“We Go Together”: Discipline-Based Linked Course Learning Community Leads to Positive Developments for Students Dawn McKinney and Karen Peterson University of South Alabama Leo Denton University of Mobile Mobile, Alabama USA July 11, 2007 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience Kona, Hawaii KAREN

University of South Alabama KAREN The University of South Alabama (USA) is a major institution of undergraduate, graduate, medical, and professional education located on the upper Gulf Coast of Alabama, in the United States of America. USA enrolls 13,300 students and has awarded more than 57,000 degrees, including 1,800 medical degrees. Degrees are available in Allied Health Professions, Arts and Sciences, the Mitchell College of Business, Education, Engineering, Nursing, Computer and Information Sciences, Continuing Education and Special Programs, and the Graduate School. USA also has a College of Medicine and clinical facilities. State University with 13,300 Students 8 Colleges and a Medical School Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees Upper Coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Freshman Seminar at University of South Alabama Started 1992 for Resident Students Required Fall 2007 for All Freshmen Common University Objectives Each College Dictates Specific Criteria Learning Communities are New KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

This session will be about… Why Learning Communities? Our Methodologies Sample Course Activities Assessment Tools and Results Future Plans An Activity for You Discussion KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Why Learning Communities? Positive Effect on Retention Rates Enhances Belonging Promotes Social and Academic Integration Increases Quantity and Quality of Friendships Enhances Teaching and Learning Provides a Support System Promotes Relevance through Connections Strengthens Goal and Institutional Commitments DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Tinto’s Model of Student Retention DAWN

Our 30 Freshmen Learning Community Group Non-Learning Community Group 14 students enrolled in both English 101 Composition class CIS 101 (Computer and Information Sciences) Freshman Seminar class Non-Learning Community Group 16 students not enrolled in the English 101 due to scheduling conflicts non-interest, or not required to take English 101 DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Methodologies to Promote the Sense of Belonging and Development of Writing Skills Wrote Relevant Compositions Attended Guest Speaker Lectures Explored Computing Research and Careers Discussed Computing Specializations Presented Group Presentations Participated in Computing, University, and Community Events DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

The Sense of Belonging Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines "to belong” as “to have a proper, appropriate, or suitable place, to be naturally associated with something, to fit into a group naturally. DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Belonging in Discipline/Field Computing Research and Careers Computing Specializations Group Presentations DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Belonging Promoted through Event Participation Field/Major Specific University-wide Community Leisure DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Writing Skills The need for writing skills for career advancement Increased performance due to relevance (Keller’s ARCS model). KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Writing Relevance Compositions Speaker to Emphasize Importance of Writing in their Field KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Pretest and Posttest Assessment Tools Student Belonging Pascarella’s and Terenzini’s Institutional Integration Scale Survey measuring the quantity and quality of student relationships Development of Writing Skills. Multiple professional assessments Common rubric 4 student papers. KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Institutional Integration Scale Developed by Pascarella and Terenzini Measures the overall sense of belonging Delivered as a pretest and a posttest Example items below: 1. I am satisfied with the opportunities to meet and interact informally with faculty members.  Strongly disagree  Disagree  Don’t know  Agree  Strongly agree 5. Most students at this university have values and attitudes different from my own. DAWN The institutional integration scale was used as a pretest and posttest to measure the sense of belonging, since studies show that a major reason for students leaving college in their freshman year is due to the lack of the sense of belonging. One of the goals of the course was to increase the students’ sense of belonging. This validated instrument is based on Tinto’s model of retention and was developed by Pascarella and Terenzini. The instrument had 12 items which measure belonging with students and belonging with faculty. Here is an example of one each. 1. I am satisfied with the opportunities to meet and interact informally with faculty members. 5. Most students at this university have values and attitudes different from my own. 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Institutional Integration Scores DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Sense of Belonging Improvement Scale: 0-48 Pretest mean: 26.89 Pretest std dev: 4.086 Posttest mean: 29.04 Posttest std dev: 4.963 t(27) = 2.514, p = 0.018 standardized effect size index (d): 0.48 DAWN 28 students took the IIS at the beginning and at the end of the semester. The mean score at the beginning was 26.89 on a 0 to 48 scale. The standard deviation for these scores was 4.086. The mean score at the end of the semester was 29.04. The standard deviation for these scores was 4.963. A paired-samples t -test was conducted which indicated that this increase in the sense of belonging over the course of the semester was significant. A box plot depicting the results is shown here. 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Friendship Scale Name as many people in this class as you can (first names OK). Next to each name place a number which describes the level of your relationship with this person based on the following scale: 1 = I know the person’s first name 2 = We communicate while at the university 3 = We communicate outside of the university 4 = We are good associates 5 = We are good friends DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Increased Friendship Scores DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Writing Skills Assessment Criteria Graded by Independent Professional Readers 1: Focus 2: Development and Support 3: Organization 4: Style 5: Mechanics KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Overall Quality: Scored from 1 - 6 High (5 or 6) The essay is likely to be viewed as particularly reasonable, clear, and informative. Middle (3 or 4) The essay does not distinguish itself as being effective or ineffective. Readers will likely understand the essay as a whole, yet it lacks the details or information needed to be truly informative and clear. Low (1 or 2) The essay is particularly unlikely to achieve its goal. Readers are likely to be confused or uninformed. KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Learning Community Increases Writing Skills Despite Lower ACTs KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Learning Community Students Earn Higher Grades KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

The learning community as compared to the non-learning community: Beginning of the semester had (a) fewer student relationships (b) lower levels of belonging (c) lower scores on the writing skills pretest (d) lower ACT scores By the end of the semester had developed (a) more and higher quality student relationships (b) higher levels of belonging (c) higher overall scores (d) better grades KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Future Plans 2 Learning Communities In Fall Of 2007 All Students Enrolled In Both Classes Service Learning Introduced Continued Assessment What We’ll Do Differently Include More Social Gatherings Vary Topics For Writing Assignments KAREN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

We are a Learning Community Form a Learning Community Here Now Form a Group with the Number on Card Introduce Yourselves Select a Recorder Get all email addresses Record all discussion Select a Reporter Will report from your group Discuss Your Experiences with Learning Community Activities/Assessment You Have Ten Minutes We will Email the Results Today DAWN 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

Discussion Hand written on blank transparencies to be typed later and emailed to all participants KAREN (DAWN WRITES WHILE KAREN DIRECTS DISCUSSION) 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama

University of South Alabama We Go Together… Dawn McKinney Karen Peterson dmckinney@usouthal.edu kpeterson@usouthal.edu University of South Alabama Mobile, Alabama Leo Denton ldenton@mail.umobile.edu University of Mobile Mobile, Alabama 20th International Conference on the First-Year Experience 2007 Kona, Hawaii University of South Alabama