Achieving Our Dreams for Student Success:

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Achieving Our Dreams for Student Success

• Building on a Strong Foundation

Southampton, EnglandJuly 13, 2005
Randy L. Swing, Ph.D. Co-Director Senior
Scholar, Policy Center on the First Year of
College Fellow, National Resource Center on The
First-Year Experience Students in Transition
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A Strong Foundation
Dedicated Professionals
Dissemination
Innovation
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Unfinished Business

• Churning of Existing Programs
• Priority Leadership
• Limited Number of Students Served
• Coordination Integration
• Faculty Involvement

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The good news is that some institutions have
already found ways around these challenges.
The trail has already been blazed and is ready
for others to follow.
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Perennial Questions about FYS Course Structures

• How many contact hours per week?
• What content to cover?
• Who should teach?
• Graded or pass/fail?
• Required or elective?

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First-Year Initiative Benchmarking Survey

• 72 colleges universities
• Over 41, 294 students
• Over 1,961 course sections

FYI is owned by Educational Benchmarking,
Inc. http//www.webebi.com
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How many contact hours per week is best?
Answer. . .

• It all depends...
• on your goals for the course.

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FYI Findings....
1 contact hour courses Orientation to Services
2 contact hour courses Study Strategies Peer
Connections Faculty Connections
3 contact hour courses Academic Skills Critical
Thinking
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Details....

• (OVER ACHIEVING 1-hr courses)
• Some 1 contact-hour courses had results that
  were equal to the average for 3-hour courses.
• (UNDER ACHIEVING 3-hr courses) Some 3
  contact-hour courses had results that were as low
  as the average for 1-hour courses.

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Structures did NOT account for most of the
variation in outcomes...Something else mattered
more.
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Engaging Pedagogy Factor

• Degree to which the course included
• A variety of teaching methods
• Meaningful class discussions
• Challenging assignments
• Productive use of classroom time
• Encouragement to speak in class
• Encouragement for students to work together
• Meaningful homework

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Average Engaging Pedagogy Score by Contact Hours
3-hr courses
2-hr courses
1-hr courses
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• Some structures improve the chances of high
  Engaging Pedagogy occurring.
• But structures do not assure high levels of
  Engaging Pedagogy.

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A Strong Foundation
Quality
Dedicated Professionals
Dissemination
Innovation
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Cooperative Institutional Research ProgramCIRP

• Dr. Alexander Astin....
• Over 30 years data about new college students
• Colleges have adjusted programs and services in
  response to the changing characteristics of new
  student students.

Student characteristics when they enter college.
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Learning Outcomes

• Camp One
• Direct measures of student knowledge after
  experiencing college.
• Camp Two
• Measures of student engagement how they spend
  their timeIndirect measurement of student
  learning

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Marginalizing the Quality Question

• Quality of students (at admissions)
• Quality of Outcomes (at graduation day)
• Tested knowledge?
• How engaged in college?

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A Strong Foundation
Quality
Dedicated Professionals
Dissemination
Innovation
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Self-fulfilling prophesies
NOT TRUE!

• Women are not suited for higher education.
• Higher education is for the elite
  (vocational education is for the lower class).
• Minority students lack the capacity to excel in
  higher education.
• Faculty will do whatever they wish you cant
  manage or train faculty.
• You cannot evaluate the quality of teaching.

NOT TRUE!
NOT TRUE!
NOT TRUE!
NOT TRUE!
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The Third Wave....

• Establish high aspirations to truly reach for the
  stars.
• Seriously evaluate our achievement of these
  highest aspirations
• Set a course for action change based on
  institutional ownership of the educational
  process.

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Take aways....

• We have a strong foundation...
• innovation
• dissemination
• The next challenge is to increase the quality of
  our efforts by focusing on what institutions do
  (rather than what students do).

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Dont Ever Give Up!

• Randy L. Swing, Ph.D.
• Co-Director and Senior Scholar
• Policy Center on the First Year of College
• [phone]
• swing_at_fyfoundations.org
• www.fyfoundations.org