Milner (2012) defines opportunity gaps as the uncontrollable factors such as race, language, or economic status that can impact students' success in schools. Rather than placing focus on students' achievement, examinations of opportunity gaps emphasize the systems and structures that may contribute to disparities in student outcomes. The…

This research examined the effects of a first-year seminar course redesign on promoting students' self-efficacy. By implementing a project-based approach in the course curriculum, the study investigated if, and to what extent, did such redesign improve student belief in their ability to master course-related outcomes. Two-tailed independent…

This paper uses Middle Tennessee State University's MT Scholars Academy, an extended early arrival program targeting first-year students who are classified as at-risk by a variety of measures, as a case study for demonstrating the effectiveness of AASCU's Re-Imagining the First-Year (RFY) initiative. In particular, this case study demonstrates the…

This mixed-method study assessed the effectiveness of a First-Year Seminar (FYS) course on students' successful accomplishment of learning outcomes that can be used beyond graduation: motivation, time-management, and decision-making. Students' quantitative responses indicated that the course had the highest impact on their motivation (M = 4.43, SD…

This article reports on two cycles of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study on student experiences of the process of establishing social learning spaces in a Johannesburg university student residence. We draw on Wenger's (2009) notion of "social learning spaces" to explore the manner in which students mediate their social and…

This study looked to situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) in order to explore students' participation in the social practices of first-year learning communities. Wenger's (1998) elaboration on "communities of practice" provides insight into how such participation transforms learners. These perspectives frame learning as a…

We, as educators, expect students to connect the dots and experience our institutions through a variety of lenses; we must organize ourselves in a way that places synergy, collaboration, and data-driven decisions at the center of our operations. Over the past three years, Ramapo College has worked diligently to ensure that strategy drives the…

In this article, the authors unpack a first-year college seminar where students explored digital representations of self-afforded pedagogies of possibility for traditionally marginalized student populations, specifically students of colour and first-generation college goers. An artefact analysis model is used to trace the relationship between the…