John Houghton from the Universities Office of Student Success and Graduation presented the details of the new orientation program, titled “Saddle Up”, that will begin next school year.
Kevin Carman, the University’s Provost, presented the idea of the program to the university, and it has been spearheaded by Nycole Courtney according to Houghton. The University hopes this program will improve the student retention rate and the onboarding experience for new students.
“We are taking week zero, which is that week leading up to the beginning of the fall semester,” Houghton said. “We are doing an all-inclusive immersion into the University of Wyoming for our freshman class.”
The first-year program will offer students supplemental instruction and skill sessions hosted by the individual schools within the university, among other components.
“Really at the core of this week is a class that first-year students are going to be taking,” Houghton said. “That class is going to correspond with whatever college the student is in.”
Students with an undeclared major will work with the Advising, Career, and Exploratory Studies center at the University to select one of six tracks that will decide the class they will be taking.
These classes will meet for about an hour and a half every day of the week and be geared toward giving freshmen insight into what it is like to walk into a college classroom.
Students will be sitting in lectures, working in groups, taking quizzes, and ultimately taking an exam, with the goal of giving them exposure to what these situations are like.
“We are giving students these opportunities sort of to avoid any headaches or troubles on the first day of classes,” Houghton said. “We want them to have a decent idea of what life looks like here at the University of Wyoming prior to them starting the school year. ”
“Overall, the entire week, there will be tons of opportunities for students to build community and develop a sense of belonging at this university,” Houghton said.
At the end of the week, students will then either pass or fail (there will be no letter grades) the class they take.
Students will receive 1 credit to their transcript upon completion of the course, however, this will not replace first-year seminar classes taken during the school year.
This is part of a bigger goal the University has according to Houghton.
“At comparable institutions, it has increased retention by 5-10%, Which is huge, huge numbers for our first-year students,” Houghton said.
Other similar programs at other universities have helped eliminate equity gaps in education, by ensuring an equal playing field on day one.
The University is currently looking for 200 students, of which 50 have already signed up, to serve as ‘Cowboy Coaches’ during the week that the program will be running.
