Skip to main content
uniE610
Jump to Footer

Overview

2023-2024 REP4 Initiatives

Under the facilitation of the Office of First Year Experience, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the REP4 Planning Committee (Rapid Educational Prototyping) including the Office of Workforce Development, the Career Center, the Office of Student Success, Communications and Marketing, and Admissions,  faculty, staff, and students met for a two-day summer institute to explore recommendations to improve students’ retention, persistence, and sense of belongingness.  Building on REP4 recommendations from last year, the 2023 group of first time in college, first generation students came together to propose two initiatives:  Fidgets vs Phones and Team Up.  Fidgets vs Phones is a course level strategy that asks faculty to explain why the use of a phone during class time is distracting while fidgets help to engage active listening and thinking.  Students noted: Allowing us to use fidgets reduces anxiety and pinpoints our focus. Phones distract our minds while fidgets distract our anxiety.  The Team Up initiative is a wellness strategy that uses I statements to reframe self-talk associated with anxiety, stress, apathy, and lack of motivation into phrases that are internalized as strategies to improve outcomes.  An ”I” statement is an identity-building structure in which students repeat empowerment statements. Rather than saying I’M stressed, TEAM UP recommends having students say, “ I am stressed, BUT I will thrive.” The change in identity statements or “I statements” helps to change our beliefs in ourselves.

 

2022-2023 REP4 Initiatives

Two Way Street: Build Relations Past Attendance- Faculty to Students 

  • Getting to Know Each Student- Surveys for Campus Identities and Learning Styles (connected to orientation)
  • DEI- Course Pacing Conversations Build a Shared Learning Relationship, including Assessment Options and Diverse Examples during Lectures (draw, restate, movement)
  • Value and Scale Opportunities for Purposeful Use of Office Hours and Review Sessions

Engaging Connections Throughout the Course- Peer to Peer and Student to Self

  • DEI- Playful Fidget Tools to Focus Learners
  • Value Peer to Peer Study Materials and Resource Sharing
  • Ongoing Ice Breakers as Check Ins for Belonging and Engagement

Faculty Involvement and Outcomes- Ship was the only REP4 partner to do this.  This takes the work to the course level (CAS- Curtis Zaleski, Dhiman Chattodha, Corrine Bertram, CEHS- Sam Benbow, Wendy Kubasko, and Karen Johnson and Alex Karlheim

  • The Power of Sitting Among Students with Low Stakes
  • The Students’ Expression of and Passion for Success
  • Plans for Engaging Other Faculty to Incorporate Student Centered Approaches

Take Aways and Carry Forward into the Fall-

  • Monthly Check Ins with Students
  • CETL Meeting Invitations (First Fridays)
  • Targeted Interventions for Struggling Students
  • Share with SGA

 

Resources

Resources map

Students who Participated in the REP4 Summer Institutes

Mauricio Alvarez, Kyla Anderson, Tyler Bechtel, Jaston Best, Bahijah Beyah, Skyler Bowers, Jaimen Bryant, Mallory Conroy, Caitlyn Corby, Gabriella Dacosta, Jaeden Forsythe, Hailey Frey, Grace Brever, Tarren Hill, Katlyn Hoskins, Chad Hummer, Isabella Isbell, Devon Jones, Shamiyah Lacend, Abdul-Khabir Lee, Michael Luzi, Sherlyn Martinex, Jamee Mazonis, Savannah Miller, Kayla Newman, Victoria Peters, Jacob Puckett, Andres Rivera, Nasirah Samake, Emma Shank, Dy’jaih Sibley, ShanAnn Simmons, Alivia Snyder, Ciara Vodzak, and Ella Wagner

 

Ship Faculty who Participated in REP4 Initiatives

Lynn Baynum, Sam Benbow, Corrine Bertram, Steve Burg, Laurie Cella, Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Russell Hedberg, Karen Johnson, Alex Karlheim, Melissa Knouse, Emily Kramer, Wendy Kubasko, Melissa McNelis, Luis Malara, Sue Morin, Heather Sahli, Toru Sato, Josefine Smith, Curtis Spencer, Mark Spicka, and Curtis Zaleski