Focusing on the Co-Curriculum

Key to Competitiveness Conference

Orlando, Florida June 28, 2006

George L. Mehaffy

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What would an institution that is

intentional about learning

outcomes do to encourage

learning in the co-curriculum?

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• Define the outcomes

• Create activities and programs to achieve those outcomes

• Measure the results and feed that information back into the institution

3

What does it take for an undergraduate to be successful in the 21st

century?

4

The world is flat• The world has moved from “command

and control” to “connect and collaborate”

• Technology and capital will remove all barriers, boundaries and restraints to global commerce

• Competitiveness is tied to having a really smart population

• There is no limit to the number of idea-generated jobs in the world

• Be skillfully adaptable and socially adaptable

―Friedman, 20055

New divisions of labor

• Expert thinking: identifying and solving problems for which there is no routine solution• Pattern matching• Metacognition

• Complex communication: persuading, explaining, interpreting information • Negotiating • Managing• Gaining trust• Teaching• Building understanding ―Levy & Murnane, 2005

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Necessary Workplace Skills

LeadershipTeamwork

Problem solvingTime managementSelf-management

AdaptabilityAnalytical thinking

Global consciousnessCommunication skills

― Business-Higher Education Forum 2003― Business-Higher Education Forum 20037

What works?

Challenging ideas & people

–Terenzini, 2005–Terenzini, 2005

Active engagement with challenges

Supportive environment

Real-world activities

Social activity

Unbounded by time or place8

Conclusions:

• Success can happen at any institution

• No magic bullet

Notable Practices:

• First Year Programs

• Intentional Advising

• Integrated Services

• Curricular Features

AASCU Graduation Rate Study

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Culture

High expectations

Belonging

Purpose and Place

Leadership

No silos

Enabling leadership

AASCU Graduation Rate Study

Student Success in State Colleges and Universities: A Matter of Culture and Leadership. AASCU. 2005

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Places:First Year Programs

AdvisingStudent Organizations

Strategies:Social interaction - projects

Volunteering and service learningInteracting with those different

Challenging ideas

Where do you start?

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Tools What technology tools could facilitate this work?

1. Social Networking Sites: Facebook.com, MySpace.com, Friendster.com, etc.

2. Email

3. Blogs

4. I-pods

5. E-portfolios12

First-Year Programs

―Tinto, 2005―Tinto, 2005

56% of dropouts from 4-year institutions leave before the start of their 2nd year.

Academic difficulty:

Only 30-35% leave college after the first year for academic reasons

Adjustment difficulties:

Even academically gifted and socially mature students have difficulty making the transition

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Learning:

First-Year Programs

Students are unable to bear direct and indirect costs of college or financial needs change

Finances:

Learning predicts persistence;

student who learn find value and

stay

Involvement: Students feel lonely, isolated, unable to establish connections; important predictor of student persistence

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Advising

• Selecting classes

• Writing and engagement

• Getting involved

• Allocating time

―Light, 1992―Light, 199215

Student OrganizationsDemocratic processesInteracting with differenceInterdisciplinary current eventsMeeting and project management skills16

Other Programs

• Summer programs

• Living-learning programs

• Undergraduate research

• Capstone courses

• Peer tutoring• Student-faculty contacts unrelated to a course17

Other Features• Risk-taking, supporting failure

• Contemporary issues forums

• Linkages to the community

• Expectation of international

experience

• Codes of conduct18

In the end, it is not about a specific program or a specific

administrative structure

It’s about creating a

culture

that focuses on student learning outcomes

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Elements of a Culture

• Shared “living” mission and “lived” educational philosophy

• Unshakeable focus on student learning

• Environments adapted for educational enrichment

• Clearly marked pathways for student success

• Improvement-oriented ethos

• Shared responsibility for student success

- ―Kuh et al, 200520

“Success means reading the current

campus culture, aligning people and

programs, and making a collective

commitment to be in it for the long haul. ”

Student Success in State Colleges and Universities: A Matter of Culture and Leadership. AASCU. 2005

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