January 3rd, 2010
How complete is your mentoring program? The fall semester is completed. Students have received their grades and some are doing poorly. They now recognize that college may be tougher than they thought it would be. Mentoring programs implemented at the beginning of the second semester have been found to be very successful. A successful mentoring program can bring together students who have not performed well in the first semster and help them identify the problem area, whether it is not enough time studying, a need for tutoring, or learning better study habits. Regular meetings, student-oriented goals and strategies for student succees have been found to help students show significant improvement in their academic progress. Contact us (cindy@veenstraconsulting.com ) if you would like more information on mentoring programs.
Cindy
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December 4th, 2009
The challenges that higher education is facing are overwhelming–budget problems, society’s need for more graduates, especially in the STEM disciplines; preparation of students for the knowledge industry in a global environment, external pressures for quality assurance and accountability, inadequate financial aid for students leading to less access, inadequate K12 preparation of many students and the need for more higher education research.
In the Quality disciplines, we talk about the need to be data-driven, to practice Deming/Skewhart’s PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act), to provide feedback to the system and continuously improve. The only sure-fire way to address these complex issues of higher education is to develop strategies based on proven assessment techniques. In October, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment released a report on a significant survey involving over 1500 higher education institutions, titled “More Than You Think, Less Than We Need: Learning Outcomes Assessment in American Higher Education“ authored by George Kuh and Stanley Ikenberry. The information in this blog is based on the abridged version of the report. (www.learningoutcomesassessment.org)
The survey results tell a story. Accreditation requirements strongly influence the amount of assessment. In a list of uses for assessment, higher education institutions gave the most priority to “Institutional self-study for accreditation”. Measures of a continuous improvement culture such as ”Improving instructional performance” and “modifying academic support services” were in the middle of this list. In identifying the importance of assessment, the survey looked at the number of staff members that were charged with assessment responsibilities. It was reported that “almost half (47%) of doctoral institutions reported having one or more staff, while only one-fifth (19%) of community colleges and other associate-degree-granting schools had at least one person focused on outcomes assessment.” Less than 10% of the institutions reported 5 or more staff in this role. Obviously, part of the story is the lack of priority being given to staff resources to conduct assessments. Of course, faculty are responsible for learning outcome assessment in their classrooms; at the same time, it seems that staff resources need to be dedicated to assessment and continuous improvement.
If we are to use assessment and other research to improve the learning processes of students, a culture of using assessments, both institutional and in the classroom must be adopted. This report recommends that
- College and University Presidents and other academic leaders “must make quality assurance an instititional priority”
- Governing board members ”must ensure their institution has a system of academic quality control”
- Faculty need to be involved with the collection of data about student learning.
- Institutional research personnel can contribute to this effort by focusing on areas of assessment that are important to the educational institution and provide reports that “determine whether changes in teaching and learning approaches have had the desired effects”
- Student affairs staff can use assessment to help “inform student affairs practice” and be an active participant in the discussions on campus assessment and subsequent institutional actions.
- Finally, prospective students and parents “should ask to see learning outcomes information”
All these recommendations are appropriate. If we are to adequately address the current challenges of higher education, we must consider a more focused effort for a continuous improvement and quality-oriented culture. This includes using more assessment and education research to inform the practices of teaching, learning and student support. In addition, a completed feed back loop to determine if the changes in the teaching/learning process provide the expected improvement are needed. Higher Education does not need to reinvent the processes of continuous improvement. Many are already out there, in use and very successful. What is needed is a more integrated institutional dialogue and commitment to a continuous improvement culture and assessment as in being suggested in the recommendations of this report. Such an effort will help lead to more effective institutional strategies for addressing the current higher education challenges.
Cindy
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December 1st, 2009
Today’s ASEE First Bell reported on the joint project of WGBH and NAE to produce a website that changes the image of engineering careers to that of being an exciting and fulfilling career for women. Recent research has shown that women students in engineering are graduating with an engineering degree at about the same rate as men. The problem is that women have not been entering the freshman classes and there are few transfers into engineering. Only about 20% of the new freshmen in engineering are women. With a shortage of engineers expected in the workforce, attracting high school girls to engineering college has been an issue of high prioirty in engineering education.
A 21st century image of engineering colleges and engineering careers is needed that is inclusive of women and minorities. Many engineering companies have been inclusive for a number of years and have complained about the lack of women and minority engineering graduates. The problem as currently identified is that K12 students were not seeing engineering as an attractive career. For girls, this included a lack of role models for engineering. With the new WGBH and NAE supported website for high school girls, Engineer Your Life (http://www.engineeryourlife.org/) the image of engineering that is inclusive of successful women engineers is more evident than ever. In addition, the website for middle-school girls includes profiles of successful women engineers. (http://www.engineergirl.org)
Encourage your daughters, nieces and friends to look at these websites.
Cindy
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November 16th, 2009
In the current Time Magazine, President Gee of Ohio State University is being recognized for his leadership. (”The Big Man on Campus”, p. 44, Nov. 23, 2009)
In the article, Pres. Gee is reported as recognizing that “change is the whole ball game”; that “higher education has become too expensive”; and that ”Departments fail to colloborate”. And most important, that ” The tenure system too often rewards useless publication over real-world impact. ‘We crush the enthusiasm out of our young faculty, says Gee’ ”
When the recession hit this past year, many colleges and universities continued to raise tuition as if it was “business as usual”. It is not, and many families are being challenged by the high cost of college. Pres. Gee has managed to hold tuition at the same rate –this is a major accomplishment. In addition he recognizes the strength of community colleges and is calling for a partnership with them to enable students to transfer to OSU from a community college and earn their Bachelors degree. In many states, this transfer is more difficult than it should be and discourages students from enrolling. With more families being challenged by the high cost of higher education, the community colleges’ enrollment has skyrocketed. In the next year, the higher education community will need to put more thought and resources into helping community college students successfully transition to the research universities.
Pres. Gee’s effort at streamlining the College of Arts and Sciences is an example of an effort by a university to change its organization, and as a result have a leaner process that promotes both more collaboration and student success. This change may even have the consequence of leading to a higher rate of student retention.
Pres. Gee has talked in recent months and in this article about the criteria for tenure and how it needs to change. Of course, the criteria for tenure includes the three categories of accomplishment: research, teaching and service . It is well-recognzed that in large research universities like OSU, these three categories are not equal; that the faculty tenure committee tends to place much higher weight on research, and much less on teaching and service. At all research universities, teaching and service to the community DO NEED more emphasis if there is to be increased student engagement and retention and outreach to the community. In interpreting Pres. Gee’s comments, it seems that he is advocating for more emphasis on quality of research (and less emphasis on the number of research papers as a measurable quantity) and communicating the impact of this research to industry and the community. He has also talked about connecting with the community and the real need for universities to help their local region improve their economy. This is all very refreshing to hear!
Cindy
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September 27th, 2009
We have added a new page that lists our favorite links on K12 engineering outreach. Check out the “link” page. Let us know if you have favorites. Colleges and companies can do more to help the K12 school systems interest students in the STEM careers and engineering. We are particularly looking for websites that show hands-on demonstatons or experiments that scientists or engineers can conduct with middle school and high school students, either in a classroom presentation or career/science day presentation on “STEM-ing”.
Thanks,
Cindy
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September 12th, 2009
The Sept. 8th issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education leads with an article on Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities by William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingo and Michael S. McPherson. It is an exciting and worthwhile book to read. It shows that for 21 public flagship universities, the 4-year graduation rate was only 49% with a much higher six-year graduation rate of 77%. The authors present the discussion that family income matters, that for low-income families a little increase in tuition can lead to a higher drop-out rate. As we have read in the news, even in this past year in the current economic recession, faculty have received raises and the tuition has increased, placing more financial pressure on families to keep their son or daughter in college. Colleges need to assume a greater level of accountability on containing tuition and the cost of college.
In their analysis, the authors found that the high school GPA was much more predictive of the six year graduation rate than the SAT or ACT scores for the universities they studied.
Based on my research, I would like to suggest that the results may be different for engineering colleges. Several studies of engineering studies have shown a significant relationship between the ACT or SAT Math score and upper class retention or graduation rates of engineering students. Each college should conduct their own study and make an evidence-based decision on whether the high school GPA or SAT/ACT scores (or both) are significant predictors for student retention.
As the book suggests, more focus on timely completion of degrees is needed. More focus on higher four-year graduation rates and systemic interventions that help student success are needed. We can have higher 4-year graduation rates!
Cindy
Sources:
“For Certain Types of Students , an Ever-Receding Finish” by D. Glenn, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 8, 2009; Crossing the Finish Line:Completing college at America’s Public Universities by W.G. Bowen, M.M. Chingos and M.S. McPerson, Princeton University Press,2009.
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August 30th, 2009
I was reviewing some past research and came across this quote from Equity and Excellence in Higher Education by Bowen, Kurzweil and Tobin:
” Poorly conceived and poorly executed programs driven principally by ideology or by partisan political agendas can do no little harm…Finding the right policies is difficult, and there is generally no way of being sure what is the best approach. Careful analysis and a willingness to change directions in the face of evidence are essential. It is not enough to want to do the right thing. “
This is so true. Sometimes we get caught up in the latest student retention policy innovation/ trend and assume it applies to our college or university. The best approach is an evidence-based approach (also good engineering analysis)–that of checking out the hypothesis with data and a good statistical analysis/ assessment.
Cindy
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August 25th, 2009
Today’s Chronicle in Higher Education lead article, “Admissions Competition Heats Up but Does Pressure Help Students?” indicates that at 40 highly rated colleges and universities, the composite percent of admitted students dropped by 25%. The article, “Playing the Admissions Game: Student Reactions to Increasing College Competition” by John Bound, Brad Hershbein and Bridget Long suggests that this increased competition may have impacted what and how students learn. With increased competition, comes increased anxiety and sometimes a decreased ability to concentrate on learning. So the authors’ point is well-taken.
Unfortunately this competition does not stop at admissions. The competitive nature continues in the freshman college year studies and undergraduate programs because of a philosophy that competition is good. A highly ranked university has admitted the best students with their increased competitive admissions; it should stop there and the university should adopt an attitude of collaboration that mentors ALL students for student success! This will lead to better student learning outcomes, more learning, and a higher college student retention. Instead, the system of grading on the curve continues, and with it the attitude of continuous competition instead of continuous improvement in learning.
I learned this early in my career when I studied Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s quality philosophy. He said that grading on the curve discouraged students and we should eliminate grades. I would not go that far, but I do see too much grading on the curve, which hampers true learning . Dr. Deming’s philosophy included collaboration and teamwork over competition and professors learning from their students. I recommend Dr. Deming’s two books, The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education and University(MIT,1994) and Out of Crisis (MIT, 1986).
Cindy
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August 17th, 2009
In the August 24 issue of Forbes Magazine, West Point came out on top for the best college using a new ranking system developed by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity at Ohio University. According to information on Forbes’ website (article: America’s Best Colleges 2009) , the college ranking has the following component metrics: 25% on evaluation of instructors and courses from the website RateMyProfessor.com, 25% based on average salaries reported by Payscale.com and entries in Who’s Who in America, 20% based on estimated average student debt, 17% on a 4-year graduation rate, 13% on number of faculty and students who have won awards like the Rhodes Scholarships or Nobel Prizes. According to the article, West Point came out on top because all cadets have full scholarships and West Point graduates start at $69,000 as second lieutenants.
Is this the right criteria? Can we measure success by how much of a salary you draw as a graduate? Is it sufficent to measure success for a college that graduates a high percent of students in four years? The students at West Point are a very select group to begin with. Should not a metric encourage colleges to mentor students who have a tougher academic path and give colleges credit in the rankings for mentoring and providing student success programs for those students, especially when it takes longer to graduate? On the other hand, a metric on the average student debt is an excellent metric to include in the a ranking of colleges.
Lastly, to base instructor ratings from the website RateMyProfessor.com is very biased since dissatisfied students would be more inclined to use the website than satisfied students. Is this the best metric for measuring teaching quality and engagement with students? There must be others to consider.
Cindy
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August 13th, 2009
In the past three years there has been more awareness by engineering colleges that they need to do more to recruit high-quality students into engineering. The percent of freshman women and minority students in engineering continues to be signifcantly less than that of the overall population and colleges in general. Only about 15% of the high school graduates are sufficiently prepared in math and science for the engineering college curriculum. To address these concerns, many engineering colleges now have mentoring programs with specific high schools and school systems to discuss engineering careers and mentor students on applying to their colleges.
Yet this is not enough. Very few are using their engineering college leadership to help school systems develop systemic change that will increase the academic preparation of students and also decrease the K-12 drop-out rate. What could systemic change look like and how do you go about it? What are best practices related to systemic change? In this month’s ASQ Primary and Secondary Brief, school leaders who attended the ASQ Leadership Summit for Superintendents discuss their ideas on systemic change. The article is available at http://www.asq.org/edu/2009/07/continuous-improvement/in-their-own-words-feedback-from-the-leadership-summit.pdf
If the U.S. is to graduate more engineers into the workforce, we must seriously consider working with school systems to help them with continuous improvement and systemic change. More prepared students for college are needed both in engineering and non-engineering fields. Read this article and perhaps it will help guide some of your own K12 outreach efforts and discussions with the school leaders in your community.
Cindy
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