DEEP Innovations in College TeachingPrepared and Presented By
Institutional Effectiveness Staff to
Spring 2012
Solutions for Student Retention and Success Solutions are in pieces at different institutions. SREB & other best practices: Are we doing these?
Graduating students should be 1st priority of frontline people students encounter every day (faculty and staff)
Making administration, departments, colleges accountable for recruitment, retention, degree production
Targeting out-of-state better performing students Increasing online programs at all levels and colleges Aggressively recruiting community college transfers who
only have 2 years to degree Recruiting grad students out of EKU’s graduating class Recruiting stop-outs with a financially creative solution
DEEP study focused more on deep learning— classroom and faculty solutions.
Project DEEP
To discover, document, and describe what high performing institutions do and how they achieved this level of effectiveness
Presenter
Presentation Notes
As the NSSE Institute is the service arm of NSSE, its first major project is designed to highlight best practices at high-performing institutions FOR THE PURPOSES OF sharing these practices with other NSSE Institutions.
DEEP Research 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?
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The data show us that these are high-performing schools. The project helped us answer WHY they are so good.
DEEP Selection Criteria
Region and institutional type, special mission
Presenter
Presentation Notes
So it’s a combination of these two factors. There are plenty of high-scoring schools as part of NSSE; these were just 20 of the ones that met these criteria.
Findings from Project DEEP
No blueprint for success Institutions created own way, experimenting with
home-grown ideas and adapting promising practices discovered at other institutions
Complementary, interactive and synergistic conditions promote student learning
Sustained at many levels, no “unsupported mandates”
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Sustained by Leadership (Theo and “just do it”; Judy Levy); Resources - small pockets of $ (UMF, U of M); Staff support – hiring an assessment director (CSUMB); etc.
Characteristics of DEEP Schools Learning-centered philosophy Shared responsibility for educational quality Acculturate and affirm students Capitalize on location Purposeful infusion of diversity Focus on improvement-oriented assessment Use of technology to support and enrich the
learning environment High expectations balanced by support
Academic Challenge
expectations Writing Intensive Co-curriculum connected to academic
program A rigorous senior culminating
experience
Intentional socialization to academic expectations Best Practice: First-year students read a
common novel and write a short essay connecting it to their own lives. The eight best essays are published and distributed to all new students, creating the first class celebrities. Faculty and staff dine with students to celebrate beginning of the year.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
At most DEEP colleges, the intellectual and academic content of summer orientation and fall welcome weeks far exceed the amount of time devoted to social events. Thus, student-life staff help set an appropriate tone and expectations for what college is to be like. There are a number of academic programs and experiences that appear to provide students with interesting and important academic challenges. For the first time, Wofford introduced a common reading called “The Novel Experience” for all incoming firstyear students. Students were required to read Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage prior to their arrival on campus. In addition to completing the reading, firstyear students were asked to write a short essay connecting their lives to that of the main character in Johnson’s novel, Rutherford Calhoun. Eight of the “most interesting responses”1 were then published, along with photos of the student authors, in a glossy, high quality booklet which was distributed to all firstyear students. In addition, the author of the book came to campus, spoke at convocation, and met with the students who wrote the best essays. As one administrator put it, “Publishing the student essays created the first celebrities in the firstyear class….How do you become a celebrity here? Academic excellence.” The program is so popular among the students that seniors at Wofford are now agitating to have their own common reading.
Academic Challenge Intentional socialization to academic
expectations Best Practice: In addition to reading a
common book, incoming students have access to a website with essays written by the faculty in response to the reading. The assigned readings, faculty responses, and the website combine to introduce incoming students to the ways an academic community engages an issue.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The seminar is focused on socializing new students in the academic values of the institution. Firstyear students begin by reading a book during the summer before they arrive on campus. For example, a recent incoming class read E.O. Wilson’s The Future of Life. In addition to reading a common book, incoming students also have access to a very structured website1 that contains essays written by Wheaton faculty in response to the assigned text, as well as essays written by other scholars. The website also contains a variety of other useful information. The assigned readings, faculty responses, and the website combine to introduce incoming students to the ways an academic community engages an issue. The summer reading clearly sets the tone for the fact that the college experience is much different than high school. Students commented on the difficulty of the summer reading and the fact that it created high expectations about the level of academic engagement and challenge they will face once they arrive on campus. As one faculty member said, “We want students to become young intellectuals.”
Academic Challenge
Experience (CIE) is a two-semester course for first-year students. Common readings and “Uncommon Hour” give students a shared intellectual experience outside the classroom that complements class activities.
Academic Challenge
A rigorous senior culminating experience Best Practice: All seniors take part in
“comping,” a rigorous synthesizing exam in their major area that can last as long as a week. The process has become a symbolic rite of closure for students. Also, capstones, senior seminars, senior theses.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
(Sewanee, Wabash, CSUMB) CSUMB- Capstone; Ursinus- all majors (38) Early in their Sewanee experience, students learn about and begin to look forward to “comps” -- taking comprehensive exams in their major during their final year. This process is a part of the important senior “bookend” experience, described earlier, in which students apply and reflect upon their skills and knowledge. “Comping,” as seniors describe the process of taking comprehensive exams, is a momentous occasion that virtually ever senior student talked about during the site visit. One student described how he felt after comping: “I just comped and my brain is fried” (“Teaching Lunch: Incorporating Research in Teaching, January 30, 2003,” Center for Teaching, February 10, 2003). A student in religion indicated that her comps were two full days: “I comped for 16 hours!” Another student in geology reported that his department scheduled comps over an entire week. That the process indicates something to students about the years they have just spent on the Domain is demonstrated by a comment mentioned by a few students that, after passing comps, they actually felt like they knew something. According to one faculty member, “I believe in [comps].” She thinks they are a good experience because students must study everything in order to prepare. While she realizes comps are anxiety-producing, she stresses, “That’s what life is all about. We are just preparing them.” After finishing comps, students with cars discover their windows covered with witticisms relating to their major. As a capstone experience, comps are both a source of motivation to persist as well as a symbolic rite of closure, signaling completion of one stage and transitioning to the next. Wabash students are required to complete undergraduate comprehensive exams, often compared to doctoral-level comps. Whether written, oral, public, or a performance, the experience is a culminating rite of passage.
Active and Collaborative Learning
Presenter
Experiential activities Responsibility for learning falls on the student (challenge), but is held up with appropriate SUPPORT measures Faculty as models: direct interaction Fostering interaction with peers through experts/preceptors/mentors
Active and Collaborative Learning Ample applied learning opportunities Best Practice: Require all students to
complete both a lower- and upper-level service learning experience as a means to apply knowledge and connect with the local community.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Sweet Briar College: At the end of the semester, they conduct an analysis of business classes. Practical application of principles learned in class. Campus infrastructure that facilitates nontraditional student learning opportunities Wofford – using physical space for ACL as required. For example, a benefactor specified the Milliken building for such a purpose. Alverno uses “pod” arrangements to facilitate classroom discussions and exercises. At UCMB, the science building is a site for student collaborations. Students as Junior Faculty Wheaton: Two preceptors, one is junior and one is senior, using students as study abroad advisors, students used as discussion leaders, Longwood: peer tutoring, peer teaching, students take leadership in classroom. CSUMB: Faculty pedagogy dictates that students become the knowers; releases faculty from being sole source of knowledge. Institutional Collaborative Spirit Wabash: Students work across social lines. Fraternities and non-Greeks come together when trying to study. Similar practices: WSSU Greeks and non-Greeks work together for academic success. Wabash: The academic atmosphere is fiercely competitive, but not cut throat. There is a more collaborative sprit that goes along w/learning. At Alverno, students believe that the emphasis on feedback, as opposed to grades, enables students to work together more easily in a collaborative spirit.
Active and Collaborative Learning Use of student preceptors/mentors Best Practice: Student preceptor program is
academically challenging for the preceptors themselves. There was a power that peers had in elevating the class dialogue. The program was about getting stand-out students to raise other students’ levels of expectations. In the end, students are being challenged by the preceptors and the faculty.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Wofford’s student preceptor program is academically challenging for the preceptors themselves, who in turn encourage faculty to make the classes harder. There was a power that peers had in elevating the class dialogue. The program was about getting stand-out students to raise other students’ levels of expectations. In the end, students are being challenged by the preceptors and the faculty. Students as Junior Faculty Wheaton: Two preceptors, one is junior and one is senior, using students as study abroad advisors, students used as discussion leaders, Longwood: peer tutoring, peer teaching, students take leadership in classroom.
Student-Faculty Interaction
with faculty and administrators
Presentation Notes
Research assistants a la graduate students Feedback beyond just grades: they take the time to really get to know the student and help them learn Symposium Days (UMF, CSUMB, Ursinus, KU, UofM, Sewanee)
Student-Faculty Interaction Undergraduate research opportunities
Best Practice: Undergraduate Summer Scholars
(USS) program enables students to do research or other creative activities in the summer under the supervision of faculty. During the fall, a Symposium provides opportunities for students to present their projects to students and faculty. “Having a Summer Scholar in the classroom enhances the learning of all students”.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Undergraduate Summer Scholars (USS) program aims to heighten the “intellectual challenge of the learning environment at Miami University. This program enables Miami undergraduates to do research or other creative activities in the summer under the supervision of faculty.” Each year, about 100 students participate in the Summer Scholars Program. Planning begins in October or November as students work with a faculty mentor to develop a research proposal. Two panels – a University-wide panel and a department-level group – review all proposals for this highly competitive program. Students whose proposals are accepted receive a $2500 stipend, $400 for expenses, and 12 tuition-free credits. Faculty mentors that volunteer their time are given a $600 allowance for their work with the student. A student commented that the summer project enables greater depth of study in a specific area. Project titles suggest that some of these projects are heavily rooted in a particular discipline: Functional Analysis of Acinetobacter baumanni genes Using a Novel Insertion Mutagenesis System (Microbiology) Painting the Landscape of the American West (Art) Bird Population Studies in Central Nevada (Zoology) The structure of the program, however, also lends itself to interdisciplinary work, as can be seen in project titles such as “The Psychological Effects of Surviving the Holocaust on Successive Generations of French-Speaking Jews,” “Women, Identity and Islam: Narratives of Tradition and Change,” and “Integration of Alternative Metal Smithing Techniques in the Secondary Education Curriculum.” According to faculty members, cross-fertilization occurs throughout the program that does not happen through in academic year programs. For example, one faculty mentor said that students returning from their study in Ghana integrate their disciplinary perspectives as they tell others about their experiences. And, she said, “Students are not quiet about it.” A course is enriched by having a Summer Scholar in the classroom, said another faculty mentor, and the learning of all students is enhanced. During the fall, a Summer Scholars Symposium provides opportunities for students to present their summer projects to students and faculty. The USS can serve as a springboard for further work such as a student’s thesis or other independent research. Another route followed by several Summer Scholars was to become an Undergraduate Associate. These students assist faculty with teaching and grading, and might attend governance meetings and other institutional functions as a means of exploring a career in academe. Several Summer Scholars indicated their intention to pursue graduate studies, encouraged in part by their participation in the program. One of these students said, “The project made clear the role of a scholar,” a role she intends to continue. One faculty member said of those she has mentored, “I talk with students like a colleague.” Only about 25% of students nationally participate in undergraduate research Some DEEP schools have captured more students in this opportunity, and others have expanded the opportunity to more students by varying the type and length of the research experience. Ursinus College – Independent Learning Experience Sweet Briar – Summer research to prepare for honors journal Student-faculty collaboration on research and other out of class activities Structured opportunities for students, faculty and administrators to make presentations on research and experiences, dialogue about intellectual topics, and celebrate accomplishments, enriches the quality and frequency of student-faculty and staff interactions at UMF, KU, Wofford, Wabash, Sweetbriar, and CSUMB. The independent learning contract at Evergreen involves more than 1,900 students per year (?) students have to present their independent project idea to a faculty member who agrees to supervise them. They sponsor a fair each year to help build the experience into the culture. Scalability of research experiences… only about 25% of students nationally participate in undergraduate research, it’s simply not feasible for all to participate. However, some DEEP schools have captured more students in this opportunity, and others have expanded the opportunity to more students by varying the type and length of the research experience. For example, Ursinus’s required Independent Learning Experience has involved more students in research by permitting students to work on group research projects to satisfy this requirement.
Student-Faculty Interaction
Extensive feedback on performance: Best Practice: Extensive feedback on performance
from faculty on assignments. The time and effort put into these carefully worded comments (each about a half to a third of a page, typed) was evident. “I put my time into comments that aim to engage the student as a thinker,” he said.
Best Practice: Concluding each set of feedback with a note of encouragement.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
At Sewanee, a professor in anthropology shared the feedback he provided to students on a 3-5 pg. written assignment. The time and effort put into these carefully worded comments (each about a half to a third of a page, typed) was evident. “I put my time into comments that aim to engage the student as a thinker,” he said. In addition to constructive criticism, he typically concluded each set of feedback with a note of encouragement. Evergreen’s feedback format: no grades.At the conclusion of a Program, students submit a self-evaluation in which they are encouraged to reflect on their work and describe significant learning experiences. The student also prepares a written evaluation of the faculty member. Typically, students and faculty exchange and discuss these evaluations along with faculty members’ evaluation of the student at the end of Program evaluation conference. The student’s evaluation of the faculty member then goes to the Dean after the student and instructor have discussed it. Alverno’s culture of assessment defines much of the interaction between students and faculty. Students interact frequently with faculty through a carefully integrated feedback system, which enables faculty to get to know their students as individual learners and modify their teaching accordingly. The frequency of student-faculty interaction around grades and assignments and feedback on academic performance tells a large part of the story (65% of first-year students “often” or “very often” discussed grades or assignments with an instructor compared to 43% at other CSU schools, and to 50% at other NSSE schools). In addition, the proportion of seniors reporting collaboration on research with a faculty member is also high (34% compared with only 18% of seniors at other CSU system institutions). Evergreen’s feedback format: no grades. Reflexive evaluations: student & faculty. At the conclusion of a Program, students submit a self-evaluation in which they are encouraged to reflect on their work and describe significant learning experiences. The student also prepares a written evaluation of the faculty member. Typically, students and faculty exchange and discuss these evaluations along with faculty members’ evaluation of the student at the end of Program evaluation conference. The student’s evaluation of the faculty member then goes to the Dean after the student and instructor have discussed it.
Student-Faculty Interaction
Community Celebrations of Scholarship:
Best Practice: “Spring Symposium” a day when no classes are held and all students, faculty, & administrators are given the opportunity to present research, artistic, intellectual, & other creative projects, and learn from others.
Best Practice: Celebrating seniors research at a Capstone Conference in May
Presenter
Presentation Notes
KU has created a day where undergraduates present their research. They also provide a small scholarship to fund research projects. Similar at UMF, Wabash, Sweetbriar, and Fayetteville. Wofford faculty do not participate as actively in research, though they are intentional about presenting opportunities off-campus. At Sweet Briar College summer is designated time to do research and to prepare work for the honors journal. Faculty work with first year students and then keep them involved as they progress through (they help mentor other students). The college frontloads the curriculum with research courses (i.e., statistics, lab experiences) to prepare students to work at high levels in the summer. Wheaton conducts a research fair to expose more students to the opportunities. They also designate work study funds toward research opportunities. SIDE NOTE Environment designed to foster student-faculty-interaction At Wofford, the president & dean’s houses are right in the middle of campus. It’s common for them to hang out for 3-4 hours on the porch: students or faculty would just stop by for ‘sweet tea on the porch’
Enriching Educational Experiences
Enriching Educational Experiences
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The National Coalition Building Institute: George Mason created a campus-wide committee to examine ways to provide synergy between various diversity efforts and to use them to transform the curriculum, alter teaching practices, modify student activities and programs, and implement innovative policies and practices. A model was adopted to foster this work called The National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), which Mason has been involved with since the 1980s. For the past 10-15 years, between 1200-1500 students a year have participated in NCBI sponsored dialogue series. For example, all new student to New Century College, as well as first-year students in University 100 courses, participate. The individuals trained through the National Coalition Building Institute are instrumental for making diversity work in the classrooms as they help to lead and facilitate difficult discussions that arise in classrooms. (p. 33)
Enriching Educational Experiences Place-conscious pedagogy
Best Practice: Using the beauty and
uniqueness of the campus to drive student engagement. The campus can be a learning laboratory for such majors as environmental studies and geology.
Best Practice: Engaging students recreational outdoors programs such as hiking, rock climbing, and boating.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Sewanee’s 10,000 acres of forested campus, “The Domain,” are a unique asset that drives student engagement at the University. With 65 miles of trails and many streams, waterfalls, and beautiful views, it serves as a valuable resource for teaching, research, and recreation. The land is particularly effective as a learning laboratory for such majors as environmental studies and forestry and geology. However, faculty members also incorporate the resources of the Domain into other majors such as psychology (e.g., the study of animal behavior) and religion (e.g., cultural influences on the landscape). The campus manages all of its own property and enlists students both in- and out-of-class to help with this task. Sewanee also engages students in the Domain through its Outing Program, which coordinates recreational trips such as hiking and boating. One student we spoke with experienced rock climbing for the first time through the Outing Program. The beautiful campus is also simply an idyllic environment in which to study and reflect on life. Use of the Domain as a tool for student engagement will be highlighted throughout the report. As previously mentioned, the natural resources of the Domain provide a key means to actively engage students in a variety of both curricular and co-curricular activities. For example, the Domain serves as a prime learning laboratory for its revamped environmental studies program, which was changed from a concentration to a full major in 2003. A 65-feet high tree canopy walkway allows students a unique perspective to study the forest ecosystem. In addition, the Domain encompasses 200 archeological sites, most of which have been discovered and documented by Sewanee students. These sites give Sewanee “the richest archeological resource content known for any campus in the country” (Viewbook, p. 4).
Enriching Educational Experiences
Cross-cultural experiences Best Practice: Intentionally crafting shorter
study abroad experiences to meet the needs of their large non-traditional population.
Best Practice: Arranging class-based trips that are more accessible to their first generation students
Presenter
Presentation Notes
George Mason intentionally crafts study abroad experiences to meet the needs of their predominantly non-traditional student population, who are less likely to have the ability to take time away from work and family to study abroad. For example, they have developed a program in which students may take a week abroad. Similarly, Kansas offers a semester course that takes advantage of spring break for travel. [Is there another good example like this from one of the school with high level of first generation students?] Many UMF professors also arrange to take students off campus on class-related field trips or to attend – and sometimes present their work at – professional conferences. Students and faculty from several departments discussed attending regional professional meetings at colleges and universities in New England. Class-related trips have included destinations such as Boston, New York City, London, and Dublin. Faculty speak of these cultural experiences as an important part of UMF students’ education – especially because so many UMF students are from rural Maine, and often have not traveled outside the state. In one case, a trip abroad happened because the faculty member challenged students to raise the money: If they could raise over half of the cost, he’d find a way for the University to fund the other half. Though he thought this would lead the students to abandon the idea, he found to his surprise that it made the trip that much more meaningful for the students. Another group of students that participated in a two-week Spanish immersion program in Mexico described their experience including the home-stay program, daily language instruction, and visits to cultural sites during the 2003 Symposium Day presentations. All seven students were transformed by the experience, but the two students that had never traveled out of the state, were particularly changed by their trip abroad. Many Alverno courses have a cultural or global focus and include opportunities to study abroad, either for a semester or for three weeks --– a feature that is much more accessible to students whose lives do not allow for a standard semester or year abroad. A faculty member who is closely associated with Asian Studies and a passionate spokesperson for Alverno’s growing commitment to a global perspective remarked, “We’re a work in progress and it excites me to be able to get Midwestern women to take the risk associated with foreign travel and learning.” The Travelship Program, administered by the Department of Student Life, provides modest funding to assist students in their travel experiences. In Spring 2002, the Travelship Committee awarded approximately $3,700 to seven applicants. We were told that domestic cross-cultural experiences are just as important to student development at Alverno as study abroad opportunities. The director of the Center for International and Intercultural Programs stated, “It is intentional that it is a combined international and intercultural model.” Recent examples of cross-cultural experiences include a student who worked with the Hmong community in Milwaukee and a nursing student who spent time on a Navajo reservation.
Supportive Campus Environment
(honoring prior knowledge) Assessment supports learning Organized for learning support efforts
Presenter
Asset-based approach Best Practice: Accepting and embracing
students where they are in the educational process. “You must teach the students you have, not the ones you wish you had.”
I t Takes a Whole Campus to Educate a Student
Ultimately, it’s about the culture…
The good-to-great transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Sustainable transformations follow a predictable pattern of buildup and breakthrough… (Collins, 2001, p. 186)
Ultimate Best Practices 1. A compelling sense of place 2. Early Identification coupled with Early and
Continuous Intervention on Academic and Social Levels
3. Complementary policies and practices that support students academically and socially
4. Setting and holding students to high performance standards, inside and outside the classroom
5. Inducing students to use supportive structures and programs
6. Support from every corner—a university mantra from the classroom to the dining hall
NSSE Nuggets for Student Success
Hidden gems in our 2011 NSSE results Nuggets of NSSE Student Learning groupings—
smaller, more focused measures for making NSSE results more meaningful and useful to efforts to enhance student learning and success.
NSSE scales, deep approaches to learning, and "scalelets"
EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALES
Practical Competence Very Good General Education Good Higher Order Thinking Good Personal / Social Mixed Integrated Learning Not Good Project Deep—Integrative Learning Bad Reflective Learning Very Bad
Very Good or Good EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALES Using computing/technology Analyzing quantitative problems Solving real world problems Acquiring job skills Writing clearly and effectively Exams challenged me to do my best work Seniors only reporting speaking Seniors only report values & ethics Seniors only report synthesizing Seniors only report learning on your own Freshmen only making judgments about the value
of information
Freshmen only integrating ideas from various sources
Putting together ideas from different courses Discussing ideas with others outside of class Examining the strengths/weakness of your
views Learning something that changed how you
understand an issue
EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALELETS
Interpersonal Environment Very Good Practical Skills Very Good IT Very Good Course Interaction Very Good to Good Out-of-Class Interaction Good Higher Order Thinking Good Active Learning Good Course Challenge Mixed Support for Student Success OK Writing OK AAC&U High Impact Practices Not Good Diversity OK to Not Good Collaborative Learning Very Bad
Very Good EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALELETS
Quality of relationships with other students, faculty, and staff
Seniors only report skills in computing and IT Seniors only using computers in academic work Seniors only report acquiring job skills Discussing grades or assignments with faculty Received prompt feedback on academic performance from
faculty Seniors only report discussing career plans with faculty Freshmen only report making judgments about value of
information Asking questions or discussing topics in class
Negative EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALELETS
Lack of a culminating senior experience More often come to class without completing readings or
assignments Spend fewer hours preparing for class Not working with classmates outside of class to prepare
class assignments Not being able to tutor or teach fellow students Not discussing ideas from class with others outside of class Not participating in community service or volunteer work Not taking foreign language coursework Not having campus events and activities students want to
attend Not having serious conversations with students of different
races or ethnicities
Discussion Questions
Which of the DEEP best practices are transferable and adaptable to EKU?
What can Eastern do to improve student learning and success based on EKU’s results from the NSSE Scales and Scalelets?
Solutions for Student Retention and Success
Solutions for Student Retention and Success
Project DEEP
Ultimately, it’s about the culture…
Ultimate Best Practices
Very Good or Good EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALES
NegativeEKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALES
EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALELETS
Very Good EKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALELETS
NegativeEKU 2011 RESULTS ON SCALELETS
Discussion Questions