An analysis of the different influences on student learning at the college level. The volume is part of the Peabody Journal of Education series.

The Influence of ChatGPT on Student Learning Outcomes in Higher Education: A Meta-Analysis of the Initial Empirical Literature

In this book, the authors bring together in one place essential information about college students in the US in the 21st century. Synthesizing existing research and theory, they present an introduction to studying student characteristics, college choice and enrollment patterns, institutional types and environments, student learning, persistence, and outcomes of college. Substantially revised and updated, this new edition addresses contemporary and anticipated student demographics and enrollment patterns, a wide variety of campus environments (such as residential, commuter, online, hybrid), and a range of outcomes including learning, development, and achievement. The book is organized around Alexander Astin’s Inputs-Environment-Outputs (I-E-O) framework. Student demographics, college preparation, and enrollment patterns are the "inputs." Transition to college and campus environments are the substance of the "environment." The "outputs" are student development, learning, and retention/persistence/completion. The authors build on this foundation by providing relevant contemporary information and analysis of students, environments, and outcomes. They also provide strategies for readers to project forward in anticipation of higher education trends in a world where understanding "college students in the United States" is an ongoing project. By consolidating foundational and new research and theory on college students, their experiences, and college outcomes in the US, the book provides knowledge to inform policies, programs, curriculum and practice. As a starting point for those who seek a foundational understanding of the diversity of students and institutions in the US, the book includes discussion points, learning activities, and further resources for exploring the topics in each chapter.

Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic. The Handbook focuses on a comprehensive set of central areas of study in higher education that encompasses the salient dimensions of scholarly and policy inquiries undertaken in the international higher education community. Each annual volume contains chapters on such diverse topics as research on college students and faculty, organization and administration, curriculum and instruction, policy, diversity issues, economics and finance, history and philosophy, community colleges, advances in research methodology and more. The series is fortunate to have attracted annual contributions from distinguished scholars throughout the world.

Drawing on studies funded by the Lumina Foundation, the nation's largest private foundation focused solely on increasing Americans' success in higher education, the authors revise current theories of college student departure, including Tinto's, making the important distinction between residential and commuter colleges and universities, and thereby taking into account the role of the external environment and the characteristics of social communities in student departure and retention. A unique feature of the authors' approach is that they also consider the role that the various characteristics of different states play in degree completion and first-year persistence. First-year college student retention and degree completion is a multi-layered, multi-dimensional problem, and the book's recommendations for state- and institutional-level policy and practice will help policy-makers and planners at all levels as well as anyone concerned with institutional retention rates—and helping students reach their maximum potential for success—understand the complexities of the issue and develop policies and initiatives to increase student persistence.

This report explores the issues and concerns related to the development of a process to assess college student learning. Its primary focus is the attainment of National Education Goal 5.5 by the year 2000 which reads, "The proportion of college graduates who demonstrate an advanced ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and solve problems will increase substantially." The primary source of information for this report came from a set of 15 papers commissioned as background for a study design workshop held in November 1991, 45 reviews of the papers, and the proceedings of the study design workshop, "National Assessment of College Student Learning: Issues and Concerns." Chapter 1 addresses what it means to undertake a national assessment of college student learning and raises issues inherent in such a national assessment. Chapter 2 considers what specific skills should be assessed (critical thinking skills, assessment in the workplace, assessment in the colleges--basic skills and general intellectual skills, literacy and writing assessments, and necessary research). Chapter 3 raises six standards and other measurement issues: (1) relationship of standards to the task of defining a national assessment of college student learning; (2) historical context for standards; (3) relationship of standards of National Assessment of College Student Learning to the overall charge of Goal 5; (4) the testing of subject-specific content domains; (5) reasonableness of a single set of standards; (6) and the debate over portfolio assessment and its relationship to standards and values issues. (Contains over 450 footnotes.) (GLR)