BLINN’S FIRST YEAR STUDENT INITIATIVE TO DEBUT THIS FALL

  

Approximately 250 first-time college students will participate in a new pilot program this fall designed to help high school students transition to college coursework.

“Destination Success: First-Year Focus” is an ambitious new initiative that creates learning communities to help first-year college students adapt to the expectations of a collegiate curriculum. To do this, Blinn will create learning communities consisting entirely of first-year college students, which national research has shown increases students’ learning outcomes and retention rate.

Beginning this Fall, first-year students without a declared major can take part in a learning community in which they take two core courses and a college success course with the same classmates, creating a natural peer support network. The core courses, which include freshman biology, English, history and mathematics, are then taught by instructors who work together to create activities and assignments that challenge students in both subject matters.

For example, in learning communities that pair English and history courses, students may be asked to write an essay regarding a historical event utilizing the skills and knowledge developed in each course.

“What makes this program so exciting is that it identifies those students who oftentimes need the most help – those students who have never taken a college-level course before and haven’t identified a major yet – and helps guide those students through their first semester,” said Dr. Mary Barnes-Tilley, program co-director. “The research suggests that students in learning communities master the subject matter better because they have a support network to help them and students are more engaged in the learning process.”

In addition to the linked core courses, the college success course helps students develop the time management and study skills necessary to succeed in college and informs students about career opportunities and the degree plans that can help them achieve career goals.

“The success course is the glue that holds the learning community together,” Barnes-Tilley said.

In developing the initiative, Blinn has spent much of the past six months providing specialized faculty training in preparation for the unique nature of learning communities.

In November, six faculty participated in an On Course workshop regarding the success course curriculum. Two months later, a team of On Course professionals came to Blinn to train an additional 45 instructors in the curriculum.

“What was so rewarding about that training is that many of our instructors were taking those skills and activities, and actually applying them to their regular classes outside the learning communities,” Barnes-Tilley said.

Carlos Huerta, president of the nationally-recognized First-Year Learning Communities Program at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, hosted a training workshop for faculty to help develop strategies for linking core courses together and developing curriculum.

Learning communities will be offered on all four Blinn campuses, with approximately 130 students expected to participate in Bryan, 80 in Brenham and 25 apiece in Schulenburg and Sealy. Prospective students interested in attending should schedule an appointment with an academic advisor.

For more information about Destination Success, visit www.blinn.edu/qep.

Registration is currently available for Blinn’s Summer and Fall semesters. For enrollment information and to learn about financial aid opportunities, visit: www.blinn.edu.