Student Success

Two students sitting in the Urban Plaza, talking to each other

SINQ Curriculum Redesign

Program Status: Planning

The purpose of this project is to redesign Portland State University’s Sophomore Inquiry (SINQ)  curriculum to foster community and embed career exploration and research/writing support. This project was initiated to address the DFW rates in SINQ classes, particularly for those students who take classes online, as research indicates that students who take online SINQs have higher DFW rates than students who take in-person SINQs. At PSU about 45% of students take an online SINQ. A broader impact of this project is to further communicate the impact and value of general education and identify how the SINQ classes support students at PSU and their degree path. The project was further initiated to address a UNST budget cut for 2025-26. The revised budget necessitated the cut of online mentors by 50 percent, which will require a redesign of the online mentor program to have a smaller and more focused role for online mentors, concentrating on student success, career readiness, and writing support. 

Accomplished

  • Assembled working group 
  • Finalized Charter
  • Prepared and sent out a survey to online SINQ faculty to gather feedback on the role of the mentor in their courses.
  • Hosted two listening sessions to gather feedback on the role of the mentor in online SINQs
  • Invited campus collaborators to a listening session to gain feedback on what second-year students need
  • Analyzed mentor-related course evaluation data of online courses for the past several years
  • Identified the most essential aspects of the Mentor role for online classes

In Progress

  • Using the feedback data to design a set curriculum for mentors and meet repeatability and adaptability parameters
  • Selecting the most important elements of the online mentor role to focus on within the limited hours available for each online mentor
  • Incorporating feedback and drafting an online mentor curriculum,  embedding career exploration, and research/writing workshops
  • Collaborating with the working group and OAI to draft Canvas modules for online students
  • Planning  professional development in fall for faculty and mentors
  • Starting planning & timelines for the second phase of the program (in-person SINQs)

Project Team

Executive Sponsor: Erin Shortlidge
Project Sponsor: Andrea Garrity and Lindsey Wilkinson
Leads: Lindsey Wilkinson and Meredith Michaud 
Project Manager: Pamela Bock
Team: Dana Lundell, Daneen Bergland, Rowanna Carpenter, Meredith Michaud, Katie Johnson (Ad Hoc), Lindsey Wilkinson (Ad Hoc), Greg Flores (Ad Hoc), Dan DeWeese (Ad Hoc)