Import Test : Student Voices

Students Speak Out on "Question of the Year"

Matt Scales — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 17:52:57 GMT

Sociology and Cultural Anthropology Professor Binnur Ercem (Middlesex Community College) took our Educational Question of the Year project into her classroom and surveyed 100 students. After reviewing their responses she divided the student comments into two categories (concrete and abstract) and provided examples of their responses.

Approximately 25% of the responses fell into the "concrete" category which she describes in the following way:

Concrete category refers to comments that are clearly oriented towards gaining a specific knowledge, skill or trade that is directly connected to getting a well-aimed and well-defined job in the society. In this category most students emphasized the importance of technology, specifically computers, in becoming successful in life. Many students mentioned the importance of reading, writing and mathematics. Skills such as time management, communication, social, public speaking, multi tasking and research are also mentioned... The following quotes are picked among those who gave me permissions to post their answers online and are somewhat representative of student’s opinions on this category:

“There are many simple skills such as adding, reading and writing which will help to be an effective citizen, but there are many other important skills. Public speaking is important, you also need to be street smart to be successful…” Jeffrey Raymond

“Students need to be able to multi-task, think of other people in the society instead of yourself and get a degree in areas in healthcare, computers, business or teaching so we the students end up making our future successful and guide our children into a safe world.” Nicole Michalczyk

The majority of student comments (75%) fell into the "abstract" category:

In the second category students mostly mentioned qualities that make us better human beings. The comments were directed more towards educational expectations and goals that are other than gaining specific knowledge or skills. Students in this category clearly have a perspective of looking at things at a less personal and more societal or global levels... In other words, generally speaking, students are more concerned about general human existence, social and global relationships than about gaining a specific training to be effective citizens of the world.

“The ability to be innovative thinkers. The problem with the educational system is that we go to school and read textbooks to learn the way “things are”. Whether it be proper techniques of solving differential equations, or how we evolved from monkeys (bio.1). Students read textbooks and don’t question it because it is part of the education system, and thus they do not explore themselves enough. We should all search for answers, not be given them.” Julie Vallarelli

“The most important skills that students will need in the future are the ability to think about the world around them. Many young people focus their thoughts on unimportant issues and are oblivious to foreign and domestic policies and events that will affect their future. Critical thinking, questioning the establishment and a desire to understand one another like generations before us is important if we want to move forward.” Georgia Swann

“Students will need the fundamental knowledge of how the world works; understanding the way people react and interact, the best way to solve situation efficiently; the ability to clearly, concisely, and comfortably articulate thoughts, feeling, emotions, ideas, and concepts; and most importantly, the courage and conviction that will drive them and enable them to live a happy and successful life as contributing members of a society.” Erin Lynch

“In order to be effective citizens of our world in the future I believe that students will need to have socialization skills when interacting with others, knowledge of diversity in different cultures and countries as well as respect and an overall knowledge of how our world works.” Keith Courtemanche

“I think that the most important thing to teach students is equality and tolerance. With these skills they would help the future of the world be a more peaceful place. Not to mention the many social, economic and political improvements which could result.” David Margeson

To read Binnur's findings, conclusions and additional student quotes you can download her entire report from the following link: Download education_survey.doc

"Student Voices" at North Seattle Community College

Matt Scales — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:00:00 GMT

Jack Bautsch and Jim Harnish of North Seattle Community College (a member school of the "Student Voices" cluster) sent along examples of some of the work they are doing at NSCC to support student involvement in SoTL related activities and the life of the college.

We are working on ways to support "student voices" here. Since I'm co-chairing our accreditation self-study, my most immediate need is for students to serve on various accreditation committees. We're working on various ways to compensate them, including

* Work study position: either make serving on an accreditation committee PART of a larger work assignment or, for students with very small awards, make it their entire assignment.

* Internship or service learning credit: for students who need/want the credit, make such service a learning experience for which they can earn credit.

This has application in other areas, too, such as students serving on tenure review committees, or our college council, or other key committees.

We're exploring these ideas because we want to acknowledge that this is an extra commitment the student is making to our institution.

There's another venue in which we are trying to hear and honor "student voices," and that's through our Thursdays At One conversations about teaching and learning. We began them just this quarter, and are still "feeling our way along." It's an open-membership group (anyone can come) that makes up its agenda as it goes along. Right now we are reading Barr and Tagg's article on The Learning Paradigm (Change, 1995). We've got about 12 people-half of them students-coming on a regular basis.
--Jack Bautsch, Director of Research, Planning and Assessment

Sustaining the Student Voice in SoTL

Matt Scales — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 11:00:00 GMT

The CASTL "Student Voices" Cluster describes their purpose as follows:

"The cluster seeks to develop a learning system that is informed by the scholarship of teaching and learning and that embeds the student voice throughout all institutional processes in order to enhance learning and validate all learners as co-inquirers."

To learn more about this cluster and their work visit their snapshot page on the Carnegie Knowledge Media Lab Keep Toolkit site.

http://www.cfkeep.org/html/snapshot.php?id=9843158

Student Voices

Matt Scales — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 17:12:21 GMT

We will adding a new category of posts to our Blog under the heading Student Voices. It is meant to reflect the student perspective on a range of related teaching-learning issues as well as provide examples of the ways in which these perspectives contribute to the life of the college community. Additionally, we will highlight examples of student engagement in SoTL activities. Any contributions related to this theme from cluster members or visitors to our site are welcome and can be sent to me at margulisd&middlesex.mass.edu or included in our "comments" area following each post. The inspiration for this new category was provided by members of the "Student Voices" cluster at the recent International SoTL conference at Indiana University (in particular the representatives from Northern Seattle Community College).

It's interesting to note that a discussion of the topic of "student voices" at a recent meeting of the Middlesex Community College Carnegie group produced an energetic dialog with a significant amount of disagreement and uncertainty regarding the meaning and role of the student's voice. How much input should students have? What should their role and influence be inside of class and throughout the college community. Does giving students a "voice" threaten our role as experts? What does "voice" mean? Is it simply perspective, perhaps power, or the literary meaning of creating a voice in one's writing? I suspect some of these questions may also emerge as this theme unfolds online.