Nearly half of all students in the United States are placed into at least one developmental course in college. Many of these students fail to complete developmental course sequences and persist to degree completion. First-Year Seminars are one of several high-impact practices associated with increased persistence, retention, and graduation rates…

Problem: Amongst the highest at-risk student populations are minority students (students of color), first-generation college students, students from low-socioeconomic status, students experiencing financial challenges, and those who enter college academically underprepared. Furthermore, studies have found a significant gap in the educational…

Colleges implement success courses to improve student outcomes. Since expanding its curriculum to include nine success courses, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges (IECC)--a multi-college community college district in rural, southeastern Illinois--has not determined the efficacy of these courses on student success. The purpose of this study was to…

Research in both education and in entrepreneurship has shown that certain attitudes, skills, and behaviors are helpful in working through problems to achieve success (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Dino, 2015; Duckworth et al, 2007; Dweck, 2009; MacCann et al., 2012; Metcalfe & Shumamura,1994; West et al., 2016). Fortunately, many of these attitudes,…

To increase persistence, many universities provide first-year seminars (FYS) for entering students. Although there have been consistent positive outcomes for FYS participants, many times, the research is based on short-term outcomes, or less rigorous analysis. This study assessed short- and long-term outcomes for Hispanic (n = 456) and Hispanic…

This paper explores the course design and implementation of a first-year discovery seminar on "Living in the Metaverse" offered at a business university. Integrated with standardized college-readiness topics, the course combines hands-on activities with collaborative assignments and class discussions to present a multidisciplinary…