30th Annual Conference on the First -Year Experience
Using Workshops to Extend Academic Skills
Presented by:
John Lanning, Ken Bettenhausen,
and Nadine Montoya
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
An urban research
university located
on the Auraria
campus shared with
the Community
College of Denver
and Metropolitan
State College of
Denver, and
consolidated with
the Anschutz
Medical Campus
14,000 students in six colleges;
9,000 undergraduate students
1,100 Fall first-year freshmen;
30% freshmen live in on-campus
housing
common general education ‘core’
across all colleges
1,300 Fall transfer students,
~35% from community colleges
history as both transfer-in and
transfer-out institution
UC DENVER FYS PROGRAM
1988-2000
Required seminar of firstyear students in College
of Liberal Arts and
Sciences
2005
Quality Undergraduate
Education initiative for
improved student
retention
2006
Initiated campus-wide
FYS program
2008
FYS Course meets Core
Curriculum
requirements
2009
Initiated Skills
Workshops
2010
Initiated Peer Advocate
Leader (PAL) Program
UC DENVER FYS FORMAT
3-credit hour – one course in Core Curriculum
Core requirement – critical thinking and writing
Faculty taught – tenure-track, instructors, and staff
Class size – limited to 24 students
Campus-wide – encouraged for all new freshmen
Academic content varies – 70-80%
In-class, out-of-class academic skills – 20-30%
Engagement through workshops, campus activities,
service learning, and academic advising
UC DENVER FYS COURSES
ARTS
Sources of
Creativity
BIOL
Global Health
Crisis
CHEM
Science Behind
Environmental
Headlines
COMM
Evaluating
Contemporary TV
CRJU
Law and Order
ENGR
Psychology of
Technology and
Industry
GEOG
Global Climate
Change
HIST
Finding Your Way
Around Denver
MATH
Mathematics of
Sports, Games
and Gambling
MGMT
Get Rich or Die
Trying
PSYC
What
Psychologists
Do
TCED
Learning for the
21st Century
UC DENVER FYS ENROLLMENT
Year,
Fall
Sections
FYS
Enrollment
Average
Section
% FY
Students
2006
7
99
14.1
10.4
2007
11
190
17.3
17.2
2008
14
289
20.6
26.1
2009
15
358
23.9
32.7
2010
16
378
23.6
34.4
INTEGRATION OF ACADEMIC SKILLS

Faculty Expertise


pre-semester training
Skills Text
standard text – Ellis, Gardner, Carter, etc.
 custom text – Carter


Campus Resource Scavenger Hunts

Workshops
in-class skills presentations from support offices
 large-scale presentations by support office staff
 in/out-of-class workshops from student support offices

VARIATIONS OF ‘WORKSHOP’ CONCEPT

Pre-conference sessions at regional and
national meetings


Pre-semester faculty or staff development


FYE, AACU, NACADA, FoE, etc.
individuals preparing to teach a first-year seminar course
Limited number of required workshop sessions

in-class and of out-of-class sessions for FYS students
UC DENVER FYS WORKSHOP CONCEPT
The UC Denver workshop concept is a large
number of optional sessions sponsored by
student support offices and focused on academic
or personal skills.

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supplement required in-class skills in Carter text
utilize student support office staff for skills expertise
extend campus resources beyond orientation
increase faculty mentoring in selecting workshops
provide student choice to support learning needs
improve student satisfaction and retention for FYS students
FALL 2009 WORKSHOPS
Beginning with Fall 2009, FYS courses required
students to participate in skills-oriented
workshops of the student’s choice.
•alcohol
•study skills, test taking
•major selection, career options
•essay support, citations, effective writing
FALL 2009 WORKSHOP ASSESSMENT
overall student
evaluation of
3.3 on 5-point
scale
positive student
comments about
mentoring and
choice of skills
increased
student use of
support
offices
lack of registration
system led to over
and under
subscription of
sessions
too few workshop
sessions caused
several skills sessions
to be oversubscribed
FALL 2010 SKILLS WORKSHOPS
13 support offices provided 145 workshop
sessions covering 56 topics.

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wide range of academic and personal skills
registration system developed by each support office
workshops available to FYS and non-FYS students
reliance on existing workshops
FYS faculty agreed to require three skills workshops
FYS faculty had option for in-class skills workshops
FYS program provided modest funds to support offices
FYS web site to provide list and calendar of workshops
FYS WORKSHOPS - UE WEBSITE
drop-down
menus by Office
and interactive
calendar
FALL 2010 WORKSHOPS
Auraria Library (9)
Health Center (7)
•MS PowerPoint, data base searching
•healthy moves, STD prevention, sleep
Career Center (2)
Learning Resource Center (12)
•major selection, workforce, 1st resume
•studying, test taking, learning styles
CLAS Advising (2)
Phoenix Center (2)
•degree planning, early alert
•violence prevention, love/sex/lies
Commun. Stand. & Wellness (1)
Scholarship Office (5)
•alcohol awareness
•basics, searching, online application
Counseling Center (5)
Student Life (1)
•Strengths Quest, emotions, counseling basics
•first generation, transforming perspectives
Experiential Learning Center (1)
Writing Center (6)
•learning outside classroom
•citations, literature reviews, effective writing
Financial Aid (3)
Other (?)
•personal finance, financial aid basics
•Health Careers, Writing Process, Professionalism,
FYS SURVEY ASSESSMENT
310 (84.7%) FYS students completed an end-of-semester
survey on all aspects of the FYS program.


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848 workshop participations – over reported
strong student evaluation of workshops – 3.3 to 4.2 (5-pt)
workshops contributed to out-of-class engagement activities
workshops – 97% participation rate with 3.7 average evaluation
 activities – 90% participation rate with 3.6 average evaluation
 advising – 88% participation rate with 4.1 average evaluation
 service learning (optional) – 28% participation rate with 3.8 evaluation

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workshop skills scored higher than text – 3.7 versus 3.5
89% returning for Fall 2011 – self-reported retention
79% recommendation of FYS to incoming freshmen
WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION ASSESSMENT
Each FYS student attending a skills workshop
completed a participation/evaluation form.
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492 workshop participations – under reported
strong evaluation of individual workshops – 4.3 (5-pt)
several not well attended – 6 of 56 with zero FYS participation
significant variation between FYS sections – grading, mentoring,
encouragement, use of peer mentor

in-class workshops scored well, but not above out-of-class
Career Center: in-class = 4.2, out-of-class = 4.3
 Writing Center: in-class = 3.8, out-of-class = 4.4

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student confusion between office ‘visit’ and ‘workshop’
WORKSHOPS – STUDENT COMMENTS
negative comments

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required aspect of workshops
three workshops viewed as excessive
workshop participation was part of course grade
excessive amount of outside class engagement activities
positive comments
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workshops listed as best aspect of FYS course
learned about campus resources, how student fees used
strengthened campus engagement
wanted more workshops, especially at end of semester
WORKSHOPS – FACULTY COMMENTS
Faculty response to skills workshops is overall very
positive.
workshops complement Carter skills text
 workshop participation is supported by faculty mentoring
 option of in-class workshops – career, writing, study
 difficulty of engaging students in workshops

in-class testimonials
 extra credit when take FYS classmate

positive feedback to faculty from students who participated
 student confusion from large number of workshops

WORKSHOPS – STAFF COMMENTS
Office directors and support staff were generally
supportive of the FYS workshops.
increased student exposure to campus resources
 significant student participation in workshops


participation extends beyond FYS semester
strong support for in-class workshop presentations
 registration systems presented issues

e-mail reminder not available
 too many no-shows

weak enrollment in several workshop sessions
 staff time commitment and space can be significant issues
 workshop content overlap between offices

WORKSHOPS – UE PERSPECTIVE
The Office of Undergraduate Experiences provides
an overview of the UC Denver skills workshops.
Increased
Communication
FYS faculty and student support
offices
Student-Selected
Workshops
Faculty
Buy-in
tailored to interests; avoids
negative aspect of required
participation
integrate student skills with
academic content through
mentoring and assignments
Strengthened
Engagement Culture
Workshop
Success
student engagement outside FYS
classroom
faculty, student and staff
communication
FALL 2011 MODIFICATIONS
Number of workshop
sessions
Workshop Topics
90-100 sessions
eliminate ineffective workshops
add health careers workshops
Differentiation
Coordination
between workshop, activity, and
office visitation
separate participation forms
between student support offices
for combined workshops around
central topic
Faculty Commitment
stronger and more consistent to
support workshop concept –
culture change for some FYS
faculty
Workshop Selection
stronger faculty, and possibly peer
mentor, role in helping students
select workshops
IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONS
If considering using optional skills workshops,
please keep the consider the following:
FYS Faculty support is essential for workshop success.
 Significant staff time is required to coordinate, schedule, and
promote skills workshops.
 Communication before and after the semester is crucial.
 FYS website is needed for workshop promotion and calendar
development.
 Small financial support is very helpful.
 Culture and communication changes are slow.

CONCLUSIONS
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Optional skills workshops are the most effective format used at
UC Denver to augment skills in the content-oriented FYS
program.
Optional workshop concept should work for both skills- and
content-oriented FYS programs.
Communication between academic and student affairs improved
significantly.
Space and staff resources may preclude every student support
office from participating.
For additional information
or details about skills
workshops at UC Denver,
please contact:
John Lanning
Assistant Vice Chancellor for
Undergraduate Experiences
303-315-2134
[email protected]
Nadine Montoya
Program Coordinator,
Undergraduate Experiences
303-315-2133
[email protected]