A team of Illinois State University students recently completed a project to determine why students decide to complete their degrees at Illinois State University. This team of students were enrolled in an Innovation Consulting Community (ICC) course led by Peter Kaufman with support of the Hagge Innovation Institute.
The ICC course allows students from various majors, including undergraduates, graduate, and Ph.D. candidates, from across campus to collaborate on a project for a semester drawing on their diverse educational backgrounds and personal experiences. Student teams select a project manager and recorder, then function as a consulting team to achieve the project goals.
To complete this value of higher education project, the student team worked together to conduct primary research and completed reviews of secondary research to further investigate retention for ISU and other similar educational institutions.
The team discovered that ISU has more support services compared to many other Illinois public institutions. These services include: academic support, disability services, technology center, Milner Library, veterans/military services, and the Office of International Engagement.
To learn more about student retention, they created a survey, which reached a diverse segment of ISU’s student population across academic programs asking why students were currently enrolled at the University. Based on analysis of survey responses, they concluded the Bloomington-Normal community was the No. 1 reason, followed by the University ranking. The University’s reputation, social life, and opportunities were all ranked as equally valuable by students. The team also found 87% of respondents expressed a desire to continue their education at ISU.
One of the clients for the project, Dr. Amy Hurd, associate vice president for undergraduate education at Illinois State, was asked what stood out from her experience with the student team.
“They were problem solvers,” Hurd said. “They asked for some information but were able to dig into it to find meaning and relevance. They looked at the problem from many different perspectives and provided suggestions from those perspectives. They also did not just provide one solution because of the complexity of the topic they worked on throughout the semester. It was a very positive experience for the students and us, as administrators. We met weekly with the students, who had great questions. We were able to give them some direction, but they were creative in finding solutions and taking initiative to research the topic.”
When educational leadership and administration Ph.D. student Mouna Bounouader, one of the consulting team members who is keenly interested in this topic, was asked what her favorite part of the project was, she said, “Working with a diversified team of students, a mentor, and both of the clients. Having Mike Wiese (mentor) by our side was a very crucial part of the project. He kept us on track, and we always had a professional and talented person to go back to, whether we had questions or were looking for opinions. He even connected us with experts in the field we were able to interview. The project is such a unique and enriching experience to both undergraduate and graduate students. Being able to work with a real-world client and real-world data has a different sense that enhances knowledge and expertise.”
Team members and their majors included: Olivia Witulski (public relations), Susan Wheeler (public relations), Ridita Mizan (English Ph.D.), Mouna Bounouader (educational leadership and administration Ph.D.), and Lyndsay Jones (master’s in political science).
