focusing on the co-curriculum key to competitiveness conference orlando, florida june 28, 2006...
TRANSCRIPT
Focusing on the Co-Curriculum
Key to Competitiveness Conference
Orlando, Florida June 28, 2006
George L. Mehaffy
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What would an institution that is
intentional about learning
outcomes do to encourage
learning in the co-curriculum?
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• Define the outcomes
• Create activities and programs to achieve those outcomes
• Measure the results and feed that information back into the institution
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What does it take for an undergraduate to be successful in the 21st
century?
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The world is flat• The world has moved from “command
and control” to “connect and collaborate”
• Technology and capital will remove all barriers, boundaries and restraints to global commerce
• Competitiveness is tied to having a really smart population
• There is no limit to the number of idea-generated jobs in the world
• Be skillfully adaptable and socially adaptable
―Friedman, 20055
New divisions of labor
• Expert thinking: identifying and solving problems for which there is no routine solution• Pattern matching• Metacognition
• Complex communication: persuading, explaining, interpreting information • Negotiating • Managing• Gaining trust• Teaching• Building understanding ―Levy & Murnane, 2005
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Necessary Workplace Skills
LeadershipTeamwork
Problem solvingTime managementSelf-management
AdaptabilityAnalytical thinking
Global consciousnessCommunication skills
― Business-Higher Education Forum 2003― Business-Higher Education Forum 20037
What works?
Challenging ideas & people
–Terenzini, 2005–Terenzini, 2005
Active engagement with challenges
Supportive environment
Real-world activities
Social activity
Unbounded by time or place8
Conclusions:
• Success can happen at any institution
• No magic bullet
Notable Practices:
• First Year Programs
• Intentional Advising
• Integrated Services
• Curricular Features
AASCU Graduation Rate Study
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Culture
High expectations
Belonging
Purpose and Place
Leadership
No silos
Enabling leadership
AASCU Graduation Rate Study
Student Success in State Colleges and Universities: A Matter of Culture and Leadership. AASCU. 2005
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Places:First Year Programs
AdvisingStudent Organizations
Strategies:Social interaction - projects
Volunteering and service learningInteracting with those different
Challenging ideas
Where do you start?
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Tools What technology tools could facilitate this work?
1. Social Networking Sites: Facebook.com, MySpace.com, Friendster.com, etc.
2. Email
3. Blogs
4. I-pods
5. E-portfolios12
First-Year Programs
―Tinto, 2005―Tinto, 2005
56% of dropouts from 4-year institutions leave before the start of their 2nd year.
Academic difficulty:
Only 30-35% leave college after the first year for academic reasons
Adjustment difficulties:
Even academically gifted and socially mature students have difficulty making the transition
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Learning:
First-Year Programs
Students are unable to bear direct and indirect costs of college or financial needs change
Finances:
Learning predicts persistence;
student who learn find value and
stay
Involvement: Students feel lonely, isolated, unable to establish connections; important predictor of student persistence
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Advising
• Selecting classes
• Writing and engagement
• Getting involved
• Allocating time
―Light, 1992―Light, 199215
Student OrganizationsDemocratic processesInteracting with differenceInterdisciplinary current eventsMeeting and project management skills16
Other Programs
• Summer programs
• Living-learning programs
• Undergraduate research
• Capstone courses
• Peer tutoring• Student-faculty contacts unrelated to a course17
Other Features• Risk-taking, supporting failure
• Contemporary issues forums
• Linkages to the community
• Expectation of international
experience
• Codes of conduct18
In the end, it is not about a specific program or a specific
administrative structure
It’s about creating a
culture
that focuses on student learning outcomes
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Elements of a Culture
• Shared “living” mission and “lived” educational philosophy
• Unshakeable focus on student learning
• Environments adapted for educational enrichment
• Clearly marked pathways for student success
• Improvement-oriented ethos
• Shared responsibility for student success
- ―Kuh et al, 200520
“Success means reading the current
campus culture, aligning people and
programs, and making a collective
commitment to be in it for the long haul. ”
Student Success in State Colleges and Universities: A Matter of Culture and Leadership. AASCU. 2005
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