by Joan Miller, Mary Katherine Waibel, Jennifer Johnson
When Dr. Howard Gardner visited Bloomsburg University in the Fall 2010, he spoke about the value of self-reflection on what it means to do Good Work as persons, workers, and citizens. Inspired by Dr. Gardner’s visit and informed by the GoodWork Toolkit, we sought to explore undergraduate students’ concepts of what it means to do Good Work in higher education and to strengthen the culture of Good Work on our campus. Through small group discussions, we hoped to 1) explore students’ concepts of what it means to do Good Work as college students, 2) enrich students’ definitions of Good Work as work that is of the highest quality (i.e., excellent), socially responsible (i.e., ethical), and meaningful (i.e., engagement), 3) engage students in an examination of their role models of Good Work, and 4) encourage students to reflect upon how they have exhibited Good Work during their first few months at Bloomsburg University.
As we developed the BU Good Work Initiative in consultation with the GoodWork Team at Project Zero, we sought possible outlets for piloting our small group discussions. Without hesitation, the Director of the University’s ACT 101/Educational Opportunities Program, Dr. Irvin Wright, invited us to pilot the BU Good Work Initiative with incoming first-year students enrolled in the program. ACT 101/EOP assists students who are at a financial, cultural, social and/or educational disadvantage in making a successful transition to Bloomsburg University. We expected thatdata from this group of historically under-represented students would provide a unique perspective and valuable information about incoming first-year undergraduates’ concepts of Good Work and inform future endeavors to promote Good Workamong all students at Bloomsburg University.
The BU Good Work Initiative included 140 students. All students completed a pre-program assessment in which they described what it means to do Good Work as college students and wrote about examples of Good Work at Bloomsburg University. Following the pre-program assessment, half of the students were randomly assigned to an experimental group. The experimental group was further split into small discussion groups (approximately 10 students per group). Each small discussion group was led by two advanced students (Teaching Assistants from the Department of Psychology’s mass lecture General Psychology course) and a faculty/staff facilitator. Students assigned to the experimental group participated in a 6-week series of 50-minute discussions about the three Es of Good Work—Excellence, Ethics, and Engagement. During the first two weeks (Sessions 1 and 2), students discussed what it means to do excellent work as a college student, role models of excellence, and examples of how they have demonstrated academic excellence during their past three months at the University. During the next two weeks (Sessions 3 and 4), students discussed what it means to do ethical work as a college student, role models of ethical behavior, and examples of how they demonstrated ethical behavior during their past three months at the University. During the final two weeks (Sessions 5 and 6), students discussed what it means to do engaged work as a college student, role models of engagement, and examples of how they demonstrated engagement during their past three months at the University. The other half of the students (i.e., the control group) remained in their regularly scheduled University Seminar course and did not participate in small group discussions about Good Work. Upon completion of the 6-week series of small group discussions, the experimental and control groups reunited for a post-program assessment.
Analysis of the pre-program data revealed that few incoming first-year students described Good Work as work that is of the highest quality, socially responsible, or meaningful. Instead, students tended to describe Good Work as effortful (i.e., trying one’s hardest) and empathic (i.e., helping another person). Although post-program data showed that students assigned to the experimental group had not yet incorporated the concepts of Excellence or Engagement into their definitions of Good Work, data did reveal that students who participated in small group discussions about Good Work had begun to include the concept of Ethics in their understanding of what it means to do Good Work as an undergraduate student. Students who were assigned to the experimental group also noted the overall value of participating in the small group discussions. Comments included the following:
The value of participating in the Good Work Initiative is that we know how to be an ethical student and a student of excellence.
Participating in Good Work Initiative has made me realize that I needed to pick up my slack and do the right thing.
You learn a lot that you didn’t know already and it opens your eyes to role models in your life.
A forthcoming manuscript will detail the BU Good Work Initiative’s curriculum, research methodology, and findings. We have been pleased to find several published papers that validate our findings and we hope that our efforts will add to the growing body of literature on promoting Good Work on college campuses.
During the 2012-2013 academic year, the Bloomsburg University Good Work Team will continue to pursue its mission to strengthen the culture of Good Work on our campus by increasing individuals’ awareness of what it means to do Good Work, identifying role models of Good Work, encouraging self-reflection on Good Work, and supporting Good Work wherever it exists on our campus and in our broader community. Data from this initial study have informed not only the content but also the format of how we will introduce the concept of Good Work to incoming first-year students during the Fall 2012. Data from this study also have sparked a number of other lines of inquiry and best practices related to advancing Good Work in higher education. More on that to come…