Faculty Retreat

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Faculty Retreat

• August 26, 2008

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Upcoming Events

• Matriculation 2 p.m. August 29
• Convocation and Picnic 430 p.m. September 1
• September 12, Science Building Groundbreaking
• September 23 Larry Sumney, CEO of Semiconductor
  Research Corporation October 8 Great Debate
• October 16 Trelka Symposium
• October 19-24 Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Kevin P.
  Quigley (CEO, Peace Corps, expert in Asia and
  democratization)
• Buddhist monks on campus

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Magellan Advisors

• FRESHMEN
• Todd Verdun, English
• SOPHOMORES
• Tiffani Gottschall, Economics
• JUNIORS
• Mike Leonard, Chemistry

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Personnel Updates

• Vice President for Business and Finance
• Director of the Library
• Assistant Dean of Student Life and Director of
  Multi-Cultural Affairs

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Who Are Our Students?

• CIRP Data
• Freshman surveyed Fall 2007

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Colleges used in Comparison

• Allegheny
• Dickinson
• Franklin Marshall
• Knox
• Rhodes
• Washington (MD)

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They are . . .

• Conservative

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They . . .

• Lack Self-Confidence
• Humble

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They are . . .

• Risk-Averse
• Cautious

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They are . . .

• Passive
• Shy

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They are . . .

• Potentially Unprepared

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They are . . .

• Parochial
• Unsophisticated
• Family-Oriented

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But they are . . .

• Ambitious
• Hopeful

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And they are . . .

• Goal-Oriented
• Focused

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How Do Our Students Learn?

• NSSE Data
• Freshman and Seniors Surveyed
• Fall 2007

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Selected Peers

• Centre College
• Franklin and Marshall
• Hobart and William Smith
• Sewanee
• Knox
• Ursinus

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High Impact Educational Practices

• First-year seminars
• Common Intellectual Experiences
• Learning Communities
• Writing-Intensive Courses
• Undergraduate research
• Diversity/Global Learning
• Service Learning/Community-Based Learning
• Internships
• Capstone Courses and Projects

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Impact of Educationally Purposeful Practices on
First Academic Year GPA by Pre-College
Achievement Level
Findings developed by LEAP National Leadership
Council Member George Kuh and used with permission
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Impact of Educationally Purposeful Practices on
First Academic Year GPA by Race/Ethnicity
Findings developed by LEAP National Leadership
Council Member George Kuh and used with permission
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Impact of Educationally Purposeful Practices on
the Probability of Returning for the Second Year
of College by Race
Findings developed by LEAP National Leadership
Council Member George Kuh and used with permission
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Level of Academic Challenge

• Preparing for class (studying, reading,
  rehearsing, etc.)
• Number of assigned books
• Number of written papers or reports of various
  lengths
• Coursework emphasizing analysis of ideas
• Coursework emphasizing synthesis of ideas
• Coursework emphasizing making judgments about
  the value of information
• Coursework emphasizing application of theory to
  practice
• Working hard than your thought you would to meet
  expectations
• Campus environment emphasizing academic work

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Statistically Significant Differences with Two
Peer Groups

• WJ freshmen less likely to come to class
  unprepared
• Freshmen and seniors less likely to engage with
  diverse perspectives in class discussion and
  writing assignments
• All students less likely to discuss ideas outside
  of class
• All students very much more likely to be asked to
  memorize facts and repeat them in the same form
• Freshmen much less likely to be asked to analyze,
  synthesize or make judgments about ideas
• Freshmen much less likely to read outside of
  assignments
• Seniors less likely to write papers longer than
  20 pages, and all students less likely (freshmen
  very much less likely) to write papers of 5-19
  pages
• All students asked to read fewer books

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Active and Collaborative Learning

• Asked questions in class or contributed to
  discussion
• Made class presentation
• Worked with other students on a project during
  class
• Worked with classmates outside of class to
  prepare assignments
• Tutored or taught other students
• Participated in community-based project as part
  of course
• Discuss readings or ideas outside of class

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Student-Faculty Interaction

• Discussed grades or assignments with instructor
• Talked about career plans with faculty member or
  advisor
• Discussed ideas or readings with faculty outside
  of class
• Worked with faculty on activities other than
  coursework (committees, student life)
• Received prompt oral or written feedback on
  academic performance
• Worked with a faculty member on research project
  outside of class

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Statistically Significant Differences with Two
Peer Groups

• Seniors more likely to talk with faculty about
  career plans
• Freshmen less likely to talk with faculty about
  ideas outside of class
• All students less likely to try to understand
  others by imagining an issue from the other
  persons perspective

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Enriching Educational Experiences

• Participating in co-curricular activities
• Internship, practicum of field experiences
• Community service or volunteer work
• Foreign language coursework and study abroad
• Independent study or self-designed major
• Culminating senior experience
• Serious conversations with students who differ in
  religion, ethnicity, politics
• Use of electronic technology to complete
  assignments
• Participation in a learning community
• Campus environment encouraging conversations
  among students from different economic or racial
  backgrounds

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Statistically Significant Differences with Two
Peer Groups

• Freshmen very much less likely to have serious
  conversations with people of different ethnicity,
  religion, or politics
• Freshmen and seniors less likely to attend arts
  exhibits, plays, dances, etc.
• Fewer seniors had studied abroad
• More seniors had had capstone experiences
• Seniors and freshmen felt less strongly that the
  campus encouraged discussions among diverse
  groups

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Supportive Campus Environment

• Campus provides support for you to succeed
  academically
• Campus helps you cope with non-academic
  responsibilities (work, family)
• Campus helps you thrive socially
• Quality of relationships with other students
• Quality of relationships with faculty
• Quality of relationships with administrative
  personnel and offices

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Statistically Significant Differences with Two
Peer Groups

• Many more students worked off-campus
• All students were less likely to feel supported
  academically or socially

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Highest Performing Areas Freshman

• Said the institution emphasizes studying and
  academic work
• Worked with other students on projects during
  class
• Tutored or taught other students
• Did a practicum, field experience
• Completed foreign language coursework

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Highest Performing Areas Seniors

• Made a class presentation
• Tutored or taught other students
• Talked about career plans with faculty member or
  advisor
• Completed foreign language coursework
• Completed a capstone course or experience

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Lowest Performing Areas Freshmen

• Read more than 10 assigned books or book-length
  collections of readings
• Wrote more than 4 papers between 5 and 19 pages
  in length
• Had serious conversations with students of
  another race or ethnicity
• Had serious conversations with students of
  another religion or political point of view
• Complete dcommunity service

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Lowest Performing Areas Seniors

• Read more than 10 books or book-length
  collections of readings
• Discussed readings or ideas with others outside
  of class
• Studied abroad
• Did an independent study or self-designed major
• Positively rated their relationships with
  administrative offices or personnel

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How Well Do Our Students Learn?

• CLA Data
• Freshman tested Fall 2007
• Seniors tested Spring 2008

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Components of the CLA

• Performance Task
• Asks the student to use an integrated set of
  critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem
  solving, and written communication to answer
  open-ended questions about a hypothetical or
  realistic situation. Includes document library.
  90 minutes.
• Analytic Writing Task
• Making an argument presents an opinion and asks
  students to address this issue from any
  persepctive they wish, supporting their views.
  45 minutes.
• Creating an argument asks students to critique an
  argument by discussing how well reasoned it is
  (rather than agreeing or disagreeing with it).

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Our Freshmen Scores

• At expected performance level on
• Performance Task
• Well above performance level on
• Analytic Writing (combined score)
• Making an argument
• Creating an argument
• Total CLA Scores were above expectations, given
  SAT/ACT scores.

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Our Seniors Scores

• At performance level for
• Performance Task
• Analytic Writing Task (combined score)
• Making an Argument
• Above expected performance level on
• Creating an Argument

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Some Initial Observations

• Our students come to us, lacking self-confidence,
  passive, and unsure about college.
• Our students have little experience with
  diversity and seem less interested in seeking it
  out.
• Given their socio-economic status, our students
  should benefit greatly from active and engaged
  pedagogies.
• Our freshmen do not report engaging in active
  learning as often as those at our peer
  institutions.
• All our students report reading less and writing
  less than students at comparison schools.
• All our students reports discussing ideas less
  outside of class.
• All students report more required memorization
  and less required analysis and synthesis.
• Our seniors report experiencing active learning
  almost as often as their peersespecially in
  terms of capstone experiences.
• Our freshmen are coming in more and more capable
  and preparedwe need to challenge them, while
  also being supportive.

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Some Initial Hypotheses

• Since our students do well in graduate school,
  perhaps we are not using the familiar high-impact
  practices but something equally effective. If
  so, what is it? How can we find out and assess
  it? A new national model?
• Maybe our students require different kinds of
  pedagogies because they are more risk-averse,
  unconfident, and passive when they arrive.
• Maybe whatever we are doing would be even further
  enhanced by adopting some familiar high impact
  strategies like learning communities.
• Maybe our students report experiences differently
  than those at other schools.

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So, What Next?