Understanding Research on Students: Exploring Autonomy, Agency, and Purpose in Higher Education
Exploring the complex dynamics of students as active participants or passive recipients in higher education research, this content delves into theoretical propositions on student autonomy, efficacy, self-regulation, purposes in higher education, agency, university citizenship, and sense of belonging. It reflects on students' roles in shaping their own learning processes, identities, and contributions to academic communities.
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6th International Conference on Rethinking Students: Ideas and New Research Approaches , Moscow, 15-17 October 2015 Five theoretical propositions concerning research on students Manja Klemen i Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard University
Outline I Are students objects or subjects of higher education? - students autonomy, efficacy and self-regulation II What are students purposes in higher education? - individual and collective purposes III What is student agency? - student agentic possibilities - student agentic orientations IV Student university citizenship V Student s sense of belonging to the university/university communities
I Students: objects or subjects of higher education? Conception of students as passive recipients of or active participants in higher education provides the most fundamental tension in research on students. - Are students people to whom things are done, or people who are learning to do things and doing things for themselves? Are they subjects or masters of their own learning and self-formation? - How students meet their ample desires, how they become, how they construct their studentship while embedded within their respective higher education institution and its communities? This conception is directly linked to the questions of students autonomy, efficacy and self-regulation.
Ia Students autonomy, efficacy and self- regulation Students autonomy: when a student s behavior is experienced as willingly enacted; when student fully endorses the actions in which engaged and/or values expressed by them (cf. Deci and Ryan 1985) Students efficacy: students judgment of and belief in their capabilities to exercise control over their own functioning and over events that affect their lives (cf. Bandura 2001) Self-regulation (Zimmerman 2010): the process by which a student controls (makes conscious decisions about) own learning trajectory in higher education and it comprises: - forethought (task analysis - goal setting/strategic planning, and self-motivation beliefs goal orientation/self-efficacy/interest); - performance (self-control time management/help seeking, and self-observation metacognitive self-monitoring/self-recording) and - self-reflection: self-judgement/self-evaluation/self-satisfaction)
II Students purposes in higher education SELF-FORMATION AND INDIVIDUAL WELLBEING: Studentship is a rite of passage to some new role, status or life condition; oriented towards the formation of the projected future self, towards becoming . - take care of oneself - know how to develop and maintain relationships - develop distinct styles and tastes a unique individual - how to balance academic responsibilities with the rest - to gain knowledge, develop skills, - join profession, find a job As members of academic community, as university citizens are students also contributing towards FORMATION of their institutions and COLLECTIVE WELLBEING?
III What is student agency? Student agency (individual, proxy or collective) is capacity of students to critically shape their responsiveness to higher education environment for the purposes of self-formation and wellbeing (revised from Klemen i 2015) Student agency encompasses variable notions of agentic possibility ( power ) and agentic orientation ( will ).
IIIa Students agentic possibilities Students agentic possibilities are students real opportunities and positive freedoms to do and to be what they reason to value within university context and to achieve well-being. Sen (1999): 1. freedom to achieve well-being is of primary moral importance; 2. understood in terms of freedoms to do and to be what [students] have reasons to value - students legal status, institutional pathways (spaces, formal structures and processes) and university culture (relationship shemata invoking different conceptions of students , university tool kit or repertoire for constructing identities, navigating studentship and planning life projects cf. Swidler 1986) 8
IIIb Students agentic orientations Students agentic orientations refer to students willingness to self-reflective and intentional action and interactions within university context. - Students face competing demands on their time; default option is instrumental behavior. - Norms of appropriate behavior lead to dutiful observance of norms and rules to avoid sanctions or shaming, but do not necessarily motivate students to act beyond their self-interest. - How to invoke students university citizenship? 9
IV Students university citizenship Students university citizenship implies voluntary contribution to make a positive impact on their university and its communities beyond self- interest, for collective benefits and following communal interests; based on feelings of mattering, psychological ownership, identification, belonging. 10
V Students belonging to university/university communities Students sense of belonging refers to students perceptions of intimate association with the university as demonstrated through perceived insider status, psychological ownership and organizational identification; students have invested themselves in the university and consider it to be a personalized space (cf. Stamper and Masterson 2002). Insider status: I am an important part of my university Psychological ownership: This is my university ; I own my university Organizational identification: I am defined by my university - is essential for students positive student experience and academic engagements (Astin, 1985; Thomas, 2012), student retention (Reay et al., 2010; Thomas, 2012; Tinto, 1993) and more generally for a person s subjective sense of well-being, intellectual achievement, motivation and even health (Walton and Cohen, 2007). 11
By a way of conclusion A university is built on strong interdependencies between internal actors which nurture collective spirit and naturally enable collective behavior. The expressive individualism in consumerist culture and choice-based values potentially inhibit students sense of civic commitment to one s own university. Student agency towards collective formation and collective wellbeing can be strengthened through university culture based on reciprocal relationships, sense of shared responsibilities and collective commitments to mutually agreed goals; a strong collective identity and sense of collective belonging THANK YOU. manjaklemencic@fas.harvard.edu 12
