Attendee Question:
How do you define student success?
Dr. George Kuh's Answer:
It can vary by individual students and the
purposes for why they have come to an institution. Students are not just there (particularly for
community colleges) because they intend to get a degree. A lot of students will say that, but when you
get right down to it they do want to complete the course, gain job advancement,
etc. Student success has many different
definitions, but I like to think of it in the broadest possibly construct: we
are talking about educational achievement, academic achievement, but we also
need to be focused on satisfaction. Not
in the summer camp way – we’re not going to give students everything they want
– but that we give them just enough so that they recognize that their social
and academic needs are being addressed, that people are paying attention. There are certain technical qualities to
this, such as academic advising and orientation programs. It comes down to the ways in which we’re
using technology to let students of this current generation know that we
understand and appreciate the kinds of learning environments that they believe
they can be most effective in.