Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project

Strand Definitions and Members

Data for the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project is being collected in three different strands, each overseen by a School of Education faculty member. Everything from transcripts to online classroom behavior, living situations to student moods is being considered. Among the three strands - detailed below - the study is capturing student experiences both inside and outside the classroom, and painting a complete portrait of student experience at UCI. 

Administrative, Student Affairs, Course Taking Trajectories​

Like most universities, UCI has decades-worth of data that details students’ social background, course enrollment and course performance. In the first strand of the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project, researchers will begin data mining this previously untapped resource to better understand how a student progresses through college. Information collected in this strand includes students’ course information, such as enrollment history, their declared major, grades, and with whom they took their classes. It also includes what clubs students participate in, if they are a member of a fraternity or sorority, and their housing location. In addition to this existing dataset, researchers in the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project will incorporate new forms of administrative data gathered from student interactions with campus services and in advisement software platforms that have recently been utilized in Predictive Analytical Reporting systems. Combined, the administrative data will provide a holistic perspective on how a diverse student body interacts with the curriculum to illustrate a student’s pathway through college.​

Strand Members
Rachel Baker, Assistant Professor, UCI School of Education (Strand Leader)
Michael Dennin, Vice Provost, Teaching & Learning and Dean, UCI Division of Undergraduate Education, Co-Principal Investigator (Strand Leader)
Peter Bearman, Columbia University
John Fink, Columbia University
Dennis Groth, Indiana University
Tim McKay, University of Michigan
Brian Prescott, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems
Zachary Pardos, UC Berkeley
Mitchell L. Stevens, Stanford University

---

Learning Management Systems

Online learning management systems have become ubiquitous in higher education; they’re used to administer assignments, readings, lectures and quizzes, as well as facilitate group discussion. A thorough analysis of a student’s behavior in an online system – their coursework, engagement with materials, and interaction with peers – is paramount to understanding their overall academic experience at a university. The second strand will analyze students’ online behavior in the Canvas Learning Management System, the most widely used platform for UCI courses. With the data collected in this strand, researchers can analyze how often and to what extent students are participating in discussions, when they are accessing and utilizing course materials, and when they are completing assignments. A majority of the existing research and scholarship on online learning management systems has focused on a single class. The Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project, by comparison, will track all undergraduates’ online behavior, over all their classes, over the course of two years. By combining the findings in this strand with the data collected throughout the project, we will develop a rich understanding of why and how students are succeeding or struggling, and how to most effectively provide corrective interventions where necessary

Strand Members
Mark Warschauer, Professor, UCI School of Education (Strand Leader)
Christopher Brooks, University of Michigan
Bodong Chen, University of Minnesota
Scott Crossley, Georgia State University
Nia Dowell, University of Michigan
Rene Kizelcec, Cornell University
John C. Mitchell, Stanford University
John Stamper, Carnegie Mellon University
Stephanie Teasley, University of Michigan
Jacob Richard Whitehill, Worchester Polytechnic Institute
Alyssa Wise, New York University

---

Survey, Experience Sampling, Performance Assessment 

It’s naïve to think that the entire undergraduate experience can be captured by focusing solely on classroom events. The Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project broadens the scope by administering multiple surveys and innovative experiential sampling methods. Surveys measuring psychological functioning, along with assessments that measure cognitive performance, were administered to the students in September 2019, and will be given again at the end of the study. By conducting these studies at the beginning and end of the project, we will be able to determine if a student’s ability to think in rigorous, critical ways is in fact affected by attending college. A subgroup of the population will also receive random text messages throughout the two years. The messages will ask questions to capture students’ physical and emotional state at any given moment. Questions can include where the students are, what they are doing, how they are feeling, and their interest level in the activity. Students will also receive a “daily diary” prompt where they will be asked to share their experiences over the past day or week. Through this experience sampling, we will better understand what the student body is doing at any given moment, and how students’ moods and emotions are a

Strand Members
Richard Arum, Dean and Professor, UCI School of Education (Strand Leader)
Jacquelynne Eccles, Distinguished Professor, UCI School of Education (Strand Leader)
William Damon, Stanford University
Wendy Fischman, Harvard University
Mary Murphy, Indiana University
Jeanne Nakamura, Claremont Graduate University
David Obstfeld, California State University-Fullerton
Robert W. Roeser, Penn State University
Jennifer Schmidt, Michigan State University
Charles E. Wright, UCI School of Social Sciences