First year experience course (college success course / freshman seminar)¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 3 studies (2 design, 1 causal), q2 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

First year experience courses are courses for first-year students in 2-year and 4-year colleges, often called college success courses or freshman seminars. "The general goals of first year experience courses are to support the academic perfor- mance, social development, persistence, and degree completion of college students." They aim to increase students' sense of campus community and connection to their institutions while giving students opportunities to interact with faculty and peers, and are frequently required for special populations such as academically underprepared students.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Delivery as a whole-class, credit-bearing course; most are designed to introduce campus resources, time management, study skills, career planning, cultural diversity, and student development issues

Constraints¶

• The report covers postsecondary delivery in whole-class settings; no studies met standards for college access and enrollment, attendance, or labor market outcomes

Target Learners¶

• First-time freshman college students, including academically underprepared students and students in remedial courses

Target Learning Goals¶

• Study skills, time management, campus resource use, persistence, and degree completion

Claims¶

• First year experience courses show a statistically significant positive effect on undergraduate degree attainment, based on one study [+W]
• First year experience courses show a statistically significant positive effect on cumulative grade point average after one year, based on one study [+W]
• First year experience courses show potentially positive effects on credit accumulation, with two of three qualifying studies showing statistically significant positive retention effects and one showing no significant effect [+W]
• Students in ePortfolio-based Personal Development Plan sections had significantly higher first-year GPAs and retention than non-ePDP peers, but gains were not sustained without intensive professional development [+W]

Related Elements¶

Examples¶

• Cover campus resources, time management, study skills, career planning, cultural diversity, and student development in first year courses

Key Sources¶

• First Year Experience Courses. (2016). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/662