Giuseppina Lo Moro, Maria Rosaria Gualano, Costanza Vicentini, Noemi Marengo, Fabrizio Bert, Roberta Siliquini
Medical, nursing, and other healthcare students undergo specific stressors. Their mental health represents a priority for universities and the entire community. This review aimed to gather evidence about the effectiveness of individual psychological counselling offered by universities to healthcare students. A systematic review was conducted by searching PubMed, Scopus, and APA PsycInfo. A total of 1906 records were identified. The selection resulted in six studies published between 1994 and 2014. The most common design was quasi-experimental. Half focused on medical students and often interventions comprised other elements. Outcomes were related to mental health issues, academic performance, or both. The results showed statistically significant improvements, with some exceptions. The present review highlighted some specific characteristics that must be considered in order to fill the existing gap in this field, such as widening the range of studied outcomes, improving the description of the intervention, and planning randomized controlled trials (RCT) to compare strategies.
{"title":"Effectiveness of University-Provided Individual Counselling for Healthcare Students: A Systematic Review","authors":"Giuseppina Lo Moro, Maria Rosaria Gualano, Costanza Vicentini, Noemi Marengo, Fabrizio Bert, Roberta Siliquini","doi":"10.5204/ssj.3019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3019","url":null,"abstract":"Medical, nursing, and other healthcare students undergo specific stressors. Their mental health represents a priority for universities and the entire community. This review aimed to gather evidence about the effectiveness of individual psychological counselling offered by universities to healthcare students. A systematic review was conducted by searching PubMed, Scopus, and APA PsycInfo. A total of 1906 records were identified. The selection resulted in six studies published between 1994 and 2014. The most common design was quasi-experimental. Half focused on medical students and often interventions comprised other elements. Outcomes were related to mental health issues, academic performance, or both. The results showed statistically significant improvements, with some exceptions. The present review highlighted some specific characteristics that must be considered in order to fill the existing gap in this field, such as widening the range of studied outcomes, improving the description of the intervention, and planning randomized controlled trials (RCT) to compare strategies.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135045432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Academic Student Success Advising (ASSA) project enacted an integrated academic and pastoral approach to advising using McIntosh’s (2023) fundamental principles of advising. This research conducted at two Australian universities explores how shared principles of advising can provide an underpinning structure to pan-university advising approaches as a mechanism of student development. Forty staff were interviewed, exploring understandings and experiences of advising. Data were analysed through the four key advising themes: inclusive, personalised and integrated, developmental, and student-centred. The findings suggest that staff perceive value in integrated advising approaches that connect students’ academic and pastoral experiences through an ‘advising as teaching lens’ and that link areas of the university to enhance student success. Recommendations highlight the value of investing in staff understandings of advising to enhance student development, the intentional embedding of co-curricular skills, and the continued need to develop systems to track advising outcomes.
{"title":"A Third Space Approach to Integrated Academic Student Success Advising (ASSA)","authors":"Catherine Picton, Alison Jaquet, Leah Simons, Kaylenne Byrne, Natalie Oostergo, Amanda Henderson, Denise Wood","doi":"10.5204/ssj.2855","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2855","url":null,"abstract":"The Academic Student Success Advising (ASSA) project enacted an integrated academic and pastoral approach to advising using McIntosh’s (2023) fundamental principles of advising. This research conducted at two Australian universities explores how shared principles of advising can provide an underpinning structure to pan-university advising approaches as a mechanism of student development. Forty staff were interviewed, exploring understandings and experiences of advising. Data were analysed through the four key advising themes: inclusive, personalised and integrated, developmental, and student-centred. The findings suggest that staff perceive value in integrated advising approaches that connect students’ academic and pastoral experiences through an ‘advising as teaching lens’ and that link areas of the university to enhance student success. Recommendations highlight the value of investing in staff understandings of advising to enhance student development, the intentional embedding of co-curricular skills, and the continued need to develop systems to track advising outcomes.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135109557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
JiaRong Yap, Patrick Broman, Patrea Andersen, Sharon Brownie
This report presents an evaluation of students’ experiences in a student-run clinic project in Aotearoa New Zealand, aiming to provide interprofessional learning opportunities and accessible health services to the community. Qualitative focus group interviews were conducted with students post-clinical placement. A six-step thematic data analytic approach guided identification of three key themes: placement preparation and understanding expectations, interprofessional relationships and collaboration, and learning experience and value. Students reported positive experiences in this student-run clinic placement, including in respect to collaborative experiences, the development of interprofessional relationships, and value of the learning experience. This report highlights the need for enhanced pre-placement preparation and clarification of expectations regarding a community-based interprofessional placement experience, particularly for first year students. The student-run clinic model has potential to address healthcare disparities and enhance learning through community-engaged experiences. Results provide insights for educational institutions and healthcare providers looking to implement similar initiatives, emphasising collaborative partnerships and student-centred interprofessional education.
{"title":"Learning by Doing: Students’ Experiences of Interprofessional Education and Community Partnership in a Pilot Student-Run Clinic","authors":"JiaRong Yap, Patrick Broman, Patrea Andersen, Sharon Brownie","doi":"10.5204/ssj.3089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3089","url":null,"abstract":"This report presents an evaluation of students’ experiences in a student-run clinic project in Aotearoa New Zealand, aiming to provide interprofessional learning opportunities and accessible health services to the community. Qualitative focus group interviews were conducted with students post-clinical placement. A six-step thematic data analytic approach guided identification of three key themes: placement preparation and understanding expectations, interprofessional relationships and collaboration, and learning experience and value. Students reported positive experiences in this student-run clinic placement, including in respect to collaborative experiences, the development of interprofessional relationships, and value of the learning experience. This report highlights the need for enhanced pre-placement preparation and clarification of expectations regarding a community-based interprofessional placement experience, particularly for first year students. The student-run clinic model has potential to address healthcare disparities and enhance learning through community-engaged experiences. Results provide insights for educational institutions and healthcare providers looking to implement similar initiatives, emphasising collaborative partnerships and student-centred interprofessional education.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135939201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A challenge persists in modern higher education regarding gaining an understanding of the activities and services that facilitate student support, student success, student community and student voice. As modern universities continue to grow in both size and complexity, gaining an understanding of the operations for enhancing and supporting both students’ experiences and outcomes grows in importance for resource allocation and supporting student success for university administrators. These exploratory or audit-based activities attempt to gain an understanding of students' engagement, time pressure and, relatedly, their calendar journeys throughout their higher education, with an aim to create coherence as opposed to chaos in students’ journeys. This case study shares a tested practice from a UK higher education institution of a method to map the so-called ‘student experience’ across a whole university. This framework for mapping student engagement activities takes an asset-based approach beginning with the core activities which lead a student to graduation prioritising activities by time of students’ engagement. This framework is inclusive of the core student experience and the optional, complementary extracurricular activities (Student Community), supporting services (Student Support), and enhancement activities engaging students in the development of education (Student Voice) to gain oversight of complex institutions. This case study offers a transferable framework for use in institutions globally with potential to be implemented as a management tool for administrator and faculty member understanding of the student experience with a view to make enhancements to support student success resourcing and interventions.
{"title":"Mapping the Student Experience: A Framework for Assessing Student Support, Success, Community and Voice","authors":"T. Lowe, Sophie Wright","doi":"10.5204/ssj.2866","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2866","url":null,"abstract":"A challenge persists in modern higher education regarding gaining an understanding of the activities and services that facilitate student support, student success, student community and student voice. As modern universities continue to grow in both size and complexity, gaining an understanding of the operations for enhancing and supporting both students’ experiences and outcomes grows in importance for resource allocation and supporting student success for university administrators. These exploratory or audit-based activities attempt to gain an understanding of students' engagement, time pressure and, relatedly, their calendar journeys throughout their higher education, with an aim to create coherence as opposed to chaos in students’ journeys. This case study shares a tested practice from a UK higher education institution of a method to map the so-called ‘student experience’ across a whole university. This framework for mapping student engagement activities takes an asset-based approach beginning with the core activities which lead a student to graduation prioritising activities by time of students’ engagement. This framework is inclusive of the core student experience and the optional, complementary extracurricular activities (Student Community), supporting services (Student Support), and enhancement activities engaging students in the development of education (Student Voice) to gain oversight of complex institutions. This case study offers a transferable framework for use in institutions globally with potential to be implemented as a management tool for administrator and faculty member understanding of the student experience with a view to make enhancements to support student success resourcing and interventions.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48757640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This practice report describes a 12-week stand-alone course designed to address the challenges university students face in foreign language classes. Adopting principles of transformative language learning, course content, activities and resources were designed and implemented to dispel myths and preconceptions regarding language instruction, promote self-directed, independent learning, and raise awareness of the cognitive and socio-emotional processes involved in language learning. Students’ feedback indicate that the course had a significant impact on their perceptions of adult language learning, their capacity to reflect on their use of strategies, and the importance of developing a plan to continue applying these new understandings in their academic pursuits. The course fostered a shift in students’ perspective, from viewing themselves as passive recipients of ‘language injections’, to becoming self-directed, motivated, and independent learners.
{"title":"Learning How to Learn Languages: A Transformative Learning Approach to Empower Effective Language Learners","authors":"Susana A. Eisenchlas, Kelly Shoecraft","doi":"10.5204/ssj.3034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3034","url":null,"abstract":"This practice report describes a 12-week stand-alone course designed to address the challenges university students face in foreign language classes. Adopting principles of transformative language learning, course content, activities and resources were designed and implemented to dispel myths and preconceptions regarding language instruction, promote self-directed, independent learning, and raise awareness of the cognitive and socio-emotional processes involved in language learning. Students’ feedback indicate that the course had a significant impact on their perceptions of adult language learning, their capacity to reflect on their use of strategies, and the importance of developing a plan to continue applying these new understandings in their academic pursuits. The course fostered a shift in students’ perspective, from viewing themselves as passive recipients of ‘language injections’, to becoming self-directed, motivated, and independent learners.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46691590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This practice report provides an overview of a podcast series designed to support first-year student transition to university and promote wellbeing and belonging. The podcast was established in 2017 in a compulsory first year law subject (Legal Institutions and Methods) at La Trobe University, Australia. The podcasts record interviews with students who have recently completed the subject and are designed to (a) give interviewees an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and (b) provide advice to future commencing law students (i.e., their peers). The podcast is a form of peer-to-peer mentoring that requires a relatively small investment of resources and provides on-demand support to students as they commence their law studies. The concept is readily adaptable to other disciplines.
{"title":"Capturing Peer-To-Peer Mentoring Advice: A Podcast Series for First-Year Law Students","authors":"A. Mackay","doi":"10.5204/ssj.2992","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2992","url":null,"abstract":"This practice report provides an overview of a podcast series designed to support first-year student transition to university and promote wellbeing and belonging. The podcast was established in 2017 in a compulsory first year law subject (Legal Institutions and Methods) at La Trobe University, Australia. The podcasts record interviews with students who have recently completed the subject and are designed to (a) give interviewees an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and (b) provide advice to future commencing law students (i.e., their peers). The podcast is a form of peer-to-peer mentoring that requires a relatively small investment of resources and provides on-demand support to students as they commence their law studies. The concept is readily adaptable to other disciplines.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42645203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This practice report describes a higher education practice to support the aspiration of students while supporting their well-being. The use of Motivational Interviewing (MI), an evidence-based conversational style, in faculty-student conversations can meet the psychological needs of students in consideration of their self-determination. This approach is gaining interest in higher education practice and emerging within published literature. This report suggests goal attainment is a worthy outcome that aligns with MI, and provides a report of a small-scale pilot study. The advancement of school-based MI practices for college student development is encouraged. Implications, helpful and formative literature, and future research opportunities are provided.
{"title":"Motivational Interviewing to Support the Goals of College Students","authors":"B. Blankenship","doi":"10.5204/ssj.2931","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2931","url":null,"abstract":"This practice report describes a higher education practice to support the aspiration of students while supporting their well-being. The use of Motivational Interviewing (MI), an evidence-based conversational style, in faculty-student conversations can meet the psychological needs of students in consideration of their self-determination. This approach is gaining interest in higher education practice and emerging within published literature. This report suggests goal attainment is a worthy outcome that aligns with MI, and provides a report of a small-scale pilot study. The advancement of school-based MI practices for college student development is encouraged. Implications, helpful and formative literature, and future research opportunities are provided.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48867737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Charmaine Davis, Chris Cook, S. Syme, Sara Dempster, Lisa Duffy, S. Hattam, G. Lambrinidis, Kathy Lawson, S. Levy
Enabling education programs in Australia assist students, who would otherwise have been excluded from higher education, to transition into undergraduate study. These programs emerged independently in response to the needs of individual universities and the varying cohorts of students they serve. The exclusion of these programs from the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) has meant they remain unregulated, with no national framework for standards. The development of academic standards is a dynamic, consensus driven process, and benchmarking provides a method through which academics from across institutions can work in partnership to reach shared understandings and improve and align practices. This practice report outlines the results of the first comprehensive cross-institutional benchmarking project involving nine Australian universities and demonstrates there is shared understanding of the standards of enabling programs between institutions. These findings will contribute to the establishment of national standards for enabling programs in Australia.
{"title":"Benchmarking Australian Enabling Programs for a National Framework of Standards","authors":"Charmaine Davis, Chris Cook, S. Syme, Sara Dempster, Lisa Duffy, S. Hattam, G. Lambrinidis, Kathy Lawson, S. Levy","doi":"10.5204/ssj.2841","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2841","url":null,"abstract":"Enabling education programs in Australia assist students, who would otherwise have been excluded from higher education, to transition into undergraduate study. These programs emerged independently in response to the needs of individual universities and the varying cohorts of students they serve. The exclusion of these programs from the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) has meant they remain unregulated, with no national framework for standards. The development of academic standards is a dynamic, consensus driven process, and benchmarking provides a method through which academics from across institutions can work in partnership to reach shared understandings and improve and align practices. This practice report outlines the results of the first comprehensive cross-institutional benchmarking project involving nine Australian universities and demonstrates there is shared understanding of the standards of enabling programs between institutions. These findings will contribute to the establishment of national standards for enabling programs in Australia.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48512070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
B. Fredericks, Katelyn Barney, Tracey Bunda, Kirsten Hausia, Anne Martin, J. Elston, Brenna Bernardino
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students continue to experience racism in Australian university classrooms. The Reconciliation Australia Barometer report (2022, p. 5) recently noted that experiences of racial prejudice have increased for Indigenous people with 60% of Indigenous people who responded to the survey experiencing at least one form of racial prejudice in the past six months. Many universities are attempting to implement action against racism and there have been concerted efforts to Indigenise curriculum across numerous universities. But there are many challenges and complexities to this process and more work is needed to increase cultural competency of university staff and students. This article explores findings from a National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) funded project that focused on “what works” to support Indigenous students to complete their degrees. This article draws on data from interviews with graduates that highlight the perceived experiences of racism in the classroom from peers and staff and the need for further Indigenisation of the curriculum to improve Indigenous student completion rates. The article concludes by discussing recommendations for universities to create a safer environment for Indigenous students. These recommendations echo previous ones (e.g., Behrendt et al., 2012) yet they have not yet been adequately addressed by universities.
{"title":"Calling out Racism in University Classrooms: The Ongoing Need for Indigenisation of the Curriculum to Support Indigenous Student Completion Rates","authors":"B. Fredericks, Katelyn Barney, Tracey Bunda, Kirsten Hausia, Anne Martin, J. Elston, Brenna Bernardino","doi":"10.5204/ssj.2874","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2874","url":null,"abstract":"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students continue to experience racism in Australian university classrooms. The Reconciliation Australia Barometer report (2022, p. 5) recently noted that experiences of racial prejudice have increased for Indigenous people with 60% of Indigenous people who responded to the survey experiencing at least one form of racial prejudice in the past six months. Many universities are attempting to implement action against racism and there have been concerted efforts to Indigenise curriculum across numerous universities. But there are many challenges and complexities to this process and more work is needed to increase cultural competency of university staff and students. This article explores findings from a National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) funded project that focused on “what works” to support Indigenous students to complete their degrees. This article draws on data from interviews with graduates that highlight the perceived experiences of racism in the classroom from peers and staff and the need for further Indigenisation of the curriculum to improve Indigenous student completion rates. The article concludes by discussing recommendations for universities to create a safer environment for Indigenous students. These recommendations echo previous ones (e.g., Behrendt et al., 2012) yet they have not yet been adequately addressed by universities.","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41900890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We are delighted to feature this timely reflective article on Rethinking Engagement and Student Persistence by Professor Vincent Tinto, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University, United States of America (USA). It’s timely because six years ago Professor Tinto reflected in this Journal on Student Persistence – and that was pre-COVID, and the associated mass transition to online, flexible and hybrid learning modalities. We are delighted because during the STARS 2023 Conference, it was apparent that Professor Tinto’s work continues to inspire and guide practice as he generously offers his thoughts to practitioners and researchers who share his passion for improving student outcomes. In this article, Vincent explores the role that social networks have in fostering student engagement, leading to persistence. As he puts it ’engagement matters’ and indeed it does, although its impact as he says remains relatively under-explored. Vincent considers social networks using the classroom and curriculum as contexts for understanding how different forms of networks: tight or loose, dense or sparse can engender different outcomes for students noting that the mere existence of a network will not always lead to positive student engagement. He gives attention to the formation of networks and notes that some of these connecting relationships are less visible, especially for online students and for those students whose networks exist in virtual social spaces that are outside the realm of our institution. Acknowledging that staff cannot and should not seek to be involved in all student networks, he implores us to do what we can to foster productive networks within our spheres of influence, because put simply ‘student engagement cannot be left to chance.’
{"title":"Reflections: Rethinking Engagement and Student Persistence","authors":"Vincent Tinto","doi":"10.5204/ssj.3016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3016","url":null,"abstract":"We are delighted to feature this timely reflective article on Rethinking Engagement and Student Persistence by Professor Vincent Tinto, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University, United States of America (USA). It’s timely because six years ago Professor Tinto reflected in this Journal on Student Persistence – and that was pre-COVID, and the associated mass transition to online, flexible and hybrid learning modalities. We are delighted because during the STARS 2023 Conference, it was apparent that Professor Tinto’s work continues to inspire and guide practice as he generously offers his thoughts to practitioners and researchers who share his passion for improving student outcomes. In this article, Vincent explores the role that social networks have in fostering student engagement, leading to persistence. As he puts it ’engagement matters’ and indeed it does, although its impact as he says remains relatively under-explored. Vincent considers social networks using the classroom and curriculum as contexts for understanding how different forms of networks: tight or loose, dense or sparse can engender different outcomes for students noting that the mere existence of a network will not always lead to positive student engagement. He gives attention to the formation of networks and notes that some of these connecting relationships are less visible, especially for online students and for those students whose networks exist in virtual social spaces that are outside the realm of our institution. Acknowledging that staff cannot and should not seek to be involved in all student networks, he implores us to do what we can to foster productive networks within our spheres of influence, because put simply ‘student engagement cannot be left to chance.’","PeriodicalId":43777,"journal":{"name":"Student Success","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41614338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}