Making ConnectionsDimensions of Student Engagement
2009 Findings
CCSSE Overview
CCSSE: A Tool for Improvement
CCSSE helps us:
Assess quality in community college education
Identify and learn from good educational practice
Identify areas in which we can improve
Center for Community College Student Engagement
CCSSE: A Tool for Community Colleges
CCSSE data analyses include a three-year cohort of participating colleges.
The 2009 CCSSE Cohort includes more than 400,000 community college students from 663 institutions in 48 states, British Columbia, the Marshall Islands, Nova Scotia, and Ontario.
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Center for Community College Student Engagement
Quantitative
CCSSE
CCFSSE
SENSE
Qualitative
Initiative on Student Success / Starting Right
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CCSSE: A Tool for Accountability
CCSSE:
Provides reliable data on issues that matter
Reports data publicly
Is committed to using data for improvement
CCSSE opposes the ranking of colleges.ranking
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CommunityCollege Students
Center for Community College Student Engagement
“I’m a divorced, single mother. I can and need to do this. If I fall down, my kids are going to fall down. If I’m standing, they will be there, right beside me.”
Giving Voice to Students
Carolina Villamar (left) and classmate Luisa Castano.
26-year-old single mother of a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter
Key Demographics, Enrollment, and Attendance
Most Students Are Enrolled Part-Time
Many Full-Time Students Work Close to Full-Time
Source: IPEDS, fall 2007. Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Part-time students
Full-time students
who work more than
30 hours per week
Key Demographics, Enrollment, and Attendance
Many Students Take Evening Classes
Many Students Take Classes Online
Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data. Source: Data from American Association of Community College and Allen, I.E. & Seaman, J. Analysis by CCSSE .
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Students who take evening classes
Students who have taken an
online class
Community College Students’ Plans
When asked when they plan to take classes at this college again, 22% of students had no plan to return or were uncertain about their future plans.
Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Barriers to Returning to CollegeHow likely is it that the following issues would cause you to withdraw from class or from this college?
In addition, 48% of respondents say that transfer to a four-year college or university is a likely or very likely reason they would not return to this college.
Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.
Percentage of students responding likely or very likely
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Least Engaged Students*
*This analysis does not include students who hold degrees. Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.
The least engaged community college students are: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
Financially independent students (those using their own income or savings as the major source of tuition)
Students who work more than 30 hours per week
Students who have not taken developmental courses
Students who have not taken study skill courses
Students who have not participated in orientation
Students who have not participated in learning communities
CCSSE Benchmarks
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CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice
The five CCSSE benchmarks are:
Active and Collaborative Learning
Student Effort
Academic Challenge
Student-Faculty Interaction
Support for Learners
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CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice
CCSSE Example Community College 2009 Benchmark Scores
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Benchmarking — and Reaching for Excellence
The most important comparison:
where you are now,
compared with
where you want to be.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Reaching for Excellence at [XX College]
This is an opportunity to customize one or more slides for your college. Slide and discussion ideas include:
Show how your college is reaching for excellence by discussing how your college is using CCSSE data to better understand and improve its practices.
Compare yourself to the national average (the 50 mark).
Measure overall performance against performance by your least-engaged student groups.
Gauge your work in the areas your college strongly values (e.g., the areas identified in your strategic plan).
Contrast where you are with where you want to be.
Building aCulture of Evidence
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Start with the Truth
“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we
really stop to look fear in the face…
We must do that which we think we cannot.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Understand the Facts
21% of part-time students versus 32% of full-time students say they often or very often talk about career plans with an instructor or advisor.
36% of part-time students versus 23% of full-time students say they never have those conversations.
Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Understand the Facts
Part-time students are less likely to:
Work with other students on projects during class
Make class presentations
Participate in a community-based project as part of a course
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Share the Facts andAct on What You’ve Learned
“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”
— Charles Dickens (1812–1870) Great Expectations
Using CCSSE Results
Center for Community College Student Engagement
The Inarguable Fundamentals
1. The center of community college work is student learning, persistence, and success.
2. Every program, every service, every academic policy is perfectly designed to achieve the exact outcome it currently produces.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Using CCSSE To Assess, Inform, and Act
1. Identify key areas (e.g., the areas identified in your strategic plan).
2. Identify survey items that address these priorities.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Using CCSSE To Assess, Inform, and Act
3. Start with the benchmarks.
4. Look at individual survey items.
5. Disaggregate the data and identify the least engaged student groups.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Using CCSSE To Assess, Inform, and Act
6. Involve the college community.
7. Design strategies and set targets.
8. Share the data and plans to address them.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Using CCSSE To Assess, Inform, and Act
9. Track progress by measuring outcomes.
10. Scale up efforts that are working. Modify or discontinue those that are not.
11. Repeat.
Build Connections, Build Success
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Build Connections, Build Success
Personal Connections:
The unanticipated success factor
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
Build Connections, Build Success
Distinguish between
communicating information
and
connecting.
The Connected College
Center for Community College Student Engagement
The Connected College
Language and actions communicate the belief that all students can succeed.
Everyone on campus is committed to facilitating student success.
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The Connected College
The commitment to building connections is:
Evident across campus groups.
Carried through all policies and procedures.
Visible in every contact with a student or potential student.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
The Connected College
The commitment to building connections is:
Cognizant of and relevant to student needs.
Apparent in all communications—face-to-face, print, and electronic.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
The Connected College
The connected college meets students
where they are
—literally, figuratively, and virtually—
and helps them get to
where they need to be.
Cultivating Connections
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 interactive medium to create meaningful, lasting connections
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Cultivating Connections
Connections in virtual space
Connections in the classroom
Connections on campus
Connections beyond the campus
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
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 ToolsFor any purpose
Traditional-Age Students
Nontraditional-Age Students
Source: 2009 CCSSE data.
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Use of Social Networking ToolsTo communicate about coursework
Traditional-Age Students
Nontraditional-Age Students
Source: 2009 CCSSE data.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
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
Online Learning: Strong Outcomes
Online enrollments are growing faster than classroom enrollments.
The highest growth rates are in two-year colleges.
Students learning online have better-than average outcomes.
Blended, or hybrid, instruction has best outcomes.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Online Learning and Developmental Education
The devil is in the details.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Making the Most of Connections in Virtual Space
Sharing information using social media is not necessarily connecting with students.
The medium must be suited to the service the college is providing.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Making the Most of Connections in Virtual Space
Create online experiences that lead to personal—or even in-person—connections.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Connections in Virtual Space at [XX College]This is an opportunity to customize one or more slides for your college. Slide and discussion ideas include:
Provide your college’s data for survey items related to use of technology and the special-focus items about social networking and discuss the results.
Provide examples of what you plan to do with the information (for example, replacing online orientation with mandatory live tours, or expanding a successful online tutoring program).
Compare your college’s performance on these items with the performance of a group of similar colleges (without naming the colleges, of course) or to the full CCSSE population.
Give examples of initiatives that your college has developed (or plans to develop) to strengthen connections in virtual space on your campus(es).
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Connections in Virtual Space at [XX College]The previous slide suggests ways you can create a student effort slide customized for your college. This slide show an example of the type of chart you can create to execute these suggestions.
[XX College] Focused on Improving Connections in Virtual Space
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Connections in the Classroom
Students who say they often or very often work with classmates outside of class
22%
Students who say they often or very often work with classmates during class
47%
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Making the Most of Connections in the Classroom
Use engaging instructional approaches that emphasize active learning and building connections
Build additional engagement opportunities into the classroom experience
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Connections in the Classroom at [XX College]This is an opportunity to customize one or more slides for your college. Slide and discussion ideas include:
Provide your college’s data for survey items related to connections in the classroom and discuss the results.
Provide examples of what you plan to do with the information (for example, providing professional development that focuses on engaging instructional approaches or building academic advising, study skills training, and other engagement opportunities in to the classroom).
Compare your college’s performance on these items with the performance of a group of similar colleges (without naming the colleges, of course) or to the full CCSSE population.
Give examples of initiatives that your college has developed (or plans to develop) to strengthen connections in the classroom on your campus(es).
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
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: Student Services
Often Rarely/never
Academic advising/planning 13% 35%
Career counseling 5% 51%
Peer or other tutoring 3% 46%
Skill labs (writing, math, etc.) 15% 37%
Financial aid advising 17% 32%
Student organizations 5% 45%
How often do you use the following services? How important are the following services?
Very Not at all
Academic advising/planning 62% 10%
Career counseling 50% 21%
Peer or other tutoring 39% 29%
Skill labs (writing, math, etc.) 44% 25%
Financial aid advising 61% 21%
Student organizations 24% 41%
Source: 2009 CCSSE Cohort data.
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 tot heir success.
Make student services mandatory and/or integrate them into coursework.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Connections on Campus at [XX College]This is an opportunity to customize one or more slides for your college. Slide and discussion ideas include:
Provide your college’s data for survey items related to connections on campus and discuss the results.
Provide examples of what you plan to do with the information (for example, making study groups mandatory, requiring students to participate in projects with faculty members or other students outside the classroom, or requiring students to attend an appointment with a career counselor).
Compare your college’s performance on these items with the performance of a group of similar colleges (without naming the colleges, of course) or to the full CCSSE population.
Give examples of initiatives that your college has developed (or plans to develop) to strengthen connections on campus at your college).
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Connections Beyond the Campus
In your experience at this college during the current school year, about how often have you done each of the following?
Often/Very often
Never
Participated in a community based project as part of a regular course
7% 77%
Discussed ideas from your classes outside of class (with students, family members, co-workers)
50% 12%
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 on Campus
Require service projects or other experiential learning opportunities.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Connections Beyond the Campus at [XX College]This is an opportunity to customize one or more slides for your college. Slide and discussion ideas include:
Provide your college’s data for survey items related to connections beyond the campus and discuss the results.
Provide examples of what you plan to do with the information (for example, making hands-on learning mandatory or strengthening professional development related to experiential learning).
Compare your college’s performance on these items with the performance of a group of similar colleges (without naming the colleges, of course) or to the full CCSSE population.
Give examples of initiatives that your college has developed (or plans to develop) to strengthen connections on campus at your college).
The Connection Gap
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The Connection Gap
60% of community college students attend college part-time.
67% of community college faculty teach part-time.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
The Connection Gap
After controlling for income and other demographics, NCES found:
15% of part-time students earned a degree or certificate in six years — compared with 64% of full-time students
73% of part-time students left college without earning a degree— while 72% of full-time students persisted
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Center for Community College Student Engagement
The Connection Gap
Part-time faculty typically teach what percentage of all community college course sections?
50% - 66% (half to two-thirds)
Center for Community College Student Engagement
The Connection Gap: Part-Time FacultyHow many hours do you spend in a typical 7-day week doing each of the following?
Percentage of CCFSSE respondents who indicate zero hours.
Part-time faculty
teaching 9-12 hours/week
Full-time faculty
teaching 9-12 hours/week
Advising students 40% 15%
Working with students on activities other than coursework 82% 50%
Involved in other interactions with students outside the classroom 47% 22%
Coordination and/or administrative activities 71% 23%
Participating on college committees or task forces 78% 8%
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Closing the Connection Gap
Make the most of the hours part-time students spend on campus. For example:
Make support services accessible.
Link student success courses to developmental courses.
Require orientation, advising, and participation in study groups.
Provide professional development for part-time faculty members.
Center for Community College Student Engagement
Closing the Connection Gap at [XX College]This is an opportunity to customize one or more slides for your college. Slide and discussion ideas include:
Provide your college’s data for survey items related to the connection gap and discuss the results.
Provide examples of what you plan to do with the information (for example, providing support services at times convenient to part-time students, integrating services into coursework, making orientation and advising mandatory, and providing professional development to part-time faculty members).
Compare your college’s performance on these items with the performance of a group of similar colleges (without naming the colleges, of course) or to the full CCSSE population.
Give examples of initiatives that your college has developed (or plans to develop) to close the connection gap at your college).