Connecting Knowledge and Experiences

The five programs which form the Elon Experiences -- internships and cooperative education, service-learning, study abroad, leadership and undergraduate research -- represent and effort to provide students with opportunities for connecting knowledge and experience and for developing academic citizenship. All of these programs are supervised by dedicated and competent faculty and staff who are deeply committed to the students they serve. The following comments and suggestions are for each program and for the Elon Experiences as a whole.

Internships and the Cooperative Education Program/Service-Learning Program
The importance attached to experiential learning within the context of the University's self-definition sets up high expectations with regards to both inputs and outcomes. In the case of the internships/co-op program as well as the service-learning program, significant input and outcome issues need to be addressed.

First and foremost, both programs are under-resourced, not only in view of the role they are asked to play in the institution's educational vision but also in terms of their basic operations. As the Focus Report indicates, the number of students interested in internships/co-op has increased significantly over the past few years. However, the internship "office" still consists of essentially one person who is also responsible for other, career center tasks. Such an arrangement makes it difficult for the program to function on any more than a daily, operational level.

Quality internship programs need to provide significant faculty development opportunities, especially if they seek to promote academically rigorous learning and transcend simplistic notions of the internship as no more than the application of theory. They also require careful, ongoing assessment -- a task that in some institutions is the responsibility of an especially designated individual. Finally, such programs are most effective when they function as part of a larger experiential education design. Creating and maintaining such a design requires far more time and energy than are available to the current one-person staff.

All the above comments also apply to quality service-learning programs. Indeed, with regard to the latter, still other requirements come into play; for example, developing course-appropriate resources and monitoring community as well as student impact. Furthermore, the tendency of many students and faculty members to confuse community service and academic service-learning creates a conceptual barrier that must be carefully removed. Elon's service-learning publications regularly conflate service-learning and volunteerism, and both student and faculty comments confirmed this confusion.

If one surveys the national scene, one finds that very few academically effective service-learning programs are located in student affairs. The fact that Elon's program, unlike its internship/co-op program, is located in student affairs creates problems of academic credibility. For the service-learning program to fulfill its potential and play its role in helping students to connect knowledge with experiences, it needs to be moved -- or at least firmly and formally connected -- to the academic side of the house. It also needs to be headed by a respected, tenured faculty member who is given course release to serve as the program's faculty director. Such a director should be responsible for overseeing faculty outreach and academic rigor. The current director's position should be redefined to focus more exclusively on course-community "match-making." Student coordinators should continue to facilitate non-academic, volunteer service through Elon Volunteers! and also be trained to work with faculty as undergraduate service assistants.

Over the last 22 years, the entire field of experiential learning has grown enormously in theoretical and operational sophistication. If Elon wishes to continue to claim such learning, at least as represented by internship/co-op and service-learning, as central to its educational vision, now is the time to invest not only in new resources but also to put in place formative and summative evaluation mechanisms. Such mechanisms should be capable of measuring and monitoring short as well as long-term impacts on all major constituencies: students, faculty, community partners, and the institution itself. A special programs evaluator should lead this effort, perhaps a social science researcher whose interests already lean in a related direction.

Underlying all of the above is a new recognition of the faculty effort such learning demands. Few faculty have been trained to facilitate learning outside the traditional classroom/campus, and hence, most need to develop a new set of skills to do such work well. Developing these skills will require a well designed faculty development effort that allows for differences of disciplinary culture as well as, in some instances, load adjustments to lead important curricular initiatives. Of perhaps even greater importance is a comprehensive review of promotion and tenure documents to allow for the new forms of scholarship and excellence community-related teaching implies. We found anxiety about insufficient recognition of such teaching widespread, especially among younger faculty.

The decisions Elon makes with regard to its experiential learning programs, in particular, its community-related programs, will do much to determine the shape of the University's future as well as the kind of excellence it comes to stand for. To continue to assert the importance of such programs without at this time revisiting the resources at their disposal, their place within the institution's structure, and their relationship to quality faculty work will result in a de facto loss of credibility. Elon should consider commissioning a special faculty-staff committee to develop a strategic response to the issue raised in this section.

Study Abroad
Study abroad not only represents one of five key components that form the core of the institution, but also the first one to be developed in 1969. Experiential education has become a hallmark and cornerstone of the institution's identity, and one in which Elon has invested heavily now and into the future.

The growth of experiential education and student participation has occurred almost exponentially, particularly in the areas of internships and study abroad. Since AY 94/95, the number of students participating in the study abroad program has more than doubled. As a result, Elon has developed a national reputation based upon this growth and has moved into national rankings in various publications. While the total numbers of students participating in study abroad is significant for Elon as an undergraduate Liberal Arts institution, it is important to distinguish between the two types of study abroad programs, the level of participation in each and the context in which these numbers are presented and reported.

Of particular note is the number of Winter term, faculty-led study programs whose course themes cover a wide range of academic areas from the humanities, social and natural sciences to business. Among education abroad professionals, these types of programs serve a beneficial purpose for students and faculty. However, it is important to remember that regardless of programs' academic quality and rigor, faculty/staff leaders' preparation, course goals and objectives, and experiential learning, the overall learning outcomes are different than longer-term semester and full-year programs. Therefore, it is crucial for the institution to differentiate between the two program models and its expectations for student learning.

While the growth in student participation numbers is impressive, such expansion presents new sets of challenges which the Focus Report, in part, addresses and seeks guidance and advice.

Based upon extensive interviews with faculty/staff/students, some of the following suggestions are put forward as areas which should be addressed:

1. Careful, systematic strategic planning for the future rate and direction of growth, both in short-term and semester programs, and the role of international education at Elon University;

2. Future consideration of a maximum number of short-term programs offered in a given winter term and numbers of student participants per program. In addition, some faculty are concerned about student motivation in their participation and about how to screen students to ensure their seriousness of purpose.

3. Consideration of such issues as balancing the number of short-term vs. semester programs which emphasize the need for longer term strategic planning;

4. Recognition that the organization and implementation of short-term programs including, but not limited to, all travel and itinerary logistics and other program planning and implementation are very labor intensive. Therefore, allocation of and provision for adequate human and financial resources in International Studies Office to support the increased number of programs, especially short-term program planning and implementation on the part by office professional staff be reviewed and provided as programs continue to grow;

5. Development of more comprehensive assessment tools to evaluate both formal and informal learning outcomes for both short- and long-term programs as well as academic program quality and integrity. Conduct research comparing and contrasting learning outcomes to better understand the immediate and longer term impact of both experiences upon student participants;

6. Develop additional sources of scholarship money earmarked for underrepresented students of color and economically disadvantaged students. Providing additional resources might encourage greater participation and remove historical elitist perception of study abroad;

7. Establish a standing faculty-chaired study abroad committee which holds authority to set policy and procedures related to the design, implementation, and evaluation of international programs;

8. Improve communications between and among experiential program leaders to examine common program goals and objectives and address common issues of concern. Formulation of a faculty/staff committee, which holds at the minimum "advisory" status.

9. Maintain sustaining membership in the National Society for Experiential Education to allow faculty/staff to keep abreast of cutting edge, state of the art theory and practice in the field of experiential education. Elon's Study Abroad Programs provide excellent opportunities for students to experience another culture and society as well as personal growth and development. Enhancing and proper resourcing for these programs will enable the institution to grow these programs and provide a stable academic and financial foundation.

Leadership Programs
The Center for Leadership and Organization Development is currently housed under the Vice President for Student Life and is responsible for the organization and presentation of leadership programs on campus. Its primary purposes are to promote student leadership development and recognize student leaders. Some students are Leadership Fellows and some are not; the leadership program is inclusive and offers all interested students a variety of opportunities. It seems to be working well as a student development tool, although there is a lack of clear assessment data that would prove this point. The current assessment tool does provide data, but there is no narrative interpretation of the data or indication that the information had an impact on the functioning of the program.

1. In cooperation with the Institutional Research office, the Center for Leadership and Organizational Development should examine the assessment tool to be sure it measures the appropriate data. The Center should revise procedures for analyzing the data so that appropriate narrative can be included and the process for improvement based on assessment results is explicit. There is work underway to develop and implement a leadership minor, with an emphasis on civic engagement and moral responsibility, to be housed in Academic Affairs. In order for this work to result in a minor with academic depth and substance, planning must include a variety of faculty perspectives and must be open to the input from those faculty on campus with academic experience in leadership issues.

2. The committee charged with developing the leadership minor should include faculty, Academic Affairs administrators, and Student Affairs staff. The leadership minor and offerings of the Center for Leadership and Organizational Development offer multiple opportunities for strong, effective links between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs.

Undergraduate Research
The Undergraduate Research Program at Elon has had an excellent first decade. Its structure is sound, the director and the advisory committee are in place and performing well, and the student participants are enthusiastic and impressive. Assessment of the quality of student work is largely in place.

There are several issues that the UR Program recognizes will need to be addresses in the developing long-range plan. The coordination of the UR Program with other Fellows and Scholars programs on campus is essential. The Fellows and Scholars serve as a core of participants in the UR Program, providing an example to students in a variety of fields of how undergraduate research is done. The following suggestions are offered:

1. Form a board of the directors of the Fellows and Scholars Programs and the Director of the UR Program, to meet once a month, to discuss and build linkages between these programs. As the UR Program matures, it is important for it to remain inclusive of all disciplines on campus, but appropriate for it to raise the standard of quality in student proposals, presentations, and papers.

2. The Undergraduate Research Program Advisory Committee, in consultation with other faculty, should define general guidelines for undergraduate research and scholarly and creative activity (e.g., originality in content or synthesis, peer review). Examples of excellent student work should continue to be made available for potential student researchers and their faculty mentors to review. Students and mentors should receive feedback on work that is not accepted for funding or presentation opportunities. Faculty play an extremely important role in the mentoring of undergraduate research students, but their performance is seldom assessed except by anecdote. The issue of how to monitor, assess, and improve mentoring is currently being considered by the national undergraduate research community. This issue becomes of critical importance when faculty mentors are compensated for their work and when mentoring is considered in the reappointment, tenure and promotion process.

3. The Undergraduate Research Program Advisory Committee, in consultation with the Institutional Research office, should construct an assessment tool to use to evaluate the mentoring of undergraduate research students. Input should be sought at the Biennial Conference of the Council on Undergraduate Research, to be held in June at Connecticut College. Elon University is commended for constructing a model for faculty compensation for mentoring undergraduate research students. However, the model needs adjustment. At present, a faculty member would have to mentor 32 student credit hours of 499 before being granted a course reassigned time. A calculation based on an upper level research class of five students (a small but reasonable number in a senior seminar) in a four-hour class would yield a ratio of 20 student credit hours of 499 for one course reassigned.

4. The Undergraduate Research Program Advisory Committee should work with the administration to negotiate a lower rate of student credit hours of 499 per course reassignment. Common practice in this area can be researched at the Biennial Conference of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Compensation for summer mentoring of students should also be researched and adjusted.

Elon Experiences
The Elon Experiences seem to be central to the mission of Elon University. They provide valuable opportunities for many students. The Elon Experiences transcript documents in a clear and impressive way the activities of students in these areas. However, the stated importance of the programs does not always match the resource allocation, either in terms of staffing, load credit for faculty, or budget. People in key positions sometimes feel unsupported and isolated.

Communication between these programs needs to be systematic and intentional. The rapid growth Elon has experienced in the last several years has necessitated a change in the communication patterns across campus. Constructive criticism should be used to improve the programs, rather than seen as a measure of disloyalty to the University.

1. A council of directors for all programs included in the Elon Experiences should meet once a month to discuss issues relevant to all. There is not a formal mechanism for faculty involved in these programs to exchange information and ideas with each other. Continuing ways of informing faculty of student opportunities are also needed.

2. Each department should elect a departmental liaison to the Elon Experiences. The liaison would be provided with information on each of the programs and would be responsible for publicizing opportunities within the department and referring students and faculty to the appropriate office for more information.

3. The administration and faculty should review the guidelines for reappointment, tenure and promotion with the intent of including and valuing participation in Elon Experiences. All of the Elon Experiences require a tremendous input of faculty support in both time and effort. The reappointment, tenure and promotion process must be structured to demonstrate the value of these efforts and to provide clear expectations of performance in these areas.

4. The Elon Experiences directors should work with the Institutional Research office to develop instruments to assess the impact of Elon Experiences on student development. Special attention should be paid to longer-term impact on alumni. Assessment of student outcomes of Elon Experiences is problematic because these students' experiences are integrated and it is often difficult to assign causality. Past benchmarks have mainly been set in terms of quantity of participation, not quality. Overall, we concur with the campus focus group finding that Elon needs to commit to strategic planning, levels of funding, compensation, and recognition commensurate with the importance of these activities and their position in the institutional mission.