Effectively Designing and Implementing the Successful Business Freshmen Experience Course

ABSTRACT This paper describes a systems approach for designing and implementing the business student's course. The approach is useful in providing a methodology for effectively selecting and implementing core components and assisting professionals in improving the quality of education. This paper describes the necessary inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback mechanisms. Moreover, examples of operationalized objectives are presented. A detailed description of how the model was utilized in developing and conducting a successful School of Business and Beyond class is presented. INTRODUCTION Student retention is an ongoing concern for the academic community. Student transfer and graduate rates demonstrate the importance of the issue. According to a recent study at the U.S. Department of Education (2003), approximately one-quarter of students who intended to earn a bachelor's degree and began his/her post-secondary education at a four-year institution in 1995-96 transferred from his/her first institution and continued his/her education elsewhere. Only 5 5 percent earned a bachelor's degree at the first institution within six years. After three years, 77 percent were still working onhis/her degrees, 4 percent had completed a certificate or degree, and 18 percent were no longer working toward a bachelor's degree (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). When the outcomes for these transfer students are considered, the cohort's overall bachelor degree attainment rate increases slightly to 63 percent. There are several reasons why a freshman does not return to his/her first college for the sophomore year (Terenzini, 1996). Students may leave for reasons that may be beyond institutional control (e.g., lack of finances, poor student-institution fit, changing academic or career goals). The individual may be unhappy with the education received or unable to manage normal school work because of a lack of fundamental skills in mathematics and writing. The student may not understand the importance of education and/or not know how to apply classroom-learned theories to real life problems. One of the largest roadblocks to retention may be student laziness (Mahon, 2003). Therefore, effective measures for student retention must be implemented to increase the retention of qualified students at institutions of higher learning. Institutional administrators, faculty, and students play a vital role in improving student retention (Lau, 2003). Institutional administrators can help students stay in school by providing appropriate funding, academic support services, and the availability of physical facilities. Faculty members can help maintain a positive learning environment and students must be motivated to participate actively in his/her own learning process. A constant challenge for educators and institutions of higher learning is how to improve student retention while improving the quality of education. A major weapon in the battle can be the Freshmen Experience course that many institutions employ. A Freshman Experience course is generally a one credit hour course that may be required of freshmen during his/her first semester in college. The difficulty, however, is how to develop the course so that students are adequately prepared to deal with both the social and academic rigor of college life. An effective course should result in more successful students and, hopefully, increase retention for the institution. The following discussion presents a systems approach to developing the course, selecting core components, and sequencing the topics. Even though the model is utilized in a School of Freshman Experience course, it is also applicable in other courses within the various academic schools of a university. APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEM MODEL TO A COURSE The general system model (Figure 1) provides a useful framework for developing a course (Stair and Johnson, 2003). …