Allies in learning: critical insights into the importance of staff–student interactions in university education

Discussions of the quality of learning in university education often focus on curricula. Less attention is paid to the role of student–staff interactions. In a context in which a host of factors place pressure on the opportunities for students and staff to interact, it is important to use empirical insights to inform decisions about how to optimise learning. This paper uses data from a large survey of students and teaching staff in Australia to suggest that students and staff should be regarded as allies in learning. It investigates student reports to suggest that frequent interactions with those who teach them lead to higher levels of student engagement and satisfaction and lower attrition rates. The advantages do not only flow in one direction. Teaching staff gain insights into students' learning experiences, providing them with clues to better target their teaching.     

WOMEN FULL-TIME FACULTY OF COLOR IN 2-YEAR COLLEGES: A TREND AND PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS

This study involved trend and predictive analyses to examine changes in the proportional representation of women full-time faculty by race/ethnicity from 1991 to 1997 in a sample of 1,024 matched two-year colleges. Large, Hispanic-serving, Historically Black, and California two-year colleges, along with the percentage of women administrators of color entered as significant positive predictors of change in the proportional representation of women full-time faculty of color. These findings open the door, not only to new ways of informing policy development and practice, but also to future research that can uncover new understandings of gender and race-equitable practices in two-year colleges.     

Effectiveness of the Student Success Course on Persistence,Retention, Academic Achievement,and Student Engagement

ABSTRACT

Despite a great increase in the numbers of students enrolling in higher education, specifically at community colleges, the successful completion rates for these students has remained static since the 1970s. When reviewing strategies to increase student retention and successful completion, the Student Success Course (SSC) has emerged as a promising and prominent strategy for community colleges. Given that, the purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to determine if participation in a SSC influences persistence, retention, academic achievement, and student engagement on a community college campus. Data were collected from a purposeful sample of 197 SSC participants at a middle sized community college in southeast Texas and compared to a matched sample of 235 non-SSC participants. Twelve former SSC participants were also interviewed in an attempt to build a more empirical understanding of the impact of the SSC on student engagement and, thus, the students’ decisions to remain in college. Results of this study indicate that a relationship exists between participation in the SSC and persistence, retention, academic achievement in English and mathematics, and student engagement. Additionally, participants claim that taking the SSC not only altered their perceptions of the importance of the course, but their social and study skills as well.     

Building a whole school approach and teacher efficacy with English language learners

Current professional development initiatives show a preference for whole school approaches. However, pedagogy related to English language learners (ELLs) is often not widely dispersed in New Zealand primary schools, impacting on teacher efficacy with these learners. This paper discusses findings from a qualitative study which aimed to identify influences shaping the dispersal of ELL-related pedagogy in two schools in contrasting socio-economic areas. Data from semi-structured individual interviews with teachers at different class levels revealed unique patterns for the dispersal of ELL-related pedagogy in each school. Teacher data indicated that these patterns were influenced by the performance of ELLs in national standards testing, as well as the special characteristics of ELLs in each setting and the distinctive nature of each context. The dispersal of ELL pedagogy in each school impacted differentially on opportunities to build a sense of collective teaching efficacy with ELLs in that setting, but also raised questions about whether one size should be expected to fit all.     

Response-independent habituation of the orienting response in the preweanling rat

The effect of pattern of stimulus presentation on habituation of the cardiac component of the orienting response to an auditory stimulus was investigated in four experiments. The duration of stimulus presentation was held constant, but some animals were given six 10-sec stimulus presentations and others were given a single 60-sec stimulus. During the first 10 sec of the auditory stimulus, heart rate (HR) decreased approximately 40 beats per minute (bpm) in both groups, but during subsequent 10-sec epochs, the changes in HR were markedly different in the two groups. For those animals given a single 60-sec stimulus, the cardiac orienting response did not habituate; that is, HR either continued to decrease or remained approximately 40 bpm below baseline. In contrast, those animals given six 10-sec stimulus presentations showed smaller decreases in HR with each successive stimulus presentation, and after approximately four presentations, no detectable change in HR was observed. Despite these dramatic differences in habituation of the cardiac component of the orienting response, neither group oriented to the auditory stimulus when it was presented again following a short retention interval. Moreover, with increasing retention intervals, both groups showed the same forgetting function (reappearance of the orienting response). The implications of these findings for theories of the orienting response as well as theories of habituation are discussed.