Bridging the Education Gap, encouraging student engagement in a post high school setting.

1. College is Not High School
Bridging the Engagement Gap
Beverly Amer
Northern Arizona University

2. Let’s Go Back to High School!

3. Your High School Experience…
Time
management
& personal
responsibility?
Out-of-class
study hours?
In-class
expectations
(take notes,
be on time)?
College prep
courses?
Extra credit
and no late
work
penalties?

4. Your Expectations for College?

5. Today’s Freshmen…
Parent (or
teacher)
managed
schedule
54.7%
came to
class late
as seniors
60%
studied
less than 6
hours a
week
31% did
not take
notes in
high school
21.7% took
5 or more
AP courses
Extra credit
was usually
available

6. Their Expectations
Easy to get excused
absence to make up
missed work
Extra credit is
available most of
the time
Attendance is
encouraged but not
required
They will be told
what to do

7. UCLA Survey says…
48% struggle
with good time
management
39% have a
hard time
developing
study skills
36% have
difficulty
adjusting to
course
demands
51% feel
overwhelmed
by workload
25% leave
before
sophomore
year

8. Recent Research
Predictor of
success?
HS Math
65% needing
remediation do
not graduate

9. More…
Fixed &
dualistic
Experiment on
task completion

10. Bridging the Expectations Gap
Survey your students
• What did they experience in high school?
• What do they expect college will be like?
• Why are they even in college?
Provide detailed policies in syllabus
• Extra credit, excused absences, late work, re-work
• Attendance policies and benefits
• Expectations for out of class study time (hours)
Scaffold good behaviors
• Model good note-taking and time management
• Replace information delivery with projects, current events,
and hands-on applications, questions for critical inquiry
• Use student mentors to help develop study skills,
performance tracking

11. What About Your School’s Policies?
Discuss issues with colleagues
• Are they experiencing similar behaviors?
• Are college policies consistent and clear?
• What outreach is occurring before students arrive?
Work with feeder institutions
• Sponsor prep programs for high schools
• Learn about school policies
• Talk to your school’s admissions & orientation offices
Create positive incentives
• Professionalism programs
• Leadership or peer mentor opportunities
• Report the success of prior year students

12. Your Class?

13. Sound Familiar?

14. MIT Student Brain activity

15. Bottom Line?