How and Why Does it Matter? The Changing Student Body Victor M. H. Borden, Ph.D. Professor of...

How and Why Does it Matter?

The Changing Student Body

Victor M. H. Borden, Ph.D.Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Sr. Advisor to Exec VP for Regional Affairs, Planning, and Policy

2011 Plater Institute on the Future of Learning


Overview

Two tracksAddressing the question askedWarm-up for “pop quiz”

• Handout for keeping score How and why does understanding the

changing student body matter? Fundamental paradigm shift

From teaching students to learning students


At what average annual percentage rate has the size of the undergraduate student body at IUPUI changed over the last 20 years (since 1991)

a) -2%

b) 0%

c) +2%

d) +4%

Total Undergraduates

+0.2% to be exact

Quiz Warm-up Item


Undergraduate Enrollment at IUPUI

21,15719,950 20,695 21,193 22,236

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021

22,407


What Really Works for Student Learning?

Research findings converge Seven Principles of Good Practice in

Undergraduate Education Chickering & Gamson, 1991, New Directions

for Teaching and Learning, No. 47. Insights from Neuroscience and Anthropology,

Cognitive Science and Work-place Studies Ted Marchese,http://home.avvanta.com/~building/lifelong/higher_ed/marchese.htm

National Research Council Research Synthesis How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11102

http://home.avvanta.com/~building/lifelong/higher_ed/marchese.htm



http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11102


Seven Principles

Encourages Contact Between Students and Faculty

Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students

Encourages Active Learning Gives Prompt Feedback Emphasizes Time on Task Communicates High Expectations Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of

Learning


Marchese’s Insights

Good teachers, like "reflective practitioners" in other professions, constantly test, adjust, and reframe their models of practice on the basis of experience and reflection


Marchese’s Insights

The more a teacher can emphasize . . . learner independence and choice intrinsic motivators and natural curiosity rich, timely, usable feedback coupled with occasions

for reflection active involvement in real-world tasks emphasizing

higher-order abilities done with other people in high-challenge, low-threat

environments that provide for practice and reinforcement

. . . the greater the chances he or she will realize the deep learning that makes a difference in student lives.


Conditions for Learning

Research Synthesis from National Research Council Engage preconceptions Develop a foundation of “factual” knowledge Develop strong conceptual frameworks Develop competency in monitoring our own

understanding (metacognition) Regulate our behaviors to optimize our capacity

to learn and unlearn where necessary


Herbert Simon’s Observation

Learning takes place in the minds of students and nowhere else, and the effectiveness of teachers lies in what they can induce students to do. The beginning of the design of any educational procedure is dreaming up experiences for students: things that we want students to do because these are the activities that will help them to learn this kind of information and skill. And then we can back off and ask what we have to do to get students to carry out these activities.


What Doesn’t Work

Passive listening Obsession with coverage and lower-order thinking skills

(i.e., memorization) Little student choice about what is studied and how it is

studied Fear/anxiety riddled instruction and evaluation Limited interaction with instructor and other students High-stakes evaluation But good students will learn even under poor learning

conditions Can you imagine what they can do under the best

conditions?


Student Learning and Learning Students

How and why does understanding the changing student body matter?

How do macro-level statistical trends relate in any way to student learning?


What percentage of undergraduates at IUPUI are male?

a) 43%

b) 47%

c) 51%

d) 55%

Gender

A vanishing breed?

Quiz Warm-up Item


Percent Male


The College Gender Gap

ACE 2006 Report (http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pdf/Gender_Equity_6_23.pdf)

Economic Incentives Degree makes bigger difference for females Male occupations w/H.S. diploma offer better

benefits School Effects

School/classroom environment biased against boys Reading and writing emphasis early on favors girls

Social/Psychological Factors Male role models less academically oriented Boys don’t follow norms or manage emotions well

http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pdf/Gender_Equity_6_23.pdf


What percentage of annual new students at IUPUI are fall, full-time beginners?

a) 34%

b) 44%

c) 54%

d) 64%

Mode of Admissions

Not even one-half

Quiz Warm-up Item


IUPUI New Degree-Seeking Undergraduates 2010-11


Swirling and Learning

Majority of IUPUI graduates started elsewhereMany more transferred in credits since

starting at IUPUI Accommodating Student Swirl (Borden, 2004)


What percentage of undergraduates at IUPUI are members of a racial/ethnic minority?

a) 26%

b) 21%

c) 16%

d) 11%

Still the Midwest, but…

Race/Ethnicity

Quiz Warm-up Item


Percent Minority


By what percentage has white student enrollment changed over the past 20 years?

a) -10%

b) -5%

c) +5%

d) +10%

But still the large majority

Non-Minority

Quiz Warm-up Item


Percent White Students


Cultural Bias in Teaching and Testing

The SAT “Regata” question Runner:Marathon A) envoy:embassy B) martyr:massacre C)

oarsman:regatta D) referee:tournament E) horse:stable

Subtle/nuanced bias is much prevalent than flagrant bias

Disciplinary bias as a form of cultural biasTeaching statistics in psychology


Getting a Grip on the Changing Student Body

Keeping students in mind when designing courses, program, curricula

Engaging students in learningBeing different from them is greatBeing indifferent to them, not so good

WARNING: Statistics are not relevant to individualsThe average Floridian is born Hispanic and

dies Jewish

How and Why Does it Matter? The Changing Student Body Victor M. H. Borden, Ph.D. Professor of...

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