From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: Rules of (Community College) Engagement:It’s no great secret that community college students spend much of their time away from campus. As this year’s report on an annual survey of the academic experiences of students at two-year institutions puts it: “Most students simply are not on campus enough for engagement to occur spontaneously. They rarely bump into instructors on campus and have serendipitous informal conversations.”
Thus, the report argues, community college faculty need to take advantage of their limited classroom time, and administrators need to think about ways to create opportunities for students — and particularly part-timers — to engage with instructors and their peers while on campus.
The Community College Survey of Student Engagement, released Monday, reached that conclusion after tracking data compiled over the past five years (700,000 students, 548 institutions) on how students spend their time and interact with people at their institutions.
In addition to the wide-angle view, the survey provides its usual look at a three-year cohort — those who responded from 2005 to 2007, a group that includes more than 310,000 students from 525 institutions.
The students responded to survey questions in the spring after having several months’ worth of experiences from which to draw. Those who are included in the report are the “survivors,” as the report says. But, as CCSSE notes, many more students don’t stay past the first semester — and researchers want to know what factors into a student’s level of engagement and satisfaction at the start of college.
That’s why, in the “special focus” survey section, questions this year asked students to think back to their first four weeks of college. (Questions asked to beginning students this fall about their first month will be released as part of a separate report in the spring.) The results from this year’s focus section show that:
• Fewer than half of students met with an adviser to discuss academic plans in the first four weeks.
• Slightly more than half completed an assessment test for course placement.
• Thirty-two percent didn’t attend an orientation program, and only one in three who did said they were “very satisfied” with the experience.
Kay McClenney, director of the survey, said that some of the engagement results are alarming, given that the first few weeks of college are essential in capturing students’ attention…. (My emphases.)
3 comments:
Limited Classroom time? We teach a lot more classes than do our counterparts at the 4 years.
I think one could take that comment as applying to any one class; time is limited to those few hours per week with our students. At the 4-year institution where I teach, there are umpteen other ways for students to bump into faculty--at the Commons, at public lectures and concerts, walking across campus, just sitting on a bench in the sun, and so on. It's unfortunate for any student to miss, or not take advantage of, such chances to learn to interact with faculty. For the plain truth is that some of them aren't particularly well "socialized;" they barely know what civil behavior is, and could use the practice and the exposure to more civilized beings on campus. Of course, plenty of "adults" on any campus may not be too civilized themselves--witness some of your very own trustees and administrators--but in general, I think that faculty have learned to be decent persons.
My kids usually engage with other students by playing DDR in the student union....
I don't think many faculty hang out there, though.
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