ABSTRACT
Research suggests that student learning is in jeopardy because students are not appropriately engaged in the learning process (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). Fewer than 58 percent of a national sample of first-year college students indicated that they asked questions in class or contributed to class discussions (National Survey of StUdent Engagement, 2000). Only half of the students reported that they had an aboveaverage to good-quality relationship with their teachers (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2000). Forty-five percent of first-year students reported never discussing ideas from classes or readings with a faculty member, engagement behaviors that have been shown to lead to higher levels of personal development and learning (Astin, 1984, 1993; Martin, Mottet, & Myers, 2000; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991).
