Online adult learners in their first year are at high risk for losing motivation, encountering roadblocks, and becoming unsuccessful when the course experience is burdensome, unintuitive, and doesn’t allow them flexibility. The learning experience needs to offer students opportunities to acquire successful academic behaviors while simultaneously delivering a robust academic experience. SNHU seeks to refine design solutions for online-first principles targeted to retaining, fostering, and engaging first year students.
The mission of the overall First-Year Experience (FYE) Strategic Plan is “to deliver robust, comprehensive support for first-year students that promotes student learning and life skills. Through our courses and learning resources as well as dedicated staff and faculty, we equip students with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully transition to online college work and achieve their academic goals.”
The FYE design prototype and pilot aligns to this mission by allowing COCE to assess and improve the learning pathways of our FYE students during the actual course experience, to promote student learning, engagement, and success. Within the prototyping process, we will explore alternate and engaging ways to support our students to build their confidence in reaching course outcomes and their overall academic goals.
Ultimately, the purpose of this project is to enhance the student course experience by providing cohesive, engaging, and integrated learning elements that meet course and program outcomes. The goal is to look beyond the standard LMS-oriented course models and seek out technology and design elements that streamline the learning experience and break down the barriers to success. By doing so, we hope to measurably increase student success rates throughout the first year.