Work Crew

Larry Winship submitted the following proposal to the Wabash Task Force on the 16th of October, 2008.

Most of the 1000 or so First Year students I have encountered in classes and exams over the past 20 years have been initially excited and energetic, even in science courses. True, a few are always resistant or uncommitted, and not sure they want to be at a college at all. For this group Hampshire appears to be the least college-like college they can find. But for the most part our entering students are eager to engage. They anticipate a new and different kind of learning process marked by flexibility and creativity. They want the power to choose academic work based upon their own desires, aspirations and values. And, our admissions data indicate that the range of their academically capacity spans that of students at the other colleges in the Pioneer Valley and is up to the task. Yet we are all familiar with what often happens in many of our courses shortly after the middle of the first semester. Students come to class later and later or not at all. Reading is not done. Papers come in late and show remarkable deficiencies in communication and analytical skills. As they respond to stresses coming from all corners of their new lives, students begin to sort out along several axes. Some individuals soldier on, completing work, attending class, often with real skill and insight, but just as often in desultory fashion. Others get sick, worn out and fall further and further behind in work. It is tempting to focus all of our efforts on helping students succeed with the academic process on the classroom and studio. As faculty members, we repeatedly see lack of mastery of the academic process in our courses. And, we are, after all, a liberal arts college where reading, writing, critical analysis and discourse are central, time-honored processes. So, like the fellow looking for a lost quarter in a dark alley, we look under the lamppost, because that’s where the light is.

It is the central contention of this memo that we need to shed light on the whole alley, e.g. to consider the whole student and their entire life at Hampshire College. As our entering students make the multiple transitions from a typically more structured secondary school curriculum, living at home, to living away from home in a setting that is chaotic and challenging, they need to learn to live and, ultimately, live to learn – and to do so productively and responsibly.

The Wabash Survey data and my own experiences with new students have convinced me that the fundamental problem is not that they cannot read, write or do sums. Truly, work is needed in these areas; it is a job that we are rightly eager to take on. But I believe there is a prior issue.

On the whole our new students just do not know how to be effective members of academic and social communities. They have great difficulty with the time management, personal habits and social behaviors that would allow them to take charge of and master the Hampshire College milieu.

Those students who do make it into Div II and beyond mainly acquire these skills hit or miss – they are survivors. I propose that we become more pro-active, that we develop specific approaches to help our entering students learn how to learn in contexts that are challenging, energizing, engaging, and consonant with Hampshire pedagogy – and not necessarily in the classroom. A central clue about one way to pro-actively engage students came from a discussion I had with my tutorial students in their second semester, in the presence of several third and fourth year students. I pointed out that their engagement and accomplishment over the prior semester had been somewhat less than I had hoped for, and, a little peevishly, I asked “So, what HAVE you been doing?” The list I received in return was extensive, fascinating and very instructive.

While some students had indeed tuned out, most were active in a myriad of non-course activities; working on plays and other performance projects, becoming signers for COCA groups, getting EMT training and joining the campus EMTs, fixing yellow bikes, climbing, hiking, working at the Farm, working on EPC. While at other colleges, much of this activity would be deemed extracurricular, as adjunct to the academic program, many of these students viewed the time spent on activities outside of classes as the CORE of their work at Hampshire. These activities were what kept them at the College and sustained them as they waited to become Division II students and do what they really wanted to do – a dynamic confirmed by the older students in the discussion.

Now, it is not my contention that all learning occur outside of the classroom. Rather, I believe that our students come in wary of and resistant to conventional classroom processes, partly due to their past experiences. And, our admissions process selects for students who desire an alternative form of learning. Thus it is important to put classroom work in a suitable context and to work on our skills as teachers and co-learners in that process. One particular innovation along these lines, mentored independent studies, is working wonderfully and has aspects that could be adapted to other course settings. All of the points made in Professor Stillings’ memo on academic challenge are germane and need to be addressed. Students must become active, critical consumers of information presented in lecture or seminar-style courses. Such courses will be a crucial component of the Division II program for many students.

What, then, can we do to engage our students rapidly and completely in the Hampshire College process, helping them to become effective members of the learning and living community? I have one main idea, detailed below – I have heard other great suggestions for other community members which I will list briefly at the end.

I. On-campus Service Cadres (OSCa)

I have observed that when students are in charge of organizing and supervising other students, with guidance from faculty or staff, other students respond more fully. For example, our theatre is run essentially by and for students with faculty supervision. The student leaders of the Theatre Board are assiduous monitors of their fellow students! Teaching Assistants in my classes are almost always excellent critics and are effective in motivating and guiding their charges. I suggest we extend this model to a required activity for all entering students.

Plan

Each entering student is given the opportunity to select a prioritized list of OSCa’s and then is assigned to one for either Fall or Spring semester. Completion of the OSCa work is one of the eight activities required for the Division I.

An OSCa is organized as a work team, headed by a faculty member, a staff or administration member and a Division II or Division III student. Each team would have 10 to 15 student members. Primary organizational tasks fall to the staff/administration member and the student, with the faculty member present to supply academic context and evaluation. The specific tasks and goals of these teams would be set collaboratively each term, but fall into specific areas detailed below. Time spent each week would be roughly equivalent to a course, e.g. 3 hours in class plus 3 hours prep, six hours per week. OSCa activities are meant to enhance the Hampshire College community, not take the place of regular staff maintenance and upkeep. As such, each OSCa will need a small budget for materials and an allocation of staff/administrator time.

Examples (illustrative, clearly not exhaustive)

Type I – making things we do count

Governance – participate in campus governance, with discussions/training in governance skills (led by Pres. Hexter?)

Theatre Board

Theatre Tech Crew

Yellow Bikes and Sustainable Campus Transportation

Campus Planning – make the campus truly sustainable

Type II – new areas

Information Tech – assist with hardware and software management and deployment

Grounds – improve campus landscaping, inner campus

Woods – improve trails, documentation

Residence Teams – work with house staff to improve living areas

Celebrations – organize campus happenings

Sculpture – populate our campus with intriguing objects, documented and maintained

Outdoor Program – organize equipment, trips

Nutrition and Health – work with Student Services to get out the word on how to stay healthy

Local Food Project – work with Mixed Nuts and the Farm to enhance on-campus food economy An OSCa thus provides an organized, supportive community outside of the classroom for responsible engagement with other students and with the campus. Academic connections are supported by faculty involvement and the work actually counts for the Division I, validating engagement with non-formal education in a service setting. Hands-on work with visible, tangible and celebrated results will raise spirits and increase pride.

Other good ideas I have heard of

II. Division I contract as a negotiated series of learning activities agreed upon during conversations with the academic advisor, guided by a detailed list of academic goals, along the lines of our current Learning Goals, but more nuanced. Assessment of the contract occurs at the end of the first semester (informal with advisor, formative) and then formally at the end of the second semester. Formal (summative) assessment done by a reading committee, using a rubric of agreed upon criteria. Successful completion leads to Division II, any noted deficiencies to be made up in the third semester. III. Expand mentored independent study as a way to engage students in projects in the first year. IV. Re-define the distribution requirement according to intellectual areas, reduce to 4 activities, perhaps spread over 4 semesters, allowing student to begin substantial Division II level work, especially skill building, earlier in their program.

Thanks for reading.