George D. Kuh 16 th ISL Symposium Durham, England September 2, 2008

1. High Impact Activities What They Are, Why They Work, Who Benefits • George D. Kuh • 16th ISL Symposium • Durham, England • September 2, 2008

2. Javier Sarah Nicole

3. We all want the same thing--an undergraduate experience that results in high levels of learning and personal development for all students.

4. Student Success in College Academic achievement, engagement in educationally purposeful activities, satisfaction, acquisition of desired knowledge, skills and competencies, persistence, attainment of educational objectives, and post-college performance

5. Overview • The U.S. context • What the world needs now • Student engagement • High impact practices: what they are, why they matter and who benefits

6. Advance Organizers • To what extent do your students engage in productive learning activities, inside and outside the classroom? • How do you know? • What could we do differently -- or better -- to enhance student success?

7. The U.S. Context • Unprecedented numbers of increasingly diverse students matriculating • Many underprepared students • Rising college costs • Continuing shift of cost from states to students • Increasing numbers of part-time instructors • Worries about collegiate quality, global competitiveness

8. The U.S. Context • National Commission on Future of Higher Education • Voluntary System of Accountability(NASULGC & AASCU)

9. Voluntary System of Accountability College Portrait • Consumer information • Student experiences and perceptions • Student learning outcomes

10. Assessment Purposes Improvement Accountability Transparency

11. Association of American Colleges and Universities

12. Narrow Learning is Not Enough—The Essential Learning Outcomes • Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical & Natural World • Intellectual and Practical Skills • Personal and Social Responsibility • “Deep”/Integrative Learning

13. 38% 37% 37% 10% 21% 4% 6% Most Important Skills Employers Look For In New Hires RecentGrads* Teamwork skills Critical thinking/ reasoning Oral/written communication Ability to assemble/organize information Innovative/thinking creatively Able to work with numbers/statistics Foreign language proficiency * Skills/abilities recent graduates think are the two most important to employers

14. Evidence of College Graduates Skills/Knowledge Very effective Fairly effective Supervised internship/community-based project 83% Senior project (e.g., thesis, project) 79% Essay tests 60% Electronic portfolio & faculty assessments 56% Multiple-choice tests 32%

15. What Really Matters in College: Student Engagement Because individual effort and involvement are the critical determinants of college impact, institutions should focus on the ways they can shape their academic, interpersonal, and extracurricular offerings to encourage student engagement. Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005, p. 602

16. Foundations of Student Engagement Time on task (Tyler, 1930s) Quality of effort (Pace, 1960-70s) Student involvement (Astin, 1984) Social, academic integration (Tinto,1987, 1993) Good practices in undergraduate education (Chickering & Gamson, 1987) College impact (Pascarella, 1985) Student engagement (Kuh, 1991, 2005)

17. Student Engagement Trinity • What students do -- time and energy devoted to educationally purposeful activities • What institutions do -- using effective educational practices to induce students to do the right things • Educationally effective institutions channel student energy toward the right activities

18. Good Practices in Undergraduate Education(Chickering & Gamson, 1987; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) • Student-faculty contact • Active learning • Prompt feedback • Time on task • High expectations • Respect for diverse learning styles • Cooperation among students

19. National Survey of Student Engagement(pronounced “nessie”)Community College Survey of Student Engagement(pronounced “cessie”) College student surveys that assess the extent to which students engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development

20. NSSE Project Scope • 2,000,000+ students from 1,334 different schools • 80+% of 4-yr U.S. undergraduate FTE • 50 states, Puerto Rico • 59 Canadian IHEs • 100+ consortia

21. NSSE Use Over Time

22. AUSSIE Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) is administered by ACER. It is intended to yield generalisable information about university education sensitive to institutional diversity that will allow institutions to monitor and enhance the quality of education.

23. NSSE Questionnaire Student Behaviors Student Learning & Development Institutional Actions & Requirements Reactions to College Student Background Information

24. Effective Educational Practices Level of Academic Challenge Active & Collaborative Learning Student- Faculty Interaction Supportive Campus Environment Enriching Educational Experiences

25. Key findings

26. Grades, persistence, student satisfaction, and engagement go hand in hand

27. Student engagement varies more within than between institutions.

30. It’s more complicated than this… • Many of the effects of college are “conditional” • Some are compensatory

35. Narrow Learning is Not Enough—The Essential Learning Outcomes • Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical & Natural World • Intellectual and Practical Skills • Personal and Social Responsibility • “Deep”/Integrative Learning

36. “Deep”/Integrative Learning • Attend to the underlying meaning of information as well as content • Integrate and synthesize different ideas, sources of information • Discern patterns in evidence or phenomena • Apply knowledge in different situations • View issues from multiple perspectives

37. “Deep learning is learning that takes root in our apparatus of understanding, in the embedded meanings that define us and that we use to define the world.” J. Tagg (2003). The learning paradigm college (p. 70). Bolton, MA: Anker

38. Integrating ideas or information from various sources Included diverse perspectives in class discussions/writing Put together ideas from different courses Discussed ideas with faculty members outside of class Discussed ideas with others outside of class Analyzing the basic elements of an idea, experience, or theory Essential Learning Outcome:NSSE Deep/Integrative Learning • Synthesizing & organizing ideas, info., or experiences • Making judgments about the value of information • Applying theories to practical problems or in new situations • Examined the strengths and weaknesses of your own views • Tried to better understand someone else's views • Learned something that changed how you understand an issue

39. 4 3.5 Seniors 3 First-Year Students Average Deep Learning 2.5 2 1.5 1 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Number of Pages Written Writing and Deep Learning National Survey of Student Engagement

40. 4.00 3.50 Seniors 3.00 First-Year Students Average Deep Learning 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 Never Sometimes Often Very often Frequency of Prompt Feedback from Faculty Feedback and Deep Learning National Survey of Student Engagement

41. High Impact Activities • First-Year Seminars and Experiences  • Common Intellectual Experiences • Learning Communities • Writing-Intensive Courses • Collaborative Assignments and Projects • “Science as Science Is Done”; Undergraduate Research • Diversity/Global Learning • Service Learning, Community-Based Learning • Internships • Capstone Courses and Projects

42. Effects of Participating in High-Impact Practices on Deep/Integrative Learning and Gains

43. Effects of Participating in High-Impact Practices on Student Engagement

44. Learning Communities • Formal program where groups of students (FY) take two or more classes together • LC programs that integrate material across courses are associated with better student engagement and learning

46. Service Learning • Community-based project as part of a regular course • 36% of FY students and 46% of seniors participate in SL • More likely to be present at smaller and private institutions • Positively associated with deep learning and personal development

47. Research with a Faculty Member • Outside of course/program requirements • More likely in the sciences; less likely in business • Majority utilized existing info (libraries, WWW), and almost half worked in laboratory and fieldwork settings • Reviewing literature and interpreting findings most closely related to deep learning • Data collection had the weakest relationship

48. Contributions to Aspects of the Research Project

49. Average Weekly Research Hours

50. Percentage of Students Participating in Research with Faculty by Faculty Time Spent on UG Research Hours per week