Waving or drowning? Surfacing the causes of student disengagement in the second year

Elena Zaitseva Clare Milsom & Martyn Stewart

Liverpool John Moores University

Project Team:Clare Milsom, Martyn Stewart, Sue Thompson, Wayne Turnbull, Mantz Yorke, Elena Zaitseva

What is special about second year experience?

Second year students are characterised as a cohort where ‘many suffer from reduced motivation or apathy, declining grade point averages, or a letdown from their first year’ (Pattengale & Schreiner, 2000)

‘The Forgotten Year: Tackling the ‘Sophomore Slump’ is a HEA funded project undertaken at Liverpool John Moores University, UK http://secondyearexperience.ljmu.ac.uk/

The project:

Examines patterns in student performance across the levels of study and longitudinal dynamics of slump (quantitative research) Investigates underlying factors behind the 2nd year students’ underperformance and diminished engagement (qualitative research ) Develops and evaluates interventions to enhance experience of the 2nd year cohort

Outline of the presentation

Based on the project findings we will:

• Look at the phenomenon of second year disengagement through lenses of various institutional data sets

• Illuminate some of the factors that might contribute to it, using the authentic voice of academics and students themselves.

We are also interested in your institutional contexts and successful practices related to the 2nd year experience

• Performance data: between 39 and 42% % of students drop their performance in the 2nd year, but the slump is not fixed on a programme/course level

• LJMU student satisfaction survey: 2nd year satisfaction is lowest

Quantitative data sets: combined evidence of different manifestations of slump

Quantitative data sets – combined evidence of different manifestations of slump

• Faculty attendance records – 2nd year absenteeism • Student Union Advice Centre stats:

Staff voice: behaviour

• Behavioral traits that specific for the level of study are:

• over confidence in relation to their ability to learn without attending the classes

• ‘playing the game’ or complaining• exhibiting surface learning approaches • heightened sense of consumerism • anxiety

Staff voice: curriculum and academic support

• 2nd year curriculum accumulates core/more difficult/less exciting subjects

• Certain periods of time become overloaded with deadlines

• Many did not feel stretched by the 1st year curriculum

• Academic support is less prioritised in the 2nd year

Staff voice: assessment and marking

• More strict marking (due to various reasons)• Limited repertoire of assessment in the 2nd

year • Difficult to establish 2nd year

standard/requirements

Staff voice: transition and induction

• Long summer break might contribute to students feeling disengaged, bored and worried that knowledge and skills gained in the 1st year might be lost

• 2nd year induction is eiterh ‘non-existent’ or ‘rudimentary ’

Student voice:

• Induction is repetitive and non-motivating • 1st semester ‘dip’ • Lack of understanding of assessment

requirements and marking practices• Importance of non-academic achievements• Transitional year

How to improve 2nd year experience?

• Coordinated programme level approach

• Summer break should be incorporated into the student learning cycle

• Engaging, motivating induction • Revitalising personal tutoring system • Having a better

understanding/capitalising on what happens between years 2 and 3 …

• Are they waving or drowning?