Date of Award

9-7-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Teaching & Learning

First Advisor

Margaret Zidon

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover whether participation in a first-year learning community is linked with increased levels of self-reported student engagement. The study compares the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) scores of students who participated in a first-year learning community with their peers who did not participate in a learning community. The data for this study come from the 2009 administration of the NSSE at a Midwestern university. Independent samples t tests were conducted between the mean scores of the learning community students and non-learning community first-year and senior students for individual items on the NSSE and for the five benchmarks of effective educational practice to explore differences in students' reported levels of engagement. The findings from this study corroborate previous research on the positive link between participation in a learning community in the first year and increased student engagement. A discussion and implications of this study also are included.

Download

Share

COinS