Why Learning Communities Work: A DEEPer Look at Effective Educational Practice George D. Kuh

1. Why Learning Communities Work: A DEEPer Look at Effective Educational Practice George D. Kuh Center for Postsecondary Research Indiana University Bloomington November 16, 2004

2. Student Engagement Quiz True or False? More first-year students at research universities participate in learning communities than their peers at liberal arts colleges. True(15% vs. 9%)

3. Student Engagement Quiz True or False? More students at research universities do community service as part of a class than students attending liberal arts colleges. False(47% vs. 37%)

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

5. Overview • Effective Educational Practice • NSSE Framework and Status • What We’ve Learned • Implications

6. Points to Ponder • What are we trying to accomplish with living-learning environments? • What makes for an educationally effective living-learning environment? • What would be persuasive evidence that we are accomplishing our intended purposes? • What would be useful data for improving our programs?

7. What Matters to Student Success Lessons from the research

8. Lessons from the Research • What matters most to desired outcomes is what students do, not who they are • A key factor for student learning is the quality of effort students devote to educationally purposeful activities

9. What Really Matters in College: Student Engagement “The research is unequivocal: students who are actively involved in both academic and out-of-class activities gain more from the college experience than those who are not so involved.” Ernest T. Pascarella & Patrick T. Terenzini, How College Affects Students

10. Lessons from the Research • What matters most is what students do, not who they are • A key factor is the quality of effort students expend • Educationally effective institutions channel student energy toward the right activities

11. Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education(Chickering & Gamson, 1987) • Student-faculty contact • Active learning • Prompt feedback • High expectations • Respect for diverse learning styles • Cooperation among students • Time on task

12. Student Engagement Quiz What percent of full-time students study two hours or more for every hour in class? (a) 14% (b) 24% (c) 31% (d) 39% (e) 49% a.14%

13. Two Components of Student Engagement • What students do –Time and energy devoted to educationally purposeful activities • What institutions do – Effective educational practices to induce students to do the right things

14. Worth Pondering • We value what we measure • Therefore, we should carefully decide what to measure and make certain it comports with our institutional mission, values, and desired outcomes.

15. Types of Measures • Outcomes measures • Evidence of what students have learned or can do • Process Measures • Evidence of effective educational activity by students and institutions

16. Evidence of Student Engagement To what extent do students engage in effective educational practices?

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

18. NSSE Project Scope • 620,000 students from 850+ different schools • 68% of 4-yr undergraduate FTE • 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada • 70+ consortia

19. The College Student Report Student Behaviors Institutional Actions & Requirements Student Learning & Development Reactions to College Student Background Information

20. In your experience at your institution during the current school year, about how often have you done each of the following? 1

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

25. What have we learned so far from NSSE?

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

28. GPA & Student-Faculty InteractionRegression: Random Intercepts and Slopes Model GPA Interaction with Faculty

29. Student Engagement Quiz What percent of first-year students never discuss ideas outside of class with a faculty member? (a) 14% (b) 19% (c) 30% (d) 44% (e) 55% d.44%

30. Prompt Feedback Upper Division Lower Division FACULTY gave prompt feedback often or very often 92% | 92% 1st yr. Students Seniors STUDENTS received prompt feedback often or very often 52% / 64%

32. Does institutional size matter to engagement? Yes, size matters. Smaller is generally better.

33. Benchmark Scores for All Students by Undergraduate Enrollment

34. Academic Challenge, Active Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction by Enrollment

35. Student engagement varies more within than between institutions.

38. Worth Pondering • How do we reach our least engaged students?

39. Who’s more engaged? • Women • Fraternity & sorority members • Full-time students • Students who live on campus • Students with diversity experiences • Learning community students

40. Experiences with Diversity

41. Who is likely to participate in LCs? • Both classes: Non-transfer, minority, Greek, fulltime students, and pre-professional and 2+ majors • 1st year: low parent education, living on campus • Senior: women

42. Benefits of Learning Communities • Academic Performance • SAT/ACT • Grades without controls • Grades with pre-college controls

43. Benefits of Learning Communities • Engagement • Quality of Campus Environment • Learning Outcomes • First-year vs. Senior

44. Effects of Learning Communities on Engagement

45. What major public research university ranks in the top 10 among its peers in terms of external grants and contracts but also did six major studies of the quality of the undergraduate experience of its students since 1986? University of Michigan

46. Project DEEP To discover, document and describe what high performing institutions do and how they achieved this level of effectiveness.

47. DEEP Selection Criteria • Controlling for student and institutional characteristics (i.e., selectivity, diversity, institutional type), DEEP schools have: • Higher-than-predicted graduation rates • Higher-than-predicted NSSE scores • Region and institutional • type, special mission

48. Project DEEP Partners

49. DEEP Guiding Questions: • What do high-performing colleges and universities do to promote student success? • What campus features -- policies, programs, and practices --contribute to high levels of engagement and better than predicted graduation rates?

50. Project DEEP* Liberal Arts California State, Monterey Bay Macalester College Sweet Briar College The Evergreen State College University of the South Ursinus College Wabash College Wheaton College (MA) Wofford College Baccalaureate General Alverno College University of Maine at Farmington Winston-Salem State University Doctoral Extensives University of Kansas University of Michigan Doctoral Intensives George Mason University Miami University (Ohio) University of Texas El Paso Master’s Granting Fayetteville State University Gonzaga University Longwood University • * Selection criteria: Higher-than-predicted graduation rates; Higher-than-predicted student engagement scores