Student Engagement and Liberal Arts at Truman State University

1
Student Engagement and Liberal Arts at Truman
State University

• Analyzing Faculty/Student Perceptions
• Spring 2006 Assessment Internship
• Chris Roberts and Rebecca Maddox
• Internship Advisor David Gillette

2
Assessment at Truman

• The Interview Project
• 2003-2004 Project

3
Our Project Overview

• Looking beyond student perceptions
• Comparing faculty and student ideas of student
  engagement and liberal arts

4
Our Project Method

• Faculty interviews
• Compared with 2003-2004 student interviews
• Campus-wide survey

5
Student Engagement and Liberal Arts Survey

• Students and faculty were asked to evaluate a
  number of characteristics within 10 questions
• Response Range
• Not at all important, of minor importance,
  somewhat important, important, very important,
  and extremely important
• In addition, participants were asked to respond
  to 2 open-ended questions

6
Significant Differences

• Likert-scale range converted to a scale of 1 to
  6, with 6 being extremely important
• Group means were analyzed with a t-test
• Equivalent means were rejected with p-values less
  than .05
• 61 of 137 questions had statistically significant
  differences between faculty and students

7
Importance of Class Experiences in Contributing
to a Good Liberal Arts Education

• Faculty more value
• Group Projects
• Independent thinking
• Speeches and presentations
• Writing papers (.966 greater than students)
• Discussions
• Hands-on labs
• Interdisciplinary connections
• Research

8
Importance of Class Experiences in Contributing
to a Good Liberal Arts Education

• Students more value
• Wide range of classes
• Interesting subject matter
• A good professor

9
Differences in Responses Regarding Options to
Strengthen Students Liberal Arts Education

• Students believe there should be
• More choices (.977 mean difference)
• Greater consistency and higher standards across
  professors (.549)
• More interdisciplinary courses (.634)
• More connections from LSP courses to major courses

Faculty were generally indifferent to mentioned
options
10
Faculty Indifference Towards Options to
Strengthen Liberal Arts Program
11
Faculty Values Research

• As an in-class experience that contributes to a
  good liberal arts education
• As an out-of-class experience that contributes to
  a good liberal arts education
• As an out-of-class experience that enhances
  college experience and individual growth
• As a student/faculty interaction that contributes
  to a liberal arts education

12
Students Value Positive Faculty Characteristics

• In describing a successful educator and
  distinguishing good educational experiences,
  students value
• A higher level of comfort and friendship
• Sociable and friendly faculty
• Professor enthusiasm
• Outgoing attitude
• Availability outside of class
• Willingness to hear students opinions
• Varied teaching abilities

13
Graphical Trends

• Of the 10 major subjects, each one had highest
  valued and lowest valued questions.
• These highs and lows were similar amongst
  students and faculty

14
Describing a Liberally Educated Person
General academic knowledge, little expertise
Ability to think and reason well
Ability to communicate and interact well with
others
15
Highly Valued Out-of-Class Experiences

• Contributing to a liberal arts education
• Cultural events
• Study abroad
• Enhancing college experience and growth as
  individuals
• Meeting new people
• Living away from home
• Study abroad

16
Least Valued Out-of-Class Experience

• Greek Life

17
Options to Strengthen Students Liberal Arts
Education
Real-life application
Eliminate foreign language requirements
Encourage faculty/student interaction
Additional requirements
18
Distinguishing a Successful Student
Takes responsibility for own work
Good Grades
19
Gender Differences

• Student females more value
• Religious organizations
• Residential life
• Student employment
• Volunteer and service
• Study abroad
• Faculty had 11 of 137 statistically significant
  mean differences, compared to 79 between students
  and 70 between faculty and students.

20
Open-Ended Question Student/Faculty Interactions

• Where do most valued interactions take place?
• In the classroom and in professors offices
• Labs, before and after class, research
• Small numbers vs. discussion
• Students placed high importance on faculty
  members knowing their names

21
Faculty Valued Interactions
22
Student Valued Interactions
23
Student Engagement and Liberal Arts at Truman
State University

• Chris Roberts and Rebecca Maddox
• Internship advisor David Gillette
• Thank you for attending!
• for further information, please contact
• Chris Roberts at cgr131_at_truman.edu,
• Rebecca Maddox at rkm634_at_truman.edu, or
• David Gillette at gillette_at_truman.edu