This week at DGS has been fairly busy. I started the week off by doing further research for the DGS website and coming up with some ideas on how to improve the site. Next week, I am meeting with some DGS staff and professionals who are updating the website. I met with the Admissions Director of DGS to talk with her about my suggestions. She responded really well to them and thought my suggestions better captured the personality of the office and what we are trying to accomplish. I also met with the first student of the semester (YAY!) She dropped in to meet with any advisor so it made sense with her to meet with me since I didn't have any appointments. I didn't feel prepared to meet with her because of the nature of her questions. I nailed down how to help students plan a schedule but I have not had any experience talking with students about Credit/No Credit, Grade Replacement, or Drop options. She left the appointment and I felt a bit discouraged but she ended up making a decision and her email to me afterwards was very kind. DGS is having Express Advising today because this is the last day to drop a class, elect credit/no credit, or do a grade replacement. So far, I have seen one student and felt a lot better after meeting with him.
As addressed in our last class period, I had not seen any students yet this semester so I told the director that I could take any student who walks in to see someone, students of an advisor who is out sick (so we don't have to cancel those appointments), and students whose advisor is booked 3 weeks out and cannot get in for awhile. This plan made the most sense. If I continue with DGS next semester, I hope that we can formulate a better plan.
This week, I read What's the Point? An Exploration of Student's Motivation to Learn in a First-Year Seminar by Jody E. Jessup-Anger. This article focused on a freshman seminar class and what motivates a student to learn in this class. Jessup-Anger found that students did not take the seminar seriously at first because it was pass/fail and because it was only 1 credit hour. They did not expect the class to require a lot of work. The instructor too thought that not having a grade scale of A-F was an explanation for why their performance on early assignments was not satisfactory. However, this research also showed that instructor feedback on assignments, critical thinking during class, and "personal connection"(p. 109) to the material in class improved motivation in the class. The researcher suggests that future research needs to be done on different kinds of first-year seminars. I agree with that suggestion because it seemed like the set-up of the course studied is different from General Studies 101. I have become more interested in the value of freshman-seminars since teaching GS 101. I think to myself, "Are students getting anything out of this? I can sense they are bored and this is a waste of their time." Although General Studies 101 and the course that was researched in this study are different, I think the findings can be applicable to GS 101. For example, GS 101 is a 1 credit hour course but still requires homework outside of class. Students in GS 101 might not be motivated to go to class and do well in it because it is only 1 credit hour. However, GS 101 is taken for a letter grade, which might improve their motivation to do well in the class. Also, GS 101 is, most often, not taught by an advisor with a PhD, so they might not have the knowledge on how to provide valuable feedback on assignments or connect the material to each student personally. Still, after shadowing some of the advisors who teach GS 101, I think they provide assignments that are meant to help the student discover what their strengths, interests, and passions are which could contribute to their motivation.
This week I spent about 3 hours working on the DGS website, 4.5 hours meeting with students, 3 total hours reading, blogging, and preparing my academic plan, and 1 hours refreshing my memory on academic policies in DGS.
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