Recommendation Report
Improving the experience of First-Year Students at Algonquin College
First year is probably the most challenging period for a college student. First year students generally grapple with academic, social, and economic challenges as they strive to successfully navigate into the new cultural environment. The freshmen lack sufficient knowledge of the campus environment, application procedures, entrance requirements, campus values, course expectations, access to both human and financial resources, as well as familiarity with terminology and the overall functioning of the higher education setting (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). Successful adjustment to the new college life thus means the freshman has to experiencing a time of considerable learning, growth, making connections, building relationships, as well as navigating the campus setting with all its complexities.
During the first year at college, the development of a student is typically characterized by universal experiences of identity development, experiencing cultural differences, managing interpersonal relationships, and solving problems. In this regard, therefore, a multiplicity of stressors and challenges add up to create a sense of college culture shock for first year students. Improving the experiences of freshmen at the Algonquin College is highly paramount considering the increasing research evidence that shows the academic success of a student in higher education is highly determined by their experience in the first year of college. This is not only crucial to the student but also to the success of the Algonquin College at large.
As Eddie Obeng asserts in his “Smart failure for a fast-changing world” talk, the 21st century has presented college students with rather unique challenges as a result of the dramatic technological revolution. In this regard, students need to have greater ability to communicate, function and create significant change socially, politically, and economically not only at a personal level but also at the college, local, national as well as global levels (Obeng, 2012). This often proves a daunting task for many first year college students, and freshmen at Algonquin College are no exception.
The collegiate experience of first year students has changed in significant ways from what it is used to be a decade ago. Several of the changes have gone unnoticed by Algonquin College, having far reaching effect to the experience of freshmen at the college. Relative to the past, today’s first year college students at Algonquin are more vulnerable to violence both on campus and from neighbourhoods around the institution. This impacts on the first year students’ college educational experience in ways that are totally foreign to college administrators who are products of the “traditional” college experience (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005).
Also, there has been dramatic ground shifting in the economic and societal conditions of college students compared to a few years ago. As a result, the bulk of today’s first year students at the Algonquin College, unlike their older counterparts, afford more value to vocational training than learning for learning’s sake. This means that while higher education is part of the new students’ lives, college attendance is by no means a defining or central activity of their lives. This is especially the case because more often than not college education has to compete with family obligations and employment (Obeng, 2012). The first year students have a wide array of attitudes as well as motivations toward learning but the Algonquin College is yet to adequately respond to. Algonquin College is also struggling with the growing reality of incoming gay, lesbian, and bisexual students whose marginalization continues to impact negatively on their educational experience at the school. Furthermore, compared to students of previous years, many of today’s first year students at the college are coming from broken families or single-parent homes, or have experienced substance abuse, and thus are in need for far much greater counselling for both personal and family issues while at the college (Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2012).. Consequently, Algonquin College administration and teaching staff are struggle applying the old techniques to this rather complex body of students because of their different situational factors, learning approaches, and multiple educational approaches.
There is no denying that first year students attending face-to-face classes at Algonquin College are equipped with an array of internet enabled digital devices. This new generation of students come to college having used a range of technologies in their daily lives, such as audio book cassettes whilst still young non-readers, complex handheld games as adolescents, and instant messaging messages to chat with friends – both at home and abroad – anytime, anywhere through the internet as young adults. On average, these students are spending at least 6 hours each day saturated in electronic, digital, print, broadcast and news media (Obeng, 2012). Thus the technology-savvy first year students struggle to fit in the not-so-advanced technological higher education setting at Algonquin College because their use of use of technology has been limited to searching the Internet, word processing, PowerPoint presentation, or word-processing. Consequently, the first year students’ low use of technology in their curriculum limits their innovative and creative abilities besides limiting the ability of the faculty to engage the students more deeply in subject matters (Feldman, 2005).
In the same breadth, the obsession of this new generation students with technology has presented another significant problem to Algonquin College in that it has reduced the capacity of teachers to effectively maintain attention of students and manage technological distraction common during classroom sessions. A potential failing in pedagogy in this new learning environment is exhibited at the college through learning experiment heavily depends on student attention through observation, listening and note-taking Chickering & Kytle, 1999). Algonquin College is yet to find how best to engage this crop of new learners, such as learning and teaching practices that relay and structure attention greatly through actively engaging the first year students with their learning.
First year students at Algonquin College are also affected to a larger extent by the issue of finance. A greater percentage of the freshmen harbour concerns and worries about the continued ability of their financiers or themselves to meet their college expenses. The problem is exacerbated by the overall impacts of the recent economic downturn and lack of employment opportunities for the yet-to-graduate students (Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2012).
There are a number of practical solutions that Algonquin College can undertake to help improve the experiences of first year students at the college. Part-time students ought to be afforded more financial assistance so that they can invest more study time as opposed to working to pay fees. Furthermore, Algonquin College should consider adding more evening and weekend courses for the working students. It would also help both the first year students from low-income backgrounds and their self-sustaining counterparts if Algonquin College moved to revise downwards their cost of tuition, fees and textbooks. The involvement of parents and guardians need also to improve so that the first year students get useful advice on such topics as time management, finances, as well as academic expectations (Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2012).
Of greater significance, though Algonquin College needs to supplied with a prerequisite of ICT resources and a curricula crafted to promote a collaborative learner-centered environment in which the first year students will easily relate and respond. ICT hardware, software and infrastructure are urgently needed at Algonquin College. On a modest budget of about $5,000, Algonquin College can create a presentation station consisting of an instructor’s workstation, interactive whiteboard, data projector, digital camera and printer. The college can also be able to equip individual students with laptops, software, ongoing technical support and maintenance for as less as $300 per year. When funding constraints do not permit computers for individual students, Algonquin College can opt to mount workstations on wheeled carts to enable accessibility and sharing by multiple classrooms. Integrating the latest ICT into classrooms also translates that educators at Algonquin College would need to have professional development and improve their digital computing skills.
Furthermore, Algonquin College needs to relook its curricula so that it best addresses the needs of the technology saturated first year students and improves their overall collegiate experience. Considering that the bulk of the first year students are funs of networked online games, Algonquin College can move to design its curricula in such a manner that it simulates a video-game environment with the objective of helping educators to better engage the students. This would also go a long way in developing analytical thinking, problem-solving and multitasking skills in the students which will come in handy at the workplace. Structuring academic courses in a manner that reflects the characteristic of well-designed video games would enable the technology-savvy first year students to become more in charge, reach own choices, interact in groups as well as take risks (Obeng, 2012). In general, creating a self-directed-learning environment in line with the changed culture of modern-day students would significantly contribute to improving the overall experience of first year students at Algonquin College.
References:
Oblinger, D. G., & Oblinger, J. L. (2005). Educating the net generation. EDUCAUSE.
Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., Hodgson, V. E., & McConnell, D. (2012). Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning. New York, NY: Springer.
Feldman, S., R. (2005). Improving The First Year Of College: Research And Practice. London: Routledge.
Chickering, A. W., & Kytle, J. (1999). The Collegiate Ideal in the Twenty-First Century. New Directions For Higher Education, (105), 109.
Obeng, E. (2012). Smart failure for a fast-changing world. Retrived from: http://www.ted.com/talks/eddie_obeng_smart_failure_for_a_fast_changing_world.html
