Language Studies Student Success and Retention Project

1
Language Studies Student Success and Retention
Project

• Rachel Howison
• Coordinator, Communication Centre
• Carol Shields
• Professor, Language Studies

2
Colleges Survey

• English departments at 10 Ontario colleges
• Phone interview
• Assessment, Remediation Course Frameworks
• Issues, recent changes rationale

3
Colleges Survey - Assessment

• Essay/free writing widely agreed on as tool
• Reading assessment is only data-supported
  predictor of success
• Post-admission, pre-enrolment testing used for
  when assessment affects placement

4
Colleges Survey - Remediation

• Under-prepared learners are an issue everywhere
• Extended-hours courses/programs dont work
• Foundations courses - unproven
• Trend toward unified, voluntary academic help
  centres
• Disillusionment with peer tutoring, but faculty
  disappearing from centres

5
Colleges Survey Course Frameworks

• Issues multi-level classes, scheduling
  under-prepared students
• One/Two compulsory Comm. courses
• Laddered systems
• First-semester academic communications course
  for all
• Foundations course for at-risk students

6
Colleges Survey - Thoughts

• Data collection has been rare, but need now
  apparent to many colleges
• Very little solid support exists for any given
  remediation strategy many variables
• Reliance on external data
• Need to perform our own institutional research

7
Assessment

• 1251 students assessed in W05 (3800 in Fall).
• 394 (31) failed reading test.
• 281 possible double-risk students.
• (800 400 in Fall?) Triple-risk (math)?

8
Communication Centre Database

• Includes name student number, program, class,
  professor, assessment results, remediation
  assigned and completed, tutor, nature of help,
  date, length number of visits, Communication
  course failure

9
Assessment Issues

• Issues ESL student placement, consistent but
  slow evaluation (one marker) and data entry, no
  faculty input into student help, limited time for
  CDPs, data needed for writing skills

10
Assessment Experiments W05

• Tried post-admission, pre-enrollment assessment
  with Pgm. Dept. cooperation.
• Trained faculty and trial-ran Ontario College
  Writing Exemplars Rating Scale

http//www.hol.on.ca/
11
(No Transcript)
12
Assessment Experiments W05

• Had faculty evaluate tests and assign remediation
• Changed process timing/deadlines
• Assessed changes via interviews with faculty
  ESL-ps. Pgm. Dept. feedback also received.

13
Assessment Lessons Learned

• The College will move to a post-admission
  pre-enrollment assessment protocol, outside of
  orientation.
• OCWE Rating Scale scores will continue to be used
  and will be added to the database beginning this
  semester in order to collect writing data.
• Faculty will continue to assign remediation.
• ESL-ps placement will continue to be a priority.

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
Remediation

• Currently assign CDPs add-on strategy.
• CDPs include grammar software, assigned workshops
  (Grammar 101, Editing), assigned proofreading
  with peer tutors.
• Issues add-on is a questionable strategy,
  better reading software needed, peer tutors are
  of questionable quality, workshops a bandaid,
  no data on effectiveness!

18
Remediation - Experiments

• Collected data from students
• Trial-ran having Comm. profs in the Centre
• Repositioned generic workshops and tried program-
  specific workshops
• Collected external data about developmental
  courses

19
Remediation Research

• On-line Survey
• Sent out twice to 1500 students, 33 responded
• Focus Group
• Request (with carrot) sent out to 1500
  students, 4 responded
• Comm. Centre Frequent User comments
• 30 handed out, 10 responses received
• OTA/PTA post-tutor feedback
• 28 assigned CDPs, 14 completed feedback 1, 11
  completed 2, 8 completed 3.

20
On-line Survey Results
26/33 students prefer to work with professors vs.
peer tutors
21
On-line Survey Results

• Perception of Usefulness of peer tutor services
  - evenly distributed (quality of tutor?)
• 19/33 found quick-fix workshops not useful at
  all

22
On-line Survey Results

• 20/33 students found AllWrite grammar software
  not useful at all

23
On-line Survey Results

• Perception of how helpful Comm. Centre work was
  in improving comm. skills - evenly spread.
• Fairly to very satisfied with location, noise
  level, availability of computers
• Varied responses about privacy of tutoring and
  hours of operation.

24
OTA/PTA Feedback Results1 not at all, 5 a
lot

• How much do you think this session with the
  proofreader improved your document?All responses
  over 3 surveys were in 3 5 range.
• How much have your writing skills improved while
  working on this document from start to finish?
  Note change in perception over time.

25
OTA/PTA Additional Questions

• Usefulness of proofreading with tutor
• 1-3 0, 4 5, 5 3
• All-Write Grammar software
• Mixed responses
• Perception of comm. skills improvement
• 2 1, 3 4, 4 3
• Location conflicting results, but seemed to
  value privacy and availability of computers
• Very satisfied with staff (tutor)

26
WCT Workshop Pilot

• Police Foundations students write the Written
  Communication Test in first semester
  consequences to career path.
• This semester, in cooperation with PF program,
  specific workshops were run to prepare students
  for the test.
• Results DOUBLE the amount of passing grades,
  and a workshop approach that works!

27
Reading Remediation

• Researched reading software
• Limited availability for post-secondary use.
• Expensive licencing!
• Kurzweil 3000 is excellent and is already in use
  at the College in Disability Services.
• Other writing and organizational software in use
  there - applications for a wider population.

28
Remediation Lessons Learned

• Institutional research is hard to do well.
  Over-surveyed this semester? Process was
  valuable.
• Students preferred faculty in the centre. Peer
  tutors also received positive feedback. Quality
  of tutor a factor?
• Quick-fix workshops not seen as useful.
  Program-specific workshops successful
  well-received.
• Students value privacy and availability of
  computers in the Centres space. Institutional
  resources exist and were not aware of them.
  Building connections has been useful.

29
Purpose of Centre

• Voluntary centre desirable.
• 229 students visited our centres voluntarily.

30
Course Frameworks

• LL041 was not designed to teach basic reading,
  sentence structure and paragraph writing
  multi-level classroom is problematic
• Under-prepared students are not served by adding
  hours of remedial work on top of their existing
  course loads
• Current remedial strategies are either not
  working or unproven
• There is a correlation between reading skill
  level and success

31
Foundations Course

• As of Fall 2005, early assessment, use of OCWE
  ratings to identify writing skill levels, and
  coordination of the Communication and Math
  Learning Centres at the College will allow us to
  quickly identify high- triple-risk students.
• The literature supports the use of developmental
  courses as remediation measures, especially for
  high-risk or triple-risk (skills-deficient in
  reading, writing and math) students

32

• Students who complete remedial courses increase
  academic skills (Sawyer Schiel, 2000). 
• Additional support to overcome academic
  deficiencies helps them achieve a greater degree
  of academic integration than no-risk students
  (Easterling, Patten Krile, 1998)
• Under prepared readers' success in college is
  directly related to taking and passing a reading
  skills course (Cox, Friesner, Khayum, 2003)
• "Proactive strategies community colleges can take
  to help developmental students include foregoing
  the lenient, open-door policy for a more
  structured one that enforces prerequisites and
  mandatory courses." (Yamasaki, 1998)

33
Impact Directions

• Crash course in IR, new connections with other
  College Depts.
• Early assessment, OCWE Rating Scale
• Well-prepared for transition to learning commons
• Move toward program-specific workshops
• Improved reading remediation search
• Proposal to develop, pilot and assess the impact
  of a foundations course.