A few brief comments at yesterday's College Senate meeting were centered
around in coming freshman numbers, transfer numbers and the retention (or
lack thereof) these numbers suggest. Given this, I thought some on this list
would find the posting below interesting. It looks at eight things that good
learners believe and do that, if adopted, can significantly improve student
retention. It is by Jonathan Brennan, PhD, EdD, Mission College, Santa
Clara, CA and Chair, 2009 On Course National Conference. Please see 2009 ON
COURSE CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT at the end of this message.



               Are Your Students On Course to Graduation?

A decade ago I was chairing the Student Success Committee at my college,
searching for effective strategies to address attrition and success rates.
As is typical of community colleges, only 50% of our students who enrolled
in the fall returned the following fall (for universities this rate is only
67%: see ACT data: act.org/path/policy/pdf/retain_trends.pdf).  Success and
retention rates in our basic skills courses were even worse, especially for
at-risk student populations.

I examined multiple intervention strategies, but I failed to find any
program with components that would speak to my students' lives and learning
challenges, and with data to establish that it had a measurable impact.
Truth be told, I wasn't just looking for any impact, but a significant
increase in student retention and success rates.  To go from 50% to 52%
retention is not my idea of educational reform and innovation. My goal is to
increase both student retention and success rates to over 90%.  Across the
state of California.  And across the United States.

Granted, I'd found some promising ideas, but nothing that convincingly and
effectively applied the theories to best practices that students (and
educators) could use consistently, with significant results.  What to do?

As I pondered this challenge, I received an email from the Director of our
EOPS program.  I was invited to attend an On Course Workshop with Dr. Skip
Downing.  Curious, I decided to attend to see what I could learn.  It turned
out I had a lot to learn.  By the end of day one, I began to take detailed
notes on Downing's research and strategies.  By the end of the last day of
the workshop, I had drafted an On Course learning communities model.  The
following fall, our college piloted this model and our retention rates
increased by 22% in the first semester.  Not bad.  I then discovered that
results as good (or better) were not atypical for colleges using Downing's
approach.  In the last three years, Mt. Hood College (Oregon) has produced
consistent results in the range of 26-27%, and this with a sizeable (450+)
cohort of students with higher risk factors for dropout than the average
scores among the comparison group.  Many other colleges have had notable
increases in retention and success rates
(http://oncourseworkshop.com/Data.htm).  I'm sure that this approach is not
the only answer, nor will it address all of the wide range of issues faced
by students today, but it certainly seems promising.

So what is this intervention?  As Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner
argue, "Good learners are good learners precisely because they believe and
do certain things that less effective learners do not believe and do. And
therein lies the key" (Teaching as a Subversive Activity, Dell 1969).  The
On Course approach offers students the opportunity to examine and revise
beliefs and behaviors that sabotage their academic success.  Hunter R.
Boylan (Director of the National Center for Developmental Education) also
believes that successful educational preparation must address issues well
outside of academic readiness:

"Students fail to do well in college for a variety of reasons, and only one
of them is lack of academic preparedness. Factors such as personal autonomy,
self-confidence, ability to deal with racism, study behaviors, or social
competence have as much or more to do with grades, retention, and graduation
than how well a student writes or how competent a student is in
mathematics." (http://www.nade.net/documents/Articles/MakingtheCase.pdf)

Synthesizing best practices from innovators in psychology, education,
business, sports, and personal effectiveness, the goal of On Course is to
strengthen the factors that Boylan mentionsŠand more.  The On Course Success
Principles represent eight of the essential "things" that good learners
believe and do. By guiding students to adopt these principles and tools, it
empowers them to become more effective partners in their own education,
giving them the outer behaviors and inner qualities to create greater
success in college and in life. As Downing argues, successful students:

 1)  accept self-responsibility, seeing themselves as the primary cause of
their outcomes and experiences;
2) ......discover self-motivation, finding purpose in their lives by
discovering personally meaningful goals and dreams;
3) ...master self-management, consistently planning and taking purposeful
actions in pursuit of their goals and dreams;
4) ...employ interdependence, building mutually supportive relationships
that help them achieve their goals and dreams (while helping others to do
the same);
5) ...gain self-awareness, consciously employing behaviors, beliefs, and
attitudes that keep them on course;
6) ...adopt life-long learning, finding valuable lessons and wisdom in
nearly every experience they have;
7) ...develop emotional intelligence, effectively managing their emotions in
support  of their goals and dreams; and
8) ...believe in themselves, seeing themselves capable, lovable,
and unconditionally worthy as human beings.   (oncourseworkshop.com)

These life skills are vitally important to both college success and
workplace success.  The SCANS report indicates that employers are seeking
these same skills as basic competencies in their employees
(http://wdr.doleta.gov/SCANS).  If our students, so many of whom are already
working while attending college, can become more successful in both work and
college environments, we have an approach that addresses both educational
and career reform and innovation.  My students' ability to succeed in
college is dependent on their ability to perform well at their jobs, and I
intend to give them tools that will support them in achieving their goals
once they reach their desired careers after graduation.

I recognize that there is no one solution that will address student success.
The On Course approach has worked with many of my students, but not all of
them.  Using On Course in conjunction with learning communities is likely to
have been an important factor in the success of our intervention model at
Mission College, as well as some of the others (oncourseworkshop.com/data).
Some students will not be ready to assume greater responsibility for their
education, though there are other life and learning skills they could use to
great benefit. I also used a variety of other approaches (introducing
concepts of transfer errors, for example) with my second language students,
and have discovered that these strategies work best with students who
simultaneously apply life skills concepts such as personal responsibility
and self management strategies.    Certainly I have students with learning
differences who need significant support that On Course does not address.
Other students will also need support that differs from the On Course model
as well, so it is clearly not a fit in every instance, but I should note
that over the last decade I have observed over 2000 students applying On
Course strategies in my classroom with one consistent result: they have
improved their learning outcomes through their use of self management
strategies.

My research on these principles supports my classroom experience.  Studies
support the importance of emotional intelligence for college student success
(Goleman, 1995; Brearley 2001; Low & Nelson, 2006).  Lam and Kirby (2002)
argue that overall emotional intelligence, perceiving emotions, and
regulating emotions all contributed positively to individual cognitive-based
performance (139).  Shifting greater responsibility to students increases
motivation.  According to Pintrick (2004), the assumption of increased
responsibility is "critical in the classroom" and operates in conjunction
with experiences of autonomy to improve learner motivation (399). Educators,
across disciplines, using learner-centered best practices promote effective
learning, as evidenced by the latest studies in brain-based learning (Sousa,
2006).  They are more likely to facilitate a set of experiences that also
contribute to increased motivation through student autonomy (Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005).  Collaborative and cooperative learning structures, such
as case studies for problem-based learning or paired learner tasks to
deliver content appear to offer an effective opportunity to support
experiences of student motivation (Bruffee, 1993; Johnson, Johnson & Smith,
1998).

Once I recognized how critical the On Course principles are for my students,
and once I demonstrated that they worked at my college in increasing
retention, I felt that I had a responsibility to ensure that my students had
access to such strategies, in fact students well beyond my own college.
This brought me back to my goal to increase both student retention and
success rates to over 90% statewide and nationwide.  Many thousands of
educators, across multiple disciplines, from over 350 colleges and
universities have incorporated these learning and success principles.  They
have developed and refined their student success programs.  They are taking
action and creating measurable results
(http://oncourseworkshop.com/Data.htm).  I am certain that it's possible to
reach 90% retention and success rates, should we make this goal our
priority, and if we work together through a shared commitment to student
success.

One group of educators at a workshop decided to create a national conference
where educators can share best practices using these strategies.  Based on
many volunteer efforts, over the last three years, over one thousand
educators have now attended the annual On Course National Conference
(http://oncourseworkshop.com/Conference.htm), participating in over 100
active learning sessions. Sharing best practices across disciplines and
among colleagues from a wide variety of higher education settings is
essential in ensuring continuing innovation in this life skills approach to
increasing student retention and success rates.

What On Course does for students is impressive, but what it offers educators
is equally powerful.  My experience at Downing's workshop impressed upon me
very deeply the importance of paying greater attention to how meaningful
learning unfolds in the classroom, to methods of active learning, addressing
varied learning styles and learner-centered models that draw from current
research. Downing notes that learner-centered strategies "are designed to
engage learners in the active construction of knowledge" and are guided by
the following instructional principles:

Students construct learning primarily as a result of what they think, feel,
and do (and less so by what their instructors say and do). Consequently, in
formal education, the deepest learning is provided by a well-designed
educational experience. The most effective learners are empowered learners,
those characterized by self-responsibility, self-motivation,
self-management, interdependence, self-awareness, life-long learning,
emotional intelligence, and high self-esteem. At the intersection of a
well-designed educational experience and an empowered learner lies the
opportunity for deep and transformational learning and the path to
success-academic personal, and professional.
      (http://oncourseworkshop.com/On%20Course%20Principles.htm)

I am grateful to have found an intervention that works with many of my most
at-risk students,
as well as with my highest performing students.  Many more of my students
make better choices,
both inside and outside the classroom.  They come to class prepared to
learn, solve problems that
impact their ability to attend class or complete assignments, and
demonstrate more qualities of highly
motivated students. Downing's work is in alignment with much that I've
researched on learner motivation,
emotional intelligence, systems thinking, leadership, brain-based learning
and creating learning communities.
Newly inaugurated President Obama recently called for all Americans to
obtain at least one year of higher
education or career training. This is a tall order.  Using On Course in
conjunction with other innovative
interventions that promote student success, I think we have some wonderful
opportunities to support many
more students in reaching their academic goals.

I'll leave the last word to Downing, addressing the essential shift from
teacher-centered to a learner-centered educational model:

"The On Course Instructional Principles are antithetical to the beliefs that
the instructor's primary role is to profess knowledge and that what the
teacher speaks is what the student learns. Consequently, On Course has much
to offer educators who seek innovative ways to engage students in active
learning, helping them to relinquish learned passivity or defiance and once
again become responsible and empowered partners in their own education and
growth." (oncourseworkshop.com)

    References
Brearley, M. (2001).  Emotional intelligence in the classroom.  New York:
Crown House.
Bruffee, K. A. (1993).  Collaborative learning: Higher education,
interdependence, and
the authority of knowledge.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Goleman, D.  (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.
Johnson, D., Johnson, R. & Smith, K. (1998), Cooperative learning returns to
college:
What evidence is there that it works? Change, 30, 26-35.
Lam, L.T., & Kirby, S.L. (2002). Is emotional intelligence an advantage? An
exploration
of the impact of emotional and general intelligence on
individual performance. The Journal of Social Psychology, 142(1), 133-143.
Low, G R. & Nelson, D. B.  (2006).  Emotional intelligence and college
success:  A
research-based assessment and intervention model. A paper submitted to the
Center for Education Development & Evaluation Research (CEDER). Retrieved
January 15th, 2008,
from http://www.tamuk.edu/edu/kwei000/Research/EI_Research.htm
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students,
Volume 2: A
third decade of research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pintrich, P. R. (2004).  A conceptual framework for assessing motivation and
self-regulated learning in college students. Educational Psychology Review
16.4, 385-407.
Sousa, D. (2006). How the brain learns. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

  2009 ON COURSE CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

It is with great pleasure that I announce the selection of Dr. Richard
Felder as the keynote presenter for the 2009 On Course National Conference.
Dr. Felder, Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering,
North Carolina State University, is one of the foremost national experts on
active learning, especially in the math/engineering/science classroom.  He
will present an active learning opening conference session: "How to Get
Students Actively Involved in Learning, Even if You Have 200 of Them in the
Class."

Active learning is a foundational skill of the On Course approach to student
(and educator) success.  In Felder's words: "If educational researchers
agree about nothing else, they agree that people learn best by doing things
and reflecting on what they have done, not by watching and listening to
someone else telling them what to do. The question is, what can instructors
do to get students active in class without losing control of the class or of
the syllabus, even if the class is large?  This interactive presentation
describes and illustrates several proven techniques for achieving this goal,
points to the research supporting active learning, and offers suggestions
for countering resistance to the method that might be expressed by students
and faculty colleagues."

Felder will also present a second session on attention to learning styles.
Although applicable to all disciplines, the primary focus of this session
will be on its application to Math, Engineering, and Science courses.

I look forward to your joining us at the 2009 On Course National Conference,
April 17-18, in Raleigh, North Carolina.  See
http://oncourseworkshop.com/Conference.htm for details.   Please share this
announcement with your colleagues, especially those in math, engineering and
science.

Jonathan Brennan, PhD, EdD
Faculty, Mission College, CA
Chair, 2009 On Course National Conference