Building and Sustaining Critical Connections National Center for Academic Transformation Redesign Alliance 4 th Annual Conference

STAND UP… If you earned a degree while attending college as a part-time student If you earned a degree while working 20 or more hours per week If you ever, for any reason, stopped/dropped out of college If you were the first in your family to attend college

STAND UP… If English is your second language If in the course of your daily college life, you found yourself in the minority (race/ethnicity/gender) in most situations If you can name an individual who made a significant difference in your development and success in college.

Center for Community College Student Engagement IMAGINE SUCCESS!

Center for Community College Student Engagement Build Connections, Build Success How can institutions foster stronger and more diverse connections with—and among—students?

Center for Community College Student Engagement MAKING CONNECTIONS: What Matters Most for Student Success?

Center for Community College Student Engagement CCSSE : Community College Survey of Student Engagement Cumulatively, CCSSE has surveyed almost a million students from 754 different community colleges in 49 states, British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, the Marianas, and the Marshall Islands.

SENSE: Survey of Entering Student Engagement Cumulatively, SENSE has surveyed well over 100,000 students from 199 different community colleges in 35 states, the Northern Marianas, and the Marshall Islands. Center for Community College Student Engagement

Initiative on Student Success Listening systematically to students Center for Community College Student Engagement

ACHIEVING THE DREAM Community Colleges Count Evidence emerges from: Over 1100 coach visits to 102 colleges in 22 states Required student cohort tracking Required evaluation of student success strategies Center for Community College Student Engagement

WHAT MATTERS MOST Engagement matters!

Center for Community College Student Engagement Engagement Matters – furthermore… In many colleges, with many students, engagement is unlikely to happen by accident. It has to happen by design. Or, by redesign.

Center for Community College Student Engagement WHAT MATTERS MOST In focus groups with students, what do they typically report as the most important factor in keeping them in school, persisting toward their goals? Relationships matter “The compensatory effect” i.e., where there are differences in engagement between “high-risk” groups and their comparison groups (academically under-prepared students, students of color, first generation students, nontraditional college age students) --- the high-risk students are more engaged.

Center for Community College Student Engagement PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

Student Focus Groups If students ran the college….? Center for Community College Student Engagement

Personal Connections Center for Community College Student Engagement

Personal Connections Entering Students’ First Impressions of Their Colleges SENSE 2009 Data The very first time I came to this college, I felt welcome.

Center for Community College Student Engagement Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh!” He whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” – A.A. Milne ( )

Center for Community College Student Engagement CULTIVATING CONNECTIONS

Center for Community College Student Engagement Cultivating Connections Connections with students’ futures Connections in the classroom Connections on campus / outside the classroom Connections beyond the campus Connections in virtual space

Center for Community College Student Engagement Cultivating Connections The twofold challenge:  Use data to understand the status quo—which students need to be better engaged  Find ways to use each dimension, each venue for engagement to create meaningful, lasting connections

Center for Community College Student Engagement Least Engaged Students* *This analysis does not include students who hold degrees. Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data. Among the least engaged community college students:  Part-time students  Traditional-age students (those 24 and younger)  Students not seeking credentials  Students who have not completed 30 or more credits  Male students  Students who work more than 30 hours per week  Students who have not participated in orientation  Students who have not participated in learning communities

Center for Community College Student Engagement CONNECTING STUDENTS WITH THEIR FUTURES (AND WITH REALITY): High Expectations and Aspirations

Percent of entering students who strongly or somewhat agree that they have the motivation to do what it takes to succeed in college: 90% Percent of entering students who strongly or somewhat agree that they are prepared academically to succeed in college: 84% Center for Community College Student Engagement

Percentage of students who, at least once during their first three weeks of college: High Expectations and Aspirations

Center for Community College Student Engagement CONNECTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM

What is a “good class?” Center for Community College Student Engagement

ENGAGED LEARNING Center for Community College Student Engagement

Active and Collaborative Learning Worked with other students on projects during class: National: 46% often or very often(13% never)

Center for Community College Student Engagement CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM / ON CAMPUS

Center for Community College Student Engagement Connections on Campus: Orientation Students who attended a college orientation Have you attended an orientation program or course? Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.

Center for Community College Student Engagement Connections on Campus Students who say they never worked with other classmates outside of class to prepare class assignments 41% Students who report that they never discussed ideas from their readings or classes with instructors outside of class 47%

Center for Community College Student Engagement An Integrated Support Network Entering students who are unaware of support services during their first three weeks of college: Source : SENSE data.

Students don’t do optional!! Center for Community College Student Engagement

Making the Most of Connections on Campus Make outside-the-classroom engagement inescapable. Require students to participate in educational experiences that are important to their success. Make student services mandatory and/or integrate them into coursework.

Center for Community College Student Engagement CONNECTIONS BEYOND THE CAMPUS

Center for Community College Student Engagement Connections Beyond the Campus Will you have an internship, field experience, co-op experience, or clinical assignment while attending this college? Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.

Center for Community College Student Engagement Making the Most of Connections Beyond the Campus Require experiential learning as part of the course. Encourage “high-impact” experiences such as service learning, study abroad

Center for Community College Student Engagement CONNECTIONS IN VIRTUAL SPACE

Center for Community College Student Engagement Connections in Virtual Space FACT: Students increasingly use social media and other virtual tools to interact. FACT: Students value personal connections at their colleges.

Center for Community College Student Engagement “These are just technologies. Using them does not make you modern, smart, moral, wise, fair, or decent. It just makes you able to communicate, compete, and collaborate farther and faster.” – Thomas L. Friedman Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

Center for Community College Student Engagement Connections in Virtual Space Use online and social networking tools to cultivate relationships that help students feel connected and encourage them to persist in their studies.

Use of Social Networking Tools For any purpose Traditional-Age Students Nontraditional-Age Students Source: 2009 CCSSE data. Center for Community College Student Engagement

Use of Social Networking Tools To communicate about coursework Traditional-Age Students Nontraditional-Age Students Source: 2009 CCSSE data. Center for Community College Student Engagement

Use of Social Networking Tools Some use of social networking tools is related to increased engagement But there is a point of diminishing returns.

Center for Community College Student Engagement “With new technologies we’ve tended to do the same things more efficiently, when what we need is to do different things more effectively.” – Christopher Dede, Professor Harvard School of Education

Center for Community College Student Engagement DOING EDUCATION DIFFERENTLY, BASED ON EVIDENCE: What’s Required?

Center for Community College Student Engagement WHAT MATTERS MOST Focused, sustained efforts to purposefully redesign educational experiences and bring them to scale, can produce real improvements in student engagement, learning, persistence, and academic attainment. “The compensatory effect” i.e., where there are differences in engagement between “high-risk” groups and their comparison groups (academically under-prepared students, students of color, first generation students, nontraditional college age students) --- the high-risk students are more engaged.

Center for Community College Student Engagement WHAT MATTERS MOST Student Engagement By Design “The compensatory effect” i.e., where there are differences in engagement between “high-risk” groups and their comparison groups (academically under-prepared students, students of color, first generation students, nontraditional college age students) --- the high-risk students are more engaged.

Encouraging Student Success Strategies Mandatory Assessment and placement Orientation Success course for students in dev ed Participation in learning lab, tutoring and/or supplemental instruction Stop late registration/ create late-start classes Early advising / development of academic plan Early alert systems “Students don’t do optional.” Center for Community College Student Engagement

Encouraging Student Success Strategies Supplemental instruction Case management / success coaches Summer bridge or “boot camp” programs; short/ intensive skill refreshers Contextualized dev ed Cooperative/collaborative learning – at scale Linked courses/ learning communities… Learning communities required for FTIC Learning communities linking student success course and dev ed Counselors and advisors in learning communities Center for Community College Student Engagement

Fundamentals 1.The center of our work is student learning, persistence, and success. 2.We can’t get better at what we’re not willing to look at. 3.Every course, every program, every service, every academic policy, every college is perfectly designed to achieve the exact outcome it currently produces.

Center for Community College Student Engagement Fundamentals 4. If nothing changes, nothing changes. 5. Neither organizations nor individuals are good at accomplishing things they never actually decided to do.

“Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.” — Atul Gawande

Center for Community College Student Engagement

Kay McClenney Director Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE)

Center for Community College Student Engagement “Eventually everything connects – people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.” – Charles Eames American designer,