Saving Money, Moving Forward, Reaching Goals
Chemistry Camp Workshop Was born from a need to spend endowment money earmarked for Student Success Initiatives. In an effort to improve four year graduation rates, the Office of Academic Affairs, partnering with four colleges offered and endowment of $25,000.00 to four departments to create programs to increase the four year graduation rate. Fifteen departments on campus offered proposals for endowment money, only four were chosen. The requirements of the endowment was the program outcome should show a positive impact in the efforts to increase the four year graduation rate. Of the four endowments given, the two that are able to meet or exceed their Student Success Initiative goal will have their program fully funded to a maximum of $75,000.00) for the next five years.
Tutoring Services, as one of the departments funded, appointed Debra Garza, Program Coordinator, to oversee the project. Debra began with a needs analysis, sending Qualtrex questionnaires to the department heads of the Chemistry, Pre-Biology, Pre-Health Occupations, CAP Program, and University Advisors to determine the most immediate need to help students stay on track with a four year graduation rate.
the results of the Qualtrex survey revealed that most high school students entering the university do not have the necessary skills to be placed into General Chemistry I and have to spend a semester in Basic Chemistry, spending an extra semester (and spending extra tuition money), prolonging their degree plan by at least a semester.
The suggestion by university advisors and the department chairs was to encourage incoming freshman in STEM majors to take the Chemistry Placement Exam so that, if they passed, could be placed into General Chemistry I, saving a semester of time. The Dean of the Chemistry Department described that the problem was not that students were not taking the placement exam, they were not passing the placement exam.
Together with the Dean of Chemistry, the Director of Tutoring Services, and the Director of Testing Services, Debra came up with a program that would offer a three day intensive workshop to refresh Basic Chemistry skills, sharpen areas of weakness, and serve as a support for students to take and pass the Chemistry Placement Test. Passing the test would allow students to be placed into General Chemistry I in their first semester and be able to follow the strict degree plans that most STEM majors need to follow to graduate on time.
The Chemistry Camp Workshop Would be overseen by Debra, utilize Chemistry Professors to conduct lecture and classroom review activities, Chemistry tutors to offer small group activities, and small group study sessions, and would conclude the Camp with the participant taking the Chemistry Placement Test. See the tentative workshop schedule by clicking the button below.
Tutoring Services, as one of the departments funded, appointed Debra Garza, Program Coordinator, to oversee the project. Debra began with a needs analysis, sending Qualtrex questionnaires to the department heads of the Chemistry, Pre-Biology, Pre-Health Occupations, CAP Program, and University Advisors to determine the most immediate need to help students stay on track with a four year graduation rate.
the results of the Qualtrex survey revealed that most high school students entering the university do not have the necessary skills to be placed into General Chemistry I and have to spend a semester in Basic Chemistry, spending an extra semester (and spending extra tuition money), prolonging their degree plan by at least a semester.
The suggestion by university advisors and the department chairs was to encourage incoming freshman in STEM majors to take the Chemistry Placement Exam so that, if they passed, could be placed into General Chemistry I, saving a semester of time. The Dean of the Chemistry Department described that the problem was not that students were not taking the placement exam, they were not passing the placement exam.
Together with the Dean of Chemistry, the Director of Tutoring Services, and the Director of Testing Services, Debra came up with a program that would offer a three day intensive workshop to refresh Basic Chemistry skills, sharpen areas of weakness, and serve as a support for students to take and pass the Chemistry Placement Test. Passing the test would allow students to be placed into General Chemistry I in their first semester and be able to follow the strict degree plans that most STEM majors need to follow to graduate on time.
The Chemistry Camp Workshop Would be overseen by Debra, utilize Chemistry Professors to conduct lecture and classroom review activities, Chemistry tutors to offer small group activities, and small group study sessions, and would conclude the Camp with the participant taking the Chemistry Placement Test. See the tentative workshop schedule by clicking the button below.
Program Description
As described above, the Chemistry Camp Workshop is a three day intensive program that focuses on refreshing participants in the area of Basic Chemistry focusing primarily on:
Professors will utilize their time lecturing, integrating hands on activities to keep participants engaged and offer a number of learning modalities. Tutors will be present in the classroom to help participants as needed. Tutors will also offer small group activities and small group study sessions where participants can ask questions, get clarification, practice problems, work through chemical formulas/reactions, and build rapport and support for one another to be successful. the workshop will run 9:00am - 5:30pm over the course of three days. On the final day, all participants will be walked over to Testing Services where they will take the Chemistry Placement Exam.
Participants will be sent a Qualtrex survey via email so that they can provide feedback on their experience of Chemistry Camp. The Email will also invite participant to join our social media pages, give them a link to the Tutoring Services website and offer them an open invitation to tutoring in the Quantitative Skills Lab. |
Program ParticipantsProgram participation is open to any incoming Freshman that needs to take General Chemistry I. Specifically, the Program Coordinator will target STEM Majors who must follow a rigorous degree plan in order to graduate in four years.
Participants will be tracked in the following ways: Utilizing Banner -
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