What do we mean by "student success"?

About the FPLC: This Faculty and Professional Learning Community (FPLC) sought to identify and analyze various conceptions of what is meant by the ubiquitous higher education phrase “student success.” Despite the phrase “student success” being used indiscriminately in numerous policies and initiatives, our research indicates that definitions of student success remain amorphous, ambiguous, and highly contextual. Our FPLC worked to identify and examine the extent of misaligned definitions in order to promote a more cohesive conversation about our universally stated goal of student success. While identifying a universal definition of "student success" may be neither possible, nor desirable (and was thus not our aim), efforts to identify and explore interpretations are productive for illuminating the complexities and nuances of a meaningful phrase. To further this goal, we placed special emphasis on eliciting student voices and notions of what their own success looked and felt like.

Slideshow overview: 

Student Success Presentation slides

About the FPLC Artifacts: Our FPLC engaged in three major projects:

1) Surveying, data gathering, and data analysis

Artifacts include:

• survey questions: 
• coded data and summary of analysis

2) A series of podcasts highlighting individual student voices and stories

·         Artifacts include: rough cut podcast episodes, interview template graphic (*note: polished and produced podcast episode "final cut" will be uploaded September, 2017)

https://soundcloud.com/user-883973829/opening-week-podcast-ernesto-mixdown-3 -- Podcast including student interview of Ernesto, followed by FPLC members responding to what they heard.

3) Video shorts focused on ideas of student success

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-_StpfQoYc&feature=youtu.be

This is the longer film about student success through the lens of the Veterans Services Office referenced in the trailer above.