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Learning from the Emerging Voice of Transfer Students

Learning from the Emerging Voice of Transfer Students. Presented at the 7 th Annual National Conference Institute for the Study of Transfer Students January 21-23, 2009 by Karen R. Owens, Ph.D. Tile III Grants Officer/First Year Experience Hillsborough Community College Tampa, Florida.

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Learning from the Emerging Voice of Transfer Students

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  1. Learning from the Emerging Voice of Transfer Students Presented at the 7th Annual National Conference Institute for the Study of Transfer Students January 21-23, 2009 by Karen R. Owens, Ph.D. Tile III Grants Officer/First Year Experience Hillsborough Community College Tampa, Florida

  2. Introduction • Florida’s State University System consists of 11 institutions • Florida’s Community College System includes 28 institutions • Students frequently transfer among these institutions • The state-level Articulation Coordinating Committee has been in place more than 20 years and has worked diligently to make the transfer pathways as seamless as possible.

  3. The Problem • Some students still experience difficulty in transferring and persisting to degree • “The core question is not about ‘access’ to higher education. It is not about persistence to the second term or the second year following postsecondary entry. It is about completion of academic credentials—the culmination of opportunity, guidance, choice, effort, and commitment.” Adelman (2006) (p. xv)

  4. Traditional Persistence Theories • Tinto’s (1975, 1987, 1993) Theory of student integration through institutional commitment • Astin (1984, 1985, 1993, 1999) Student Involvement Theory • Pascarella and Terenzini (1991, 2005) Theory of Cognitive, Psychosocial and Moral Effects on College Students • Schlossberg (1989) Theory of Marginality and Mattering • Schlossberg, Lynch, and Chickering (1989) Transition Theory: Moving In…Moving Through….Moving On

  5. Reframing Traditional Theory • Beach (1999), Theory of Consequential Transition • Adelman (2005) report “Moving Into Town-And Moving On” • Hagedorn & Prather (2005) manuscript, “If University Students are from Mercury, Community College Students must be from Pluto”

  6. Guiding Literature “[Colleges] should gather information about student expectations. (…) They should be doing so in an aggregate way to help explore system and program adjustments (…). They should also do it on an individual basis, exploring with students their aspirations and hopes and what they anticipate regarding college. It is on the individual basis that the negotiation of expectations can take place.” Source: Miller, Bender & Schuh (2005) (p. 245)

  7. Research Questions • What do transfer students perceive as a successful transfer process? • From the transfer student’s perspective, what supports are needed to accommodate a successful transfer process? • From the transfer student’s perspective, what barriers inhibit successful transfer?

  8. Method and Sample • Sample: • Spring 2007 Incoming CC Transfer Students • 57 participants (with 60+ transferable credits) • Setting: • Receiving Institution: Large Research University • Sending Institutions: 2 Urban Community Colleges • Process • E-Journaling every 2-3 weeks, resulting in 285 journal entries to researcher prompts • November 2006-March 2007

  9. Guiding Interview Questions • Descriptive: What occurred that is significant to you in your transfer adjustment process? • Metacognitive: What were your perceptions and feelings? • Analytic: What do you understand as the reasoning surrounding this issue? • Evaluative: What were the implications for you? • Reconstructive: What changes would you recommend? Source: Mitchell and Coltrinari (2001)

  10. Decision Rules A theme was included: • if it was mentioned by multiple individuals and concurred with previous research, • if a majority of individuals indicated it was significant, or • if key respondents with in-depth e-journal entries responded to the theme. Source: Oliver (2004)

  11. Results: Just Before and Immediately Upon Initial Transfer (Nov. ’06 – Jan ’07) Concerns before transfer (n =27) • Academic Environment (n = 27; 100%) (“How will it be different?”) • University Culture (n= 25; 93%) (“How will I fit in?”) Challenges upon initial entry to the university (n =57) • Experiences of Marginality (n = 34; 60%) • Struggling with Guidance vs. Entitlement (n = 52; 92%) • Learning to Navigate the System (n = 37; 65%) (“There is so much red tape even the easy stuff turns into an ordeal.”)

  12. Results: After Semester Is Underway (Feb. 07) Supports (n = 57) • Personal Attention (n = 54; 95%) • Academic Integration (n = 50; 88%) • Social Interaction (n = 26; 51%) • Technology (n = 38; 67%) Barrier (n = 57) • Communication in and between Academic Institutions (n = 49; 86% ) (“Hello…is anyone out there?”)

  13. Results: Mid-Mark of First Semester (March ’07) Student Recommendations (n = 57) • Transfer Advisors (n = 28; 49%) (“Needing someone to call my own”) • Transfer Orientations (n = 28; 49%) • Transfer Checklist (n = 15; 27%) Students’ e-journal entries reflected an: • understanding of how to balance academic rigor and personal identity. (n = 20; 35% ) (“College is not a goal; it is a path for me.”)

  14. Implications for Practice Students’ e-journal entries indicate a need for: • transfer counselors at the community college and university to work in close alliance (whether as centralized or decentralized units); • on-campus orientations; • user-friendly online resources, including transfer guides and virtual advisors; • communities for transfer students with peer mentors; and • first semester University Transfer Experience courses.

  15. Implications for Research • Incremental time period research • Specific student population research • Perceptions of administrators and faculty In the fall of 2000, there were 3,151,809 full-time equivalent community college transfer students enrolled in four-year institutions nationwide. Forty eight percent of these full-time equivalent community college transfer students (1,504,492) were enrolled in five states: California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. The policies and actions in these five states coupled with other high enrollment states will significantly affect transfer students nationally [National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 2005].

  16. Conclusion • Research institutions have a complex problem of balancing their mission: • Where do they place the value of undergraduate education in the process of advancing research? • How are they to interact with the community colleges? Answers lie within: • Financial resources committed to higher education on all levels from local to national constituents • Strategic plans crafted by universities to balance research productivity and quality undergraduate education

  17. Questions? Contact: Karen R. Owens, Ph.D. Hillsborough Community College kowens@hccfl.edu

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