Summer Scholars - Using Blended Learning to Expand the Reach of Princeton’s Freshman Scholar's Institute

Streaming Media

Submission Type

20-minute Presentation

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the expansion of Princeton's summer bridge program, the Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), to an online environment. We explore how the new online course can be designed to build upon the successful face-to-face experience and introduce interactive tools that will help students with their transition to the college curriculum.

For the past 20 years Princeton University has offered a small group of enrolled students a chance to enter Princeton in the summer through the FSI program. This 7-week residential program is intended to help first-generation and underprepared students “learn about campus resources and build a richly diverse, supportive and enduring network of peers, faculty members and advisers before the start of the freshman year.”

In the summer of 2016, Princeton University will launch a small private online course for those students who can benefit from FSI, but who for one reason or another cannot make it to campus. In this paper we discuss three important aspects of expanding FSI in this way:

  1. How can we use online learning technologies to recreate the positive face-to-face academic experience for this student population?
  2. How can we leverage the online environment to create a blended community between the online students, the on-campus students, and faculty and advisors at Princeton?
  3. How can we design an assessment plan for our online summer course that evaluates not only its academic goals, but also the goal of creating a community?

Session

Blended Learning Outside the Classroom, Presentation

Start Date

5-19-2016 1:30 PM

End Date

5-19-2016 2:45 PM

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May 19th, 1:30 PM May 19th, 2:45 PM

Summer Scholars - Using Blended Learning to Expand the Reach of Princeton’s Freshman Scholar's Institute

In this paper, we discuss the expansion of Princeton's summer bridge program, the Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), to an online environment. We explore how the new online course can be designed to build upon the successful face-to-face experience and introduce interactive tools that will help students with their transition to the college curriculum.

For the past 20 years Princeton University has offered a small group of enrolled students a chance to enter Princeton in the summer through the FSI program. This 7-week residential program is intended to help first-generation and underprepared students “learn about campus resources and build a richly diverse, supportive and enduring network of peers, faculty members and advisers before the start of the freshman year.”

In the summer of 2016, Princeton University will launch a small private online course for those students who can benefit from FSI, but who for one reason or another cannot make it to campus. In this paper we discuss three important aspects of expanding FSI in this way:

  1. How can we use online learning technologies to recreate the positive face-to-face academic experience for this student population?
  2. How can we leverage the online environment to create a blended community between the online students, the on-campus students, and faculty and advisors at Princeton?
  3. How can we design an assessment plan for our online summer course that evaluates not only its academic goals, but also the goal of creating a community?