Summary
The Planning Campus Visits session focuses on participants exploring how to plan and prepare for a group campus visit. Participants will explore pre-planning information for a campus visit, simulate planning a campus visit through a local PSI, and reflect on important information needed to plan for their school.
Essential Question
How do you plan a group campus visit?
Snapshot
Engage
Participants collectively brainstorm items about group campus visits.
Explore
Participants simulate planning a campus visit for their school.
Explain
Participants take part in whole group discussion about the simulation of planning a campus visit.
Extend
Participants explore resources and activities for planning a campus visit.
Evaluate
Participants reflect on opportunities and barriers.
Materials List
Presentation Slides (attached)
Scheduling a Campus Visit (attached; one per participant)
Campus Visit Considerations (attached; one per participant)
Campus Visit Collection on LEARN (7th-11th grade campus visit activities)
printer paper
color markers or pens
Learning Goals
Brainstorm current understanding of planning a campus visit.
Explore the process for planning a campus visit..
Identify opportunities and barriers for planning a campus visit.
Engage
Procedure:
Provide each participant with colored markers and one sheet of printer paper.
Display slide 2 of the attached Presentation Slides.
Using the ABC Graffiti strategy, have participants write their first name vertically down the center of the paper.
Ask the question “Think back to the last campus visit you attended. Did you plan it? Did you just attend it?” (Things to think about include: items involved in a campus visit, the planning process, the visit itself, the reflection post visit, things that stood out, things that didn’t go well).
Have them create an acrostic poem that includes items involved in planning a campus visit and activities and/or events that stood out to them.
Start the K20 5-minute timer.
When the timer reaches 1 minute, ask the participants if they need more time to explore. If needed, give them additional time.
Call time.
Have participants share out as a whole group, individually with an elbow partner, or as a table group.
Display slide 3. Read the essential question.
Display slide 4. Go over the objectives for the learning experience.
Explore
Pass out the attached Scheduling a Campus Visit handout.
Display slide 5.
Ask participants to consider items that are involved in the initial planning of a campus visit. Use the handout as a guide to consider what items are needed to plan a campus visit (i.e., location, PSI type, dates, number of students, etc.).
Display slide 6.
With a partner or in a small group, pick one of the scenarios on slide 6. Use the Scheduling a Campus Visit handout to work through the process of scheduling a campus visit based on the needs and locations of the assigned scenario. Participants can use the Needs, Notes, and Action columns to identify key elements of the planning process for their scenario.
Each scenario has a different barrier that must be worked through while scheduling the campus visit.
Start the 15-minute timer and begin scheduling a campus visit.
Explain
25 Minute(s)
After 15 minutes, bring everyone back and discuss each scenario, focusing on Needs, Notes, and Actions.
Procedure:
Show slide 7 (Whole Group Discussion) and ask the following questions:
Q1: What is something you discovered that could be a potential barrier?
Q2: What is something you discovered that could be a potential opportunity at this location?
Q3: What additional resources would be helpful to have?
Encourage participants to volunteer their discoveries.
Extend
Pass out the Campus Visit Considerations handout (attached). Display slide 8. Divide the participants into small groups of 2-3 people per group. Using the Jigsaw strategy, have the groups look at two different resources: Group 1 will explore the Campus Visit Collection on LEARN. Group 2 will explore the Campus Visit Considerations checklist on the handout. Participants will focus on the overall support, opportunities, and barriers that the resources provide. Set an 8-minute timer for groups to explore.
When the timer reaches 1 minute, ask the participants if they need more time to explore. If needed, give them additional time.
After the timer finishes, display slide 9. Within their table groups, have participants share. Have Group 1 share for 2 minutes about the Campus Visit Collection on LEARN. After 2 minutes, have Group 2 share for 2 minutes about the Campus Visit Considerations checklist.
Once each group has shared within their table group, have participants share as a whole group something they found interesting about the resources.
Evaluate
Display slide 20 and ask participants to reflect on the session and pinpoint any barriers and opportunities. Ask the question, “What is one key takeaway from today’s session?” Have a few volunteers share their thoughts, either as a whole group or with an elbow partner.
Research Rationale
The impact of visiting postsecondary campuses is an ongoing area of interest for research into increasing postsecondary enrollment and college-going behaviors. Recent work continues to validate the efficacy of these experiences for students despite challenges. A study of the impact of a variety of specific GEAR UP services found campus visits to be one of the most impactful services, with campus visit participants “approximately 9 percentage points more likely to enroll in college within a year and within 2 years of high school graduation, and they were almost 13 percentage points more likely to persist in college compared with college enrollees who did not participate in such visits” (Kim et al, 2021). A study of students participating in campus visits found participants were more likely to enroll in postsecondary education regardless of when students first experienced a campus visit (Smith et al, 2022). Students who participated in multiple campus visits experienced a compounding effect, with a higher number of visits correlated with an increase in a student's likelihood of postsecondary enrollment (Smith et al, 2022).
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). 5-minute timer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVS_yYQoLJg
K20 Center. (n.d.). 8-minute timer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-21YM7Ey7k
K20 Center. (n.d.). 15-minute timer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3zT2IxZQaw
K20 Center. (n.d.). ABC graffiti. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/96
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/179
Kim, S., Bowman, N. A., Ingleby, L., Ford, D. C., & Sibaouih, C. (2021). Promoting educational success: Which GEAR UP services lead to postsecondary enrollment and persistence?. Educational Policy, 35(1), 101-130.
Smith, M. C.; Gosky, Ross M.; and Li, Jui-Teng. (2022). Campus visits as predictors of postsecondary enrollment in low-income, rural school districts. Journal of College Access 7 (1), Article 10.