STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
The Focus For the Center for Teaching Excellence
Spring and Fall 2008
The most important factor in student learning during college is student engagement, .jpg) or the effort students devote to educationally purposeful activities that contribute to desired outcomes (retention, graduation, higher GPA). The amount of time students study, interact with faculty and peers related to substantive topics, and use institutional resources, such as the library and technology are ways that students can engage. Specific activities designed to increase engagement include Service Learning, Undergraduate Research, Internships, the American Democracy project, and community service. The “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” provide guidelines for increasing student engagement in the classroom. The principles are positively related to student satisfaction and achievement. The seven principles include:
- Student-faculty contact
- Cooperation among students
- Active learning
- Prompt feedback
- Time on task
- Setting high expectations
- Respect for diverse talents and ways of learning
Educationally effective institutions are those that follow these seven principles and encourage students to participate in appropriate activities that provide high levels of engagement.
.jpg) The Center for Teaching Excellence events in Spring and Fall 2008 will focus on ways of developing greater student engagement at UNK and will highlight student engagement activities that are already used on campus. The events will culminate in a regional Student Engagement Conference that will be co-sponsored with Sponsored Programs in Spring 2009.
The articles in this newsletter provide background on student engagement results at UNK, student engagement activities at UNK, and the impact of disengaged students.
Additional information and resources on student engagement are available at:
http://www.wku.edu/sacs/StuTaxonomy.htm
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i13/13a03901.htm
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Lunch with Dr. Finnie Murray
Listening to Our Students:
The Impact of Student Engagement on Academic Success
In a luncheon with faculty and staff, Dr. Finnie Murray, Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Student Life, presented, “Listening to Our Students: The Impact of Student Engagement on Academic Success,” on September 26th in the Nebraska Student Union. This presentation highlighted the positive effect of student engagement on retention and success in college. Dr. Murray stated that one common finding is that the degree of student engagement with faculty and other students and stage at which the engagement seriously begins is positively correlated with retention. UNK currently has an 83% retention rate from first year to second year. Even a modest 1% increase in retention would increase enrollment by about 12 students per class and would therefore increase graduation rates. Student engagement was also positively correlated with overall academic success indicated by GPAs.
During his presentation, Dr. Murray discussed the results for UNK on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) This national survey asks freshmen and seniors to rate their university and their own student involvement in a variety of areas. UNK had an overall response rate of 31% of freshmen and seniors. Their responses were compared to selected peer institutions, Carnegie peers, and overall NSSE data on a number of measures of student engagement. These areas include active and collaborative learning, enriching educational experiences, supportive campus environment, level of academic challenge and student-faculty interaction. Active and Collaborative Learning items include whether students had made a class presentation, whether students had worked with other students on projects or homework outside of class, and if students participated in a community based project as part of a regular course. 52.3% of seniors at UNK had participated in one or more of these collaborative learning activities. Enriching educational experiences included items on levels of participation in co-curricular activities, community service or volunteer work, or study abroad programs. Data from UNK on these items were comparable to the peer institutions and overall NSSE data with 37.5% of seniors reporting involvement in these types of activities. A supportive campus environment addresses ways in which the institution provides the assistance students need to help them succeed academically. A supportive university environment also helps students cope with nonacademic responsibilities. 57.1% of freshmen and 58.6% of seniors reported that UNK provided them with a supportive environment. For seniors, these were higher ratings than our selected peer institutions and the overall NSSE results. The level of academic challenge provides data on students’ level of preparation for class, the number of assigned readings completed, and amount of writing required. 47.3% of freshmen ranked UNK as academically challenging, while 55% of the seniors found their work at UNK academically challenging. The final area of comparison was student-faculty interaction. These items included discussing grades or assignments with an instructor, talking about career plans with faculty or staff, working on a research project and receiving prompt feedback from faculty on academic performance. UNK rankings for both freshman (33.3%) and seniors (44.1%) indicated higher levels of student/faculty interaction than either the peer institutions or overall NSSE data. In presenting these UNK results on NSSE, Dr. Murray pointed out that UNK was doing a good job in keeping students engaged and in retaining students, particularly in comparison with peer institutions. However there is always room for improvement in any areas related to student success and retention. For additional information you can link to “What Students are Saying about their UNK”
For additional information about the National Survey of Student Engagement you can go to the NSSE website at: http://nsse.iub.edu/index.cfm
To access Dr. Murray’s pod cast presentation, please link to the CTE pod cast webpage at: http://www.lopers.net/weblog/cte/
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Undergraduate Research: "Why Bother?" and Strategies for Implementation
John Mateja, Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity and the McNair Scholars program at Murray State University, was joined by faculty and staff for his presentation of “Undergraduate Research: ‘Why Bother?’ and Strategies for Implementation” on October 11th. This presentation detailed changing the structure of student research at the college level.
John Mateja started the presentation with facts about the competitiveness of the United States with regards to education and research. Mateja believes that the United States has to become more competitive to keep abreast of the global marketplace. Currently the United States enjoys a $10.3 billion economy, but China will have the second highest consumer market by 2015 and the largest economy by 2027. To address global competition, the United States needs to build a knowledge based workforce. Currently, the United States awards 75,000 engineering degrees while China awards 600,000 annually. He stated that the United States has seen a steady decline in graduate enrollments in science and engineering. To become more competitive, the United States needs higher enrollments in these areas and more degrees awarded to build a better educated workforce. His thoughts on developing this workforce include providing undergraduate students more experience in research and encouraging them to use that experience to move on to graduate school.
Dr. Mateja suggests starting research in the undergraduate years and preparing faculty to mentor students in undergraduate research. If this structure can be used effectively, more students may move on to masters and doctoral level programs. He believes that undergraduate courses should be more demanding and undergraduate college work should look more like graduate work. Mateja reported several benefits to students of including undergraduate research as part of the curriculum. These benefits included: developing more self confidence, developing a mentoring relationship with a faculty member, clarifying career goals, providing a sense of accomplishment, developing leadership skills and perseverance, and developing the ability to solve technical and procedural problems.
Mateja further developed the idea of undergraduate research by giving a model to help create this program of research. He detailed types of institutional programs, types of institutional support, and how to build bridges of support across the campus. Mateja then gave key strategies for sustaining undergraduate research once those programs have been started. Access to Dr. Mateja's power point presentation.
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Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom
Gerald Amada
The Center for Teaching Excellence sponsored ".png) Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom” on December 5th in the Student Union. This presentation began with introductory comments from Brandon Benitz, the assistant to the Dean of Student Life. He began by discussing the process for reporting problems in the classroom at UNK. He wanted faculty and staff to know that in reporting problems, faculty will be supported with appropriate actions and that his office is able to provide sanctions for disruptive students. His office is also able to provide other resources and agencies that may help faculty experiencing problems in the classroom.
After Mr. Benitz’ discussion of UNK policies and resources, the program continued with the DVD presentation by Dr. Gerald Amada, founder and former director of the Mental Health Program at City College in San Francisco. Dr. Amada began his talk with causes and contributors to classroom disruption. Some causes he discussed included alcohol use, lack of a climate of respect in the classroom, student stress, and mental disorders. He detailed forms of misconduct from students whispering/talking to each other during class, disrespectful behavior shown toward the instructor and other students, to verbal assault of the instructor or other students. He believes that many of these inappropriate behaviors can be addressed fairly easily by following 3 simple rules: (1)clearly outline class rules of behavior in the syllabus and in an announcement at the beginning of the course; (2)specify consequences for breaking the rules; and (3)consistently enforce the rules and apply appropriate consequences whenever class conduct rules are broken. An example of this is establishing a rule associated with class absences and coming late to class. Dr. Amada suggested that a student’s course grade be reduced after 3 absences. He also set a time limit for tardiness, in which coming to class 15+ minutes late is considered an absence. He also suggested that a policy of respect both for the instructor and fellow students be established in each class. In addition to showing respect by arriving on time for class, Dr. Amada suggested that talking during class, monopolizing the class period, and “packing up” before the class is over should be added to the list of behaviors that should be discouraged in the classroom. All of these behaviors disrupt the class and interfere with other student’s learning. If classroom conduct policies are clearly defined and announced at the beginning of a course, and a student does disrupt class, Dr. Amada suggests that the professor should remind the student of the class policies and the consequences for that behavior. If the student continues with his/her disruptive behavior, each incident needs to be dealt with and documented. If the behavior continues, the proper office can be notified and action can be taken by the university.
At the conclusion of the DVD, Brandon Benitz answered specific questions that UNK faculty and staff had related to classroom conduct issues they had encountered. He pointed out the different offices and resources that UNK has available to assist faculty with these problems. He also discussed the policy of open communication at UNK which ensures that issues are communicated and dealt with across campus, particularly for students who pose problems in more than one classroom. If you have questions or problems related to student conduct, contact Brandon Benitz at EXT. 4805 or by email at benitzbj@unk.edu.
The presentation by Dr. Amada can be checked out in DVD format from the Center for Teaching Excellence. Send your request to April Becker at (teachingcenter@unk.edu).
To access the Student Handbook, please follow this link: http://webcms.unk.edu/uploadedFiles/admin/vcsa/StudentHandbook.pdf
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Center for Teaching Excellence
Schedule of Events Spring 2008
January
January 31st– Faculty Seminar
3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
NSU Oak Room
Engaging UNK Students through Undergraduate Research
Julie Shaffer, NSS; Susan Honeyman, FAH; Tim Burkink, CBT; Sam Lopez, COE
February
February 13th Distinguished Lecture Series – Luncheon RSVP requested
11:30 1:00 p.m.
NSU Room 312
The Case for Engagement: Using the American Democracy Project to Build the Next Generation of Leaders
Dr. Chapman Rackaway
February 25th DVD Seminar – Brown Bag Lunch
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
NSU Oak Room
Survival Strategies for Teaching Large Classes
Dr. Peter M. Saunders, Director of Oregon State University’s Teaching and Learning
March
March 5th Faculty Seminar
3:00 4:30 p.m.
Okinga Conference Room
Engaging UNK Students with Service Learning
Ken Larson, CBT; Janice Fronczak, FAH; Tamara Smith, NSS; Jane Ziebarth-Bovill, COE
March 27th DVD Seminar – Brown Bag Lunch
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
NSU Room 310
Using Collaborative Teams In and Out of Class
Dr. Peter M. Saunders, Director of Oregon State University’s Teaching and Learning
April
April 16th – DVD Seminar
3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
NSU Room 312
Assessment as a Learning Experience
Dr. Peter M. Saunders, Director of Oregon State University’s Teaching and Learning
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Attendance for Fall 2007
Center for Teaching Excellence Presentations
The Center for Teaching Excellence had a busy fall semester. Presentations included:
- 15 Survival Strategies for New Faculty on September 12th
- Listening to Our Students: The Impact of Student Engagement on Academic Success with Dr. Finnie Murray on September 26th
- Undergraduate research: Why Bother?” and Strategies for Implementation with John Mateja on October 11th
- Engaging Ideas for Teaching Writing Intensive Courses on October 25th
- Approaches to Improving the First Year Student Experience on November 8th
- Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom on December 5th
Attendance at all CTE Events for Fall 2007:
CBT: 12
COE: 13
FAH: 18
NSS: 43
Other: 53
Total: 139
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Center for Teaching Excellence
Fall 2007 Faculty Travel Funding
CBT $500
FAH $1500
NSS $3000
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Your comments and contributions are welcome!
Please send any comments or suggestions for the newsletter to teachingcenter@unk.edu. If you have information that you would like presented in the newsletter or would like to write something for one of the editions, please contact Jeanne Butler at 865-8495 or by email at the Center.
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