Community college students want to feel connected to their college — faculty, staff, peers, and services — from entry through completion¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2017: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across focus groups in four states, students consistently expressed a desire for stronger connections to their colleges and for colleges to be deliberate in ensuring those connections. → Nodine 2012

Evidence¶

Nodine 2012¶

Nodine, T., Jaeger, L., Venezia, A., and Bracco, K. R., with research support from Public Agenda. (2012). Connection by Design: Students' Perceptions of Their Community College Experiences. San Francisco, CA: WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED541651

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Qualitative analysis of 15 two-hour focus groups with 161 current, completing, and former community college students in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas, coded by a four-researcher team. The report states "Students want to be more connected to their colleges, from the moment they enter until the day they complete their studies." The connection theme was introduced by participants themselves, not queried by focus group leaders.

"Students want to be more connected to their colleges, from the moment they enter until the day they complete their studies. They want to feel more connected to faculty, staff, and peers."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students express a desire to be challenged by their coursework, contrary to beliefs that students want school to be easy — related
• Community college students hold concrete quality criteria for edtech, including evidence of claims, accessibility, and peer and faculty connection — related
• Students with busy schedules are wary of mandatory services such as orientation and student success courses, but want high quality if services are mandatory — related
• Former students who dropped out want colleges to proactively invite them to return and explain how to return — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Students are dissatisfied with college websites and want interactive, dynamic, accurate, and timely online information — related
• Students report that peer collaboration and group work support their learning, and many want teachers to offer more group work — related
• Community college students want to play a role in edtech evaluation and procurement decisions — related
• Students often do not know which questions to ask about college until it is too late, and want colleges to anticipate their information needs — related