1. Factors Affecting Student Involvement on Campus and in the Wider Community Robert L. Altman Faculty Mentors: Joshua Williams & Nancy McCarley Dept. of Psychology, Armstrong Atlantic State University
Introduction
College campuses have long been distinguished as centers for the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of their students. So how do colleges and universities accomplish these broad goals? They promote a sense of community for their students and, more importantly, a sense of connectedness to the communities beyond their walls. As a result, student engagement has become a priority in modern educational institutions.
Alexander W. Astin (1999) defined an engaged student as one who devotes effort not only to their studies, but also to their participation in extracurricular activities, spends time on campus, and interacts with other members of the campus community. Astin’s work reveals the beneficial effects of student engagement on academic achievement, sense of community, and persistence.
The work of T. J. Jenney (2011) supports the validity of Astin’s work with respect to development of prosocial character. Also, Jenney found a link between spirituality and the development of prosocial character in college students. Naturally, the development of prosocial behavior will provide links between the campus community and the wider community. Bringle and Hatcher (2002) examined the institution of “campus-community partnerships” in support of building relationships between colleges and their parent communities.
The current study sought to examine the various factors mediating the depth of student engagement at Armstrong Atlantic State University. We asked students participating in Armstrong’s Fall 2013 Treasure Savannah Day of Service to complete a brief survey on their lives as students.
Method
Participants:
134 college students (91 female and 41 male, M = 20.7 years of age, SD = 4.33) who participated in Armstrong’s Fall 2013 Treasure Savannah Day of Service.
Materials:
Each participant completed a brief questionnaire asking for basic demographic information including age, gender, ethnicity, major, and academic classification. The questionnaire also asked if participants held religious beliefs, lived on campus, had participated in Treasure Savannah Day of Service before, and if they participated in clubs or other organizations both on- and off-campus.
Procedure:
After participants checked in at Treasure Savannah on Armstrong’s campus, they completed the survey voluntarily. After Treasure Savannah, the research team collected data again from returning volunteers. No participants completed the survey twice.
Analysis:
We completed descriptive analyses using IBM SPSS statistical software and Microsoft Excel.
Results
Approximately 400 Armstrong students participated in the Fall 2013 Treasure Savannah Day of Service. These students represent 6% of the undergraduate student body. Of these students, 134 responded to our survey (2% of the total undergraduate student body). Of our sample, 41(1.9% of the undergraduate student body) respondents were male and 91 (2.1% of the undergraduate student body) respondents were female.
Overall, 97 participants (72.4%) reported having a religious affiliation, 84 participants (62.7%) reported living on campus, and 79 participants (59%) had not previously taken part in Treasure Savannah.
Figure 4. Total Participants per Campus Organizations.
This chart displays the campus organization membership reported by participants in Armstrong’s Treasure Savannah Day of Service.
Analyses indicated that 92 participants (68.7%) also participated in campus-based clubs and organizations. Results also indicated that only 11 participants (8.2%) reported engaging in off-campus organizations.
There was a slight positive correlation between living on campus and involvement in campus activities (r (134) = 0.21, p = 0.015).
Figure 1. Participants by Academic Class. This histogram depicts the number of participants by their reported academic classification. The percentages above the columns represent the total percentage of Armstrong students living on-campus per each academic class.
Results indicated a slight trend by more Armstrong students to reside off-campus as they become upperclassmen (r (132) = -0.34, p < ).
(80%)
(69%)
(50%)
(35%)
Conclusions
We found evidence that several factors affect student engagement. These factors include academic classification, major selection, residential status, and religious affiliation.
The strongest factor influencing student engagement was living on campus, as supported by the nearly 2:1 ratio of students who live on campus taking part in Treasure Savannah. It was found that as students become upperclassmen, they are less likely to live on campus. Analyses also supported the importance of living on campus in order to engage in campus activities and thus upper-classmen and other students living off campus may be less likely to engage in campus activities.
Religious affiliation seems to be associated with involvement in volunteer activities. This supports the findings of Jenney’s work on religion and prosocial character.
It may be that volunteerism is the primary organized outlet by which Armstrong students interact with the Savannah community. Our study did not analyze off-campus activities as planned by individual campus organizations. These conclusions, in conjunction with findings indicating a lack of participation in off-campus organizations by students, support the idea of a singular campus community.
Overall, this study supports the findings of previous studies on the subject of student engagement. The results of this study provide a window into the community life of Armstrong students as they interact with each other and the wider community of Savannah.
References:
Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 40(5),
Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (2002). Campus-community partnerships: The terms of engagement. Journal of Social Issues, 58(3),
Jenney, T. J. (2011). The holistic development of college students: Spirituality as a predictor of college student’s pro-social characterr development. Culture & Religion Journal, 2011(4),
Figure 2. Total Participants per College. This histogram reflects the number of Treasure Savannah participants per college at Armstrong, based on their reported major. The percentages above the columns represent the total percentages of all students enrolled in each college that participated in the Fall 2013 Treasure Savannah.
(2.3%)
(2.9%)
(1.3%)
(1.8%)
Figure 3: Participant Majors
This chart depicts the total number of Treasure Savannah participants per their reported major.
A look at this chart presents a varied picture of the many degree programs offered at Armstrong Atlantic State University and the diverse student body which participated in the Treasure Savannah Day of Service last Fall.