Achieving a Higher Level of Student Success through Collaborative Engagement Activities

Brief Abstract

Developing connections between faculty and students is essential to Student Success. To do so there needs to be an intentional strategic plan implemented throughout all levels of the organization and operationalized through benchmarks focused on students, student needs, student accomplishments. Based on student feedback six WE CARE strategies were developed.

Extended Abstract

Student success is meeting the students’ needs, assessing their abilities, collaborating across the university, and above all, supporting the students through various connections. These connections are essential to participating in student success initiatives. Offering opportunities for learning, upskilling, networking, coaching, and achieving student’s set-forth goals are essential to any student success strategy. The importance of student success should be considered and focused on within any higher education strategy (Krsmanovic, M, et al., 2020). This study seeks to gain qualitative data from students about student success. Many studies have asked faculty and advisors their opinions and engagement tactics (Chen, 2020). And even more research has delved into administrative initiatives that promote students’ success. However, this longitudinal research study is a collaboration across multiple stakeholders with a single focus: students.

Student success is not singular but needs to be seen through multiple lenses, therefore the first step in this research endeavor was to look at what strategies are already out there and how they compared to each other, could be combined, and which ones may work well together within our university environment. To be clear, we are conducting this research and analysis within a medium sized, private university that offers undergraduate and graduate classes, via multiple modalities (face-to-face, hybrid, online). 

Semi-structured response surveys were administered to juniors and seniors in a capstone style course, where they responded in an anonymous format. Time allotted for the survey was offered in an online class setting, with the expectation that the survey would take no more than 20 minutes. A total of 4 questions were answered, one being a net promoter. And a total of 60 responses were gathered. The development of the questions came from multiple internal university stakeholders while it was directly administered by the faculty of record within the course. This study started in January 2023 and is an ongoing initiative every term of teaching, which thus far has included four sections of the capstone course.

The survey asked the following questions:

 Q 1- What is your definition of Student Success?

Q 2- What aspects of your time at ERAU have been helpful to you?

Q 3- What could we have done to improve your experiences at ERAU?

Q 4- How would you rate your experiences so far at ERAU? Please use a 1-5 scale, with 5 being Excellent.

The results of this survey yielded the following:

Q 1- Using the knowledge from their courses to enhance their careers.

Q 2- Faculty, flexibility of courses, knowledge, quality courses, compassion, real world examples.

Q 3- More Faculty to Student interactions, timely feedback, meaningful feedback, networking opportunities, more of a personal touch, sharing of knowledge and experiences, response time to inquiries, more interactive courses, boring course structures, cost of textbooks.

Q 4- 4.34- Mainly positive experiences.

Findings from this study further yielded 6 engagement strategies that can be implemented throughout all parts of a higher education organization, from leadership administration, to teaching implementation within the classroom. These engagement strategies were also tied into the 5Cs of Humanizing Learning-

•      Content

•      Community

•      Consistency

•      Compassion

•      Connection

The six strategies that were developed to address enhancing Student Success were:

•      Support At-Risk Students.

•      Bring into Courses Real World Experience.

•      Interactive Coaching Program.

•      Create an active Student Community.

•      Provide a greater value-added to Students through engagement and interactive activities in each course.

•      Greater focus on Value-Added Course Resources for Students.

Within our organization we have termed this continuous strategy as We Care, based on the relationship and transformation foundation of the strategic actions.

 References

Chen, Y. (April), & Upah, S. (2020). Data Analytics and STEM Student Success: The Impact of Predictive Analytics-Informed Academic Advising Among Undeclared First-Year Engineering Students. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 22(3), 497–521. https://doi-org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1177/1521025118772307

Krsmanovic, Masha; Cox, Thomas D.; Johnson, Jamil D. Who Improves Most? The Differences in First-Year Students’ Learning Attitudes and Behaviors Measured by College Success Factor Index. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Vol. 20, No. 2, October 2020, pp. 1-14. doi: 10.14434/josotl.v20i2.27446