FYER: 2014

California State University, Los Angeles August 16 , 2013

First Year Experience

Proposal to Establish a Freshman Common Reading Program: First Year Experience Reading Project (FYER Project).

Introduction/Proposal Overview

The First Year Experience (FYE) Program is pleased to submit this proposal to establish a Freshman Common Reading Program, to be launched with the Class of 2017 in the fall of 2013.

Proposal Sections:

History and Rationales

Committee Charge and Membership

Program Goals and Objectives

Mission Statement Connections and Proposal

Selection Criteria

Connecting Common Text to Academic and Co-Curricular Programming

Community Engagement/Service Learning

Promotion

Logistical/Other Concerns

Budget

Program Assessment

Future Plans/Conclusion

Appendix

History and Rationales

Common reading programs are relatively recent on college campuses, but they are very popular. In addition, cities and secondary schools also use these programs (for more information, please see http://www.uiowa.edu/~success/documents/CommonBookReportFINAL.pdf).

History at CSULA:

The One Campus One Book (OCOB) program at CSULA began in 2008 with Hector Tobar’s The Tattooed Soldier. Jenny Hicks, the FYE faculty coordinator, has taught five of the six books and served on the committee for the past four years. This year we are proposing a new reading program specifically tied to FYE. Why do we need a new program? Why not just use the OCOB selection? We need a program specifically tied to our mission and our goals. The OCOB program historically has tried to engage the entire campus community, and often chooses books that are difficult to connect to First Year student experiences and courses. By developing our own program we will be able to choose an author and/or title that carefully connect with the students we serve.

Committee Charge and Membership

This committee was charged with organizing a common reading project for the FYE program. In the course of our meetings we considered the following questions:

· What are the goals of the program?

· How will we assess these goals?

· Should we focus on one author or one book?

· What are the qualifications for a selection?

· How should we decide the duration of the program (i.e. one quarter, two quarters, or the entire year?)

· Should the book be promoted during the summer? If so, how?

· What authors/titles are we interested in?

· What should we call the program?

· How will we promote the program?

· What signature events should we schedule?

· How will we promote co-curricular programming and adoption of the author/text?

· Logistical concerns

· Timeline

· Future planning

· Committee membership

For more information about committee membership, please see the appendix.

Program Goals and Objectives

The committee decided on the following goals for the first year pilot, but these goals will be revisited and revised accordingly.

Goals:

· To engage first year students and welcome them to the University

· To enrich student experience and create stronger campus ties, as well as to help students transition from High School to the University

· To engage students with reading and offer opportunities for critical thinking

· To connect first year course content across disciplines

· When possible, to encourage community connection and foster student engagement beyond the university

Mission Statement Connections and Proposal

Mission Statement Connections:

CSULA:

The University is committed to free scholarly inquiry, to high-quality teaching, and to academic excellence in undergraduate, graduate, and other post-baccalaureate and extended education programs. This commitment underlies strong educational programs that are sensitive to the needs of the University's uniquely diverse student body. These programs include research, scholarship, creative activity, and community service. With the support of the administration, staff, alumni, and community, highly qualified faculty are the keystone of the University and the basis for the excellence of our programs.

The FYER program will target our University’s diverse student body through the selection criteria, and in using the selected author/text, faculty will be able to offer supplemental programming to support high quality teaching and academic excellence. In addition, the University’s Institutional Learning Goals will be addressed. Those goals are:

Knowledge: Mastery of content and processes of inquiry
CSULA graduates have a strong knowledge base in their academic major and can use powerful processes of inquiry in a range of disciplines. They engage contemporary and enduring questions with an understanding of the complexities of human cultures and the physical and natural world and are ready to put their knowledge into action to address contemporary issues.

The FYER program goals and selection criteria explicitly address this category and will contribute to developing an awareness of both human cultures, the physical and natural world, and contemporary issues beginning as freshmen students.

Proficiency: Intellectual skills
CSULA graduates are equipped to actively participate in democratic society. They are critical thinkers who make use of quantitative and qualitative reasoning. They have the ability to find, use, evaluate and process information in order to engage in complex decision-making. They read critically, speak and write clearly and thoughtfully and communicate effectively.

The FYER program will encourage active reading, and it will connect the reading to real world places and events to increase student engagement. Students will also be encouraged to think critically about the author/text and when adopted in freshman classes, students will write about the text and issues raised.

Place and Community: Urban and global mission
CSULA graduates are engaged individuals who have contributed to the multi-lingual and multiethnic communities that constitute Los Angeles and the world of the future. They are aware of how their actions impact society and the environment, and they strive to make socially responsible decisions. They are community builders sensitive to the needs of diverse individuals and groups and committed to renewing the communities in which they live.

The FYER program will look for community engagement and service learning options to maximize student involvement with the community beyond the campus.

Transformation: Integrative learning
CSULA graduates integrate academic learning with life. They engage in community, professional, creative, research and scholarly projects that lead to changes in their sense of self and understanding of their worlds. Graduates integrate their knowledge, skills and experience to address complex and contemporary issues and act ethically as leaders for the 21st century.

The FYER program is uniquely situated and designed to achieve these goals. Rather than being an author/text assigned just for a class, the FYER selection will allow students to make links between the author/text and the campus community, community at large, and the issues that affect them in their everyday lives.

FYE:

The FYE program’s mission statement:

The First Year Experience program at CSULA develops academic and social elements that contribute to the University’s commitment to student success. The program serves students by facilitating their transition to the expectations and responsibilities of a university campus; promoting the interconnection of learning outcomes of academic courses across disciplines; encouraging personal involvement in issues and events on a multiethnic campus; promoting participation in community services and programs; and shaping critical thinking for leadership roles in campus and community activities. The First Year Experience program affirms the importance of shaping a University environment that fosters the significance of individual academic achievement balanced with the responsibility and duty to the campus and the community.

The FYER program will help students connect and achieve both academically and socially. As the students on the committee told us, “When you are all reading the same book, it starts conversations.” The program will allow students to extend those conversations beyond the classroom, to participate in events on campus and in the community, and it will allow students to develop academic competence and critical thinking skills. ( all CSULA statements from: http://www.calstatela.edu/csula-missionstatement.php and https://spcc.calstatela.edu/)

Proposal

The FYER program will choose an author each year with a recommended text for inclusion in FYE classes. The decision to choose an author rather than a single text was reached with careful consideration. Choosing an author as opposed to a single text allows faculty more freedom in assigning the work, and we want to make this program as faculty friendly as possible. Faculty may choose to teach just a chapter or essay from the author instead of the recommended text, but they will still have the opportunity to connect with the program and the planned events. In addition, choosing an author ensures that the chosen body of work represents a significant contribution rather than a choice determined by fashion or popularity. This is of some concern because the scholarship regarding common reading programs often lists “fad” choices as a problem. In fact the National Association of Scholars ‘report in 2011 was very critical of common reading choices based on readability and popularity. For more information, please see their report at: http://www.nas.org/images/documents/BeachBooks.pdf. For our program, choosing one author as opposed to one book allows the program and participants to engage in a variety of genres, including fiction and non-fiction. This freedom will contribute to both faculty flexibility and increased student exposure to various kinds of writing and thought.

The program will run for one year, fall, winter, and spring, but we would like to include summer (see future plans), and the semester conversion will likely affect this. The selection criteria will be discussed in the next section. For our inaugural year the committee chose Reyna Grande as our author, with The Distance Between Us as the recommended text. The program will be piloted this year with events, campus and faculty participation, and a visit from the author. The committee will meet throughout the year to arrange events and look forward to the next year. After reviewing the assessment reports, the committee will produce a report for the first year.

Selection Criteria

· The recommended selection needs to be affordable (i.e. not in hardback and reasonably priced)

· The book/author needs to be accessible and readable (with emphasis on readable—a good read.)

· The selection should connect to the CSULA student experience. In particular, the selection needs to offer avenues for students to think critically, read actively, and write about issues that mean something to the student.

· The recommended book needs to be of an appropriate length

· If possible, the author should be available.

Connecting Common Text to Academic and Co-Curricular Programming

The FYE program will encourage adopting the selected author/text, but professors are not required to use the text. As the FYE program grows, the FYER program and selection offer a unique connection. For example, a University 101 professor might teach a chapter or the entire book in conjunction with English 95, 96, or 101 professors. Obviously, careful coordination between professors is needed, but the program will allow those connections to blossom. Just as the selections will bring students together, they will also serve to connect professors in varying disciplines, helping to fulfill the FYE mission and the University mission. The FYER program will also organize events to encourage faculty and student involvement.

Community Engagement/Service Learning

The FYER program is well situated to encourage both community engagement and service learning. For example, this year’s selection, Reyna Grande’s The Distance Between Us offers a variety of off campus connections, including but not limited to: service learning with 826 LA (a non-profit tutoring center), off campus events in community neighborhoods, and high school mentoring. If we had chosen another text, we could easily discover and promote community engagement/service learning projects, and our program’s involvement and promotion may help professors engage.

Promotion

The program’s success is depends on promotion. The program needs a brochure/bookmark that can be shared with prospective students, current students, faculty, administration, and community partners.

In addition, the program needs a versatile website component that provides links with news stories connected to the selection, campus connections o the selection (including courses and materials), a schedule of events, the selection criteria, and student testimonials.

Finally, the program needs to coordinate with other programs and departments to ensure success.

Logistical/Other Concerns

Due to time constraints, this program was developed and will be launched in a short time frame; therefore, additional considerations may be needed. Issues of concern:

· Not conflicting with the existing OCOB program. To this end, FYE Faculty Coordinator Jennifer Hicks will continue to serve on both committees.

· The first year is a pilot program. Until we collect assessment data, we will not know whether or not we are meeting our goals and objectives.

· We may not have enough time to fully implement all the potential aspects of the program, including community engagement and service learning. However, we will make our best attempts to do so.

· Building a program and increasing faculty involvement takes time, and we feel that committing to this program is worth the time.

Budget

Ideal Budget:

Copies of the recommended text for instructors in the program and panel partcipants (especially for student participants)

Copies of the recommended text for students (choices include all students, prizes at orientation or events, reserve copies for the library)

Brochures

Bookmarks

Welcome to the program inserts in books

Event planning (Including films, venues)

Food and drink

Honorarium and travel expenses for author

Website development

Faculty compensation

Assessment

Actual Budget:

Program Assessment

In order to be successful, the program needs proper assessment procedures to ensure that the program is meeting the goals outlined above. However, assessing a program like FYER can be difficult, especially because many of the benefits of the program may not be easily quantifiable or even measurable. The following guidelines for assessment seek to measure the program’s success quantitatively and qualitatively. In addition, collecting assessment data, especially qualitative data, will allow us to monitor the program and make adjustments based on student and faculty need. To those ends the committee recommends the following assessment measures:

· Keeping track of sponsored events and attendance

· Using surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups of faculty and students to collect information specifically related to the program and the program’s goals (i.e. we need information about the goals, but we also need information about the selection criteria and the selected author/text).

· Benchmarking and comparing the program to other common reading programs

· Longitudinal study of grades and retention rates for students participating in the program (although there are many variables that affect student performance)

· External program review

Future Plans/Conclusion

Depending on the reception and adoption of the program, we have several future plans that remain tentative at this time, including but not limited to:

· A summer engagement portion, either with the recommended text or with a selection by the author. This is a common element on many campuses, and while we are not logistically able to achieve this right now, it is a reasonable goal. Using an author or reading that is connected with the Early Start or Summer Bridge programs is one avenue that might be explored.

· Some colleges have a ”Freshman Convocation” in the spring that includes the common reading program book and/or author. This avenue should be explored.

· A Freshman Writing Conference is another option. We could have a contest for freshman writers using the text/ author and engage the author as a keynote speaker at the conference. An event like this would benefit students by giving them experience with academic conferences in their first year, which would then encourage future engagement. If we want students to act like scholars, we need to treat them like scholars.

Finally, the FYE program is excited to introduce this new program. We have faculty and staff who are committed to it, and we are ready to grow and develop the program because it will contribute to the campus as a whole, but it will also serve multiple missions at once, and, as a clearly identified high-impact practice, we feel certain that it will help our program develop student, campus, and community connections.

Appendix

2013-2014 Committee Members

Our ad hoc committee included:

· Director of the FYE program, Dr. Mel Donalson

· FYE administrative assistant, Nancy Aguilar

· Graduate assistant, Brenda Davidge

· FYE faculty member (and member of the OCOB committee) Professor Ximena Hernandez

· Jennifer Hicks, FYE Faculty Coordinator and FYE faculty

· SLC (Students Learning in Communities program, now FYE) student representatives Perla Vargas and Erika Cardona

In the future we hope to increase our committee membership

FYER

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Welcome!

Feedback request

2014-2015 Preliminary Candidates

Monday, April 14, 2014

2013-2014: Reyna Grande

Program Goals and Objectives

Selection Criteria

FYER Proposal 2013-2014