Making an Online Summer Bridge Program High Touch

Summer bridge programs are designed to ease the transition to college by providing students with academic skills and social resources during the summer between high school graduation and college. Research shows that bridge programs are potentially effective at increasing retention and academic success of at-risk students by providing an early orientation to the college experience and connecting these students with each other and the community (Thayer, 2000; Institute of Education Sciences, 2016); however, bridge programs can be expensive for institutions to operate, and the students who might benefit most from participation may not be able to commit to being on campus full-time during the summer. The authors developed a hybrid program to achieve many of the goals of a traditional summer bridge program, but with a flexible implementation that allows students to remain at home to meet employment or family obligations. There were two main goals for the design and implementation of the 6-week summer online portion of the program: for participating students (a) to review and strengthen the quantitative skills seen in high school math classes, and (b) to connect with the college community before arriving on campus in the fall. As these goals suggest, this program blended elements of academic affairs and student affairs to create a rich learning experience built on research-based suggestions for supporting first-generation students (Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004), although the program was not limited to first-generation students.