Work-in-Progress: Designing Pre-Course Sessions to Enhance Student Preparation

Randy Brooks

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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: First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 13: Work-in-Progress Postcard Session #2
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41589
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41589
Download Count: 254

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biography

Randy Brooks Texas A&M University

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Howdy,

After 23 years in Telecom building LD, internet, and email platforms and networks, I observed that the front line personnel that I was hiring didn’t have what I considered to be skills that they should be bringing to the table.

I began investigating why, and that led me to high school. Alas, I began my journey in Education in 2010 inhabiting the classrooms of Lovejoy High School, where my two daughters attended. I redubbed my PreCalculus course as Problem-Solving with Brooks and was also afforded the opportunity to lead an impactul Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Principles of Engineering (PoE) course, a project-based learning survey of the engineering discipline.

Since the Summer of 2015 I have been privileged to work with the Texas A and M Sketch Recognition Lab (TAMU SRL) to evaluate a couple of online tutorial tools (Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS)) currently under development, Mechanix and Sketchtivity, that provide immediate constructive feedback to the students and student-level metrics to the instructors. I presented on this work at the state and national PLTW Conventions and at CPTTE in 2016.

I also spent 5 semesters beginning the Fall of 2015 taking online courses learning how to construct and deliver online courses. This resulted in a MSEd from Purdue University in Learning Design and Technology (LDT).

This widely varied background prepared me well for my next big adventure. Beginning in August 2018 I became the Texas A and M Professor of Practice for the Texas A and M Engineering Academy at Blinn College in Brenham. Texas A and M Engineering Academies are an innovative approach to providing the planet with more Aggie Engineers.

My research focus is enhancing the high school through first-year college experience and am an engaged member of the Texas A and M IEEI (Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation).

My foundations were set by an upbringing on the family ranch near Joshua, Texas and 4 memorable years at Texas A and M where I met my wife, I led Bugle Rank #7 in the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band (Class of ’86 Whoop!), and dove into Telecom Engineering. Once in Telecom, my learning continued at MCI, Vartec, and Charter.

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Abstract

Abstract

At the heart of this complete evidence-based practice paper is exploration of the impact of pre-course engagement sessions (asynchronous or live) on student learning and mental state, and the myriad designs deployed. Student anxiety drivers and knowledge gaps may be addressed with deliberate, thoughtful construction of a training session that occurs before classes begin.

Although some first-year student success programs address items such as “how to college” and study skills, this content will be most beneficial to students when mastered prior to engaging with course material in the college environment. Student success courses are impactful, yet much of the content is shared after the optimum time for the student to be exposed. Learning study skills after eight weeks in college is helpful, yet the student may have great difficulty recovering from the study failures in those first eight weeks. A literature review will highlight varying session designs and investigate pre-course preparatory work deployments. The focus of the pre-course work is to allay the “class start” concerns and fears. Students benefit when anxiety-inducing activities such as meeting peers and introduction to course content are completed before “day one” of the course.

Citation
Format

Brooks, R. (2022, August), Work-in-Progress: Designing Pre-Course Sessions to Enhance Student Preparation Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41589