Download - What Works Academic Themes
What Works? Academic themes from two of the projects
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Findings from two projects
• Student integration – Sunderland, Hull & Newcastle
• HERE Project - Student doubters, impact of course teams– NTU, Bournemouth & Bradford
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Student Integration
• Does a student’s sense of integration support their retention?– Looked at STEM students, mature students, part-
time & local students– Found 1/3 of students had considered withdrawing– Academic factors more important than social ones
• Integrating social into academic most valuable
Key messages 1. Integration of the social and academic elements of
university life is key to the integration of students into the School and wider University community
2. Early imposition of structures upon students by staff appears effective in giving a sense of continuity & purpose
3. Teams and groups working collaboratively on academic tasks enhance their social opportunities
4. Integrating social and academic elements of university life encourages students to build relations with each other, with staff and to engage with the curriculum
University of Hull• Study Skills Summer School– 2 day non-residential event for new and
continuing part-time & mature students –range of learning & teaching – intended to offer authentic university experience
• Mature Student Welcome lunch– Week prior to registration – ‘Social event, but
with a purpose’ - early opportunities to form social bonds leading to sustained friendships
University of Sunderland• Curriculum related fundraising activities
(Childhood studies)– Included sponsored walk, mini-Olympics, spooky
sleepover, importantly is done in teams of students from across the years
• Problem-based learning (Psychology)– Students noted that the experience was highly
enjoyable, but also lead to effective learning and social bonds
University of Sunderland• Field trips (Tourism)– Field trips were used to encourage social
integration, one of which is compulsory during induction, mixture of local and exotic
• Sandbox Studio (Psychology)– Student community space within the
psychology department, books, magazines, video games – space for students to belong to student community and wider community of scholars
Newcastle University
• Engineering teams – Students put into groups during induction
– “in the first hour…you were sat in the introductory lecture thinking ‘I don’t know anyone’, ‘how am I going to make friends?’ and they said ‘we are going to put you into these teams’ and instantly there was like 10 or 11 other people you knew straight away.”
– Not problem free, but vast majority of students reported enjoying working in teams
Newcastle University• The t-shirt exercise• Induction activity– Everyone given a t-shirt & marker pens– Students given clear instructions to draw
representations of their interests on the t-shirt, circulate & find other people with similar interests
– Had to form a group that had to be mixed and formed the basis for later group activity
Activity - Retaining students
• Resource from Newcastle University– 2 hour workshop• Promotes themes of the project• Activities on preparedness, ice breakers,
team working, dealing with diversity• Checklists for colleagues
The HERE Project
Ed Foster & Sarah Lawther - Nottingham Trent UniversityChristine Keenan & Natalie Bates – Bournemouth UniversityBecka Colley & Ruth Lefever – University of Bradford
www.HEREproject.org.uk
The HERE ProjectHigher Education: Retention &
Engagement
Two areas of work- Impact of doubting on student retention- Impact that course teams can make on retention
Focus on first year
Doubting• Defined as having doubts about the course/
university serious enough to consider leaving• How many students are doubters in the literature?
– 21% Rickinson and Rutherford (1995) – 39% Sodexo (2010)
• Doubting as a cause of withdrawal– Gradual accumulation of doubts - Ozga and
Sukhnandan (1998)
• But UK progression is good– NAO (2007) suggests that progression to yr 2 is approx
90%– Our work is therefore also about engagement
Engagement• Kuh et al (2008) describe student
engagement as:– “the quality of effort students themselves
devote to educationally purposeful activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes and the effort institutions devote to using effective educational practices”.
• Hardy and Bryson (2010) student engagement – More than the classroom activities,
encompasses whole person
Some Key Findings
Approximately one third of first year students have considered withdrawing
during 1st year
Doubters are more likely to leave than non-doubters
• 483 students granted us permission to monitor their persistence– 182 doubters– 301 non-doubters
• Tested Dec 2009 - Overall progression better than institutional benchmarks
The primary reasons for doubting are associated with student perceptions of
the course
2009 Student Transition Survey
• Similar to other studies– for example Yorke & Longden
2008
• Course was the main focus for most students
• Most important academic reason was ‘doubts about coping’
Doubters reported a poorer quality experience than students who have not
doubted
• Doubters reported:– Less likely to understand differences between FE &
HE & have differences explained
– Finding course less enjoyable– Fewer friends & less likely to find course ‘friendly’– Less likely to feel that they belonged– Studies harder to cope with
• Students who leave don’t just ‘walk off a cliff’• There are stages of disengagement/
disillusionment – means can be tacked
Four main reasons cited for staying
• ‘Support from friends and family’• ‘Adapting to course/ university’• ‘Determination/ internal factors’• ‘Future goals/ employment’
We therefore set about looking for practices that impacted upon these areas in our programme teams and developed the toolkit containing nine recommendations
The HERE Project toolkit
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How it was designed
• We used our work on doubters to develop areas for exploration
• Developed case studies from 10 courses– Staff interviews, student surveys
• Loosely two strands– Preventing students from doubting– Supporting doubters to remain
• 9 recommendations– Learning & teaching, transition, relationships,
belonging & community
Using the toolkit• Aimed at programme teams– Tool for discussion at team meetings & away
days– In a perfect world, would be facilitated
– Has been used to bring about change at institutional level• E.g. NTU enhanced academic tutorials programme
• Experiences so far– Staff just grateful for the opportunity to discuss– Interesting that communication across
programmes weaker than we expected– Staff tend to just ‘leap in’
StagesStage 1Take Stock
‘Identify students at risk’
Programme leader
Look at formal & informal dataAsk questions - What do you
already know?
Stage 21st steps‘student transition’ & ‘social integration’
Team meeting/ away day
Reflect, discuss & make plans
Stage 3Review
Subsequent team meetings
Review progress, reflect and consider other themes
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Activity
• Exploring two themes:– “Help students to make the transition
to being effective learners in HE”
– “Foster motivation & help students understand how the course can help them achieve their future goals”
• Working in two groups we’d like you to use the recipe cards, discuss and consider some actions you can take back at your work place.
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Discussion
• Having had some time to look at two different approaches:–What issues arise for colleagues you
work with?– How difficult might they be to
implement?–What suggestions do you have for
improving their efficacy?
6/21/2012