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Answering Life’s Big Questions: Reflections at Trinity University
Now in its third year, Reflections is a voluntary, non-‐‑graded, co-‐‑curricular program that prompts first-‐‑year students at Trinity University to reflect on their past experiences, present circumstances, and future goals to foster self-‐‑discovery and exploration. Through critical dialogue and guided exercises in a small group context, first-‐‑year students begin to draw clearer connections between their values, choices, academic goals, and lifetime vocation. Each Reflections cohort of 10-‐‑17 first-‐‑years meets for three, 90-‐‑minute sessions at the start of the spring semester (January and February)—sessions are guided by a trained facilitation team comprised of a faculty member, staff member, and a sophomore peer. The program is modeled on “Reflecting on Your Life” and “Reflections” at Harvard and Stanford Universities, respectively. Initial assessment results suggest that the program has succeeded in helping students gain insight into their personal goals and values, enhancing introspective behaviors, and enrolling students from historically underrepresented groups. Facilitator training has improved faculty and staff members’ confidence and ability to discuss vocation and life goals with students in a variety of contexts.
ABSTRACT
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
PARTICIPANT PROFILE
STUDENT OUTCOMES (Based on 2014 Cohort)
Brooks, K. (2009). You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career. New York: Viking. Clydesdale, T. (2014). “Holy Grit: the effects of purpose exploration programming on undergraduate engagement and life trajectories.” Liberal Education, Vol. 100, Issue 1 (Winter). pp. 14-‐‑19. Great Jobs, Great Lives. (2014) Gallup-‐‑Purdue Index. Reflections is supported by a Faculty Advancement Grant from the Associated Colleges of the South; a program grant from the Council of Independent Colleges’ Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), and Trinity University. Additional thanks to Adina Glickman (Stanford University), and Thomas Dingman and Katherine Steele (Harvard University) for sharing program materials. Contact: Lisa Jasinski, Special Projects Coordinator, Academic Affairs [email protected] (210) 999-‐‑7816
“Creating a time and space for first-‐‑year students at Trinity University to think about life’s big questions, articulate
personal goals, and develop strategies to achieve them.”
Lisa Jasinski, M.A., Special Projects Coordinator, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS (2013 – 2015) Compared to the Overall Trinity Undergraduate Population
N / % of Reflections
Participants✚ % of Trinity
Undergraduates°
Male N = 17 (18%) 47.5%
Female N = 75 (78%) 52.5%
Transgender N = 2 (2%) N/A
No Answer Given N = 2 (2%) N/A
Black / African American N = 5 (5%) 3.9%
Asian (Includes Pacific Islander) N = 12 (11.5%) 5.8%
Hispanic / Latino N = 19 (18%) 18.1%
White / Anglo N = 62 (60%) 56.1%
Native American N = 0 .2%
More than One Race N = 6 (6%) 4.7%
Unknown N/A 3.7%
First-‐‑Generation College Students N = 19 (19%) 11-‐‑14%
International Students N = 7 (7%) 7.6%
Received Merit-‐‑Based Financial Aid N = 84 (85%) 89%
Received Need-‐‑Based Financial Aid (e.g., scholarships and loans) N = 44 (44%) Pell Eligible – 16%
✚ Students may enter more than one answer per category ° Based on the 2014-‐‑2015 Trinity University Fact Book using Fall 2014 enrollment data as a base line.
ASSESSMENT PLAN
ATTRIBUTION
FACILITIATION STRATEGIES
Each Reflections participant completes a pre-‐‑ and post-‐‑assessment including Likert scale questions, open-‐‑ended narrative responses, and demographic information. One year later, Reflections participants are invited to respond to an anonymous electronic survey and focus group interviews to discuss the long-‐‑term impact. A multi-‐‑year comparative assessment (2016) is scheduled to determine the effect of Reflections on academic performance, student engagement (e.g., study abroad, undergraduate research), retention, and graduation rates.
WHAT STUDENTS ARE WALKING AWAY WITH…. • “I gained important insights into myself” (4.16 / 5.0)
• “I gained perspective on how to use my time at Trinity” (4.0 / 5.0)
• “I have improved my relationships with others” (3.71 / 5.0)
• 100% of participants’ level of introspection increased or stayed the same during Reflections (71% increased)
CHANGES IN LIFESTYLE / BEHAVIOR Students self-‐‑reported the following changes as a result of participating in Reflections: Thinking about the future, optimism, “being more conscious and productive,” joining a club, crossing things off my bucket list, taking time to relax, going to Zumba, analyzing my friendships, choosing an an academic major. • “I decided to join (a service organization) because volunteering & being involved on campus are on my
bucket list. I realized that I would regret not trying this opportunity.”
• “I'ʹve made an effort to meet new people and put myself out of my comfort zone, which will be useful in real world scenarios.”
• “I'ʹve become more aware of my commitment in relationships. For some people I could tell I wasn'ʹt very invested, so I made an effort to open up and be more understanding.”
• “I have stopped hanging out with people that were not good influences and paid more avention to doing what I wanted to do rather than trying to please others.”
ANTICIPATED LIFE CHANGES AND BEHAVIOR Students self-‐‑reported that they expected to make the following future changes as a result of participating in Reflections: Becoming more thoughtful, writing in a journal more often, considering a Master’s degree, geving involved to increase my happiness, increased confidence, cultivating closer relationships with others, following through on my bucket list.
KEY FINDINGS Norm Se[ing – Establishing ground rules such as confidentiality, talk-‐‑time equity, and mutual respect distinguishes interactions in Reflections from other campus sevings is critical. As one 2014 student described, “I felt more comfortable and vulnerable and appreciated than discussions in other sevings.” Peer Effect – 85% of Reflections participants in the 2014 cohort agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “my peers played a significant role in my learning.” As one student wrote in the final assessment, “I want to figure out what to do with my life, so I think pondering by myself will be helpful. I also think bouncing ideas off of other people will benefit me as well.” Informally, students seem to find comfort in learning that “they aren’t the only one” experiencing challenges or anxieties. Student Willingness and Readiness – At Trinity, student participation in Reflections is voluntary – it is not compulsory nor does it carry academic credit because we feel that “a student’s state of readiness or openness to change sets the stage for his or her response to and growth from disorientation“ (Johansson & Felton, 2014). In a follow-‐‑up study conducted one year after the program, 89% participants replied that “my own openness to learning” played a “significant” role in my growth and development. Program leaders continue to revisit issues like program scope, scale, incentives, and sustainability. Benefits to Faculty and Staff Facilitators – Beyond the gains to students, a longitudinal study of 88 campuses with purpose and vocation exploration programming found that 86% of faculty participants and 90% of staff participants agreed or strongly agreed that their involvement “positively impacted my own work [at this school}.” 85% of faculty and 93% of staff said: it “deepened my appreciation for the mission [of this school]” (Clydesdale, 2014). After a day-‐‑long facilitator training session (2014), 41 Trinity faculty and staff colleagues reported the following: 95% stated that they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I am more likely to initiate conversations with students about their life purposes and goals.” 76% of participants reported an increase in their “comfort-‐‑level” to have such conversations and 74% reported an increase in their “ability to facilitate such conversations.” To date, 53 colleagues have been trained as facilitators. Applicability for Other Student Populations – In Summer 2014, two seasoned Reflections facilitators modified the existing curriculum to address the specific vocational, academic, personal, and developmental needs of Undergraduate Research Students (a mix of sophomores and juniors). For example, we added post-‐‑graduate/vocationally-‐‑focused exercises, such as the “Possible Lives” map inspired by You Majored in What? (Brooks, 2009) and talked about grad school. We have considered expanding the program for internships and study abroad. A group of faculty and staff members is currently developing a strain of vocational-‐‑identification programs for undergraduate Humanities majors inspired in part by the findings of the Gallup-‐‑Purdue Index (2014) Great Jobs, Great Lives study.
SAMPLE PROMPTS & ACTIVITIES The Reflections curriculum contains a “menu” of instructions/scripts of individual, pair, small and large group activities. Facilitators select among the provided options and/or add their own to meet goals. In order to accommodate a variety of personalities, preferences, and learning styles, facilitators are encouraged to use a variety of approaches and vary the tone to create a lively and engaging environment that departs from the traditional structure and formality of an academic classroom. While the specific activities and prompts vary across cohorts, students generally report that they favor activities that enable them to identify personal values. Students also enjoy the “Bucket List” activity in which they name and prioritize things that they want to do/achieve in college. Our students respond best to activities with concrete objectives and instructions (and less well to abstract philosophizing). Team-‐‑building exercises to foster community and trust. Participants report that their least favorite activities involve “narrowing things down” and “anything that felt rushed.”
Trinity University has sponsored Reflections over three years: 2013 (10 students, 1 cohort); 2014 (35 students, 4 cohorts); and 2015 (54 students*, 4 cohorts).
IN WHAT AREA OF YOUR LIFE DID REFLECTIONS HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT?
Academic (i.e., improving my performance in classes
or intellectual skills, selecting a major)
24%
Personal (i.e., bever understanding myself, my
strengths, my values) 24%
Social (i.e., making bever or deeper friendships, geving involved on
campus) 17%
Time Management (i.e., developing a weekly schedule, consciously
using time) 14%
Vocational (i.e., exploring career options, potential professional interests)
20%
Other 1%
Students’ Reasons for Participating (Select All)1
Primary Motivation (Select One)
34% Personal 26% Vocational 18% Academic
1 -‐‑ Reflects responses from 2014 and 2015 participants only. Compared to the campus
population, students of color and first-‐‑generation college students are overrepresented in Reflections. Male students are underrepresented. The pre-‐‑assessment reveals that nearly 2/3 of Reflections participants agree or strongly agree that they engage in introspective activities (e.g., reflective writing, talking to trusted friends and adults about my goals, soul searching, seeking the advice of others).
Academic, 2
Personal, 23
Social, 7
Time Management, 1
Vocational, 3
None, 1 Other, 1
Facilitator training emphasizes the ways in facilitation varies from other interactions, including teaching, conversations between peers, formal and informal advising, and management. To encourage growth and professional development, facilitators are encouraged to complete a self-‐‑assessment and select (at least) one of the following skills to improve during the program. Authenticity – Facilitators bring a sense of sincerity, truthfulness, and genuineness to their work – they don’t go through the motions or tell people what they think they want to hear. Planning – Facilitators give advanced thought to their goals and think about how to move from one part of an agenda to the next, how long an activity will take, and how to explain their objectives to others. When things don’t go as planned, facilitators are prepared to improvise or course correct. Active Listening – Facilitators engage in high-‐‑energy active listening – they quiet the inner chaXer within their own minds to give their full aXention to the speaker and strive to make a speaker feel heard. Silence – Thinkers often need “processing time.” By not speaking, facilitators give both individuals and the group as a whole adequate, protected time to let the best thinking happen. Naming Themes – As others are speak, facilitators identify common themes from discussions – drawing out unseen parallels and connections that surface. Reading the Room – Facilitators are aXentive to the group dynamic. They notice when things are moving too quickly or too slowly; sense when things are tense or when the group needs a push to step up; or suggest a break when they sense people need one. Debriefing – After leading an exercise, facilitators pause for feedback and actively solicit feedback from others about how it went. Facilitators welcome feedback in other ways too, such as wriXen anonymous comments. When working with others, facilitators make time to share impressions and check-‐‑in. Be a Learner – Facilitators don’t know everything, and they aren’t here to instruct. They try new things. They let themselves be surprised. When they don’t know how to respond, they trust the wisdom of the group.
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