Research on Student Engagement among First Gen Students & Sense of Belonging on Campus
For my second review of two journal articles, I chose an article about differences in student engagement and development among first generation and second generation college students and developing sense of belonging as a means to increase retention. Both of these articles spoke to me not only because of the research topic I chose for this class, but also because the factors described in both articles speak to the
student population I work with on a daily basis. I hope my quick review of these article inspires some thought and application on your campus.
-Paul
Continuing to search for articles, I found one by Pike & Kuh (2005) that studies differences in engagement and intellectual development among first-generation and second-generation college students. First-generation college students are defined as students who are the first in their families to attend college. The article references work done by many other researchers on the risk factors associated with the first-generation status and the difficulties college and universities have in ensuring success for this population. The focus of this study was to see if there were differences between levels of engagement and intellectual development among the two populations.
Pike & Kuh (2005) used data from a random sample of 500 first year student participants across six dominate Carnegie 2000 classifications who took the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ). That data analysis showed differences did exist between the two study groups. First-generation college students were less engaged and perceived the college environment to be less supportive. The research found most of the differences were due to low academic expectations among first-generation students and the fact that more first-generation college students choose to live off campus. The results of this study showed that living in campus residence halls had the great total effect on learning outcomes for all students studied across demographic boundaries.
This study caught my attention because at the university where I work almost 50% of our students are first-generation college students. Our institutional data recently showed that retention of this group on our campus has decreased significantly over the past few years. This research provided some insights into strategies that could increase first-generation student success such as living on campus, increased efforts to introduce engagement opportunities, and engagement opportunities that provide first-generation college students ideas for further study that also raise the expectations of themselves in the academic environment.
I also found a closely related article by Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, & Salomone (2002) that details a study they did among first year college students at the University of Rhode Island. This study examined the idea of "sense of belonging" and it's relationship to increased retention of first year students to the second year. I thought it was interesting that this study identified the challenges with low first to second year retention in terms of student success, but also framed the research problem as a financial challenge for the university. As state funding for public higher education decreases nationally, the loss of any students has a direct negative impact on the university's bottom line.
For the purposes of this study, the authors defined "sense of belonging" as, "the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment" (as quoted in Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, & Salomone, 2002). The researchers developed an instrument that asked students questions about relationships with their peers and relationships with faculty. They used first year students enrolled in a first year seminar course as their sample and help both focus groups and administered a survey later in the semester. First year student not enrolled in a first year seminar course were also used in the sample.
Through a process of refining their instrument, the authors found five factors of "sense of belonging" which are perceived peer support, perceived faculty support/comfort, perceived classroom comfort, perceived isolation, and empathetic faculty understanding. The study found that students who were enrolled in a first year seminar course scored higher in these five areas than students who were not. The study also found students enrolled in a learning community (students taking the same classes together) along with a first year seminar course scored the highest on the five areas of "sense of belonging". This article caught my attention because of the retention issues I noted earlier in the post, but also because the authors focused their study on what I would consider a social engagement construct. Much of the student engagement research discusses academic gains, but this was the first article I have read for this course that focused primarily on the social aspect of engagement. The instrument in this study could be used to further examine the "sense of belonging" within other contexts and with different demographic populations. In order to increase the likelihood for student success, I think the role of social engagement deserves more examination.
References:
Pike, G.R. & Kuh, G.D., (2005). First- and second-generation college students: A comparison of their engagement and intellectual development. The Journal of Higher Education, 76(3), 276-300.
Hoffman, M., Richmond, J., Morrow, J., & Salomone, K., (2002). Investigating "sense of belonging" in first-year college students. Journal of College Student Retention, 4(3), 227-256.
student population I work with on a daily basis. I hope my quick review of these article inspires some thought and application on your campus.
-Paul
Continuing to search for articles, I found one by Pike & Kuh (2005) that studies differences in engagement and intellectual development among first-generation and second-generation college students. First-generation college students are defined as students who are the first in their families to attend college. The article references work done by many other researchers on the risk factors associated with the first-generation status and the difficulties college and universities have in ensuring success for this population. The focus of this study was to see if there were differences between levels of engagement and intellectual development among the two populations.
Pike & Kuh (2005) used data from a random sample of 500 first year student participants across six dominate Carnegie 2000 classifications who took the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ). That data analysis showed differences did exist between the two study groups. First-generation college students were less engaged and perceived the college environment to be less supportive. The research found most of the differences were due to low academic expectations among first-generation students and the fact that more first-generation college students choose to live off campus. The results of this study showed that living in campus residence halls had the great total effect on learning outcomes for all students studied across demographic boundaries.
This study caught my attention because at the university where I work almost 50% of our students are first-generation college students. Our institutional data recently showed that retention of this group on our campus has decreased significantly over the past few years. This research provided some insights into strategies that could increase first-generation student success such as living on campus, increased efforts to introduce engagement opportunities, and engagement opportunities that provide first-generation college students ideas for further study that also raise the expectations of themselves in the academic environment.
I also found a closely related article by Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, & Salomone (2002) that details a study they did among first year college students at the University of Rhode Island. This study examined the idea of "sense of belonging" and it's relationship to increased retention of first year students to the second year. I thought it was interesting that this study identified the challenges with low first to second year retention in terms of student success, but also framed the research problem as a financial challenge for the university. As state funding for public higher education decreases nationally, the loss of any students has a direct negative impact on the university's bottom line.
For the purposes of this study, the authors defined "sense of belonging" as, "the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment" (as quoted in Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, & Salomone, 2002). The researchers developed an instrument that asked students questions about relationships with their peers and relationships with faculty. They used first year students enrolled in a first year seminar course as their sample and help both focus groups and administered a survey later in the semester. First year student not enrolled in a first year seminar course were also used in the sample.
Through a process of refining their instrument, the authors found five factors of "sense of belonging" which are perceived peer support, perceived faculty support/comfort, perceived classroom comfort, perceived isolation, and empathetic faculty understanding. The study found that students who were enrolled in a first year seminar course scored higher in these five areas than students who were not. The study also found students enrolled in a learning community (students taking the same classes together) along with a first year seminar course scored the highest on the five areas of "sense of belonging". This article caught my attention because of the retention issues I noted earlier in the post, but also because the authors focused their study on what I would consider a social engagement construct. Much of the student engagement research discusses academic gains, but this was the first article I have read for this course that focused primarily on the social aspect of engagement. The instrument in this study could be used to further examine the "sense of belonging" within other contexts and with different demographic populations. In order to increase the likelihood for student success, I think the role of social engagement deserves more examination.
References:
Pike, G.R. & Kuh, G.D., (2005). First- and second-generation college students: A comparison of their engagement and intellectual development. The Journal of Higher Education, 76(3), 276-300.
Hoffman, M., Richmond, J., Morrow, J., & Salomone, K., (2002). Investigating "sense of belonging" in first-year college students. Journal of College Student Retention, 4(3), 227-256.
Comments
Post a Comment