Creating a transfer-friendly campus is becoming increasingly important among today’s 2- and 4-year institutions. This is especially true for the University of Maryland University College, an open-access four-year online state university. For many transfer students, the first semester in a new institution is a crucial transition period. At UMUC, many transfer students have to adjust culturally and academically from a 2-year on-campus experience to a 4-year online university. What is the best way to ensure these students’ success?
UMUC created and implemented two interventions geared towards promoting transfer student success: a resource checklist and a peer mentoring program. Both interventions were designed to target students in their first semester. We talked with Denise Nadasen, the Associate Vice President for Institutional Research and Accountability, and Alexandra List, Research Associate, on UMUC’s process and results.
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Denise Nadasen
Associate Vice President for Institutional Research and Accountability at University of Maryland University College
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Alexandra List
Research Associate at University of Maryland University College
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Monday, July 07, 2014
8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
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What kind of problems did you face before the implementation of these interventions?
List: Based on the research literature, our experiences at UMUC and the feedback from our community college partners and transfer students, we knew that the first semester of transfer represented a crucial transition period for these nontraditional students. For our transfer students, UMUC tends to be their first major experience in online learning. They tend to be older than the broader population of UMUC, and also work full- or part-time. UMUC requires a lot more independence than what these students may have experienced in their previous community college.
The student resource checklist came from our research and feedback. We realized that this could be a great tool for an online school like UMUC, and would enable students to simply navigate the website and find resources online. The idea for the mentoring program came directly from our partner community colleges, who felt that their students would be more successful if they knew someone who had transferred from their institution and became successful at UMUC.
What kinds of outcomes did you originally expect?
List: We were looking for three concrete outcomes: (1) semester GPA, (2) successful course completion, and (3) re-enrollment in a subsequent term. We were interested in robustly accessing these interventions.
We assigned students into two groups for each intervention: a control group and a test group. We tested control and test groups on these three concrete outcomes. We also had our test groups evaluate the interventions that we administered to them. We found, especially through mentoring, that our test groups had a more positive feeling towards the institution.
What about unexpected outcomes?
List: We also surveyed our mentors, who had really positive things to say about the mentor program. They felt good serving in a leadership role, connecting with students who came from the same institution, and giving back to the institution. A lot of the mentors also wished that there was a mentoring program in place when they were students at the institution. The mentoring program helped us create a community of students ready to support incoming students.
What’s next?
List: We are doing another round of testing this summer. We are combining the mentoring with Jump Start, an onboarding course intended to support students through academic planning. We’re curious to see if pairing the peer mentor support with more formal course support will provide stronger benefits. We’ve also been talking about implementing different models of mentoring, such as major or career-based networking.
What are some lessons you hope attendees will gain from your session?
Nadesen: Part of our goal is to share our practices, so other attendees at similar institutions can see if this would work for them. Most importantly, we want to contribute to the momentum of research activity around transfer students and helping them become successful. I think this research and others will really help to increase attention to the growing population transfer students.