Timothy Blog 3

The need in this case is to provide useful information in the form of guides and checklists  to help students intending to transfer as they navigate the process of transitioning from a junior college to a 4-year university. 

After completing the final version of my products for this project, I reached out one last time to my experts to get their feedback and final thoughts about the entire project. I spoke to Jenn and Shawn on April April 21st and Carolyn on April 22nd. Understanding that there was a limited timreframe for this project which meant I couldn't produce all of the materials I wished to, all of the individuals who have been giving feedback were very complimentary of the results. They also said that more information and materials would be better in the future as well, but the things that had been produced seemed like they would be useful to transfer students. 

As I think I have mentioned in previous blogs, one thing I have discovered about myself over the course of this project is my need to update my thinking about what will connect most with this generation of students. I have been teaching for quite a while and while there are always new developments to help better connect with students, I sometimes can let those new developments pass me by. This became apparent to me as I worked my way through this project. This had a large impact on my approach to the project and its outcomes and made me rethink the materials I created. I was fortunate to get great advice from individuals I spoke to over the course of the project. 

The biggest hurdle I experienced in completing this last portion of the project was coming up with information for the curriculum crosswalk. Unfortunately, the course catalog at the university I chose to research did not have detailed descriptions of course content or learning outcomes. There was basic information that was useful in matching things up, but it was not overly descriptive. It is my hope that in future versions of this guide that better information may be available from syllabi from classes or directly from advisors. 

On the whole, I feel that the final versions of these products can be useful. It is my hope that as time progresses I have the opportunity to pursue this further to create more useful information for the students who are looking for assistance on their transfer journey. This will be helpful to me as well as I serve as an academic advisor to some of these students as the make thier way through our program.