TITLE:
Co-Curricular Learning and Assessment in New Student Orientation at a Community College
AUTHORS:
Elena Sandoval-Lucero, Kyla Antony, William Hepworth
KEYWORDS:
Co-Curricular Learning, Assessment of Student Learning, Orientation, Community Colleges
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.8 No.10,
August
11,
2017
ABSTRACT:
With increased public pressure to impact student success, assess student
learning and increase completion outcomes at community colleges, mandatory
orientation can be an important first step on the path to success. Colleges
also need to identify opportunities for assessing co-curricular learning in student
affairs programs and functions. This study describes the process of implementing
a mandatory new student orientation at a community college in
Colorado. The program assessment included data collection at the individual
student level to document student learning, and more broadly to demonstrate
that the program contributed to increases in student retention outcomes and
documented student learning from the beginning of the college transition
process. The authors found statistically significant differences in student
learning about key on boarding topics following orientation and the new student
orientation also contributed to a seventeen percent increase in fall to
spring retention of new students.