Enhancing Student Success: Lessons from Educationally Effective Institutions

August 21, 2012

Academic Affairs Convocation

Southern Utah University

Charles Schroeder, Consultant

Framing our conversation

• What does it mean to be a learning-centric, highly engaged institution?

• What is required to put students and their learning at the center of our enterprise?

• Why is institutional change and improvement no longer an option, but an imperative?

The Learning Paradigm

“The Learning Paradigm envisions the institution itself as a learner…” (Barr & Tagg, 1995)

“As we understand the term, learning is not something reserved for classrooms or degree programs. It is available to every member of the academic community, whether in the classroom or the administration building, the laboratory or the library, the residence hall or the performing arts center… Learning is available to all and all serve learning. (NASULGC, 1997, p.17)

New Paradigm: Focusing on learning

“Focusing on learning turns our thinking about the future of our colleges and universities upside-down: from faculty productivity to student productivity; from faculty disciplinary interests to what students need to learn , from faculty teaching styles to student learning styles; from classroom teaching to student learning”

Alan Guskin, “Learning More- Spending Less”,1994

Not business as usual, but rather, engaging in new business!

The challenge to change

“Our challenges are no longer technical issues of how to allocate rising revenues, but difficult adaptive problems of how to lead when conditions are constantly changing, resources are tight, expectations are high and options are limited. We live in an age of transformational, not technical, change. Our leadership, like our institutions, must become transformational as well.”

The Kellogg Commission

Transforming Alverno College

• The context and external environment

• The catalyst for transformation:

Two compelling questions

A paradigm shift: Student-centered learning through focused effort

• MGT 218 BUSINESS INQUIRY AND RESEARCH. – The student uses various frameworks, strategies, and

inquiry to identify, evaluate, predict, and influence the behavior of people in organizations and markets. She researches a company and industry to evaluate the potential of a new business venture, participates as a decision maker on a team managing a simulated company, and presents and responds to questions, information, opinions, and recommendations on management topics.

Alverno College Bulletin

• Clear and explicitly stated goals

• Focus on learning – student-centered

• Coherent language and definitions

• Campus wide commitment – “partners in learning”

• Ubiquitous, unavoidable, and helpful feedback

• Faculty-driven – learning circles/matrix organization

• Continuous improvement

Linked, Aligned and Integrated Themes: Alverno College

What makes DEEP institutions so educationally effective? Six themes:

• A “living” mission and “lived” educational philosophy

• An unshakable focus on student learning

• Environments adapted for educational enrichment

• Clearly marked pathways to student success

• An improvement ethos

• Shared responsibility for educational quality and student success

**ALIGNMENT and SUSTAINABILITY**

Astin’s Engagement Model

I

INPUT

Entering

characteristics

O

OUTCOMES

Desired

results

Retention /

Graduation

E

ENVIRONMENT

Full range of

experiences

Engagement

Student engagement: A common language & practical framework

…the time and energy students devote to educationally sound activities, inside and outside of the classroom, and the policies and practices that institutions use to induce students to take part in these activities…

Two components of student engagement

• # 1 What students do – the time and energy devoted to educationally purposeful activities in and outside of the classroom.

• # 2 What institutions do – using effective educational practices to induce students to do the right things

DEEP Themes: A “living” mission and “lived” educational philosophy

Operating philosophy focuses on students and their success.

Sustained widespread understanding and endorsement of educational purposes.

Complementary policies and practices tailored to the school’s mission and students’ needs and abilities.

Alverno College and Fayetteville State University

• High expectations for everyone! They don't leave engagement to chance! (Fayetteville State)

• Bent toward engaging pedagogies …group presentations / projects, cases, service learning, undergraduate research, class-room based problem solving, peer tutoring / advising, learning communities

• Feedback: Improving performance by connecting students and faculty

• Small number of high impact experiences (L.C.`s).

• Student-centered learning

DEEP Themes: An Unshakeable Focus on Student Learning

• Can SUU students assemble the pieces of the undergraduate education puzzle…is there a clear and coherent picture to work toward?

• How are expectations formed, communicated and reinforced? Are general educational outcomes clear and understood? Do new students understand the difference between high school and college roles and responsibilities?

• Do students have a “job description”?

• Are redundant early warning systems and safety nets in place?

How clear are pathways to success?

Clearly marked routes to student success…unifying themes.• University of Kansas…INVOLVEMENT!

(1) Consistent emphasis on graduating

(2) Hawk Week …rituals and traditions ; governance

(3)” Graduate in Four” … Freshmen / Sophomore Advising Center … Freshmen Seminar … RA advocacy

(4) Faculty advocacy for broad-based involvement

Aspiring Aim…. Alignment, Advocacy and Integration

• “Positive restlessness” – never satisfied with their level of performance .. “are we performing as well as we can?” (The University of Michigan)

• Curriculum innovation – not afraid to experiment

• Systematic assessment ---Decision making informed by data--- clear feedback loops and “culture of evidence”

• Frequently challenge assumptions, ask critical questions and take reasonable risks

An improvement-oriented ethos

Shared responsibility for educational quality and success• Educational partnerships are forged through

collaboration between academic and student affairs; DEEP schools exhibit a “collective responsibility” for student success!

• Fostering student agency – students teaching students; managing activities and units; serving as peer advisors, etc.

• Co-creating educational settings that foster engagement (i.e. learning communities)

• Fostering a “culture of quality” in all major service areas.

What Faculty and Staff Can Do • Adopt a talent development philosophy.

• Set, communicate and maintain high expectations for student performance.

• Clarify what students need to do to succeed.

• Use engaging pedagogies to motivate and inspire student effort.

• Provide frequent, meaningful feedback to students.

• Make time for students.

• Create seamless learning experiences.

• Support and utilize “safety nets” such as early-alert.

Conclusion: Challenge assumptions and take reasonable risks

• Another story of transformation

Dr. Sweeny and George Johnson, Bio-Medical Computer Center, Tulane University, 1963

Appendix: Helpful Resource• Project DEEP criteria and participating institutions

• National Survey of Student Engagement Benchmarks

• Additional suggestions and recommendations

• Essential elements of engagement

• Educationally effective practices

• Facilitating engagement: core competencies

• List of books, monographs, articles, presentations, web sites that focus on enhancing student engagement, learning and success.

• Consultants contact information.

DEEP: Documenting Educationally Effective Practices

Overall Goal : To discover, document and describe what high performing institutions do and how they achieved this level of effectiveness.

Selection Criteria : Much better than predicted graduation rates and much higher than predicted scores on the five NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement ) benchmarks.

Lessons from High Performing Institutions: Project DEEP

Project DEEP institutions• Alverno College

• Cal State-Monterey Bay

• Evergreen State College

• Fayetteville State University

• George Mason University

• Gonzaga University

• Longwood University

• Macalester University

• Miami University

• Sewanee (University of the South)

• Sweet Briar College

• University of Kansas

• University of Maine, Farmington

• University of Michigan

• University of Texas, El Paso

• Ursinus College

• Wabash College

• Wheaton College (MA)

• Winston-Salem State University

• Wofford College

NSSE Benchmarks

Conditions that foster student engagement, learning and success:

Level of Academic Challenge

Active and Collaborative Learning

Faculty – Student Interaction

Enriching Educational Experiences

Supportive Campus Environments

Suggestions and recommendations• Use engagement as a common framework and language

• Develop a widely shared vision of student success.

• Make engagement inescapable…use multiple settings.

• Forge cross-functional institutional partnerships,

• Create a small number of high impact experiences and programs (i.e. learning communities; educational maps; early alert) that engage large numbers of students.

• Cultivate an ethic of positive restlessness and a culture of evidenced-based quality

Essential elements of engagement• Clear, consistent expectations for student effort & success

• Clear pathways to student success

• Appropriate calibration of challenge and support

• Easy access to resources and services that are “student-centered”.

• A campus climate that communicates “every student matters”

• Shared responsibility for educational quality and student success.

• An ethos of “positive restlessness”

Educationally effective practices

• Talent development philosophy

• High expectations for student

effort / performance

• Clear pathways to student

success

• Provide frequent, meaningful

feedback

• Enhance advising

• Human scale settings

• Use engaging pedagogical

approaches

• Redefine the classroom /

optimize campus resources

• Create performance support

systems / safety nets

• Integrate core curriculum with

core experiences

• Learning communities ---

seamless, low cost education

Lessons from effective, engaged, best- practice colleges• SPECIALNESS : Student-centered in a “super-sized”

way! …. “it's all about the students, and everybody knows it”… “students see inspiration in us , and we get inspiration from them” … “philosophy of equality”

• Everybody sings from the same songbook …clear and compelling vision and coherence (unity without uniformity)

• High expectations and continuing support go hand in hand. “Everyone understands what is expected of them”… “Being a serious student is recognized here”

Common elements (cont.)• They're bold, they're flexible and they take risks.

“We're like our students: we're gutsy, we`re not timid, and we`re willing to take calculated risks. We`re strategic …so we don't go whichever way the wind blows”.

• They forge creative partnerships …inside and outside the institution to strengthen the learning environment.

• Self-examination is the norm and the data are the starting point. “We see assessment as learning …using data and research to help guide us at getting better”

• Believe in active and collaborative learning --- for everyone .“We are all teachers. We are all learners” “We’ve moved from being `teaching-to-learning-centered’”

Facilitating Engagement: Core Competencies

• Assessment… generating data to inform our understanding of the student experience

• Collaboration …developing shared responsibility for educational quality and student success through cross-functional team work.

• Direction Setting … clarifying what matters… establishing goals, strategies, tactics, actions, etc.

• Assessment and feedback … measuring impact and results for performance improvement... “proving and improving”

Resources• Alexander, J. and Gardner, J. “Beyond Retention: A

Comprehensive Approach to the First College Year”. About Campus, 14: 2, 18-26

• Barefoot, B.O., Gardner, J.N., Schroeder, C. (et. al.) Achieving and Sustaining Institutional Excellence in the First Year of College. Jossey -Bass, 2005.

• Upcraft, M. L., Gardner, J. N., Barefoot, B.O. & Associates. Challenging and Supporting The First-Year Student: A Handbook for Improving the First Year of College. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

• Kuh, G. et. al Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter. Jossey-Bass, 2005

Resources Cont.)• Tagg, J. The Learning Paradigm College. Anker

Publishing, 2003

• Project DEEP Practice Briefs (Numbers 1-16). http://nsse.iub.edu/_/?cid=128

• Smith, B.. MacGregor, J., Matthews, R. & Gablenick. Learning Communities: Reforming Undergraduate Education. Jossey -Bass, 2004

• Kuh, et. al. Assessing Conditions to Enhance Educational Effectiveness: The Inventory of Student Engagement and Success. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Speaker's Contact Information

Dr. Charles C. Schroeder

charles-schroeder@noellevitz.com

706-216-7457