First Year Experience
- Mission Statment
The First Year Experience (FYE) department at Weber State University assists incoming students in making a successful and responsible transition to the university environment. The department is committed to helping students maximize their potential for academic success by providing them with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that promote life-long learning.
To accomplish its mission, First Year Experience provides students with valuable information in the FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” course. Topics include: the purpose of higher education, goal setting, time management, study and test taking skills, communication, critical thinking, stress management, academic advisement, career and major exploration, using campus resources, and understanding student responsibilities.
FYE shares the values and themes of Weber State University’s Mission and Strategic Plan by welcoming and valuing all students, collaborating with campus and community partners to make resources known to our students, and creating a classroom environment (in person, online, or virtual) that is engaging, challenging, and supportive.
In addition, the FYE Peer Mentoring Program is a critical factor to the overall success of the department and the students participating in FYE 1105. We strive to assign a peer mentor to each FYE 1105: Foundations of College Success course. FYE Peer Mentors assist students in the classroom by fostering a sense of belonging and serving as a valuable resource to both students and instructors. In addition to their fieldwork in the FYE 1105 classrooms, FYE Peer Mentors attend an upper-division course UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentoring and Leadership Seminar.” - Student Learning Outcomes
FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success”
Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, students will be able to:
1. Purpose of Education: Articulate the value of a college education for themselves, their community, and society. Identify and apply behaviors and mindsets that support college success.
2. Campus Resources: Demonstrate the ability to identify and use campus resources in support of academic and personal success.
3. Goal Setting: Implement the mechanics of goal setting using the SMART goal framework.
4. Time Management: Apply a variety of time management strategies to support short- and long-term goals.
5. Note Taking: Utilize a variety of note taking strategies to engage with academic content inside and outside the classroom.
6. Reading Strategies: Apply active reading strategies (e.g., annotation) to support comprehension of and engagement with a range of academic texts.
7. Test Preparation/Test Taking: Utilize test preparation and test taking strategies to succeed at a range of test types.
8. Critical Thinking: Analyze information using critical thinking strategies to engage ideas actively and deeply.
9. Communication: Effectively communicate with a range of audiences using college-level writing and presentation skills.
10. Stress Management: Identify personal stressors, stress symptoms, and self-regulation strategies to maintain wellness and resilience.
11. Learning Strategies: Apply a range of learning strategies to support individual and collaborative efforts toward knowledge construction and problem-solving.
12. Academic Advisement: Utilize academic advisement resources to develop an academic plan for degree completion.
13. Career/Major Exploration: Identify potential majors and careers suited to individual values and interests using career/major exploration strategies and resources.
14. Health and Wellness (optional): Identify effective strategies to maintain personal health and wellness.
15. Money Management (optional): Demonstrate sound financial planning in support of short- and long-term goals.
16. Information Literacy (optional): Construct accurate knowledge using information literacy skills to evaluate and synthesize sources.
17. Diversity (optional): Critically examine multiple perspectives through civil discourse.
18. Service Learning (optional): Apply learning in meaningful ways to new settings and complex problems for the benefit of individuals and society.UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar”
Learning Outcomes
As a result of this course, students will:
1. Communication: Apply effective communication skills with students and FYE 1105 instructors.
2. Facilitation: Facilitate effective lessons based on specific FYE 1105 course topics.
3. Leadership: Apply effective leadership skills for use in their FYE 1105 fieldwork experience and beyond.
4. Mentoring Challenges: Identify strategies to deal with challenges associated with the role of Peer Mentor.
5. Personal Development: Articulate their personal development resulting from the Peer Mentor experience.
- Curriculum Grid
- Program and Contact Information
The First Year Experience (FYE) program consists of two courses:
- FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success”
- This course assists incoming students in making a successful transition to college. Topics include the purpose of higher education, goal setting, time management, study and test taking skills, critical thinking, stress management, academic advisement, career and major exploration, using campus resources, and understanding student responsibilities.
- An extensive FYE 1105 (formerly EDUC 1105) course review was completed by a task force during summer 2009 through which the eleven required course topics were honed to include learning outcomes for each unit (see attachment). For this assessment period, we have chosen to focus on three areas: stress management, learning strategies, and academic advisement.
- UNIV 3170 “Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar”
- In this two-credit hour seminar course, FYE Peer Mentors are taught to effectively help Foundations of College Success (FYE 1105) students in making a successful transition to college. FYE Peer Mentor requirements are available at www.weber.edu/fye. Enrollment is limited to FYE Peer Mentors. The course may be repeated once for two more credits and additionally for zero credits.
Contact Information:
First Year Experience
Weber State University
3885 West Campus Dr. Dept 1104
Ogden, UT 84408-1104
Student Services Center, Rm 140
(801) 626-6752
- Assessment Plan
FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success”
- The FYE assessment plan for the upcoming baseline year is to gather data from each FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” sections for three of the department’s learning objectives (purpose of education, communication, and campus resources) for a minimum of two years and then compare data. If it is determined that one or more areas are consistently being met and that no curricular or pedagogical changes need to be made, then the area(s) will be replaced with additional learning objectives. Artifacts will be collected from each course section by using Portfolium. This is the first year that we are using this type of collection method. In the past we have compared data by utilizing Chi Tester.
UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar”
- Artifacts will be collected from each section of UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar” for two of the department’s learning objectives (communication and facilitation) for a minimum of two years and then data will be compared. If it is determined that one or both areas are consistently being met and that no curricular or pedagogical changes need to be made, then the area(s) will be replaced with additional learning objectives. Artifacts will be collected from each student in the section. Artifact samples come from individual assignments, end-of-semester mentor portfolios, and instructor rubrics of presentations and overall performance.
- Assessment Report Submissions
- 2021-2022
1) Review and comment on the trend of minority students enrolling in your classes (particularly lower-division, GEN Ed) and in your programs.
In the FYE department, we pride ourselves on creating a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for our minority students. In every FYE class, our instructors and mentors are committed to fostering a sense of community among our diverse population of students and we are proud of the work we have done in recruiting and retaining minority students. In 2020-21, one-year retention for FYE entering fall BIPOC students (61.9%) was 6.7% higher than WSU BIPOC students overall (55.2%). Based on the data, we are pleased that our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” course is having a positive impact on minority student retention. In addition, of the peer mentors who serve our FYE 1105 students and are currently enrolled in our UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor and Leadership Seminar,” roughly two-thirds identify as minority students.2) What support (from enrollment services, advising, first-year transition office, access & diversity, etc.) do you need to help you recruit and retain students?
With the help of excellent partnerships across campus, we regularly meet or exceed our enrollment expectations. We would benefit from additional resources to offer more sections, especially in the fall because we typically have many waitlisted students.
We appreciate the work of the individuals working in Honors, Athletics, Outdoor and Community Recreation and Education (OCRE), Wildcat Scholars, NUAMES, Davis Enrollment Services, and Upward Bound for their help in recruiting students for their specific FYE sections. Financial Aid and Scholarships have continuously been a great partner with helping our mentors find financial resources to participate in our mentoring and leadership course. We also greatly appreciate the assistance provided by WSU Online and look forward to working with them more as the online and virtual components of our courses continue to evolve.In the 2020-2021 academic year, FYE had a total of 705 students in 40 sections. In fall 2021, we have 500 students in our program with an additional 302 NUAMES students registered through Concurrent Enrollment. In total for the 2021-2022 academic year, we expect to have over 700 students registered in our traditional courses and an additional 700 registered through Concurrent Enrollment for a total of approximately 1400-1500 students served by roughly 30 instructors and 20 peer mentors. Currently we are managing this with the help of two staff members, so additional help in staffing would be appreciated.
It should be noted that the FYE 1105 end-of-semester student evaluations of the department, faculty, and mentors are all very high; this is a direct result of the efforts of our FYE instructors and peer mentors (see Appendix A). They should be commended for their efforts to connect with students and make a positive impact, which has undoubtedly been the driving force behind our growth and retention.
3) We have invited you to re-think your program assessment. What strategies are you considering? What support or help would you like?We are in the process of transitioning from collecting exam-based assessment data in ChiTester to using an ePortfolio platform to collect student learning artifacts. We are looking forward to using the Portfolium platform because it is not only a useful tool to collecting student artifacts for assessment purposes, but it also provides students with a means to create a portfolio of the work they complete throughout their college experience. We feel that getting students started with Portfolium as a requirement for our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” course will help students get started on their ePortfolios immediately and create a culture of recording their work for future use when applying for jobs or graduate programs. This is also beneficial as we encourage students to participate in Wildcat Advantage to record their High Impact Education Experiences (HIEEs).
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness has been an excellent source of support. We appreciate their collaboration with our department and look forward to working with them in the future as we transition our assessment collection process.
4) Finally, we are supporting our Concurrent Enrollment accreditation process. Does your program offer concurrent enrollment classes? If so, have you been able to submit the information requested from the Concurrent Enrollment office? Staff from OIE will reach out to you in the next few months to assist in finalizing that data submission as well as gather information for concurrent Gen Ed assessment.
This is the first semester (fall 2021) that we have offered concurrent enrollment classes. We are currently piloting CE FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” courses with NUAMES students on both the Davis and Ogden campuses. We have submitted all documentation that has been requested from the Concurrent Enrollment office, including course proposals, onboarding documentation, and site visits. We will be working with CE to create an annual PD training in the spring semester once we are fully transitioned from pilot to CE courses.
The full report is available for viewing.
- 2019-2020
1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?
- Based on FYE faculty evaluations that were collected during the most recent assessment cycle, our adjunct instructors have expressed confidence in the skills that our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” students are demonstrating through their assigned work. The department is pleased with the positive student feedback from end-of-semester evaluations regarding the assessed topics (critical thinking, learning strategies, and academic advisement).
- The department is also satisfied with the UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar” assessment results. Being that the FYE mentors in this class are selected specifically for this course, it came as no surprise that they exceeded our standard of excellence in the assessed area of personal development resulting from their peer mentor experience. With continued growth of the program, we are working to develop new, engaging methods to teach this seminar course to a steadily increasing number of mentors (currently 27).
2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?
- Results will be shared with FYE faculty, FYE peer mentors, higher-level management, and advisors in the Student Success Center (concerning advising-related results).
3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
- Overall, the FYE department is pleased with the results of our FYE 1105: Foundations of College Success assessment findings. After reviewing the assessment results from 2016-17 (the first year in which we utilized Chi Tester to extract exam data for the first complete cycle), we learned that we needed to continue to work on refining the process in order to obtain more accurate data on student performance. As a result, we added Chi Tester questions to gain a better understanding of what students are learning in each of the assessed areas. For the upcoming assessment period, we will continue to re-evaluate and add questions that best reflect what is being taught in FYE 1105. We plan to reassess two outcomes, learning strategies and critical thinking. We also plan to continue to make curricular and pedagogical changes in the assessed areas (critical thinking, learning strategies, and academic advisement). It should also be noted that the FYE 1105 end-of-semester student evaluations of the department, faculty, and mentors are all very high; this is a direct result of the efforts of our FYE instructors and peer mentors. They should be commended for their efforts to connect with students and make a positive impact.
The full report is available for viewing.
- 2017
1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?
- As a department, we have worked towards making the artifact submission process more efficient and effective to ensure we have the most accurate data possible for assessment purposes. To accomplish this, we utilized Chi Tester to extract exam data for the first complete assessment cycle, rather than randomly selecting students and collecting artifacts of their work. We have been continuing to work with FYE adjunct faculty to ensure they feel confident aligning outcomes in Chi Tester.
- Once again, faculty expressed their confidence in the skills that our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” students are demonstrating through their work and are also pleased with the positive student feedback regarding the assessed topics (stress management, learning strategies, and academic advisement). All three areas had higher overall means than the previous year.
- The department is also satisfied with the UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar” assessment results. Being that the FYE mentors in this class are selected specifically for this course, it came as no surprise that they exceeded our standard of excellence in the assessed areas of leadership and strategies for challenges associated with mentoring. With continued growth of the program, we are working to develop new, engaging methods to teach this seminar to a steadily increasing number of mentors.
2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?
- Results will be shared with FYE faculty, FYE peer mentors, higher-level management, and advisors in the Student Success Center (concerning advising-related results).
3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
- Overall, the FYE department is pleased with the results of our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” assessment findings. As mentioned above, we utilized Chi Tester to extract exam data for the first complete cycle. To maintain consistency, we used the same questions on exams as the previous year. Although we plan to continue using this method, we have learned from our assessment results that we need to continue to work on refining the process. For the upcoming assessment period (2017-18) we have added questions to better reflect student learning in each of the assessed areas. We plan to reassess two outcomes, learning strategies and academic advisement, and add critical thinking. Based on the revised structure, we will evaluate the departmental expectations to more accurately reflect the threshold for evidence of student learning. We also plan to continue making curricular and pedagogical changes in the assessed areas (stress management, learning strategies, and academic advisement
The full report is available.
- 2016
1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?
- As a department, we have worked towards making the artifact submission process more efficient and effective to ensure we have the most accurate data possible for assessment purposes. To accomplish this, we utilized Chi Tester to extract exam data for the first time rather than randomly selecting students and collecting artifacts of their work. FYE adjunct faculty were very cooperative and willing to participate as we made this transition.
- Faculty expressed their confidence in the skills that our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” students are demonstrating through their work and are also pleased with the positive student feedback regarding the assessed topics (stress management, learning strategies, and academic advisement).
- The department is also satisfied with the UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar” assessment results. In the baseline year of assessing communication and facilitation skills, our results were very positive and we are pleased that the results are equal or higher than the previous year. Being that the FYE mentors in this class are selected specifically for this course, it came as no surprise that they once again exceeded our standard of excellence in both areas (communication and facilitation). With continued growth of the program, we are working to develop new, engaging methods to teach this seminar to a steadily increasing number of mentors.
2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?
- Results will be shared with FYE faculty, FYE peer mentors, higher-level management, and advisors in the Student Success Center (concerning advising-related results).
3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
- Overall, the FYE department is pleased with the results of our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” assessment findings. As mentioned above, we utilized Chi Tester to extract exam data for the first time rather than collecting randomly selected student artifacts. Although we plan to continue using this method, we have learned from our assessment results that we need to continue to work on refining the process. We plan to review the questions that are aligned to the course outcomes as well as run an item analysis on questions to see if any additional changes need to be made. Based on those findings, we will evaluate the departmental expectations to more accurately reflect the threshold for evidence of student learning. We also plan to continue making curricular and pedagogical changes in the assessed areas (stress management, learning strategies, and academic advisement).
The full report is available for viewing.
- 2015
1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?
- The department met or exceeded the standard of excellence in all three areas for this assessment period and when compared to the data from the last assessment period, we found that our numbers were comparable, if not higher. In the baseline year of assessing these particular outcomes, FYE adjunct faculty expressed their confidence in the skills that our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” students are demonstrating through their work and are also pleased with the positive student feedback regarding the assessed topics (time management, test taking/test preparation, and career/major exploration).
- The department is also very pleased with the UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar” assessment results. Being that the FYE mentors in this class are selected specifically for this course, it came as no surprise that they exceeded our standard of excellence in both areas (communication and facilitation). With the recent growth of the program, we are continually working to develop new, engaging methods to teach this seminar to a steadily increasing number of mentors. We are also working to accurately assess student work completed during their fieldwork in FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” as well as the assignments and presentations they complete in UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar.” We look forward to comparing the data we collected during our baseline year to next year’s UNIV 3170 assessment results.
2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?
- Results will be shared with FYE faculty, FYE peer mentors, and higher-level management.
3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
- Overall, the FYE department is pleased with the results of our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” assessment findings. Direct measures indicated that the departmental standard of excellence (80%) was met in all three areas (time management, test preparation/test taking, and career/major exploration) and indirect measures showed that the majority of students agree or strongly agree that their knowledge level has increased in each of the three areas. Although we are pleased with these results, we also feel that some minor curricular and pedagogical changes could be made for the test preparation/test taking learning objective. Based on these findings, the department plans to hold additional FYE 1105 instructor trainings and workshops to encourage more consistency among student work.
- As a department, we will continue to work towards making the artifact submission process more efficient and effective to ensure we have the most accurate data possible for assessment purposes. To accomplish this, we plan to utilize Chi Tester and Canvas to extract test data for future comparison. We also plan to re-write our indirect measurement questions to more accurately reflect our current learning outcomes.
The full report is available for viewing.
- 2014
1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?
- To answer this question, compare evidence from prior years to the evidence from the current year. Discuss trends of evidence that increases your confidence in the strengths of the program. Also discuss trends of concern (e.g. students struggling to achieve particular student outcomes)
- FYE adjunct faculty found last year’s comparison data on the three evaluated areas (note taking, reading, and goal setting) to be very valuable. We continue to make improvements based on last year’s data and we are once again looking forward to comparing the most recent findings of our three current assessment areas (time management, test taking/test preparation, and career/major exploration) with data from next year’s assessment results.
- As a department, we will continue to work towards making the artifact submission process more efficient and effective to ensure we have the most accurate data possible for assessment purposes.
- Being that the assessment data for UNIV 3170 “FYE Peer Mentor Leadership Seminar” was completed as a baseline this year, we look forward to comparing this evidence with data from next year’s 3170 assessment results.
2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?
- Results will be shared with FYE faculty, FYE peer mentors, and higher-level management.
3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
- Overall, the FYE department is pleased with the results of our FYE 1105 “Foundations of College Success” assessment findings. Direct measures indicated that the departmental standard of excellence (80%) was met in all three areas (time management, test preparation/test taking, and career/major exploration) and indirect measures showed that the majority of students agree or strongly agree that their knowledge level has increased in each of the three areas. Although we are pleased with these results, we also feel that some minor curricular and pedagogical changes could be made for the test preparation/test taking learning objective. Based on these findings, the department plans to hold additional FYE 1105 instructor trainings and workshops to encourage more consistency among student work.
The full report is available for viewing.
- 2013
No report was submitted.
- 2021-2022
- Program Review