Student engagement involves educationally purposeful activities both inside and outside the classroom that benefit students' learning and development. It is important because research shows engagement leads to positive cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes. Institutions measure engagement using national surveys to identify areas for improvement. Eastern Connecticut State University increased experiential learning opportunities like internships and service learning to boost student success and community partnerships. Ensuring engagement of diverse students faces additional challenges but provides learning benefits.
"Enrollment Management," presented by Dennis Pruitt at the College Business Management Institute, 2016
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Through our team of experts, the Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support enrolls academically prepared students and connects them with experiences and resources that will help them achieve a lifetime of meaningful leadership, service, employment and continued learning. Learn more at sc.edu/studentaffairs.
Dr. Dennis Pruitt, vice president for student affairs, vice provost and dean of students, shared an overview of trends and issues at the Sept. 9, 2016 meeting of the Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support.
"Enrollment Management," presented by Dennis Pruitt at the College Business Management Institute, 2016
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Through our team of experts, the Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support enrolls academically prepared students and connects them with experiences and resources that will help them achieve a lifetime of meaningful leadership, service, employment and continued learning. Learn more at sc.edu/studentaffairs.
Dr. Dennis Pruitt, vice president for student affairs, vice provost and dean of students, shared an overview of trends and issues at the Sept. 9, 2016 meeting of the Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support.
The Pandemic and Social Change: Ageism and Intersectional DisparitiesBonner Foundation
A presentation for the University of Pennsylvania Higher Education Leadership Conference in January 2022. This presentation explores the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education through a lens of ageism, ethnicity, race, gender, and other aspects of social identity and justice. Developed based on research and experience by Carol Kalin (University of Pennsylvania), Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos (Rutgers University) and Ariane Hoy (Bonner Foundation).
Workshop Description from Program: The COVID 19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding disparities in many aspects of American life—from healthcare to higher education.The presenters in this session were co-authors, along with Susan Klusmeier (C15), of a paper on ageism assigned in Dr. Shaun Harper’s last class on diversity, equity, and inclusion at Penn GSE. Entitled “Consider Gina:A Case of Intersectionality of Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in Higher Education,” the paper focused on the problems younger minoritized professionals encounter as they advance in their careers. A literature review revealed that ageism differs from other aspects of identity in that it can be said to transcend culture. During the pandemic, notably, vaccines and other medical interventions were explicitly rationed based on chronological age. In higher education, statistics reflect steep declines in community college attendance, important to social mobility for lower-income students, while at the other end of the spectrum, returns on the large endowments of elite schools are breaking all previous records.After a summary of the paper and some brief comments on ageism and long-term disability in higher education, we offer an update on social justice work at colleges and universities as well as an overview of the pandemic’s impact on academic medicine.
On February 25, 2022, representatives from seven colleges and universities in the Bonner Network met for the launch of the Bonner Pathways Project. These institutions share an aspiration to make civic learning and democratic engagement embedded in their institutional fabrics, such that 25% of graduates will have deep, multiyear experiences culminating in community-engaged capstone level work. These experiences have a proven link with student retention, success, learning, well-being, and post-graduate outcomes. This Community of Practice will work over the next several years to reach its goal, developing models for higher education. This project is led by the Bonner Foundation team, including Bobby Hackett, Ariane Hoy, Rachayita Shah, Liz Brandt, Arthur Tartee, and Kristi Cordier.
During the February 2017 Division meeting, the national climate regarding veterans on college campuses was discussed. In addition to a panel of USC student veterans speaking on their experience transitioning from combat to the classroom. Dr. Luna, Associate Vice President for Housing and Student Development at USC, used these slides to share what's next for student veterans on our campus.
Strategic Planning for Community Engagement with Maryville CollegeBonner Foundation
The Bonner Foundation is pleased to support Maryville College in its strategic visioning and planning for community engaged learning at Maryville College (TN). Ariane Hoy and Liz Brandt are working with the Center for Community Engagement.
Achieving Schooling Success For Each Studentnoblex1
A major and pressing problem facing educators, particularly in the context of the current national agenda of achieving schooling success for each student, is the consistent finding of differential correlation among low, mid-range, and high academic achievement in different groups of ethnic minority students.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/achieving-schooling-success-for-each-student/
Industrialization and Education: A glanceHathib KK
What is industrialization? What are the aims of education in an industrialized society? What are the educational implications of Industrialization? What are the purposes of education in an industrialized society? Impact of industrialization on education. Positive aspects of industrialization. Negative aspects of industrialization.
PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN B...IJITE
This paper explores a sample of data collected from a UNICEF Eastern Caribbean rapid assessment on teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in eight countries. The primary investigation method was mixed and captured data from key participants/stakeholders in education using CAPI Technology and Video Conferencing tools. Statistical analyses and qualitative thematic analysis were conducted to report on findings using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Nvivo Qualitative Software. The data on online teaching and learning from Barbados was selected for further review and presented an opportunity to assess the Barbadian experience against other developing and developed countries. In assessing these perceptions in a sample of primary and secondary schools, stakeholders were generally dissatisfied with the online and blended learning modalities citing challenges relating to the equality and equity in access to devices and the enabling environment that facilities effective online teaching and learning.
Introduction to Bonner High-Impact Initiative Learning OutcomesBonner Foundation
Introduction to Bonner High-Impact Initiative Learning Outcomes, used at the High-Impact Institute Summer 2013; introduces key learning outcomes, as adapted from rubrics for civic engagement, integrative learning, and creative thinking, that may provide a set of shared student learning outcomes for high-impact projects connected to community engagement.
The Pandemic and Social Change: Ageism and Intersectional DisparitiesBonner Foundation
A presentation for the University of Pennsylvania Higher Education Leadership Conference in January 2022. This presentation explores the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education through a lens of ageism, ethnicity, race, gender, and other aspects of social identity and justice. Developed based on research and experience by Carol Kalin (University of Pennsylvania), Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos (Rutgers University) and Ariane Hoy (Bonner Foundation).
Workshop Description from Program: The COVID 19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding disparities in many aspects of American life—from healthcare to higher education.The presenters in this session were co-authors, along with Susan Klusmeier (C15), of a paper on ageism assigned in Dr. Shaun Harper’s last class on diversity, equity, and inclusion at Penn GSE. Entitled “Consider Gina:A Case of Intersectionality of Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in Higher Education,” the paper focused on the problems younger minoritized professionals encounter as they advance in their careers. A literature review revealed that ageism differs from other aspects of identity in that it can be said to transcend culture. During the pandemic, notably, vaccines and other medical interventions were explicitly rationed based on chronological age. In higher education, statistics reflect steep declines in community college attendance, important to social mobility for lower-income students, while at the other end of the spectrum, returns on the large endowments of elite schools are breaking all previous records.After a summary of the paper and some brief comments on ageism and long-term disability in higher education, we offer an update on social justice work at colleges and universities as well as an overview of the pandemic’s impact on academic medicine.
On February 25, 2022, representatives from seven colleges and universities in the Bonner Network met for the launch of the Bonner Pathways Project. These institutions share an aspiration to make civic learning and democratic engagement embedded in their institutional fabrics, such that 25% of graduates will have deep, multiyear experiences culminating in community-engaged capstone level work. These experiences have a proven link with student retention, success, learning, well-being, and post-graduate outcomes. This Community of Practice will work over the next several years to reach its goal, developing models for higher education. This project is led by the Bonner Foundation team, including Bobby Hackett, Ariane Hoy, Rachayita Shah, Liz Brandt, Arthur Tartee, and Kristi Cordier.
During the February 2017 Division meeting, the national climate regarding veterans on college campuses was discussed. In addition to a panel of USC student veterans speaking on their experience transitioning from combat to the classroom. Dr. Luna, Associate Vice President for Housing and Student Development at USC, used these slides to share what's next for student veterans on our campus.
Strategic Planning for Community Engagement with Maryville CollegeBonner Foundation
The Bonner Foundation is pleased to support Maryville College in its strategic visioning and planning for community engaged learning at Maryville College (TN). Ariane Hoy and Liz Brandt are working with the Center for Community Engagement.
Achieving Schooling Success For Each Studentnoblex1
A major and pressing problem facing educators, particularly in the context of the current national agenda of achieving schooling success for each student, is the consistent finding of differential correlation among low, mid-range, and high academic achievement in different groups of ethnic minority students.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/achieving-schooling-success-for-each-student/
Industrialization and Education: A glanceHathib KK
What is industrialization? What are the aims of education in an industrialized society? What are the educational implications of Industrialization? What are the purposes of education in an industrialized society? Impact of industrialization on education. Positive aspects of industrialization. Negative aspects of industrialization.
PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN B...IJITE
This paper explores a sample of data collected from a UNICEF Eastern Caribbean rapid assessment on teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in eight countries. The primary investigation method was mixed and captured data from key participants/stakeholders in education using CAPI Technology and Video Conferencing tools. Statistical analyses and qualitative thematic analysis were conducted to report on findings using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Nvivo Qualitative Software. The data on online teaching and learning from Barbados was selected for further review and presented an opportunity to assess the Barbadian experience against other developing and developed countries. In assessing these perceptions in a sample of primary and secondary schools, stakeholders were generally dissatisfied with the online and blended learning modalities citing challenges relating to the equality and equity in access to devices and the enabling environment that facilities effective online teaching and learning.
Introduction to Bonner High-Impact Initiative Learning OutcomesBonner Foundation
Introduction to Bonner High-Impact Initiative Learning Outcomes, used at the High-Impact Institute Summer 2013; introduces key learning outcomes, as adapted from rubrics for civic engagement, integrative learning, and creative thinking, that may provide a set of shared student learning outcomes for high-impact projects connected to community engagement.
"Student Affairs," presented by Dennis Pruitt at the College Business Management Institute, 2016
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Through our team of experts, the Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support enrolls academically prepared students and connects them with experiences and resources that will help them achieve a lifetime of meaningful leadership, service, employment and continued learning. Learn more at sc.edu/studentaffairs.
Producing highly qualified teachers to meet Michigan’s growing teacher shortage is just one of the ways Michigan’s University Research Corridor (URC) is creating and implementing solutions to Michigan’s education challenges. The university alliance also is creating the programs and support students need to succeed.
The MGC HIGH in Curricular Engagement will both:
a) expand and deepen service-learning and
related academic initiatives and scholarship
b) establish a national leader in the field. That will cultivate curricular engagement as an area of distinctive focus for MGC HIGH (at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, for both students and faculty, and in communities from local to international). It will help to fulfill the emerging institutional vision of MGC HIGH as “the cutting edge science technology university that engages students in the world now.”
As part of National Careers Week 2021, the NCSEHE hosted a virtual event on 21 May, showcasing major NCSEHE-commissioned research on key influencers and careers advice for equity students.
More info: https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/careers-week-webinar-careers-student-equity/
Forging Research Partnerships in Higher Education AdministrationUT Austin: ACA
Presented by Dr. Audrey Sorrells and Heather Cole at the 2011 ACA & APSA Professional Development Day conference on 2/17/11. Discusses the Research Initiative in the Office of the Dean of Students at UT Austin. This Research Initiative was created to bridge research to practice between academics, student services and community-based agencies to advance opportunities for collaboration and professional development within UT.
2. What is Student Engagement?
- Student engagement is characterized as partaking in educationally effective practices.
- Student engagement is important because researchers have found that educationally
engagement leads to positive benefits, and outcomes in the following areas: cognitive
and intellectual skill development, college adjustment, moral and ethical development,
the gaining of social capital, and can help form racial and gender identity.
- Examples - internships, first year experiences, learning communities, studying abroad,
and service learning.
- Employers want to hire college graduates who have practical student center
engagement activities.
3. Recording Student Engagement
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
- Invited 1.5 million students at 554 U.S. campuses in 2015.
- In 2014, the NSSE collected data from 335,000 undergrad students from 622 U.S.
school.
- Institutions use their data to identify aspects of the undergraduate experience inside
and outside the classroom that can be improved through changes in policies and
practices more consistent with good practices in undergraduate education.
- There are three other similar surveys besides the NSSE. There is the Faculty Survey
of Student Engagement, Beginner College Survey of Student Engagement, and NSSE
institute.
4. Recording Student Engagement
- The Center for Community College Student Engagement has survey that looks at
student engagement at community colleges called Community College Survey of
Student Engagement.
-The goal of the survey is to gain reliable source of information to create an open
discussion of quality and performance of student engagement in community colleges.
- The National Assessment of Service and Community Engagement looks at the
community engagement among college students and how they serve the needs of the
communities.
- NASCE is used to guides strategic planning to improve community engagement, and
provides comparative analyses for assessing how well participant institutions are
meaningfully engaging their students in the community.
5. History of Student Engagement
- The NSSE has collected from approximately four million undergraduates at more than
1,500 different four-year colleges and university since 2000. In 2013 the NSSE updated
their survey to better find information about student engagement.
- The CCSSE was created because there was a recognized need for a student
engagement survey specifically designed for community and technical colleges. Thus,
CCSSE was launched in 2001. The CCSSE is currently refreshing their survey and the
new version will be out in 2017.
- To date, the NASCE survey has been completed by more than 30,000 undergraduate
students from over 60 colleges and universities in the US.
6. History of Student Engagement
- George Kuh is one of the most famous researcher on Student engagement.
- Research results imply that students who work on campus have greater educational
success compared to student who work off campus or who do not work.
- The students can be an integral aspect of the functioning and decision making of the
organization that they work at.
-They can learn valuable skills about teamwork, communication and they can learn
about many career focused tasks.
8. Eastern Connecticut State University
- The goals behind this were to expanding student’s engagement and enhancing
student’s success.
- 3 takeaways from the program: the enhanced relationship Eastern with private sector
employers, the close partnerships the university maintains within the local community,
and the collaboration and role integration that taken place with the faculty and staff.
- One strategy to increase experiential learning was to offer work based experiences to
the students. Alumni played a big part by offering internships to the students at big
name companies and government and public services.
- The school created a “work hub” that would allow the students work from on campus
if they did not have transportation to work off campus.
9. Eastern Connecticut State University
- A Center for Community Engagement was built to coordinate student volunteerism
and to promote service learning.
- Examples -computer science students built a website for a soup kitchen to English
majors writing business plans for nonprofits.
-Another way the university shows leadership in the community is by encouraging
administrators, faculty and staff to serve on local boards. There is a strong collaboration
among faculty and student affairs staff members to make sure the students are
successful.
- Academic departments monitor their students to see if they engaging on campus,
adjusting to college life and using the campus support services to ensure their success.
10. Implications For Higher Education
- Faculty, Administration, and Student Services need to be on the same page.
- Does student engagement being in the curriculum?
- Should schools adopt programs similar to the Eastern Connecticut State University
program?
- How can non traditional schools and classes (ie. on-lines schools/classes) get students
engaged.
11. Engagement at the Student Union
- College unions engage students through a variety of opportunities and collaborations
and act as the community center for the campus while providing a forum for bringing
individuals together.
- Professionals working in student unions can contribute to student success through
positive, meaningful engagement of students in the co-curriculum by providing
leadership programs, student employment opportunities, volunteering experiences.
- Students involvement with faculty outside of the classroom and discussions around
career aspirations are well known to beneficial for students.
- College unions usually have student organization offices, collaborative spaces, and
multicultural programming.
12. Diversity or Social Justice Issues
- Students of color, undergraduate men, lower-income students, first generation college
students and undergraduate who commute to their campuses are students that may faces
challenges when it comes to student engagement.
- High achieving low income students of color who received scholarships awards tend
to have a higher level of leadership efficacy and are more likely to take on leadership
roles after college. The positive effect of scholarship awards on student leadership
capacity are indirect, mediated through student engagement.
- Low income students, especially those first in their family to attend college, are
pressed to use their out of class time working to pay tuition other college expense, so
they have a less of a chance to engage in campus events.
13. Diversity or Social Justice Issues
- Service learning provides a range of learning opportunities for diverse students.
- Students’ learning increases when they have effective social support system. This is
especially true for students of color on majority white campuses.
- It is important get this students that face challenges when it comes to student
engagement to become engagement with campus. These students may drop out of
school because they may not feel connected to the campus.
14. Other Research
- Why do not students participate.
- Challenges students face.
- Online universities
- Service Learning
15. Summary
-Why is student engagement important?
- Why did I pick this topic?
- Where do I think student engagement
will be in 15 years?
Student engagement is categorized as partaking in educationally effective practices. This can occur inside and outside the classroom that can leads to multiple measurable outcome (Harper & Quaye, 2015). According to Harper & Quaye (2015) student engagement is important because research has found that educationally purposeful engagement leads to the production of gains, benefits, and outcomes in the following domains: cognitive and intellectual skill development, college adjustment, moral and ethical development, practical competence and skills transferability, the gaining of social capital and psychosocial development, and help form racial and gender identity.
Success of students at a college can be enhanced by the amount engagement activities they partake during college. Some examples of high impact engagement practices are internships, first year experiences, learning communities, studying abroad, and service learning/community service. These practices provide students with experiences in which they engage their intellect, working with others, develop self-discipline, and benefit from the confidence that they are competent and productive. National data supports the ideas of students who are fully engaged on campus perform better and graduate at higher rates than students who do not take advantage of engagement opportunities (Nunez, 2013). Data also suggest employers want to hire college graduates who have practical, work-based experiences, on campus jobs, critical and creative thinking skills, problem solving skills, the ability to communicate, and the ability to work independently or in teams. Student engagement can help enhance the likelihood an employer would hire a college graduate (Nunez, 2013). I view being engaged as actively participating in an activity. For example, a student joins a student organization and they may attend every meeting, take a leadership role with the organization and developing new personal skills compared to a student joining a student organization to put it on their resume and never attend meetings or take a leadership. With the student being actively learning and engaged the have a better chance of graduating and being hired from a company.
There are a couple of different surveys that track student engagement. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) invited 1.5 million students at 554 U.S. campuses and 21 Canadian universities in 2015. The survey focuses around nine topics in higher education. The survey is given to freshmen and seniors at schools who are participating in the NSSE. The NSSE is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (NSSE, 2015). The NSSE (NSSE, 2015) indicates student engagement represents two critical features of collegiate quality. The first is the amount of time and effort students put into their studies and other educationally purposeful activities. The second is how the institution deploys its resources and organizes the curriculum and other learning opportunities to get students to participate in activities that decades of research studies show are linked to student learning. Institutions use their data to find aspects of the undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom that can be improved through changes in policies and practices more consistent with good practices in undergraduate education. This information is also used by prospective college students, their parents, college counselors, academic advisors, institutional research officers, and researchers in learning more about how students spend their time at different colleges and universities and what they gain from their experiences (NSSE, 2015).
In 2014 the NSSE collected data from 335,000 undergrad students from 622 U.S. colleges and universities. The data collect looked at the student’s experiences to help improve student learning and success (NSSE, 2015). Here are some of the findings from the 2014 NSSE survey:
- Learning-directed uses of social media were positively related to all of NSSE’s measures of student engagement. The strongest relationships were with reflective and integrative learning, collaborative learning, and student-faculty interaction (NSSE, 2014).
- First-year students who earned higher grades than they had expected scored higher on seven of ten engagement indicators compared to students who performed below their expectations. They also spent more time studying and less time working for pay (NSSE, 2014).
- On average, faculty devoted more time to teaching activities than to research, service, and advising. Full-time faculty averaged 9 hours per week preparing for their classes, close to 10 hours teaching, and an additional 17 hours on other instructional activities such as grading and meeting with students outside of class. Faculty who devoted more time to teaching improvement had higher expectations for their students’ learning, spent less class time lecturing, interacted more with students, and more often used effective teaching practices (NSSE, 2014).
There are three other similar surveys besides the NSSE. There is the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), Beginner College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE), and NSSE institute.
The Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) has a survey that looks at student engagement at community colleges called Community College Survey of Student Engagement. The goal of the survey is to gain a reliable source of information to create an open discussion of quality and performance of student engagement in community colleges. It shows what works in student engagement and it shows what doesn’t work (CCCSE, 2015).
I think it is important to have a different engagement survey for community colleges because community colleges are completely different compared to four year colleges. As of now community colleges, educate nearly 12 million college students. It is import to get this community college student engaged on campus and doing service learning because community colleges educate twice as many low-income students as high-income students and the amount of low-income student is increasing year by year (Kahlenberg, 2015).
I also think if the student becomes engaged at their community college there is a good change they will be engaged at their next college when they complete their two year degree. I know from first-hand experience that student engagement can help a student feel like they belong at a community college. I was able to get involved on my community college and it helped me feel like I belonged at a community college and that positive experience also helped me get involve at my four university when I transferred.
The National Assessment of Service and Community Engagement (NASCE) looks at the community engagement among college and university students and how they serve the people in their communities. Community engagement incorporates all community service activities participated in by students through individual efforts, clubs or organizations, work or internships and classes (NASCE, 2015). The data gained from NASCE is used to guides strategic planning efforts to enhance campus wide community engagement, and provides comparative analyses for assessing how well participant institutions are meaningfully engaging their students in the community (NASCE, 2015). As the number of NASCE participants grows, so does our understanding of student community involvement not only at individual institutions but across higher education, at specific types of institutions, in specific areas of need (NASCE, 2015). The benefit of the NASCE is it web based and it is a cost friendly tool for community engagement. It assesses service activities across nine areas of human need and it assesses their attitudes towards service, motivations and obstacle to serving, and how students hear about service opportunities. It also proves information to make informed decisions and realistic goal-setting about campus-wide community engagement (NASCE, 2015).
This year was the first time that Oakland University participated in the NASCE. The students were emailed the survey and encouraged to complete the survey. If the student filled out the survey they entered to win a trip and other smaller prizes from Oakland University. The university also participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement.
The NSSE has collected from approximately four million undergraduates at more than 1,500 different four-year colleges and university since 2000. They are constructed around a set of high-impact educational practices like academic challenge, learning with peers, experiences with faculty, campus environment and high impact practices (Harper & Quaye, 2015). The NSSE was first piloted in 1999 with funding by The Pew Charitable Trusts and then the following year the first NSSE survey was administered in 2000. In 2013 the NSSE updated their survey to better find information about student engagement (NSSE, 2015).
The CCSSE was created because there was a recognized need for a student engagement survey specifically designed for community and technical colleges. CCSSE was launched in 2001, with the intention of producing new information about community college quality and performance that would provide value to institutions in their efforts to improve student learning and retention, while also providing policymakers and the public with more appropriate ways to view the quality of undergraduate education. The CCSSE works with NSSE to make sure the data is used correctly. The CCSSE is currently refreshing their survey and the new version will be out in 2017 (CCCSE, 2015).
The NASCE survey is newer program and to this day the survey has been completed by more than 30,000 undergraduate students from over 60 colleges and universities in the US (NASCE, 2015).
George Kuh is one of the most famous researchers on Student engagement. Kuh (2001) suggests the more students an institution has educationally engaged in activities the better the institution is. Kuh also believed professionals working in student unions can contribute to student success through positive, meaningful engagement of students in the co-curriculum by providing leadership programs, student employment opportunities, college union governance, student organization leadership positions, community volunteering experiences, and others (Kuh, 2003). He also indicated that employers seek students who are involved in leadership roles on college campuses because they exhibit evidence of key knowledge and workplace skills as college graduates. These leadership experiences can be powerful in the development of the student. (Kuh, 2009).
Research results imply that students who work on campus have greater educational success compared to student who work off campus or who do not work. The students can be an integral aspect of the functioning and decision making of the organization that they work at. The students are trained by administrative staff to represent the college. They can learn valuable skills about teamwork, communication and they can learn about many career focused tasks (Lane & Perozzi, 2014).
One university that used collaborative leadership to create a student engagement environment was Eastern Connecticut State University. When Elsa M. Nunez became the president in 2006 she developed a student engagement cycle called the Student Success Model with other leaders on the campus. The goals behind this program were to expanding student’s engagement and enhancing student’s success. The hope was for strategies would help Eastern Connecticut State University to become a premier public liberal arts university. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and community partners helped together to generate the student engagement model. Nunez took three important takeaways from the first five years of the program: the enhanced relationship Eastern has with private sector employers, the close partnerships the university maintains within the local community, and the collaboration and role integration that taken place with the faculty and staff (Nunez, 2013).
One strategy to increase experiential learning was to offer work based experiences to the students. Alumni played a big part by offering internships to the students at big name companies and government and public services. The school created a “work hub” that would allow the students work from on campus if they did not have transportation to work off campus. Now 75% percent of the students do an internship and other students engage in service learning projects (Nunez, 2013).
The school built a Center for Community Engagement to coordinate student volunteerism and to promote service learning. Some example of service learning projects ranged from having computer science student build website for a soup kitchen to English majors writing business plans for nonprofits. Another way the university shows leadership in the community was by encouraging administrators, faculty and staff to serve on local boards (Nunez, 2013).
There is a strong collaboration among faculty and student affairs staff members to make sure the students are successful. The curriculum was adjusted to include student engagement and service learning. Academic departments monitor their students to see if they engaging on campus, adjusting to college life and using the campus support services to ensure their success (Nunez, 2013).
This is a great example of how leadership from different department can come together and work together for the goal of student success. If I was student one the ECSU campus I would feel the university cares about me and wants me to be successful. I like the idea of building the “work hub” because it allowed students who do not have a car on campus to have an internship. They took an issue that prevented students from being engaged and provided a solution to that problem.
One implication for higher education is the way faculty, administration and student services work together at a college. Eastern Connecticut State University shows a positive ways of combining leadership of different departments to focus on the goal of educating the student. At some schools the faculty may not always focused on student success and the same goes for the administration and student services. If everyone can work together as a whole the students can be more successful.
Another implication for higher education is charging the curriculum to include student engagement or service learning. At ECSU they changed the curriculum to include student engagement and they saw an increase of student success. I know here at Oakland University one of the communication classes has the students help out at non-profit in the community as a part class. They have to write a paper on their experiences volunteering. Maybe this is something that more professors will start to offer as a part of their class curriculum In one of my classes at Western Michigan University I had the choice to take the final or volunteer for 30 hours at non-profit and write a reflection paper connecting what I learned in the class and my experiences volunteering.
The final implication for higher education is how do you get students engaged that take online class at a university like the University of Phoenix. These students face challenges when it comes to student engagement because they are not on a college campus when they are taking classes. How can the faculty, administration and student services can get those students involved on campus. The data shows how important student engagement is for student when it comes to retention and maybe that can help with the low retention rate at University of Phoenix.
One great place for students to be engaged on campus is at the student union. College unions allow students to be engaged through a variety of opportunities and collaborations and act as the community center for the campus. It also provides a space to bring individuals together (Lane & Perozzi, 2014). College unions’ facilities often host offices and opportunism for student engagement and curricular involvement. College unions usually have student organization offices, collaborative spaces, and multicultural programming. Unions provides college environment enhance learning and skill development (Rullman & Harrington, 2014).Leadership roles, meaningful work, and volunteer service are some of the ways in which college unions embrace student involvement in the campus community. Programs found in college union provide opportunities for college unions and student leaders to facilitate academic, social, and cultural events for the campus community that can support student learning outcomes. Student’s involvement with faculty outside of the classroom and discussions around career aspirations are well known to beneficial for students (Lane & Perozzi, 2014).
Senior student affairs offices (SSAOs) can play an important part in developing students and getting them engaged on campus. They are always advocating for what is the best for the students. Some examples of the ways they interact with student are meeting with student programming chairs and the resident assistants to talk about their focus for the year, meeting with Greek life about creating a plan for success and addressing the first-year class during orientation to let them know that we are here to help them succeed (Bass, 2006).It is important that they make the students aware that people are there to help them succeed. Making them aware of this could lead them to become more involved in student engaging activities on campus.
High achieving low income students of color who received scholarships awards tend to have a higher level of leadership efficacy and are more likely to take on leadership roles after college. The positive effect of scholarship awards on student leadership capacity are indirect, mediated through student engagement. This seems to reinforce the importance of student engagement and student leadership experience (Hu, 2011). Low income students are pressed to use their out of class time working to pay tuition other college expense. With spending their out of class time working they have a less of a chance to engage in campus events and also focus on their school work (Hu, 2011).
Students of color, undergraduate men, lower-income students, first generation college goers and undergraduate who commute to their campuses are students that may faces challenges when it comes to student engagement (Harper & Quaye, 2015).
Service learning provides a range of learning opportunities for diverse students. Service learning and student co-curricular activities has proven to be effective ways of enhancing students’ understanding of conceptual learning, provides a commitment to civic involvement, and provides opportunity for cross cultural understanding (Marcy. 2004). Campus activities can be an effective mode of engagement for students from underrepresented groups. Students’ learning increases when they have effective social support system. This is especially true for students of color on majority white campuses (Marcy. 2004).
It is important to get community colleges to get involved with student engagement because the majority of black, Latino, and first generation college students begin at the community college (Ross, 2015). If these students are involved at the community college then they can make the easy transition to a four school. They will not feel like they are behind compared to the native students who started at 4 year school. I also think it can help the community college students earn a bachelor’s degree. As of now, about 15 percent of students who start out a community college earn a bachelor’s degree after six years (Ross, 2015).
It is important get students that face challenges when it comes to student engagement to become engagement with campus because these students may drop out of school because they may not feel connected to the campus.
The research of student engagement that I looked at seems to be fairly new compared to other higher education research.I would like see more research about the reason why students do not participate in student engagement activities and what limitations students may faces when they are trying to participate in student center events. There should be data on how online universities and class can positively engage their students. Students who take online classes faces challenges when it comes to I would like to find more research about service learning. I wanted to write about service learning but I had issues finding enough research to write a full report. I know this is a somewhat new topic on college campus so I expect to see more research in the next fifteen years.
I picked this topic because it helped me before a successful students and it led me to the picking this career choice. Here is my experience of student engagement:
Student Organizations - I was in two student organizations during my undergrad career. These student organizations were a great way to become engaged with a new campus after I transferred from a community college. I was in Campus Activity Board and the Criminal Justice Association.
Leadership Roles on Campus - I worked in on campus in the admissions office as a Student Ambassador. I help inform high school students about Western Michigan University. I was able to gain job skills that I use now. I also developed leadership skills that allowed me to take on more job roles as a Student Ambassador. Besides my job on campus, I was in the emerging leadership program that forced on becoming a leader on campus. Finally I was a Fall Welcome Leader.
Internship - I worked at Boys and Girls Club during my senior year. It was great opportunity to apply what I learned in my classes and a great way to learn more as being a leader in the non-profit world.
American Red Cross - I provide an opportunity for college and high school students to have a service learning experience at the American Red Cross. I work students that are volunteering for one class, for their student organizations, for their major or for applying graduate schools.
Center for Student Activities - I am an intern for the CSA office. I work on programs that provide students chances to engage with non-profits in community. The office also can present leadership events to student organizations.
I think student engagement will only increase on college campus over the next 15 years. The data shows how important student engagement is when it comes to student’s success. I think more programs like one at Eastern Connecticut State University will appear over the next 15 years. I hope to be a part of the student engagement movement when I start my career at a University.
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