RLE Assessment
The Research Learning Experience initiative, part of the University of Maine System’s student success and retention strategies, continues to grow! In Fall 2022, 511 students across five different campuses are registered in RLE courses, more than twice as many students registered as last year. OIRA has been working with others at UMaine and across the system to develop an assessment plan for the expanded pilot, which will include analyses of enrollment trends, student surveys, faculty surveys, as well as focus groups and/or interviews.
A dashboard has been created to monitor the initiative, and will be the home for assessment and outcomes data going forward.
Students in RLE courses and in comparison courses will be surveyed at the beginning and end of each RLE course and in non-RLE comparison courses to investigate how the initiative impacts students’ perceptions of belonging, academic self-efficacy, self-efficacy as researchers, and experiential learning. So far, almost 1,300 responses to the pre-survey have been collected. Surveys of RLE faculty will be administered later in the semester.