http://science.uniserve.edu.au/workshop/fye/mprh.pdf
Tinto stressed the importance of the first few weeks at university and that a poor experience could have a disadvantageous effect on student progression. He argued for a review of our management of the
first year experience, quoting that 50% of students in the United States who do not complete a
degree leave at the end of the first year (Tinto, 1987) and that we need to address the adjustment
period (ie the early stages of the degree) as it is during this period that many students may decide to
defer or drop out. One of the solutions suggested is the formation of collaborative study groups,
where students with similar academic interests regularly work together. Such groups allow students
to assist each other in all aspects of their academic and social university life and provide a buffer for
the initial period of the transition (Tinto, 1975; 1989; 1995). The orientation programs that are
available for incoming students do not necessarily integrate students� social and academic
adjustment to university life. This is especially so in large and diverse degree programs.
www.adu.latrobe.edu.au/FirstYear/FYEP.doc
According to Tinto (1994), first year programs are successful when they focus on the education of students and on the question, not how to retain our students, but how to ensure that all students acquire the skills and dispositions to become effective leamers at university. By enhancing the experience of all first year students, it is anticipated that some issues that lead to withdrawal will be alleviated, and more students will achieve greater success.
The first year of university is a time of social and academic transition for students. Students' early experiences are critical to their success and perseverance. Institutional research is a necessary beginning step in the formulation of effective programs, processes and policies to address student attrition (Tinto, 1994).
www.cmu.edu/splan/CurrentPlan/Univ1stYrCncl/UFY497.html
The literature teaches us that effective freshman seminars and learning communities share the following characteristics:
� allowing the students to be engaged with other students, student affairs staff, and faculty both inside and outside the classroom;
� enhancing small group interactions (about 10 to 15 students per group);
� integrating social and academic components; and
� fostering a sense of community.
These findings are totally consistent with our understanding of why first-year students leave college. In his book, Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition (Tinto 1993), Tinto pointed out that, contrary to popular belief, academic difficulty is not the major reason for attrition. Other reasons are adjustment difficulties, uncertain goals, weak commitments, financial inadequacies, incongruence, and isolation (Tinto 1996).
www.acs.ohio-state.edu/students/ucho/quepasa/old_issues/fall00/tinto.html
Prof. Vincent Tinto�s message was direct and simple: Retention is the result of effective education, which means that the focus is student education rather than retention itself.
�Retention will follow as a by-product,� he assured.
According to his research, the first year of college is crucial in determining student success and, thus, retention. The exodus of students the second year of college, he said, can be tracked to things that happened �or did not happen�the first year. So he encouraged administration and faculty to pay close attention to initiatives that target freshmen.
�To be serious about student retention, institutions would recognize that the roots of attrition lie not only in their students and situation they face, but also in the very character of the education settings�.in which they ask students to learn,� he stated. �For many students,� said Tinto. �The classrooms and laboratories on the campus are perhaps the only place where they meet faculty and peer students.� In consequence, wrote Tinto in one of his papers, the settings we build to promote retention must begin with them.
In his studies, Tinto has identified four major conditions for effective student learning:
� Holding high expectations, which is about setting goals, shaping beliefs of what is possible and havig role models (minority faculty and staff).
� Providing academic and social support, including such programs as summer bridge programs, mentoring, tutoring and academic assistance.
� Providing feedback, which requires early assessment of skills, warning systems to determine when students need assistance and permanent classroom learning assessment, not only subscribed to tests and exams.
� Involvement, meaning value contact among faculty, staff and students. This said Tinto not only is a predictor of persistence (retention), but also, among those who stay, is a predictor of learning gain. �Students who are involved in learning, that is who spend more time on task, especially with others, are more likely to learn and, in turn, more likely to stay,� he said. Put together, these four conditions can make a big difference, assured Tinto. �Quality of learning,� he said. �Is improved when students are placed together in supportive settings in which they get feedback and that require them to share the experience of learning with others.� Learning Communities
These findings back up a central concept in Tinto�s study: Learning Communities, one of the critical elements of effective education. According to Tinto colleges and universities should make learning communities and the collaborative pedagogy that underlies them, the hallmark of the first year experience. �They should ensure that shared learning is the norm, not the exception, of student first-year experience,� he has stated on his research.
But what exactly he refers to when talking about LC? �In their most basic form, LC are a kind of co-registration or block scheduling that enables students to take courses together.� During his presentation he gave examples of Learning Communities established in some higher education institutions. In them, learning communities are structured slightly differently depending on their audience, but share some basic elements. For example, typically the same group of students registers for two or more courses, forming a sort of study team. This enables them to spend more time together, discussing the content of the courses, supporting each other, interacting in a �community of learners�. Typically, courses are organized around a central theme which links them providing students with a coherent interdisciplinary experience that promotes a deeper type of learning. To be effective, learning communities require faculty to collaborate, basically in linking the courses in order to facilitate an articulate educational experience.
Learning communities are a way to change the degree of involvement and the time spent in learning, assured Tinto. The result, according to the scholar�s research, is that students develop their own supportive peer groups during the first year. �Formed in class, these groups extended beyond the classroom and often beyond the campus in ways which many students saw as an important part of their being able to persist in college,� wrote Tinto.
Tinto concludes that �Institutions need to promote learning communities for a very simple reason. Namely that they enhance student learning and serve as getaways for subsequent student success, the hoped goal of higher education. It really is that simple�
www.cmu.edu/splan/CurrentPlan/Univ1stYrCncl/UFY497_c1.html
Tinto put it best by stating (Tinto 1993):
"...retention should not be the ultimate goal of institutional action, though it may be a desirable outcome of institutional efforts. Instead, institutions and students would be better served if a concern for the education of students, their social and intellectual growth, were the guiding principle of institutional action. When that goal is achieved, enhanced student retention will naturally follow."
� 1999 [email protected]