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УДК 378
CREATING A CULTURE OF SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES: THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW NON-TRADITIONAL MODEL
СОПРОВОЖДЕНИЕ И ПОДДЕРЖКА СТУДЕНТОВ С ОСОБЫМИ ПОТРЕБНОСТЯМИ В ВЫСШИХ УЧЕБНЫХ ЗАВЕДЕНИЯХ США
© 2017
S. Kerr
College of Education, University of Washington (Seattle, WA USA)
С. Керр
Педагогический Колледж, Вашингтонский университет (Сиэтл, штат Вашингтон, США)
The paper deals with non-traditional students who are older than 24, some have families and work. It dwells upon the latest student services that American institutions of higher education offer this group of students.
The author highlights design of courses and programs to match students' needs, initial identification and recruitment of applicants, advising before the student arrives at campus, careful vetting of new students' prerequisite knowledge and skills; orientation of instructors to work with non-traditional students, careful monitoring of students' progress, notice when work has not been turned in; frequent online surveys with students to identify problem point, provide feedback, program and course design to capitalize on existing knowledge and encourage transfer of new skills to new domains, cross-consultation among advisers and instructors on student problems, internships and placements for practical work, feedback with instructors and advisers, preparation sessions for job interviews, reviewing vitae, etc.
The article draws attention to that fact that the advisers shoud be trained in a special way to give support to non-traditional students and help them succeed in graduating on time.
Статья посвящена вопросу поддержки американских студентов с особыми потребностями. Такие студенты нуждаются в особом подходе в связи с тем, что обычно это взрослые люди, имеющие семью и работу, поэтому необходимо применять к ним гибкую систему требований.
Автор предлагает разрабатывать учебные курсы и программы, которые бы отвечали потребностям таких студентов; фиксировать подобных абитуриентов на стадии приема заявления и зачисления в университет; консультировать студентов заблаговременно, до их прибытия на территорию кампуса; принимать во внимание их образование и предыдущий опыт работы; отслеживать успеваемость студентов, фиксировать задолженности; регулярно связываться в режиме онлайн для решения текущих вопросов; помогать в трудоустройстве и в применении новых навыков и знаний; совместно с другими кураторами, баз практик и стажировок, обсуждать с ними вопросы, касающиеся студентов с особыми потребностями; помогать студентам готовиться к собеседованию при приеме на работу, составлять резюме и т.д.
В статье также указывается на необходимость подготовки кураторов групп студентов с особыми потребностями в целях их успешного окончания университета.
Keywords: higher education; non-traditional students; adviser; support; matching non-traditional students' needs; monitoring; feedback.
Ключевые слова: высшее образование; студенты с особыми потребностями; куратор; поддержка; удовлетворение потребностей студентов с особыми потребностями; мониторинг; взаимодействие.
In American higher education, there is a relatively consistent model for «student services» - new students at a university are given an orientation (usually 1-2 days of presentations and briefings about how the university works, how to register for classes, what the requirements are to graduate), they are assigned an academic adviser (a professional with general skills in working with
young people for the first couple of years, and a more specialized academic professional from their major department during the last two years), and they are periodically reminded about steps they must take to graduate on time. This approach has worked quite well for many years for the type of student common in late-20th century American colleges and universities - young people, typically
aged 18-22 years, who do not have families, who are relatively healthy, and who do not yet have full-time careers.
More recently, as public awareness has grown that higher education is a key to long-term economic independence and career success, American institutions of higher education have been working to expand the numbers of «non-traditional» students that they admit. These students are commonly older, they have already established working careers, they often have families and may have additional complexities in their lives such as parents or other family members who need care. And, while they may have attended college before, often their experience there was either unfulfilling or unsuccessful. Attending an institutioon of higher education for these students presents special challenges, and the typical older model of student services often is not sufficient to support them through to the completion of a degree (Rosenbaum et al., 2015).
There have been intensive discussions within the US higher education community about how to create a new model of student service and support for these non-traditional students, and how that model should operate. What follows is a brief description of some of the approaches that have been tried and found to be successful in working with and supporting this new population of students.
1. Design of courses and programs to match students' needs (OL, blended, intensive, etc.)
Given the special life circumstances that non-traditional students face, a typical course (one semester or quarter in length, meeting once per week for 4-5 hours, etc.) may not match their needs, and many adult students prefer not to have to spend time each week traveling to the university. As a result, many universities design programs and courses that can be offered online, or in «intensive» formats - 2-3 meetings over an academic semester rather than every week, or a weekend «boot camp» format (Sharp, O'Rourke, Lane, & Hays, 2014). Online courses and programs are especially attractive, since the work can be done at any time that matches a student's schedule. At the heart of many of these approaches is a gen-
eral intent to break up traditional longer courses into smaller chunks that can be done by the student in a shorter period of time.
2. Initial identification and recruitment of applicants
Students who had prior negative experience in higher education may be hesitant to apply for admission. The best approach t this problem has been to treat the process of admission not as a gate or barrier which the applicant has to overcome, but rather as a process of encouragement and «encultura-tion». The potential student is carefully interviewed and concerns are addressed, so that the student can come to see themselves as a member of the university community even before their application is complete. Since this happens at a point before the student has actually been admitted, and since there may still be problems with the student's materials, papers, or abilities, the counselor must be very careful and sensitive - a person who can speak invitingly to students, but without making promises than may not be able to be kept.
3. Advising before the student arrives at campus (especially with regard to work-life balance, «resilience», etc.)
When a new non-traditional student has been admitted, preparing them for the demands of college study is a next critical step. Since these students must face have many issues to manage the demands of a career, family, as well as study, counselors will offer specially prepared materials and «minicourses» on such issues as work-life balance and «resilience» (Cotton, Nash, & Kneale, 2017; Taylor, 2015). The latter term is increasingly used to refer to a student's ability to work successfully in spite of the pressures of a job, family, illness, etc., and it is a personal quality (or perspective, or skill) that can be taught.
4. Careful vetting of new students' pre-requisite knowledge and skills (and advising as to course choice)
It is also critical for non-traditional students that the campus culture not merely encourage them and offer materials to help them prepare for college study; it must also advise them in a way that makes it more likely that they will succeed. So-called «predictive analytics» are increasingly being used towards this end. For example, if we know
from analysis of many student records that success in a particular academic program (for example, nursing) can be predicted by a student's success in a particular pre-requisite course (and not only the grade that a student gets in that course, but also when they took that course relative to other required courses in the program), then the adviser can work more effectively with the student and counsel them more specifically as to what courses they should take then (Bergman et al., 2014).
5. Orientation of instructors to work with non-traditional students
Instructors are an essential element of creating a positive and supportive climate for non-traditional students. But, since they lack experience with this group, they typically will not know exactly what they should do. Support and preparation are essential so that instructors do not simply assume that they can work in their accustomed ways. Issues on which instructors may need special support include expectations for assignments, especially when work must be submitted, as non-traditional students often hold regular jobs and need extra flexibility. Instructors can understand that it is not a sign of weakness to allow students extra time when they face deadlines at work or have issues with child care. Mostly this sort of orientation involves providing instructors with model policies and helping them draft course syllabi that recognize the non-traditional student's special challenges.
6. Careful monitoring of students' progress, notice when work has not been turned in
An important part of support for non-traditional students is to help them avoid falling behind in their course work to such an extent that they are unable to complete a course (or even their entire program) successfully. Careful monitoring of a student's progress can help alleviate possible problems and enable the non-traditional student to stay on track with course work. This sort of function has commonly been provided by on-campus advisers, but their role has usually encompassed meeting with a student once per semester (at most) and often only once per academic year. This is not sufficient to support a non-traditional student - monitoring of that student's progress must happen at least several times per semester. This hap-
pens most easily where the student is working online or in a blended course setting, where there is an electronic «trail» that the adviser can follow to see whether the student is working at a satisfactory rate. Some systems use «dashboards» or other data visualization techniques to make it easier for the adviser (or instructor) to see students' progress at a glance (Rabourn, Shoup & Brcka-Lorenz, 2015).
7. Frequent online surveys with students to identify problem point, provide feedback
A surprisingly easy way to provide a culture of support for non-traditional students is simply to ask them how they are doing and whether they are encountering any problems in their studies. This task has been made much easier by the advent of automated survey tools (SurveyMonkey, etc.), and while an automated survey will never achieve a response rate of 100%, many students are willing to respond to short surveys and can provide useful information about problematic aspects of their courses or program. Quick identification of problem areas in specific courses can alleviate stress and provide a more positive experience overall for the non-traditional student (NMC Horizon Report, 2016).
8. Program and course design to capitalize on existing knowledge and encourage transfer of new skills to new domains
A non-traditional student may be unsure how to use newly acquired skills in their specific workplace or job setting. Those who design courses need to provide very explicit examples and models for how new knowledge can be applied, and links back to prior learning in earlier courses. Transfer from one domain of knowledge to another does not happen automatically, and needs to happen in a structured setting using appropriate psychological «scaffolding». Unfortunately, many programs are not designed with this level of careful cross-connection among course content, so students may stumble when they try to see connections. Assuring that there is this sort of linkage requires a well-organized process of instructional design, and a high level of collaboration among those who create individual courses, those who teach those courses (if different from the original designer), those who advise and
counsel students, and those who manage the overall program. (Horton, 2011).
9. Cross-consultation among advisers and instructors re student problems
Because the problems that non-traditional student may present are so complex and involve such unusual interactions among academic work and an individual's professional life, family life, past academic history, and individual psychological makeup, it is important that those who surround the student and pay attention to his / her work have regular opportunities to exchange information and concerns. This sort of checking needs to involve not only the student's instructors but also the program director (department chair, dean, program manager) and student advisers. And it should not be organized in such a way that the discussion is focused on only one course at a time, as some student problems may manifest themselves only in a single course while others may cross multiple courses. To keep track of this sort of data can be a large task, aided in part by using stored electronic records of students' interactions with a learning management system, but also supplemented by the specific interactions that a student may have had with an individual instructor . These latter can indicate specific kinds of family problems, work stresses, or misunderstandings about course requirements or relevance.
10. Internships and placements for practical work, feedback with instructors and advisers
As non-traditional students continue to work in their programs, they will be aided by opportunities to explore the application of their new skills in practical work arenas. More than traditional students, these students (who commonly are already experienced in the workplace) will want opportunities to try out their new skills, and their learning will be enhanced as a result of having experience in a practical environment. Arranging appropriate settings for internships and field work is a special and demanding task for program administrators, for the setting must be not only real but also offer structured feedback and guidance to the student. Sometimes an internship can be arranged in a student's current workplace, but in a different part of the organization and reporting to different people, and sometimes it will require working in a different setting. Standards for both the
student and the supervisor must be explicitly worked out in advance, with common understandings agreed upon about the work the student is to do, what the responsibilities and deadlines are, how the work will be evaluated, what sorts of feedback will be provided, and how the supervisor's evaluation of the student's work will affect or be taken into account in the student's grade for the semester. Consultations between the student's supervisor and the student's adviser (or instructor) must be regular and records kept, with feedback to the student as appropriate.
11. Preparation sessions for job interviews, reviewing vitae, etc.
At the end of a program, non-traditional students are often ready and eager top move to a new or different work setting. This may be within their current organization. Or in a new one, but will commonly involve having to apply, submit work samples, and pass a job interview. While younger students are often very familiar with this process, older non-traditional students who have not moved positions for several years may feel threatened by going through this process. A supportive program environment can provide services such as mock interviews and reading résumés. These can bolster the confidence of a non-traditional student and help them find a new or improved place in the job market commensurate with their new skills.
Non-traditional students are not oddities or rare beasts in today's institutions of higher education, but they do need special kinds of support if they are to be successful. Since universities and colleges are not accustomed to working with this sort of student, the systems of student admission, orientation, advising, and instruction all need to be carefully examined (and often modified) in their context. Of course, any change in these sorts of complex systems may imply additional costs, and those have to be carefully weighed in light of the institution's overall academic mission and the panorama of how existing resources are being used. The model outlined here is not being applied universally in American higher education today. In fact, all these types of supports and services are unlikely to be found all together in any single institution. But they are coming to be recognized as important aspects of how non-traditional students can be helped to succeed, and experiments are continuing at multiple institutions.
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2. Cotton D., Nash T., Kneale P. (2017). Supporting the retention of non-traditional students in Higher Education using a resilience framework. European Educational Research Journal, Vol 16, Issue 1, pp. 62-79.
3. Horton W. (2011). E-Learning by design. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Pfeiffer/Wiley.
4. The NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition Austin, TX: New Media Consortium.
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6. Sharp S., O'Rourke J.A., Lane J.M. & Hays, A. (2014). Cohesion, coherence and connectedness: The 3C model for enabling-course design to support student transition to university. Proceedings of International Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education (p. 14-28). Brisbane, Australia. Australian Association for Research in Education Accessed 3/1/17 at: www .aare.edu.au/ data/2014_Conference/Full_papers/SHARP_14.pdf.
7. Taylor, Lynn (2015). «Can I Do Both? Be Employed and Graduate? Adult Non-Traditional Learners Who Combine Employment and Higher Education Enrollment-A Look at Persistence and Best Practices to Overcoming Barriers to Improve Success and Retention», Adult Education Research Conference. http://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2015/roundtables/20.
