation. The first was explicit, being the impact of COVID-19 on our ability to hold in-person recruitment events. Similar to studies that have identified other COVID-19 impacts to two-year institutions such as “retention rates declined the most in the community college sector (-2.1 pp to 51.6%)” [2], “disparities in upward transfer mobility increased during the pandemic year” [3], and community colleges being hit hardest “with a 9.4 percent decline” in enrollment [4], we intend to further clarify the influence of COVID-19 on our context. COVID-19 also played a role with regard to the need for scholarship funds, as one of the technical colleges in our program used federal relief funds to provide free tuition for all students during the 2020-2021 academic year. Another potential impact is the effectiveness of the SPECTRA webpages and other online materials to meet the needs of potential students considering the program. In this work-in-progress paper, we will share how we are addressing recruitment issues and how new interventions are impacting recruitment.

References [1] D. M. Boyer and L. A. Duncan, Using Design-based Research Methods to Scale an Expanding Intervention. 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference. American Society for Engineering Education, 2021.

[2] National Student Clearinghouse, Persistence and Retention Fall 2019 Beginning Cohort. Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2021.

[3] R. Bobbitt, J. Causey, H. Kim, R. Lang, M. Ryu, and D. Shapiro, COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility, and Progress, Academic Year 2020-2021. Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2021.

[4] A. Acosta, E. Johnson, R. Fishman, and W. Whistle, The Impact of COVID-19 on Transfer. New America, 2021 [Online]. Available: https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-transfer/ [Accessed 15 October 2021].

Citation
Format

Boyer, D., & Conner, S., & Duncan, L., & Averitt, L., & Kennedy, M. (2022, August), Work-in-Progress: Addressing Recruitment Issues with Potential Transfer Students from State Technical Colleges Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40802

TY - CPAPER
AB - In this work-in-progress paper we present emergent recruitment issues encountered during an ongoing design-based project with participants from two-year colleges for an NSF-funded scholarship program. Our hope is to connect with researchers who have previously explored similar issues or may be experiencing them in their current work. Student Pathways in Engineering and Computing for Transfer Students (SPECTRA) is an NSF S-STEM program that provides financial assistance to students transferring from the South Carolina Technical College System into Engineering or Computing majors at Clemson University [1]. SPECTRA also assists students by connecting them with peers at the technical colleges who move together through the transfer process to Clemson and are supported by the SPECTRA program until graduation. In addition to exploring the experiences of current SPECTRA participants, we investigate how the project can be scaled to include more students and sustained after NSF support ends.

The 2021-2022 academic year is the third of the five-year program, although, given emergent recruitment issues, we foresee application for a no-cost extension. The primary concern is the low number of students currently supported in comparison to our goals, highlighting recruitment for further examination. We planned to support up to twenty students in year 1, 52 students in year 2, 70 students in year 3, but our actual numbers in the first three years are 7, 12, and 28 students. Given this trend, our concern over how we recruit students into SPECTRA is now at the forefront of our work. The program is not reaching those students who are eligible, and low recruitment has limited the quality of research needed to inform the construction of a sustainable program. To explore recruitment, we have added interviews with potential students at the technical colleges. In addition to this interview process, we have reviewed our internal practices, analysed existing public information and social media from similar programs, and reviewed existing literature from related research and practice.

We identified aspects that may have impacted our current situation. The first was explicit, being the impact of COVID-19 on our ability to hold in-person recruitment events. Similar to studies that have identified other COVID-19 impacts to two-year institutions such as “retention rates declined the most in the community college sector (-2.1 pp to 51.6%)” [2], “disparities in upward transfer mobility increased during the pandemic year” [3], and community colleges being hit hardest “with a 9.4 percent decline” in enrollment [4], we intend to further clarify the influence of COVID-19 on our context. COVID-19 also played a role with regard to the need for scholarship funds, as one of the technical colleges in our program used federal relief funds to provide free tuition for all students during the 2020-2021 academic year. Another potential impact is the effectiveness of the SPECTRA webpages and other online materials to meet the needs of potential students considering the program. In this work-in-progress paper, we will share how we are addressing recruitment issues and how new interventions are impacting recruitment.

References
[1] D. M. Boyer and L. A. Duncan, Using Design-based Research Methods to Scale an Expanding Intervention. 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference. American Society for Engineering Education, 2021.

[2] National Student Clearinghouse, Persistence and Retention Fall 2019 Beginning Cohort. Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2021.

[3] R. Bobbitt, J. Causey, H. Kim, R. Lang, M. Ryu, and D. Shapiro, COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility, and Progress, Academic Year 2020-2021. Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2021.

[4] A. Acosta, E. Johnson, R. Fishman, and W. Whistle, The Impact of COVID-19 on Transfer. New America, 2021 [Online]. Available: https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-transfer/ [Accessed 15 October 2021].
AU - D. Boyer
AU - Shannon Conner
AU - Luke Duncan
AU - Louise Averitt
AU - Marian Kennedy
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Work-in-Progress: Addressing Recruitment Issues with Potential Transfer Students from State Technical Colleges
UR - https://peer.asee.org/40802
DO - 10.18260/1-2--40802
ER -