COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Teaching to Support Academic Confidence for Persistence and Success Susan Bickerstaff Community College Research Center
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Social Integration Student Performance in College
Academic Preparation Non-Academic Factors
Comfort with College Norms Motivation
Academic Confidence
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Academic Confidence Students’ certainty in their ability to meet academic and social demands of college (Sander & Sanders, 2006)
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Confidence
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Aspirations
Effort
College student confidence is connected to: • “Warming up” of educational aspirations • Positive self-regulatory behaviors 4
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Confidence
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Aspirations
Effort
Students who lack confidence may engage in selfprotective avoidance strategies that “prevent full commitment to the role of the college student” (Cox, 2009). 5
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
What classroom practices can foster student confidence and promote behaviors associated with success? 6
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Research Design • 97 semi-structured interviews with students enrolled in their first semester at three community colleges: – Tell me about your experience in college thus far. – What were your expectations of college before you enrolled? – Has college met those expectations? • Transcribed interviews coded in NVivo
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Sample Characteristics Race Gender
Men
White
Women
Age
Over 20 Under 20
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
How do students describe their confidence at the outset of their college careers? How is student confidence affected by experiences in college? 9
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Academic Confidence in Two Domains 1. Specific academic areas (i.e., math) 2. Non-academic demands of college (i.e., talking to professors)
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Apprehensive Students Self-Assured Students Experiences of Destabilization Experiences of Earned Success
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Apprehensive Students • Expectations of college as challenging or frightening • Questions about own skills and abilities • Lack of information about college norms or expectations
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Apprehensive Students •
Expectations of college as challenging or frightening o High school teachers give you a skewed image of college… They say, ‘You’re not going to be ready.’
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Questions about own skills and abilities o I looked at my age and I looked at the computer, which I know very little about. Then I looked a how far advanced the other kids were coming from high school.
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Lack of information about college norms or expectations o I didn’t know how to apply for classes. I had never heard of transfer agreements. 13
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Apprehensive Students
Connection to college success: I was upset, but I didn’t know how to do anything about, first of all. And then I just gave up because I thought it was going to be difficult anyway.
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Self-Assured Students • Confident in their ability to employ strategies to succeed • Little awareness of obstacles they could face in the future
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ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Self-Assured Students • Confident in their ability to employ strategies to succeed o Well I’ve never been a procrastinator. If I’m doing something, I want to get it done right then. • Little awareness of obstacles they could face in the future o I expected it to be like 13th grade. I thought it was going to be a lot more like high school than college. 16
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Self-Assured Students
Connection to college success: Math is a touchy thing with me, but I think that can be overcome as far as I just need to take time to study and get that tutor.
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
How do students describe their confidence at the outset of their college careers? How is student confidence affected by experiences in college? 18
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Destabilization
I came to [this college] and I was still in that high school mentality. And it’s like, ‘Whoa, I’m failing.’ 19
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ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Destabilization
Positive academic behaviors
Apprehension 20
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ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Destabilization Positive academic behaviors
I didn’t know there was so much in-depth work that comes with reading. You can’t just read the material and go about your business.
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Destabilization Apprehension
I’m definitely starting to think more realistic now. When you first get in college it’s like, ‘I want to do this and this.’ And then it’s like, ‘Well I’m not really smart enough to do that.’ Teaching is my main goal, but I have a fallback. My fallback is being a police officer or security guard. 22
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Earned Success Realistic college expectations
Confidence
Academic behaviors
That’s when the class really started to pick up with the notes. I was using my high school [notetaking strategy], and it wasn’t working. And then, after practicing [a new way], it was like, ‘now I can take notes in college.’ 23
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Earned Success • Result from student’s action or effort • Provide students with evidence of success • Related to identified area of weakness
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Earned Success • Result from student’s action or effort o It’s definitely progressing. If nothing else, I have seen that as along as I sit down and go through the painstaking process long enough, eventually I will spit out a good paper. • Provide students with evidence of success o My teachers in high school treated me like I was stupid. And then I came here and I’m getting great grades. So I realized, ‘hey, I’m actually smart.’ • Related to identified area of weakness o Like math, I didn’t do too well in high school, so I didn’t think I was going to do that well here either. But I’m actually doing good in it. 25
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Experiences of Earned Success Connection to college success: For as long as I can remember Virginia Tech was so far out of my mind. Because, wow, I have to be like a perfect student to get in there. But I know now, my GPA is pretty good. I’ve got some study habits, and I have confidence. Like why not?
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
What classroom practices can foster student confidence and promote behaviors associated with success? 27
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Show students how effort is connected to performance This may include: • Mechanisms to show which course performance goals have been met and which have not • Feedback on learning processes as well as outcomes • Conferences or other opportunities to discuss student progress
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Help students experience success in a rigorous academic environment This may include: • Low-stakes opportunities to practice skills, like: – Ungraded assignments – Large assignments broken down into component parts • Guided practice with academic behaviors like notetaking and study techniques
It’s hard, but I like being challenged. 29
COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Give students opportunities to reflect on their work process and product This may include: • Self-evaluation of work against an established rubric • Written self-reflection on the amount of effort expended on a task
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE / FEBRUARY 5, 2014
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