Running head: TRANSITIONING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY 1

Transitioning Through Technology: Using Transition Theory to Support New Students

Ethan Clardy, Dan Dunne, Mitchell Huftalin, and Skyler Imhoff

Northern Illinois University

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Introduction

Everyone experiences transition when integrating into a new university community,

Anderson et al. (2016). First-year students coming into a university may encounter a lack of

social support, minimal family support, and may not know where to find resources available to

them. Without accessing and utilizing the appropriate resources, student development can be

minimal. Students commonly experience feelings of uncertainty and anxiety during educational

transitions (Silver & Roksa, 2017). In the transition of traditional, non-traditional, and transfer

students, there can be a lack of connection both socially and academically with the university and

peers. These missed connections lead to minimal support systems and affect retention and

graduation rates. Millea, Wills, and Molina (2018) identified involvement and engagement as

keys to student success in college.

Universities should establish innovative ways to meet students where they are by helping

students get involved and access resources that are already available to them on campus.

Ensuring that students feel well connected on campus can help ease their transition and better

help them persist to their degree goals. This paper serves to evaluate the missed connection for

first-year students and show how universities can use technology, such as the Engage application

through the lens of the transition model theory, to evaluate and assist their transition into a

university to support student development.

The Missed Connection - The Issue

According to Millea et al. (2018), shared experiences can improve student success by

integrating students into the university community. The student to faculty ratios, student life

programs and services, and specific academic programs such as college preparatory programs are

strategies that are currently set in place to help students succeed (Millea et al., 2018).
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Involvement in academic or social problems are noted to increase faculty and peer contact

regardless of major and are essential initiatives for institutional integration for retaining students

in college (Tino, 1993, as cited in Jones et al., 2010). Assisting students in becoming more

involved within their university will allow students to better succeed through their endeavors.

There are some initiatives that universities are utilizing to engage with their first-year

students. One of these initiatives is a first-year experience program that seeks to be an avenue

that involves students in an academic environment. These programs vary in terms of time,

commitment of faculty, resources, social structure, and educational enrichment (Greene, 2011).

First-year experience programs find ways to help first-year students develop learning skills and

comfort with college culture so that they can acclimate quickly to succeed. Millea et al. (2018)

identified involvement and engagement as key to student success in college. Research can be

another initiative that plays a role in student involvement on campus. Among undergraduate

students involved in research, one study notes that retention among students studying science had

increased benefits in science career pathways due to an increase in funding opportunities (Jones,

Barlow & Villarejo, 2010). Involvement in undergraduate research activities fosters greater

understanding, confidence, and interest in science careers (Russell et al., 2017, as cited in Jones

et al., 2010). Many students may not be aware of the vast programs and opportunities on campus,

and ensuring students are aware of these resources is substantial to their retention and persistence

in college.

When thinking about student transitions, one group of students often overlooked by

institutions are third culture kids. Third culture kids are defined by Kortegast and Yount (2016)

as children and adolescents raised outside of the United States, hold U.S. citizenship, and have

no intention of relinquishing their citizenship. Attending college is what usually prompts third
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culture kids to return to the U.S.; however, due to their citizenship, they are not recognized as

international students. This unique population can be seen as having little control over their

migration and often lives a privileged lifestyle due to an exempt geopolitical status (Kortegast &

Yount, 2016). Difficulty navigating culture shock, social isolation, not feeling a sense of home,

and identity crisis are a few unique challenges this population holds. All universities alike should

be prepared to handle the transition of all types of students but may not be equipped to do so.

Understanding the theories behind transitioning is a step towards understanding how universities

can better connect and support first-year students.

Theoretical Framework

As students look to transition into a higher education institution, it is vital to keep in mind

the transition model described by Anderson, Goodman, and Schlossberg (2012). Analyzing the

transitions students experience during their first year of college and their effect on students can

help higher education professionals understand how we can better assist students beginning their

career in college and throughout their career as a student. This model splits transitions into three

parts: approaching transitions, taking stock of coping resources, and taking charge.

Approaching Transitions

Anderson et al. (2012) describe the first stage of transition is approaching transitions.

This first stage allows students to learn what type of transition they will experience. Types of

transitions include anticipated transitions (events that students can expect to happen during

points in their life), unanticipated transitions (events that do not allow for much preparation and

cannot be scheduled), and nonevent transitions (events that were scheduled or expected that did

not occur) (Anderson et al., 2012). Anderson et al. (2012) continue with their model describing

that approaching transitions includes understanding their perspective of the transition and
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understanding the context of the transition. Students entering their first year are experiencing

many transitions that can be either common to first-year students or unique to their situation.

Perspective is specific to how the student perceives their position in the transition, while context

is the collection of factors that influence the situation of the transition. The final aspect of

approaching transitions is understanding the impact of the transition on things such as

relationships, routines, and assumptions (Anderson et al., 2012). These four themes in

approaching transitions help higher education professionals understand where students are at

before the actual transition.

Taking Stock of Coping Resources

The next phase of transitions includes taking stock of coping resources utilizing the 4 S

System (Anderson et al., 2012). The first in the system involves the situation, which includes the

type of event (or nonevent) occurring and what pieces of the transition the student is controllable.

The students assisted in the programmatic intervention are students that are beginning college for

the first time. The situation can help students evaluate what resources are available to help them

achieve their involvement, academic, and social goals. The second S is represented as self. Self

refers to the personal characteristics and the psychological resources present for students. A

focus on self allows for students to showcase their uniqueness and individuality. Reflecting on

self before and during a transition can help students and higher education professionals

understand where the student is coming from while acknowledging their values and beliefs.

Support, the third S, can describe the social support and options students can utilize throughout

the transition. Intimate relationships with the institution, community, and friends can lead

students to find what is available to them on campus, such as resources, events, and involvement

opportunities. These relationships allow students to utilize or create connections with their peers.
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Support during the transition to an institution during the first year is crucial to student success

and connection. The fourth S refers to strategies, specifically the coping strategies that students

can utilize in their transition. These strategies can be information seeking, coping towards direct

action, or the inhibition of action.

The 4 S System (Anderson et al., 2012) helps provide a framework for higher education

professionals to identify how to best help students move through their transition. With the

transition during the first year of college being one of the most significant transitions some

students may face, learning all aspects of each transition can help students feel connected to their

university and create ways to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Taking Charge

The final stage of transition refers to the ability of the students to apply the coping

resources provided to them and take charge of their transition. This stage provides an

empowering process for first-year students, but it makes them accountable for creating the

transition they desire. Taking charge can look different for each individual. Still, it is the ultimate

result of students evaluating their position in life and helping make meaning of the transition

they are going through to make a positive difference.

Justification

Anderson et al. (2012) define transition as “any event or nonevent that results in changed

relationships, routines, assumptions and roles” (p. 39). Using the transition theory can help

higher education professionals identify the struggles students are experiencing and how they

move through their transition. As stated by Anderson et al. (2012), “transitions require coping”

(p. 40). Incoming students are preparing for one of the most significant transitions in their lives.

Early identification of these struggles during transition can make it easier to provide coping
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resources to ease this transition through the first year of college. These resources can both

provide support for the students and increase the probability of students returning to the

institution the following year.

Programmatic Intervention

Upon assessing the struggles that many first-year students face regarding adaptation to a

new university, the lack of ability to connect with peers, faculty, resources on campus, and

programs are among the most challenging. This assessment found that it ultimately led to a

student’s ability to adapt, develop, and retain at their institution, and the programmatic

intervention created is the Engage application. This application allows students to have resources

at the touch of their hands from anywhere they are. If a student is unable to have a mobile

device, a similar program will be available linked to the student wide accessible website and

usable through a desktop device provided on campus. In this way, all students will have access to

the program through at least one device.

Rather than shuffling across all departments around campus or even missing out on

information, with social components as well as information about curricular and co-curricular

activities, students will be able to have access to it all within seconds using Engage. The end

goal of the program is for students to no longer be reliant on the application. When transitioning

into a university, students will have the opportunity to develop as individuals and rely on

themselves more as they use the app and gain access to support from all student affairs

professionals across their institutions’ campus.

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Intervention Outcomes

When creating a programmatic intervention, practitioners should follow learning

outcomes to make sure their students are gaining knowledge, and the program stays on track. For

the Engage app, the learning outcomes are as follows:

Through the Engage app, students will,

1. Actively participate on and off campus through a variety of events managed by

resource centers, social organizations, centers geared towards marginalized identities, and

the institutions’ community to become self-aware and gain independence.

2. Create a space for a new generation of digital natives to engage with their campus

community on their terms.

3. Provide a platform for campus and community partners to engage with students to

promote student development actively.

Through Engage, students will have space to go through categories of events, workshops,

and resources geared to individuals with different identities, values, and time commitments.

Alone, without having to be nervous about approaching staff out of the blue for guidance, they

can identify on the app with what they want, no explanation, and have an algorithm shoot out

information for all resources across campus that would be beneficial to them or interest them.

Through attendance of these different curricular, co-curricular, social, and resourceful

events, students can network with peers as well as faculty and staff who can provide guidance

throughout their academic career. This program is taking student affairs in another direction and

meeting students where they are by using a digital platform to provide resources and support for

student development.
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Student affairs professionals can utilize this programmatic intervention to better

understand how to help students take stock of coping resources utilizing the 4 S System of the

transition model described by Anderson et al. (2012). Through this intervention, students are

provided resources for them to understand their transition into an institution. They will find peers

and faculty to connect with and support and eventually become self-aware and gain enough

independence to cope with different roadblocks that might come their way. All of these will help

them fully develop as students within their undergraduate career and be useful for other

transitions they will face throughout their life past the university setting.

The Engage Application

The Engage application will be submission oriented. All departments and student

organizations recognized by the institution will have the ability to submit details for all social

and curricular events, workshops, meetings, and community events happening on or off-campus.

By combining a marketing scheme to a single digital platform, this programmatic intervention

allows all departments across campus to work together to provide all students at an institution

with the resources that are available to them.

Many times, student affairs will look at programmatic interventions as a traditional one-

to-one experience with students and staff. With this program, Engage is re-thinking what support

looks like for students. As technology progresses with each new generation, professionals must

adapt to the latest student populations’ needs. With this platform, students have access to support

from all departments on campus with a click of a button. Once they have been able to find it with

ease and comfort from home, they begin to make their first connections by actually attending the

events and workshops.

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At the events, they will meet faculty, staff, and peers that begin more in-depth and more

one-on-one work with a student, but before that, student affairs professionals must think of how

to use technology in their program to better assess the students at their institutions. Engage,

backed by thinking of the first-year experience through the transition model lense, fulfills this

need at universities and with the right professionals behind it, can re-imagine the traditional

student affairs roles.

Once a submission is entered, the staffing in the social media department in charge of the

institution’s online branding will confirm that it is an affiliated organization. The event will then

go live with all details, including: date, time, location, program or organizations sponsoring, and

a few sentences describing what will be happening. As well, a mandatory link to a website where

students can find more information. Each event will fit into a category as to whether it is for a

particular academic major, identity group, religious affiliation, active citizenship, community

engagement, and any other that the organization believes would accurately categorize it. For

example, if a student identifies as undocumented, a biology major, in the LGBTQ community,

and interested in looking for more information about careers and volunteering, they have the

chance to click those different categories of interest. This personalization gives them the ability

to gain access to these resources without providing all aspects of their identity to staff members

if they are unprepared to do so.

Partnering with Orientation and First-Year Experience will provide built-in marketing for

Engage as well as allowing for traditional person-to-person contact headed by student affairs

professional staff. First, within their orientation, students will be asked to download the

application and check-in for orientation. During this opportunity, orientation leaders can explain
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Engage, and its importance to students and how using it can positively impact their

undergraduate experience.

From there, any students who choose to partake in the First-Year Experience seminar will

be able to take part in an assignment sponsored by the application. Students must participate in

one event from each of the categories to complete the class. This assignment provides students

with a timeline to connect with all different types of organizations and departments across

campus and make sure that they know what is available to them.

Once a student has decided to attend an event, on Engage, they have the option to

“check-in” to the event if they would like to participate. Once checked in, the students can see

anyone else who has checked in and have the option to connect with them socially. This social

component provides a way for students to network with their peers and student affairs staff to

provide support through their facilitation of connecting with peers with similar interests and

identities.

Evaluation plan

Engage will be evaluated on a multitude of platforms. Preceding the release of the app,

departments can assess how the involvement rates go up or down based on program

involvement. If more students are in attendance of yearly events than they had been in the past, it

is a sign that the program is working, and students are gaining access to resources in ways they

previously were not able to.

Next, through the Information Technology department, the institution will track the usage

time of first-year students and how long they are using the application throughout the year. If it

continues to stay consistent with the continuous release of new events, this will show that

Engage has the potential to be used year-round by all types of students. However, what
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institutions will look for is if students are no longer using the application after the involvement of

these different resource events. By creating the program through the theoretical framework of the

transition model, the hope is that students will no longer be reliant on having to use Engage.

Once students have reached their 3 and 4 year, the hope is that they will have made enough
rd th

faculty, staff, and peer connections as well as developed enough independently as students to no

longer be reliant on Engage to adapt to their environment.

Finally, this student connection to campus and their programs through the Engage app

hopes to lead to higher retention rates of the institutions’ students. Longitudinal retention studies

will occur after four to six years of different focus groups of first-year students using the

application. The institution using this platform will have a better understanding of how

engagement on campus affects student retention, and whether or not Engage helped with these

connections.

Institutional Context

There are multiple contextual variables to consider when selecting the ideal institution for

the rollout of this program. First and most importantly, the chosen institution must have a

positive perspective on utilizing technology to communicate with students. As Andrew Lepp’s

2015 study on student cell phone use concluded, “there is a need to better understand how this

technology can be harnessed to make a genuine contribution to student learning” (Lepp et al.,

2015, p.7). The selected university should be looking to harness this tool to influence their

students positively.

Ideally, this institution will also have a well-organized and efficient information

technology department. This department must have the capacity to take on supporting,

developing, and continuously making adjustments to the application. This intervention will be
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sponsored financially through a well-funded institution; however, figuratively speaking, it must

be ‘sponsored’ and adopted by the entire institution. This intervention will receive

maintenance through the institution’s information technology department with support from the

school’s social media team. An institution's orientation program, under the department of student

affairs, will manage and oversee the tool.

The selected institution should be a large non-profit public university with an

undergraduate enrollment of over 20,000 students. The institution should be well-funded and

have access to surplus financial resources to see the program through the challenging

developmental stages. There should be a robust amount of campus activities, student

involvement organizations, and cultural and community center programs to coordinate and

advertise on campus. Ideally, this institution needs a more organized campus calendar that is

more user-friendly and accessible across all of the various programmatic offerings on campus.

Finally, the institution should be within walking distance to the nearby town, and the

relationship between the campus and community should be one that is supportive and

cooperative. This connection will become an essential aspect of the tool because it provides an

avenue for the student population to engage with local businesses and community events more

easily. This partnership can also become a sustaining aspect of the intervention in the future if

companies use the application to market to students.

Student Adoption Plan

A 2012 Pew Research Center study survey found that one of the most desired life skills

for young people in 2020 will be improved digital literacy and “the ability to search effectively

for information online and to be able to discern the quality and veracity of the information”

(Anderson & Rainie, 2012, p. 3). Considering that digital literacy is a goal for incoming
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students, this program will look to support connecting students to impactful campus information

early on in their transition into their new institution.

According to a study published in the 2006 NASPA Journal, “technology use is highest

among freshmen and lowest among seniors, new student orientations may be an excellent

opportunity for student affairs professionals to address the role of technology in the transition to

college life” (Gemmil & Peterson, 2006, p. 293). Therefore, introducing the tool during

orientation will allow students to begin to use the application to seek out information that will be

useful during their upcoming transition. This preparative approach can provide some comfort,

early engagement, and ability to research campus information through a more familiar and

accessible medium for students who are apprehensive about their upcoming transition.

An experiential assignment during a mandatory first-year course will deliver the next

instance of encouraging the use of this tool. Among many other things, this assignment can ask

students to use the application to discover specific campus information, engage in the social

component of the application to build a peer network, or research a degree-relevant community

event that is of particular interest to the student. Upon completing this assignment, the student

will have the usefulness of this tool reinforced. Their professor will also ask them to reflect upon

how the engagement and subsequent involvement they experienced through the application aided

in their transition and adoption into the university system.

Description of the Target Audience

This programmatic intervention will predominantly apply to a large group of incoming

Generation Z students at our selected institution. Generation Z students are defined as being born

between 1995-2012. They are known as ‘Digital Natives’ who are tech-savvy, flexible, and more

globally connected, having witnessed the widespread use of electronic gadgets and digital
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technologies (Singh, 2014). This demographic of students is known for engaging continuously

with their smartphones, and the vast majority of them will have this device on them at all times

throughout their studies.

This intervention also seeks to impact other first-year students who may be transferring in

or have some other non-traditional background. Regardless of the different ways these students

may identify, if they are new to the institution and are in the Generation Z demographic, this

programmatic intervention will be useful as they academically and socially transition into this

new setting. This specific audience is ideal for this programmatic intervention due to the high

level of engagement they have with their mobile device, being apprehensive about their

incoming transition as a first-year student, and their institution’s desire to support these students

through their transition.

Conclusion

Connecting students to campus resources can help ease their transition and further support

their persistence in college towards their degree. The lack of social support, minimal family

support, and not knowing where to find resources available may inhibit a student’s ability to

succeed in college. Integrating an application that connects students with resources on campus,

shows events that fit their interests, and enables students to meet others who hold similar

identities is substantial for their development and retention. As a generation that engages with

technology frequently, meeting students where they are in a non-traditional way will bring

engagement opportunities to the students and help bridge the gap so that resources are accessible

for everyone. The Engage app will increase student participation, create a space for digital

narratives to engage with one another, and promote engagement through campus partners to

support students and their transition to college. College can be a scary experience for many
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students, and ensuring their transition is as smooth and meaningful as possible is what the

Engage app will fulfill.

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