Using student feedback about the learning environment as a starting point for co-construction

The context in which learning takes place, or learning environment, is pivotal to a positive learning experience for students. Although numerous studies have established strong links between a positive learning environment and a range of student outcomes, far less research has examined how teachers might establish such an environment. Amidst growing acknowledgment that opportunities for the co-construction of learning and assessment design could provide a means of developing a more positive learning environment, this case study examined one such journey. Using a case study approach, we argue that student feedback involving a learning environment survey provides a valuable starting point for including students in co-construction and classroom improvement. Our findings indicate that teachers can improve the learning environment by involving students in meaningful co-construction through open tasks.

Students’ Non-Cognitive Profiles and their Relationships with Academic Stress and Persistence in Higher Education

To reduce their attrition rates, institutions need to ensure that their students can manage the stressors they confront in their academic work and persist to complete their study programs. Given the significance of non-cognitive attributes in education, this study aimed to identify the non-cognitive profiles exhibited by students which related significantly to academic stress and persistence levels in the middle of a given academic year. Undergraduate students from one of the largest private higher education institutions in Singapore participated in two online surveys. A total of 565 and 122 students participated in the first and second surveys, respectively. Results indicated that three distinct non-cognitive profiles could be identified, which were associated significantly with students’ academic stress levels and their intentions to persist with their studies. Possible implications for enhancing student outcomes by offering students with opportunities to enhance their affective ‘readiness’ profiles are discussed.

Utilizing the Intersectional Perspective to Shift Individual and Systems Practices

The chapter aims to help practitioners create more equitable learning environments and student outcomes using an intersectionality lens. The chapter first discusses what the intersectionality lens is and why it is essential. Then it discusses the impact of using an intersectional approach on exceptional education practitioners' abilities to understand better their students' lived experiences and needs, leading to more accurate and comprehensive decision making and subsequently providing more effective student placement, instruction, and support. The chapter provides guidance to practitioners concerning how to work with their teams and the school to create a continual commitment to cultural competence, reassessing structures and making necessary adjustments to maintain and enhance their utilization of culturally responsive practices.

Too Anxious to Talk: Social Anxiety, Academic Communication, and Students’ Experiences in Higher Education

Social anxiety is related to a host of negative student outcomes in the educational context, including physical symptoms of anxiety, reduced cognitive functioning, and poor academic performance. Despite the prevalence of social anxiety, little is known about mechanisms that may underlie associations between social anxiety and outcomes in the context of higher education. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate a conceptual model linking social anxiety, communication with peers and instructors, students’ experiences (i.e., engagement, connectedness, and satisfaction), and indices of socio-emotional functioning at university. Participants were N = 1,073 undergraduate students ( Mage = 20.3 years, SD = 3.49) who completed a series of self-report measures. Among the results, social anxiety was negatively related to communication with instructors, socio-emotional functioning, and student experiences, and academic communication accounted for significant variance in the links between social anxiety and student experiences. In addition, there was at least some evidence that student experiences partially mediated the association between social anxiety and socio-emotional functioning. Gender effects suggest that social anxiety is related to less communication with instructors, lower engagement and satisfaction, and poorer socio-emotional functioning among females compared with males. Results are situated within current literature examining social anxiety in education. The discussion provides concrete suggestions for educational practitioners to increase support for students who experience social anxiety.

Learning Communities: A Sound Investment in Higher Education

University and college leaders are tasked with enhancing student outcomes with fewer resources. Student retention is one such key outcome of interest for many policy makers as well as for university administrators. Over the years, administrators have turned to High Impact Practices (HIPs) such as Learning Communities (LCs) to aid in retention. This quantitative study explores the impact LCs have on student retention at a large R1 university in the Midwest. Additionally, the financial return on investment in LCs at this institution is measured via tuition dollars generated from students who are retained as a result of their participation in a LC at the institution. Two key findings of this study are that LCs are positively associated with increased odds of student retention, and that investing in LCs makes good financial sense. Our research contributes to the scholarship on retention attributable to LCs and provides researchers and practitioners with a “template” to evaluate the efficacy of specific retention initiatives in relation to their financial return on investments.

Catastrophe or Catalyst? Reflections on COVID’s Impact on Community Colleges

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a steep decline in enrollments at community colleges, especially among Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous populations, males, and part-time students. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Acts provided funds for emergency aid and engaging disconnected students, and community colleges moved swiftly to shift services and instruction online. In this essay, we discuss how students and community colleges responded to the pandemic and what their experiences reveal about inequities in higher education. We argue that the crisis was worsened by years of underinvestment in these institutions and by entrenched structures and practices that do not address the needs and aspirations of many students. We review evidence on reforms that aim to remake community colleges in ways that improve student outcomes. While COVID-19 can rightly be viewed as a catastrophe, it may also serve as a catalyst for fundamental and lasting improvements in how community colleges are funded, organized, and operated to help more students achieve their goals.

Three Essays on Adverse Events and Student Outcomes

<p>This dissertation contains three essays on the impact of unexpected adverse events on student outcomes. All three attempt to identify causal inference using plausibly exogenous shocks and econometric tools, applied to rich administrative data. In Chapter 2, I present evidence of the causal effects of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake on tertiary enrolment and completion. Using the shock of the 2011 earthquake on high school students in the Canterbury region, I estimate the effect of the earthquake on a range of outcomes including tertiary enrolment, degree completion and wages. I find the earthquake causes a substantial increase in tertiary enrolment, particularly for low ability high school leavers from damaged schools. However, I find no evidence that low ability students induced by the earthquake complete a degree on time. In Chapter 3, I identify the impact of repeat disaster exposure on university performance, by comparing outcomes for students who experience their first earthquake while in university, to outcomes for students with prior earthquake exposure. Using a triple-differences estimation strategy with individual-by-year fixed effects, I identify a precise null effect, suggesting that previous experience of earthquakes is not predictive of response to an additional shock two years later. The final chapter investigates the impact of injuries sustained in university on academic performance and wages, using administrative data including no-fault insurance claims, emergency department attendance and hospital admissions, linked with tertiary enrolment. I find injuries, including minor injuries, have a negative effect on re-enrolment, degree completion and grades in university.</p>