Understanding the Summer Session: Summer School Students as Informants

Description of Project

The Office of Research decided to examine the types of research we do with our students during the year. We realized that our Current Student Survey and Alumni Student Surveys give us very valuable information but did not address our summer school population. This population is composed of our regular Oakton students, but also includes many students who attend other institutions during the academic year. Community colleges, like Oakton, that are located in areas where large numbers of young students go to residential colleges often draw relatively large enrollments of "non-native" students during the summer.

In an effort to learn more about students who attend Oakton during the summer session, we developed a survey to administer during the summer 2000 session. We were interested in comparing the summer school students’ experiences at our college with their experiences at the schools they normally attend during spring and fall semesters. We also wanted to learn how these students found out about us, their reasons for taking courses here, and their home colleges and majors. Our sample included students who go primarily to Oakton as well as the students who go primarily to another institution during the academic year.

Literature

Prior research with summer students has examined the marketing potential for summer courses at an institution (Chandler and Weller, 1995; Donsky and others, 1986; Reis, 1987). Chandler and Weller’s (1995) study examined factors and motivations to attend summer school and analyzed the results within the framework of a marketing viewpoint. Another marketing related study completed by Donsky, et al (1986) used an experimental and control group design to assess effectiveness of sending out personalized letters to students encouraging them to attend courses at Dutchess Community College during the summer and then transferring these courses to the students’ home institutions. A third study concerning marketing summer courses examined the benefits of sending a packet of information concerning the summer session at Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) to students attending other institutions during the academic year (Reis, 1987). In addition to calculating a "return rate" for the mailing (20 percent of students receiving packets enrolled), characteristics of the respondents were identified and a survey was sent to a random sample of these students. This survey generated information about the students as well as why they attended MVCC and whether they would attend MVCC again. This survey is similar to the research project reported in this paper.

Three research projects examined characteristics of summer students (Kent State University, 1993a; Lee, 1996; Mount San Antonio College, 1989). Whereas Kent State University (1993a) and Lee (1996) carried out projects to find out about experiences and expectations of summer students at their campuses, Mount San Antonio College (1989) conducted a study to compare students attending courses at the institution during the summer to students attending during the fall. Another research study conducted by Kent State University—Trumbull Campus (1993b) examined results obtained from a small sample of students classified as "pursuing a degree at another institution but enrolled in courses at Trumbull College." The sample of this study was made up transient students and students who primarily attended another institution. The survey we administered at Oakton has similar content to the ones conducted at Kent State Univeristy—Trumbull Campus (1993b) and Moraine Valley Community College (Reis, 1987).

Instrument and Sample

The summer school survey, developed in consultation with a number of college offices, included eighteen items designed to elicit comparisons about courses from a student perspective, as well as more factual items regarding how they learned about our institution, their reasons for enrolling, and their "home" institution and majors. The sample consisted of 982 students who enrolled in one of 55 randomly selected courses. Faculty teaching the selected courses were asked to give the survey to students during the last week of the summer semester. Most faculty allowed time for the students to complete the survey in class, while a few faculty gave the survey to students to complete outside of class. Students in media-based courses (video, online, etc.) were sent surveys and postage-paid return envelopes. Of the 982 surveys given to students, 591 were returned for a return rate of 60 percent.

An inherent problem with comparing courses taught during summer sessions versus those offered in regular semesters is that summer courses usually are offered over a shorter timeframe and, therefore, may be structured differently from courses offered during the fall or spring. Students also typically take fewer courses in the summer than in regular semesters. Even with these caveats, an inquiry into the experiences of summer school students can provide useful and new insights regarding classroom experiences, student recruitment, and the characteristics of a student population not usually studied.

Results

Student Characteristics

From the demographic portion of the survey, we found that 346 females (60%) and 229 males (40%) completed the survey. These students ranged in age from 15 to 75 years old, with 58 percent (325 respondents) aged 22 years old or less. The next largest group of respondents were between the ages of 25 and 39 (22%). The majority of students lived in-district (78%). When asked to identify their racial or ethnic identity (see Figure 1), the majority of students responded that they are either white (57%) or Asian (23%). Over half the students were taking one course this summer (58%), 32 percent were taking two courses, seven percent were taking three courses and three percent were taking four or more courses.

Figure 1.

Educational Background

Students were asked to respond to a variety of questions about where they have gone to school (both high school and college), college credits earned, major in college and whether or not they have attended another college or university during the past two years. Of the 571 students who told us what high school they attended, 49 percent (277) said they went to an in-district public high school while 51 percent (294) went to a private or out-of-district high school. Interestingly, of those respondents who said they went to an "other" school (what we are calling out-of-district), approximately 18 percent went to high school out of the country and 8 percent went to a high school out of the state.

We compared age by high school (in-district or out-of-district). The results are in Table 1. Two out of every three respondents 22 years of age or less went to an in-district public high school while respondents 23 years of age or older went mainly to out-of-district high schools. This suggests, for this sample, that "traditional" age students tend to come back to the area or stay in the area where they went to high school to take courses during the summer. It isn’t surprising to find that "older" students in the sample tended to go to an out-of-district high school since we know that as adults age there is a higher probability they have moved to different areas.

Table 1. Age by High School

	High School
Age	In District HS N %	Out of District HS N %	Row Totals N %
22 years old or less	214 66%	108 34%	322 100%
23-24 years old	16 36%	28 65%	44 100%
25-39 years old	30 25%	91 75%	121 100%
40-54 years old	8 15%	46 85%	54 100%
55 years old or more	1 10%	9 90%	10 100%
Total	269 49%	282 51%	551

How to read this table: The number in each cell represents the number of respondents who are in a specific age range and reported going to either an in-district or out-of-district high school. Percent is the percent of students in that age range who attended in-district or out-of-district high schools. For example, looking in the top left cell of the table, of all the students who are 22 years old or less, 214 (66%) went to high school in the district. Continuing to the next cell to the right, of all the students who are 22 years old or less, 108 (34%) went to an out of district high school.

Besides finding out where students went to high school, we were interested to see if there were any patterns as far as a student coming to take a course at Oakton in the summer and his or her previous accumulated college credit. Considering that the majority of respondents said their main reason for attending courses this summer was to transfer credits, it would seem plausible that students have acquired credits elsewhere (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.

As might be expected, 42 percent of respondents had previously earned approximately one to two years of college. A bit more surprising is the fact that 15 percent of respondents had earned no previous credit hours and 18 percent already have at least a bachelor’s degree.

So, where did most of these students last attend college before coming to Oakton this summer? We asked respondents to write the name of their university or college. Respondents went to a large assortment of different institutions, over 110 in all. The top six institutions were University of Illinois, Chicago (34), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (32), Northern Illinois University (20), DePaul University (19), Loyola University (18) and Northeastern Illinois University (13). Together these represent 37 percent of responses (136 out of 373).

In order to analyze our data within the context of the type of institution the respondent regularly attends, we created a new variable that has three categories: Illinois four-year public institutions, Illinois community colleges (including respondents who last attended Oakton), and all other institutions. Out of 395 respondents who reported where they last attended school, 127 (32%) went to an Illinois four-year public institution, 39 (10%) went to an Illinois community college and 229 (58%) went to another college or university. Of the 39 students who last attended an Illinois community college, 20 identified that school as Oakton.

In addition to asking where a student last attended college, we asked if the respondent attended another institution within the past two years (fall 1998 or more recently) and what the student’s major is (was) at that institution. Out of 540 respondents, 250 (46%) did attend another institution in the past two years. We used this information to examine the top 10 majors for

Figure 3.

college students who attended college in the last two years and went to a school other than Oakton (see Figure 3). The business major (25%) was almost twice as big a category as the next most popular major, education (13%). Almost half of the respondents (49%) reported being a business, education or liberal arts and sciences general studies majors.

Attending Oakton

We asked respondents to tell us how they found out about Oakton (see Figure 4). Of the 753 responses we received (respondents could check more than one response), the most frequent choice was "heard about Oakton from family/friends" (36%), followed by "received schedule in mail" (25%). When asked if they had attended Oakton previously, 357 out of 590 (61%) respondents replied yes. Of these students, most (88%) last attended Oakton sometime between Summer 1998 and Spring 2000.

Figure 4.

* "Other" responses included: "been to Oakton before" (n=22), "just knew about it or lived in area/community" (n=34) and "stopped in" or "called" (n=9).

We asked students to tell us the courses they were taking this summer. We found there was a huge variety, more than 90 different courses. The courses with the highest representation of students were those included in our survey (e.g., PSY 101, PHL 205, HUM 160, MAT 190).

Respondents were also asked what courses they wanted to take at Oakton this summer but were not offered. In reality some or all of these courses may have been offered but students did not know this or may not have been able to fit the course into their schedules. Eighteen different subjects were mentioned, with computer science/office systems technology having the most mentions (16). Science was the second most requested field for courses to be offered (11), math and social studies followed with nine requested courses apiece and seven respondents requested language courses (see Appendix A for full list of subject areas and courses).

When asked to select the one main reason for attending Oakton this summer, respondents overwhelmingly said they were taking a general education course for transfer (53%). The second most popular response (13%) was to get an Oakton degree or certificate. Overall, 60 percent of respondents said they came to Oakton to take and then transfer a course, whether it be a general education course or an elective (see Figure 5).

Figure 5.

* "Other" responses included: pre-requisite or required (9), retake a course (4), transfer credit (3), cheaper than my university (1), high school credit (1), stock market investment (1), for pre-nursing or nursing program (2).

We looked at student’s main reasons for attending Oakton by the type of college attended during the academic year, gender, and age in order learn more about factors prompting attendance during the summer. Table 2 includes the data for the three variables broken out across the reasons for attending Oakton this summer. Most of the patterns are what one would expect; students attending four-year institutions (whether in Illinois or other states) say their main reason for attending Oakton is to transfer courses. Students 22 years old or less ("traditional" college age) are attending Oakton to transfer courses and students 55 years of age or older are taking courses mainly for personal interest, to get some kind of certificate (or degree) or for other reasons. There are minimal differences between male and female respondents when choosing the main reason for attending Oakton.

Table 2.

	Main Reason for Attending Oakton this Summer (Respondents asked to choose one response)
Variable and sample size (n)	Take gen ed course for transfer	Take elective course for transfer	Improve skills	OCC degree or certificate	Required for license or certificate	Explore college to see if for me	Improve job skills for current job	Improve job skills for new job	Personal Interest	Other
College Type IL Comm Coll (n=39) IL 4-Yr Public Coll (n=127) All Other Coll/Univ (n=229)	42% 64% 58%	5% 9% 8%	0% 1% 1%	24% 9% 9%	8% 7% 10%	0% 0% 0%	5% 2% 1%	5% 4% 2%	3% 2% 6%	8% 2% 5%
Gender Female (n=344) Male (n=225)	58% 48%	6% 10%	2% 4%	11% 14%	10% 6%	<1% 0%	2% 4%	3% 3%	3% 7%	4% 4%
Age £ 22 years old (n=320) 23-24 years old (n=44) 25-39 years old (n=125) 40-54 years old (n=59) ³ 55 years old (n=10)	71% 52% 37% 10% 0%	10% 5% 6% 2% 10%	2% 7% 6% 0% 0%	5% 18% 21% 32% 20%	4% 14% 15% 14% 20%	<1% 0% 0% 0% 0%	0% 0% 4% 12% 0%	1% 0% 6% 12% 0%	2% 2% 3% 15% 30%	5% 2% 2% 3% 20%

NOTE: Each row adds up to approximately 100% (may vary slightly due to rounding).

Comparison of Experiences at Oakton and Home Institution

In order to learn how students compared their experiences taking courses at Oakton during the summer session to their experiences taking courses at their home institutions, we asked respondents to compare the rigor or extent of work at Oakton compared to their home institution. We used a scale from 1 to 5 with 1=less at Oakton, 3=about the same, and 5=more at Oakton (see Table 3). Since we were interested in comparison results for students still enrolled (or very recently enrolled) at another institution, we used the question about attending another college in the past two years as a filter, and analyzed responses from students who last attended another institution within the past two years. As a result, the sample size for each item was reduced from approximately 590 to about 240, depending on the item. A mean (average) score of 3.0 indicates a student believes Oakton is about the same as his or her home institution. Anything less than mean score of 3.0 indicates comparisons are less at Oakton but sometimes that is a positive, as in the case of class size where less at Oakton means the class size is smaller at Oakton than at a student’s home institution.

The majority of respondents said Oakton was essentially "about the same" as their home institutions with respect to amount of reading in classes, amount of writing, amount of homework, availability of instructor, overall rigor of class, and difficulty of earning an "A" (see Table 3). However, respondents said Oakton required less computer usage, fewer oral presentations and fewer group/team projects. Less requirements may be due to the shortened summer sessions (7 or 8 weeks versus 10 weeks for a quarter or 15 weeks for a semester). The highest mean score was for availability of the instructor (mean=2.99) and upon further examination, the data show that 49 percent of the respondents believed that Oakton and their institutions were about the same and 25 percent chose either a "4" or "5" indicating the instructor was more available at Oakton than at their home institution. Fifty percent of respondents said that class size was lower at Oakton than their home institution.

Table 3.

	How would you compare you experiences in Oakton courses to the courses you’ve taken at your last college or university? (Data are for students who last attended another institution within the past two years)
Comparison Variable (n=number of responses for each question)	Less at OCC 1	2	About the same 3	4	More at OCC 5	Mean Score
Class Size (n=242)	34%	16%	38%	6%	6%	2.37
Amount of Reading (n=242)	19%	19%	47%	8%	7%	2.67
Amount of Writing (n=240)	27%	19%	42%	8%	4%	2.50
Amt of Required Computer Use (n=238)	41%	17%	28%	8%	6%	2.25
Number of Oral Presentations (n=238)	46%	11%	32%	7%	4%	2.17
Number of group/team projects (n=240)	42%	16%	31%	6%	5%	2.24
Amount of Homework (n=244)	15%	25%	43%	10%	7%	2.70
Availability of Instructor (n=241)	11%	15%	49%	17%	8%	2.99
Overall Rigor of Class (n=242)	15%	23%	47%	9%	6%	2.69
Difficulty of Earning an "A" (n=243)	18%	20%	42%	11%	9%	2.71

By analyzing the data for the items, "overall rigor of class" and "difficulty of earning an A" we can get an idea of how a student compared his or her overall experience at Oakton to that of his or her home institution. The mean score for overall rigor was 2.69 and 62 percent of respondents said the overall rigor was the same or more at Oakton. The corresponding data for difficulty of earning an "A" is mean=2.71 and 62 percent said getting a top grade was about the same or more difficult at Oakton.

We decided to examine comparisons across the type of institution respondents reported going to within the past two years. The analysis includes results for Illinois 4-year public institutions (sample size varies for each comparison item but the approximate sample size is 79) as well as all other colleges and universities (approximate sample size is 136). See Table 4 for the results. The category Illinois Community Colleges is not included due to a low sample size (n=10). Some interesting findings emerged when we looked at the comparison data through this lens. First of all, more respondents in the all other colleges and universities category tended to compare items as being about the same or more at Oakton than respondents in the Illinois 4-year public institution category. The only exception to this occurred with 83 percent of respondents going to Illinois 4-year public institutions saying instructor availability was about the same or more at Oakton as compared to 69 percent for respondents going to all other college and

universities. Class size percentages are shown for "about the same" or less at Oakton since this is a reverse scale item. Once again, more students going to Illinois 4-year institutions (97%) than all other colleges and institutions (74%) replied that class size is about the same or less at Oakton.

Table 4.

Comparison of Oakton with other institutions attended in past two years
	Type of Institution*
Comparison Items	Illinois 4-year Public n=79**	All Other Coll & Univ. n=136***
About the Same or More at Oakton...
Overall rigor	56%	63%
Difficulty of earning an ‘A’	57%	64%
Amount of reading	50%	67%
Amount of writing	40%	59%
Amount of homework	48%	64%
Amount of required computer usage	36%	43%
Number of oral presentations	35%	44%
Number of group/team projects	39%	42%
Availability of Instructor	83%	69%
About the Same or Less at Oakton...
Class Size	97%	74%

NOTES: *Community Colleges are not included in this analyses due to a small sample size (n=10)

**Sample sizes vary from 77-80 for Illinois 4-year Public institutions depending on the

comparison item.

***Sample sizes vary from 132 to 138 depending on the comparison item.

Finally, we asked students, "If you had it to do over again, would you attend Oakton?" We used a scale from 1 to 7 with 1=definitely not and 7=definitely yes. In our analysis, we included all students who answered this question, resulting in 540 responses (see Figure 6). Overwhelmingly, students responded that if they were to do it again, they would attend Oakton. 251 respondents reported they definitely would (definitely yes) and a combined 79 percent (430 out of 540) chose either 5, 6, or 7; all which are considered positive scores.

Figure 6.

Conclusion

Our initial attempt at creating a survey for Oakton Community College summer students has helped us learn about a student body that is different from the one we see during the traditional academic year. In addition to our regular students, we collected data from a large number of students who go to different institutions during the regular academic year. Over 110 institutions were represented in our sample. Of the top six institutions represented by the respondents, four are Illinois public universities and five of six are located in or near the Chicago area. Forty six percent of the respondents attended another institution within the past two years.

Results indicate that our sample of students are all ages but the largest percentage (58%) are 22 years old or less and that 60 percent of the respondents were female. Over three-fourths of the respondents live in the district and the majority identify themselves as being white (57%) or Asian (23%) Respondents found out about Oakton in a variety of ways, with the largest percentage learning about Oakton through family or friends (36%) and by receiving an Oakton class schedule in the mail (25%). Of all the respondents, 61 percent replied that they had enrolled at Oakton previously and most of these students attended within the last two years. Younger respondents tended to go to an in-district high school while a greater percentage of older students went to high schools out-of-district (including out of state and out of the country).

Respondents were asked to list any courses they wanted to take but that were not offered this summer at Oakton. Out of 591 completed surveys there were 78 suggestions for courses to be offered. These suggestions ranged over 18 disciplines, with the most requests for computer information systems/office systems technology courses (16 requests) and science courses (11 requests). Interestingly, there were very few requests for the same course. When asked the one main reason for attending Oakton this summer, overwhelmingly, respondents said they wanted to transfer a course either as a general education requirement or an elective to their "home" institution.

Overall, comparisons between Oakton and the respondents’ home institutions were about the same and when students were asked if they had it to do over again would they attend Oakton this summer, they answered resoundingly yes (79 percent). Of course, direct comparisons from taking courses at Oakton during the summer to taking courses during the regular academic year at a respondents’ home institutions are not possible due to a variety of factors. Many students take fewer courses during the summer, courses tend to be offered in much shorter timeframes and housing and study arrangement are most likely different to name a few factors. Even with the understanding that direct comparisons can not be made between taking a course during the summer and during the regular academic year, it appears that most of the respondents to the survey came to Oakton for definite reasons and felt that their experiences at Oakton met or exceeded their needs.

References

Chandler, E. W. & Weller, R. B. (1995). An empirical investigation of student motivations to attend summer school. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 6(1), 69-86.

Donsky, A. P. & Others (1986). Impact Measures for a Marketing Intervention Strategy at a Two-Year College. ED272242.

Kent State University, Office of Institutional Research (1993a). Summer 1993 Survey of Students. ED388322.

Kent State University, Office of Institutional Research (1993b). Summer 1993 Transient Student Report. ED388323.

Lee, M. M. (1996). Westchester Community College Summer School Survey, 1996, Sessions I and II. ED401988.

Mount San Antonio College (1989). Summer School Student Profile 1984-1988; Focus Study. ED313063.

Reis, E. (1986). Reverse Transfer Project, 1986. ED289537.

Appendix A.

Question #6 asked, "Please list any courses you wanted to take at Oakton this summer but were not offered." Responses for this question are listed below and are grouped by subject area.

Computer Information Systems/Office Systems Technology

(16 responses)

CISCO

CIS 106

Networking essentials

Visual basic

Advanced web graphics

OST 255

OST 256

CIS 105

Microstation

Advance Quickbook course and know how to troubleshoot

Professional courses in computers eg. Java

ELT 170

Database

CIS 211

CIS 104 now 241

Computer graphics

Science

(11 responses)

Genetics

Biochemistry

Chemistry 101 at night

Anthropology 204

Physiology w/out the anatomy component

Other health courses

Biology

Zoology

Physics-general mechanics

Physics with calculus

PHY 221, 222, 223

Math

(9 responses)

MAT 143

MAT 190

Calculus 3 (MAT 252) We need this class a lot in this campus (RHC). It is never being offered here (only in Des Plaines)

MAT 111

A calculus 2 that transfers

Appendix A (con’t)

Math (con’t)

Discrete math

MAT 260

Contemporary math for actual college credit

Applied physics phy 101

Social Science

(9 responses)

Philosophy

mythology

Native American studies

More upper level history courses

Philosophy of science

PHY 222

Intro to Hinduism

History of Illinois

Comparative government

Language

(7 responses)

Hebrew 101

Hebrew 102

Japanese

Higher level Spanish

German 102

French

Chinese 101 or Japanese 101

Art/Multi-Media

(5 responses)

More film classes

Photography

More advanced computer art or multi media classes

Colored photography

Painting

Business

(5 responses)

BUS 225

Principles of marketing

Business law

Finance

Econ 260

Appendix A (con’t)

Miscellaneous

(3 responses)

CTT

Senior project offered at Devry Inst. Of Tech

Class teaching short hand

English

(2 responses)

Sunday EGL 072

EGL 101

Hotel Mgt.

(2 responses)

Foods

Cooking

Law Enforcement

(2 responses)

LAE criminology

Criminal law 2

Literature

(2 responses)

American Literature

World Literature

Early Childhood

(1 response)

ECE 104 w/observation

Fire Science

(1 response)

FIR 220

Welding/CNC

(1 response)

Welding or CNC

Music

(1 response)

MUS 104

Nursing

(1 response)

BNA