Dispositions to Learn and student success

1. Research Seminar Series 2009: Access and Success for All Dispositions to Learn and student success Jamie Thompson Jamie Harding Karen Williamson

2. HEFCE /Paul Hamlyn Foundation Student Retention Grants Programme • Northumbria Bedfordshire and Manchester Universities • To illuminate and improve student retention (student progression, student success) • One of seven funded three year projects • Building on previous work with ELLI • ELLI? • Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory

3. A Hypothesis at Bristol Double Helix of Learning (McGettrick, 2002) Learning Power Achievement Knowledge, Skills and Understanding Personal Development Attitudes, Values, Feelings, Dispositions, Motivations

4. Factor Analysis: What Impacts on Learning? Curriculum and Assessment Practices Institutional Ethos Worldviews and Traditions Pedagogy Self-regulation Awareness Self Esteem Skills and Capacities Sense of Self As Learner Learning Power Interest Effort Self-efficacy Dispositions Locus of Control Goal Orientation Home, Family and Community Peer Culture Cultural Tools

5. The ELLI Instrument(Assessing Learning Power) • 72 item questionnaire • Tested and Validated • Self-report • Malleable and situational • Statements of how think / feel / behave as a learner • 4 point Lickert scale • Available online • Instant feedback as a spider diagram • Class / group profiles also produced

6. The Seven Dimensions of Learning Power • Changing and Learning • Meaning Making • Critical Curiosity • Creativity • Learning Relationships • Strategic Awareness • Resilience • Being Stuck and Static • Data Accumulation • Passivity • Being Rule Bound • Isolation & Dependence • Being Robotic • Fragility & Dependence

7. Research Questions • Do students’ dispositions change in the course of their academic programme • Does using ELLI in itself boost student retention and achievement? • Are there dispositions to learn that have an impact on student retention and achievement? • Can retention initiatives based on problematic dispositions be formulated and evaluated?

8. Quantitative Data ELLI Data Northumbria • PCAP students, 2nd year CEIS undergraduates and 1st year undergraduates from CEIS, Psychology and Business Studies Bedfordshire • Smaller numbers of 1st year undergraduates from Psychology, Journalism and Educational Practice ELLI data plus SITS data for 1st year Business Studies and CEIS undergraduates at Northumbria

9. Quantitative Findings • Significant, positive correlations between first year student marks and 3 dispositions: • Strategic Awareness • Critical Curiosity • Changing and Learning • For women in the Business School, high marks associated with low scores on Creativity and Learning Relationships

10. Students Withdrawing from Programmes • 4 students who have withdrawn compared to 374 who have not • ‘Withdrawers’ achieved higher mean scores on every dimension • Differences significant for Critical Curiosity and Strategic Awareness

11. Differences in ELLI Between Different Groups • PCAP students higher than other groups on Critical Curiosity, Meaning Making, Resilience and Strategic Awareness • Psychology students lower than journalism students on Creativity and Critical Curiosity • Educational Practice students higher than Journalism in Learning Relationships

12. Gender Differences • Men scored significantly higher on Critical Curiosity, Resilience and Creativity • Woman had higher mean marks • Men achieved significantly higher marks when they scored higher on Critical Curiosity and Strategic Awareness • Women achieved significantly higher marks when they scored higher on resilience

13. Few Significant Differences Between Other Social Groups • Students from lower socio-economic groups scored lower on Learning Relationships • Non-British students scored higher in the area of Creativity and Strategic Awareness, but achieved lower mean marks (not sig.) • Chinese students had higher levels of Creativity than White students

14. Qualitative Data • 3 focus groups: one academic staff on PCAP programme and two students on MAP • 5 individual interviews: four ambassadors of MAP students and one academic staff at Manchester • Questionnaires from academic staff introducing ELLI to students

15. Qualitative Findings • Triangulation in the areas of Critical Curiosity and Changing and Learning • Students perceived benefits of self-reflection for personal development • Students found the language of ELLI advantageous • Staff positive, some concerns over practical issues

16. More Questions than Answers? • How should we respond to higher scores on dimensions among students who withdraw? • Will negative correlation between marks and Learning Relationships and Creativity be reproduced more widely? • How do students dispositions change with time – can this be influenced by interventions? • Is there an appropriate response to gender differences?

17. Where do we go from here? • Exploration of changes to learning dimensions with time • Larger datasets to examine further relationships between learning dispositions and marks • Exploration of the impact of combinations of different dispositions • More withdrawers to make comparisons in terms of learning dimensions

18. Where do we go from here? (2) Exploration of learning dimensions with: • Students who have withdrawn from an academic programme • Students who have been referred in an academic programme • Students who have high scores in high dimensions

19. Where do we go from here? (3) • Evaluation of guidebook highlighting good practice in the use of ELLI • Evaluation of different methods of introducing ELLI to students • Development of initiatives to boost key learning dimensions • Evaluation of initiatives