How do we set conditions for student thriving on campus or what Laurie Schreiner, a professor of higher education at Azusa Pacific University and a scholar of student thriving, defines as being “fully engaged intellectually, socially and emotionally in the college experience”? The pathways she and colleagues have identified as contributing most significantly to students’ levels of thriving include: Campus involvement, Quality and frequency of student-faculty interaction, Spirituality (meaning and purpose) and a Psychological sense of campus community.
Schreiner’s Thriving Quotient survey brings it down to five main scales: Engaged Learning, Academic Determination, Positive Perspective, Diverse Citizenship and Social Connections. She has found that changeable traits such as these that institutions can work to promote can significantly impact student success, reported Inside Higher Ed.
“Once you factor in the college experiences that are good for students, their background characteristics are no longer significant predictors of whether they will thrive with us or not,” Schreiner explained. “So in an environment in which we’re often doomed by our demographics—if you’re low income, if you’re a person of color, if you didn’t go to a great high school—some of these things don’t really matter anymore.”
She added, “It’s really about what the institution is doing to help students engage in the learning process and really be able to come alive to all their potential.”
Read more about student thriving here.
