麻豆映画传媒

It鈥檚 one thing to get into college. It鈥檚 another to get through and earn a degree. To help students stay on track, 麻豆映画传媒 is launching two new programs this semester. One program is aimed at helping students think about graduation as early as orientation, and the other is geared toward preventing students from going off track.

There鈥檚 also a new program in development to use Big Data to give academic advisors more tools to help students.

The university already offers a variety of resources and services to help all students from academic advising to 麻豆映画传媒 Cares, a referral desk for academic and non-academic services available on and off campus.

Think 30

New to the arsenal of resources this semester is an education campaign called , as in completing 30 credit hours a year. Taking that many credits each year enhances the chances that a student will earn a degree in four years.

鈥淲e鈥檙e encouraging students to complete 30 credits each academic year,鈥� said Jenna Nobili, who is leading the campaign. She is an academic advisor for the Office of First Year Advising and Exploration. 鈥淲e know 30 credits a year may not work for every student, but we want students to start thinking about their personal graduation goals from day one, so they can stay on track.鈥�

Students can spread their credits out throughout the whole year, including summer sessions. Or they can increase their load one semester to make time to work in an internship or study-abroad opportunity another semester.

There鈥檚 another incentive to thinking about goals early: It will save students and their families鈥� money.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want students graduating with a lot of debt,鈥� Nobili said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why part of this education campaign also includes financial-literacy education and a strong recommendation that students speak to their academic advisor regularly.鈥�

By finishing sooner, students can pay less tuition. And if planned properly, students can avoid excess credit-hour fees. That鈥檚 the legislatively-mandated policy that says that if students exceed the number of credits necessary to obtain a degree (about 120 credits for most majors) by more than 10 percent, they have to pay double tuition for each credit hour past the limit.

Jonell Gregor, a mechanical engineering major, thinks the campaign is a good idea because as a freshman, you鈥檙e not always thinking about graduating

鈥淚 know sometimes we come to college thinking it鈥檚 finally time for us to make our own decisions and figure out the person we want to be and sometimes we forget that the main reason we are at school is for academics,鈥� Gregor said. 鈥淪ometimes we don鈥檛 think about the end goal for our academic career, only our personal lives and growth which causes us to not be as diligent on following our suggested guidelines for our major.鈥�

Gregor is on track to graduate in December 鈥� four and a half years after starting at 麻豆映画传媒, which is considered on track for Mechanical Engineering, one of the 麻豆映画传媒 majors that exceed 120 total credit hours. She took 15 credit hours both semesters her freshman year because she heeded strong recommendations made during orientation and she wanted to get involved in campus activities such as a sorority, Catholic Campus Ministry, and Knight Camp. But she agrees a campaign that reinforces the message to keep the end game in mind is a good one, especially to avoid unnecessary costs.

By September and early October, the campus will be plastered with banners, fliers and buttons that implore students to 鈥淭hink 30.鈥� There will be ads in the student newspaper and emails to students.

Knight Watch

While Think 30 is launching, Stephen O鈥機onnell, director of First Year Advising and Exploration, is gearing up for Knight Watch. This program is aimed at the 鈥渕urky middle,鈥� the student population, which after their first semester in college has a grade point average between 2.0 and 2.59.聽 While they aren鈥檛 on probation, they could be if grades continue to decline the following semester.

That GPA range is a warning sign, said O鈥機onnell. So he and his team will make contact with all those students identified before the start of their next semester to check in with them. The students will get an email and if they don鈥檛 respond, will next get a phone call urging them to talk to their advisor.

鈥淲e want to talk to them to find out what happened,鈥� he said. 鈥淲as there a problem? Was the course combination too intense? Did they have a personal issue that interfered with their studies, whatever the problem is we鈥檒l advise and refer them to resources they can utilize to make the next semester more successful.鈥�

Students will also be reminded of things they may not consider when their GPA dips. For example, financial aid 鈥� such as Bright Futures Scholarships 鈥� are contingent on maintaining certain GPAs.

鈥淪tudents often don鈥檛 think about that until after the fact,鈥� O鈥機onnell said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want them surprised, so Knight Watch is about trying to intervene early and get them the help they need to stay on track. We want our students to be successful and make good decision.鈥�

The program has been in the works for two years and O鈥機onnell hopes to expand it in the next few semesters to provide more student support.

Big Data

Another initiative just getting started is a push to make better use of Big Data.

鈥淲e are starting the semester with a new university-wide program that harnesses the power of predictive analytics,鈥� Provost A. Dale Whittaker announced in an email earlier this week. 鈥淭his new program is called the Education Advisory Board Student Success Collaborative, and it will help us turn transactional data into actionable insight.鈥�

That means advisors, faculty and student support staff will be able to see in real-time which students need intervention and access a powerful set of data-driven tools to guide academic and career advising.

Online dashboards, under development, will work with existing advising tools, giving advisors a 360-degree view of each student and alerting them if a student is at risk of not performing well in his or her current or planned coursework. The new tools also will help faculty and staff direct at-risk students to support services available across the university and help advisors follow their progress.