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25 Years of Peer Leadership in University 101
- 1. Mike Dial Assistant Director, University 101 Programs The University of South Carolina Sloane Stuart Graduate Assistant, University 101 Programs The University of South Carolina 25 Years of Peer Leadership in University 101
- 2. Session Agenda Program overview Marketing and recruitment Selection process Training and support Recognition Assessment Future Direction
- 3. Public research institution First-Year Class (as of Fall 2017) Enrolled: 5,874 GPA (high school average): 4.04 SAT average: 1254 ACT average: 32.5 Enrollment Undergraduate: 25,556 Total: 34,099 (USC Office of Undergraduate Admissions) UofSC Overview
- 4. 3 credit hour course Graded course Full semester…1st semester University 101
- 5. • Enrollment: 4,449 (76% of new students) • Class size: 19 • Sections offered: 240 • Section types: 22 • Faculty and staff instructors: 206 • 99% of sections co-taught UNIV101 Overview Fall 2017
- 6. History of University 101
- 7. Introduction of Peer Leaders
- 8. 5.48 5.14 4.50 4.75 5.00 5.25 5.50 5.75 Overall Program Effectiveness (p=.01) Impact of Peer/Graduate Leader 2013 First-Year Seminar Assessment Results (7pt. scale) Sections with Peer/Graduate Leader Sections without Peer/Graduate Leader
- 9. 62 88 94 92 99 100 99.1 99.1 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 % of Sections w/ a Teaching partner
- 10. U101 Teaching Partners (2017) New Peer Leaders, 160, 69% Returning Peer Leaders, 40, 17% Graduate Leaders, 30, 13% No Teaching Partner, 3, 1%
- 11. • Mentor • Resource • Facilitator for Learning Role of University 101 Peer Leaders
- 12. In Their Own Words https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUaT3oa5xiM&feature=youtu.be
- 13. • Junior or Senior standing • 3.00 GPA • Recommendation from a professional Minimum Qualifications
- 14. • Nominations • 3.0 Outreach • Campus Partner Involvement • Social Media Marketing and Recruitment
- 15. • Online application • 3 Essays • Experience • Understanding of Role • Goal Allignment • Application reviews Selection Process
- 18. Peer Leader Recruitment Process 290 298 278 316 335 205 205 249 251 269 135 144 155 181 173 100 150 200 250 300 350 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Applications Received Interviews Offered Selected
- 19. Peer Leader Development Plan Application and Interview Process Spring Orientation Course Planning Workshop Fall Training EDLP 520 Course
- 20. All Stages Of Development Role Model: •Small group size •Engaging pedagogy •Team-teaching
- 21. U101 Returning Peer Leaders Returning Peer Leaders Fall 2011 9 Fall 2012 22 Fall 2013 25 Fall 2014 39 Fall 2015 39 Fall 2016 29 Fall 2017 41 Fall 2018 43
- 22. U101 Returning Peer Leaders • Co-teach UNIV 101 and/or EDLP 520 • Assist with recruitment & selection of new PLs • Represent the program at campus events
- 23. EDLP 520 Peer Leaders Veteran Peer Leaders Training facilitators for new Peer Leaders Co-instructors for EDLP 520: Teacher as Manager Recruiters for fall 2019 cohort of Peer Leaders
- 24. Training and Support: Team Teaching Teaching Experience Workshop Course Planning Workshops Building Connections Conference EDLP 520 assignments
- 25. Peer Leader Recognition Peer Leader Spotlights Designed in PowerPoint Published to Facebook and Instagram Fall 2017 • 40 Nominations • 19 Posted
- 26. Peer Leader Recognition Daily Gamecock Instructor Thank You Notes Recognition Banquet Hometown Press Release
- 27. Program Assessment EDLP 520 and End-of- Experience Evaluations UNIV101 Faculty Survey Instructor Evaluation of Peer Leaders First-Year Seminar Assessment (SkyFactor) UNIV 101 EOCE
- 28. Student Rating of Peer/Graduate Leaders 4.74 4.74 4.78 4.81 4.83 4.74 4.72 4.77 4.82 4.82 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Made important contributions to class Was a valuable part of the U101 experience
- 29. Fall 2017 Student Rating of Peer/Graduate Leaders 4.82 4.87 4.85 4.81 4.73 4.80 4.40 4.50 4.60 4.70 4.80 4.90 5.00 made important contributions to our class. was approachable. was an appropriate role model. was a valuable part of my University 101 experience. helped me make a successful transition to the University. was a valuable resource. My Peer/Graduate Leader…
- 30. Fall 2017 Instructor Evaluation of Peer Leaders 4.86 4.59 4.91 4.90 4.90 4.80 4.40 4.50 4.60 4.70 4.80 4.90 5.00 was an appropriate role model for our students. was an effective facilitator. was a valuable resource for our students. was approachable. was a valuable part of the UNIV 101 experience. consistently carried out responsibilities and fulfilled stated expectations. My Peer Leader…
- 31. University 101 Programs Database
- 32. Future Direction • Increase Diversity of Applicant Pool/Open up the leadership pipeline • Enhance RPL Program • Reassess/Design Training • Increase # of Quality Applicants • Maintain integrity of the program • Update EDLP Training Course
- 33. 2017 University 101 Peer Leaders
- 34. Please remember to submit your evaluation on Guidebook! https://guidebook.com/g/fye18/ Mike Dial Assistant Director for Peer Leadership University 101 Programs Phone: (803) 777-6709 Email: mdial@sc.edu
Editor's Notes
- Sloane For context of where our program is USC is a large public research institution This fall’s first year class: almost 6,000 students It is important to note how bright these students are—average SAT and average ACT 25,000 total undergraduates We’ll talk later about how the size of the first year cohort translates to the number of U101 sections.
- Sloane Today, University 101 is… The grade students earn in U101 counts toward their GPA just like any other course. We know from our assessment that students take the course to get connected to the university and their peers. And this is why we cap the course at 19.
- Sloane What U101 looks like today: Almost 80% of first-year students enroll Students that don’t U101 are typically engineering and music students and it’s because their course progression is so structured that it’s tough for them to fit U101 into their schedule unless they come in with AP or Duel enrollment credit. We know that smaller class size is connected to the effectiveness of this course, specifically in the ability to build community among classmates. Therefore, all sections are capped at 19. Fall 2017-offered 240 sections-largest course offering at the university We have general sections but we also offer major specific and program specific sections. We have 22 of those including some specific sections for groups that are required to take the course: capstone, TRIO, Public health, and teaching fellows. these specific sections allow communities of students who share similar interests to form. Each section is taught by a USC faculty or staff member and virtually all sections have a teaching partner who is either a peer or graduate leader.
- Tell story of U101 history Social Unrest and demonstrations on campus of the University of South Carolina in the late 1960’s and early 70’s. Civil Rights Vietnam war Students locked President Thomas Jones in his office Formed a committee! Appointed a group to study the issue and make recommendations. University 101 was the solution and was developed in 1972. The idea was to develop faculty understanding of students, create a venue where faculty and students could have a dialogue, and teach students to love the university. Hence, UNIV101 began as a faculty development initiative John Gardner was tapped to lead this program and because of his vision, leadership, understanding of campus culture, and tenacity. Eventually, the concept of the First-Year Experience spread across the world.
- From 1972-1992, each section of the course was taught by a sole faculty or staff instructor. The program evolved in 1993 to include the embedding of undergraduate peer leaders in the first-year seminar. Recognizing that first-year students were more likely to listen to other students only a few years older than them, peer leaders were added to sections of the course to help co-teach and foster community. This program started with 25 student leaders. Next year we will see our 2,500th
- The First-Year Seminar Assessment (FYSA) is an inventory administered at the end of each fall semester to all students enrolled in UNIV101. Data from the 2013 FYSA were analyzed to determine the impact of peer/graduate leaders on the UNIV101 course, as measured by the FYSA's Overall Program Effectiveness factor. In 2013, the instrument was sent to 3,848 students and yielded a 59% response rate (n=2272). We coded the dataset to include a variable that indicated if a section was assigned a peer or graduate leader or had no teaching partner assigned. We crunched some numbers to find differences in means on overall program effectiveness between sections that had a teaching partner and those that did not. Our analysis yielded significant differences in overall program effectiveness for sections of the course with a teaching partner and sections without a peer leader The Overall Program Effectiveness factor assesses the degree to which students report the course: included interesting subject matter, contributed to their ability to succeed academically, contributed to their ability to adjust to the college social environment, covered topics important to the student, and is one to recommend to other first-year students I say all this to acknowledge that it’s certainly harder to co-teach, but the results are incredible for the students. * Note: This study has not been repeated in the years since 2013, due to the fact that nearly 100% of UNIV101 sections each year have been team taught, meaning there is no longer a large enough comparison group.
- Because of the 2013 study, we strive to recruit enough high-quality teaching partners to embed one in 100% of UNIV101 sections.
- Sloane Who are our teaching partners? Most are first-time peer leaders, selected from an outstanding pool of rising junior and senior undergraduate students. Each year, around 40 peer leaders apply to return to the role—they comprise about 17% of our teaching partner pool Finally, we provide the opportunity for USC Higher Education and Student Affairs master’s students (like myself) to apply to serve as graduate leaders in the course. We believe this is an excellent development opportunity for future student affairs professionals. For the few sections, who did not have a teaching partner this fall, it was a result of… (schedule?)
- Sloane Mentor: Help first-year students make successful transition to USC Act as role model-demonstrating appropriate behavior inside and outside of the classroom Approachability and empathy Helping students make responsible decisions Resource: Connecting students to campus resources and helping students get involved Providing key information for navigating USC; often information that instructors cannot provide like how to get student tickets Facilitator for learning: Equal part in teaching the course Contributions to syllabus and lesson planning Community building Leading meaningful class discussions and activities Class group me (include or not include?)
- Key Take Aways Mentor, Resource, Facilitator for Learning Bridge between instructors and students Have lived the “Carolina student life” No Peer Leader Day – Infuse them throughout your experience They’re incredibly trained and well prepared. Communicate, communicate, communicate Mentoring Relationship – It’s not an option it’s an expectation
- Sloane- So who can do it? Eligible applicants are rising junior and senior undergraduates with at least a 3.0 GPA. On the application, students must obtain a recommendation from a professional. While these are the minimum qualifications, our applicant pool certainly exceeds these criteria in most cases.
- Sloane In the interest of sustaining a high quality first-year seminar, the work we do is very numbers based. Once we have an estimate of how many graduate and returning peer leaders we are going to have, then we can estimate how many new peer leaders we will need to recruit. Intentional Marketing and recruitment approach to ensure we sustain quality peer leader cohort that is able to provide the number of peer leaders we need Anecdotally we know that most students apply because someone asked them to do it. Our nomination process provides a formal avenue for this. Nomination process Last fall, we had over 400 nominations, mostly from peer leaders 33% of those nominated apply Call for nominations in campus wide emails to staff, faculty, and students Targeted outreach to campus partners and academic departments to ask for nominations; this year we reached out to business, capstone, trio, hrsm, housing, SSC Targeted outreach to our U101 instructors, staff, and peer leaders asking for nominations Ask for nominations from our peer leaders in EDLP—we ask them to aim for three nominations As nominations roll in, we send emails to nominated students, congratulating them, providing more information about the program, and encouraging them to apply These emails occur weekly—sent to new nominations submitted over the past week Reminder emails will be sent closer to application deadlines 3.0 outreach: email to all eligible students-rising juniors and seniors with a 3.0 GPA or higher; similar email to the nomination email Social media and digital marketing-mainly used as a branding tool and a way to get our program’s name circulated amongst students; digital media is designed and displayed in the student union 2 Social media campaigns-tell a story Social media posts prior to application deadlines-encouraging people to submit their app
- Candidates apply online using the University 101 database. (worth noting that the database talks to banner and verifies certain information for students?) Application consists of 3 essays-word count? Each essay prompts candidates to reflect-one on their past experiences and what they’ve gained from them and how they relate to PL role, their understanding of who a pl is and what they do, and finally how their personal and professional goals align with this opportunity Each application is reviewed by three people: one U101 staff member, a current PL, and either mike or sloane
- We review on 6 categories: Personal attributes and skills and Quality of Involvement and experiences: looking for their ability to connect their skills and experiences to PL role as mentor, resource, and facilitator Understanding of the role: we know we can coach them on some of this so we are looking for a basic understanding of some of the needs of first-year students and how peer leaders support first-year students in their transition to USC. Often candidates can either speak to the impact their peer leader had on them or if they didn’t take U101 they can identify ways having a peer leader would’ve improved their transition Potential for success: Goal alignment: looking for articulation of how they can grow from this program and how that growth translates to their personal and professional goals Support of rec:
- How do we know how many we are going to select exactly?
- Sloane UNIV101 Peer Leaders dedicate significant time and energy to their experience, engaging in over thirty-five hours of development. Extended orientation to the role: much like our first-year seminar, we give peer leaders what they need when they need it and when they are ready for it. Rather than frontloading the training, we extend it prior to and throughout their role. We take advantage of our selection process by making it a developmental process both our application and group interviews. The first formal training after peer leaders are selected is spring orientation. This training is facilitated by U101 staff and returning peer leaders. Here, peer leaders are fully introduced to their role as U101 PLs. This training prepares them for conversations they will have with their co-instructor at their next developmental opportunity: Course Planning Workshop. At the Course Planning Workshop, instructors and peer leaders attend together as a teaching team. Here, they begin to lay the foundation of their course. This is a developmental opportunity for PLs as they begin to form a mentoring relationship with their co-instructor and to contribute their perspective in the development of the course. This training is led by U101 staff. Next, peer leaders attend Fall Training in August prior to the start of classes. This training is facilitated by U101 staff and returning peer leaders. The purpose of this training is to prepare peer leaders for their upcoming first week of their U101 class. EDLP520 is the final component of PLs’ training and development. The necessity of this course comes from the need to continually support and train new PLs during their service in U101. This course is taught by U101 staff and returning peer leaders.
- Sloane Not only does this training model provide necessary info and skill development for the role, it also role models successful dynamics of u101 classes: small group size, a variety of engaging teaching techniques, and team-teaching. In doing so, these trainings provide several opportunities for peer leaders to observe and interact within an environment similar to the one in U101 classes, helping them prepare to lead their own class.
- Mike Growth in returning peer leader #s Goal over the past two years was to enhance this role and better integrate them into the program-help them still feel connected even though they don’t go through same training model as first time PLs Orientation meetings Kickoff
- mIke Application reviews Interview evaluators See this as an elevated leadership opportunity for students who devote an additional year or sometimes years to this program
- Mike This should go after RPL slides
- Mike Mention that we show the video from earlier to help instructors understand the ways to engage and fully utilize their peer leader
- Sloane Instructors nominate We email the student to collect a little further information about what they enjoy most about the PL experience. Sandy selects them Published to facebook and instagram
- In addition to our spotlights that run all semester, these are larger recognition initiatives. Daily Gamecock, student newspaper, thanks all peer leaders for the service at the end of the fall Instructor thank you notes-distributed to instructors and collected prior to banquet and handed out to peer leaders as they arrive Recognition banquet-time to celebrate and thank peer leaders as well as our staff members and EDLP instructors for their service; this year we heard from a first-year student about the impact her pl had on her and from two peer leaders about the impact the experience had on them. While the program’s been established for 25 years, we are always trying new things. We are trying a new recognition initiative to arrange press releases in the hometowns of all newly selected peer leaders.
- Mike