Abstract
The Arnold Mitchem Fellows Program (AMF) is a cocurricular, undergraduate research program where first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented students learn about basic research skills in preparation for future undergraduate research opportunities and graduate school outside of their traditional for-credit classes. Our academic year–long program culminates in students crafting a literature review on a research topic that interests them. This year, we incorporated Desire2Learn (D2L), which is an online learning platform used in higher education classes, into our program with the goal of strengthening student engagement. Using this technology allowed us to engage our students in asynchronous learning, which Hiltz and Turoff (2002) define as online learning that students can engage on their own time. Currently, not much research or practitioner insight explores the usefulness of D2L within cocurricular programs like ours, so we sought to understand how adding asynchronous learning through D2L affected students’ engagement in AMF.
Generally, we have been pleased with our approach to engage students in learning about research, and students expressed admiration for what the AMF program provides them during yearlong seminars and one-on-one mentorship sessions. Everything we do is aimed at preparing them intellectually and emotionally for their next research opportunity. As one student reflected during exit interviews last year, I really enjoyed getting to work with [the program instructors], and having the group of people that we were around and sharing thoughts and ideas, and we all learned something.
Our students shared with us that we were successful in helping them develop a sense of ownership and belonging within the confines of academic research. However, in the spirit of program improvement with a student-centered approach, we were curious to learn from our students how we can provide a stronger cocurricular experience using online learning in the future.
To maintain our student-centered approach, we sought to understand the experience of our 2017-2018 AMF cohort, which included 13 students. Demographically, nine students were Latinx women, two were African American women, one was a white woman, and one was a Latinx man. Our students had a variety of majors, including psychology, health science, political science, communications, and English. Based on an analysis of exit interviews, student assignments, and student activity on D2L from this past academic year, we came away with student-centered insights about incorporating online learning within a cocurricular program, which have been beneficial to us and may help similar programs looking to support student engagement.
Using Online Learning to Foster Student Engagement
With this knowledge, we set out to understand what it means for us to introduce online learning within the AMF Program. Based on previous AMF cohorts, we were already concerned about the issue of academic burnout, which Saville, Bureau, Eckenrode, and Maley note in College Student Journal is measured through exhaustion, cynicism, and lack of belief in one’s own effectiveness to complete work. Specifically, we were worried that adding online learning would increase students’ academic stress, which easily leads to feelings of burnout. At the same time, we were aware of the importance of tailoring the program to be more student-centered to increased student engagement. In trying to explore this balance between academic burnout and increased engagement within our program, we sought to answer the question, “How does implementing asynchronous technology within the Arnold Mitchem Fellows curriculum influence students’ process to brainstorm, design, and complete a literature review within a cocurricular context?”
To understand the implications of including asynchronous technology in our program, we analyzed student assignments and conducted exit interviews at the end of the year. Before students began the literature review process, we developed a rubric by assessing previous student literature reviews to create categories for analyzing other student assignments. Afterwards, we conducted a content analysis of all student assignments completed through D2L, assessing them first using our newly developed rubric to identify key themes. Next, we used these themes to construct interview questions, which allowed us to ask students about their thoughts on D2L and make a direct comparison between students’ assignments and their perceptions of their work. These lasted an average length of about an hour. Concurrently with the exit interviews, we assessed students’ final assignment (their literature review) using the same rubric as their other assignments.
Combining all of these informational sources, we developed themes around student learning and experience using D2L in our cocurricular context. The discrepancies between how students perceived their success and the struggles that we as instructors and researchers observed in their assignments gave us a better understanding of how the program can improve in the future. Using the content we collected, we discovered several important ways we were already engaging students or could better help them in the future, and we were able to answer the question, “How does implementing asynchronous technology within the program curriculum influence students’ ability to brainstorm, design, and complete a literature review within a cocurricular context?”
Though we were initially wary about overwhelming students with online content, we found that using D2L did not negatively affect students’ learning and engagement within the AMF program. Instead, students articulated that the online platform supported their participation and they wanted more involvement with the platform in three primary areas: (1) more discussion posts (which are forums on the D2L platform where students can comment and respond to each other), (2) a more extensive library of available online resources, and (3) a central space for reviewing and reflecting on past, current, and upcoming assignments in the program. Each of these three areas highlight a unique potential for our growth as a program that has implications for offering cocurricular learning experiences to underrepresented students.
Discussion Posts
Interviews illustrated that students felt discussion posts were helpful outlets to process their own thoughts and see that others were struggling with similar issues across assignments. In particular, one discussion post asked students to think about the practice of creating a literature review by answering the questions, “How has your experience been with writing your literature review? What are some challenges you have encountered? What has been helpful?” In responding to this prompt, students had an opportunity to consider their positive and negative experiences during the writing process. They also had a chance to reflect on the progress of their peers while working on their project. During exit interviews, one student noted that it was helpful to know others faced similar challenges in the writing process, saying, [Discussion topics] would be stuff like asking what your struggles were with writing and stuff. It wasn’t just about venting and having somebody hear that, but it was also “Oh, hey, everybody else is also having a lot of the same struggles as you,” and it makes you feel a little bit more confident about your writing.
Across the interviews, students expressed a similar appreciation for the opportunity to reflect and learn about their peers through the D2L posts. Students valued seeing others’ works as a source for inspiration for their own project and noted that it was often helpful to see others experiencing similar issues when crafting their literature reviews.
Online Resources and Library
In addition to discussion posts, during exit interviews students emphasized the need for us to post more online resources from seminars. Especially given that the AMF program’s learning goals depend on engaging students throughout the entire academic year, rather than just a single quarter (10 weeks), greater access to seminar resources online would have further encouraged student engagement throughout the year. Initially, when we implemented D2L in the program, we provided primary seminar material and aimed to avoid overwhelming students with too much information as they learned new knowledge and skills. Thus, we focused on providing basic materials such as the syllabus for each quarter, PowerPoints from the seminars, worksheets from classroom activities/reflections, and video content designed to supplement students’ in-class learning. While these materials were helpful, several students told us they wished there had been more content posted online. One student reflected, I think something that I found interesting in other classes is when you have to respond to two other people’s posts, and that would force me to actually look at other peoples’ posts and read their projects […] Maybe [it would be helpful] if we had more material on D2L. Maybe just like a quick “What did we do today?” [in each] meeting, a snapshot of it, just to remind yourself what you went over, and then that way you could go to that day, see a summary of what we did that day, and then look at content under that.
Establishing a Central Space
A final theme from our analysis focused on how D2L affected AMF students’ sense of belonging within the program, which established a central space for students to reflect online. Most students told us that using D2L had little effect on their involvement in the program, but went on to note the importance of having a place online where resources and peer discussions were available to look back on. In particular, D2L allowed students to review information talked about in seminars and mentoring sessions and provided an outlet to contemplate the ideas and progress of their peers. In their reflection on the value D2L had on their experience, one student shared, I didn’t have to get up and hand someone something […] you could just literally turn it in online […] I liked being able to look back on the syllabus when I have to do things or when things are going on […] Yeah, that’s it. The resources.
While we intended and observed the progress of students’ engagement across their assignments, it was enlightening to hear during the exit interviews that students valued D2L as an additional space to engage the program, even if it was underutilized.
Based on the themes that emerged from our work this year, we now have a deeper understanding of the balance between academic burnout and improved engagement. While introducing an online learning platform may prompt fears about asking too much from students that are engaged with a program, the benefits of online learning can help expand the influence of cocurricular programs that otherwise may have only a limited amount to work with students. It is reassuring to know that online learning has a meaningful role within our cocurricular program and has the potential to be used in other contexts.
The value that students found in being able to engage with the program outside of scheduled meeting times and measure their own progress is a valuable insight into student learning outside of the classroom. Programs like ours will likely need to continue adapting to the ever-changing technological landscape. Our students helped us see the value that including an asynchronous online platform can provide and eased our fears that adding an extra element to our curriculum would increase their stress, leading to academic burnout. Though continued research is needed to discern the most effective uses of online learning platforms within a cocurricular context, this year’s AMF cohort showed us the importance of using technology to engage our students.
