Presented by Nancy Johnston Earl Anderson

1. Co-operative Education and Student Engagement, Recruitment, and Retention: early results from a multi-institutional study in British Columbia Presented by Nancy Johnston Earl Anderson on behalf of The Association for Co-operative Education BC/Yukon Research Committee Charlottetown P.E.I. June 2010

2. Session Overview • Introductions • Why We Undertook the Research • Methodology • Early Findings • Lessons and Next Steps

3. Why Did We Undertake This Research? • Growing interest in the notion of student engagement across North America, particularly as it relates to Student Recruitment and Retention or SEM • Need to have more concrete information regarding the role that co-operative education programs play in student recruitment and retention decisions and outcomes • Desire to gain an enhanced understanding of the relationship between participation in co-op and “known” student engagement measures • Opportunity to learn more from a cross-section of students regarding factors that influence their co-op related choices and decisions

4. Literature Review: selections Consulted major publications in the student retention and engagement literature: • Noel-Levitz, 2007 – describes factors affecting student recruitment and retention • Cabrara & La Nasa, 2002 – link student enrollment to financial drivers • Kuh, 2003 – links student engagement and retention • Pike, Gonyea,& Kuh, 2003 – link educationally purposeful programs with learning and development • Avenoso & Totoro, 1993 – link persistence with courses seen as relevant to a career and to co-op • Somers, 1986 – compares co-op students’ completion rates (higher) with non co-op students (lower) • Tinto, 1993 & 2001 – examines connections between student engagement (especially outside the classroom) and retention

5. The Research Questions • What role does co-operative education play in a student’s decision to attend an institution (recruitment) and in their level of engagement with their institution (retention)? • What factors influence a student’s decision to participate in co-operative education?

6. Methodology: Subjects • Pan-provincial study involving 12 different public co-op institutions across British Columbia (colleges, technical institutions and universities) which included students in both mandatory and optional co-op programs • This resulted in total of 2,737 participants –representing approximately a 20% response rate • Subjects varied in terms of gender, program type, credential sought, special interest groups, and level of academic and work experience

7. Methodology: Instrument • The survey design was informed by Kuh’s NSSE framework in order to: • Link to the significant, existing student engagement and retention research base in both Canada and the US • Allow for a shared vocabulary in conversations regarding strategic enrollment management, student engagement, and student success • Reflect, in the survey, general engagement themes from Kuh including student /faculty interaction, academic challenge, supportive campus environment, enriched educational experience, active and collaborative learning.

8. Methodology: Instrument • The survey was anonymous and conducted online • Human research ethics approved at all institutions • Informed consent obtained from all participants • Anonymity mitigated potential “power over” issues • Surveys sent to all students identified by the institution as registered co-op students (not randomized) • The survey tool consisted of 150 questions, reflecting the following general themes: • Student recruitment • Student retention • Student engagement • Demographic data (gender, credential sought, # work terms, school term, type of institution, etc.)

9. Methodology: Data Collection • Data collection took place in November and December of 2008 • E-mail invitations to participate were sent to ACE member institutions which included a web link to the survey tool • Once ethics approval was received each institution sent e-mails inviting all eligible students to participate • Students had incentive to win $25 from their institution for participating • Data was compiled using Vovici - a web based survey tool with Canadian based data repository • http://www.vovici.com/

10. Overview of Respondents • 83% were from optional co-op programs, 17% from mandatory co-op programs • 54% were female,46% male • 1.4% self identified as first nations, aboriginal, Métis or Inuit • 11% were international students • 2.4% identified as having a physical or learning disability • The majority (86%) were seeking a four year Bachelors degree • 23% were in their first or second year of school, 70% in their third or fourth year of school, 6% were grad students • 18% had completed 1 co-op work term, 20% completed 2 work terms, 23% completed 3 or more, and 38% had not yet completed a work term

11. Overview of Early Findings of Interest • #1: Co-op clarifies academic pathways • #2: Co-op links school and career • #3: Co-op provides “educational enhancement” • #4: Recruiting through and to co-op

12. Early Findings of Interest #1: Co-op helps students clarify their academic pathway 1. Participation in co-op programs directly affected students’ academic program choices (either by confirming them or changing them). “Co-op students engage in affective learning, develop as professionals, apply content and theories learned in academic courses, and gain new knowledge through experience.” (Hoffart et al, 2006).

13. Early Findings of Interest #1: Participation in co-op influenced academic program choices

14. Early Findings of Interest #1: Participation in co-op influenced academic program choices “Co-op also helped me figure out my educational goal for the future.” “My participation in co-op has... shown me what I do not want to do in my area of study.” “It has made me realize that engineering is not my passion, and will likely not be my choice of career in the long term.”

15. Early Findings of Interest #1: Influencing post-graduate studies choices “It has strongly confirmed my choice of academic program and shown me a tonne about potential graduate directions.” “Although I am still undecided on exactly which field I want to go into to for graduate studies, I'm pretty positive it will be directly related to medical physics (I had two co-op jobs in this field).”

16. Early Findings of Interest #1: Participation in co-op influenced academic program choices An Ipsos Reid 2010 survey entitled “Impact of Co-op Education Programs”, surveyed 1,493 adult Canadians of who enrolled in co-op programs via an on line poll and discovered that a majority of them felt that their work terms had a significant impact on their career choice, getting their first job, their workplace integration and their academic learning.

17. Early Findings of Interest #2: Co-op helps link professional and academic careers 2.Co-op serves to link students’ academic and professional careers “Students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that provide clear and consistent information about institutional requirements and … the choices students have to make regarding their programs of study and future career goals.” (Vincent Tinto, 2001)

18. Early Findings of Interest #2: Co-op helps link professional and academic careers

19. Early Findings of Interest #2: Co-op helps link professional and academic careers • “I feel more confident in my classes and can see more clearly how the different aspects of my education are actually preparing me for the ‘real world’.” • “coop has given me insight about what it is to work in the real world, and how different that is from school.”

20. Early Findings of Interest #2: Co-op helps link professional and academic careers • The Ipsos Reid (2010) survey found that 79% feel their co-op program influenced at least somewhat their decision about what career they would choose.

21. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement 3. Participation in co-op enhances students’ overall educational engagement. “The more students study or practice a subject, the more they tend to learn about it. The very act of being engaged also adds to the foundation of skills and disposition that is essential to live a productive and satisfying life after college” “…student engagement constitutes a constellation of institutional processes that may ‘add value’ to student learning.” (Carni, Kuh & Klein, 2003)

22. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement • Students were given the chance to give additional comments after each question • We analyzed the comments from question 23 which asked students to rate how their work term affected their classroom learning • We grouped the 112 responses into five categories:

23. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement 1.Classroom not teaching real world skills (44%) 2. My work term helped theories in the classroom make sense (24%) 3. Jobs not linked to any course work (17%) 4. Skills learned are valuable but not directly relevant (10%) 5. I observed that the workplace has a different learning style (5%)

24. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement Application of Knowledge-classroom based

25. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagementAdditional Comments

26. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement • “I learned and understood concepts during work that I couldn’t understand in school.” • “Co-op helped me become more outgoing and confident in my knowledge. It helped me see how textbook knowledge is different than applied knowledge, and that you must have a solid base of textbook knowledge in order to succeed and apply it properly.”

27. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement • “Going to a work term as an intern, you enter with nothing but your classroom-based ideas as your foundation. Although you may be able to compare some theories ideas or experiences from previous work terms, an intern student generally does not have enough experience to judge importance of information. Generally information is thought to be overly valuable. However, you do use the theories and ideas you learned from school synchronously with new knowledge in order to apply them to the new situations and problems at work.”

28. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement • “More than anything, my 2nd workterm in particular helped me to decide what I want to do with my life and that increased my motivation, and I started working harder when I went back to school and got better grades…so that now I have a chance of going to grad school.” • “Co-op has really opened up my social circle and expanded my network. I feel a lot more confident in my classes and can see more clearly how the different aspects of my education are actually preparing me for the "real world". Having worked with many professionals in my co-op term, it has also increase my confidence in speaking with professors and building relationships with my peers.”

29. Early Findings of Interest #3:Co-op serves to enhance educational engagement • The Ipsos Reid poll documented that 84% of Canadians who enrolled in co-op programs felt the co-op work term assisted them with the academic learning

30. Early Findings of Interest #4:Co-op and recruitment We analyzed participation in co-op from two perspectives: 1. Recruitment to the institution 2. Recruitment to co-op

31. Early Findings of Interest #4:Co-op and institutional recruitment

32. Early Findings of Interest #4: Co-op and institutional recruitment • “I specifically came to SFU because they mentioned career jobs that I could attain with my degree. Co-op provided the link between school and career.”

33. Early Findings of Interest #4: Co-op and institutional recruitment

34. Early Findings of Interest #4: Recruitment into co-op

35. Early Findings of Interest #4: Recruitment into co-op – how did you hear about co-op?

36. Early Findings of Interest #4: Recruitment into co-op – how did you hear about co-op? • Among the 83% of Canadians with post-secondary education who did not participate in a co-op program, fully half (50%) say they would have liked to study in this type of program, knowing what they know now about their education and work experience.

37. In Summary… • At this point in the analysis, we can say with confidence that: • Co-op participation influences students’ academic choices to better align them with their career choices, thereby enhancing student retention and success. • Participation in at least one work term has a positive impact on students’ academic engagement which is linked to Kuh’s notion of “enriching educational experience” – a positive contributor to overall institutional student satisfaction. • The ability to participate in co-op was a factor considered by approximately 50% of co-op students when they chose their post-secondary institution. • Recruitment into optional co-op programs is greatly influenced by friends, family and institutional web-based outreach. • More students would consider co-op if they could obtain credit for work terms towards their academic degree and end on a co-op term.

38. Things We Have Learned In addition to the early findings of interest, through doing this work we have also learned: • About the challenges and rewards of large scale collaborations • About the true value of a co-op student researcher • That weak questions make for lousy data (too many neutral answers) and produce knowledge gaps • That we needed to ask more direct questions regarding recruitment and co-op

39. Things We have Learned (cont’d) • That we need more authentic learning frameworks to help in assessing the nature of learning in co-op (pre-, during- and post-work term) • That a 20 minute survey takes 40 minutes to complete • That a bit more demographic info could have allowed for more discipline specific reports • That this work has given practitioners and the co-op community in BC a boost

40. Acknowledgements • Thank you to… …you for your time and feedback regarding this work …the Association for Co-operative Education BC/Yukon for their moral and financial support and to its members for their active participation on the research team. …the thousands of co-op students from 12 institutions that took substantial time to complete the survey and provide their honest comments regarding their experiences with co-op.

41. For Further Information • Copies of this presentation will be posted on the ACE web site: www.co-op.bc.ca/ • For further information regarding this research project please contact Norah McRae, Chair, ACE Research Committee at nmcrae@uvic.ca