Week 11: Student co-curricular activity involvment while attending college and how it influences student outcomes

Week 11 Article

Student Engagement in South African Higher Education by:

Matthew Wawrzynski, Asheigh Heck and Christopher Remley

The article discussed the significance that extracurricular activities which they describe a co-curricular experiences has on student expected outcome to do well in school.  This being in part that majority of the time a student attends school is outside of the classroom.

In this article study the authors examined the amount of time devoted to co-curricular actives, student characteristics and perceptions of learning outcomes, and reported barriers to student engagement in post-Apartheid South Africa. Students who were unable to navigate the barriers created by these social conditions were less likely to succeed.

3 sets of social conditions that influenced student success at one South African university

• Student background (socioeconomic class, culture, language)
• The learning environment created by the institution
• Individual student ability to navigate systems in place at the institution.

How non-cognitive skills affect student college outcomes which are:

• positive self-concept
• realistic self-appraisal
• successfully handling the system
• preference for long-term goals
• availability of strong support person
• leadership experience
• community involvement
• knowledge acquired in the field

These non-cognitive skills influence:

• adjustment
• motivation
• perceptions
• student outcomes

A survey was created and questions the focused around 8 non-cognitive skills identified by Sedlacek and questions from three student learning outcomes identified in Learning Reconsidered 2 which are humanitarianism, practical competence, and persistence and academic achievement.

Results:

• These data indicate that students who were involved in co-curricular activities, as opposed to those with no involvement, reported statistically significant higher student outcomes in all areas, except for two (i.e., peer connections and help others).
• High amounts of involvement (25 or more hours a week devoted to cocurricular activities) were likely to have a greater effect on enhancing students' academic work.
• A greater proportion of students living off campus were less likely to be involved in co-curricular activities.  Yet, students who lived on campus were less likely than commuting students to report feeling connected to their institution.
• Students who devoted the most time to co-curricular involvement indicated that their academic and leadership skills were enhanced as a result.
• Students reported that co-curricular involvement enhanced their academic achievement.

This article is useful because within my research study I will be comparing programs established by The University of Texas at Austin (UT) and the Dell Young Leaders Program (DYL) in South Africa.  How programs created to involve students and looking at the outcome of student performance of those students who do participate in the activities created to better enhance their college experiences.