Transcript Enhancing Belongingness - Piedmont Technical College

Among students at the two-year college
Dr. Lauren Lunk, West Georgia Technical College
[email protected]
 Non-Traditionally aged
 More than half of all BS/BA’s awarded are to students who first attended a community college.
 Average age of attendance is 29, but serving an increasing number of traditionally aged
students and high school students.
 Just want to come to school part-time and go home/work, they don’t have time
 Nationally 41% of community college students are Full-time, 59% part-time
 Not interested in the “fluff” stuff of college (EX: activities, programming, etc)
 Are we assuming this or do we have data to support it at our own institution?
American Association of Community College – Trends and Statistics (more in references)
 Abraham Maslow (1943)
 Hierarchy of Human Needs that drive Motivation
 Physiological Needs
 Safety Needs
 Love and Belonging
 Esteem
 Self-actualization
 Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary (1995)
 “the need to belong is a fundamental human motivation…more
precisely, the belongingness hypothesis is that human beings have
a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least minimum quantity of
lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships”
(Baumeister and Leary, P. 497, 1995).
 Creating and maintaining positive relationship is a fundamental
motivation until they have reached at least a minimum level of social
contact and relatedness with others
 Solidifying social bonds should produce a positive outcome for most individuals
 Retention
 Graduation
 Student Development
 Higher GPA
 Breaking social bonds or not creating bonds should cause negative outcomes.
 Isolation
 Disconnectedness
 Students’ engagement with other students and faculty outside of the
classroom is crucial to student development, retention and academic success
(Astin, 1999; Baker, 2008; Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006; Fischer, 2007; Flowers, 2004; Foubert & Grainger,
2006; Kuh, 1995).
 Student’s having formal academic ties and relationships is positively related to a
student’s GPA. (Fischer, 2007).
We must provide students the opportunity and desire to connect with faculty,
staff, and students in an academic environment!
 What opportunities do students at your school have to connect outside of the
classroom?
 Campus Activities (all campus/college events)
 Interest Groups and Organizations (drama, music, art, etc)
 Academically focused clubs and organizations (advised by faculty)
 Service Learning
 Athletics
 Leadership Programming
 Spirit Events designed to promote college pride (homecoming, welcome events,
spring fling, pep rally, etc).
 Student Government Association
 Awareness Events
 Educating students on topics and issues important to the college community
 Wellness Events
 Programs and opportunities supporting students physical and mental wellness.
 Art Shows for students to compete and display their work
 Theater productions
 How do you teach your students to be leaders?
 How do we develop our students into leaders?
 “Leadership [program] participants showed growth in civic responsibility,
leadership skills, multicultural awareness, understanding of leadership theories
and personal and societal values" (Cress, Astin, Zimmerman-Oster, & Burkhardt,
2001, p.15)
 According to a 1995 study by Kuh, the out-of-class experience is considered by many
students to be an opportunity to learn in the “real world” rather than just in a classroom
(Kuh, 1995, p. 145)
 Phi Beta Lambda
 DECA
 SADHA
 SNA
 Literary Arts Magazine
 WGTC’s “Team Up” program
 Collaborative effort allowing academic programs to promote their program while providing
learning events for other students on campus.
 Peer Mentors, Faculty/Staff Mentors (Bernier, Larose, Soucy, 2005; Cuseo, 2005; Kuh,
Kinzie, Schuh & Whitt, 2010)
 Supplemental Instruction (Kuh,, Kinzie, Schuh & Whitt, 2010; Tinto, 1993)
 Learning Communities provide more opportunities for all students including
commuter students to connect with one another academically and socially (Kuh,
Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2011)
College
provides
opportunities
for students to
openly connect
faculty, staff,
and students.
Student
participates in
socially and
academically
engaging
opportunities
Think about the connections –
Student Feels
Connected and
a sense of
Belonging
Retention and
Graduation
College provides various ways for
students to meet others and engage
with the faculty and staff.
Student choose to participate in
activities that are meaningful to
them.
Students who participate feel a
sense of belongingness
Students who feel belongingness are
more likely to persist towards
graduation.
Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Development,
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organizations on academic performance. Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, 11(3), 273-298. doi:
10.1007/s11218-007-9050-y
Bernier, Annie, Simon Larose, and Nathalie Soucy. "Academic mentoring in college: The interactive role of student’s and mentor’s
interpersonal dispositions." Research in Higher Education 46.1 (2005): 29-51.
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