PROJECT UPDATES
Persistence Network
The Persistence Network is a team of staff, faculty, and students that meets weekly to identify and discuss ways to support specific students at risk of not persisting. This group of staff and faculty focuses on action that can be taken in the near term. This work will inform the overall strategy of the Persistence Pillar of Students First. The network launched in Fall term and will continue to meet weekly through the 2020-2021 academic year.
Focus areas in Fall term were:
- Outreach to new first-generation students
- Students who dropped their Fall 2020 courses
Resulted in a workgroup for discovery and recommendation on use of a “banner field” that is activated before a student drops their final credit (i.e. a way to identify when a student is about to leave so that we may intervene as appropriate and/or ask why they are leaving). - Registration Holds (Financial, Admissions, MMR, etc.)
Focus on improvement of processes within the Persistence Pillar - Student Success Advocate outreach and learning
Student Success Advocate Pilot
The Student Success Advocate (SSA) proactively identifies students (pilot population) throughout the academic year who are encountering barriers and connects them with resource centers and services. The SSA works in partnership with units and departments across campus in an effort to coordinate outreach and strategies for early intervention. The SSA collaborates with academic and student affairs professionals to strategize persistence efforts for the individual student. The SSA emphasizes the importance of the Success Team and is working toward normalizing interactions between the student, their faculty, mentors, advisors etc., in an effort to destigmatize asking for academic support or guidance. The SSA will be rolling out the Student Success Team Learning Circle this Winter term 2021. The Student Success Team Learning Circle will be tailored to students with similar attributes and aims to empower students and to bring more visibility and awareness to the role of their Success Team.
Navigator
To help our PSU community get the best and most up to date information possible, a cross-divisional team will develop and maintain a PSU Navigator training program and index of core campus resources. This training and index of campus resources, will orient service unit professionals, advisors, and faculty with guidance on providing supportive, timely, and accurate referrals to the wide range of resources available at PSU. A pilot workforce will be trained and connected to the existing PSU operator (503-725-3000) phone line to connect students to campus resources if they are unsure where to begin or have experienced challenges finding the right support or resource.
CircleIn Pilot
Beginning in Spring term 2021, we will pilot CircleIn. CircleIn is a student to student technology platform for students to connect and study together. Students and their classmates, within a peer-to-peer space can create study materials, communicate with peers, manage tasks, and share notes.
Full Withdrawl Workgroup
A workgroup, under the umbrella of the Persistence Network, is convening to explore possible options and make a process recommendation for students who are dropping their last credit hour. Work begins in January 2021.
Low Cost/No Cost Textbook Center
An ongoing challenge for PSU students is the cost of textbooks. Faculty report that the average book price for textbooks they require is around $97. Research also shows that 65% of students refrain from purchasing textbooks due to costs, even though they report they are aware that it will negatively impact their grade. Open educational resources (OER) and other forms of free course materials is a way to address this inequity. The proposal focuses on centralizing the University’s student textbook affordability effort through the creation of a zero-textbook-cost degree pathway that allows students to complete a degree entirely by taking courses that use only free instructional materials. OER course development is the primary cost of this proposal. To support the cost for this proposal, we are currently investigating University and grant funding to support the implementation and a fee structure to support the long-term sustainability and expansion of the zero-textbook-cost degree pathway programs.
Laptop Scholarship Pilot
The shift to fully remote classes and work has made personal technology, such as a reliable laptop and wi-fi access, paramount to student success. Because of the number of service sector jobs that have been eliminated during the COVID-19 outbreak, there is also an unprecedented level of student and student family unemployment, making the purchase of a new laptop unreachable for many of our students. Through the pilot program, 107 laptops were made available to our students. You can find the summary report here.