NSSE analyst Angie Miller will share her work at this year's NAGC Annual Convention, to be held in Orlando, FL, from Nov. 3- 6. Her two research presentations focus on arts majors' career plans and confidence in various skills and learning outcomes, and benefits to learning strategies for high-achieving students attending Honors Colleges at the Saturday 12:00 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. sessions, respectively.
Learn more about these presentations and others here, and read the abstracts below:
"But What Are You Going to Do With Your Life? Arts Majors, Future Plans, and Career Skills"
Abstract: This study investigates findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), comparing career plans and skills across 11 major fields. Responses from over 31,000 graduating seniors across 126 different universities suggest that while arts majors are more likely to have non-traditional career plans, including self-employment, they also have higher confidence in creative thinking skills and report greater coursework emphasis on creativity. However, arts majors were lacking confidence in other areas, including business and financial skills. The implications of these findings for parents, counselors, and artistically gifted high school students in the process of choosing a college will be presented.
"Do High Achieving Students Benefit from Honors College Participation? A Look at Student Engagement for First-Year Students and Seniors"
Abstract: This study investigates findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), comparing various aspects of student engagement between Honors College and general education students. Responses from 1,339 Honors College students and 7,191 general education students across 15 different universities suggest a positive impact for Honors College participation on reflective and integrative learning, use of learning strategies, collaborative learning, diverse discussions, and student-faculty interaction for first-year students, even when controlling for other student and institutional characteristics. For senior students, Honors College participation suggested more frequent student-faculty interaction. Potential experiential and curricular reasons for these differences are discussed.