• Little or no acquaintance with scholarly habits of thought and expression.
• Uninformed about what being a college student means; that it is not merely the accumulation and memorization of vast quantities of information.
• Lack of awareness of how best to apply information gleaned from course work.
• It is clear that non-cognitive, attitudinal factors play a crucial role in student engagement in and persistence through a program of postsecondary study. Interconnected with this enterprise are the experiences and aspirations that students bring to college as well as those who develop during the course of enrollment and matriculation. A recent ACT policy report on The Role of Academic and Non-Academic Factors in Improving College Retention found that “non-academic factors of academic-related skills, academic self-confidence, academic goals, institutional commitment, social support, certain contextual influences (institutional selectivity and financial support), and social involvement all had a positive relationship to retention” (ACT, 2004). In other words, students were more successful when these elements of a supportive environment were not ignored. Nine non-academic factors were identified:
• Academic goals
• Achievement motivation
• Academic self-confidence
• Academic related skills
• Contextual factors
• General self-concept
• Institutional commitment
• Social support
• Social involvement

As previously noted in section III (pp. 20-21), a majority of the KSU faculty who teach classes in the liberal studies core curriculum noted that “poor student attitudes toward education,” their “lack of motivation,” and “peers who have priorities other than an education” were detracting from the educational mission of the institution. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, 2006) found that student engagement is positively correlated to grades and persistence between the first and second year of college. The findings also showed that students less prepared academically or from historically under-represented groups benefit from engagement in educationally purposeful activities even more than other students (cited in Redden, 2006, p. 3).

The Center for Studies in Higher Education points to the importance of monitoring and responding to demographic subgroup differences and their impact on engagement. Further recommendations include making it a priority to "get to know students, their needs, aspirations, and motivations; and engaging students in self-assessment and peer assessment so that the focus is increasingly on their responsibility for becoming and remaining engaged in the learning process" (pp. 13-14). The QEP is designed to address such engagement issues. Each student's AWA 101 instructor will continue to serve as his or her advisor through the freshman year. Each AWA instructor will benefit by working in consultation with professional advisors hired by the University.

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