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Helping hand
Computer science department establishes mentoring program for its
freshmen majors
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Everywhere you looked in Atanasoff Hall small groups of students were
talking.
The same could be said about the campus grounds around the building that
houses the computer science department.
And, regardless of which group you happened to listen in on, the conversation
was pretty much the same. Advice was being given on a whole range of topics
- advice given willingly by junior and senior computer science majors
to freshmen.
Advice on how tough a particular class was. Or what a particular professor
was like. Or simply how to find where their classes were located.
It was all part of the "New Student Mentor Program" sponsored
by the student Computer Science Club. Now in its second year, the program
is offered in conjunction with the computer science department. Freshman
computer science majors are assigned to a group of six to eight new students
with one mentor (an upperclassman in computer science) to lead the group.
The groups were formed based on interest surveys filled out by the freshmen
when they enrolled for classes at Iowa State.
"By forming the mentor groups around what the freshmen are interested
in or the classes they're taking, we're providing them with another support
group in addition to the mentor," said Al Taylor, computer science
academic advisor. "They will go through this new experience together
as opposed to by themselves."
"We found out that several of our majors could go through the program
and graduate without really knowing anyone else in the program,"
Les Miller, chair of the computer science program, told the new freshmen.
"That's another reason why we have grouped you together in groups
with similar interests."
The groups got together for the first time on Sunday, Aug. 20, the day
before classes started on campus. After a brief opening session where
the freshmen heard about the program, they met with their mentors for
dinner, quick tours of Atanasoff Hall and campus, and answers to their
questions.
The groups will continue to meet once every week or two, sharing their
experiences and talking with their mentors about their progress. "The
activities are left up to the individual mentors and their group,"
Taylor said.
Miller said the program was initiated last year after the department experienced
a higher than expected dropout rate for its new students. Many were transferring
to other majors on campus.
"We found out that a certain number of students were leaving computer
science almost immediately for reasons that didn't make sense," he
said. "The freshmen really didn't know about this major."
The results after the first year were encouraging according to Taylor.
Retention rates among the freshmen computer science majors who participated
in the program increased.
Beginning this summer, the mentors began to contact the freshmen in their
groups, providing the freshmen an individual to talk with about their
questions or any problems they might be having to adjusting to campus
life or the computer science program.
"We want to provide the freshmen with someone who has been there
and actually gone through the program to talk to," Miller said, "rather
than a faculty member or an advisor. The students have a lot of good information
that will make it easier for the freshmen to become successful as an undergraduate
computer science major."
The "New Student Mentor Program" has been organized by the Computer
Science Club, beginning with the selection of 31 upperclass mentors and
the program's design. More than 250 freshmen entered Iowa State this fall
as computer science majors. Transfer students and international students
were also assigned a mentor soon after classes started.
Senior Mitchell Cooper is in his second year as a mentor and is committed
to the group's premise.
"The idea is sound," he said. "We typically have a lot
of people who get discouraged early in the semester. Hopefully they will
come to us with their concerns.
"I wished they would have had a program like this when I was a freshman."
Around LAS
September 4-10, 2000
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