Small colleges better at keeping students engaged, expert says

August 21, 2006

Colleges can offer students the best facilities, faculty and educational technology, but the most critical factors for success are still individual effort and involvement, a noted professor and speaker said at Lyon College’s Fall Faculty Workshop last week.

George Kuh, chancellor’s professor of Higher Education at Indiana University Bloomington, gave his presentation, “Creating a Campus Culture Focused on Student Success” to members of the Lyon faculty Aug. 16. (At right are Dr. Patricia Whitfield, the Bryan Professor of Education; President Roettger and Dr. Kuh at the faculty workshop.)

 Lyon President Walter Roettger opened the event by announcing that the average ACT score for incoming freshmen this year is 26, the highest average to date. The average high school grade point average is 3.7, and one-third are from single-parent homes.

 “We will focus today on what we do best,” he said. “Teaching and learning.”

Kuh took the podium and said being engaged in campus life and activities, getting good grades, achieving personal satisfaction and maintaining academic persistence go hand-in-hand.

 The student involvement  “trinity” includes what students do, what institutions do and channeling students’ energies toward productive channels.

 Kuh said statistics show that the most engaged students are typically women, full-time students, those involved with fraternities/sororities, residential students, those with diversity experiences and learning community students.

 Today’s students have grown up with an entitlement mentality, he said, and that can make handling adversity when it arises a more intimidating task. On the positive side, today’s students are also more diverse and techno savvy.

 They also tend to learn more when they are collaborating with others in problem solving or mastering difficult course material.

Student/faculty interaction can be another critical factor in a student’s success, but it largely depends on the type of interaction, Kuh said.

“It makes big a difference whether the faculty member looks like he doesn’t want to be bothered, or if he’s smiling and welcoming,” he said.

An executive summary from the National Survey on Student Engagement says first-year students at Lyon are more likely than their peers at other liberal arts institutions to discuss their grades and career plans with a faculty member, make use of available technology, engage in a service project and interact with faculty members outside of class.

Lyon students are also more likely than their peers at other liberal arts institutions to have tutored other students, experienced highly challenging exams and cared for parents and dependents.

Kuh told the audience that when it comes to keeping students engaged and excited about learning, size matters.

“Size does matter,” he said. “Small colleges like Lyon are generally better at these things. And private colleges almost always out-perform public colleges.”