October 8-12

This week at DGS brought out many firsts for me. I taught DGS students about how to prepare for registration. I had created a PowerPoint and spent time on Monday fixing up the presentation and practicing. I taught about 100 students on Wednesday and 100 students on Thursday. I enjoy instructing class and I would welcome the opportunity to teach  if that is part of my future job(s). I also went to a Mock Admissions session. I have learned throughout my time at DGS that advisors do not fully understand how students get into Illinois. Over the summer, I frequently heard "How did this student get into Illinois if they got an 18 on their ACT and tested into remedial Math" or something like this statement. To open our eyes to the admissions process, many of the advisors and I learned about the process of admitting students. We were given four students, had to review their application based on different criteria, and then make a decision about their status of admission. Given the current debate about affirmative action at University of Texas, it helped to see how holistic the process is though I think the process is not a perfect one. It makes me think that admissions will never be "pure" because humans are in charge of the process. We are biased and emotional and there may be tiny details that attract one admissions reviewer to a particular student. I left the session wanting to know and learn more but overall the session was insightful. My final "first" this week was assisting with Majors/Minors Fair. I helped pass out bags and maps to the students who were attending. At this event, almost every major and minor on campus is represented by students in that major or advisors for that major. Any student can attend the event and gather information about different majors and minors on campus.

Further, last Friday (after I wrote my first blog post), I attended Orange and Blue Days. Prospective DGS students and their families learned about DGS, the benefits of DGS, what DGS does, etc. I was quickly impressed by our admissions director not just because she knew so much information and articulated it well, but because I realized that she probably gets the most skeptical of parents of all the different colleges. I have no research to back this up and my evidence is anecdotal. I overheard many of the admissions directors' conversations with parents and their questions were not about whether their child should attend Illinois over another school. Their questions were about the myths of "potential severity" of starting in DGS (being academically behind other incoming students, not graduating in 4 years), the potential financial loss of starting in DGS rather than at a community college, and others. Therefore, she is dealing with not only selling the university, but selling to parents and students that those students who are exploring majors are the exact students we want, we will make them successful, regardless of the scare factor of spending thousands of dollars on a program that doesn't seem secure.

I spent approximately:
2 hours teaching GS 101
1.5 hours in a staff meeting
3 hours preparing for GS 101
1.5 hours at the Mock Admissions session
2 hours researching websites and brainstorming ideas for the new DGS website
2 hours reading and journaling. 


I read Using Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Research to Look at Undeclared Students this week and it discussed using different methods to study if a new class for undeclared students was going to improve persistence rates. The research studied one religiously affiliated university and  the university class called Life Calling, Work, and Leadership. This class was optional for the exploring students. They found that compared to students who did not take the class, students who took the class were more likely to graduate in 4 years, and students who took the class but did not graduate in 4 years were more likely to remain taking classes compared to students who did not take the class. Students reported that the class helped them feel supported, helped them discover a path, and clarified that it wasn't a bad thing to be undeclared.Although this study only looked at one university, the evidence supports DGS's General Studies 101 course. Many students may think "what's the point of this freshman seminar?" but this evidence suggests that some curriculum for freshman seminars can have impact in a positive way. This is encouraging news that Illinois is doing a great thing by having freshman seminars for every major.

Reference:
Reynolds, P. J., Gross, J. P. K., Millard, B., & Pattengale, J. (2010). Using longitudinal mixed-methods research to look at undeclared students. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2010, 53-66.