2009 Arts and Sciences Academic Learning Links...

2009 Arts and Sciences Academic Learning Links Assessment

OEA Report 10-06

Prepared by: The Office of Educational Assessment

Catharine Beyer Jon Peterson

Elizabeth Copland

Copyright © 2010 University of Washington Office of Educational Assessment uw.edu/assessment/reports

https://www.washington.edu/assessment/reports/

“The diversity of classes gave me a broad view of the art world within the college and showed me how art classes work at this level of education.”

—Student in an Arts ALL

“I found the students I met in my ALL were academically focused and eager to immerse themselves in the social sciences, and they quickly became wonderful friends

and people with whom I could discuss topics from various classes.” —Student in a Social Sciences ALL


Cathy Beyer, Jon Peterson, and Liz Copland June 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In fall quarter, 2009, the College of Arts and Sciences offered new experiences for incoming freshmen aimed at providing students with an introduction to academic disciplines and how they operate at the UW. These experiences, called the Arts and Sciences Academic Learning Links (ALLs), included two course clusters organized by Arts (ArtsLink) advisers and two clusters organized by Social Sciences (Slink) advisers. For all four ALL experiences, entering freshmen registered for three courses in the respective disciplinary areas and a two‐credit “learning lab” led by a student majoring in a field inside those disciplinary areas, for a total of 17 credits. The College asked the Office of Educational Assessment to evaluate the ALLs. This report provides result of that assessment, which included collecting and analyzing demographic and academic data for ALL student participants from the UW student database; administering and analyzing a comprehensive survey, planned with ALL program developers and administered to the ALL participants at the end of fall quarter, 2009; analyzing pre‐ and post‐ quarter reflective statements students wrote as part of their ALL experience; and conducting and analyzing a focus group with ALL student leaders.

Results from the evaluation were:

• Students’ perceptions of their experience suggest that the ALL program goals were either fully or partially met by the program as follows: o The primary learning goal for the ALLs of helping freshmen understand how disciplines shape the

work of academic communities at the UW was met, particularly as this goal related to the disciplinary communities in which students’ ALLs were situated.

o The goal of fostering intellectual interaction between the people and programs that comprise a disciplinary community was also met.

o The program goal of introducing students to the questions asked by practitioners in a discipline and to the ways practitioners sought to answer those questions so that students might ask and answer questions of their own was partially met.

o Students reported minor gains for the ALL program goal of fostering student self‐reflection as a way to help students improve learning reported, so based on student self‐report, this goal was only partially met. However, the program assessment process required students to reflect upon their experience in the ALLs in a number of ways, suggesting that students may have underestimated their opportunities for reflection.

i

• By the end of the quarter students felt strongly connected to each other, and these connections were both social and based in shared academic interests. These connections with peers were the most valued part of the ALL program for participants.

• By the end of the quarter, ALL students had a clearer sense of their own direction, in terms of course

planning, majors, and potential careers.

• In general, students in the Arts ALLs were somewhat more satisfied with their experience than students in

the Social Sciences ALLs. Overall, about 94% of the Arts ALL students and 86% of the Social Sciences ALL students agreed that they were glad they had chosen to be in an ALL. However, about half of each ALL group felt that the ALL experience might have been as valuable without the learning lab portion (Arts and Social Sciences 150).

• Both Arts and Social Science ALL students greatly appreciated and valued their ALL 150 peer leaders. They

also reported benefitting from meeting with other advanced undergraduate majors in their respective areas of interest.

• Students and student learning lab leaders recommended that the joint panels between Social Sciences

and Arts areas be eliminated in future versions of the ALLs. However, students in both groups particularly noted the value of faculty panels, especially when faculty participants represented the student’s own particular interest.

• Students in both the Arts and Social Sciences ALLs felt that there should be fewer assignments for the

learning labs (Arts and Social Sciences 150). Both groups valued the planning assignments they were asked to do, and the Social Sciences ALL students found the interview assignment conducted with faculty to be valuable, as well. Student learning lab leaders echoed this sentiment with their recommendation that students be given more time in their 150 classes to think about and discuss with each other what they were learning.

• While students in both the Arts and the Social Sciences ALLs were, for the most part, satisfied with their

decisions to attend the UW, Arts ALL students had were more positive about feeling like members of the UW community (94% for Arts compared with 60% for Social Sciences students), about feeling that the UW cared about their success (81% for Arts compared with 49% for Social Sciences students), and about aspects of the UW climate in general.

• Because students in the ALL program are somewhat less diverse than the overall entering freshman

population, the ALL program may want to actively recruit students of color.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1

METHODS 2 UW Student Database 2 Survey 2 Pre‐ and Post‐Quarter Reflective Statements 3 Conversation with All Learning Lab Leaders 3

DEMOGRAPHIC AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION 3

Demographic Information 4 Academic Information 7 Summary of Demographic and Academic Differences 8

SURVEY RESULTS 13

Additional Demographic Information 13 Overall Satisfaction with the ALL Experience 15 Students’ Ideas about Majors 15 Outcomes of the ALL Learning Labs and General First‐Quarter Experience 18 Students’ Perspectives on the Courses Included in the ALL Clusters 23 Familiarity with and Use of UW Resources 26 General Perceptions of the UW and the Student’s Place Here 28 Assessment of the ALL Learning Labs 33 Most Valuable Part of the ALL Program to Participants 36 Areas Needing Improvement in the ALL Experience 38 What Surprised Students 40 Final Comments 41 Summary of Survey Results 42

RESULTS FROM PRE‐ AND POST‐QUARTER REFLECTIVE STATEMENTS 45

Arts ALLs 46 Social Sciences ALLs 49

RESULTS FROM A CONVERSATION WITH ALL LEARNING LAB LEADERS 53

Were you, yourselves, in a FIG when you were freshmen? If so, what was your experience? 53 Did your FIG experience inform your work in the ALL in any way or not? 53 One of the reasons the ALLs came into being was to help students understand how disciplines 54 operate at UW. How well do you think the ALLs were able to provide students with information on Arts and Social Sciences disciplines? What worked in the ALLs? What were its strengths? 54 What areas of the ALLs could be improved? 55 If we do not offer ALLs again, what aspects of the ALLs should be ported to the FIG program? 55

CONCLUSIONS 56

APPENDIX A: ARTS ALL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES ALL LEARNING LAB SYLLABI 58 APPENDIX B: REFLECTIVE STATEMENTS 63 APPENDIX C: ADDITIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC TABLES 64

TABLES

Table 1. Demographic comparison of four populations: ALL, FIG, Non‐FIG/ALL, and Entire 3

Freshman Population Table 2. Demographic differences between Arts and Social Science ALLs 6 Table 3. Academic comparison of four populations: ALL, FIG, Non‐FIG/ALL, and Entire Freshman 9

Population Table 4. Comparison of academic variables, ALL and FIG students 10 Table 5. Comparison of academic variables, ALL and Non‐FIG/ALL students 11 Table 6. Comparison of academic variables, Arts and Social Science ALLs 12 Table 7. Place of residence 14 Table 8. First in family to attend college 14 Table 9. Parents’ highest levels of education 14 Table 10. UW parents or siblings 14 Table 11. Hours worked fall quarter 14 Table 12. Receiving financial aid 15 Table 13. Satisfaction with the ALL experience 16 Table 14. Majors students were considering 17 Table 15. Change in students’ thinking about eventual majors 17 Table 16. Influences on students’ thinking about eventual majors 18 Table 17. Outcomes of the ALL Learning Lab and general first‐quarter experience 20 Table 18. Social time 22 Table 19. Challenge level of first‐quarter courses 24 Table 20. Critical thinking 24 Table 21. Recommendations for classes 25 Table 22. Courses winter quarter 25 Table 23. Reading the common book 26 Table 24. Reasons for reading the common book 26 Table 25. Familiarity with UW resources 27 Table 26. Frequency of engagement in activities 28 Table 27. Size of the campus 29 Table 28. Diversity at UW 29 Table 29. Contribution of diversity to learning 30 Table 30. Sense of belonging 31 Table 31. Thinking of your own experience this quarter, how would you rate the following 32

people and attributes at the UW? Table 32. ALL student leaders and future behaviors 34 Table 33. Arts ALL components 35 Table 34. Social Sciences ALL components 36 Table C1. Demographic differences between ALL and FIG students 64 Table C2. Demographic differences between ALL and Non‐FIG/ALL students 65

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Cathy Beyer, Jon Peterson, and Liz Copland1

June 2010

INTRODUCTION

In fall quarter, 2009, the College of Arts and Sciences offered new experiences for incoming freshmen aimed at providing students with an introduction to academic disciplines and how they operate at the UW. These experiences, called the Arts and Sciences Academic Learning Links (ALLs), included two course clusters organized by Arts (ArtsLink) advisers and two clusters organized by Social Sciences (Slink) advisers. For all four ALL experiences, entering freshmen registered for three courses in the respective disciplinary areas and a two‐credit “learning lab” led by a student majoring in a field inside those disciplinary areas, for a total of 17 credits. Syllabi for the Arts and Social Sciences ALL learning labs are attached (Appendix A) to this report.

The primary learning goal for the ALLs was to provide freshmen with an understanding of how disciplines shape the work of academic communities at the UW. With this as their primary goal, the ALLs sought to engage students through “connection, inspiration, and reflection.” According to the ALL learning lab syllabi, connection, seen as the first step in becoming a member of a disciplinary learning community, meant intellectual interaction with the people (faculty, students, advisers, and alumni) and the programs (departments, majors, and other groups) that comprise a disciplinary community. Inspiration meant being motivated by the questions that practitioners in a discipline ask and seek to answer so that one can ask and answer questions of one’s own. According to the ALL syllabi, reflection is designed to allow students to assess what they know and what they do not know, so that they can fill in the gaps in their own understanding and improve learning.

Working with the College of Arts and Sciences and the team of departmental advisers responsible for the ALLs, the Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) designed an assessment process for evaluating the new ALL offerings. Evaluation consisted of a demographic analysis of participants, a comprehensive survey administered to ALL participants at the end of the quarter, analysis of pre‐ and post‐reflective statements that students wrote as a required part of their learning labs, and a focus group conversation with the ALL student leaders.

This report describes the results of the ALL assessment to the Deans in the College of Arts and Sciences and to organizers of the ALL program. In addition to this audience, relevant results of the ALL assessment will be included in a report to Undergraduate Academic Affairs (UAA) in summer or early fall 2010. The purpose of that report will be to provide a comprehensive assessment to UAA’s Freshman Interest Group (FIG) program. ALL assessment results, as well as results from a survey of students who participated in no programs for entering freshmen, will serve as comparisons to the FIG program results. The comparisons of the experience of FIG program participants,

1 Liz Copeland analyzed the ALL students’ reflective essays.

2

with the experience of students enrolled in the ALLs, as well as with that of students enrolled in neither, will have ramifications for the ALL program, as well as for the FIG program. Therefore, that comprehensive report will be provided to Arts and Sciences, as well as to UAA.

This current report on the ALLs includes six sections, as follows:

• A summary of methods • Demographic and academic information obtained from the UW student database • Results from the post‐quarter student survey • Results of the pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective statements • Results from a conversation with ALL learning lab leaders • Conclusions and recommendations

METHODS

The two Arts ALLs initially enrolled 38 students, and the two Social Sciences ALLs initially enrolled 40. We used a mixed methods approach to assess this new program, which included accessing the UW student database to conduct an analysis of the demographic and academic backgrounds of participants, a comprehensive survey administered to ALL participants at the end of fall quarter 2009, pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective statements, and a “debriefing” conversation with the ALL learning lab student leaders.

UW Student Database

OEA researchers accessed the UW student database to gather demographic and academic information on ALL, FIG, and Non‐FIG/ALL students so that we could compare the groups across a range of variables, such as gender, age, ethnicity, residency, incoming college credits, test scores, and UW GPA.

Survey

After a process that included a literature review, discussions with ALL coordinators, and an examination of existing new student survey instruments (e.g., National Survey of Student Engagement, UCLA’s CIRP Freshman Survey, and OEA’s Entering Student Survey), OEA developed a comprehensive online survey for the ALL students. The survey included both closed‐ and open‐ended questions, and OEA administered it to the ALL students at the end of fall quarter 2009. Students were given credit for completion of the survey, but their individual responses were not seen by learning lab student leaders. The ALL students were asked to complete the survey as part of the two credits they earned in the learning labs, but their responses were not seen by learning lab student leaders. Thirty‐ two of the 38 Arts ALL participants completed the survey, a response rate of 84.2%2. Thirty‐five of the 40 Social

2 Thirty‐two of the 35 Arts ALL participants who ultimately received credit for the Arts 150 learning lab completed the survey. No students who withdrew during the course of the quarter (one student) or did not receive credit for this course (two students) completed the survey.

3

Science ALL participants completed the survey for a response rate of 87.5%3. Survey results were analyzed by OEA researchers.

Pre‐ and Post‐Quarter Reflective Statements

ALL students completed pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective statement as part of the work required for completion of the two credits earned in the ALL learning labs. The prompts for these reflective statements were developed in conjunction with the Arts and Sciences advisers who were planning the ALLs and are attached to this report (Appendix B). Students’ reflective statements were analyzed using a constant comparison method, an inductive process that allows categories of repeated response to be generated by students’ own words, rather than by researcher assumptions about what responses are likely to be. One researcher analyzed the data and a second monitored that work.

Conversation with All Learning Lab Leaders

OEA staff met with three of the four ALL learning lab leaders on January 19, 2010 to discuss their perceptions of the ALL experience. Student leaders were asked about their experience in the ALL, including how well they thought the ALLs provided students with information about the Arts and Social Sciences disciplinary areas, what they felt were the program’s strengths, and what areas of the program they felt should be improved.

DEMOGRAPHIC AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION

OEA researchers gathered information about ALL participants’ demographic and academic backgrounds from the UW student database. We also gathered academic and demographic information about the entire 2009 entering freshman class, including the FIG population and the population of entering freshmen who did not enroll in either a FIG cluster or an ALL. Tables 1 through 6 provide the results from the UW student database; additional detailed tables are included in Appendix C.

Throughout the demographic and academic information sections, basic descriptive statistics (e.g., counts, means, and percentages) are presented along with two types of statistical indicators to explore both the statistical significance and practical significance of any group differences. Statistical significance tests (e.g., Pearson chi‐ square analysis and independent samples t‐tests) serve as formal techniques that allow one to place confidence in the differences observed in the data; that is, they indicate how likely a particular difference is due to chance. In a sense, then, they offer ways in which to identify potentially important variations in a set of data. Throughout this entire report all statistically significant differences are indicated by one (p<0.05) to three (p<0.001) asterisks. However, such statistically significant differences do not necessarily imply practical significance; that is, a difference between a mean GPA of 3.22 and 3.26 might be statistically significant (particularly if both populations being compared are relatively large in size), but not represent a substantively important or interpretable change or difference. Hence, effect sizes (e.g., Cohen’s d) are presented for all comparisons of continuous variables to indicate the size of the difference relative to the overall variation of the distributions. Traditionally accepted small, medium, and large (absolute) values for Cohen’s d are 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8, respectively.

3 Thirty‐five of the 37 Social Sciences ALL participants who ultimately received credit for the Social Sciences 150 learning lab

completed the survey. No students who withdrew during the course of the quarter (two students) or did not receive credit for this course (one student) completed the survey.

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Demographic Information

In terms of age and gender, as Table 1 shows, students in the ALL population were nearly 19 years old on average and predominantly female (61.5%). The over‐representation of females in the ALL population was largely caused by a higher proportion of females in the Social Sciences ALLs (70.0% compared with 52.6% in the Arts ALLs ), as Table 2 indicates; however, this over‐representation was not statistically significant.

Regarding ethnicity, Table 1 shows that Caucasian students were relatively over‐represented in the ALLs. Compared with Caucasian representation in the FIG and Non‐FIG/ALL populations, this difference was statistically significant4 (see also Tables C1 and C2 in Appendix C). While nearly four‐fifths of ALL students (79.5%) were Caucasian, this was the case for roughly three‐fifths of FIG students (59.7%) and less than half of the remaining Non‐FIG/ALL population (47.8%). In addition, overall the ALLs were comprised of fewer African American, Asian, and under‐represented minority students than were present in the FIG and Non‐FIG/ALL populations—although these differences were not significant. Finally, FIG students were nearly twice as likely as the ALL students to have EOP‐status (19.1% versus 10.3%), and this difference was statistically significant.

In terms of demographic differences between the Arts and the Social Sciences ALLs, as Table 2 shows, the only significant demographic difference between the two groups was EOP status, with a higher number of EOP students enrolled in the Arts (seven students) than in the Social Sciences ALLs (one student).

4 However, Non‐FIG/ALL students had a significantly higher proportion of students who selected “Unknown” or “Other” for ethnicity than did the other entering freshmen populations, and research has suggested that most of the students who select “Other” are, in fact, Caucasian. See James Irvine Foundation, “Unknown” Students on College Campuses,” December, 2005. (http://www.irvine.org/publications/by_topic/education.shtml).

http://www.irvine.org/publications/by_topic/education.shtml)

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Table 1. Demographic comparison of four populations: ALL, FIG, Non‐FIG/ALL, and Entire Freshman Population

ALL Students (n=78)

Male 30 (38.5%)

Female 48 (61.5%)

FIG Students (n=2829)

1190 (42.0%)

1639 (57.9%)

Non-FIG/ALL Freshmen (n=2345)

1154 (49.2%)

1191 (50.8%)

Entire Freshman Population (n=5252)

2374 (45.2%)

2878 (54.8%)

Mean Age 18.8 years 18.7 years 18.7 years 18.7 years Median Age 18.6 years 18.6 years 18.6 years 18.6 years Ethnicity 5

African American 0 (0.0%)

Native American 1 (1.3%)

Latino 7 (9.0%)

Pacific Islander 0 (0.0%)

Asian 17 (21.8%)

Caucasian 62 (79.5%)

Unknown 2 (2.6%)

Multi-Racial 10 (12.8%)

Official UW URM Status 5 (6.4%)

EOP Status 8 (10.3%)

Veteran 1 (1.3%)

Resident Tuition 62 (79.5%)

90 (3.2%)

65 (2.3%)

216 (7.6%)

30 (1.1%)

897 (31.7%)

1690 (59.7%)

256 (9.0%)

293 (10.4%)

334 (11.8%)

540 (19.1%)

27 (1.0%) 2294

(81.1%)

52 (2.2%)

18 (0.8%)

105 (4.5%)

16 (0.7%)

713 (30.4%)

1121 (47.8%)

528 (22.5%)

141 (6.0%)

167 (7.1%)

252 (10.7%)

19 (0.8%) 1633

(69.6%)

142 (2.7%)

84 (1.6%)

328 (6.2%)

46 (0.9%) 1627

(31.0%) 2873

(54.7%) 786

(15.0%) 444

(8.5%) 506

(9.6%) 800

(15.2%) 47

(0.9%) 3989

(76.0%)

5 These percentages sum up over 100% since multi‐racial students are included in multiple ethnicity categories.

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Table 2. Demographic differences between Arts and Social Science ALLs Arts ALL Students (n=38) Social Science ALL Students (n=40) Total ALL Students (n=78)

Male 18 (47.4%)

Female 20 (52.6%)

12 (30.0%)

28 (70.0%)

30 (38.5%)

48 (61.5%)

Mean Age 18.7 years 18.8 years 18.8 years Median Age 18.6 years 18.5 years 18.6 years Ethnicity


Native American 1 (2.6%)

Latino 5 (13.2%)

Pacific Islander 0 (0.0%)

Asian 8 (21.1%)

Caucasian 32 (84.2%)

Unknown 0 (0.0%)

Multi-Racial 7 (18.4%)

Official UW URM Status 3 (7.9%)

EOP Status 7 (18.4%)*

Veteran 1 (2.6%)

Resident Tuition 32 (84.2%)

*p<0.05 according to a Pearson chi-square analysis **p<0.01 according to a Pearson chi-square analysis ***p<0.001 according to a Pearson chi-square analysis

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

2 (5.0%)

0 (0.0%)

9 (22.5%)

30 (75.0%)

2 (5.0%)

3 (7.5%)

2 (5.0%)

1 (2.5%)*

0 (0.0%)

30 (75.0%)

0 (0.0%)

1 (1.3%)

7 (9.0%)

0 (0.0%)

17 (21.8%)

62 (79.5%)

2 (2.6%)

10 (12.8%)

5 (6.4%)

8 (10.3%)

1 (1.3%)

62 (79.5%)

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Academic Information

Tables 3 through 6 provide academic information about the ALL student population. As Table 3 shows, ALL students entered the UW with about the same average high school GPA as students in the FIG and Non‐FIG/ALL populations had upon entry to the UW—about 3.73. However, as Tables 4 and 5 indicate, the ALL students were somewhat different academically from the FIG and Non‐FIG/ALL students.

The ALL students differed academically from the FIG students in the following statistically significant ways, as indicated in Table 4:

• Regarding standardized test scores, the ALL students’ overall SAT scores, their SAT critical reading and

writing scores, and their ACT reading score were higher than those for FIG students. • The average number of AP credits completed by the ALL students and the percentage of ALL students who

had completed IB and/or AP credits were higher than those for the FIG students. • The percentage of FIG students who had declared a major by the tenth day of winter quarter, 2010, was

higher than it was for the ALL students. • The average number of fall quarter credits attempted and completed was higher for the ALL students

than for the FIG students. • The average fall quarter GPA for the ALL students was higher than it was for FIG students. This difference

appears to have been caused by a higher average GPA for the Arts ALL students.

Of these differences, those that were the most meaningful6 were differences in SAT critical reading scores, fall credits attempted, and fall credits earned. More than half of the gap between the overall SAT scores for the ALL and FIG populations was due to the difference in their average SAT critical reading scores (622.8 for ALL students and 578.3 for FIG students). Regarding credits attempted and credits earned, while both FIG and ALL students had the chance to receive two credits for completing the seminars associated with their programs, ALL students still attempted and earned 2.5 more credits, on average, than their FIG counterparts. This was likely caused by the fact that most of the FIG clusters included two UW classes plus a seminar, and every ALL cluster included three UW classes plus a seminar.

The ALL students differed from students who were neither in the ALL nor in the FIG program (Non‐FIG/ALL) in the following statistically significant ways, as shown in Table 5:

• The ALL students’ average SAT critical reading and writing scores were higher than those for the Non‐

FIG/ALL group. However, the Non‐FIG/ALL students’ average SAT mathematics score was higher than that for the ALL students, as was the Non‐FIG/ALL students’ average ACT mathematics score.

• The percentage of ALL students entering the UW with IB and/or AP credits was higher than that for the Non‐FIG/ALL group.

• The number of credits transferred into the UW upon entry was higher for the Non‐FIG/ALL group than for the ALL students, as was the percentage of the population comprised by running start students.

• The percentage of Non‐FIG/ALL students who had declared a major by the tenth day of winter quarter, 2010, was higher than it was for the ALL students.

• The average number of fall quarter credits attempted and completed was higher for the ALL students than for the Non‐FIG/ALL students.

6 Effect size was medium to high (i.e., |d| > 0.5).

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• The average fall quarter GPA for ALL students was higher than it was for Non‐FIG/ALL students, again, a difference that was likely caused by a higher average GPA for the Arts ALL students.

The most meaningful difference between the ALL and Non‐FIG/ALL population was the fact that ALL students attempted and earned 2.2 more credits, on average. This gap can be largely explained by the fact that ALL students received two credits for completing the ALL seminar, in addition to the credits earned in the three courses in their cluster. Non‐FIG/ALL students were not enrolled in such a seminar.

Table 6 shows the academic differences between the Arts ALL and the Social Sciences ALL groups. As the table shows, while there were some academic differences across the two groups, the only statistically significant difference was average UW fall quarter GPA. Arts ALL students ended fall quarter with a significantly higher average GPA than did Social Sciences ALL students (3.54 versus 3.31). This difference likely explains the difference between the average fall quarter GPAs of the ALL students and their FIG and Non‐FIG/ALL counterparts.

Summary of Demographic and Academic Differences

The ALL students were somewhat different from the overall UW freshman population when they entered the UW. They were more predominantly Caucasian. They had higher entering SAT test scores as well as more incoming AP credits than other students7. They were less likely to have participated in Running Start and/or to have transferred credits to the UW from other institutions than their Non‐FIG/ALL counterparts. They completed more credits fall quarter than did their FIG and Non‐FIG/ALL counterparts, and, even though they were taking more credits than the other two populations, their average fall quarter GPA was somewhat higher than the average GPA for the other UW freshmen. However, ALL students’ higher average GPA was largely the result of the Arts ALL students’ average grades. Interestingly, ALL students were less likely to have declared a major by their second quarter at the UW, even though, as their survey results showed, they reported having learned a great deal about UW majors from their ALL experiences.

There may be characteristics of the ALL groups that the UW student database cannot pick up but that may also be important to our understanding of this group. For example, we know that most students engaged in the arts have had experience in the arts and have identified themselves with the arts prior to entering the UW8. This early identity is likely to positively influence their behavior, motivation, and joy in the ALL program. The Social Sciences ALL students may have similar attributes that are difficult to track.

7 Recent research on SAT scores argues that they predict students’ past socio‐economic status better than they predict students’ future college performance (see Rothstein, J. M., July‐August 2004, College performance predictions and the SAT, Journal of Econometrics, 121(1‐2), 297‐317,2004). 8 The reflective essays of the performing arts students showed, for example, that as a group they had accumulated a great deal of experience in musical theater.

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Table 3. Academic comparison of four populations: ALL, FIG, Non‐FIG/ALL, and Entire Freshman Population ALL Students

(n=78) FIG Students

(n=2829) Non-FIG/ALL

Freshmen (n=2345)

Entire Freshman Population (n=5252)

High School GPA 3.73 3.72 3.73 3.73 ACT Test Takers 23

(29.5%) 850

(30.0%) 603

(25.7%) 1476

(28.1%) ACT Score 26.8 26.1 27.3 26.6

ACT English Score 27.5 26.0 26.9 26.4 ACT Reading Score 28.8 26.6 27.3 26.9

ACT Mathematics Score 25.7 26.4 28.3 27.1 ACT Science Score 24.7 25.0 26.2 25.5

SAT Test Takers 72 (92.3%)

2606 (92.1%)

2053 (87.5%)

4731 (90.1%)

SAT Score 1836.9 1757.9 1813.0 1783.0 SAT Critical Reading Score 622.8 578.3 585.7 582.2

SAT Mathematics Score 607.8 605.6 642.2 621.5 SAT Writing Score 606.4 574.1 585.2 579.4

AP Credits 11.7 7.0 9.0 7.9 IB Credits 1.0 0.9 1.2 1.0 % with AP Credits 43

(55.1%) % with IB Credits 4

(5.1%) % with IB and/or AP Credits 47

(60.3%)

1263 (44.6%)

124 (4.4%) 1367

(48.3%)

989 (42.2%)

127 (5.4%) 1090

(46.5%)

2295 (43.7%)

255 (4.9%) 2504

(47.7%) Incoming Transfer Credits 7.7 5.5 14.7 9.7 % with Incoming Transfer Credits 19

(24.4%) Running Start 11

(14.1%) % Enrolled Winter 2010 77

(98.7%) % with Declared Major as of Winter 2010 6

(7.7%)

650 (23.0%)

361 (12.8%)

2803 (99.0%)

477 (16.9%)

777 (33.1%)

576 (24.6%)

2313 (98.6%)

536 (22.9%)

1446 (27.5%)

948 (18.0%)

5193 (98.9%)

1019 (19.4%)

Total Fall Credits - Attempted 17.1 14.6 14.9 14.8 Total Fall Credits - Earned 16.9 14.4 14.7 14.6 Fall Quarter GPA 3.42 3.26 3.22 3.25 % Received Credit for 199/150 FIG/ALL Seminar 72

(92.3%) 2681

(94.7%)

N/A N/A

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Table 4. Comparison of academic variables, ALL and FIG students ALL Students (n=78) FIG Students (n=2829) Sig X2 d

High School GPA 3.73 3.72 -0.06 ACT Test Takers 23

(29.5%) 850

(30.0%) 0.01

ACT Score 26.8 26.1 -0.17 ACT English Score 27.5 26.0 -0.32

ACT Reading Score 28.8 26.6 * -0.41 ACT Mathematics Score 25.7 26.4 0.16

ACT Science Score 24.7 25.0 0.08 SAT Test Takers 72

(92.3%) 2606

(92.1%) 0.00

SAT Score 1836.9 1757.9 *** -0.26 SAT Critical Reading Score 622.8 578.3 *** -0.53

SAT Mathematics Score 607.8 605.6 -0.03 SAT Writing Score 606.4 574.1 *** -0.40

AP Credits 11.7 7.0 *** -0.41 IB Credits 1.0 0.9 -0.02 % with AP Credits 43

(55.1%) 1263

(44.6%) 3.37 % with IB Credits 4


124 (4.4%) 1367

0.10

(60.3%) (48.3%) * 4.33 Incoming Transfer Credits 7.7 5.5 -0.14 % with Incoming Transfer Credits 19

(24.4%) 650

(23.0%) 0.08 Running Start 11


361 (12.8%)

2803

0.15

(98.7%) (99.0%) 0.14 % with Declared Major 6

(7.7%) 477

(16.9%) * 4.61

Total Fall Credits - Attempted 17.1 14.6 *** -0.87 Total Fall Credits - Earned 16.9 14.4 *** -0.82 Fall Quarter GPA 3.42 3.26 * 0.06 % Received Credit for 199/150 FIG/ALL Seminar 72

(92.3%) 2681

(94.7%) 0.89 *p<0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

11

Table 5. Comparison of academic variables, ALL and Non‐FIG/ALL students ALL Students

(n=78) Non-FIG/ALL Freshmen 2

(n=2345) Sig X d High School GPA 3.73 3.73 0.00 ACT Test Takers 23

(29.5%) 603

(25.7%) 0.56 ACT Score 26.8 27.3 -0.13

ACT English Score 27.5 26.9 0.11 ACT Reading Score 28.8 27.3 0.25

ACT Mathematics Score 25.7 28.3 ** 0.57 ACT Science Score 24.7 26.2 -0.36


2053 (87.5%) 1.59

SAT Score 1836.9 1813.0 0.11 SAT Critical Reading Score 622.8 585.7 ** 0.38

SAT Mathematics Score 607.8 642.2 ** -0.40 SAT Writing Score 606.4 585.2 * 0.24

AP Credits 11.7 9.0 0.18 IB Credits 1.0 1.2 -0.04 % with AP Credits 43

(55.1%) 989

(42.2%) * 5.18 % with IB Credits 4


(60.3%)

127 (5.4%) 1090

(46.5%)

0.01

* 5.75

Incoming Transfer Credits 7.7 14.7 ** -0.25 % with Incoming Transfer Credits 19

(24.4%) 777

(33.1%) 2.64 Running Start 11


576 (24.6%)

2313

* 4.50

(98.7%) (98.6%) 0.00 % with Declared Major 6

(7.7%) 536

(22.9%) ** 10.00

Total Fall Credits - Attempted 17.1 14.9 *** 0.76 Total Fall Credits - Earned 16.9 14.7 *** 0.72 Fall Quarter GPA 3.42 3.22 ** 0.33 % Received Credit for 199/150 FIG/ALL Seminar 72

(92.3%) N/A N/A *p<0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

12

Table 6. Comparison of academic variables, Arts and Social Science ALLs Arts ALL Students

(n=38) Social Science ALL

Students (n=40) Total ALL Students

(n=78) High School GPA 3.76 3.71 3.73 ACT Test Takers 10

(26.3%) 13

(32.5%) 23

(29.5%) ACT Score 26.2 27.2 26.8

ACT English Score 27.7 27.4 27.5 ACT Reading Score 27.8 29.5 28.8

ACT Mathematics Score 25.3 25.9 25.7 ACT Science Score 23.2 25.8 24.7


35 (87.5%)

72 (92.3%)

SAT Score 1821.4 1853.4 1836.9 SAT Critical Reading Score 624.9 620.6 622.8

SAT Mathematics Score 597.0 619.1 607.8 SAT Writing Score 599.5 613.7 606.4

AP Credits 10.5 12.9 11.7 IB Credits 0.3 1.6 1.0 % with AP Credits 22

(57.9%) % with IB Credits 1


(60.5%)

21 (52.5%)

3 (7.5%)

24 (60.0%)

43 (55.1%)

4 (5.1%)

47 (60.3%)

Incoming Transfer Credits 9.5 5.9 7.7 % with Incoming Transfer Credits 10

(26.3%) Running Start 6


(97.4%) % with Declared Major 3

(7.9%)

9 (22.5%)

5 (12.5%)

40 (100.0%)

3 (7.5%)

19 (24.4%)

11 (14.1%)

77 (98.7%)

6 (7.7%)

Total Fall Credits - Attempted 16.9 17.2 17.1 Total Fall Credits - Earned 16.8 16.9 16.9 Fall Quarter GPA 3.54* 3.31* 3.42 % Received Credit for 199/150 FIG/ALL Seminar 35

(92.1%) 37

(92.5%) 72

(92.3%) *p<0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

13

SURVEY RESULTS

The surveys that students in both the Arts and Social Sciences ALLs completed at the end of the quarter were comprehensive. They included questions about students’ demographic backgrounds and questions about the ALL experience. This section provides survey results in the following areas:

• Additional demographic information collected by the survey • Students’ overall satisfaction with the ALL experience • Students’ ideas about majors • Outcomes of the ALL learning labs and general first‐quarter experience • Students’ perspectives on the courses in the ALL clusters • Students’ familiarity with and use of UW resources • General perceptions of the UW and the student’s place here • Students’ assessment of the ALL learning labs • Most valuable part of the ALL program to participants • Areas needing improvement in the ALL experience • What surprised students • Students’ final comments

Additional Demographic Information

We gathered information about students’ backgrounds on the survey instrument, in addition to the demographic information we collected from the UW student database and reported previously. Tables 7 through 12 show results of the survey regarding additional demographic information.

As Table 7 shows, most of the ALL students (75.0% of students in the Arts ALLs and 68.6% of the Social Sciences ALLs) lived in UW residence halls. Few of them (Table 8) were the first in their families to attend college—12.5% of the Arts and 5.7% of the Social Sciences ALL students, compared with about 10% of the overall UW population9. As Table 9 shows, most of the Arts and Social Sciences ALL students reported that their mothers (61.2%) and their fathers (70.0%) had had earned Bachelor’s degrees or higher. However, the majority of the ALL students had neither parents nor siblings who had attended the UW, as Table 10 indicates. In addition, most of the ALL students reported not working at a job during their first quarter at the UW and only one of the 66 students who responded to this question reported working more than 20 hours per week (Table 11).

Finally, the financial aid picture differed for Arts ALL and Social Sciences ALL students. As Table 12 shows, more than half of the Arts ALL participants (53.1%) reported that they were receiving financial aid, compared with fewer than a third (31.4%) of the Social Sciences ALL students.

9 http://admit.washington.edu/Numbers#class_freshman

http://admit.washington.edu/Numbers#class_freshman

14

Table 7. Place of residence

Parents/relatives Other private home, apt, room

UW Residence Halls

Fraternity/ sorority

Other campus Other

Arts 2 3 24 3 0 0 (n=32) (6.3%) (9.4%) (75.0%) (9.4%) (0.0%) (0.0%) Social Sciences 2 4 24 4 1 0 (n=35) (5.7%) (11.4%) (68.6%) (11.4%) (2.9%) (0.0%)

Table 8. First in family to attend college

Yes No Arts 4 28 (n=32) (12.5%) (87.5%) Social Science 2 33 (n=35) (5.7%) (94.3%)

Table 9. Parents’ highest levels of education

Arts (n=32) Social Sciences (n=35)

Level of education Mother Father Mother Father Less than high school 0 0 0 0

(0.0%) (0.0%) (0.0%) (0.0%) Some high school 0 0 1 0

(0.0) (0.0) (2.9) (0.0) High school degree or equivalent 5 5 4 7

(15.6) (15.6) (11.4) (20.0) Vocational education certificate 1 0 1 2

(3.1) (0.0) (2.9) (5.7) Some college 7 1 5 4

(21.9) (3.1) (14.3) (11.4) Associate of Arts degree 0 1 2 0

(0.0) (3.1) (5.7) (0.0) Bachelor’s degree 10 12 12 9

(31.3) (37.5) (34.3) (25.7) Master’s degree 6 8 6 10

(18.8) (25.0) (17.1) (28.6) Doctoral or professional degree 3 5 4 3

(9.4) (15.6) (11.4) (8.6)

Table 10. UW parents or siblings Parents attend UW? Siblings attend UW?

Yes No Yes No Arts 10 22 5 27 (n=32) (31.3%) (68.8%) (15.6%) (84.4%) Social Science 8 26 4 31 (n=34, 35) (23.5%) (76.5%) (11.4%) (88.6%)

Table 11. Hours worked fall quarter

None, I will not be employed

Fewer than 10

10-15 16-20 21-30 More than 30

Arts (n=31) Social Sciences (n=35)

22 (71.0%)

29 (82.9%)

3 (9.7%)

3 (8.6%)

3 (9.7%)

1 (2.9%)

2 (6.5%)

2 (5.7%)

1 (3.2%)

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

15

Table 12. Receiving financial aid

Yes No Arts 17 15 (n=32) (53.1%) (46.9%) Social Science 11 24 (n=35) (31.4%) (68.6%)

Overall Satisfaction with the ALL Experience

Most students in both the Social Science and the Arts ALLs were satisfied with their experiences in their ALLs. As Table 13 shows, about 94% of the Arts ALL students and 86% of the Social Sciences ALL students either somewhat or strongly agreed that they were glad they had chosen to take the ALL. While both groups were satisfied with their experience, the Arts ALL students were more satisfied with their experience than were the Social Sciences ALL students, as evident in the statistically significant difference in their mean ratings (3.56 for Arts versus 3.17 for Social Sciences). Close to two‐thirds of the Arts ALL students strongly agreed that they were glad they had chosen an ALL, compared with about 37% of the Social Sciences ALL students. This pattern was repeated when students were asked if they would recommend that future students sign up for an ALL, with both groups responding positively but Arts ALL students responding somewhat more positively than Social Sciences ALL students. While about 90% of Arts ALL students either somewhat or strongly agreed that they would make such a recommendation, just less than three‐quarters of Social Sciences ALL students would do the same; however, this difference was not statistically significant.

In both the Arts and the Social Sciences ALLs, as the table also shows, students were divided in their sense of the contribution of the ALL learning lab to the ALL experience, with about half of each group feeling that the experience would have been as valuable without the lab as it was with it.

Students’ Ideas about Majors

The survey asked students questions about the majors they were considering, as Tables 14 through 16 show. Table 14 shows that students in the Arts ALLs were clearly focused on majors in the arts (81.3%), and students in the Social Sciences ALLs were considering social sciences majors (65.7%) at the end of the quarter. In addition, the second most popular academic area for both ALLs groups was the humanities, with about a third of both groups (34.4% for Arts and 31.4% for Social Sciences) considering a major in this area. Also worth noting is that 10 ALL Arts students indicated an interest in majoring in the social sciences, making it the third most popular area for this group of students.

16

Table 13. Satisfaction with the ALL experience

To what extent do you 1 2 3 4 agree or disagree with the Strongly Disagree Somewhat Somewhat Agree Strongly following statements? Disagree Agree

Means

Arts Soc Sci Arts Soc

Sci Arts Soc Sci Arts Soc

Sci Arts Soc Sci

(n=32) (n=35) I am glad that I chose to be 1 2 in an ALL this quarter.* (3.1%) (5.7%)

1 3 (3.1%) (8.6%)

9 17 (28.1%) (48.6%)

21 13 (65.7%) (37.1%)

3.56 3.17 I think my ALL experience would have been as 3 5 valuable without the ALL (9.4) (14.3) Learning Lab.

13 14

(40.6) (40.0)

8 9

(25.0) (25.7)

8 7

(25.0) (20.0)

2.66 2.51

I would recommend that 2 3 students entering the UW next year be in an ALL. (6.5) (8.6)

1 6 (3.2) (17.1)

14 12 (45.2) (34.3)

14 14 (45.2) (40.0)

3.29† 3.06

*p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 †One ALL Arts student failed to respond to this question.

As shown in Table 15, students’ first quarter at the UW—one that immersed ALL students in single disciplinary areas—influenced the ALL students thinking about their majors. Arts ALL students reported a somewhat greater influence than did the Social Sciences ALL students. Close to 85% of the ALL Arts students said that their ideas about their majors changed during fall quarter, compared with about 70% of the social sciences majors. Furthermore, nearly 38% of the ALL Arts students noted that their sense of their majors had changed either “quite a bit” or “completely,” compared with about 18% of their ALL Social Sciences counterparts.

Students’ interest in the courses they took fall quarter played the biggest role in their thinking about their majors, as Table 16 shows. About 84% of the students in the Arts ALLs and 64% of the students in the Social Sciences ALLs said that their interest in their fall quarter classes was either a “very strong” influence on their thoughts about their majors or influenced those thoughts “quite a bit.” While grades in the courses Social Sciences ALL students took in fall quarter and conversations they had with faculty and TAs were tied for second most influential in this population (slightly above “a little influence”), the second biggest influence for ALL Arts student were their conversations with academic advisers. In contrast, such conversations were deemed least influential by their Social Sciences counterparts, leading to the only statistically significant difference between these two student groups for this set of items. The only item receiving mean ratings of less than 1.0 (“a little influence) for both ALL populations was friends and family; over 70% of each group rated this as either no or little influence.

17

Table 14. Majors students were considering In which academic area(s) might you major at the UW? (Please check all that apply)† Arts

(n=32) Soc Sci (n=35)

No idea at all 2 1 (6.3%) (2.9%)

Some ideas but nothing definite 4 2 (12.5) (5.7)

Something in architecture or landscape architecture* 4 0 (12.5) (0.0)

Something in the arts – for example, art, creative writing, drama, music*** 26 1 (81.3) (2.9)

Something in business – for example, accounting, finance, marketing 4 5 (12.5) (14.3)

Something in engineering – for example, aeronautical, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering 1 0 (3.1) (0.0)

Something focused on the environment – for example, forest resources, oceanography, program on the 3 0 environment (9.4) (0.0) Something in the humanities – for example, English, foreign languages, philosophy 11 11

(34.4) (31.4) Something in math or statistics 0 2

(0.0) (5.7) Something in the natural sciences – for example, biology, chemistry, physics, public health 4 1

(12.5) (2.9) Something in the social sciences – for example, American ethnic studies, anthropology, history, international 10 23 studies, sociology*** (31.3) (65.7) Something in social work 2 1

(6.3) (2.9) Other 10*** 1 9

(3.1) (25.7) *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 † Adds to more than 100% because students could select more than one response.

Table 15. Change in students’ thinking about eventual majors

Over the past quarter, how much has your thinking about your eventual major changed, if at all?

Arts (n=32)

Soc Sci (n=34)

Stayed the same 5 10 (15.6%) (29.4%)

Changed a little 15 18 (46.9) (53.0)

Changed quite a bit 8 3 (25.0) (8.8)

Changed completely 4 3 (12.5) (8.8)

10 Arts: Psychology. Soc Sciences: Law, Psychology (2), Economics, CHID, Education, “Political Science for sure,” “Early Childhood and Family Studies.”

18

Table 16. Influences on students’ thinking about eventual majors What, if anything, this past quarter has influenced your thinking about what you might major in?

0 No influence

1 A little influence

2 Quite a bit of

influence

3 Very strong influence

Means

Arts Soc Sci Arts Soc Sci Arts Soc Sci Arts Soc Sci Arts Soc Sci (n=32) (n=35)

Your interest in the courses you took this 3 3

quarter (9.7%) (8.6%)

2 10 (6.5%) (28.6%)

14 13 (45.2%) (37.1%)

12 9 (38.7%) (25.7%)

2.13† 1.80

Conversations with faculty 7 10 and TAs (21.9) (28.6)

16 12 (50.0) (34.3)

6 9 (18.8) (25.7)

3 4 (9.4) (11.4)

1.16 1.20

Your grades in the 8 11 courses you took this (25.0) (31.4) quarter

12 10 (37.5) (28.6)

12 10 (37.5) (28.6)

0 4 (0.0) (11.4)

1.13 1.20

The ALL Learning Lab 8 10 (25.0) (28.6)

16 14 (50.0) (40.0)

7 9 (21.9) (25.7)

1 2 (3.1) (5.7)

1.03 1.09 Conversations with undergraduates majoring 11 11 in the area(s) you are (34.4) (32.4) considering

14 11

(43.8) (32.4)

6 7

(18.7) (20.6)

1 5

(3.1) (14.7)

0.91 1.18†

Conversations with 5 17 academic advisers* (15.6) (48.6)

16 11 (50.0) (31.4)

8 6 (25.0) (17.1)

3 1 (9.4) (2.9)

1.28 0.74 Friends and family 18 13

(56.3) (37.1) 8 14

(25.0) (40.0) 4 7

(12.5) (20.0) 2 1

(6.3) (2.9)

0.69 0.89 Other 11 19 22

(73.1) (88.0) 3 1

(11.5) (4.0) 3 0

(11.5) (0.0) 1 2

(3.9) (8.0)

0.46 0.28

*p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 †One student failed to respond to this question.

Outcomes of the ALL Learning Labs and General First‐Quarter Experience

Students were asked to rate the extent to which their experience in their ALL Learning Labs accomplished a number of goals on a scale of 0 to 3, with 0 meaning “not at all” and 3 indicating that their ALL labs had accomplished “a lot” in relation to that item. Thus, the highest mean score any item could receive was a 3.0. Although the items that directly related to Arts and Sciences goals for the ALLs were scattered throughout the survey, we have rearranged them in Table 17 so that those directly relating to the ALL goals are at the front of the table. Items that might be considered important to any first‐quarter freshman program are grouped at the end.

According to the ALL program coordinators, the main goal of the ALL Learning Labs was to help students understand the nature of disciplinarity at the UW by connecting them with the people and programs that make up a disciplinary community, by inspiring students to learn and question, and by asking students to reflect on their own experience. Items related to these goals in Table 17 are as follows:

• Disciplinarity: Items A‐F

11 Only 51 students provided an “other” rating. Arts ALL: “Career possibilities”; “Looking at the vast array of classes that I could take”; “Personal research”; “Ellen Garven’s exhibit, Devices, which involved prosthetics, photography, and sculpture”; “My own personal thoughts”; “My interest in the class projects we have been assigned.” Social Sciences ALL: “Learning about the International Studies major through my Intro to Globalization class as well as from other students who are majoring in it or plan to greatly influenced me to pursue that major”; “Personal decision as to what I believed would be best for me in the future, and would make me the most happy to pursue.”

19

• Connecting to people and programs: Items G‐N and Table 18 • Inspiring students to learn and question: Item O • Reflecting on own experience: Item P • General first‐quarter experience: Items Q‐DD

Disciplinarity (A‐F)

Students’ responses to questions about how much they learned about the disciplines in their ALLs (A‐F) suggest that, in general, the ALL learning labs helped students learn about disciplinarity.

Both the Arts ALL and the Social Sciences ALL students felt that their learning labs had helped them learn about differences in the disciplines inside their ALLs (Item A on Table 17) – with the Arts ALL mean at 1.71 and the Social Sciences mean at 1.66, both close to “quite a bit” (or 2.0). Only five of the 66 students who responded to this question reported that they had learned nothing at all about differences in the disciplines inside their ALLs. In addition, a similar pattern was found in students’ responses to whether their learning labs had helped them understand similarities across disciplines inside their ALL clusters (Item B), with students reporting, on average, that they had learned close to “quite a bit” in this area (1.66 mean for Arts; 1.74 for Social Sciences students).

Both Arts and Social Sciences ALL students reported that they had learned between “a little” and “quite a bit” about questions that faculty and students in a disciplinary area might ask (Item C), as well as about the ways they might go about answering those questions (Item D). Arts and Social Science ALL students also rated the learning lab’s effect on their understanding of how the university divides itself into various disciplines (Item E) between “a little” and “quite a bit” (1.50 mean for Arts ALLs and 1.54 for Social Science ALLs) .

While Arts and Social Sciences ALL students both rated learning about the concept of “disciplinarity” (Item F) the lowest in this set of questions, Social Sciences students rated this item significantly higher than their Arts peers (0.88 mean for Arts and 1.31 for Social Sciences), with more than a third of the Arts students reporting that they had not become familiar at all with the concept of disciplinarity compared with a fifth of those in the Social Sciences ALLs.

Connecting to People and Programs (G‐O in Table 17 and Table 18)

The Arts and Sciences goal of connecting freshmen to people and programs via the ALLs appears to have been met, as responses to items G‐O in Table 17 show.

As the table indicates, ALL students felt, on average, that their seminars had given them “quite a bit” of help in meeting other students whose interests were similar to their own, with the mean for Arts ALL students at 2.27 and the mean for Social Science ALL students at 2.09 (Item G). Both the Arts ALL (2.19 on average) and the Social Sciences (1.94 on average) students also felt that the ALL seminar had given them “quite a bit” of help in making new friends and forming social groups (Item H). While not quite as strong as students’ responses to these two items, on average both groups felt that their ALLs had given them between “a little” and “quite a bit” of opportunity to interact with students who were different from themselves (Item I).

20

Table 17. Outcomes of the ALL Learning Lab and general first‐quarter experience To what extent did your experience in the ALL Learning Lab (Arts 150 and Social Sciences 150) do the following:

0 Not at all

1 A little

2 Quite a bit

3 A lot

Means

A. Helped you learn about

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts (n=32)

Soc Sci

(n=35)

differences in the disciplines inside your ALL

B. Helped you learn about similarities across the disciplines inside your ALL

C. Helped you understand the questions faculty and

4 (12.9%)

2 (6.3)

4

1 (2.9%)

1 (2.9)

3

8 (25.8%)

13 (40.6)

13

14 (40.0%)

12 (34.3)

19

12 (38.7%)

11 (34.4)

12

16 (45.7%)

17 (48.6)

11

7 (22.6%)

6 (18.8)

3

4 (11.4%)

5 (14.3)

2

1.71† 1.66 1.66 1.74

students ask in a disciplinary area

D. Helped you understand how faculty and students in a disciplinary area might go about answering questions

E. Introduced you to how the

(12.5)

2 (6.3)

(8.6)

4 (11.4)

(40.6)

12 (37.5)

(54.3)

17 (48.6)

(37.5)

13 (40.6)

(31.4)

10 (28.6)

(9.4)

5 (15.6)

(5.7) 1.44 1.34

4 (11.4) 1.66 1.40

university divides itself into various academic areas/disciplines

F. Familiarized you with the

4 (12.5)

11

4 (11.4)

7

10 (31.3)

14

13 (37.1)

15

16 (50.0)

7

13 (37.1)

8

2 (6.3)

0

5 (14.3)

5

1.50 1.54

concept of “disciplinarity”* (34.4) (20.0) (43.7) (42.9) (21.9) (22.9) (0.0) (14.3) 0.88 1.31

G. Helped you meet other students whose interests were similar to yours

H. Helped you make new friends and form a social group

I. Provided you with opportunities to interact with students who were different from you—in race, ethnicity, ideas, or background

J. Gave you opportunities to speak with faculty about their research and teaching

K. Allowed you a chance to

1

(3.3)

2 (6.3)

3 (9.4)

1 (3.1)

1

0

(0.0)

2 (5.7)

4 (11.4)

1 (3.0)

3

3

(10.0)

4 (12.5)

13 (40.6)

9 (28.1)

10

12

(34.3)

11 (31.4)

19 (54.3)

9 (27.3)

14

13

(43.3)

12 (37.5)

10 (31.3)

15 (46.9)

16

8

(22.9)

9 (25.7)

6 (17.1)

11 (33.3)

12

13

(43.3)

14 (43.8)

6 (18.8)

7 (21.9)

5

15

(42.9)

13 (37.1)

6 (17.1)

12 (36.4)

6

2.27‡ 2.09 2.19 1.94 1.59 1.40 1.88 2.03‡

connect with a specific academic department/area

L. Helped you feel connected with people (faculty, students, advisers, alumni) in a learning community

M. Gave you opportunities to speak with alumni about their growth into professionals

N. Engaged you in conversations with senior students about their experience

O. Provided you with a peer leader who is majoring in an academic area that interests you

(3.1)

3

(9.7)

1

(3.1)

3

(9.4)

10 (31.3)

(8.6)

4

(11.4)

8

(22.9)

4

(11.4)

9 (25.7)

(31.3)

10

(32.3)

15

(46.9)

19

(59.4)

8 (25.0)

(40.0)

13

(37.1)

14

(40.0)

18

(51.4)

7 (20.0)

(50.0)

11

(35.5)

12

(37.5)

7

(21.9)

9 (28.1)

(34.3)

10

(28.6)

8

(22.9)

9

(25.7)

9 (25.7)

(15.6)

7

(22.6)

4

(12.5)

3

(9.4)

5 (15.6)

(17.1) 1.78 1.60

8

(22.9) 1.71† 1.63

5 1.59 1.29 (14.3)

4 (11.4) 1.31 1.37

10 (28.6) 1.28 1.57

21

Table 17 (continued). To what extent did your experience in the ALL Learning Lab (Arts 150 and Social Sciences 150) do the following:

0

Not at all Arts Soc

Sci

1

A little Arts Soc

Sci

2

Quite a bit Arts Soc

Sci

3

A lot Arts Soc

Sci

Means

Arts Soc

Sci P. Encouraged you to develop intellectual

questions of your own 3

(9.4) 7

(20.6) 15

(46.9) 14

(41.2) 10

(31.3) 9

(26.5) 4

(12.5) 4

(11.8) 1.47 1.29†

Q. Provided you with opportunities to reflect on your learning

2 (6.3)

7 (20.0)

13 (40.6)

17 (48.6)

15 (46.9)

8 (22.9)

2 (6.3)

3 (8.6)

1.53 1.20

R. Helped you meet people with whom you could study

0 (0.0)

4 (11.4)

6 (18.8)

12 (34.3)

15 (46.9)

7 (20.0)

11 (34.4)

12 (34.3) 2.16 1.77

S. Gave you information about UW majors 2 (6.5)

1 (2.9)

10 (32.3)

8 (22.9)

11 (35.5)

15 (42.9)

8 (25.8)

11 (31.4)

1.81† 2.03 T. Gave you information on how advising works

at the UW*** U. Helped you develop a plan for the classes

you will take in the future V. Provided you with a peer leader ahead of

0 (0.0)

3 (9.4)

10 (28.6)

5 (14.3)

10 (31.3)

9 (28.1)

14 (40.0)

13 (37.1)

16 (50.0)

13 (40.6)

9 (25.7)

14 (40.0)

6 (18.8)

7 (21.9)

2 (5.7) 1.88 1.09

3 (8.6) 1.75 1.43

you in school who can give you valuable advice about college

W. Provided you with information about resources that will help you succeed in your academic work

X. Drew connections across courses in the ALL

6 (18.8)

2 (6.3)

2

6 (17.1)

4 (11.4)

6

6 (18.8)

13 (40.6)

12

10 (28.6)

17 (48.6)

13

13 (40.6)

12 (37.5)

13

10 (28.6)

13 (37.1)

13

7 (21.9)

5 (15.6)

4

9 (25.7)

1 (2.9)

3

1.66 1.63 1.63 1.31

cluster Y. Helped you identify some of the ways that

learning in college differs from learning in high school

Z. Provided you with opportunities to discuss

(6.5)

4 (12.5)

(17.1)

9 (25.7)

(38.7)

11 (34.4)

(37.1)

9 (25.7)

(41.9)

12 (37.5)

(37.1)

14 (40.0)

(12.9)

5 (15.6)

(8.6) 1.61† 1.37

3 (8.6) 1.56 1.31

ideas and challenges in your ALL cluster courses

AA. Helped you understand the connections between research and teaching at UW

BB. Helped you explore academic events outside the classroom such as evening lectures and talks

4 (12.5)

2 (6.5)

12 (38.7)

6 (17.1)

1 (2.9)

10 (29.4)

11 (34.4)

14 (45.2)

8 (25.8)

14 (40.0)

17 (48.6)

16 (47.1)

13 (40.6)

13 (41.9)

5 (16.1)

7 (20.0)

13 (37.1)

8 (23.5)

4 (12.5)

2 (6.5)

6 (19.4)

8 (22.9)

4 (11.4)

0 (0.0)

1.53 1.49

1.48† 1.57

1.16† 0.94†

CC. Helped you identify your major 8 (25.0)

6 (17.1)

16 (50.0)

18 (51.4)

6 (18.8)

6 (17.1)

2 (6.3)

5 (14.3) 1.06 1.29

DD. Helped you do well academically in other courses this quarter*

*p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 †One student failed to respond to this question. ‡Two students failed to respond to this question.

10 (31.3)

19 (54.3)

17 (53.1)

14 (40.0)

5 (15.6)

2 (5.7)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0) 0.84 0.51

22

In addition to feeling that their ALL seminars gave them opportunities to connect with fellow students, participants across all four ALLs felt that they had opportunities to speak with faculty about their research and teaching, with Arts ALL students averaging a 1.88 and Social Sciences ALL students averaging 2.03 (Item J). More than two‐thirds of both groups indicated that the learning lab provided either “quite a bit” or “a lot” of such opportunities.

The ALL students also felt that their seminars had given them between “a little” and “quite a bit” of opportunity to

connect with a specific academic department/area, with the Arts ALL students averaging 1.78 and Social Sciences ALL students averaging 1.60 (Item K). Students in both the Arts (1.71 on average) and the Social Sciences (1.63 on average) ALLs felt that their learning labs had given them a close to “quite a bit” of a sense of connection with faculty, students, advisers, and alumni in a specific learning community (Item L). To a lesser extent (just over “a little”), the ALLS gave students opportunities to speak with alumni (Item M) and senior students (Item N) about their experiences as professionals and students.

Finally, the responses of Arts and Social Sciences ALL students about being provided with a peer leader majoring in an academic area that interested them (Item O) were mixed. While 19 of the 67 respondents gave Item O the lowest rating of “not at all,” another 15 students rated this item as high as possible (“a lot”).

In addition to asking about learning communities and their impact on students’ connections with each other, we also asked students with whom they spent most of their social time fall quarter. Table 18 shows students’ responses to that question. As the table shows, students’ social lives were primarily centered on friends from where they lived—a residence hall, a sorority, an apartment building—and on friends they met in their ALLs. ALL students also noted spending much of their social time with friends from high school.

Table 18. Social time

This quarter, with whom did you spend most of your social time? Arts (n=32)

Soc Sci (n=35)

Myself—I still don’t have a group of friends 0 1 (0.0%) (2.9%)

Friends from my high school 8 5 (25.0) (14.3)

Friends from my neighborhood 0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

Friends from my community college 0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

Friends I met during my summer advising and orientation session 0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

Friends I met at Dawg Daze 2 0 (6.3) (0.0)

Friends from where I live—residence hall, fraternity/sorority, apartment building 12 14 (37.4) (40.0)

Friends I met in my ALL 8 10 (25.0) (28.6)

Other 12 2 5 (6.3) (14.3)

12 Arts: “Friends from high school, roommates, and people from my ALL,” “Friends from Husky Band.” Social Sciences: “Friends

in my ALL and friends I met during Early Fall Start,” “Friends I got sober with,” “My high school and some people in class,” “Friends I met here in college and friends from my ALL,” “Roommates.”

23

Inspiring Students to Learn and Question (Item P)

As shown in Table 17, regarding the goal of inspiring students to learn and question, Arts ALL students and Social Sciences ALL students reported that their learning labs had helped them learn more than “a little” but less than “quite a bit” about developing intellectual questions of their own (on average, 1.47 for Arts and 1.29 for Social Sciences ALLs).

Reflecting on Own Experience (Item Q)

Arts ALL students noted that, on average, they had between “a little” and “quite a bit” of opportunity (1.53) to reflect on their learning in their learning labs, and Social Sciences ALL students reported that they had just over “a little” opportunity (1.20) for reflection.

General First‐Quarter Experience (Items R‐DD)

Items R‐DD in Table 17 are goals that might be present in any first quarter freshman program. None of the ALL population’s average overall ratings for these 13 items exceeded 2.0 (“quite a bit”). However, the overall ALL averages for six items did range between 1.5 and 2.0 (closer to “quite a bit” than “a little”). These were, in descending order, students’ sense that their Arts and Social Sciences ALL labs:

• Had helped them meet people with whom they could study (Item R) • Had given them information about UW majors (Item S) • Had provided them with a peer leader who was ahead of them in school and who could give • them advice about college (Item V) • Had helped them develop a plan for the classes they will take in the future (Item U) • Had helped them understand the connections between teaching and research (Item AA) • Had provided them with opportunities to discuss ideas and challenges in their ALL cluster • courses (Item Z)

As Table 17 demonstrates, Arts ALL students in general felt more positively about the contribution of the ALL learning labs to these areas than did students in the Social Sciences ALLs. In total, Arts ALL students’ mean ratings exceeded those of their Social Sciences counterparts for 10 of these 13 items. Only two of these differences, however, were statistically significant. Arts students felt that their ALLs gave them more information about how advising works at the UW (Item T) than did the Social Sciences ALL students (an average rating of 1.88 for Arts; 1.09 for Social Sciences). In fact, Arts ALL students were more than twice as likely as Social Sciences students to indicate that their learning lab had given them “quite a bit” or “a lot” of this kind of information (68.8% versus 31.4%). And while each group of ALL students rated the help their learning labs provided them in terms of doing well in their other fall quarter courses (Item DD) below “a little,” more than two‐thirds of Arts ALL students indicated that the lab had at least given them a little help compared with fewer than half of their Social Sciences peers.

Students’ Perspectives on the Courses Included in the ALL Clusters

We asked students several questions related to the courses they had taken in their ALL clusters. Results from those questions are included in this section of the report.

24

Table 20. Critical thinking (n=67) How frequently have you done 0 1 2 3 4 the following activities this quarter?

Never Once or twice Three to five times

Five to ten times More than ten times

Challenge Level of Courses

The responses of first‐quarter freshmen to questions about academic challenge can be misleading, because entering freshmen do not yet have a UW context for evaluating the challenge level of their current courses. Furthermore, because they are part of a freshman, first‐quarter program, supports and resources for academic success are in place that are often not present in subsequent quarters. Nevertheless, we asked students to give us their perspective on the challenge level of their courses. As Table 19 shows, the majority of both the Arts ALL (71.9%) and the Social Sciences ALL (60.0%) students found their courses to be “moderately challenging,” with mean ratings of 2.81 and 2.77 respectively.

Table 19. Challenge level of first‐quarter courses Not including your ALL Learning Lab or the classes you took outside the ALL cluster, how challenging were the classes in your ALL cluster?

1 Not challenging

2 Slightly

challenging

3 Moderately challenging

4 Very

challenging

Means

Arts ALL student responses (n=32) 1 (3.1%)

6 (18.8%)

23 (71.9%)

2 (6.3%) 2.81

Social Sciences ALL student responses (n=35) 2 (5.7%)

8 (22.9%)

21 (60.0%)

4 (11.3%)

2.77

Frequency of Critical Thinking

In addition to questions about the challenge level of courses, we asked students how often they had engaged in three “general” critical thinking tasks—examining the strengths and weaknesses of their own arguments, understanding someone else’s views, and connecting ideas or concepts from different courses. These aspects of critical thought are more important to some disciplines than to others; research clearly shows that what one means by critical thinking and what one does when one is practicing critical thinking are domain‐specific. Table 20 shows that students in the Social Sciences ALLs, critically examined their own views on topics or issues, tried to understand others’ views on topics or issues, and connected ideas from different courses somewhat more frequently than did the Arts ALL students. However, we should note here that the primary activity of the Arts ALLs was not examining “topics or issues.”



Sci Arts Soc Sci

Critically examined the strengths 14 6 and weaknesses of your own views on a topic or issue† (45.2%) (17.1%)

6 11 (19.4%) (31.4%)

3 5 (9.7%) (14.3%)

6 2 (19.4%) (5.7%)

2 11 (6.5%) (31.4%)

Tried to understand someone else’s views by trying to see a topic or issue from a new perspective

6 1

(18.8) (2.9)

9 8

(28.1) (22.9)

9 11

(28.1) (31.4)

4 3

(12.5) (8.6)

4 12

(12.5) (34.3)

Connected ideas or concepts from different courses when 4 1 completing an assignment or (12.5) (2.9) during class discussion

8 9

(25.0) (25.7)

8 7

(25.0) (20.0)

8 7

(25.0) (20.0)

4 11

(12.5) (31.4)

†One student failed to respond to this question.

25

Course Recommendations for Future Students

We also asked students if they would recommend the courses they had taken fall quarter to other entering students. As Table 21 shows, half of the Arts ALL students indicated they would recommend their fall quarter courses to future students, and about 46% of the Social Sciences ALLs said that they would recommend the courses they had taken. About two‐fifths of each group indicated they might recommend the courses they had taken to future students, and just a few Arts (9.4%) and Social Sciences ALL (14.3%) students said they would not recommend those courses.

Table 21. Recommendations for classes

Would you recommend that students entering the UW next year take the classes you had in your particular ALL (not including the ALL Learning Lab or classes you took outside the ALL) even if those entering students are not in an ALL?

No Maybe Yes

Arts ALL students (n=32) 3 (9.4%)

Social Sciences ALL students (n=35) 5 (14.3%)

13 (40.6%)

14 (40.0%)

16 (50.0%)

16 (45.7%)

Courses for Winter Quarter

Students were asked if they had enrolled in any courses winter quarter that were offered by the same department that had offered one of their ALL courses. As Table 22 shows, more than two‐thirds of the Arts ALL students (67.7%) enrolled in such a course, compared with a little more than half of the Social Sciences ALL students (51.4%).

Table 22. Courses winter quarter Are you enrolled next quarter for another course offered by the same department as one of the courses you took in the ALL?

No Yes

Arts ALL students (n=31) 10 (32.3%)

Social Sciences ALL students (n=35) 17 (48.6%)

21 (67.7%)

18 (51.4%)

Common Book

We were interested to know if students in the ALLs were reading the common book—Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father—and if the courses in their clusters were using the book in any way. Therefore, we asked a series of questions about the common book (Tables 23 and 24). As Table 23 shows, significantly more of the Social Sciences ALL students read all or some (91.4%) of the common book than did students in the Arts ALLs (62.5%). Most of the students who read at least part of the common book said that they read it for their own pleasure, as Table 24 indicates. Additionally, 14 of the 67 survey respondents reported that they had read the Common Book for a UW event or requirement of some kind. However, close to a third (31.4%) of the Social Sciences ALL students and none of the Arts ALL students said they read the book for a class outside the learning lab, which likely explains why more Social Sciences students reported reading all or some of the book than did the Arts ALL students.

26

Table 23. Reading the common book Have you read the UW Common Book (Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father)?

No Yes Some, but not

all of it Arts ALL students (n=32) 12

(37.5%) Social Sciences ALL students (n=35) 3

(8.6%)

7 (21.9%)

15 (42.9%)

13 (40.6%)

17 (48.6%)

When students indicated that they had read the common book for a UW class or event, we asked them in an open‐ ended question to name it. Twelve Social Sciences ALL students said they had read the book for their Geography 123 course, a class that was part of their ALL cluster. No other classes or events were mentioned by students. Several students in the Arts ALLs said they were “told to read it” as entering freshmen, and one of them added:

“We were told to read the Common Book when they gave it to us so I tried to read most of it but was not finished when school started and then I actually did not end up needing to have read the book for any of my classes.”

Table 24. Reasons for reading the common book

If you read some or all of the Common Book, what did you read it for? (please check all that apply)†

Arts (n=32)

Soc Sci (n=35)

I did not read the Common Book 12 3 (37.5%) (8.6%)

Your ALL Learning Lab 2 5 (6.3) (14.3)

For your own pleasure 13 18 (40.6) (51.4)

Another UW class 0 11 (0.0) (31.4)

A UW event or requirement of some kind 9 5 (28.1) (14.3) † Adds to more than 100% because students could select more than one response.

Familiarity with and Use of UW Resources

Increasing student familiarity with UW academic resources was not a goal of the ALLs. However, we asked students in the ALLs how familiar they were with a number of UW resources in order to help us understand how familiar first‐quarter students become with UW resources without guidance. Table 25 shows students’ assessments of their familiarity with a number of resources. The highest mean score any item could receive was a 3.0.

As the table suggests, on average, ALL students had less than “slight” familiarity with most of the resources listed. The exceptions were “moderate” familiarity with faculty and TA office hours; “slight” to “moderate” familiarity with departmental advising; and “slight” familiarity with study abroad opportunities through the International Programs and Exchanges office. Additionally, while Arts ALL students reported significantly higher familiarity with departmental advising than did their Social Sciences peers, the reverse was true in terms of ALL students’ familiarity with CLUE.

We also asked students to indicate the frequency of their participation in certain activities, as shown in Table 26. Again, these activities were not part of the goals for the ALLs, but we wanted to understand what first‐quarter students did on their own. As Table 26 shows, Arts ALL students attended, on average, about three to five cultural events in their first quarter at the UW, and Social Science ALL students attended one or two cultural events. More

27

than half of all students in both the Arts and the Social Sciences ALLs visited an academic department to gather information on a major at least once or twice in fall quarter, and the same was also true for the number of students who joined at least one club or student organization.

In addition, more than half of the Social Sciences ALL students attended at least one special lecture or talk outside their normal classes, and they were also were more likely than their Arts ALL counterparts to have at least once or twice discussed a grade they had received with a professor or TA when they were not required to do so. On the other hand, Arts ALL students were slightly more likely to have discussed ideas from readings or class with a professor or TA during office hours than were the Social Sciences ALL students.

Table 25. Familiarity with UW resources

How familiar are you with what the 0 1 2

3 Means

following resources are and how you might use them?

Not at all Arts Soc

Sci

Slightly Arts Soc

Sci

Moderately Arts Soc

Sci

Very Arts Soc

Sci

Arts (n=32)

Soc Sci

(n=35) Office hours for professors and teaching assistants

2 (6.3%)

0 (0.0%)

3 (9.4%)

12 (34.3%

18 (56.3%)

12 (34.3%)

9 (28.1%)

11 (31.4%) 2.06 1.97

Departmental advising** 2 (6.3)

10 (28.6)

9 (28.1)

14 (40.0)

17 (53.1)

10 (28.6)

4 (12.5)

1 (2.9)

1.72 1.06 International Programs and Exchanges (Study Abroad)

8 (25.8)

8 (23.5)

14 (45.2)

14 (41.2)

6 (19.4)

7 (20.6)

3 (9.7)

5 (14.7) 1.13 1.26†

Center for Learning and Undergraduate Enrichment (CLUE)***

18 (56.3)

7 (20.0)

11 (34.4)

15 (42.9)

3 (9.4)

4 (11.4)

0 (0.0)

9 (25.7) 0.53 1.43

Other study centers on campus 13 (41.9)

Writing centers 14 (43.8)

Undergraduate Research Program 14 (43.8)

15 (42.9)

13 (37.1)

18 (51.4)

10 (32.3)

10 (31.3)

11 (43.8)

13 (37.1)

17 (48.6)

14 (40.0)

8 (25.8)

8 (25.0)

4 (12.5)

6 (17.1)

4 (11.4)

2 (5.7)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

1 (2.9) 0.84† 0.80

1 (2.9) 0.81 0.80

1 (2.9) 0.69 0.60

Gateway Center advising 17 (53.1)

Center for Career Services* 12

21 (60.0)

25

11 (34.4)

17

8 (22.9)

9

4 (12.5)

3

6 (17.1)

0

0 (0.0)

0

0 (0.0)

1 0.59 0.57

Schmitz Hall Student Counseling Center* Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center Educational Opportunity Program advising (EOP)* Ethnic Cultural Center/Theatre (ECC/T)

(37.5) 17

(53.1) 22

(68.8) 18

(56.3) 19

(59.4)

(71.4) 23

(67.6) 23

(65.7) 29

(82.9) 30

(85.7)

(53.1) 8

(25.0) 8

(25.0) 11

(34.4) 11

(34.4)

(25.7) 11

(32.4) 6

(17.1) 5

(14.3) 3

(8.6)

(9.4) 7

(21.9) 2

(6.3) 3

(9.4) 2

(6.3)

(0.0) 0

(0.0) 5

(14.3) 1

(2.9) 2

(5.7)

(0.0) 0

(0.0) 0

(0.0) 0

(0.0) 0

(0.0)

(2.9) 0.72 0.34 0

(0.0) 0.69 0.32†

1 (2.9) 0.38 0.54

0 (0.0) 0.53 0.20

0 (0.0) 0.47 0.20

Instructional Center (IC) 22 (71.0)

30 (85.7)

7 (22.6)

5 (14.3)

2 (6.4)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0) 0.35† 0.14


28

How frequently have you done 0 1 2 3 4 the following activities this Never Once or twice Three to five Five to ten times More than ten quarter? times times

Table 26. Frequency of engagement in activities (n=67)



Sci Arts Soc Sci

Attended a cultural event (ex. dance, theater, art show, 3 11

concert) on or off campus (9.4%) (31.4%)

6 18 (18.8%) (51.4%)

12 2 (37.5%) (5.7%)

11 3 (34.4%) (8.6%)

0 1 (0.0%) (2.9%)

Visited an academic department to gather information on a major—either in person or online

7 10

(21.9) (28.6)

13 17

(40.6) (48.6)

8 6

(25.0) (17.1)

4 2

(12.5) (5.7)

0 0

(0.0) (0.0)

Discussed ideas from readings or class with a professor or teaching assistant during office 10 18

hours when it was not required (31.3) (51.4) as part of the class

15 10

(46.9) (28.6)

6 6

(18.8) (17.1)

1 1

(3.1) (2.9)

0 0

(0.0) (0.0)

Joined a club or student 11 11 organization‡ (34.4) (33.3)

16 17 (50.0) (51.5)

5 2 (15.6) (6.1)

0 3 (0.0) (9.1)

0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

Met with a departmental adviser (not a Gateway Center, 17 23 OMA/D, EOP, Honors, or (53.1) (65.7) SPAAS adviser)

11 11

(34.4) (31.4)

4 1

(12.5) (2.9)

0 0

(0.0) (0.0)

0 0

(0.0) (0.0)

Discussed a grade you received with a professor or teaching assistant when you were not required to do so

17 17

(53.1) (48.6)

13 13

(40.6) (37.1)

2 5

(6.3) (14.3)

0 0

(0.0) (0.0)

0 0

(0.0) (0.0)

Volunteered your time for a 22 24 cause you care about† (68.8) (70.6)

6 3 (18.8) (8.8)

2 3 (6.3) (8.8)

1 1 (3.1) (2.9)

1 3 (3.1) (8.8)

Gone to a special talk or lecture given on campus or in Seattle that was outside your normal classes

23 14

(65.7) (40.0)

9 16

(28.1) (45.7)

1 3

(3.1) (8.8)

1 1

(3.1) (2.9)

0 1

(0.0) (2.9)

Spoken one-on-one or in a 28 25 chat room with a UW librarian† (87.5) (73.5)

2 8 (6.3) (23.5)

2 1 (6.3) (2.9)

0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

Used the help offered in a 28 29 writing or study center† (87.5) (82.9)

3 5 (9.4) (14.3)

1 1 (3.1) (2.9)

0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

Met with a Gateway Center, 27 30 OMA/D, EOP, Honors, or SPAAS adviser‡ (90.0) (85.7)

2 5 (6.7) (14.3)

1 0 (3.3) (0.0)

0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

0 0 (0.0) (0.0)

†One student failed to respond to this question. ‡Two students failed to respond to this question.

General Perceptions of the UW and the Student’s Place Here

We asked ALL participants a number of questions about their perceptions of the UW and about how they felt about their place here after their first quarter. Tables 27 through 31 show students’ responses to these questions. Students answered most of these questions with a 4‐point scale, so the highest average response any of these items could receive was a four. The final set of questions on general campus climate were structured on unique 7‐ point scales, which are presented in full in Table 31.

29

Size and Diversity

We asked students several questions about their perceptions about the size and diversity of the UW. Table 27 shows ALL students’ responses to how big they felt the UW was. As the table shows, by the end of the first quarter, most students in both the Social Science and the Arts ALLs felt the UW was “quite big.”

Table 27. Size of the campus How big does the UW campus feel to you in terms of the space it occupies and the number of people here?

1

Not very big

2

Fairly big

3

Quite big

4

Very big

Means

Arts ALL (n=32) 2 (6.3%)

Social Sciences ALL (n=35) 1 (2.9%)

8 (25.0%)

7 (20.0%)

14 (43.8%)

16 (45.7%)

8 (25.0%) 2.88

11 (31.4%) 3.06

In addition, we asked ALL students how diverse they felt the UW was. Table 28 shows that both Arts and Social Science students in the ALLs felt that the UW was “pretty diverse” on average, with Arts ALL students feeling that the UW population was slightly more diverse than the Social Sciences ALLs believed.

Table 28. Diversity at UW How diverse do you think the UW student body and faculty population are in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, and country of origin?

1

Not diverse

2

A little diverse

3

Pretty diverse

4

Very diverse

Means

Arts ALL student responses (n=32) 0 (0.0%)

Social Sciences ALL student responses (n=35) 0 (0.0%)

2 (6.3%)

7 (20.0%)

18 (56.3%)

18 (51.4%)

12 (37.5%) 3.31

10 (28.6%) 3.09

We also asked students about how much they expected the diversity of students and faculty at the UW to contribute to their educations and how much they valued that contribution. These were questions about diversity that we asked to 300 participants in the UW Study of Undergraduate Learning (UW SOUL) in their first quarter at the UW in 1999, as well as in their sixth and twelfth quarters. We have included those students’ 1999 mean responses in Table 29, which also provides responses for students in the Arts and Social Sciences ALLs. As the table shows, students in both kinds of ALLs valued the contribution diversity might make to their learning a little more than they expected diversity to contribute to their learning. For both groups, slightly more than half of all students expected the diversity of students and faculty to contribute “nothing” or “a little” to their education, while roughly two‐thirds of all students reported valuing this contribution either “quite a lot” or “a great deal.” However, both means were lower for the ALL students than they were for UW SOUL students 10 years previously.

30

Table 29. Contribution of diversity to learning 1

Nothing 2

A little 3

Quite a lot 4

A great deal Means

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc UW Sci SOUL

(n=32) (n=35) (1999) How much do you expect the diversity of students and faculty at the UW to 3 6

contribute to your (9.4%) (17.1) education here?

14 12

(43.8%) (34.3%)

12 15

(37.5%) (42.9%)

3 2

(9.4%) (5.7%)

2.47 2.37 3.07

How much do you value the contribution the diversity of students and 1 3 faculty might make to (3.1%) (8.6%) your learning?

9 9

(28.1%) (25.7%)

15 18

(46.9%) (51.4%)

7 5

(21.9%) (14.3%)

2.88 2.71 3.21

A Sense of Belonging to the UW

Table 30 shows ALL students’ responses to questions about their sense of connection to the UW at the end of their first quarter here. The items in this set of questions included a four‐point response scale, so a 4.0 is the highest mean possible for this set. The table shows that the average ratings for three items exceeded “somewhat agree” (3.0) for both Arts and Social Sciences ALL students:

• They were excited about the courses they had signed up to take winter quarter. Close to two‐thirds of

the Arts and the Social Sciences ALL students strongly agreed with this statement. • They felt prepared to succeed academically at the UW. About 41% of the Arts and 34% of the Social

Sciences ALL students strongly agreed with this statement. • They were satisfied with their decisions to attend the UW. While 43% of the Social Sciences ALL students

strongly agreed with this statement, a significantly higher 69% of the Arts ALL students strongly agreed as well.

As Table 30 indicates, Arts ALL students' responses were higher for the remaining three items as follows, and these differences were statistically significant:

• Both groups felt as though they were members of the UW community, but this feeling was stronger for

Arts ALL students. While 60% of Social Sciences ALL students somewhat or strongly agreed with this statement, this was the case for roughly 94% of their ALL Arts peers.

• The same was true for feeling as though they were members of smaller academic communities at the UW. On average, Arts ALL students felt they were part of a smaller academic community, while Social Sciences ALL students were not as sure. Arts students averaged 3.19 for this question (a little above “somewhat agree”), and Social Sciences students averaged 2.56 (halfway between “somewhat disagree” and “somewhat agree”).

• Finally, Arts ALL students were more positive about whether the UW cared about their success than were the Social Sciences students. The mean for Arts students was 2.97 (close to “somewhat agree”), while the mean for Social Sciences students was 2.37 (closer to “somewhat disagree”).

31

Table 30. Sense of belonging To what extent do you 1 2

3 4 Means

agree or disagree with the following statements?

Strongly Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

(n=32) (n=35) I am excited about the classes I will be taking in 0 0

winter quarter (0.0%) (0.0%)

0 4 (0.0%) (11.4%)

11 8 (34.4%) (22.9%)

21 23 (65.6%) (65.7%)

3.66 3.54

I am satisfied with my 0 3 decision to attend the UW.** (0.0) (8.6)

0 7 (0.0) (20.0)

10 10 (31.3) (28.6)

22 15 (68.8) (42.9)

3.69 3.06 I feel prepared to succeed 0 1 academically at the UW. (0.0) (2.9)

2 5 (6.3) (14.3)

17 17 (53.1) (48.5)

13 12 (40.6) (34.3)

3.34 3.14 I feel like a member of the 0 6 UW community.* (0.0) (17.1)

2 8 (6.3) (22.9)

20 10 (62.5) (28.6)

10 11 (31.3) (31.4)

3.25 2.74

I feel like a member of a smaller academic 0 7

community at the UW ** (0.0) (20.6)

3 9 (9.7) (26.5)

19 10 (61.3) (29.4)

9 8 (29.0) (23.5)

3.19 2.56†

I feel that the UW cares 2 6 about my success.** (6.3) (17.1)

4 12 (12.5) (34.3)

19 15 (59.4) (42.9)

7 2 (21.9) (5.7)

2.97 2.37


General Campus Climate

Finally in terms of their general perceptions of the UW, we asked students to rate people and attributes of the campus climate on a seven point scale, with 1 indicating an extremely negative descriptor and 7 an extremely positive descriptor. Responses to this set of six questions are shown in Table 31. These exact items and scales were used in the 1993 evaluation of the FIG program, and we also included the 1993 results in Table 31.

As the table shows, in every case, Arts ALL students reported more positive feelings about their UW experience than did Social Sciences ALL students. The mean differences between these two groups ranged from 0.45 points (“Classes”) to a statistically significant 0.81 points (“Yourself”). Both Arts ALL and Social Sciences ALL students rated “Faculty members” the highest and “Administrative personnel and offices” the lowest among this set of six items. Furthermore, in all but two cases involving Social Science ALL students (“Campus climate” and “Yourself”), ALL students mean ratings of these items exceeded those of their 1993 FIG counterparts.

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Table 31. Thinking of your own experience this quarter, how would you rate the following people and attributes at the UW?

Group Unfriendly, Unsupportive,

Sense of Isolation

Other Students

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Friendly, Supportive,

Sense of Belonging

Means

Arts (n=32)

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

3 (9.4%)

9 (28.1%)

15 (46.9%)

5 (15.6%) 5.69

Soc Sci (n=35)

1 (2.9%)

1 (2.9%)

3 (8.6%)

4 (11.4%)

12 (34.3%)

6 (17.1%)

8 (22.9%)

5.14

1993 FIGs 4.61

Group Remote, Discouraging, Unsympathetic

Faculty Members 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Approachable,

Helpful, Understanding,

Encouraging

Means

Arts (n=32)

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

2 (6.3%)

11 (34.4%)

12 (37.5%)

7 (21.9%) 5.75*

Soc Sci (n=34)

0 (0.0%)

2 (5.9%)

3 (8.8%)

5 (14.7%)

8 (23.5%)

10 (29.4%)

6 (17.6%)

5.15*

1993 FIGs 4.36 *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001

Group Rigid, Impersonal, Bound by Regulations

Administrative Personnel and Offices 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Helpful, Considerate,

Flexible

Means

Arts (n=32)

0 (0.0%)

1 (3.1%)

0 (0.0%)

8 (25.0%)

15 (46.9%)

4 (12.5%)

4 (12.5%) 5.03

Soc Sci (n=35)

2 (5.7%)

2 (5.7%)

8 (22.9%)

5 (14.3%)

5 (14.3%)

10 (28.6%)

3 (8.6%)

4.46

1993 FIGs 3.76

Group Boring, Classes

Stimulating, Means

Dull 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Involving Arts (n=32)

1 (3.1%)

0 (0.0%)

1 (3.1%)

2 (6.3%)

13 (40.6%)

11 (34.4%)

4 (12.5%) 5.34

Soc Sci (n=35)

0 (0.0%)

2 (5.7%)

3 (8.6%)

8 (22.9%)

9 (25.7%)

10 (28.6%)

3 (8.6%)

4.89

1993 FIGs 4.33

33

Table 31 (continued).

Group Unwelcoming,

Campus Climate

Welcoming,

Means

Inhospitable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hospitable Arts (n=32) Soc Sci (n=34)

0 (0.0%)

1 (2.9%)

1 (3.1%)

3 (8.8%)

1 (3.1%)

3 (8.8%)

4 (12.5%)

5 (14.7%)

7 (21.9%)

8 (23.5%)

11 (34.4%)

10 (29.4%)

8 (25.0%) 5.56*

4 (11.8%) 4.82*

1993 FIGs 4.91 *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001

Group Alienated, Yourself

Involved,

Means

Bored 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Excited Arts (n=32) Soc Sci (n=35)

1 (3.1%)

2 (5.7%)

0 (0.0%)

1 (2.9%)

1 (3.1%)

6 (17.1%)

3 (9.4%)

7 (20.0%)

7 (21.9%)

6 (17.1%)

15 (46.9%)

7 (20.0%)

5 (15.6%) 5.50*

6 (17.1%) 4.69*

1993 FIGs 4.95 *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001

Assessment of the ALL Learning Labs

Our survey of ALL participants asked them to evaluate the ALL leaders and the components and assignments in their ALL learning labs. Table 32 shows the assessment of the leaders of the ALL learning labs, with items A through J focusing on the ALL seminar leaders, and items K through O focusing on what participants may do in the future as a result of their ALL seminars. These items were rated on a four‐point scale, so 4.0 was the highest possible rating for any of the items in Table 32.

As students’ responses to items A through J show, Arts and Social Sciences ALL students were very positive about the students leading their ALL seminars. They strongly agreed that leaders were open and approachable, that leaders communicated that the undergraduate experience at the UW was positive, and that leaders were encouraging and enthusiastic; mean ratings for each of these items exceeded 3.5. Students in both the Arts and Social Sciences ALLs also agreed that their leaders knew a lot about the UW, did a good job of facilitating discussions, were organized and well‐prepared, and knew a lot about their respective disciplinary areas; the average ratings for this set of items (D‐G) exceeded 3.0 for both groups. Arts ALL students were slightly more positive about the useful guidance for success at the UW that they received from their ALL leaders (3.28 mean for Arts, 2.94 for Social Sciences ALL students); the reverse was true of students’ perceptions about the clarity of course expectations (3.00 mean for Arts, 3.31 for Social Sciences ALL students).

Students in both groups were less sure about contacting their ALL leaders in the future; the means for both groups for item J fell between “somewhat disagree” and “somewhat agree.”

Items K through O asked students to predict their future behavior. As Table 32 indicates, Arts ALL students’ responses were somewhat more positive than those for students in the Social Sciences ALLs. However, the only statistically significant difference between these two groups for this set of items concerned planning to take courses in winter quarter with fellow ALL students. While only two (6.3%) Arts students either strongly or somewhat disagreed with this statement, this was the case for almost half (48.6%) of Social Sciences ALL students.

34

Students in both groups, though, generally agreed that they would be taking classes with fellow ALL students in the future; socializing with their fellow ALL students; having a clearer sense of what they might be majoring in and what courses they might take; communicating one‐on‐one with a faculty member or departmental adviser; and feeling excited about new ideas, questions, fields of study, faculty, courses, or research areas.

Table 32. ALL student leaders and future behaviors

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about your ALL Learning Lab (Arts 150) experience?

1 Strongly Disagree

2 Somewhat Disagree

3 Somewhat Agree

4 Strongly Agree

Means

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts Soc Sci

Arts (n=32)

Soc Sci

(n=35) A. My ALL leader was open and

approachable. B. My ALL leader seemed to think the

undergraduate experience at the UW was positive.

C. My ALL leader was encouraging and enthusiastic about class.

1 (3.1%)

0 (0.0)

1 (3.1)

1 (2.9%

2 (5.7)

2 (5.9)

1 (3.1%)

2 (6.5)

1 (3.1)

0 (0.0%)

1 (2.9)

1 (2.9)

4 (12.5%)

9 (29.0)

9 (28.1)

5 (14.7%)

8 (22.9)

6 (17.6)

26 (81.3%)

20 (64.5)

21 (65.6)

28 (82.4%) 3.72 3.76†

24 (68.6) 3.58† 3.54

25 (73.5) 3.56 3.59†

D. My ALL leader knew a lot about the UW.

E. My ALL leader did a good job of

1 (3.1)

2

2 (5.7)

3

2 (6.3)

0

3 (8.6)

3

10 (31.3)

11

13 (37.1)

14

19 (59.4)

19

17 (48.6)

15 3.47 3.29

facilitating discussions. F. My ALL leader was organized and

(6.3) (8.6) (0.0) (8.6) (34.4) (40.0) (59.4) (42.9) 3.47 3.17

well-prepared for the ALL Learning Lab.

G. My ALL leader knew a lot about the

1 (3.1)

2

2 (5.7)

4

3 (9.4)

2

3 (8.6)

1

10 (31.2)

11

15 (42.9)

13

18 (56.3)

16

15 (42.9)

16

3.41 3.23

disciplinary area of the ALL. H. My ALL leader provided useful

guidance on how to succeed at the UW.

I. My ALL leader was clear about course expectations.

(6.5)

1 (3.1)

2 (6.3)

(11.8)

4 (11.4)

2 (5.7)

(6.5)

2 (6.3)

5 (15.6)

(2.9)

6 (17.1)

1 (2.9)

(35.5)

16 (50.0)

16 (50.0)

(38.2)

13 (37.1)

16 (45.7)

(51.6)

13 (40.6)

9 (28.1)

(47.1) 3.32† 3.21†

12 3.28 2.94

(34.3)

16 (45.7) 3.00 3.31

J. My ALL leader is someone I will definitely keep in contact with.

K. I plan to take courses next quarter

7 (21.9)

2

9 (25.7)

5

4 (12.5)

0

6 (17.1)

12

14 (43.8)

14

13 (37.1)

9

7 (21.9)

16

7 (20.0)

9

2.66 2.51

with some of my fellow ALL students.**

L. I am likely to socialize with some of my fellow ALL students during the rest of my time at the UW.

M. The ALL leader and departmental advisers helped me get a clearer

(6.3)

0 (0.0)

(14.3)

4 (11.4)

(0.0)

1 (3.1)

(34.3)

3 (8.6)

(43.8)

19 (59.4)

(25.7)

16 (45.7)

(50.0)

12 (37.5)

(25.7) 3.38 2.63

12 3.34 3.03

(34.3)

sense of what majors I might consider and what courses I might take.

N. Because of my experience either in my ALL lab (Arts 150) or with my ALL lab leader, I am more likely to go speak with a departmental adviser or faculty member.

O. The ALL got me excited about new

1 (3.1)

3 (9.4)

2

4 (11.4)

3 (8.8)

2

4 (12.5)

3 (9.4)

4

6 (17.1)

7 (20.6)

9

17 (53.1)

13 (40.6)

16

11 (31.4)

15 (44.1)

14

10 (31.3)

13 (40.6)

10

14 (40.0)

9 (26.5)

10

3.13 3.00 3.13 2.88†

ideas, questions, fields of study, faculty, courses, or research areas.

*p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001

(6.3) (5.7) (12.5) (25.7) (50.0) (40.0) (31.3) (28.6) 3.06 2.91

†One student failed to respond to this question.

35

In addition, to asking students questions about their ALL learning lab leaders, we asked them to use a three‐point scale (with 3.0 being the highest possible score) to evaluate components and assignments in the labs. Because the activities in the Arts and the Social Sciences ALLs differed somewhat, we varied the questions on the survey to accommodate that difference. Tables 33 and 34 show these separate results.

As Table 33 shows, the activities the ALL Arts students found the most valuable (in descending order) were meeting with advisers, the advising session for planning the second quarter, meeting with faculty, the academic planning assignment (#3), meeting with advanced undergrads and alumni, out of classroom experiences, and meeting with the other students in the ALL. The mean ratings for these items ranged from 1.57 (between “slightly” to “moderately” valuable) to 2.29 (just over “moderately” valuable).

Class components that Arts ALL students did not find valuable were the joint sessions—those with the Social Sciences ALLs and with both Arts ALLs—and the beginning reflection assignment. On average, students found each of these components to be less than “slightly” valuable (1.0).

As Table 34 shows, the Social Sciences ALL students most valued (in descending order) meeting with faculty, the academic planning assignment (#4), the study abroad session, meeting with advanced undergraduates, meeting with the other students in the ALL, the research assignment that put them in contact with a faculty member (#2), and the group project. The mean ratings for these items ranged from 1.51 (between “slightly” to “moderately” valuable) to 2.18 (just over “moderately” valuable).

Table 33. Arts ALL components

How valuable to your learning were the following components N/A of your ALL Learning Lab (Arts 150)? Did not

do this

0 1 2 3 Means Not at all Slightly Moderately Very (n=32)

Meeting with advisers 1 (3.1%)

1 4 11 15 (3.1%) (12.5%) (34.4%) (46.9%) 2.29

Advising session ~ planning the second quarter 0 (0.0)

3 6 11 12 2.00 (9.4) (18.8) (34.4) (37.5) Meeting with the faculty 0

(0.0) 2 5 18 7

(6.3) (15.6) (56.3) (21.9) 1.94 Academic planning assignment (Assignment 3) 0

(0.0) 3 7 12 10

(9.4) (21.9) (37.5) (31.3) 1.91 Meeting with advanced arts undergraduates and alumni. 0

(0.0) 4 10 12 6

(12.5) (31.3) (37.5) (18.8) 1.63 Out of the classroom and into the performance hall, museum, 0 gallery…Event and event response (Assignment 2) (0.0)

6 8 11 7 1.59 (18.8) (25.0) (34.4) (21.9) Meeting with your ALL class (Arts 150) 2

(6.3) 4 10 11 5

(12.5) (31.3) (34.4) (15.6) 1.57 Final project (Assignment 4) 1

(3.1) 8 9 11 3

(25.0) (28.1) (34.4) (9.4) 1.29 Meeting with both of the ALL Arts 150 groups 3

(9.4) 11 12 3 3

(34.4) (37.5) (9.4) (9.4) 0.93 Joint session ~ Social Sciences and Art Learning Labs: The 4 Research and Teaching Connection (12.5)

12 8 7 1 (37.5) (25.0) (21.9) (3.1) 0.89

Beginning reflection (Assignment 1) 0 (0.0)

13 13 5 1 (40.6) (40.6) (15.6) (3.1) 0.81

Meeting together with the ALL Arts groups and the ALL Social 3 Sciences groups (9.4)

15 10 4 0 0.62 (46.9) (31.3) (12.5) (0.0)

36

Like the Arts ALL students, the Social Sciences ALL students found the joint sessions, both those with the other Social Sciences ALL and those with the Arts ALLs, not very valuable. Each of these items was rated less than “slightly” valuable (1.0) by students. They also felt that the reflective writing was not valuable to their learning. However, since two‐fifths of Social Sciences ALL students completed the survey before their final reflection, this component cannot be reliably judged through this survey data.

Table 34. Social Sciences ALL components How valuable to your learning were the following components of your ALL Learning Lab (SocSci 150)?

N/A

Did not do this

0

Not at all

1

Slightly

2

Moderately

3

Very

Means (n=35)

Meeting with faculty from your ALL courses 2 (5.7%)

Academic planning assignment (Assignment 4) 0 (0.0)

Study abroad session 0 (0.0)

4 (11.4%)

3 (8.6)

5 (14.3)

3 (8.6%)

9 (25.7)

6 (17.1)

9 (25.7%)

13 (37.1)

16 (45.7)

17 (48.6%) 2.18

10 (28.6) 1.86

8 (22.9) 1.77

Meeting with advanced undergraduates in the social sciences 2 (5.7)

Meeting with your ALL class (SocSci 150) 1

6 (17.1)

2

6 (17.1)

12

12 (34.3)

14

9 (25.7)

6

1.73

(2.9) (5.7) (34.3) (40.0) (17.1) 1.71 Research one faculty member in the social sciences (Assignment 2)

0 (0.0)

6 (17.1)

10 (28.6)

10 (28.6)

9 (25.7)

1.63 Group project (Assignment 3) 0

(0.0) Final Reflection 14

(40.0) Meeting with social sciences alumni 5

(14.3)

7 (20.0)

3 (8.6)

9 (25.7)

9 (25.7)

10 (28.6)

8 (22.9)

13 (37.1)

6 (17.1)

9 (25.7)

6 (17.1) 1.51

2 (5.7) 1.33

4 (11.4) 1.27

Meeting with advisers 6 (17.1)

11 (31.4)

4 (11.4)

10 (28.6)

4 (11.4) 1.24

Joint session ~ SocSci and Art Learning Labs: The Research and Teaching Connection

2 (5.7)

10 (28.6)

17 (48.6)

4 (11.4)

2 (5.7) 0.94

Beginning reflection (Assignment 1) 1 (2.9)

13 (37.1)

15 (42.9)

5 (14.3)

1 (2.9) 0.82

Joint session ~ All Social Sciences: Slink Slam! Faculty panel discussion topic: Social Activism, Political Advocacy and Public Scholarship in the Social Sciences

4 (11.4)

13 (37.1)

13 (37.1)

3 (8.6)

2 (5.7)

0.81

Meeting with both of the ALL SocSci 150 groups 2 (5.7)

13 (37.1)

16 (45.7)

4 (11.4)

0 (0.0) 0.73

Meeting together with the ALL Arts groups and the ALL Social Sciences groups

4 (11.4)

15 (42.9)

13 (37.1)

3 (8.6)

0 (0.0) 0.61

Most Valuable Part of the ALL Program to Participants

The survey asked ALL students to respond to an open‐ended question that asked: What was the most valuable part of the ALL program to you and why? Students’ responses to this question were analyzed inductively, using a constant comparative method that allowed categories of responses to emerge from the students’ words.

Arts ALLs

Thirty (93.8%) of the 32 Arts ALL survey respondents answered the open‐ended question about what they found most valuable in the ALL program. Often those students identified more than one aspect of the experience that they valued. Three themes were evident from their responses.

37

Close to two‐fifths of the students who responded to this question (13 or 43.3%) said that what they valued the most about the ALL experience was getting to know people who shared their same interests and experiences. As two students said:

• “I really liked being around others who share the same interests as me and get to see how their creative

processes work.”

• “Meeting the people who were interested in the things I was. It allowed me to make friends with a few great people.”

A second theme focused on aspects of the classes in the cluster being the most valuable aspect of the ALL experience, mentioned also by close to two‐fifths of the students (13 or 43.3%). Some of these respondents spoke about the value of learning what they liked in art by exploring art classes that they had not been aware of previously. Others spoke of the value in being able to draw connections between their courses. Still others either noted a specific class or all of their classes as having been valuable. Three students’ quotations illustrate this category of response:

• “Getting to know what is it in art that I like. Getting a clearer understanding of what the other fields are

like.”

• “I liked having immersion in all arts courses and being able to connect what I was learning in each class.”

• “Class[es]—they were awesome.”

A third theme that emerged from students’ responses was the value of meeting with advisers, mentioned by five (16.7%) of the Arts ALL students. As two of these students said:

• “Meeting with the advisers because I learned all of the undergraduate requirements and how to

successfully complete them.”

• “I think that meeting with the advisers was really helpful because it got me thinking about my major.”

In addition to these themes, individuals mentioned other values in the ALL experience, including easier registration, not having to sit through lectures, being able to see the four‐year big picture at the UW, and the feeling that the faculty “…really know us and want us to succeed.”

Social Sciences ALLs

Thirty‐three (94.3%) of the 35 Social Sciences ALL survey respondents noted what they felt was the most valuable part of the ALL experience. Three themes emerged from their responses.

As the Arts ALL students had, the Social Sciences ALL students noted that meeting other students with shared interests was the most valuable part of the ALL experience. This was the strongest theme to emerge from Social Sciences student responses, with roughly half of this question’s respondents (51.5%) saying that getting to know other students with similar interests was the best part of the ALL program. Students noted a variety of reasons why this part of the experience was valuable, including having others with whom they could discuss coursework and the sense of community they developed as a result of getting to know students whose interests were the same as theirs. Two students’ quotations illustrate this group of responses:

38

• “I found the students I met in my ALL were academically focused and eager to immerse themselves in the social sciences, and they quickly became wonderful friends and people with whom I could discuss topics from various classes.”

• “I felt part of a group, it was very nice.”

A second theme was the value of connecting with UW faculty, mentioned by six (18.2%) respondents. Students spoke of appreciating the interaction with faculty both one‐on‐one during the required interview assignment, and when faculty came to the ALL learning lab to speak with the group. Two examples:

• “[The ALL] allowed us to connect with the faculty, and I personally felt more comfortable in my classes.”

• “Talking to professor Behlmer was exciting and reignited my passion for a major that was barely

mentioned in my ALL (even though it fit under the social sciences category). It was a great experience.”

In addition to these two themes, five students (15.2%) mentioned the value of learning about the social sciences in general, as well as learning about specific majors in that disciplinary area. Two of those students specifically praised the ALL learning lab for helping them gain insight into the social sciences. As one student said:

“The Soc Sci 150 class. It allowed us to bond as an ALL and introduced me to so many different people, ideas, disciplines, theories, professors... it was an amazing class and I wish there was one for winter quarter as well.”

In addition to these themes, two students each noted the value of the Interdisciplinary Writing Program’s writing links, of panels that provided information particularly about study abroad, of taking 17 credits in their first quarter at UW, and of being able to hear about UW majors from upperclassmen who were in them. As one of those students said:

“Students at UW need more facilitated interactions with groups of students. Large lectures are alienating and you end up doing the learning on your own.”

Finally, individual students mentioned the value of the carefully coordinated classes, of the connections in content between Sociology 270 and Psychology 101, and of the eased transition from high school to college. In that latter student’s words:

“The large blow of college life right in my face with slightly harder courses than what a FIG would have was helpful to clear my head of high school ideals and walk straight into a college student's life on how to allocate time, think, and act.”

Areas Needing Improvement in the ALL Experience

The survey also asked ALL students to respond to the question: What might improve the ALL program and how? Students’ responses to this question were analyzed inductively, as they were to the first open‐ended question.

Arts ALLs

Twenty‐eight (87.5%) of the 32 Arts ALL survey respondents provided suggestions for improving the ALL program, and their ideas focused on four areas. First, mirroring the results shown in Table 33, about one fifth (six students) of the Arts ALL students who responded to this question felt that the joint panels were a problem with the ALL experience. Several students said that the panels did not represent the fields they were interested in, particularly noting the lack of representation for drama. As one student said:

39

“If I wanted to listen to someone talk about anthropology I would go to the department. I'm interested in Drama and Dance so I feel that most of the Learning Lab classes that had panels were a waste of my time.”

Second, the same number of students (21.4%) said that some or all of the ALL learning labs were not useful or that the lab assignments seemed like “busy work.” They recommended that the labs and/or assignments be eliminated or decreased in number.

Third, five students (17.9%) suggested that DXArts not be included in future ALLs or that clearer explanations of the DXArts course be provided so that students could opt out. Two students noted that a number of students had dropped the DXArts portion of the ALL. As one student said:

“A better description of course offerings in the ALLs would help. I thought that DXarts would be something along the lines of graphic design, since it said it was digital art. If I had known what that class was I probably would have taken a different ALL.”

Finally, three students (10.7%) recommended dropping one of the classes in the ALLs so that the ALL carried fewer credits. One student suggested that the ALLs include two courses and that students be required to select a third based on their own interests. In his words:

“This way, each student will be able to experience a different course and share those experiences with the rest of the ALL students.”

In addition, individual students recommended more one‐on‐one time with advisers or ALL leaders, more ALL outside‐class events or social activities, more ALLs so that more students could take them, and more discussion about majoring at UW in specific paths. This last student wrote:

“It is not that we did not discuss this, it is just that I am still undecided about my major and there are times where I

definitely feel a bit lost.”


Thirty‐two (91.4%) of the 35 students offered suggestions for improving the Social Science ALLs. Students’ suggestions could be grouped into the three strong themes and several minor ones.

First, as was the case with the Arts ALL students and consistent with the findings shown in Table 34, the strongest theme to emerge from students’ suggestions for improvement was to eliminate some or all of the panels. More than one quarter of those students who responded to this question (28.1%) said that the panels of faculty and graduate students were ineffective, primarily because they did not focus on the social science major that the student was interested in. In addition, students in this group also advised that there be no combined Arts and Social Science panels in the future. One student’s comment illustrates the criticism of the ALL panels:

“My major is Political Science and there was nobody from Pol.Sc. or LSJ in the panels and quite a few people were unhappy about that.”

A second theme in students’ responses was that the learning lab assignments should be made more meaningful and/or the labs should be eliminated. Close to one fifth of the students providing suggestions for improvements felt that time spent on learning lab assignments was not helpful, and several students recommended not including the labs in the ALLs. In the words of one student:

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“The ALL program could be greatly improved by either adding and adjusting the Learning Lab or simply eliminating it. To me, it seemed useless and like a waste of time. The discussions and panels were not very involved as far as the students and the assignments were fairly trivial.”

Third, sometimes coupled with the previous two suggestions, seven (21.9%) students said that they should have had more ALL lab time to discuss the classes they were taking. As one student said:

“I think it would be helpful if we spent time reflecting on the work we were doing in the other classes, having more discussions, or finding some way to get the students more involved in the panels.”

Related to this theme, two students asked for better connections between the labs and the other classes in the clusters.

In addition to these major themes, several minor themes emerged from students’ comments, as follows:

• Five students (15.6%) said that the writing link was too difficult or that the instructor for the writing link

had not been helpful. • Three students (9.4%) wanted a greater focus on helping students become oriented to the UW by

providing more information on resources outside the classroom, majors and major selection, and more social activities.

• Three students (9.4%) suggested that the ALL learning labs be more organized. • Two students (6.3%) said that they wanted more information about majors.

In addition to these themes, there were a number of idiosyncratic responses from individual students, including that more ALLs should be offered so that a wider array of social science classes could be included and that the classes should be less challenging than they were.

What Surprised Students

A third open‐ended question at the end of the survey asked students in the ALLs what had surprised them the most in their first quarter at the UW. We analyzed those results inductively, as we had responses to the other two open‐ended questions in the survey.

Arts ALLs

Twenty‐eight (87.5%) of the 32 students who completed the survey mentioned something that had surprised them in response to this question. Responses were largely idiosyncratic, so we grouped responses by whether they were positive or negative comments about the ALL experience.

Eight of these 28 students (28.6%) students mentioned surprises that might be considered negative. Three of those students said that the DXArts class was surprising in some way—for example, because the grading seemed harsh or because it was an unpleasant experience. Two students said that they were surprised that the classes were easy. One student said that one of the art instructors was bad, and another said that she was surprised by the fact that she was not inspired by art at the college level. Finally, one student said that she was surprised by how critical the Art Department was. In her words:

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“Several times I watched department leaders strike down the ideas of students with absolutely no basis. They claim that because they are more educated in the history and process of art, they have gained the ability to prejudge ‘uneducated’ ideas as poor ideas. This is not how expression works, and does not make learning a positive experience. We learn best in a positive, supporting atmosphere.”

Other responses were positive. For example, six students (21.4%) said that they were surprised by how close their friendships became and how easily they were formed in the first quarter ALL experience. As one of those students said:

“I was surprised by how close I got to the other students in my ALL I made a lot of close friends that way.”

Other positive results centered on how enjoyable specific classes or programs were, particularly dance and drama (three students or 10.7%), on what they had learned about themselves (two students or 7.1%), with one of them noting that he had learned something about his own ambitions and what it would take to reach them and the other saying:

“How much I did not know about art.”

Finally, individuals noted surprise at how cold it is in Washington, at how many clubs students could become involved in that they did not know existed before they came to the UW, and all the possibilities for students in design.


Thirty‐one (88.6%) of the 35 Social Sciences ALL students who responded to the survey also answered the question of what surprised them the most in their first quarter at the UW. Like the responses of the Arts ALL students, the answers of the Social Sciences ALL respondents were largely idiosyncratic.

One theme that emerged from the 31 students’ responses, mentioned by about one in four (25.8%) of the respondents, was how hard the UW was compared with students’ high school experience. Nearly half of these students specifically mentioned the IWP writing link as being especially challenging. As one of those students said:

“It seemed that there were incredibly high expectations in that class, and writing, which was my greatest strength in High school, became my weakest very quickly this quarter.”

A less prominent theme was that students were surprised by how strongly they connected with one of the social sciences they had studied. Four students (12.9%) noted such connections.

In addition, two students said that college was easier than they had thought it would be.

Other than those themes, students’ responses were largely individualized and included comments about how fast the quarter had seemed, how many friends they had made, and how frequently faculty spoke about their experience travelling abroad.

Final Comments

Finally, we asked students in an open‐ended question if there was anything else they wanted to tell us about their first quarter at the UW.

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Arts ALLs

Of the 32 students who completed the ALL Arts survey, 15 (46.9%) responded to this question, and nearly all of those students mentioned how much they had enjoyed the ALL program. Some students mentioned specific aspects of the program, such as how valuable the opportunity to make lasting friendships through the ALL experience was or how helpful the ALL organizers were, as this student’s comment indicates:

“Liz and the art advisors like Judi really helped me succeed and feel like a part of this university. I had mentioned to them that I was feeling a little homesick and wanted to get more involved, and they immediately set me up with the ArtsLink advisory panel. I could tell that they really cared about me and how I was doing here. I hope everyone knows how helpful the UW's advisors are.”


Sixteen (45.7%) of the Social Sciences ALL survey respondents answered this question. Six (37.5%) of those students gave positive comments about the ALL program, with students saying the program was “awesome,” noting that they felt they “belonged,” or praising specific aspects of the program, as this student did:

“The ALL was such a wonderful wonderful program. I can’t say that strongly enough. Garrett was a beloved mentor to all of my peers, we feel so affectionately towards him and admire him a great deal. He was a wonderful resource and role model. The classes complemented each other so well, and many after‐class discussions occurred, connecting econ and globalization in ways we never imagined. It was a great program and very constructive academically.”

Ten of these 16 (62.5%) students had negative things to say about the program. Two of those students said that the writing link was too intense or hard, and two of them said that the ALL learning labs had been a waste of time. The negative responses of the other six students were idiosyncratic and included the criticisms that there should be better representation of the social science courses within the ALLs, that it was hard to make friends, that the respondent should have joined a FIG instead of taking the ALL, and that the respondent should not have come to the UW at all. For example:

“Aside from the classes themselves, I do not think I am the type of person that programs like FIGs or ALLs are best for. For this survey, I tried to evaluate the program objectively, while remaining honest about my feelings. Having said that, I often felt that the learning lab sessions were not always the best way to spend my time. However, I recognize that much of what I learned from them is considered valuable, and may even become valuable for myself.”

Summary of Survey Results

Survey results show us the following about the ALL program: • Two of the ALL program goals were strongly met as follows:

o Students’ responses to the closed‐ and open‐ended survey questions suggest that students learned a good deal about the disciplinary areas represented by their ALLs and that this learning was valuable to them, both expanding their definitions of the arts and the social sciences as well as particularizing them, which helped students think about their academic choices and interests. However, responses also indicated that students may not have generalized what they learned about their respective disciplinary areas to an understanding of how the UW operates academically—at least at this time.

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o Students’ responses to both closed‐ended and open‐ended survey questions indicated that both Arts and Social Sciences ALL participants felt connected to other students with shared interests, faculty, alumni, and advisers through the ALL program. This goal was fully met in itself, and it also contributed to students’ meeting the goal related to understanding how the disciplines operated.

• Two of the ALL program goals were somewhat met as follows:

o Regarding the goal of “inspiring students to learn and question,” Arts ALL students and Social Sciences ALL students reported that they had made some gains in this area.

o In terms of the goal of encouraging students to be reflective about their experience, students in the Arts ALLs noted that they had between “a little” and “quite a bit” of opportunity to reflect on their learning in their learning labs, whereas Social Sciences ALL students reported less opportunity (just over “a little”) for reflection.

• Students in both the Arts and the Social Sciences ALL were satisfied with their experiences. About 94% of the

Arts ALL students and 86% of the Social Sciences ALL students either somewhat or strongly agreed that they were glad they had chosen to be in an ALL. In general, across a number of additional items, Arts ALL students expressed somewhat more satisfaction with their experience than did the Social Sciences ALL students.

• At the end of the quarter, about 81% of the Arts ALL students and 66% of the Social Sciences ALL students said

they were considering majors in those respective areas of study. Students in both the Arts and Social Sciences ALLs said that participation in the ALLs had influenced their thinking about possible UW majors.

• Regarding the learning labs (Arts and Social Sciences 150):

o Both Arts and Social Sciences ALL students greatly appreciated and valued their ALL 150 peer leaders. o The Arts and Social Sciences 150 classes gave students information about UW majors, helped them

develop a plan for classes to take in the future, helped them understand the connections between teaching and research, and provided them with opportunities to discuss ideas and challenges in their ALL cluster courses.

o For the most part, the ALL 150 classes did not help students do well academically in their ALL classes. o The most valuable components of the ALL Arts and Social Sciences 150 were very similar. Regarding the

Arts 150 class, students said that the most valuable aspects were meeting with advisers, the advising session for planning the second quarter, meeting with faculty, the academic planning assignment (#3), meeting with advanced undergrads and alumni, out of classroom experiences, and meeting with the other students in the ALL. The most valuable components of the Social Sciences ALL 150 were meeting with faculty, the academic planning assignment (#4), the study abroad session, meeting with advanced undergraduates, meeting with the other students in the ALL, the research assignment that put them in contact with a faculty member (#2), and the group project. These results suggest that students enter the UW with significant concerns about their futures, such as finding a major and identifying a path through the UW that leads to a career. The focus on career possibilities was evident for both Arts and Social Science ALL groups, but especially for the latter.

o The least valuable aspect of both the ALL Arts and ALL Social Sciences 150 classes were panel discussions that brought together ALL groups—either across disciplinary areas or within them. In addition, when panel discussions included faculty and alumni, students in both groups wanted to see their particular interests addressed. Students also, on average, did not find the beginning reflection assignment to be valuable to their learning.

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o About half of each ALL group felt that the ALL experience might have been as valuable without the learning lab portion (150). This response was underlined in students’ open‐ended suggestions for improvements to the program, where a number of students (about one in five) in both Arts ALL and Social Sciences ALL students recommended that learning lab assignments should be made more meaningful and/or the labs should be eliminated.

• Regarding the courses in the ALL configurations:

o The majority of both the Arts ALL (78%) and the Social Sciences ALL (71%) students found their courses to be either moderately or very challenging, with mean ratings of 2.81 and 2.77 (out of 4.0) respectively.

o Students in the Social Sciences ALLs reported critically examining their own views on topics or issues, trying to understand others’ views on topics or issues, and connecting ideas from different courses somewhat more frequently than did the Arts ALL students. However, this difference may be misleading, because the kinds of critical thinking required of students in the arts differs from that required in the social sciences. Students in the Arts ALL, for example, noted the value of the role of the critique process in their reflective essays—a process they were just learning in their first quarter in the arts.

o Arts ALL students were a bit more likely to recommend the classes included in their clusters to others than were Social Sciences ALL students.

o Arts ALL students singled out their DXArts course and Social Sciences ALL students singled out their English writing links for both positive and negative comments. Both classes were described as challenging.

• Regarding diversity:

o The ALL groups were somewhat less diverse than the overall UW population with a statistically significant higher proportion of Caucasians than in other freshman populations.

o Students in the Arts and Social Science ALLs felt that the UW was “pretty diverse” (a rating of 3 out of 4). o Students in both kinds of ALLs valued the contribution diversity might make to their learning a little more

than they expected diversity to contribute to their learning. For both groups, the expected contribution was closer to “a little” than “quite a lot” (2.47 for Arts ALLS and 2.37 for Social Sciences ALLs out of a possible 4.0), while the value students placed on that contribution was closer to “quite a lot” (2.88 for Arts and 2.71 for Social Sciences ALLs).

• More students in the Social Sciences ALLs read the UW common book than students in the Arts ALLs, probably

because it was required reading in one of the classes in the Social Sciences ALLs, Geography 123.

• The ALL students had a little familiarity with most UW resources by the end of the quarter, even though such

familiarity was not an official part of the ALL program.

• By the end of fall quarter, the majority of both the Arts ALL and the Social Sciences ALL students felt prepared

to succeed academically, were excited about the courses they had signed up for winter quarter, and, for the most part, were satisfied with their decision to attend the UW. In addition, significantly higher proportions of Arts ALL students somewhat or strongly agreed that they felt like a member of the UW community (94% versus 60%) and that the UW cared about their success (81% versus 49%).

• In terms of the overall UW climate and their place in it, Arts ALL students had more positive feelings than did

Social Sciences ALL students, a result generally consistent across questions about belonging and about the UW climate in general.

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• Regarding what they valued the most about the ALL experience, both the Arts and the Social Sciences ALL

students noted in open‐ended responses that meeting other students with shared interests was the best part of the program. While the second most prominent value for the Arts ALL students was the classes in the cluster, the second most prominent value for the Social Sciences ALL students was connecting with UW faculty.

• As stated earlier in this summary, the aspects of the ALLs that both the Arts and the Social Sciences students

felt was the least valuable were the joint panels, particularly the panel that brought both of the disciplinary areas together. Students in both types of ALLs expressed a strong interest in hearing about the majors in which they were already interested within those disciplinary areas—drama and history, for example—rather than about fields of study outside those disciplinary areas or even within those areas but outside their specific interests.

RESULTS FROM PRE‐ AND POST‐QUARTER REFLECTIVE STATEMENTS

As part of their regular coursework for their Arts 150 and Social Sciences 150 seminars, the ALL students wrote reflective essays at the beginning and the end of fall quarter. The early fall quarter reflective essay asked students to discuss what they knew about either the Arts or the Social Sciences and to note what interested them in their respective area. The reflective essay they wrote at the end of the quarter responded to the following three questions:

1. What are the two or three most important things you’ve learned about the arts/social sciences this

quarter and where/how did you learn them? Please give specific examples to illustrate your response and feel free to identify similarities and differences between this and your earlier response.

2. Was there a moment with a particular faculty member or advanced art/social sciences student that

inspired you to want to learn more or explore something new? If so, please describe that moment, how it inspired you, and what it has led you to want to do. If not, why not?

3. Talk about an experience you had related to the ALL but outside the classroom. How was that experience

related to the ALL and what kinds of questions did that experience raise for you?

Students’ pre‐ and post‐quarter responses were analyzed separately using an inductive process designed to identify themes as they emerged from the students’ words. Themes noted at the beginning of the quarter were then compared with those noted at the end, particularly responses to question 1 above, to determine whether students’ thinking had changed over time. As is always the case with this kind of qualitative data, students did not always respond directly to the questions asked. We could sometimes infer change over time from their comments, and sometimes students directly stated what they felt had changed and why.

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Arts ALLs

Thirty‐one of the 38 (81.6%) students who enrolled in the two Arts 150 ALL sections completed both the pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective essays, 17 from the Visual Arts based section, and 14 from the Performance and English based section. Seven themes—or changes—were evident from their responses.

Changes in Definitions and Perceptions of Art

The most prominent theme, identifiable in the responses of 30 of the 31 (96.8%) Arts ALL students who completed pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective statements, was change in their perceptions and definitions of the arts. Students in the performance based ALL seemed to have a broader sense of performance, while students within the visual arts seemed to have expanded their ideas of what constituted art, particularly because of the content of DXARTS. For example, one student said,

“My definitions of art have been expanded and changed dramatically through my experiences this quarter. The class that I think had the biggest impact on me was DXArts200. The Ideas and concepts presented in DXArts were so different from anything that I really ever thought about before.”

Changes in students’ definitions and perceptions of art took several shapes. As noted previously, the most pronounced direction of change, mentioned by more than half of the students whose responses fell into this category, was that their definitions of what constituted art expanded throughout the quarter. In addition to this group, 12 students said that they had learned that art is more challenging than they had originally believed, noting that it is hard to make art in the real world, that great performances take hard work, and that art is just as challenging as other subjects. Five students mentioned that being exposed to a broad spectrum of art had expanded their ideas about the field as a whole, and five students said they had learned that the arts can lead to successful career options. Regarding careers, one student commented:

“I learned that a career in the arts is possible through the numerous panels we had with successful dancers, set designers, English professors, and many other careers based on the arts.”

Other changes in students’ perceptions of the arts included five students who said that they believed that what constituted art was subjective and four students who said that they now understood that art takes time and commitment. In the words of one of these students:

“I learned that while hard work and passion are important, great art takes time, and becoming a great artist takes time. Patience is often the practice of the artist.”

Finally, in this group of students whose ideas about art were altered by their Arts ALLs, two students noted that the arts are more complex than they originally thought; two said that art is a creature of change and evolution; and individuals noted that art requires research, and that art concepts are related across disciplines.

An Understanding of the Value of Critique

A second theme of change identifiable in students pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective statements focused on the importance and effects of critique, which was introduced to the Arts ALL students in their courses and seminar and mentioned by 25 (80.6%) of the respondents. This change is significant, because critique is the heart of the learning experience for many arts students, as well as for working artists. Critique is an oral or written discussion strategy used to analyze, describe, and interpret works of art. Students’ work is critiqued by instructors and peers in their first art classes at the UW, and the critique process continues throughout their majors. Through critiques the arts have built in a self‐reflection process for majors. Critiques help students hone their persuasive oral and writing, information‐gathering, and justification skills. An art critique is often related to four major areas of art criticism: description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment.

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Within this theme of critique, 15 of the students spoke broadly about the value of the critique process, saying that critique is important in general, essential to learning in particular, and has affected the way that they view at art. In addition, 10 of the students who mentioned critique spoke about how their personal relationships to the process had changed. The following three quotations illustrate this category of response:

• “I wasn’t simply looking at it. There was only a couple of weeks left in the quarter and through my classes

in the ALL my critiquing skills had been finely tuned. It really made me realize that I will probably never look at art the same again.”

• “Doing group critiques in photography and industrial design help me see what I need to improve on my

next project, and also improve myself as an artist overall.”

• “I have learned not to take critiques personally, something that can take a while to get used to.”

The Value of Human and Other Arts Resources

Seventeen of the students who wrote pre‐ and post‐reflective essays (54.8%) spoke about gaining a new understanding of the importance of arts resources. Nine of these students spoke of how a graduate student or faculty member in the arts helped them understand the programs and their own work better. For example:

• “[My graduate student TA] is an amazing actress that I personally look up to, and was very talented at

bestowing her extensive knowledge of the theater upon us. She, also, gave us many tips for auditions, and how to prepare for them. I plan on keeping in touch with her through the rest of my college career.”

• “During the office hours meeting, [my TA’s] feedback about my acting and the progress that I was making

was very encouraging. I realized just how much I was learning with him. It was his advice and his enthusiasm for coaching me throughout quarter that really inspired me to continue studying acting.”

Along these lines, one student even mentioned that he regretted not attending office hours and making a stronger connection with his professor, saying:

“I think that if I would have gone to my teacher’s office hours, I would have had a better chance for inspiration in the field I am interested in.”

In addition to noting the value of faculty and graduate student TAs, students noted that through the course of the quarter, they were exposed to arts resources and opportunities that were helpful. For example, academic advisers were described as important and useful resources by students, and one student commented on her exposure to the greater Seattle Arts community, mentioning the Seattle Art Museum as a resource and questioning what it takes to be great:

“Going to the museum and viewing the art made me wonder what kind of status you need before your work is

accepted into a place like the SAM.”

Changes in Students’ Sense of Themselves

Fourteen students (45.2%) identified changes in their sense of themselves or their futures. For example, students noted that they had changed, narrowed, and/or confirmed ideas about their interests and about what they would major in; decided courses to take in the future; determined to ensure that creativity was part of their future

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occupations, discovered that they learned best from visual examples, determined to audition for a UW production, and decided to find a way to do what they loved. In the words of two students:

• “As for my strongest subjects, Drama and English were definitely the most interesting ones and the ones

that I was best at. Dance, while educational, is definitely not one of my interests.”

• Now it doesn’t seem so difficult to me for an artist to earn money and support themselves, contrary to my parent’s belief. However, it became clearer to me also how difficult it is to really make a big name for yourself in the field of arts. It’s vast, immense, and you just have to create a little niche for yourself and do what you love (at least that’s how I see it).

Sense of Community

The fifth theme identified in students’ responses was related to the sense of community that the ALL students experienced. Nine (29.0%) students spoke about the development of community over the course of the ALLs. Students noted that they found friends with the same interests, and that they were able to respect each other’s hard work and growth throughout the quarter. One student’s quotation illustrates this group of responses:

“Throughout this quarter I have made many friends that would not have happened without the ALL. It gave me a chance to connect with people from different parts of the country with similar interests and goals as me. I really like to hear about their past experiences in the world of dramatic art and how it has shaped what kind of actor and person they are today. It makes me wonder, if I had gone to a different school or lived somewhere else, would I be the same person and actor that I am today? How would that affect who I am and why I do what I do?”

Improvement of Technique

The sixth theme present in students’ reflective essays had to do with technique. Six (19.4%) of the 31 students who completed pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective essays commented on the skills that they gained. For example, one student said that she gained skills needed to understand and interpret Shakespeare, as follows:

“The class was approached in a totally different way than I had studied Shakespeare before and I learnt a lot about very particular cultural influences that come into his plays upon occasion as well. Studying areas like the Humors that come into his work regularly made me aware of more references and gave me a better understanding of some of the puns and double meanings.”

Other students explained that they learned how to act and had learned about objectives, obstacles, and actions in acting. Another student said that she learned a skill in design that could be applied to other forms of art that interest her. In her words:

“In Industrial Design, I learned how to use repeating patterns to make something more visually pleasing, be it an object or a character. There was no specific moment when I realized that, but I started incorporating the idea into a lot of my drawings outside of class and noticing when manufacturers or character designers used it. Repeating patterns throughout a design is going to stick with me for the rest of my life; it's quite useful.”

Study Abroad

Finally, four students (12.9%) said that they had become interested in studying abroad, either through the ALL course in general, or from hearing a panel discussion in their ALL 150 class. In one of the student’s words:

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“For me, the most inspiring class was our last one where Cynthia and Judi discussed study abroad programs. I had been considering study abroad before, but now this is definitely something I was to work toward. I’m inspired to try a summer program abroad, and hope to find one in the coming years that is right for me. I would love a summer exploration that goes somewhere in Scandinavia and hopefully there will be one in the future!”


Thirty‐eight (95.0%) of the 40 Social Sciences ALL students completed both the pre‐ and the post‐quarter reflective essays, 19 students from the Sociology, Psychology, and Writing Link ALL and 19 from the Economics, Geography and Writing based ALL section. Ten themes were evident from their responses.

Changes in One’s Understanding of the Social Sciences

Similar to students in the Arts ALLs, students in the Social Sciences ALLs experienced changes in their understanding of the social sciences over the course of the quarter. Changes in the way they viewed the social sciences could be noted across 23 (60.5%) of the students’ pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective essays. These changes included less generality and increasing specificity about what the social sciences are and do. One student’s early fall and late fall quarter comments illustrate this trend:

• Early fall: “The Social Sciences is the science of people. The various sciences included under this broad title

all study specific aspects of human development and interaction.”

• Late fall: “The most important things I learned about the social sciences this quarter were the distinctive differences in the way different disciplines such as economics and geography approach key issues like global finance and the unequal importance placed on the these disciplines. I learned this through the juxtaposition of my economics and geography classes.”

More than a third of the students whose responses suggested changes in their understanding of the social sciences said that they had learned that the social sciences interrelated and connected. For example, several students noted, as the student’s late fall comment does above, that the social sciences often look at the same topics but use different lenses to understand them.

In addition, individual students also reported that they had learned that the social sciences are research‐intensive, that the social science courses had enabled them to talk more fluidly and comfortably about social and political issues, and that the social sciences were more broad and expansive than they had originally thought.

Finding a Major

A second theme in the pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective essays for the Social Sciences ALLs was related to finding a major. Twenty‐one (55.3%) students included comments in their essays that fell into this category of responses. About a third of this group noted that they had been exposed to majors that they were not previously aware of. Another third identified their major. Closely related to discovering a major pathway, several students spoke of hearing about courses in the fall that they planned on taking in the near future. For example, one student:

“The most fascinating major I learned about from this panel was the Women’s Studies major. I had never heard of this major before, but it caught my attention and I plan to take a course in the future”

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In addition to the focus on one’s future major and coursework, some students in this group said that they had a clearer sense of how majors work at the UW.

Potential Careers

More than half of the students in the Social Sciences ALLs (52.6%) expressed a new understanding in their reflective essays about careers possible to social sciences majors. Most of those students noted that they had learned that a social science degree can lead to many different employment or graduate school opportunities. Two students’ comments illustrate this group:

• “I was very surprised to find that there are many psychology and geography majors applying for law

school, and this makes me happy because I can really study what I want in these first four years (psychology has become a major interest for me) and not have to worry so much about getting into grad school. I learned this from the panels that we had in the ALL.”

• “I learned that a social science major does not equal one career, but can lead to many different options.”

Other students’ comments regarding careers included those of two students who said that they felt inspired to follow their career interests, rather than a lucrative career pathway. Two others said that they had learned that a social science major could “take you anywhere.” In addition, individual students noted that they had identified some career paths that fit their interests and that they had discovered their major of choice could lead to a specific career.

Connections to Faculty Members

The fourth theme present in the students’ reflective essays relates to their experience with faculty members. Fourteen (36.8%) students said that they felt inspired by and connected to a faculty member that they met during the fall quarter ALL experience. Half of those students said that the faculty interview assignment opened the door to these connections, and therefore, it was an important and inspiring experience. Students suggested that the opportunities they had with faculty members seemed to unveil faculty as humans. For example, one student said:

“The teacher felt like a real person and the things he told us about his journey into becoming a teacher seemed to make it less daunting. I was happy to also hear that I could actually find this teacher again to teach a class, which seems like a rarity in such a large college.”

Some students said that they had connected with a faculty member individually, and others specifically noted that they felt connected to faculty because of the faculty panels arranged by the ALL advisers. There also seemed to be a direct correlation between students’ career interests and major interests and a positive faculty experience that they had during the quarter. For example, one student said about a faculty member:

“[She] spent her entire life doing volunteer work, and working selflessly for projects simply because she had a passion for them, not for the reward in material objects, but for the reward she herself felt in doing something for others. Therefore, instead of looking towards careers and majors that will earn me the big bucks, I instead intend to explore my options; live out my passions.”

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Sense of Community

The sense of community that the students established in their individual ALLs was another very important theme, evident in the response of 13 (34.2%) students. These students noted that the community formed by the ALL was the most important aspect of their ALL experience, often saying that they had made connections with like‐minded friends whom they would not have met so soon at the UW. As two students said:

• “I think that the most important experience that I have had outside the classroom with this ALL, is the

friends that I have made through this class. Since college is a very new time for many people I think that a class like this that pairs rather similar people is very valuable, and that was the most important out‐of‐ class experience for me.”

• “Wherever we went, the discussion inevitably turned to the stuff we had learned in class, regardless of

what we were talking about or doing.”

Value of the Panels

Eleven (28.9%) students mentioned the importance of the ALL panels in their responses to the reflective essay questions at the end of the quarter. Most of those students said that the panels were inspiring and influential, as well as informative. In the words of two students:

• “However, after attending several of the panels in my ALL class, particularly the last panel with UW

graduates, I have learned that I can follow my passion, and earn a good living (although it may take a while, and I can’t expect to earn much right after graduation).”

• “When we had the professor panel; Professor Harris really inspired me to work harder and try my best to

succeed in my major. After hearing her goals and accomplishments it seemed more real for me to reach my goals and expectations.”

Information about Earning a Degree

Nine of the Social Sciences ALL students (23.7%) made observations about how the university system is structured, and included student impressions of a liberal arts education. Several students, for example, said that they had discovered that a liberal arts degree is very practical and expansive. Some students learned about the differences between the kinds of degrees they could get, and others spoke about learning various pathways to degrees. In the words of one student:

“I was able to learn how long it takes to get a Ph.D. This experience helped me better understand the process of

obtaining a degree and how to be successful. I learned about different internships and how relevant they are in order to get into a particular profession. If I ever want to get involved in an internship, I can contact Marsha Linehan and be part of her research!”

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Value of the Social Sciences ALL Experience

Nine (23.7%) students’ responses directly spoke of the value of the ALL experience. Most of them expressed appreciation for the ALL program and the courses connected to the ALLs. These students sometimes noted that the ALL put the information from the academic courses into context and helped them in specific ways. In the words of two of these students:

• “This program is similar to the FIG classes but instead it is more based on academics and this helped me a

lot and I enjoyed my experience with the small number of students because we went through the same trials together.”

• “I feel more equipped for future registrations because of the ALL assignment to gather information about

classes”.

Not everyone in this group expressed appreciation for the ALL experience, a result consistent with the survey results. Two students had negative things to say about the value of the experience. One felt that the ALL load was too time consuming and overwhelming for his first quarter here at UW, and the other student felt that the ALL lacked hands‐on experiences outside of the classroom.

Study Abroad

Another important theme in students’ reflective essay was their interest in and plans to study abroad. Nine (23.7%) students mentioned their interest in studying abroad and of those nine, seven said they planned on it after exposure to panels and after talking to faculty members who encouraged them to do so. One of the students said:

“I never really had an interest in going abroad, but now I am inspired to at least seriously consider it.”

In addition, hearing alumni speak at one of the ALL panels, another student said:

“Their stories about their time in college and their jobs afterwards gave me ideas of things I hope to do in my future, such as studying abroad, internships, and volunteer.”

Becoming Involved in Experiential Learning

The last major theme related to the students’ gaining learning experiences outside of the classroom. Seven (18.4%) students spoke of having powerful experiences outside the classroom and of becoming involved in UW activities as a result of their experience in the ALL. For example:

• “I think one of the coolest experiences I have had related to my ALL is being a member of SLAP. I was

dealing with workers rights violations by Nike in Honduras, and at the same time was learning about the Post‐Fordist model of macroeconomics in Geography 123.”

• “I remember when the advanced undergraduate panel visited our academic learning link and

recommended meaningful ways to get involved in the community through the University of Washington. I attended a Pipeline Project orientation as a result of this and next quarter I am going to begin tutoring.”

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Other Comments

In addition to these themes, one or two students in the Social Sciences ALLs mentioned that:

• They had taken social science courses in high school and knew they were interested in the social sciences because of that experience

• They had a better understanding of the media and how the world works as a result of their ALL courses • They had improved their writing skills • They were leaving the ALL with more questions than they had at the start • They liked the social sciences because they were useful in daily life: “In our ALL program we looked at

how one can be successful in life by going to school. It was interesting to realize that the social issues we learn about in school are apparent everywhere in a person’s daily life.”

RESULTS FROM A CONVERSATION WITH ALL LEARNING LAB LEADERS

OEA staff met with three of the four ALL leaders on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, for 60 minutes to discuss their perceptions of the ALL experience. Questions asked of the leaders and their responses follow.

Were you, yourselves, in a FIG when you were freshmen? If so, what was your experience?

All three ALL leaders had been in FIGs related to their current interests and majors. Two of the three spoke of the value of being in classes with other students who shared their academic interests (students who were “like‐ minded”), but they also said that the assignments in the FIG seminar had felt like busy work and were not helpful. All three said that their FIG leaders had not known much about the area of focus that their FIGs had. One of the ALL leaders said:

“I knew I wanted to study art, but I didn’t know which art. My FIG leader was a sophomore in Communication, and she was really kind but knew nothing about art.”

Did your FIG experience inform your work in the ALL in any way or not?

Two of the ALL leaders said that their FIG experience had informed their work in the ALL. One of them said that, because her FIG leader knew little about the “interest” area of the FIG, he made sure that he had all the information students might need.

However, for the most part, when asked to specify how their own FIG experience had informed their work in the ALLs, the ALL leaders focused, instead, on how their knowledge of and experience in their majors had informed their work in the ALLs. Two of the ALL leaders spoke about the ways their work in their senior seminars informed how they led their ALLs—using their knowledge of what students would need to do at the end of their time at the UW to inform what they did at the beginning. Two of ALL leaders spoke about how useful it was to know from experience something about the classes the ALL students were taking. One leader noted that he had not learned to think about disciplines as an undergraduate in the way he was trying to help his students understand until he was in a senior seminar.

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One of the reasons the ALLs came into being was to help students understand how disciplines operate at UW. How well do you think the ALLs were able to provide students with information on Arts and Social Sciences disciplines?

The three ALL leaders agreed that the ALLs did a good job of communicating the practices of the disciplines they were working with, but they felt the ALLs could not communicate much about those disciplinary practices in comparison with the disciplinary practices of others. Without such comparison, it is difficult for students to fully grasp the ways disciplines shape knowledge. The three leaders noted that much of their students’ learning about disciplinary practices was the result of faculty discussions about their research.

However, none of the three felt that the joint panel of both social sciences and arts faculty was effective, because students were mainly interested in their own specialized fields and because differences between the disciplines were never underscored. As one of the ALL leaders said, “We needed a moderator who pointed out the differences.”

All three leaders spoke of ways they had tried to make disciplinary practice explicit in their ALLs. One said that she asked faculty to talk about their research “in relation to making” and idea generation. One of the ALL leaders said that he tried to make it clear to students that not only did the approaches to subject matter in each class differ, but that sometimes within those disciplines there were “all different ways they approached the same topics”— with some researchers in the field using quantitative approaches and others qualitative, for example. He said that he felt that students understood “what the social sciences do” but they may have less understanding of the connections between the work of individual faculty who spoke to them. He said he noted progress in students’ understanding of the disciplines by tracking changes in their questions. He said that at the beginning when he would mention a social science discipline, students’ questions would center on what was required in that major. By the end of the class, however, their questions were more focused on aspects of the discipline, such as the methods it preferred. In his words, “They were more interested in the meta‐narrative that we were trying to establish.”

Two of the ALL leaders spoke about the tension between keeping the ALLs focused on the academic (i.e., on the disciplinary areas and their practices) and also covering some of the same orientation ground covered in the FIGs.

What worked in the ALLs? What were its strengths?

ALL leaders mentioned the following strengths:

• Faculty members teaching the classes students were taking came to the ALL and spoke to the students. One of the leaders said that this experience was “hugely impacting” because students “could ask them things not related to coursework, such as how did you know what you wanted to do in your life.” ArtsALL leaders reported that this was important for the art students who spoke frequently about parental pressure to choose a different major.

• The students formed communities very quickly.

• The students were “really excited about learning these new things.”

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• By the end of the quarter, students had a good understanding of the disciplinary area of the ALL they were in.

• By the end of the quarter, students had a good understanding of what college is like.

• Students “had to” interact with advisers, which gave them more information about the major and about registration, as well as introducing students to departmental advisers in a field students had expressed interest in.

What areas of the ALLs could be improved?

There was broad consensus among the ALL leaders about the following improvements:

• More planning could have been done earlier on the panels and panelists, so that ALL leaders could have better prepared for discussion around those presentations.

• In general, there should be more time for ALL leaders to have open discussions with students about their

classes, panelists, or alumni speakers—to help students think about and discuss what they are learning. Two of the ALL leaders spoke about how important it was to have time between panels to discuss the panels and help students make connections between them, to “sew it all together,” in one leader’s words. Another ALL leader felt that “Students needed more time to have focused discussions on specific things. Students wanted more of that—more of a deeper focus on something specific.” This leader spoke of how helpful an assignment would be that focused on a topic, such as immigration, and then imagined the questions about that topic that a variety of social science disciplines would ask and how they might answer them.

• Joint sessions between the Arts and Social Sciences ALLs should be eliminated, because students are not interested in them and speakers seem disconnected from each other regardless of discipline.

If we do not offer ALLs again, what aspects of the ALLs should be ported to the FIG program?

All leaders agreed that if the ALLs became part of the FIG program, it would be important to continue four aspects of the ALL experience. First, departmental advisers should continue to be an essential part of the program, and students in the ALLs should be required to speak with them advisers about their academic paths.

Second, the ALL leaders felt that it would be important to ensure that the faculty in the classes students took as part of the ALL configuration came to the FIG classes to speak with students. Furthermore, the ALL leaders advised that these conversations be informal, “not so panel‐like” in one of the ALL leader’s words. As that leader put it, these conversations should communicate that “we are all peers talking about where we are going. New students and faculty share some of those same issues.”

Third, the ALL leaders strongly felt that if the ALL program became part of the FIG offerings, the students leading those particular FIGs must have direct relationships to the disciplines and courses in them, so that the leader could help students “connect the academic content of the classes” to the academic life of the UW. One leader said, “Otherwise, these are not Freshman Interest Groups; they are just Freshman Groups.”

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Finally, the ALL leaders felt that, in general, if the ALL program became part of the FIG offerings, the program should focus on the new students it serves, rather than on helping the FIG leaders develop leadership skills. The perception among ALL leaders was that the FIG program primarily focuses on creating a strong leadership experience for the FIG leaders when it should be focused on student learning.

CONCLUSIONS

We can draw the following conclusions from the assessment of the ALL program:

• Students’ perceptions of their experience suggest that the ALL program goals were either fully or partially met by the program as follows:

o The primary learning goal for the ALLs was to help freshmen understand how disciplines shape the

work of academic communities at the UW. The ALLs met this goal, particularly as it related to the disciplinary communities in which their ALLs were situated. By the end of the quarter, students had a better understanding of the disciplinary area of the ALL in which they were enrolled. Both survey results and students’ reflective essays made this growth in understanding clear. For example, analysis of students’ reflective essays showed that the ALL experience opened up students’ ideas about what their respective disciplinary areas encompassed and did. The program also introduced students to important methods for learning, such as critique in the case of the Arts ALLs, and provided students with a sense of how academic work could be connected to discipline‐related careers after college.

o A second goal of the ALL program was to foster intellectual interaction between the people and

programs that comprise a disciplinary community. Survey results show that students felt that they had such interaction, particularly with peers who shared their intellectual interests and passions. Students also felt they had opportunities to connect with faculty, advisers, and academic departments. Therefore, the ALL program also met this goal.

o The third ALL program goal was to introduce students to the questions asked by practitioners in a

discipline and to the ways practitioners sought to answer those questions so that students might ask and answer questions of their own. Students reported that their ALL experience had helped them learn “a little” about disciplinary questions and methods for answering them, so this goal was partially met by the ALL program.

o A fourth goal for the ALL program was to foster student self‐reflection as a way to help students

improve learning. Arts ALL students felt that they had more opportunity for reflection than did the Social Sciences ALL students—perhaps because the critique process in the Arts requires self‐ reflection—but both groups reported minor gains in this area. Therefore, students felt that this goal was also partially met by the program. However, the program assessment process, which included requiring pre‐ and post‐quarter reflective statements from student, as well as asking them to complete a comprehensive survey that required them to reflect upon their experience in the ALLs, suggests that students may have underestimated their opportunities for reflection.

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• By the end of the quarter students felt strongly connected to each other, and these connections were both social and based in shared academic interests. These connections with peers were the most valued part of the ALL program for both Arts and Social Sciences participants.

• By the end of the quarter, ALL students had a clearer sense of their own direction, in terms of course

planning, majors, and potential careers.

• In general, students in the Arts ALLs were somewhat more satisfied with their experience than students in

the Social Sciences ALLs. Overall, about 94% of the Arts ALL students and 86% of the Social Sciences ALL students agreed that they were glad they had chosen to be in an ALL. However, about half of each ALL group felt that the ALL experience might have been as valuable without the learning lab portion (150).

• Both Arts and Social Science ALL students greatly appreciated and valued their ALL 150 peer leaders. They

also reported benefitting from meeting with other advanced undergraduates majors in their respective areas of interest.

• Students and student learning lab leaders recommended that the joint panels between Social Sciences

and Arts areas be eliminated in future versions of the ALLs. However, students in both groups particularly noted the value of faculty panels, especially when faculty participants represented the student’s own particular interest.

• Students in both the Arts and Social Sciences ALLs felt that there should be fewer assignments for the

learning labs (150). Both groups valued the planning assignments they were asked to do, and the Social Sciences ALL students found the interview assignment conducted with faculty to be valuable, as well. Student learning lab leaders echoed this sentiment with their recommendation that students be given more time in their 150 classes to think about and discuss what they were learning with each other.

• While students in both the Arts and the Social Sciences ALLs were, for the most part, satisfied with their

decisions to attend the UW, Arts ALL students had were more positive about feeling like members of the UW community (94% for Arts compared with 60% for Social Sciences students), about feeling that the UW cared about their success (81% for Arts compared with 49% for Social Sciences students), and about aspects of the UW climate in general.

• Because students in the ALL program are somewhat less diverse than the overall entering freshman

population, the ALL program may want to actively recruit students of color.

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APPENDIX A: Arts ALL and Social Sciences ALL Learning Lab Syllabi

Arts 150C, Learning Lab in the Arts Syllabus Autumn 2009 Wednesday 130‐220, Art Building room 204 Office hours, questions, conversations: Cynthia Caci, Academic Adviser DXARTS [email protected] or by appointment, Raitt 207 Judi Clark, Academic Adviser Art, Art History, Design [email protected] M, T, TH 1‐3pm, Art 104 Liz Copland, College of Arts & Sciences Links Coordinator [email protected] ………….. Art 309

Courses included in this Academic Learning Link (ALL) Art 140, Basic Photography Art 165, Introduction to Industrial Design DXARTS 200, Digital Art and New Media: History, Theory, and Practice Arts 150, Learning Lab in the Arts

Objectives and Goals The overarching learning objective of every Academic Learning Link (ALL) is understanding the nature of disciplinarity. “Disciplinarity” is the distinctive intellectual and creative practices that define the work of a scholarly or artistic community. The goal of the ALL is to engage students in disciplinarity through connection, inspiration, and reflection:

Connect: The first step in becoming a member of a learning community is connecting with the people (faculty, advisers, students, alumni) and with the programs (departments, majors, student groups, community organizations) that make up that community. Connecting means not just meeting, but engaging in intellectually rich conversations ‐ with senior students about their learning experiences, with alumni about their growth into professionals, and with faculty about their research and teaching.

Inspire: Connecting with the practitioners in a discipline leads to opportunities for understanding the work they perform – the questions they ask and how they go about answering them. Getting to know your professors as scholars and artists will allow you to investigate why research and creative production are at the heart of good teaching. They will inspire you to learn, question, and solve problems on your own – the next step in becoming a full‐fledged member of a learning community.

Reflect: Learning isn’t fully realized until you have discovered ways of understanding what you have learned and how. Each of the academic courses in your ALL will contribute to your learning within a discipline; the ALL Learning Lab creates a space for reflecting on the nature and quality of that learning. Learning about learning is a self‐conscious habit that all good scholars acquire. It helps them assess what they know, understand how they can to know it, and develop better methods and pathways for future learning. Reflection is vital to the development of a fully aware intellectual identity, to becoming not just a student, but a student of something. The reflective work of the ALL Learning Lab, then, is a meditation on disciplinarity itself.

ARTS 150C Academic Learning Link Art/Design/DXARTS Weekly Schedule

Week/ Session

Topic

SEPT 9/30

Introductions ‐‐‐ meet the instructors of ARTS 150C. The road ahead: what’s this going to look like? Student panel Advanced students share their early experiences and work in Art, Design and DXARTS

OCT 10/7

Faculty panel Art. Design. Technology James Coupe/DXARTS , Rebecca Cummins/Studio Art, Dominic Muren/Design

OCT 10/14

Career Panel Jobs in the arts. Jobs for arts majors.

mailto:[email protected]



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Alumni, current students and Patrick Chidsey, Career Counselor. JOINT SESSION with ARTS 150 labs

OCT 10/21

Panel Research at an R1 ‐‐‐ what does it look like in the arts, the humanities and the social sciences? How to get involved. Janice De Cosmo (Intro), Dean Mihata, JOINT SESSION with SOCSCI 150 and ARTS 150 labs

OCT 10/28

Out of the classroom and into the performance hall, museum, gallery…. Discussion of Assignment 1 What is Art? How can you tell if it’s good? Can good art transcend time/space/culture? How to experience the arts and think critically about that experience. Joint Session with Arts 150 labs

NOV 11/4

Student groups in the Arts and Humanities. UW Film Club, Bricollage, Daily, National Designers Assoc., Dance Student Assoc.,Theater Society. JOINT SESSION with ARTS 150 labs

NOV 11/18

Advising Session Academic planning for winter quarter. Assignment 2 due. ArtsLink advisers available to help students plan their second quarter at UW.

NOV 11/25

Discussion of final project. Liz Copland and Monique Courcy lead students to create projects that will be show cased on the ArtsLink web site. JOINT SESSION with ARTS 150 labs

DEC 12/2

Alumni panel The art of critique. A look at the work of advanced students in the arts and a discussion about the nature of critique and the skills gained through its practice.

DEC 12/9

Globalizing your education. Presentation and discussion of study abroad options in the arts and humanities. JOINT SESSION with both ARTS 150 labs

Final 12/14

Projects for publication on the ArtsLink web site are due.

Grading This class is graded Cr/NC (Credit/No Credit) 50% of your grade will be based on the three written class assignments. 50% of your grade will be based on participation in class.

Equal Opportunity The UW reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam‐era veteran in accordance with UW policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations.

Disability Accommodation If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, (206) 543‐8924 (V/TTY) or [email protected]. If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodation, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need for the class.

Participation Absences from class prevent participation and may negatively affect grades. If you miss class due to illness or emergencies immediately notify your instructor and insure that all missed assignments and exams are completed.


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SOC SCI 150 B Learning Lab in the Social Sciences Syllabus Autumn 2009 Wednesday 130-220, Art Building room 110 (and Art RM 327)

Office hours, questions, conversations: Richard Roth, Director of Academic Affairs and Assistant to the Chair in Geography, 206-543-3246, [email protected], Advising by appointment.. 415B Smith Hall Liz Copland, College of Arts & Sciences Links Coordinator, [email protected] ….Office hours Th 12-1pm Art 309 Garrett Strain, Learning Lab Instructor, Section B , Advanced Economics and International Studies Undergraduate, [email protected] ….Office hours Th 12-1pm in Art RM 309

Courses included in this Academic Learning Link (ALL) Geography 123-Introduction to globalization with Professor Matt Sparke Economics 200-Introduction to Microeconomics with Professor Haideh Salehi-Esfahani English 198D-Writing in the Social Sciences in the field of Geography Soc Sci 150, Learning Lab in the Social Sciences

Objectives and Goals The overarching learning objective of every Academic Learning Link (ALL) is understanding the nature of disciplinarity. “Disciplinarity” is the distinctive intellectual and creative practices that define the work of a scholarly or artistic community. The goal of the ALL is to engage students in disciplinarity through connection, inspiration, and reflection:

Connect: The first step in becoming a member of a learning community is connecting with the people (faculty, advisers, students, alumni) and with the programs (departments, majors, student groups, community organizations) that make up that community. Connecting means not just meeting, but engaging in intellectually rich conversations - with senior students about their learning experiences, with alumni about their growth into professionals, and with faculty about their research and teaching.

Inspire: Connecting with the practitioners in a discipline leads to opportunities for understanding the work they perform – the questions they ask and how they go about answering them. Getting to know your professors as scholars and artists will allow you to investigate why research and creative production are at the heart of good teaching. They will inspire you to learn, question, and solve problems on your own – the next step in becoming a full-fledged member of a learning community.

Reflect: Learning isn’t fully realized until you have discovered ways of understanding what you have learned and how. Each of the academic courses in your ALL will contribute to your learning within a discipline; the ALL Learning Lab creates a space for reflecting on the nature and quality of that learning. Learning about learning is a self-conscious habit that all good scholars acquire. It helps them assess what they know, understand how they can to know it, and develop better methods and pathways for future learning. Reflection is vital to the development of a fully aware intellectual identity, to becoming not just a student, but a student of something. The reflective work of the ALL Learning Lab, then, is a meditation on disciplinarity itself.

SOC SCI 150--Course Schedule—ALL #2 (GEOGRAPHY/ECONOMICS) The schedule below is tentative.

This class meets in Art 110 (and sometimes in Art 327, check with your instructor).

Week/

Session Topic Assignments




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WK1 9/30 ART 110

Introductions --- Meet course instructor. Learn about class objectives and assignments for the quarter.

Assignment #1 DUE 10/4 Begin research on faculty member write-up (Assignment #2, Due 10/14).

WK2 10/7 ART 327

Advanced undergraduate panel discussion. Seniors from various Social Science majors will discuss what got them excited about their major, what kinds of work and reading they do in the major, and how they hope to apply what they’ve learned

WK3 10/14 ART 110

In class work day. Meet with your group to generate a plan (choosing one faculty member, discussing possible questions, etc) for carrying out Assignment #3.

Assignment #2 is Due. Begin work on Group Research Project (Assignment #3). Set up your faculty interview ASAP.

WK4 10/21

ART 327

Panel Discussion: The Research and Teaching Connection.--- What does research look like in the arts, the humanities and the social sciences? How do faculty research and teaching mutually re-enforce each other?

JOINT SESSION with SOCSCI 150 and ARTS 150 labs

WK5 10/28 ART 110

Core Faculty Panel---Matt Sparke from Geography and Haideh Saleh- Esfahni from Economics share what they research, what they love about their disciplines, and how their disciplines differ and even define terms differently.

Conduct faculty interview for assignment #3 ASAP!

WK6 11/4 ART 327

Study Abroad Panel--Faculty panel spotlighting various opportunities for studying how social issues are defined and play out in different parts of the world.. JOINT SESSION with SOC SCI 150 labs

WK8 11/18 ART 327

Academic planning session. Meet briefly with an academic adviser to review your plans for winter quarter (Assignment #3) JOINT SESSION WITH SOC SCI 150 labs

Assignment #4 is Due Interview with faculty member should be completed.

WK9 11/25 ART 327

Presentation check-in (Day before Thanksgiving). Bring Assignment #3 materials for an in-class work session.

WK10 12/2 ART 327

Slink Slam! Faculty panel discussion topic: Social Activism, Political Advocacy and Public Scholarship in the Social Sciences. (Location TBA) Open to the public JOINT SESSION WITH BOTH SOC 150 classes.

WK11 12/9 ART 327

Alumni panel—Find out about life for social science majors after graduation. A panel of social science alumni will share their often unexpected career trajectories and discuss the ways that the analytical rigor of an undergrad education should not be underestimated. Course evaluations.

Assignment #3 is DUE Begin work on assignment #5

WK 12 12/14

NO CLASS- FINALS WEEK Reflection due. Email to your ALL leader by midnight on Monday 12/14

Assignment #5 DUE

Assignments

#1—Reflection—DUE 10/4 by midnight.

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#2. Faculty Research—Research one faculty member in the social sciences online. Review their CV and/or faculty webpage to learn about what they teach and their area of research. Write an academic biography of this faculty member and bring it to class. Formulate questions that you would ask if you were conducting an interview with your chosen faculty member. DUE 10/14

#3. Group Project—Select one of the faculty members profiled by someone in your group, and request an in- person interview with that faculty member. Gather an understanding of their research, department, and interests for background, and then, using a set of common questions, interview that faculty member. After the interview, collectively create a blogpost profiling that faculty member. DUE 12/9.

#4. Academic Planning-- Create three potential schedules to be reviewed by an academic adviser in class. DUE 11/18

#5—Reflection- DUE 12/14

Grading

This class is graded Cr/NC (Credit/No Credit) 50% of your grade will be based on the three written class assignments. 50% of your grade will be based on participation in class.

Equal Opportunity The UW reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran in accordance with UW policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations.

Disability Accommodation If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, (206) 543-8924 (V/TTY) or [email protected]. If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodation, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need for the class.

Participation Absences from class prevent participation and may negatively affect grades. If you miss class due to illness or emergencies immediately notify your instructor and insure that all missed assignments and exams are completed.


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APPENDIX B: Reflective Questions Reflective Response Questions for ALLs

PRE- Quarter: Tell us what you know about the arts/social sciences, and what interests you. Please give specific examples.

POST- Quarter:

1.) What are the two or three most important things you’ve learned about the arts/social sciences this quarter and where/how did you learn them? Please give specific examples to illustrate your response and feel free to identify similarities and differences between this and your earlier response.

2.) Was there a moment with a particular faculty member or advanced art/social sciences student that inspired you to want to learn more or explore something new? If so, please describe that moment, how it inspired you, and what it has led you to want to do. If not, why not?

3.) Talk about an experience you had related to the ALL but outside the classroom. How was that experience related to the ALL and what kinds of questions did that experience raise for you?

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APPENDIX C: Additional Demographic Tables

Table C1. Demographic differences between ALL and FIG students ALL Students (n=78) FIG Students (n=2829) Sig X2 d

Male 30 (38.5%)

Female 48 (61.5%)

1190 (42.0%) 0.43

1639 (57.9%)

Mean Age 18.8 years 18.7 years -0.22 Median Age 18.6 years 18.6 years Ethnicity


Native American 1

90 (3.2%)

65

2.56

(1.3%) (2.3%) 0.35 Latino 7

(9.0%) Pacific Islander 0

216 (7.6%)

30

0.19

(0.0%) (1.1%) 0.84 Asian 17

(21.8%) Caucasian 62

897 (31.7%)

1690

3.46

(79.5%) (59.7%) *** 12.36 Unknown 2

(2.6%) Multi-Racial 10

256 (9.0%)

293

* 3.95

(12.8%) (10.4%) 0.49 Official UW URM Status 5

(6.4%) EOP Status 8

334 (11.8%)

540

2.14

(10.3%) Veteran 1

(1.3%) Resident Tuition 62

(79.5%)

(19.1%) * 3.87

27 (1.0%) 0.09 2294

(81.1%) 0.13 *p<0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

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Table C2. Demographic differences between ALL and Non‐FIG/ALL students Non-FIG/ALL Freshmen

(n=2345) Male 1154

(49.2%) Female 1191

(50.8%)

ALL Students (n=78) Sig X2 D

30 (38.5%) 3.49

48 (61.5%)

Mean Age 18.7 years 18.8 years 0.08 Median Age 18.6 years 18.6 years Ethnicity


Native American 18

0 (0.0%)

1

1.77

(0.8%) (1.3%) 0.26 Latino 105

(4.5%) Pacific Islander 16

7 (9.0%)

0

3.46

(0.7%) (0.0%) 0.54 Asian 713

(30.4%) Caucasian 1121

17 (21.8%)

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2.66

(47.8%) (79.5%) *** 30.33 Unknown 528

(22.5%) Multi-Racial 141

2 (2.6%)

10

*** 17.59

(6.0%) (12.8%) * 5.99 Official UW URM Status 167

(7.1%) EOP Status 252

5 (6.4%)

8

0.06

(10.7%) Veteran 19

(0.8%) Resident Tuition 1633

(69.6%)

(10.3%) 0.02

1 (1.3%) 0.21

62 (79.5%) 3.48

*p<0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

2009 Arts and Sciences Academic Learning Links...

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