Promote the Gateway Survey to Students
Now is our chance to truly understand what “success” means to our students.
A new faculty-driven online survey will give ACC valuable information about student success. Focusing on students enrolled in gateway courses, the Pilot Gateway Survey’s goals are to determine how ACC students define success and what supports or interferes with it.
‘We’re hoping this survey will help usher in a new paradigm of success.’
“We’re hoping this survey will help usher in a new paradigm of success,” says Katherine Staples, an English professor who serves as a faculty coach and member of the survey committee.
The survey’s pilot will run during spring 2011, with over 21,000 students invited through their ACCmail accounts to complete the survey. Designed to be completed outside class, the survey is short but thorough.
The pilot survey will target students from gateway courses in English, Math, Psychology, Sociology, Government, and Developmental Math, Reading, and Writing. Faculty members who teach gateway courses are encouraged to inform their students of the survey and its importance as it is developed, released, and extended beyond the pilot stage.
In addition to Staples, the survey committee includes faculty coaches Samuel Echevarria-Cruz, Shirin Khosropour, Mary Leonard, and Caryn Newberger, along with SSI Research Coordinator Richard Griffiths.
The committee hopes to integrate its confidential results with existing success data from SSI and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability to build a comprehensive snapshot of where ACC stands in terms of success.
Join the Mentoring Program and Help a Student
Become a mentor and you could be a student’s personal connection to success.
The Student Success Mentor Program is training more volunteers to work with students, particularly African American males – an underserved group with high SSI priority.
‘Mentors in this program are role models, advisors, guides, and friends.’
“We’re excited to get this up and running,” says Eastview Dean of Student Services Dorado Kinney. “The goal is to let these young men bring forward issues that they want to discuss. Issues could range from relationships with instructors and finding resources on various campuses to being a father.”
Ten African American male faculty and staff members are currently signed up for the program. Meetings with students take place 12-1 p.m. Fridays and rotate between Northridge, Eastview, Riverside, and Round Rock campuses. These sessions differ from the overall Mentor Program in that they serve larger groups of students at once.
In addition to the regular meetings, mentors connect with their students via email and phone, over lunch, and at campus events organized by Student Life. Although not advisors or tutors, mentors are motivators and coaches. When students need help finding college information and resources, or just want to talk, their mentor is there.
“Mentors in this program are role models, advisors, guides, and friends whose primary function is to help new ACC students have a successful first year,” says program co-leader Dana Washington. “The goal is to reduce attrition and increase persistence for ‘first time in college’ students through relationship building.”
The Student Success Mentor Program plays a key role in the greater SSI as well as the First Year Experience (FYE) orientation program at ACC. To learn how to get involved, contact Professional Development Coordinator Christina Michura at [email protected] or (512) 223.7564.
Add Your Voice to the College-Wide Communications Workshop
Help ACC better communicate with new students!
More than 100 ACC employees will attend the “It Takes a College” Communications Workshop, a daylong professional development program aimed at creating a more integrated approach to communicating with new students.
‘Effective communication at all levels of ACC Â is crucial to student success.’
Attendees will review and analyze how ACC communicates with new students, and will work together to conceptualize how the college can better engage with those students as part of the First Year Experience, an SSI program. Â An outside facilitator will guide the discussion.
“Effective communication at all levels of ACC  is crucial to student success,” says Professional Development & Evaluation Programs Director Terry Mouchayleh. “I’m excited about this event because it is a rare opportunity to focus solely on not only how to reach out more effectively to our students but also how to communicate better internally.”
The workshop is scheduled for Friday, March 4, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Midtown across from Highland Business Center. Professional Development credit will be awarded, and participants must obtain approval from their supervisor. Registration information will be shared later.
For further information regarding SSI, visit austincc.edu/success.
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By Milton Gatewood February 9, 2011 - 11:17 am
Three main initiatives that need immediate attention to help our new students.
First, an online video orientation course to walk them through the process of obtaining ACCe-id access, student Google mail and blackboard access. This additionally, technology instruction would help the majority of students.
Second, the initial assumption by instructors is that the students are aware of the above supporting technology. With the instructors increasing use of technology, there is still a need to provide initial orientation classes, possible via online tutorials or youtube type video to help the student keep up.
Third, there are still a small number of students that would need access to computer literacy instruction and orientation – these are individuals who are coming back to college and education after years of being out of high school.
Finally, some students do not have the required textbook weeks after the semester has begun. This puts the student and instructor at an extreme disadvantage because the student cannot keep up with the required reading and assignments. On-line access to the needed material could assist but I understand if it is provided, some students might not purchase a text book. Maybe some kind of media could be placed in the library for our students. Nevertheless, a textbook is needed on the first day of classes if we want to ensure a fair start for our students.
I just noticed that this form requires name and e-mail but the form label, for e-mail just says mail. It should say e-mail. Thank you.
By Christina Vallee February 11, 2011 - 2:18 pm
I am so excited about the amount of effort that is going towards the success of incoming ACC students. I am putting together a peer mentoring program as well that will hopefully launch soon and will assist first semester students in their transition to college as well as help inform them of all resources available that most students don’t realize are there. I will be contacting you and maybe we can work together to make all mentor programs successful and essentially raise the retention rates and improve our community.
By Teresa Ashley February 23, 2011 - 10:05 am
Milton,
I agree with your assessment of student needs for success. You are probably aware of the Student Support Textbook Collection. Additionally, the bookstore was renting textbooks this semester for 50% less than the cost of purchasing one and providing some e-books at reduced cost. However, I think an orientation that emphasizes the need to budget for textbooks (many students seem to think they will be provided) would be a great help. Some professors put a copy of the required textbook on reserve in the library on the campus on which they teach, but not all do. Reserve items can usually be borrowed for use in the library for 2 hours (faculty determine the loan period), but some can be checked out for 24 hours.
Library Services has made an attempt to address the technology information deficit by creating a Tech Toolbox at http://researchguides.austincc.edu/techtoolbox.
One additional resource I’d like to mention: group study rooms. Campus libraries have at least one and some are available in the Learning Lab (tutoring area) on some campuses. Students have told me that they have beem much more successful when they’ve studied with other students. One student failed two history courses last semester, but is now has a B average in each. He meets with a study group twice a week in the library group study rooms.