The Impact of Campus-Wide Experiences: Freshman Students' School Connectedness and 21st-Century Skills Development

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 66
  In Roundtable Session: Learning and Development in Relation to (Non)Cognitive Skill Development

Abstract

First Year Experience programs are core courses with extracurricular components that facilitate student transitions into the university and improve retention. For STEM students, a strong positive institutional community improves retention and matriculation. Therefore, the present study explores the extracurricular components within a general science course on students’ sense of school connectedness and 21st Century Skills. Campus Wide Experiences allow student participation and reflection on campus-based activities spanning academic, social, and institutional aims. A mixed-method design was employed to assess gains through a survey while experiences and meaning were assessed through analysis of student reflections. Students reported enhanced learning from CWE participation (77%) and phenomenological analysis of student reflections showed school connectedness and 21st Century Skill development in 6 emergent themes.

Authors

• Lawanda Cummings, University of the Virgin Islands

• Nastassia N. Jones, University of the Virgin Islands

• Samah Abdallah, University of the Virgin Islands

• Nastassia Jones