Living-learning programs for women in STEM (Inkelas 2011)

Citation

Inkelas, K. (2011). Living-learning programs for women in STEM. New Directions for Institutional Research 152, 27-37.

- The study’s objective was to review the evidence of the effects of living-learning programs (LLPs)—shared residences at postsecondary institutions designed to bridge in- and out-of-class learning and establish tight-knit communities—on academic and other outcomes for women in STEM disciplines.
- The author reviewed studies that compared the short- and long-term academic outcomes of female STEM majors who participated in LLPs, particularly women-only STEM LLPs, to male and female STEM majors who did not participate in such programs. Many of these studies relied on the 2007 National Study of Living-Learning Programs, which encompassed programs at more than 50 U.S. colleges and universities and represented the responses of 22,519 students; other university-specific studies from Michigan State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Michigan were included.
- The study found that participants in a women-only STEM LLPs were more likely to attend graduate school in a STEM field than were female STEM majors who participated in coeducational STEM LLPs, non-STEM LLPs, or no LLP, by 35, 31, and 29 percent, respectively.
- Participants in a women-only STEM LLP at the University of Michigan were more likely to persist in STEM majors than were male or female nonparticipants with similar academic interests and achievement.

May 2016