May 26, 2010 IOL 2010 Student Engagement: Social Networking and Student Success

May 26, 2010 • IOL 2010

Student Engagement:Social Networking and Student Success

Karla A. Fisher, Ph.D.College Relations CoordinatorCenter for Community College Student Engagement

Kerry K. Mix, Ph.D.Research AssistantCenter for Community College Student Engagement

Center for Community College Student Engagement

Session Agenda

• Our research center

• Our population

• Data available to researchers

• Findings on social networking in colleges

• Institutional examples


“I need someone well versed in the art of torture…Do you know PowerPoint?”



Who we are…

• Research and service initiative of the Community College Leadership Program

• Fee-for-service and grant-funded

• Committed to improving student outcomes in community colleges

• Committed to preparing leaders and researchers in our field


11. 8 million community college students (6.8M credit, 5M noncredit)

60% enrolled part-time

28 years / average age (46% are under 21)

56% female

40% minority

42% first generation to attend college

(AACC, 2010)


Who we study…

43% of all U.S. undergraduates

40% of all first-time college freshman

52% of Native American undergraduates

45% of Asian/Pacific Islander undergraduates

45% of Black undergraduates

53% of Hispanic undergraduates

(AACC, 2010)


40% Minority

Who we study…

What is student engagement?

…the amount of time and energy students invest in meaningful educational practices

…the institutional practices and student behaviors that are highly correlated with student learning and retention


Students are more likely to persist and learn if they… Establish relationships with faculty, staff, and peers

Feel connected to the college

Successfully navigate through college systems, processes, and procedures

Have an academic plan and set goals

Are active and engaged learners

Are challenged to do their best work


Quantitative

CCSSE

CCFSSE

SENSE

SOSE

Qualitative

Initiative on Student Success / Starting Right


Our research includes…

CCCSE Tools for Improvement

Assess quality in community college education

Identify and propagate good educational practice

Identify areas in which colleges can improve

Help shift the focus to institutional locus of control

CCCSE also:

Publicly reports data

Opposes ranking of community colleges


ranking

CCCSE Offers Data for Researchers

CCSSE 2002-2010– 755 colleges from 49 states plus Alberta, British Columbia,

Bermuda, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec

– 1,771,724 respondents (rep total enroll. of 5,206,557)

CCFSSE 2005-2010– 367 colleges from 45 states plus the Marshall islands– 45,000 respondents

SENSE 2007-2009– 203 colleges from 36 states plus the Marshall and Marianas

Islands– 230,000+ respondents (rep total enrollment of 1,390,000)


Community College Survey ofStudent Engagement (CCSSE)

What is CCSSE?

• Paper-and-pencil survey

• 123 items

25 demographic items

98 engagement items

• Additional items – 5 per year

• Frequency and agreement response categories

• Psychometric analysis & validation study


Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice

CCSSE Benchmarks

Student-Faculty Interaction

Active and Collaborative Learning

Student Effort

Academic Challenge

Support for Learners


CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice

CCSSE Example Community College 2009 Benchmark Scores


2009 CCSSE Cohort 2007 - 2009

Quantitative data from: 400,000+ students 600 institutions 48 states, plus the Marshall

Islands and Nova Scotia

Qualitative data

College vignettes

Cultivating Connections:

In virtual space In the classroom On campus Beyond the campus


Social Networking

Social construction of knowledge

“Academic social networking is a concept that refers to the building of connections and relationships among a community of learners” (Ciez-Volz, 2009-2010).

Web 2.0

“…a new era of Web-enabled applications that are built around user-generated or user-manipulated content, such as wikis, blogs, podcasts, and social networking sites” (Pew, 2009).


How often do you use social networking tools for any purpose?

64%

22%

6% 3% 5%

Traditional-age students

MTPDMTPWMTPMMTPYNever


41%

22%

9%

6%

22%

Nontraditional-age students


Students’ use of social networking tools to communicate about coursework?

18%

24%

21%

10%

27%




10%

16%

15%

10%

49%


Colleges’ use of social networking tools to communicate about services?

4%

12%

22%

19%

43%




3% 9%

16%

19%

53%


Dissertation:ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN USE OF WEB-BASED SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES ANDCOMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT (Mix, 2010)

CCSSE 2009 312 U.S. community colleges in 38 state 179,936 max response Five special-focus survey items

Institutional Social Networking Inventory (ISNI) 83 colleges Campus Voice & Student Voice


Used SNT for any purpose


Any Purpose_

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

Active and CollaborativeLearning

51.1 49.72 49.4 48.75 46.69

Student Effort 49.41 50.6 51.34 51.38 50.98

Academic Challenge 50.66 50.05 50.37 49.66 48.88

Student-Faculty Interaction 51.77 49.65 48.92 47.3 45.59

Support for Learners 51.31 50.32 50.17 49.42 47.24

Multiple times perday

Multiple times per week

Multiple times per month

Multiple times per year

Never

(Mix, 2010)

Used SNT to communicate about coursework


Use SNT to Communicate

42

44

46

48

50

52

54

56

58

60


58.62 55.93 51.02 47.27 43.82

Student Effort 55.75 54.28 50.17 47.54 46.12




Multiple times per day

Multiple times per

week

Multiple times per

month


Never

(Mix, 2010)

College use of SNT to communicate about services


College Communicate About Services

424446485052545658606264666870


62.88 55.58 52.14 49.56 47.22

Student Effort 63.1 56.85 53.46 49.71 46.28




Multiple times perday

Multiple times per

week

Multiple times per

month


Never

(Mix, 2010)

Dissertation: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE ONLINE EDUCATION PROGRAMS: AN EXPLORATION OF SIX CONSTRUCTS WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE (Fisher, 2010)


Survey of Online Student Engagement 215 items (59 survey questions)

• 192 content items • 23 demographic items

2,085 respondents at five research sites• 43% online courses exclusively • 57% online and on-campus courses

Online students less likely to use SNT

Online only Blended0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Very littleSomeQuite a BitVery much


Online Only Mean

Online Only Std

DevBlended Mean

Blended Std Dev

Mean Diff

Sig (2 Tail) Effect Size

19h. Using social networking tools to connect to people at this college

2.15 1.047 2.43 1.048 -0.28 0.000 -0.27

(Fisher, 2010)

One thing we KNOW about community college student engagement…

It’s unlikely to happen by accident.

It has to happen

by design.


Phillips Community College (AR)

Has actively encouraged faculty members to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking tools for academic purposes. For example, at in-service activities, the chancellor personally encourages faculty to use Facebook. Phillips plans to administer CCSSE again in spring 2010 to assess whether the increased use of social networking tools improves student engagement.


Web 2.0

Netvibes Home

Blogger Home

Wikipedia Home

Youtube Home

ePortfolio

BlackboardWikipedia Users Group

Facebook Home Facebook Student Pages

LaGuardia Community College LEARNING NETWORKSSample WEB 2.0 Network Interactions and Traditional Connections

Shared Google Calendar

Netvibes Student Pages

Web 1.0

The Ning Home Ning Student Pages

Interactive, Public, Student-Driven Content Proprietary, Secure

Student Blogs LAGCC Home

LAGCC Email YouTube Student Pages

Traditional Learning Community

CollegeComposition

Research Paper

Course in Major

Student Cohort

Instructor A

Instructor B

Instructor C

Integrated Hour

Theme Driven Content

Course in Major

Instructor C Capstone Student Group D

Instructor B

Urban Studies

Mass Media

Student Group C

Instructor A

Composition and Research Student Group B

Basic Writing Student Group A

LEARNING NETWORKS

Florida State College (FL)

Master Student Program (TA program)

• Paid appointment, 20 hours week

• Trained to support DevEd student

• Focus on academic & social connections

• 20% Web 2.0 required


Thank you for attending our session!


ReferencesAACC [American Association of Community Colleges]. (2010). Factsheet 2010. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from

http://www.aacc.nche.edu

Center for Community College Student Engagement. (2009). Making connections: Dimensions of student engagement (2009 CCSSE Findings). Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, Community College Leadership Program.

Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S. C. (1996, October). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. AAHE Bulletin, 3-6. Retrieved November 29, 2008 from http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html

Ciez-Volz, K. (2009-2010). The Master Student Program: Learning to network, networking to learn. Jacksonville, FL: Florida State College at Jacksonville, Program Development.

Fisher, K. A. (2010). Student engagement in community college online education programs: An exploration of six constructs with implications for practice. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, May 2010).

Mix, K. K. (2010). Online social networking: Exploring the relationships between use of web-based technologies and community college student engagement. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, May 2010).

Pew. (2009). Definition of Web 2.0. Retrieved on July 1, 2009 from http://www.pewinternet.org/topics/Web-20.aspx


Karla A. Fisher, Ph.D. Kerry K. Mix, Ph.D.College Relations Coordinator Research Assistant [email protected] [email protected] 512.232.8247 512.232.8428


3316 Grandview St. Austin, TX 78705

www.ccsse.orgwww.enteringstudent.org


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May 26, 2010 IOL 2010 Student Engagement: Social Networking and Student Success