Student Engagement, Re-Engagement and a Whole of Institution Approach

1. Student Engagement, Re-Engagement and a Whole of Institution Approach Paula Baron, La Trobe Lillian Corbin, UNE

2. Our argument • Tertiary institutions see student engagement as desirable; but • There is a perceived trend towards student disengagement; • Institutional strategies for fostering student engagement have tended to be scattered and piecemeal and some may have contributed to disengagement; • Studies suggest a ‘whole of institution’ approach that fosters a sense of belonging is likely to be most effective.

3. The recent interest in engagement • Links between funding and engagement; • Positive correlations with student: • Achievement • Satisfaction • Development • Retention

4. What is engagement?

5. What is engagement? • Engagement is hard to identify and the term may refer to different concepts. • Engagement has been linked to: • active participation; • energy; • connection.

6. What is engagement? • We may emphasise different components of engagement in our individual understandings of the term: • behavioural; • emotional; • cognitive.

7. What is engagement? • Engagement is hard to measure • Self-reporting questionnaires; • Lack of qualitative and observational methodologies.

8. Are we looking at different parts of the elephant?

9. A trend toward disengagement? • As evidenced by student behaviours: • lack of class preparation, such as failure to read the assigned materials; • disinclination to participate meaningfully in class; • resistance to attendance requirements; • resistance to active learning techniques; • inability to concentrate; • dependency on the lectures and the lecturer to acquire knowledge and a ‘surface’ approach to learning.

10. A trend towards disengagement? • As evidenced by lack of belonging: • first-year students are spending less time on campus, are less involved in extracurricular activities, tend not to make close friends and increasingly indicate that they keep to themselves on campus. • Only half of first-year students could claim a sense of belonging on their university campus, even though the vast majority of respondents were full-time, campus-based students. • James, Kraus and Jennings

11. A trend towards disengagement? • academic engagement and engagement with the social and communal life of universities go hand in hand; • both have been found to be in decline.

12. Why the trend towards disengagement? • New relationships of work and study; • An increasingly market-driven environment (student as both consumer and commodity); • Student expectations and priorities.

13. Policies and disengagement • Overlooking the link between social and academic engagement? • Loss of VSU; • Growth; • Responding to demand; • Processes that foster anonymity and disengagement; • Neglected role of P & A staff.

14. The need for a whole of institution approach • Research links positive academic engagement with social engagement; • Students do best where they have a sense of belonging; • Despite the reduction in time spent on campus, students want a sense of community and the chance to make connections.

15. The need for a whole of institution approach • Don’t just focus on academic activities: evidence suggests extracurricular activities foster engagement; • Opportunities for civic engagement by both staff and students can promote a sense of belonging and connection.

16. For more detail: • Baron and Corbin, ‘Student Engagement: Rhetoric and Reality’ (2012) 31(6) HERD 759 (available online).