Reimagining First-Year Experience: Strategies for Supporting the Success of the 21st Century Community College Student

Abstract

Across the nation, higher education institutions are assessing and redesigning their first-year experience as efforts to retain students. Community colleges, especially, are piloting and implementing evidence-based practices that have proven to be successful at four-year institutions. Bristol Community College, located in southeastern Massachusetts, is among one of these community colleges. While the research presented in this Capstone does not address non-cognitive issues, as critical as they are to understanding student attrition, this Capstone, backed by primary research and empirical data, focuses on curricular and co-curricular pedagogy imperative to the success of first-year community college students. Using Bristol as a subject, this Capstone suggests and delivers a prototype for a self-paced, first-year experience eLearning course intentionally and inclusively designed for today’s community college student.