Purposeful Programming: Measuring Student Sense Of Belonging In A Residential College

Leia Duncan, Chris Kirk, and Dr. Rishi Sriram

Leia Duncan Chris Kirk Dr. Rishi Sriram

Answering the Question

What is a Residential College?

•All Classifications

•College Council

•Meals Together•Living &

Learning Combined

•Program Director

•Faculty Steward

Faculty Leadership

Staff Leadership

Student LeadershipExperience

Residential Colleges at Baylor

Residential Colleges

320-370 students

BrooksAll Majors

HonorsHonors Students

TealEngineering, Computer

Science, & Nursing

Retreat Structure

• Typically held in the first few weeks of the fall semester

• Open invitation and optional

• Overnight (24-36 hours)

• Loaded programming

Aims of a Residential College Retreat

• Student learning through informal interaction (Ryan, 2001).

• Sense of belonging is crucial (Baumeister & Leery, 1995; Goodenow, 1993; Maslow, 1943; Strayhorn, 2012).

• First few weeks critical for retention (Tinto, 1988).Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

The Challenges

Looking for Answers

Practice

Research

Sense of Belonging Definition

Part of something greater

Connected/Identify with the group

Accepted Matter

Valued

Benefit

Bollen & Hoyle (1990), Goodenow (1993), Baumeister & Leary (1995), Anant (1996), Hurtado & Carter (1997), Simon & Tovar (2010), and Strayhorn (2018)

Sense of Belonging Definition for Residential Colleges

The extent to which students feel accepted valued and included in their residential college. Feeling oneself to be an important part of the life and activity of the community.

Sense of Belonging Scales

Existing Scales Our Scale

Bollen & Hoyle (1990), Hurtado & Carter (1997), Hoffman et el (2002), Hauseman et al. (2009), and Strayhorn (2018)

Administering the Survey

• Pretest/Posttest

• Fall 2016 (n=348) and Fall 2017 (n=256)

• 44.9% Response Rate

• Non-retreat participants = 53

Survey Reliability

• Sense of Belonging – Peers (α= .959)

• Sense of Belonging – Student Staff (α= .762)

• Sense of Belonging – Staff & Faculty (α= .847)

MANCOVA

• No significant difference between retreat and non-retreat participants.

T-Test

• Significant increase on:• Sense of Belonging – Peer (p = .03, d = .36)• Sense of Belonging – Staff/Faculty (p = .04, d = .30)

Analyzing the Data

Findings / Discussion

Sense of Belonging

Peers Student Staff

Faculty & Staff

Findings / Discussion

PeersFaculty / Staff

Student Staff

Student Staff

Faculty

StaffPeers

Findings / Discussion

Findings / Discussion

1 Bi

g Re

trea

t

Medium Event 1

Medium Event 2

Medium Event 3

Findings / Discussion

Could a Retreat not

work…

Because it works?

Findings / Discussion

Those Who Don’t Go Those Who

Go

Questions

References• Anant, S. S. (1966). The need to belong. Canada’s Mental Health.• Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

Psychological bulletin.• Bollen, K. A., & Hoyle, R. H. (1990). Perceived cohesion: A conceptual and empirical examination. Social Forces.• Goodenow, C. (1993a). Classroom belonging among early adolescent students: Relationships to motivation and achievement. Journal of

Early Adolescence• Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review.• Hausmann, L. R. M., Ye, F., Schofield, J., & Woods, R. (2009). Sense of belonging and persistence in white and African American

first-year students. Research in Higher Education.• Hoffman, M., Richmond, J., Morrow, J., & Salomone, K. (2002). Investigating "sense of belonging" in first-year college students.

Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice.• Hurtado, S., & Carter, D. F. (1997). Effects of college transition and perceptions of the campus racial climate on Latino college students'

sense of belonging. Sociology of Education. • Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review. • Ryan, M. B. (2001). A collegiate way of living. New Haven, CT: Yale University.• Strayhorn, T. L. (2018). College students’ sense of belonging: A key to educational success for all students. New York, NY:Routledge. • Tinto, V. (1988). Stages of student departure. Reflections on the longitudinal character of student leaving. Journal of Higher Education.• Tovar, E., & Simon, M. A. (2010). Factorial structure and invariance analysis of the Sense of Belonging Scales. Measurement and

Evaluation in Counseling and Development.