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There is growing awareness of the importance of dispositional attributes to effective performance, both during college and in the workplace. In this paper, we examine multiple facets of dispositional learning such as fluid intelligence and interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies, and explain why participation in well-designed high-impact practices (HIPs)--activities such as learning communities, service learning, undergraduate research, and community engagement--can help students cultivate conscientiousness, resilience, self-regulation, reflection and other learning dispositions. In addition, we demonstrate how and why the use of ePortfolio practice can extend, deepen, and document the impact of HIPs on these essential but often overlooked and difficult-to-measure attributes.

Over the past decade, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) has been documenting what colleges and universities are doing to gather evidence about student learning and helping institutions to productively use assessment data to strengthen undergraduate education. NILOA also has been monitoring how institutions communicate with policy makers, families, and others about their efforts to enhance student learning and institutional effectiveness. One mechanism utilized to understand the landscape of assessment practices in United States higher education has been national surveys of senior academic leaders about what is being done to measure student learning outcomes and how results are used to improve teaching and learning. This report summarizes the findings from NILOA's third and most recent survey which was conducted in 2017. It is based on data collected from provosts between April and September 2017. The sample included provosts/chief academic officers (or their designees) at 2,781 regionally accredited, undergraduate degree-granting institutions. The questionnaire was completed by representatives of 811 institutions for a response rate of 29%. Nearly 80% of the survey respondents were from within the office of the provost, with the remainder of the surveys completed by those responsible for assessment within the institution. Appendix A contains additional information about the sample and data analysis. The 2017 questionnaire asked respondents about institution-level assessment, repeating many questions from the first and second survey efforts on assessment methods, uses, drivers of assessment practice, availability of assessment information, while adding a few new questions about initiatives to improve student learning.

The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) is a vehicle for public four-year universities to report comparable information about the undergraduate student experience via the College Portrait, a common web reporting template. The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) was asked by the VSA to evaluate the effectiveness of the student learning outcomes pilot project within the College Portrait. The evaluation was conducted over a five-month period, October 2011 through February 2012, drawing on a variety of data sources. These included focus groups, interviews with leaders from the policy arena and regional accreditation agencies, institutional surveys, and analyses of results from the VSA-conducted survey of participating institutions, and College Portrait database statistics and Google Analytics. The authors' review found widespread agreement that the launch of the VSA in 2007 was a necessary response to the demands of the time. Accountability demands and public interests are transitory in nature and while the press for transparency persists, the environment in which the VSA exists is different from when it began. While seen as "necessary," many observers also expect the VSA to continue to evolve. They also found that the standardized tests of student learning originally approved for inclusion in the pilot lack credibility and acceptance within a broad sweep of the higher education community which, in turn, serves to undermine institutional participation in the VSA. Given this mixed picture, they asked, "Should the VSA College Portrait be continued?" With some exceptions, the response was affirmative, suggesting "mend it, don't end it" regarding the value of the VSA and the College Portrait. They recommend the VSA College Portrait be recast as a state-of-the-art electronic communication tool targeted for specific audiences, including prospective and current students, parents, and guidance counselors; alumni; faculty and staff; trustees; employers; accreditors; public policy makers; and media. They also urge that information presented on the College Portrait be presented around questions of particular interest to students and other relevant audiences to tell a contextualized, institution-specific, evidence-based story--possibly incorporating video or other media. Finally, to expand viewership of the College Portrait, they recommend consideration be given to the creation of a College Portrait template that could be adapted and used by all postsecondary institutions, public and private, community colleges and others. A common template for all of higher education, while challenging to achieve, would serve as one access point for the public and thereby attract increased viewer traffic to the site. Appended are: (1) Voluntary System of Accountability: An Overview; and (2) Methodology. (Contains 5 figures and 4 footnotes.)

Student success in college has never been more important. The economic advantage to baccalaureate degree holders remains substantial, with college graduates averaging a million dollars more in lifetime earnings than high school graduates. There is also the long list of non-pecuniary benefits of college--intellectual development and critical thinking, civic engagement, appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of life and so on. But there is trouble in the land in terms of educational attainment. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2006) reports that the U.S. is dropping in position among developing countries in baccalaureate degree attainment and 10th in HS graduation rates. In this lecture, the author attempts to summarize the various streams of theory and research that help answer the question: What matters to student success in college? Appended are: (1) About the Author; (2) Previous Pullias Lectures; and (3) About CHEPA. (Contains 2 figures.)

Studies of the relationships between higher education expenditures and student outcomes are relatively rare. The present research examined the relationships between higher education expenditures and students' engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Findings indicate that the relationships between expenditures and student engagement are contingent on both students' year in school and institutional characteristics. (Contains 7 tables and 1 endnote.)

Department chairs are in a position to help shape a culture where student learning is the central focus of faculty, staff, and students (Gmelch & Schuh, 2004). They hire, socialize, and evaluate faculty members' performance, guide curriculum development, and maintain the quality of academic programs. At the same time, department chairs typically assume the role without any specific preparation for the position; many have little or no experience as academic administrators. Yet, they are expected to lead their peers in establishing and implementing departmental goals and objectives. If improving educational effectiveness and enhancing student learning are priorities, what should the department chair emphasize? The suggestions offered here are based on an in-depth examination of 20 diverse four-year colleges and universities that have higher-than-predicted graduation rates and higher-than-predicted scores on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Taken together, these measures suggest that their policies, programs, practices, and campus climates challenge and support students of differing abilities and aspirations. How might these ideas be applied to your department? (Lists 5 sources.)

Some campuses have a "special" feel about them. Students are quick to mention that they cannot imagine a better place for them personally or--for that matter--any better setting for a college or university. The college has become their home away from home, the place they'd rather be than any other. Generations of graduates return for reunion weekends, passing through familiar buildings and pausing at favorite spots that evoke fond recollections of what was a very meaningful time in their lives. Built structures and memories are inextricably intertwined to form deep emotional ties to the institution and to those with whom they shared this place. Colleges and universities with such a palpable sense of place also have salutary effects on student success. In a uniquely human way, this powerful connection to something larger than oneself encourages students to engage with faculty, staff and peers in meaningful ways and compels graduates to give back to alma mater by contributing their time, talents, and resources. Administrators at other colleges long to understand and create the conditions that bond people so tightly to the institution and to one another during and after graduation. (Lists 2 sources.)

Accommodating diverse learning styles of students has long been espoused as a principle of good practice in undergraduate education. Much progress has been made during the past two decades in using active, collaborative, and problem-based learning, learning communities, student-faculty research, service learning, internships, and other pedagogical innovations to enrich student learning. Variable time blocks are more common -- from three hours, to all day, to weekends, to six or eight weeks -- to fit the desired outcomes, content, and processes. Peers tutor other students, deepening their own learning in the process. Increasingly sophisticated communication and information technologies provide students access to a broad range of print and visual resources and to an expanded range of human expertise. A wider range of assessment tools document what and how well students are learning. Despite all this activity, at too many schools these and other effective educational practices are underutilized. The suggestions offered here are drawn in large part from a study of 20 diverse four-year colleges and universities that have higher-than-predicted graduation rates and, through the National Survey of Student Engagement, demonstrated that they have effective practices for fostering success among students of differing abilities and aspirations. These institutions clearly communicate that they value high quality undergraduate teaching and learning. They have developed instructional approaches tailored to a wide range of student learning styles, ensuring that students engage with course content and interact in meaningful ways with faculty and peers, inside and outside the classroom. (Lists 2 sources.) [This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in "About Campus" copyright 2005 Jossey-Bass.]

To aid members of the news media in looking at the issues of quality in postsecondary education, the authors of the recently published "Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter" distill some useful factors for the media and the general public to use in assessing the quality of education at four-year colleges and universities. The book is based on the Documenting Effective Educational Practice project. Analyzing whether an institution is effective and determining what makes for student success is not as simple as turning to lists of "top" colleges. This paper presents a list of what to look for in institutions to produce student success. This list may seem to present an overwhelming number of indicators, but as "Student Success in College" concludes, "to have a demonstrable impact on the nature and quality of student learning, it is necessary to do many different things "better" and more "frequently" so that one or more initiatives touch "substantial numbers" of students in meaningful ways, rather than invest vast amounts of resources, time, and energy in one large, complicated initiative."

Graduating more students and increasing the quality of their learning are national priorities. Every college and university can improve in these areas by focusing on the educational conditions that matter to student success. Decades of research studies show that a key factor is student engagement--the time and effort students devote to their studies and related activities and how institutions organize learning opportunities and provide services to induce students to take part in and benefit from such activities. This paper offers nine guiding principles based on an in-depth examination of 20 diverse four-year colleges and universities that have higher-than-predicted graduation rates and demonstrated through the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) that they have effective policies and practices for working with students of differing abilities and aspirations. (Lists two sources.)

Considerable efforts have been made to get students to use information technology for educational purposes. This study uses data from the 2003 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to investigate the relationships between student uses of information technology and other forms of student engagement. The results suggest that there is a strong positive relationship between using information technology for educational purposes and other effective educational practices such as active and collaborative learning and student-faculty interaction. The results also raise questions about whether engagement with information technology should be viewed as a form of engagement in and of itself. Perhaps when students use information technology it increases the opportunities for other types of engagement. (Contains 6 tables.)

Scrutiny of intercollegiate athletics has intensified in recent years. Yet previous studies about the experience of student-athletes show that participation in intercollegiate sports has little influence on desirable outcomes of college. This study compares the engagement of student-athletes with those of non-athletes in effective educational practices. Contrary to many reports in the popular media, the findings from this study indicate that, on balance, student-athletes across a large number of colleges and universities do not differ greatly from their peers in terms of their participation in effective educational practices. In most instances, when differences do exist, they favor athletes. (Contains 6 tables and 1 appendix.)

The Carnegie classification system has served as a framework for research on colleges and universities for more than 30 years. Today, the system's developers are exploring criteria that more effectively differentiate among institutions. One approach being considered is classifying institutions based on students' educational experiences. This study explored whether it is possible to create a typology of institutions based on students' experiences. Results indicated that such a typology could be created, and the types were somewhat independent of institutional mission (i.e., Carnegie classification).

Although institutional characteristics are assumed to influence student learning and intellectual development, this link has not been empirically confirmed. This study examined whether institutional mission, represented by Carnegie classification, is related to student learning and development. Participants were a stratified random sample of 1,500 undergraduates from across the United States. Strata were the six dominant Carnegie classifications for four-year colleges and universities. After controlling for student background characteristics, no meaningful differences were found in students perceptions of the college environment, levels of academic and social involvement, integration of information, or educational outcomes by Carnegie classification. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables, and 50 references.) (Author/SLD)

This study examines the effects of experiences with informal interactional diversity (defined by P. Gurin, 1999) on a range of desirable college outcomes for white students and students of color at different types of colleges. The sample was 53,756 full-time enrolled undergraduates who completed all the items on the College Student Experiences Questionnaire between 1998 and 2001 at 124 institutions. Although white students less frequently engaged with students from different backgrounds, such experiences positively affected self-reported gains and competence in working with people from, different backgrounds for both white students and students of color at all types of colleges. These and other effects vary for white students and students of color and by institutional type. (Contains 4 tables and 34 references.) (Author/SLD)

Responses to the College Student Experience Questionnaire Fourth Edition (C. Pace and G. Kuh, 1998) from 18,844 students at 71 colleges and universities were analyzed to determine if the presence of computing and information technology influenced the frequency of use of various forms of technology and other educational resources and the exposure to good educational practices. Undergraduates attending "more wired" campuses as determined by the 1998 and 1999 Yahoo Most Wired Campus survey more frequently used computing and information technology and reported higher levels of engagement in good educational practices than their counterparts at less wired institutions. Nontraditional students benefited less than traditional students, but both women and men students benefited considerably from campus wiredness. An appendix contains the survey items that represent good educational practices. (Contains 4 tables and 45 references.) (Author/SLD)

The self-reported experiences of 50,883 undergraduates at 123 institutions were analyzed using a nonlinear hierarchical model to identify individual and institutional characteristics associated with low and high levels of student engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Men, White students, and students at public institutions were more likely to be "disengaged" when compared with women, African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians and students at private colleges. Student socioeconomic status and academic preparation had positive influences on association with more engaged groups. Individual student perceptions of certain aspects of the institutional environment and aggregate perceptions of the institutional environment had contradictory effects on student engagement. (Contains 3 tables and 47 references.) (Author/SLD)

This study tested a learning productivity model for undergraduates at four-year colleges and universities using hierarchical linear modeling. Student level data were from 44,328 full-time enrolled undergraduates from 120 four-year colleges and universities who completed the College Student Experiences Questionnaire between 1990 and 1997. Institutional level data came from various sources. Institutional characteristics had effects on student engagement and gains from colleges and universities, and the institutional effects on gains were through effects on engagement, effects on gains, or effects on the conversion rates from effort to gains. The effects also varied depending on the types of gains students had from colleges and universities. The findings have implications for the conversations on collegiate quality and research on college impacts on students. Three appendixes contain instrument scale items and results from the analyses. (Contains 1 figure, 4 tables, and 37 references.) (Author/SLD)

This study examined college activities and environmental factors associated with the acquisition of continuous learning skills, looking at where students who report the greatest gains in continuous learning devote the most time and energy and at the student and institutional characteristics associated with above-average gains in the capacity for continuous learning. The sample for this study was composed of 17,541 college seniors attending four-year institutions who completed the College Student Experiences Questionnaire between 1994 and 1997. Four tentative conclusions were reached: (1) as a group, college seniors reported making substantial progress in areas important to continuous learning; (2) certain college activities and environmental factors appear to be important, including amount of effort students devote to classroom activities, amount of effort devoted to science and technology, and an institutional environment valuing critical, evaluative, and analytical performance; (3) gender differences suggest that men benefit most from peer engagement, while for women, involvement in athletic and recreational activities is important; and (4) some activities, such as participation in formal extracurricular activities, appear to contribute little to continuous learning competencies and skills. Nine tables summarize regression data. The questionnaire is appended. (Contains 36 references.) (CH)

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between students' self-reported use of computers and other information technologies and the outcomes of college thought to be essential for success during and after college. Data for this study are from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) national research program. The sample is composed of 125,224 undergraduates from 205 four-year colleges and universities in the United States who completed the third edition of the CSEQ between 1990 and 1997. GNCMPTS is the gain item that asks students to indicate the extent to which they made progress during college in using computers and other information technologies. The sample was divided into two groups: High Gainers who reported substantial progress on GNCMPTS and Low Gainers. The results of this study unequivocally demonstrate that familiarity with computers contributes to, and does not detract from, the development of other skills and competencies considered to be important to success after college. Four tables present statistics. The CSEQ background variables and gains scales are appended. Contains 39 references. (AEF)

This study compared college seniors' self-evaluation of skills considered important for lifelong learning from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. The study used data from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ), a national database begun in 1983 which includes over 200,000 student records from over 600 colleges and universities. An index derived from the CSEQ, the Capacity for Life-Long Learning, was applied to the records of 26,629 college seniors from 173 colleges and universities who completed the CSEQ in 1984-87 and 16,794 seniors who completed the CSEQ in 1994-97. Findings led to three conclusions: (1) the capacity for life-long learning of seniors in the 1990s approximated that of their 1980s counterparts; (2) students at selective liberal arts colleges exhibited the greatest capacity for life-long learning during both time periods, especially when compared with students at general liberal arts colleges and comprehensive colleges and universities; and (3) students majoring in basic academic disciplines fared better than others (especially business and computer science majors) in developing life-long learning skills and competencies. (Contains 34 references.) (DB)

This report examines the culture of college/university fraternities in order to better understand the relationship between alcohol and fraternity life and to analyse the difficulties in controlling alcohol use and abuse within the collegiate "Greek system." The first chapter describes the serious problem of irresponsible, hazardous use of alcohol on college campuses in general, and particularly by fraternity members. It argues for the use of cultural perspectives as analytical lenses through which to understand the role of alcohol in fraternity life. Chapter 2 summarizes the study of fraternity culture and some of the relevant cultural properties of four fraternities participating in the study. Chapter 3 looks at the socialization practices of fraternities. Chapter 4 interprets the activities, events, and group policies and practices described in chapters 2 and 3 from a cultural view in attempting to determine how these properties work together to create and sustain a strong fraternity culture that exerts considerable influence over its members. Chapter 5 offers conclusions and recommendations for individuals and institutions committed to the type of long-term strategies needed to bring about cultural change in men's fraternities. Consideration is given to tactics that can be employed by national fraternities, colleges, universities, and individual fraternity chapters. Appendices include a history of college fraternities. (Contains 124 references.) (GLR)

This book describes how student affairs organizations, programs, services, and personnel assist an institution in attaining its educational purposes by promoting student involvement in out-of-class learning opportunities. "Student Involvement: The Key to Promoting Student Learning and Growth" (John Schuh) discusses the challenges facing higher education institutions and highlights the role of student affairs. "Characteristics of Involving Colleges" (George Kuh) summarizes the five clusters of factors and conditions common to involving colleges. Seven chapters present case analyses of seven involving colleges: (1) "Making a Large University Feel Small: The Iowa State University Story" (John Schuh, with commentary by Arthur Sandeen); (2) "Caretakers of the Collegiate Culture: Student Affairs at Stanford University" (George Kuh, with commentary by William Gurowitz); (3) "Emergence of a Metroversity: The University of Louisville Case" (Carney Strange, with commentary by Carmen Witt); (4) "Where Achievement is the Rule: The Case of Xavier University of Louisiana" (Rosalind Andreas, with commentary by Rodger Summers); (5) "A Community of Women Empowering Women: Mount Holyoke College" (Elizabeth Whitt, with commentary by Daryl Smith); (6) "Checking of the Truth: The Case of Earlham College" (Lee Krehbiel and Carney Strange, with commentary by Frances Lucas-Tauchar); and (7) "An Eclipse of the Usual: The Evergreen State College" (James Lyons, with commentary by David Dodson). The final chapter, "Conclusions and Recommendations" (George Kuh and John Schuh), draws conclusions about student affairs organizations and personnel at involving colleges. (NB)