Colleges all over the United States have created classes or course systems that are designed to help freshmen adjust to the college lifestyle. These classes are usually an easy ‘A’, but a lot of it is tedious work and can overwhelm students when added to their other class activities.
Butler has created a Personal Development class for incoming freshmen called Engaging, which is based around their career choice or what they might want to go into. For example, Engaging in Social and Behavioral Science (PD127) is created for those who are going into a career path based around psychology, sociology or something related. The Engaging course kept me from focusing on coursework that went towards my major like my math class. The work was easy for the most part, but it seemed more like busy work rather than work that I can take away and learn from.
The class is good in theory, but freshmen felt that the college did not understand what the students would want from a class like that. The course was full of assignments that continued to pile up and made students more stressed, making the start to their freshman year worrisome.
One of the positive sides of the class is that it met once a week for 12 weeks. Having a blended class worked well with a lot of the the students’ schedules.
We would suggest changing or omitting the weekly planners and the reflections that we had to write every other two weeks. The planners were not necessary because in college we should not be taught how to use a planner. If students are not taught how to use a planner by the time they get to college, they are most likely not going to use one. Students that are not using a planner are probably using an app to remind them of their homework or other agenda. Most students already have something they use to stay organized whether it is a planner or not. The amount of reflections we were supposed to do was not helpful in this course because it was repetitive. It would have been more helpful to reflect in class with one another.
As incoming freshmen, the habits that students have are already set in stone. Trying to change how the students study or write notes is pointless. Students would prefer that the time they spent in the classroom would be better used learning about the campus resources, how to deal with financial issues and other problems college students will run into.
Creating a portfolio felt like a waste of time and really did not help students in the long run. For example having the students create a portfolio for a job application or a college application would have helped the students out a lot more.
All in all, the Engaging course is a great idea. College freshmen need that extra push to help them adjust to college life. This course has good intentions, but from what many of the freshmen have experienced, it does not meet their needs. New projects are always a work in progress, and with trial and error they can create something worthwhile.