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The future of Higher Education Extinction or evolution?

Explore the evolving landscape of higher education, debunk common myths, and highlight the power of narratives in shaping educational outcomes. Gain insight into challenges like student attrition and the positive impact of service-learning on transfer students' sense of belonging. Discover key initiatives and strategies driving student success in the modern academic environment.

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The future of Higher Education Extinction or evolution?

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  1. The future of Higher Education Extinction or evolution? Travis T. York, Ph.D.Assistant Vice President,Academic & Student Affairs Association of Public & Land-grant Universities

  2. The future of Higher Education Extinction or evolution? Travis T. York, Ph.D.Assistant Vice President,Academic & Student Affairs Association of Public & Land-grant Universities

  3. Has Higher Education Changed?

  4. Has Higher Education Changed? “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience.” - Robert Fulghum

  5. Myth Busting – Big Picture

  6. Myth Busting – Big Picture

  7. Myth Busting – Big Picture

  8. Myth Busting – Big Picture

  9. Myth Busting – Higher Ed Picture

  10. Myth Busting – Higher Ed Picture

  11. Take-Away 1: Perspective is Important…

  12. So, What’s Your Narrative? Complexities of Attrition • Of the 3.6 million US College students enrolled in 2008, more than 1 in 3 (37.2%) were transfer students. • Striking difference in the six-year persistence rates between students who completed their degrees at their starting institutions (42.1%) and those that completed their degrees at different institutions (13.0%)–that translates into a 29.1 percentage point disparity (Shapiro et al., 2014). • 14% of undergraduates with at least 75% of their required credits completed nevertheless leave without degrees. • Unmet financial need is a serious barrier to degree completion, especially at institutions where financial aid budgets are small relative to demand. When tuition and fees are not paid, re-enrollment is often impossible, even for students who are close to finishing college. • By the way, the most prominent metric used to discuss the “success” of postsecondary institutions is their IPEDS graduation rate… McScuze Me?!

  13. So, What’s Your Narrative?

  14. Takeaway 2: Never Underestimate the Power of a Good Story • MI state legislature calls for increased mobility between 2- and 4-year institutions in 2012 • The 2016 Michigan Transfer Agreement • A statewide approach to Guided Pathways • A focus on evidence-based strategies to increase student success…

  15. What is APLU? APLU is a research and advocacy organization of public research universities, land-grant institutions, and state university systems APLU's mission is to: • Expand access and improve student success to deliver the innovative workforce of tomorrow; • Advance and promote research and discovery to improve society, foster economic growth, and address global challenges; and • Build healthy, prosperous, equitable, and vibrant communities locally and globally.

  16. Members • 239 Members • 24 State University Systems • 210 Public Research Universities • 75 Land-Grant Universities • 5 Affiliates • 23 Historically Black Colleges and Universities • 19 1890 Land-Grant Universities • 2 1862 Land-Grant Universities • 9 Canadian Universities • 5 Mexican Universities

  17. APLU Legacy • Oldest higher education association in North America with roots stretching to 1887 • 1963 merger created National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) • American Association of Land-Grant Colleges and State Universities • National Association of State Universities • 2009 name change • Association of Public and Land-grant Universities

  18. A Good Story…

  19. So, What’s Your Narrative? • MI state legislature calls for increased mobility between 2- and 4-year institutions in 2012 • The 2016 Michigan Transfer Agreement • A statewide approach to Guided Pathways • A focus on evidence-based strategies to increase student success…

  20. So, What’s Your Narrative? • MI state legislature calls for increased mobility between 2- and 4-year institutions in 2012 • The 2016 Michigan Transfer Agreement • A statewide approach to Guided Pathways • A focus on evidence-based strategies to increase student success… • WHAT GOES HERE? • Takeaway 3: Never forget we are the authors of our future… what will it be?

  21. The Positive Effects of Service-Learning on Transfer Students’ Sense of Belonging: Frank Fernandez, Ph.D.Assistant Professor,Higher EducationUniversity of Houston A Multi-Institutional Analysis Travis T. York, Ph.D.Assistant Vice President,Academic & Student Affairs APLU York, T. T., & Fernandez, F. (2018). The positive effects of service-learning on transfer students' sense of belonging: A multi-institutional analysis. Journal of College Student Development, 59(5). doi:10.1353/csd.2018.0054

  22. Background • Transfer Students • Of the 3.6 million US College students enrolled in 2008, more than 1 in 3 (37.2%) were transfer students. • Striking difference in the six-year persistence rates between students who completed their degrees at their starting institutions (42.1%) and those that completed their degrees at different institutions (13.0%)–that translates into a 29.1percentage point disparity (Shapiro et al., 2014). Complexities of Attrition • Educational researchers have found that students’ leave college due to a lack of academic or social integration—both of which are central aspects of students’ sense of belonging (Bean, 1983; Braxton, Milem, & Sullivan, 2000; Cabrera, Nora, & Castaneda, 1993; Nora, Attinasi, & Matonak, 1990; Tinto, 1987, 1993, 2012) • Braxton et al. (2000) concluded that active learning pedagogies significantly affected social integration and thereby students’ institutional commitment and retention. • Similarly, Ishitani (2006) argued that the primary factor contributing to transfer students’ survival of transfer shock was increased academic success. • Potential Mitigation • Scholars have found that service-learning is an active learning pedagogy that is positively related to students’ social integration, institutional commitment, retention, academic success, and acquisition of higher order cognitive skills (Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee, 2000; Braxton et al., 2000; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Naude, 2015; Vogelgeslang & Astin, 2000).

  23. Defining Service-Learning “Service-learning is defined through the Learn and Serve America statute as an educational method under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of a community; • iscoordinated within an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community; • helps foster civic responsibility; • is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the participant is enrolled; • and provides structured time for the students or participants to reflect on the service experience.” [42 U.S.C. 12511] (CNCS, 2008, p. xiv)

  24. Research Question & Framing Research QuestionDo college students who participate in service-learning courses after transferring from one college to another tend to have an increased sense of belonging at their new institution? • FrameworksTinto’s (1993) theory of undergraduate retention guided this study, suggesting that students’ decisions to exit or persist at an institution result from a combination of academic and social acculturation. We applied Tinto’s theory within Terenzini and Reason’s (2005) comprehensive model of influences on student learning and persistence to guide our conceptual approach to this study. Terenzini and Reason argue that while an enormous body of literature has demonstrated that individual student experiences are clearly related to student learning and persistence, The effects of these experiences, however, are often treated conceptually and empirically in a highly segmented and often discrete fashion, as if certain experiences (or sets of experiences) were the only factors at work shaping student learning, change, or persistence. Such studies produce only a partial picture of the forces at work. (p.12)

  25. Conceptual Approach to Service-Learning The College Experience Service-Learning Organizational Context Peer Environment Individual Student Experiences • Precollege Characteristics & Experiences • Socio-demographic traits • Academic preparation & performance • Personal and social experiences Internal Structures, Policies, & Practices -Sense of Belonging • Outcomes • Learning • Development • Change • Retention • Persistence Classroom Experiences Academic and Co-Curricular Programs, Policies, and Practices Out-of-class Experiences -Transfer College Students Curricular Experiences Faculty Culture (Adapted from Terenzini & Reason, 2005)

  26. Data & Sample • Diverse Learning Environments Survey (2011) from UCLA-HERI • Sample included 494 transfer students • Multiple campuses including public, private, religious colleges and universities

  27. Measures • Dependent variable was DLE’s Sense of Belonging construct • “measures the extent to which students feel a psychological sense of integration on campus” (Hurtado & Guillermo-Wann, 2013, p. 16) • Independent variable of interest was DLE’s measure of Service-Learning Courses • The question asked students if they had “opportunities to study and serve communities in need (e.g., service learning)” • Control Variables for student statuses, experiences • high school GPA, first-generation status, low-income status, age, race/ethnicity, sex, years completed in college, transfer experiences

  28. Methods of Analysis • ANOVA tests • Ensure that there weren’t statistically significant differences in the DV across campuses • Box and Whisker Plots • To display Sense of Belonging means by number of Service-Learning Courses completed • Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Estimation • Robustness checks with institution effects (dummy variables), other type of active learning pedagogy

  29. Findings • There was a curvilinear (bivariate) relationship between Sense of Belonging and Service-Learning Courses • Students who took two, three, or four SL courses tended to have lower Sense of Belonging than students who took only one (or five or more) Note: The shaded boxes include the 25th and 75th percentiles of Sense of Belonging scores. The horizontal lines within the shaded boxes represent means or averages for each group of students. The whiskers extend to include the sense of belonging scores at the 5th and 95th percentiles. Dots represent outlying values. We also used histograms and calculated skewness and found that skewness was not a problem for the Sense of Belonging variable.

  30. OLS Regression Findings • Students who took SL courses tended to have higher Sense of Belonging scores than those who did not • We estimated that there were larger positive relationships between Sense of Belonging and (a) taking one service learning course or (b) taking five or more SL courses; weaker relationship between Sense of Belonging and taking two-four SL courses • The positive estimated coefficient for taking one SL course was larger than the negative estimated coefficient for low-income status • Overall model explained about 36% of the variance in Sense of Belonging

  31. Post Hoc Predicted Predicted values of students’ sense of belonging for each category of exposure to service-learning courses. As a post-hoc analysis test, we calculated the predicted values of Sense of Belonging for each level of Service-Learning Courses. This process demonstrated what the expected mean would be for the transfer students if they assumed each level of Service-Learning Courses, but held other variables constant. The predicted values support the idea that there may be a curvilinear relationship between service-learning courses and sense of belonging.

  32. Conclusions

  33. Implications • Institutions seeking to increase the success of their transfer students should consider specific ways to provide well-integrated service-learning experiences into students’ curriculum. • Curriculum Development (Faculty grants, Teaching Centers, etc.) • Targeted Programs (LLC, Bridge Programs) • Institutions should explore ways to provide professional development opportunities for faculty that focus on integrating service-learning and facilitating reflective discourse. • At the Institutional level… • Institutionalization of service-learning in both organizational structure and institutional commitments (Engaged Departments) • Institutional policies should reflect institutional goals for increased commitment to service-learning. (i.e, promotion & tenure processes) Future Research • The nonlinear relationship indicated by these findings should be explored within other commonly researched service-learning outcomes. • Research on transfer students should explore how participation in service-learning increases this population’s sense of belonging and what process mediates the nonlinear nature. Similarly, researchers should seek to design a study that captures the changing nature of this outcome over time with the same group of students to verify its seemingly shifting status.

  34. References • Astin, A. W., Vogelgesang, L. J., Ikeda, E. K., & Yee, J. A. (2000). How service learning affects students. Higher Education Research Institute. Los Angeles, CA. • Braxton, J. M., Milem, J. F., & Sullivan, A. S. (2000). The influence of active learning on the college student departure process: Toward a revision of Tinto’s theory. Journal of Higher Education, 71(5), 569–590 • Eyler, J. & Giles, D.E., Jr. (1999). Where’s the learning in service-learning? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. • Cabrera, A. F., Nora, A., & Castaneda, M. B. (1993). College persistence: Structural equations modeling test of an integrated model of student retention. Journal of Higher Education, 64(2), 123–139. • Ishitani, T. T. (2008). How do transfers survive after “transfer shock”? A longitudinal study of transfer student departure at a four-year institution. Research in Higher Education, 49, 403–419. doi:10.1007/s11162-008-9091-x • Nora, A., Attinasi, L.C., & Matonak, A. (1990). Testing qualitative indicators of pre-college factors in Tinto’s attrition model: A community college student population. Review of Higher Education, 13(3), 337–355. • Naude, L. (2015). On (un)common ground: Transforming from dissonance to commitment in a service learning class. Journal of College Student Development, 56(1), 84-102. • Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., Wakhungu, P.K, Yuan, X., & Harrell, A. (2015, July). Transfer and Mobility: A National View of Student Movement in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2008 Cohort (Signature Report No. 9). Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. • Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. • Tinto, V. (2012). Completing college: Rethinking institutional action. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. • Vogelgesang, L. J., & Astin, A. W. (2000). Comparing the effects of community service and service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 7, 25–34. Retrieved April 27, 2011, from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ629664. • York, T. T. (2015). More than a desire to serve: A mixed methods exploration of low-income, first-generation college students’ motivations to participate in service-learning, In Service-Learning to advance social justice in a time of radical inequality (Advances in Service-Learning Research Series), Tinkler, A.; Jagla, G.; Tinkler, B.; & Strait, J. (eds.). • York, T. T. (2016). Exploring service-learning outcomes and experiences for low-income, first-generation college students: A mixed-methods approach. International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, 4(1) Available online: http://journals.sfu.ca/iarslce/index.php/journal/article/view/201

  35. Travis T. York, Ph.D.AVP of Academic & Student Affairs, APLU@travisyork📧tyork@aplu.org

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