Effective teaching and learning: Predicting student learning and success for non-traditional students in context of faculty and student traits

Abstract

Changing demographics suggest that much of the growth in higher education will come from diverse students consuming higher education in nontraditional formats. This paper present the findings of three studies conducted to determine various factors that contribute to effective teaching and learning for non-traditional students at a for-profit institution of higher learning. The first study explores the relationships between students' perceptions of the importance of three faculty dimensions - technical currency, teaching techniques, and commitment to student success - to their learning/success, expressed in terms of self-reported technical competencies and GPA in a technology-based baccalaureate electronics engineering technology (EET) program at a teaching university. The sample (N=225) was composed of seniors of the BSEET program (Fall 2003) from 13 geographically diverse campuses of a teaching university. More than 75% of the EET seniors agreed that the constructs of faculty technical currency, teaching techniques, and commitment to student success, are important to their learning/success. The second study deals with the conditions relating to faculty assimilation, teacher preparation, and teacher effectiveness at a for-profit institution of higher education. The study examines faculty assimilation, teaching practices, and teaching preparation at the Chicago campus of DeVry University, a for-profit, non-traditional university. Findings of the study are used to develop a model for teaching preparation and practice at for-profit, non-traditional universities. The third study deals with developing and testing a longitudinal model synthesized from the literature to (a) investigate the associations on persistence for nontraditional students attending nontraditional institutions, (b) assist staff, faculty, and administrators implement high quality intervention strategies, and (c) refocus institutional resources toward enhancing student persistence. Data were collected in a three-step process over a 5-year period. Results yielded significant differences between students who persisted to their second year or not and those who graduated or not within 5 years. Further analyses indicated that satisfaction significantly decreased on every construct in the theoretical model as students moved from their first to second year. Prior research studying commuter institutions showed background characteristics of the student as the most important associations on short-term outcomes and persistence decisions. Results of this study indicated the opposite; institutional and interactional variables were associated with persistence decisions for commuter students. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2006.