Proposal Title

The Academic Scholars Program: Providing opportunities for students to develop academic tenacity in a first year biology course

Session Type

Presentation

Room

FNB 1220

Start Date

3-7-2019 3:00 PM

Keywords

Academic tenacity, Growth mindset, Social belonging, Self-regulation, Biology, First-year

Primary Threads

Curriculum

Abstract

A multi-year campus-wide project "Building Academic Tenacity” promotes undergraduate students’ ability to thrive in a rigorous academic environment by fostering social belonging, self-regulation and growth mindset skills at the University of British Columbia. One project site called the Academic Scholars Program (ASP) was piloted twice in a large lecture based first year cell biology course. The program was designed to engage students with a wide range of co-curricular and extracurricular activities believed to promote academic success. The program was accessible to students via the campus course management site (Canvas) and throughout the term, students were offered activities that were designed to enhance their (1) academic, (2) social engagement, and (3) personal development skills. To receive the ASP certificate and 3% participation marks, students needed to complete a pre and post term survey and collect six points in each of the three categories of activities by the end of the term. Student participation was self-reported using activity logs and reflective questions. In the first iteration of this project, approximately a third of the students received the certificate. Our initial findings showed that ASP students overall performed 5% better on exams than students who did not participate. Also, students responded positively to the benefits of participating and appreciated being directed towards key campus events. Because of the ASP program, ASP students reported a higher sense of belonging and improved self-regulation skills. Additionally, 93% of these students would recommend the program to future students and found the program activities relevant to their student experience. Our session will serve to highlight the importance of co-curricular activities and academic success.

Elements of Engagement

In this session, we will engage in a discussion of what defines academic tenacity by using dotmocracy statements. Using small group discussion, we will ask participants to define academic tenacity and discuss what this might look like in their own context (course, teaching, institution). In closing, participants will brainstorm approaches they could implement into their own classroom that will support student social belonging, self-regulation and growth mindset.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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Jul 3rd, 3:00 PM

The Academic Scholars Program: Providing opportunities for students to develop academic tenacity in a first year biology course

FNB 1220

A multi-year campus-wide project "Building Academic Tenacity” promotes undergraduate students’ ability to thrive in a rigorous academic environment by fostering social belonging, self-regulation and growth mindset skills at the University of British Columbia. One project site called the Academic Scholars Program (ASP) was piloted twice in a large lecture based first year cell biology course. The program was designed to engage students with a wide range of co-curricular and extracurricular activities believed to promote academic success. The program was accessible to students via the campus course management site (Canvas) and throughout the term, students were offered activities that were designed to enhance their (1) academic, (2) social engagement, and (3) personal development skills. To receive the ASP certificate and 3% participation marks, students needed to complete a pre and post term survey and collect six points in each of the three categories of activities by the end of the term. Student participation was self-reported using activity logs and reflective questions. In the first iteration of this project, approximately a third of the students received the certificate. Our initial findings showed that ASP students overall performed 5% better on exams than students who did not participate. Also, students responded positively to the benefits of participating and appreciated being directed towards key campus events. Because of the ASP program, ASP students reported a higher sense of belonging and improved self-regulation skills. Additionally, 93% of these students would recommend the program to future students and found the program activities relevant to their student experience. Our session will serve to highlight the importance of co-curricular activities and academic success.