Grant recipients:
Andrea Prier, Student Success Office
Erica McKellar, Student Success Office
Heidi Engelhardt, Biology
Mary Power, Centre for Teaching Excellence
(Project timeline: May 2016 - April 2017)
Description
This project will support retrospective analysis of the SLG program associated with Biol 130. This large foundational course positioned at the transition from high school to university has high risk of drop-out, failure and weak passes highly predictive of failure in subsequent courses. Because SLG integrates learning content with developing learning strategies (‘learning how to learn’), it is believed to provide transferable skills that carry forward into subsequent courses. However, little evidence supports this claim.
The objectives are to track SLG participants and non-participants from Fall 2013, 2014 and 2015 cohorts, with respect to a) academic performance in courses that build upon Biol 130 and b) student perceptions of whether the SLG experience influenced their learning strategies and academic confidence.
This project is an extension of a Seed grant project. Please see this video featuring students and SLG leaders from Fall 2015.
Questions Investigated
- Is there a positive correlation between SLG participation and grades in subsequent courses?
- Do students who participated in SLGs in BIOL 130 perceive that SLGs contributed to their learning and learning skills over the long term?
Findings/Insights
Our quantitative analysis revealed that students who took BIOL 130 during Fall 2013, Fall 2014 or Fall 2015 and participated in SLGs had significantly higher final grades than the non-participant group.
Findings revealed that in most cases, SLG participants did not have a statistically significant advantage over non-participants at achieving a higher grade in courses they took in subsequent terms after completing BIOL 130. However, it was found that SLG participation does bring a positive effect to students’ grades in a BIOL course taken in the term directly after they completed BIOL 130.
Finally, independent of SLG participation, an overall analysis of BIOL 130 final grades revealed that there is a statistically significant, positive relationship, between student final grades in BIOL 130 and student final grades in upper year Biology courses. Our findings suggest that, students’ BIOL 130 grades is the best and most consistent predictor of success in upper year Biology courses when compared to other variables included in our quantitative analysis (e.g. course progression, course sequencing, repeating course etc.). Similarly, when a student repeats the BIOL 130 course (usually due to failure or withdrawal) they will, on average, earn a lower grade when compared to the students who study the course for the first time. This finding is also independent of if the student participated in BIOL 130 SLGs.
Our qualitative analysis of the survey responses revealed very little variation between SLG participants and non-participants when they were asked to reflect back on their learning abilities and confidence levels in BIOL 130 numerous terms after completing the BIOL 130 course. However, students who participated in SLGs were slightly more in agreement that their study strategies improved during first year than their non-participant counterparts. Futher, SLG participants identified that SLGs helped them to better understand their BIOL 130 course content and contributed over the long term to their learning and learning skills development.. SLG participants also identified that SLG sessions in their BIOL 130 course were helpful and positively impacted their learning strategies and academic confidence in their subsequent courses. Similarly, consultation group findings revealed that SLG participants indicated they gained valuable skills from the SLG sessions that they still use (for example note taking and study strategies), and, that they found great value in SLGs and indicated that SLGs should be established in other courses.
Dissemination and Impact
Findings will be shared with individuals who support SLGs on our campus (e.g., instructors, Associate Deans, Tutoring in Residence, the Student Success Office, Faculty of Science, and Faculty of Engineering) to help inform future programming and approaches to support SLGs.
Implications
Students see great value in SLG programming and would like more offerings of this type of course specific help; however, longitudinal data supporting the claim that SLGs/SIs provide transferable skills that carry forward into subsequent courses is lacking.
SLGs can support student’s academic success and self-confidence in courses directly associated with the SLG; however, to be effective, this type of intensive programming must be strategically placed in courses that meet the exact criteria for an SLG/SI based on the literature surrounding SI. Findings from this project and our past Seed grant project suggest that to enhance the impact of SLGs/SIs and the underlaying strategies (e.g. collaborative learning techniques) we feel we should explore a variety of approaches to achieve a broader impact on student progression and retention on the Waterloo campus. Since implementing SLG/SI programming is resource intensive and the scalability of SLGs on our campus is limited. We think we should:
- target key first year courses that meet this strict SI criteria to implement our SLG program
- integrate key components of the SI programming (e.g. training, active learning activities, etc.) into other study skills programs and courses that do not meet the strict SI criteria.
Our first step will be to embark on a project between the Student Success Office, Centre for Teaching Excellence and Housing and Residence to strategically integrate in collaborative learning techniques associated with the SI model into their tutoring in residence program.
References
Project Reference List (PDF)