|
|||
 |
|||
|
|
Building an Academic Career: Requirements, Policies and Special Opportunities Working Toward Success at Earlham Evaluation and intervention have significant roles at Earlham in informing students' progress through their college careers. Student and faculty members of the Assessment Committee, a standing committee of the faculty, study student progress and consider ways to improve the effectiveness of the College's curriculum and co-curriculum. The Institutional Research Office collects data to support faculty committees and senior administrators in decision-making and strategic planning. The Associate Dean of Student Success is available to work with individual students, linking them with College resources to assist both their learning and development. These three areas of the College direct our understanding of students' learning and success and work collaboratively with our teaching faculty and Student Services in directing students to the range of resources available within and beyond the curriculum. Assessment How do we know whether and what students are learning while at Earlham? Are they learning what we hope and expect they are learning? How can we use what we know about student learning to improve our programs? These are key questions that fall under the broad heading of "assessing student outcomes." Our approach to assessing student learning focuses on evaluating what students gain through the formal educational program. We have divided this into three main efforts: assessment of outcomes within majors, assessment of outcomes regarding general education, and assessment of our total education program. Assessment within the major. Each major program (departmental or interdisciplinary) has an approach to assessing student outcomes. These approaches vary considerably, but generally make use of comprehensive examinations or program-specific projects for senior majors. Programs also are asked to report on what their majors are doing after graduating from Earlham. Each major program is asked to review its approach to assessing student outcomes in its own five-year review. Assessment of general education. The College has developed a set of broad goals that each student should achieve as part of the general education curriculum at Earlham. Over the next several years, Earlham College will be assessing student success under these general education criteria to show how we are doing in educating students in Abstract Reasoning, Scientific Inquiry, Perspectives on Diversity, the Arts and Wellness, as well as developing college-level writing skills. This assessment will take a variety of forms including evaluation of student work from first-year and senior undergraduate students. Assessment of our total education program. The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), in which students respond to open-ended analytical and writing tasks, evaluates students' development of key academic skills and ways of knowing throughout their years at Earlham. We also seek to learn more about the collegiate experience of our students through the administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Both of these tools, in conjunction with other assessment projects such as interviews with students, are part of our overall assessment of Earlham College. Student Success Program At Earlham we have established a "Student Success Program," aimed at maximizing, for each student who joins the Earlham community, a sense of personal and academic success in accordance with the life goals of that student. As an institution, we enter into a relationship with each student with the conviction that Earlham provides the best environment for pursuing that aim. Strategies for Enhancing Student Success Peer Mentoring System. Highly promising and trained upperclass students are trained to serve as Peer Mentors. These mentors proactively contact each first-year student during the first semester and arrange individual meetings. During these meetings the discussion focuses on helping the student identify personal assets of the student; exploring personal, academic and career goals; identifying resources that the College can provide to further those goals; and thinking about what the next four years might entail. The aim is to support each student in developmental planning and transitioning to young adulthood. Affirming Student Success. Within the spirit of the College's commitment to student success, we aim to acknowledge and affirm each student's accomplishments. We recognize that students find success through many activities at the College. Examples include being in a theatre production, singing in a musical group, participating in athletics, volunteering in service and engaging in a strong academic semester. Actively involved in the campus community, Earlham advisers and faculty members regularly acknowledge their students' co-curricular accomplishments and curricular achievements. As students begin their sophomore year they are frequently concerned with the task of deciding on a major. Outreach from the Service Learning and Career Development Center acknowledges that work and outlines the resources and information available to students moving through that process. When students declare a major, they receive a letter written and signed by the convener of that major. The letter congratulates the student, invites them into the major and lifts up possibilities for further engagement within the major through research, off-campus study and internships. Student Success Intervention. The Associate Dean of Student Success coordinates College intervention efforts for those students who are identified as being able to benefit from specific College resources as they seek success at Earlham. Such identification may come through the peer mentoring system, through contacts with College personnel (instructors, academic advisers, residence life staff, co-curricular advisers, coaches, etc.) or student peers (friends, roommates, teammates), or through others at the College (e.g. advisory committee, judiciary councils, etc.). In each case, an effort is made to utilize College resources and to engage with students as fully as possible as they work toward success at Earlham. From the time a student chooses to enroll at Earlham, the faculty and staff who are engaged with the student are committed to seeing that student graduate. By helping a student to identify strengths and goals and to think and act more effectively to achieve those goals, we believe each student can and will be successful at Earlham. |
|
|
|||
|
Earlham College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |