Session F4B INTEGRATING THE FRESHMAN SEMINAR AND FRESHMAN PROBLEM SOLVING COURSES

INTEGRATING THE FRESHMAN SEMINAR AND FRESHMAN PROBLEMSOLVING COURSESD AN D. B UDNY 11Dan D. Budny, University of Pittsburgh, Engineering Student Services, B-74A Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, 412-624-6474, budny@ ,Abstract — The transition from high school to college can be very difficult for many students. At the University of Pittsburgh, we have a system of courses and academic counseling that is designed to address these issues and help the student in this transition. One major component is a series of mentoring courses that the entering student can select for the first semester. These courses are designed to help the freshman m ake this major transition. The student must also enroll in a Freshman Problem Solving course that details the use of various computer tools. This paper will discuss how these courses are integrated and describe the interaction of counseling with the first semester engineering problem solving course. The paper will also discuss the mentor selection process, the mentor-training program, and the topics covered in the mentoring sessions.I NTRODUCTIONNumerous studies document the importance of interaction with the freshman students during their first semester [1 - 9]. This concept is nothing new, as reflected in the fact that most colleges have an orientation program for entering students. One component we use at the University of Pittsburgh is getting the involvement of parents and other family members in the processes and transitions [10]. This student/parent summer orientation program includes the following:1) Raising the level of awareness of parents and studentsrelative to changes involved in moving to a campus environment and relative to the services offered by the university to help adjust to these changes.2) Expanding parents' and new students' knowledgethrough discussion and materials regarding changes in status, residence, failure, relationships, and authority. 3) Helping parents and students develop a positive attitudetoward their first year at the university.We use this summer orientation program to help students become aware of the changes that are taking place in their lives. We then make a transition in the student's immediate family structure by introducing professional counselors and advisors in the seminar course ENGR0081 that explain the new university policies and procedures to the students, and act as the parent figure. It is also important to involve peer mentors in the process and offer student success tips as well as survival tips that are used at theUniversity of Pittsburgh. Thus, the ENGR0081 course uses existing upper class students as instructors to discuss with the entering students, issues involving the transition between high school and college. In addition to the seminar course each student is enrolled in a Freshman Problem Solving course ENGR0011, that has as a goal to introduce problem-solving skills to the student. The retention method employed to help with the student transition is to integrate the ENGR0011 and ENGR0081 courses.ENGR0011Engineering 0011 is a required three credit course, for all freshmen engineers that meets twice a week for 2-hours in a computer-equipped classroom. It is an integrative course that has three overall goals:1) To teach the basic skills that are used by all engineers.These skills include analytical skills, programming design skills, graphical skills, problem solving skills, teamwork skills and communication skills.2) To introduce the role of the computers in engineeringproblem solving.3) To begin the understanding of how material in the basicsciences and mathematics is used by engineers to solve practical problems of interest to society.Roughly half the course is taught interactively in a cooperative learning environment where the students work in teams to solve the course requirements. The remainder of the course is taught in a lecture environment, where our emphasis is on the relationship between the engineering sciences and engineering design. The classes are taught by faculty members from various departments within the School of Engineering. The course is concerned with material that appears to fall within the realm of specific topics in engineering, our emphasis is on using various computer tools to solve engineering problems. The course also illustrates how engineering differs from science and mathematics. During these sessions we introduce and coach the student in the following topics:1) Working in Teams 2) Web page design,a. Introduction to University Computing system,b. Internet Fundamentals,c. Basic UNIX Commands,d. HTML Programming3) Review of Mathematics,a. Linear Algebrab. Matrix Operations4) Use of spreadsheets (EXCEL) in problem solving,a. Introduction to Engineering Problem Solvingb. Mathematical Operationsc. Graphing datad. Matrix Operationse. Curve Fitting dataf. Equation Solvingg. Data Analysis5) Use of software packages (MATLAB) in problemsolving,a. Mathematical Operationsb. Matrix Operationsc. Curve Fittingd. Plottinge. Input/Outputf. Scriptingg. Branchingh. Looping6) Use of software packages (WORD, POWERPOINT) incommunications.a. Introduction to Technical Report Writingb. Effective Use of the LibraryEach of the above topics have homework projects that are ill structured in nature (the students have to decide exactly what to do). These projects are intended to tax their judgment and creativity as well as their problem-solving skills. Each team is required to submit a report on each project, however, the library research project is an individual requirement that includes a written and oral presentation.ENGR0081Freshmen seminar, Engineering 0081, is required for all freshmen engineers. It is a zero credit class, however the freshmen are graded pass/fail based on attendance and participation. Despite the tightening constraints on student hours, the students are willing to take the course.In the past this course was a typical introduction to engineering where the students would get a one hour lecture on the different fields of engineering. This design was changed in the Fall 2000 to the present mentoring concept. The courses' main objective is to help first year engineering students make a smooth transition from high school to college, and as a secondary objective aid in identifying the engineering program the new students will eventually major in. Students meet with their respective mentors once a week for an organized class, but many also gather other times throughout the week to enjoy activities such as: flag football or other outside activities, museum tours, trips to the symphony etc.To initiate a close bond between the freshmen students and their mentors the classes are designed around a class size of approximately 15 students per mentor, and are based upon a commo n theme. All mentors select a theme that is based on their own personal interest. The only requirement is the course schedule must fit into one of the pre-designed seminar time slots. The available time slots are Monday through Friday from 12:00 -12:50, 1:00 - 1:50, 3:00 - 3:50 and 7:00 - 7:50. The current themes range from teamwork to sports to exploring Pittsburgh, see below for more details. Another important characteristic of the seminar is class size. With approximately thirty undergraduate mentor seminars, the class sizes range from 7-20 students per mentor. The small class size and common interests only increases the opportunity for a personal relationship to build between the freshmen and their mentor.L IST OF T HEMES FOR S EMINAR C OURSES Listed below are the seminar topics offered during the Fall 2000 semester.• Italian American Culture in the United StatesIn this seminar, students research and learn about howItalian American culture is portrayed in movies, books,and on television.• BasketballThe "theme" of the meetings is basketball, the group also meets in Trees Gym to play pick-up games of basketball, and also sets up 3 on 3 tournaments.• Getting to Know PittsburghThere are a number of different sections of this theme.This seminar leads students on an exciting journeythought the various important sites in the city ofPittsburgh.• Investigating Computer Engineering and Pittsburgh This seminar is a take off on the Getting to KnowPittsburgh seminar, with the added component ofdiscussing how to handle the engineering workload, and what it's like as a Computer Engineer.• Teaming as Engineering StudentsThe goal of this seminar is to design activities thatnaturally encourage people to get to know each other. • Pitt ArtsThe idea behind this freshmen seminar group is to helpstudents realize the potential for getting involved at Pitt in activities like music, drama, visual art and more, andalso to teach them about the wide variety of culturalevents in Pittsburgh.• Freshman Engineering Student Council (FESC) FESC is an organization that is run entirely byfreshman, with some help from previous officers andthe Engineering Student Council (ESC), to provideactivities for the freshman.• Entertainment in PittsburghOne of the advantages of going to college in a city isthat there are almost unlimited entertainment resources.Sometimes, incoming freshman do not get theopportunity to take full advantage of this. This seminaris designed to introduce freshman to all the activitiesavailable to them. It covers entertainment in both thecity of Pittsburgh and on campus.• Investigating Study Abroad OptionsThe seminar discusses the tough choices on decidingwhere to study and talks about how sometimes thedecisions were overwhelming. The seminar helps thestudents explore their options and talks to them about • Playing SportsThis sports and activities seminar is a mixture ofwatching sports in person, on television, and playingsports.• VolunteeringIn this weekly seminar the mentor and studentsvolunteer their time and service as they participate inprojects to improve the Pittsburgh community.• Music and cultureMusic is a great stress reliever and the voice ofgenerations. The seminar takes the time to look past the music industry stereotypes and choosing music forquality and not because of the group of friends that they happen to be in. This seminar explores the music scenelocally and nationally.• WiffleballIn this seminar the interest area is wiffleball & othersports such as ultimate Frisbee. The students meet atthe cathedral lawn (weather permitting) and play about a 40-minute game of wiffleball or another "stressrelieving" game.• BilliardsThis seminar focuses on the activity of billiards and allgames associated with it. Participants spendapproximately two hours per week sharpening theirskills through tournament play.• Playing CardsThis seminar focuses on the activity of cards and allgames associated with them. Participants spend theirtime sharpening their skills through tournament play. • Adventure GroupThe adventure group does a series of activities in order to explore not only the University of Pittsburgh but also the campus surroundings. The students exploreUniversity services, local restaurants, sporting events,and also challenge other seminar groups to friendlycompetitions.• Running and Other Outdoor ActivitiesThe students who signed up for this seminar shouldenjoy being outdoors and away from the stresses ofengineering. In order to accomplish this, the seminargoes on a run for the first hour of the meeting time.• Sports and Outdoors ActivitiesAs a group this seminar discusses the "going ons" of the University and enjoy the active sports life. They planfootball outings against each other as well as otherseminars and the Engineering Student Council. Theseminar group also participates in other sports such asbasketball, soccer, and softball. Finally, they also areinvolved in activities such as Monday night football,bowling, and maybe even miniature golf.• Discover PittsburghThis interactive seminar is designed to give students afun opportunity to learn more about the University ofPittsburgh, its campus, and its surroundingcommunities. This weekly seminar provides a creativeway to learn more about the place we all call our "homeaway from home."W HAT IS A M ENTOR?Essentially, a mentor is someone who has successfully walked the path of a first year engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh. Mentors are one of the three components of the Freshman Leadership Team that works' closely with the Engineering Student Service Center. (The other two components are the tutors and the recruiters.) These individuals not only have been-there-done-that, but also they have learned a few valuable lessons along the way.This group consists of diligent sophomore, junior and senior engineering students that have each successfully completed their freshmen year in the engineering program. They were selected to be mentors because they want to share that information with the incoming freshman, and assist the freshmen engineering students in the transition from high school to college. The mentors work closely with the Freshmen Program Office to integrate the advising, tutoring, and mentoring program. To assist the mentors and help them accomplish this integration, the university requires that each engineering student must enroll in one of the freshman seminar courses.The mentors are a very diverse group of undergraduate upperclassmen. They cover a broad range of engineering majors and are involved in various activities the University of Pittsburgh and the School of Engineering offer. Many of our mentors have co-op experience at highly regarded companies, study abroad experience, participate in sports, and are officers in the engineering student council and/or the student chapters of the professional societies. Because they have such unique interests their seminars have exciting and diverse themes.M ENTOR J OB R EQUIREMENTSObviously the main requirement of the mentor is to facilitate their seminar section, however there are also a number of responsibilities, requirements and standards each mentor must fulfill. Each mentor is given a list of requirement before they apply for the job. Table 1 gives a list of responsibilities for each mentor.The time requirement for the job was 5 hours per week. This included 1 hour of class, 2 hours of preparation time and 2 hours of office hours. Students were paid the basic university rate of $5.50/hour.TABLE 1R ESPONSIBILITIES OF A M ENTOR• Facilitate a Freshman Seminar group once a week• Effectively plan appropriate activities designed to meet the specific needs of the first year engineering student. • Must take initiative with regard to programming their seminar, as well as office specific record keeping and data base management• Work closely with freshman advisors in disseminating registration and scheduling information to all first year students• Hold at least 2 hours of office hours in the Engineering Student Services Center each week• Work with the faculty for ENGR0011 and assure each student makes their oral presentationIn addition to the job responsibilities, there are a number of personal traits and academic standards that each mentor must meet. These are given in Tables 2 and 3.TABLE 2M ENTOR J OB R EQUIREMENTS• Should be gregarious, and empathetic in their approach to others• Respectful and responsive to issues of diversity• Possess a "TEAM" approach to the mentoring position.Specifically, be willing and able to work with a variety of personalities.• Should be willing to exchange constructive feedback with students, staff, and occasionally faculty.TABLE 3M ENTOR A CADEMIC S TANDARDS• A 2.5 Cumulative Grade Point average is required• All mentors should be confident in their decis ion to pursue engineering as an undergraduate degree.M ENTOR S ELECTION P ROCESSMentoring is often thought to be a lot like coaching. In fact, many mentors do find that their role as mentor takes on the task of coaching these neophyte students through the various difficult transitions from high school to college. The mentors of the past have discovered three main coaching areas:A. A CADEMIC T RANSITIONS• Change from a highly structured day with the same basic schedule each day and a scheduled activity for each hour of the day to a different schedule each day, and has free time throughout the day.• For many students, entering college means starting over in their academic classes, many times from the bottom up. It is not easy accepting a lowering of your status, but the reality is everyone that is here was on top. • Many students got A's without every bringing a book home or at most spending 4 - 5 hours a week, yet they spend 4 - 5 hours a day and cannot get A's.B. Family Transitions• Arriving on campus means a transition from family and home to a residence hall and independence.• Family might encourage the student to make new friends, or afraid of losing their child, they might prevent the student from making many university-related connections.• Student will experience changes related to lavatory facilities, eating arrangements, diet, roommates, laundry, and major changes in the people they interact with each day.C. P ersonal Transitions• Being at a university means being a newcomer in a strange community.• They discover they can “Do Whatever They Want to Do”• Each student must establish a positive relationship with their new roommate.• It is not uncommon for example for students to break up with old high school girl/boy friends the day before a major exam.• Most students feel that by the end of the first year they have nothing in common with all the friends they had in lower grades back in high school.Thus, the first challenge for the mentor is to be able to assist the students in these transitions. To assist the department in selecting the mentors, the applicants must write an article that discusses a time when they mentored/coached someone through a difficult situation. The article must address the following:• What was the situation?• How did you approach the person you were working with?• What was the outcome?• What qualities do you think a great mentor must possess?• What transferable skills have you already developed that would make you a great choice to mentor first year engineering students?In addition to the essay, each applicant must also provide a list of two character references, a list of additional activities they plan on including in the seminar course.Once this data is completed, each applicant is interviewed with the department staff and are asked questions similar to the following:• Detail some leadership experience you have had.• Are you available to teach a section during the time slots allocated for the course?• How do you feel about standing up in front of a group of freshman?• How would you approach a group, or just one student, who makes it a point to give you a difficult time in class?• Provide an example of an ice-breaker you have participated in, and really enjoyed.• What are some of your ideas to improve the seminar experience?• Expand upon your essay. How do you propose the ideas you suggested be implemented?• What is your perception of the Freshman Leadership Team? How do you see yourself fitting in? Why do you think it is important that we function as a team?• If a student in your seminar were having a difficult time choosing a department - how would you assist that student?• If a student wanted to transfer out of engineering - how would you guide that person?Once the interview is complete, the applicant is judged on the following abilities:• Ability to relate to other students.• Applicant's reactions to the responsibilities as a freshman mentor.• Did the student appear motivated and excited?• Did they express ideas that were creative and interesting?By the end of the process, we found that the student that was not interested in the position dropped out. Thus, to fill the 30 positions we were able to hire over 90% of the students we interviewed. The one thing that we did discover, was that the students wanted to be mentors because they wanted to help the freshman and were not doing this for the money.The final step in the process was a mentor training workshop the week before class started.P ROGRAM I NTEGRATIONThe freshmen seminar ENGR0081 is taught by the peer mentors, however, the curriculum for their courses is integrated with the freshmen engineering class, Introduction to Engineering Analysis ENGR0011, and with the counseling center. Thus, in addition to enjoying activities related to their seminar theme, mentors also work with the Engineering Student S ervices Center advisors, to integrate topics on how to be successful in the engineering program. Lessons like: how to have a life and be a great student, how to put together a decent schedule, how to get involved in a student or community organization, or simply how to have a great time balancing the rigor of engineering coursework with some of the activities the students enjoy doing.All mentors are provided with a syllabus including the necessary information to review with the freshmen. The Freshmen Program Advising Staff also relays information such as add/drop, withdrawal, and registration procedures, to the freshmen via the mentors and freshmen seminar. The topics covered during the first semester of freshmen seminar include, but are not limited to:1. What is seminar? Why do I need to take seminar? Whois my mentor?2. Add/Drop, Medical Information, How to get involved inthe University of Pittsburgh.3. Calculating your GPA, The Importance of FreshmenGrades,4. Time Management5. Study Skills & Test Preparation6. Stress Management7. Spring Registration8. Withdrawal, Repeating Classes, & Replacing Grades9. Introduction to the Library Services10. Resume Writing11. Engineering Options at the University of Pittsburgho Minorso Concentrationso Teaching Certificateso Dual Degreeso Study Abroad Opportunities and Programso Cooperative Education and/or Internshipso Undergraduate Research12. How to Prepare for Final ExamsAdditionally mentors work closely with the professors of the ENGR0011 classes to collect assignments and grade projects and presentations. For example, at the start of the semester the ENGR0011 course requires the students to design a personal web page. The web page must include a link to a short personal bio, a link to a page that will include a list of their hobbies and interests as a definition list, a link to a unordered list of why they selected engineering, and a link to a ordered list of their courses. Thus, the mentors will assign this task as a means of collecting personal information on their students, and then the ENGR0011 course has the students take this information and add it to their web pages. Thus, the two courses are working together and sharing assignments.The ENGR0011 course also requires the students to write a 6-page research paper on the field of engineering they find interesting. In the paper they must discuss the basic course work required to complete the School of Engineering, they must make a list of the professional societies associated with the field and give a brief description of one of these societies. Once again the mentors integrate the seminar with this requirement and assist the students in finding this information and review their papers as part of ENGR0081.The library project also requires the students to print a list of all the journals at the University of Pittsburgh about their subject field and from this list of journals, select a magazine and a scholarly journal article and give a short description of the content of the articles. Once again the mentors take an active role in approving the articles and help the students find the material in the library.The final requirement of the paper is to create a list of companies that would employ an engineer in their field and describe what that company produces and produce a list of five specific job titles w/their duties and discuss the basic working conditions for engineers in there chosen field. Once again the mentors talk to the students about their co-op or intern experiences and give the students help on contacting the placement office and other sources to find this information.Finally the students are required to produce a 10-minute Power Point presentation of their research project and make this presentation in their ENGR0081 course. The mentors and the students in the ENGR0081 course than grade the student's presentation and the grade is incorporated into the ENGR0011 computer course.This integration gets the mentors, freshman staff counselors and faculty all involved with the students first year experience and allows them to all work together to help with the students' first year transition.P ROGRAM E VALUATIONAt the end of each semester the seminar courses are evaluated by the students. The students are given a 10 question survey, see Table 4, and asked to rate their mentor on a scale of 1 to 5, where:1= Unsatisfactory2= Occasionally meets job competencies. Needs some work in this area.3= Meets job competencies of Freshman Mentor.4= Occasionally surpasses job competencies.5= Takes initiative and surpasses basic competencies of freshman mentor.TABLE 4M ENTOR E VALUATION1) Relates well to Group2) Effectively facilitates group discussion3) Communicates clearly and effectively4) Listens and guides students to make informed decisions5) Uses Freshman Seminar time efficiently6) Provides activities and information to help you be abetter student7) Identifies appropriate options based on your need8) Prepares you for registration9) Shows concern for the needs on individual students10) Displays cultural sensitivityIn addition, the students are asked to comment on: 1) How would you rate your mentor2) What's the overall quality of your mentoring experience.3) Comments or suggestions relating to your mentor and/orthe seminar experience.Based on the feedback from this first year of operation, the Freshman Seminar Course appears to be a success. The student evaluations of the mentors range from 4.5 - 4.7 on a 5.0 scale, and the comments are all basically very positive. The general feeling among the students is they thought the course would be a waste of time, but by the end of the semester their view of the course changes and they are glad they had the experience. As one student said in their course evaluation "It is the little things that my mentor did that had such a large impact on my first semester success".S UMMARYWe believe that linking the Freshman Seminar Course ENGR0081 with the Engineering Problem Solving course ENGR0011 has been a major success. It provides the university an opportunity to take a proactive approach to counseling, by staying on top of the students first semester transition. By using mentors to provide this interface we are using a non-threatening peer counselor to act as our eyes and ears so we can provide help without the student even knowing we are getting involved.Since this was the first year for the program, we did find a number of administrative factors that we are going to modify for next year, however, the basic concept of the course will still stay the same.R EFERENCES[1] Boyer, E. L. (1987). College: The Undergraduate Experience inAmerica. New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers.[2] Chickering, A. W. and Associates. (1981). The Modern AmericanCollege. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.[3] National Research Council. (1996). National Science EducationStandards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.[4] Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Respondingto the Needs of All Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association forSupervision and Curriculum Development.[5] Coburn, L.C. & Treeger, M.L. Letting Go: A Parents Guide to Today'sCollege Experience, Bethesda, MD: Alder & Alder.[6] Chickering, Arthur and Schlossberg, N.K., How to Get the Most Outof College, Allyn and Bacon.[7] Hanson, Jennifer, The Real Freshman Handbook : An Irreverent &Totally Honest Guide to Life, Houghton Mifflin Co, April 1996 [8] Tyler, Suzette, Been There Should've Done That : 505 Tips forMaking the Most of College, Front Porch Press, May 1997 [9] Marian Edelman Borden, Mary Anne Burlinson, Elsie R. Kearns, InAddition to Tuition : The Parents' Survival Guide to Freshman Year of College, Checkmark Books, April 1996.[10] Dan Budny, " Working with Students and Parents to Improve theFreshman Retention ", 2001 IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education Conference.。