Student Engagement at UBC Okanagan
New!!! Caught on Camera Contest
Resources
Engaging Culturally Diverse Learners (resource from Thompson Rivers University) NEW!!!Engaging our Students in the Learning Process: Points for Consideration
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View more photos from the 2nd Annual Student Engagement Workshop
Second Annual Faculty Workshop on Student Engagement
A number of faculty, staff and students joined together on Monday, Feb. 18th to further explore the enhancement of student engagement on this campus. Last year the focus was on student engagement strategies within the classroom, but this year’s focus was the ‘all around campus experience’, examining student engagement from different perspectives throughout a typical student’s university career – from Day One to Graduation.
Ian Cull, AVP-Students, provided an overview of today’s student at UBC Okanagan and how that might impact what faculty and staff do both in and out of the classroom. Brian Sullivan, Vice President – Students (Vancouver) was on hand to answer questions regarding NSSE results (National Survey on Student Engagement).
A panel of 5 students representing 1St to 5th year provided faculty with insight into their experiences and preferences. They shared reflections on what engages them at UBC Okanagan, how they learn best, what attracted them to UBC Okanagan and what keeps them here.
Discussion groups shared student engagement successes, reflected on how the presentations might impact their daily routine and identified innovative ways to provide an enhanced student experience at UBC Okanagan.
We look forward to continuing the dialogue in order to provide the ultimate student experience here at UBC Okanagan.
Some Resources & Ideas
Goal: To increase the level of Student Engagement at UBC Okanagan
This will involve action by both partners in the Student Engagement Equation:
What students do… time and energy devoted to educational activities.
(making the right choices)
What the institution does….using effective educational practices.
(encourage and support Student Engagement)
Questions to ask ourselves:
- What encourages engagement?
- How does it develop?
- How do we develop engaging programs/activities both in terms of the design process & content?
Many factors influence the level of student engagement that we are able to achieve:
- Student behaviors (study habits, peer involvement, motivation, pre-university experiences, learning style, time on task).
- Institutional conditions (demographics, policies, support systems, campus environment).
- Instructor (teaching and learning approaches).
- Purpose or goal of student for post-university outcomes.
Student engagement needs a foundation or support system in place that involves faculty, students and the institution.
Engagement is interaction, integration, interdisciplinary, constructivist.
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Engagement can take many forms:
- Faculty with Student
- Student with Student
- Student with Community
- Student with Content
- Student with Process
- Student with Mentor
Some Practical Suggestions:
- Encourage study groups or a type of learning community within your class.
This may instill a sense of belonging or community/identity. - Ensure academic/personal advising services are available for career and course planning.
- Incorporate service learning if applicable to your course.
This will make a connection between the learning and the outside community. - Ask for and value student input.
Student engagement begins with the first class. We can’t engage the students who are not present. Our teaching and learning approaches should move them beyond just being present and passive to becoming involved and active learners. Let them know that they are a part of this learning activity and have a shared responsibility with you for their own learning. Share expectations even though they may seem obvious.
An engaged student is inquisitive, prepared, critical and constructivist.
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
Objectives: The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is designed to obtain, on an annual basis, information from scores of colleges and universities nationwide about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. The results will provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college. Institutions will use their data to identify aspects of the undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom that can be improved through changes in policies and practices more consistent with good practices in undergraduate education.
Administration: Indiana University Centre for Postsecondary Research in cooperation with the Indiana University Center for Survey Research.
In the first 6 years, over 970 different colleges and universities have participated in NSSE.
National Survey of Student Engagement
http://nsse.iub.edu/index.cfm
http://nsse.iub.edu/html/pubs.cfm?viewwhat=Conference Presentation
Quotes from university students:
“Engagement conjures up thoughts of marriage, a marriage between your own ideas and those of the discipline you're involved in.”
“For me being engaged in studies is to work for fun, to be disengaged from the competition and just enjoy your work. It is rare that the success of your project escapes the “rat race” and becomes something actually meaningful to your life, but when it does, it becomes less about stress and deadlines, but more about the work.”
“To be engaged with my studies is to …understand it and enjoy it and feel a connection between myself and what I am studying, rather than just learning.”
(Source: NSSE, 2006)
Resources
Professor George Kuh :George D. Kuh is Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education at Indiana University Bloomington where he directs the Center for Postsecondary Research, home to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and related initiatives. Kuh has written extensively about student engagement, assessment, institutional improvement, and college and university cultures. His two most recent books are Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter (2005) and Piecing Together the Student Success Puzzle: Research, Propositions, and Recommendations (2007). In 2001, he received Indiana University’s prestigious Tracy Sonneborn Award for distinguished career of teaching and research.
Coates, H. (2005) The value of student engagement for higher education quality assurance.
Quality in Higher Education, Vol. 11, No. 1.
McInnis, C. (2005) Reinventing student engagement and the learning community: strategic directions for policy, research and practice.
Mann, S. (2001) Alternative perspectives on the Student experience: alienation and engagement.
Studies in Higher Education. Vol. 26, No. 1, 2001.
National Survey of Student Engagement
http://nsse.iub.edu/index.cfm
http://nsse.iub.edu/html/pubs.cfm?viewwhat=Conference Presentation
Last reviewed 
3/5/2013 11:45:25 AM
“Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.”
-- (Chickering & Gamson, 1987)
