The Center for Community College Student Engagement has released their 2009 Survey results, and the winner is….social networking.  This year, the survey focused on the importance of building relationships – among students, faculty, staff, and with the institution, itself.  What they found was that “personal connections are the unanticipated success factor – a critical variable that improves the odds of persistence.”  They are starting to see a pattern of increased engagement and persistence with what they call “Connected” colleges, or those who effectively connect with their students and encourage them to build relationships around their academic experience.

More than 400,000 students from 663 different schools responded, and here are some of the results:

• 28% report that using social networking tools makes them feel somewhat more or more connected to their college.
• The more students use social networking tools for academically purposeful activities, the higher their levels of engagement on the CCSSE benchmark.
• 95% of traditional-age and 78% of nontraditional-age students use social networking tools
• 73% of tradional-age and 51% of nontraditional-age students use social networking tools to communicate with others about coursework at the college
• Only 32% of students said that their college provides the support  that they need to thrive socially

The report also includes a slew of examples of schools trying new things and seeing real results.  One of these is Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, which over the past year has encourged faculty members to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking tools.  When surveyed in August 2009, 32% were using or planned to use Facebook with students.  Almost two-thirds (62%) reported that they have a Facebook account, but 74% reported that they had been using it for one year or less.  CCSSEE took this as and “(indication) that the college’s efforts during this timeframe were successful.”

Community college students make up 44% of all U.S. undergrads, and only around one-third of them will graduate within 3 years.  In order to increase success in this population, schools should to take advantage of the opportunities that social networking tools have provided.

Since strong personal connections are key to keeping more students in college, how can institutions foster stronger and more diverse connections with (and among) students?