A Cross Cultural Investigation of Student and FaCULTY Perceptions of General Education: Why perception matters

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A Cross Cultural Investigation of Student and
FaCULTY Perceptions of General Education Why
perception matters

• Susan Gano-Phillips and Xiaoyan Wang
• AACU General Education and Assessment Conference
• February 28-March 2, 2013
• Boston, MA

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Objectives of the Project

• To examine student and faculty perceptions of
  General Education using quantitative and
  qualitative methods
• To compare perceptions in a University in Hong
  Kong that was piloting GE for the first time, to
  a US University with a long tradition of GE

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Outline

• Why perceptions matter?
• Scale Development and Reliability
• Quantitative Analyses
• Compare Student and Faculty perceptions within
  each institution
• Conduct cross institutional (cultural)
  comparisons
• Qualitative Analyses
• Conduct cross institutional (cultural) comparison
  of student and faculty perceptions of the goals
  of GE

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Why Perceptions of GE matter?

• Since Dressel Mayhews 1954 ACE publication,
  Johnston et al. (1991) note, Little has been
  done to identify and understand student
  perceptions regarding general education, much
  less reshape and harness them on its behalf. (p.
  182)
• Despite concerns with career preparation, many
  studies show that undergraduates do value general
  education
• What students mean by general education is
  unclear

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Why Perceptions of GE matter?

• When developing new programs or significantly
  revising existing ones, perceptions are a useful
  first-step in examining how well institutional
  values (goals/outcomes) are penetrating the
  institutions culture
• Student and faculty views of GE are often
  discordant
• Identifying and understanding student perceptions
  may allow us to reshape and harness those
  perceptions in service of greater learning

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Survey Design

• Invite students enrolled in initial GE courses at
  their respective universities to complete a GE
  survey
• Invite faculty teaching in GE courses to respond
  to a parallel survey
• Survey collected demographic data, responses to a
  27 item scale related intended learning outcomes
  and pedagogies related to GE, and open-ended
  responses regarding the learning that occurs in
  GE courses/programs

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Scale Development

• A 20 item 5-point Likert scale was developed
  using a sample of more than 1200 respondents
• 1 3 5
• Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
• Sample items administered
• This course developed my ethical decision making
  skills.
• This course emphasized applying theories or
  concepts.

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Scale Development 20 items, 4 subscales

• Learning Skills 6 items alpha 0.81
• GE develops my oral communication skills
• GE develops my numeric and information literacy
  skills.
• Teamwork 3 items alpha 0.81
• GE requires students to work together on projects
  outside of class
• GE develops my teamwork skills
• Higher order thinking 4 items alpha 0.82
• GE emphasized making judments about the value of
  information
• GE emphasized synthesizing information and
  organizing ideas
• Personal development 7 items alpha 0.81
• GE helped me to understand my social
  responsibilities
• GE encouraged me to learn something about myself

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Research Questions Data Analysis
How do students and facultys views on GE compare within a given institution? Independent Samples t-test (compare means of students and faculty within each institution)
How do students and facultys views on GE compare across the two institutions/cultures? Independent Samples t-test (compare means of HK and US faculty and students)
What is the relative importance of knowledge, skills, and values in GE outcomes for students and faculty? Chi-square tests (compare expected proportions of responses across HK and US samples)
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Student and Faculty Perceptions of GE at a
University in Hong Kong
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Student and Faculty Perceptions of GEat a
University in the US
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US vs. HK Faculty Perceptions of GE
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US vs. HK Student Perceptions of GE
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Summary of Quantitative Findings

• In general, faculty in both the US and HK
  universities perceive GE courses as achieving
  greater outcomes than students do.
• Across institutions, HK faculty perceive a
  significantly greater achievement of SKILL
  DEVELOPMENT than do US faculty.
• Across institutions, HK students perceive greater
  achievement in 3 of the 4 major GE outcomes
  PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, HIGHER ORDER THINKING and
  SKILL DEVELOPMENT than do their US counterparts.
  There was no significant difference across
  universities in perceptions of TEAMWORK.

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Qualitative Responses

• Faculty and students responded to the open ended
  question
• List a maximum of 5 things you believe every
  student should learn at college/university as a
  result of their general education program.
• Responses were coded as
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Values
• Interrater reliability was established at kappa
  0.90

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Knowledge

• Definition generalized knowledge unrelated to a
  practical skill or task (uses verbs like
  understanding or knowing)
• To know more about HK and China development
• Introduction to Philosophy
• Political awareness
• To know psychology
• Acquire updated information about the world
  economy
• General concepts of the subject taken
• Science development
• Basic law or policy knowledge

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Skills

• Definition a specific tool used in a practical
  manner to accomplish a task (includes critical
  thinking, integrating and applying knowledge into
  everyday life, reflection)
• Communication skills
• Leadership skills
• How to maintain good relationships with
  co-workers in the future
• Improved writing skills
• How to manage ones money
• Transferable skills learning
• Study habits or skills

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Values

• Definition efforts to imbue or develop certain
  ways of thinking (includes looking differently
  at a situation, taking a new perspective,
  valuing independence, and is related to ethics)
• What it means to be a good citizen
• Be hardworking
• Respect diverse people in society
• The concept of value in life
• The way to think and act positively in life
• To be open-minded in accepting different opinions
• Understanding myself and develop my own
  principles or values
• Eagerness to learn
• Broaden horizons
• Have a good learning attitude

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Students Beliefs about GE Outcomes
Proportion of Total Responses
Category HK Students US Students
Knowledge 28.3 32.0
Skills 56.2 57.3
Values 15.5 gt 10.7
X2 7.69, p .021
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Facultys Beliefs about GE outcomes
Proportion of Total Responses
Category HK Faculty US Faculty
Knowledge 30.0 gt 13.6
Skills 53.2 lt 71.6
Values 16.8 14.8
X2 8.67, p .013
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Summary of Qualitative Responses

• HK students report significantly greater emphasis
  on VALUES DEVELOPMENT as a result of GE than do
  US students
• HK faculty report significantly greater emphasis
  of KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT than US faculty, while
  US faculty report significantly greater emphasis
  on SKILL DEVELOPMENT than do HK faculty

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Implications for Future Research

• Do attitudes about GE change over students
  course of study? How might we positively impact
  early attitudes regarding GE?
• Why might a gap between faculty and student
  perceptions exist? Can or should it be reduced?
• Are students perceptions related to authentic
  assessments of students learning (e.g., CLA,
  CAAP)?

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Questions and Discussion

• Please feel free to contact either author
• with additional questions
• Susan Gano-Phillips (sganop_at_umflint.edu)
• Xiaoyan Wang (xiao6yan8_at_yahoo.com)