Now, more than ever, more adults must earn college credentials in order to earn family sustaining wages and to help fuel and sustain a robust national economy. That means that institutions of higher education must do all they can to help adult students enroll in college and complete a postsecondary credential. Achieving the Dream emphasizes a…

The first-year experience for students enrolled in an online degree program, particularly the orientation and the first course experience, is critical to success and completion. The experience of one online university in improving persistence through enhancing orientation and the first academic course is presented. Factors impacting persistence…

Outdoor orientation programs represent a prominent area of experiential education with over 25,000 participants annually. More than 191 outdoor orientation programs currently operate in the United States and Canada. The research examining outdoor orientation programs consists of 25 peer-reviewed published studies and 11 dissertations. A new theory…

As postsecondary institutions seek ways to attract military veterans as students, they ostensibly grapple with how to best support these men and women once they arrive on campus. Although there are dozens of financial, academic, and emotional support systems available through the government, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations,…

Orienting and welcoming first-year students to campus and to honors programs are often key components of program development. At an institutional level, successful orientation programs can positively affect retention rates from the first to second year. The greater a student's involvement and integration into the life of the university, the less…

"Summer bridge programs" are designed to ease the transition to college and support postsecondary success by providing students with the academic skills and social resources needed to succeed in a college environment. These programs occur in the summer "bridge" period between high school and college. Although the content of…

Peer mentoring is often considered the single most effective strategy for increasing student retention and student satisfaction. As a consequence, mentoring programs have been implemented at most universities and are an essential feature of best practice transition programs. Yet, the literature is inconsistent regarding what the term entails and…

The responsibility for college success has historically rested with the student, but since the 1980s, educators have taken increasing ownership of this, designing structures that increase the likelihood of learning, success, and retention. These efforts have included a variety of initiatives--first year seminars, learning communities,…

The rise of competency-based education (CBE) has redefined what college looks like for a growing number of students. The basic idea underlying CBE is simple: programs award credit based on demonstrated student competencies rather than on the amount of time a student has spent in a given course. Recent advances in technology, including online…

A rural Community College evaluated their procedures for preparing students for online courses and determined they were not meeting the needs of the students. Through the use of the ADDIE Model of Instructional Design, a mandatory online orientation for first time online/hybrid students was developed and implemented. Results from the…

Although orientation for online students is important to their success, little information about how to develop an online student orientation (OSO) has appeared in the literature; therefore, the purpose of this article was to describe the entire process of developing an OSO. This article describes the analysis, design, development, and evaluation…

The University education is a very important step in the process of growth of each person. During this period we acquire a specific professional preparation and also have many opportunities to develop skills that are essential for adult life. In recent years the access opportunities for disabled persons to academic education in Italy have greatly…

Preparing high school students to skillfully and successfully navigate the pathway to college is a growing concern among researchers and policymakers. This issue has raised important questions about what urban school districts can do to build capacity among their high schools to guide students and families toward successful college transitions.…

Presently, community colleges are bursting at the seams. In 2011, community colleges turned away more than 400,000 prospective students. In the next six years, 63 percent of all U.S. jobs will require postsecondary education. Twenty two million new workers with postsecondary degrees will be needed by 2018. Community colleges are turning…

Over the past decade, school psychologists' role in facilitating the transition from high school to college for students with disabilities has become increasingly complex. Practitioners are faced with the difficult task of navigating the conspicuous disconnect between disability eligibility criteria at the secondary and postsecondary levels…