Thinking of Tinto
What makes students complete their schooling? Why do students drop out during or after the first year of college? These are questions of persistence. There is not one reason why students stop their educations; generally speaking the reasons are as varied as the students themselves. However when you get down to particulars it appears – thanks to research done by Vincent Tinto over a decade ago – that a large section of potential drop outs can be motivated to finish their schooling regardless of other mitigating factors IF the academic/social environment is structured in a particular way.
I was interested in Tinto’s research because of a talk given by a lecturer at the Sloan-C Emerging Technology Applications conference in San Francisco (June 2009). The presenter was Thomas Downey of Embanet and his overall presentation focused on a multi-dimensional approach to assessment. However his discussion of Tinto and persistence is what resonated most with me.
What struck me most about Tinto’s research is how far ahead of the curve he seems given when he was writing. I found one of this papers online going back as far as 1998 – assuming the HTML document is correct. Moreover, the stuff he is talking about applies just as much to distance education as it does to the face-to-face classrooms he talks about.
You can’t just expect students to be engaged in their educations if it’s entirely academic – classroom-based – experience; or, conversely, if it’s an entirely social experience. But students do need to be involved – preferably both intellectually AND socially. How though? He doesn’t approach a solution to this dillemma in the way you would expect (make them do stuff); he says you need to get them EXCITED about doing stuff – the actual doing of the stuff will come on its own if you get them excited.
How do you get students excited?
Students need to feel involved in what they are doing otherwise they will find something more engaging. Students need to have contact with eachother and also with faculty. If they see those interactions as POSITIVE and that these interactions make them feel INTEGRATED into the institution the more they will be likely to persist. This integration can take place inside or outside of the classroom – preferably both (but not necessarily).
It’s all about shared, connected learning! Tinto says you can increase student persistence as much as 25% if students are made (or rather allowed) feel included. Students need to feel part of the group; go figure.