Workshops vs. tutoring: How ASU's minority engineering program is changing the way engineering students learn

For the past five years, the Minority Engineering Program in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU) has channeled retention efforts through their Academic Excellence Program. This program housed two components: peer tutoring and mentoring and group workshops. While both produced successful retention rates among minority students within the College, both students and faculty strongly expressed a need for a more structured and intensive program to assist engineering students with the more challenging courses. In fall of 2000, ASU's MEP remodeled their efforts at retention and created the Academic Excellence Workshop program. The workshop program replaces tutoring and mentoring programs with weekly workshop sessions. This non-traditional approach to academic support has necessitated a change in paradigm for staff, faculty, and students. The response to this change has been promising. This paper will discuss the AEW program structure and how the workshop concept has been promoted to students and faculty.