Flip Flops and Umbrellas: Strategies for Entry Point Course Redesign

Brief Abstract

Entry point courses are the gateway to beginning the college experience and for many open enrollment students this is their first engagement with a higher education institution. To help students persist in their first course, the instructors for an entry point course revised and flip flopped the content rich assignments to create a high touch and engaging entry point course. The redesign intentionally used cognitive primers, interactives, assignments, and discussions to yield an umbrella of support for students while helping them build connections to the university community.  

Extended Abstract

Student success requires the input of all stakeholders and the support of the administrative team (Wagner, Hassanien, and Head, 2008). Which means there is no magic bullet, and the responsibility is not in one department or program. It is a team effort that requires strong administrative support for these initiatives and an understanding of the complex issues involved (Truta, Parv, and Topala, 2018). How students transition to college is a significant key to their success. Family circumstances, technology availability, and time requirements often derail students experiencing college for the first time. Ricks (2020) found that there are four major themes related to this transition: questions and confusion during the first year of college, personal and social experiences, academic related transition experiences, and support provided during the transition experience. The impact of these themes on the students’ transition is why the content and design of the entry point course requires an interactive approach that is culturally responsive, high touch, and student-centered. 

Our fully online, asynchronous university understands that the students they serve are non-traditional, working adults. The students in our virtual classrooms are diverse and bring their unique experiences into the classroom. It is our intention to connect their lived experiences with the course content. For example, 77% of our students are employed full time, 56% receive Pell Grants, 24% are associated with the military, and 57% have dependents. Which means understanding how these factors impact our classroom informs our discussion prompts, scenarios, and other assignments in the course. 

Nearly 40% of our students are first generation college students which means they will encounter challenges on their journey to earn a college degree. To support students the university provides robust student services such as peer to peer mentoring, writing support, career services, access and wellness services and many other support services students access online. Ensuring students know how to access these services from the beginning of their college journey was a primary concern for the faculty redesigning the entry point course.  

Entry point courses are the gateway to beginning the college experience and for many open enrollment students this is their first engagement with a higher education institution. Family circumstances, technology availability, and time requirements often derail students who are experiencing college for the first time. In considering approaches that could ameliorate the loss of students in their first course, the instructors for an entry point course revised and flip flopped the content rich assignments to create a high touch and engaging entry point 5-week course.  

The course redesign intentionally used instructional strategies with embedded activities to connect students to student services through robust assignments. First, intentional touchpoints with both Enrollment Advisors and Academic Advisors help build student self-advocacy and increase retention. Next, the instructors intentionally included the use of student voice through student-self-reflection, templates, and engaging interactives. Finally, each week, students are introduced to different elements of the course through a cognitive primer video that centers on two fictional students, cartoon characters Gen and Ed. These design elements yield a supportive network for students while helping them build connections to the university community which creates an umbrella of protection for them as they begin their college journey.  

In addition, collaborative relationships with other university stakeholders were employed to ensure students had accurate and intentional connections to those student services. It is believed that these adjustments will foster higher levels of successful functioning and self-efficacy which can lead to perseverance and the accomplishment of student goals as well as retention of students long-term.  

Finally, the developers decreased the number of assignments and scaffolded work leading up to the final assignment. There are more self-graded elements and two peer-to-peer discussion forums, so instructors have more time to engage in second tier responses with students in the discussions, but they also now have time to support the unique needs of students in their first college course.  

Goering, A. E., Resnick, C. E., Bradford, K. D., & Othus‐Gault, S. M. (2022). Diversity by design: Broadening participation through inclusive teaching. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2022(199), 77-91. 

Ricks, J. R., & Warren, J. M. (2021). Transitioning to College: Experiences of Successful First-Generation College Students. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 11(1), 1-15. 

Truta, C., Parv, L., & Topala, I. (2018). Academic engagement and intention to drop out: Levers for sustainability in higher education. Sustainability, 10(12), 4637. 

Wagner, N., Hassanein, K., & Head, M. (2008). Who is responsible for e-learning success in higher education? A stakeholders' analysis. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 11(3), 26-36.