What's Right with You: Helping Students Find and Use Their Personal Strengths

Shushok, Frank; Hulme, E. Wyndham

doi:10.1002/abc.173

Cited by 26 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Examining the reasons students leave college applies a pathology-based approach to the problem (Shushok & Hulme, 2006). Strengths-based approaches, on the other hand, attempt to identify "what is right" with students rather than diagnosing "what is wrong" (Lopez & Louis, 2009;Shushok & Hulme, 2006;Stebleton, Soria, & Albecker, 2012).…”

Section: Review Of Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Strengths-Based Analysis of Student Success in Online Courses

Gering

Sheppard

Adams

et al. 2018

OLJ

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Online courses today give a broad, diverse population access to higher education. Despite postsecondary institutions embracing this opportunity, scholarly literature reveals persistent concern over low retention rates in online courses. In response to this concern, an explanatory sequential, mixed methods study was conducted in three phases at a public research university to simultaneously explore personal, circumstantial, and course variables associated with student success from a strengths-based perspective. Existing data on student enrollments across four years were analyzed. A subset of Phase One students from a single semester were invited in the second phase to complete an assessment of non-cognitive attributes and personal perceptions, followed in the third phase by interviews among a stratified sample of successful students from the previous phase to elaborate on factors impacting their success. Quantitative analyses identified seven individual variables with statistical and practical significance for online student success. Interestingly, the combination of factors classified as predictive of success changed with student academic standing. The impact of differential success factors across academic experience may explain mixed results in previous studies. The themes that emerged from the interviews with students were congruent with quantitative findings. A unique perspective was shared when students discussed “teaching themselves,” providing additional insight into perceptions of teaching presence not formerly understood. The combination of a more contextual research approach, a strengths-based perspective, and insights from student perceptions yielded implications for educational practice.

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Section: Review Of Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Strengths-Based Analysis of Student Success in Online Courses

Gering

Sheppard

Adams

et al. 2018

OLJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Historically higher education research has addressed pathology with a focus on ameliorating students' problems (Shushok & Hulme, 2006). To this end, much research exists on why students fail to persist as opposed to why they succeed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive Youth Development and Undergraduate Student Retention

Demetriou

Powell

2014

Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Pr

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The primary theoretical tradition in the study of college retention has been sociological. A review and synthesis of common themes of development among traditional-age, college students suggests that a developmental perspective on the retention of youth in college may have more to offer than the dominant sociological paradigm. This article argues that a key question in examining undergraduate retention should be are colleges and universities meeting the developmental needs of the youth enrolled in their institutions. The Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspective is proposed as a more beneficial paradigm than current models used to examine college student retention. Opportunities and resources to support features of positive developmental settings in the college context are explored, as are potential limitations and directions for future research. The conclusion discusses the overall benefits of using a developmental and strengths-based perspective to study undergraduate retention.

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“…Data collected by The Gallup Organization indicate that the Clifton StrengthsFinder has been completed by more than 750,000 students attending over 600 postsecondary institutions across the globe (P. Wilhelm, personal communication, June 28, 2010) and more than 3.9 million people worldwide (Asplund, Lopez, Hodges, & Harter, 2009). There are printed resources designed to complement the use of this instrument with undergraduate populations specifically (Clifton, Anderson, & Schreiner, 2006), facilitating its integration into academic curricula and a wide variety of programmatic efforts on college campuses, such as first-year experience programs, academic and career advising, and leadership development initiatives (Braskamp, 2008;Shushok & Hulme, 2006). The Clifton StrengthsFinder 1 is a web-based assessment that measures talent in 34 categories called talent themes.…”

Section: Strengths Interventions In Higher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengths interventions in higher education: The effect of identification versus development approaches on implicit self-theory

Louis

2011

The Journal of Positive Psychology

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To better understand how to promote optimal human functioning in ways that are grounded in research and theory, this study empirically explores a hypothesized link between prevalent strengths intervention practices in postsecondary educational settings and existing literature on implicit self-theories of ability. The article provides a differential description of two types of strengths interventions, referred to throughout as talent identification and strengths development. A pretest-posttest waiting list control group design with random assignment assessed whether these intervention types differed in their effect on implicit self-theory in a sample of 388 undergraduates. Results indicate a shift toward entity self-theory for the talent identification group, with no significant changes in self-theory for the other conditions. Implications for future research and strengths intervention practice are discussed.

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What's Right with You: Helping Students Find and Use Their Personal Strengths

Abstract: Fixing what's wrong—with students, institutions, and cultures—is the most prevalent approach to change. Frank Shushok and Eileen Hulme offer the discovery and exploitation of what's right as a powerful alternative.

Cited by 26 publications

References 3 publications

Strengths-Based Analysis of Student Success in Online Courses

Strengths-Based Analysis of Student Success in Online Courses

Positive Youth Development and Undergraduate Student Retention

Strengths interventions in higher education: The effect of identification versus development approaches on implicit self-theory

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