The Punishment for Dreamers:
Big Data, Retention, and Academic Libraries
Adam L. MurrayDean of University Libraries
Murray State University
“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
Oscar Wilde
Challenges Facing Higher Education
Decreasing state fundingIncreasing expectation for
universal accessPressures to keep costs
contained and tuition lowIncreased need for remediation
Idealized social experienceCredentialing agent for career
advancementDissatisfaction with student
learning outcomesAccreditation is a constantly
moving target
The Financial Crunch
Nationally, State funding has dropped from $88.8 billion in 2007 to $78.8 billion in 2013.
Percentage of educational revenue derived from tuition has climbed from 23.8% to nearly 50% nationally.
Getting students enrolled, and keeping them enrolled becomes a high-stakes endeavor
State Funding (Tuition Enrolled Students) + Grants/External Funding+ X
State Higher Education Executive Officers Association
Enrollment & Retention
Declining populations of traditional college students• Competition for traditional college students• Facilities and services which serve to increase tuition• Increased focus on non-traditional students with an impact on the
curriculum• Increased numbers of enrolled students who are not college ready
Cost of recruiting students is higher than the cost of retaining students
39 states are involved with performance-based funding (as of September, 2013)
Typical metrics include• Degrees awarded• Graduation rates• Transfer rates• Time and credits to degree
Performance-based Funding
Retention becomes a critical funding consideration at 2 levels• Lost tuition & auxiliaries revenue• Impact on institutional state
appropriations
Why does this matter to academic libraries?How could you justify keeping vacant faculty or staff lines in the library
instead of being repurposed in a more obviously revenue-generating area of the university?
How can you make a better argument for improved collections funding?
How can you argue for favorable positioning for renovations or new construction in campus master plans?
Why retention?Oakleaf’s Study:• Student enrollment• Student retention & graduation rates• Student success• Student achievement• Student learning• Student experience• Faculty research productivity• Faculty grant proposals and funding• Faculty teaching• Institutional reputation/prestige
Why retention?
Doesn’t rely on self-reported or anecdotal data
Provide evidence of powerful correlations that can be directly tied to institutional performance and well-being
Theories of Student Retention
Bean(psychological)
Tinto(sociological)
Grounded in cost/benefit analysis economics and Durkheim’s theory of suicide
Insufficient interactions with others and insufficient congruency with prevailing value patterns
Academic integration – goal commitment
Social integration – institutional commitment
Tinto’s Model of Student Integration
Weaknesses: does not account for non-traditional students, minorities, and the impact of external influences
Bean’s Model of Student Motivation Dropping out is a behavior, and behaviors are
psychologically motivated
Four domains: academic performance; background variables; intent to leave; and environmental variables
Accounts for impact of finances, employment, external encouragement/support, family responsibilities, and opportunities to transfer
Weakness: drop-out behavior as a pathology
Engagement
Level of investment in higher education in which students spend significant time and energy on educationally purposeful activities. (Kuh et al., 2008)
Ten educationally purposeful activities which have been labeled as “high-impact practices” by the American Association of Colleges and Universities
High-impact Practices1. First-year seminars and experiences2. Common intellectual experiences3. Learning communities4. Writing-intensive courses5. Collaborative assignments and projects6. Undergraduate research7. Diversity and global learning experiences8. Service learning9. Internships10.Capstone courses and projects
High-impact Practices & Academic Libraries
Majority of time associated with the high-impact practices takes place in informal academic environments, such as the library
Requires integration of ideas or information from various sources Including diverse perspective in class discussions or writingDiscussing ideas with faculty members outside of classDiscussing ideas with others outside of classMaking judgments about the value of information
(Kuh, 2008; Nelson et al., 2008)
Retention & Academic LibrariesTend to focus on studies of space or collection
utilization, correlations with expenditures, and the impact of instruction
Notable studies• Haddow and Joseph, 2010• Haddow, 2013• Soria, Fransen, and Nackerud, 2013• Soria, Fransen, and Nackerud, 2014
Library use – and use of particular library services – tend to correlate with higher retention rates than non-use
The Murray State Assessment in Action StudyData collection began in 2012: seeking to calculate correlations
between library use and student success metrics
Assessment in Action (ACRL) – correlations between library use, time of semester, and retention
Led by Ashley Ireland, Director of User and Instruction Services
Data analysis completed by Dr. Jana Hackathorn
The Murray State StudyData elements• Checking out an item• Logging into a library computer lab• Logging into an electronic resource• Logging into ILLiad• Participation in an Instruction Session• Enrollment in a credit-bearing Information Literacy course
Binary Logistic Regression to calculate Odds Ratio
Findings of the Murray State StudyOverall, library users are twice as likely to be retained as non-users. Use of
the library resources and services increased the odds of retention by 96%.Checking out items increased likelihood of retention 36% Logging into electronic resources, particularly later in the semester,
increased odds of retention by 24%
P< .001RS = .079. This accounts for 8% of all possible reasons a student might be
retained.
Alignment with High-impact Practices
To better understand the perspectives of library deans on the role of academic libraries in student retention using the 10 high-impact practices as a conceptual framework
Exploratory study of 271 library deans at public Master’s institutions (sample = 68)
Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and frequency distributions
Library Collections Library Instruction Library Facilities
First-year seminars
Common intellectual experiencesLearning communities
Writing-intensive courses
Collaborative assignments
Undergraduate research
Diversity and global learningService learning
Internships
Capstone courses
Library Collections Library Instruction Library Facilities
First-year seminars 0.414** 0.392** 0.473**
Common intellectual experiences 0.514** 0.474** 0.385**
Learning communities 0.598** 0.687** 0.472**
Writing-intensive courses 0.414** 0.427** 0.534**
Collaborative assignments 0.651** 0.722** 0.635**
Undergraduate research 0.505** 0.581** 0.533**
Diversity and global learning 0.436** 0.499** 0.608**
Service learning 0.569** 0.509** 0.454**
Internships 0.473** 0.429** 0.534**
Capstone courses 0.564** 0.512** 0.553**
** Denotes a significant correlation (p<0.01)
Key Findings At minimum, a moderately strong positive correlation existed between ratings given by respondents to each library scale and to each of the 10 high-impact practices
Library instruction displayed a particularly strong correlation with learning communities and collaborative assignments
Collaborative assignments had an overall higher correlation with each of the library scales
Library facilities displayed a strong positive correlation with diversity and global learning
Other Findings
NO methods of documenting impact
Few methods of communicating impact beyond the Annual Report
Continued overreliance on student learning outcomes as an indirect measure of impact
Continued overreliance on self-reported, anecdotal, and satisfaction data
Take-awaysEnough with relying only on indirect measures
In the era of big data, direct measures are becoming much more feasible
Conduct an assessment audit to align data, outcomes, and institutional priorities
Develop visualizations of your different services/resources, assessment strategies, and their connections to outcomes and institutional priorities
Stop confusing student learning outcomes with measures of retention or graduation
Take-aways USE what you find! Close the loop within the library
• Communicate your findings to library faculty/staff• Refine services and resources based on your findings
Find new ways to communicate your findings externally. Put together a plan that accounts for all stakeholders:• Students• Faculty/staff• Deans• Provost• President• Board
Concerns
PrivacySecurityIRB & Registrar
“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
Oscar Wilde
In the age of big data, increasing accountability, and tightened budgets, we have to “see the dawn” of new methods for library assessment.
Friedel, J., Thornton, Z., D’Amico, M., & Katsinas, S. (2013). Performance-based funding: The national landscape. Education Policy Center. Accessed October 23, 2014: http://uaedpolicy.ua.edu/uploads/2/1/3/2/21326282/pbf_9-17_web.pdf
Haddow, G. (2013). Academic library use and student retention: A quantitative analysis. Library & Information Science Research, 35(2), 127-136. Haddow, G., & Joseph, J. (2010). Loans, logins, and lasting the course: Academic library use and student retention. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 41(4), 233-244.
Pernsteiner, G. & Carlson, A. (2014). SHEEO releases state higher education finance FY 2013. State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. Accessed October 23, 2014: http://www.sheeo.org/sites/default/files/publications/SHEF_FY13_%20Press%20Release_FINAL_041514.pdf
Soria, K., Fransen, J., & Nackerud, S. (2013). Library use and undergraduate student outcomes: New evidence for students' retention and academic success. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 13(2), 33-45.
Soria, K., Fransen, J., & Nackerud, S. (2014). Stacks, serials, search engines, andstudents’ success: First-year undergraduate students’ library use, academic achievement, and retention. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(1), 84-91.
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