Compendium of effective practice in higher education: Volume 2

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Crosling, G. et al. (2008) Improving student retention in higher education. Abingdon: Routledge. Pennington, M. (2010) What makes students feel they belong at university? HEA/Paul Hamlyn Foundation/HEFCE/Action on Access Retention Convention: What Works? Student Retention and Success: Leeds, 3–4 March 2010. Available from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2010/Retention_Conference_2010 [11 March 2011]. Thomas, L. and May, H. (2011) Student engagement to improve retention and success model, in L. Thomas and C. Jamieson- Ball (eds) Engaging students to improve student retention and success in higher education in Wales. York: HEA. Tinto, V. (1975) Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research. 45 (1), 89–125. Yorke, M. and Longden, B. (2008) The first year experience of higher education in the UK. York: The Higher Education Academy. Yorke, M. and Thomas, L. (2003) Improving the retention of students from lower socio-economic groups. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 25 (1) May 2003. Lowe, H. and Cook, A. (2003) Mind the gap: Are students prepared for higher education? Journal of Further and Higher Education. 27 (1), 53–76. Related publications, resources and further information Further information, snakes and ladders templates, sample workshop schedules and details of necessary equipment can be obtained from s.e.alsford@gre.ac.uk and from http://ww.jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com. The workshop toolkit is being developed. 36
Enhancing the induction period through student-designed activity Nicola Poole, Cardiff Metropolitan University njpoole@cardiffmet.ac.uk Learning and Teaching Development Unit Cardiff Metropolitan University Western Avenue Cardiff, CF5 2YB Keywords sense of belonging group cohesion induction students as partners shared practice Nature of intervention Student experience enhancement activities through induction redesign by Speech and Language Therapy students and staff at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Focus of intervention The intervention had both academic and social aspects to the design and outcome. The aim was to improve the student experience from a social cohesion point of view but also, in some part, to improve practice in the delivery of the induction period. Description of intervention The period of transition into university life is a well researched area. See, for example, York and Longden (2008) and Harvey, Drew and Smith (2006). Tinto’s (1987) Theory of Student Integration is a widely accepted model of transition and it highlights a student’s early experiences at university as one of the major factors that determines students’ persistence at the institution and course. This led to some internal research being carried out within the institution through withdrawal surveys, diary room, institutional data, focus groups and so on, where it was noted that academic and social spheres are both important. Examples of comments from students included: they would benefit from more opportunities to interact with their peers and tutors; mature students who felt that induction activities were primarily targeted towards younger, full-time entrants thereby causing them to become disengaged from their programmes and fellow students early on; the need to have more defined links with the programme from an early stage to create a sense of community. It is this continually updated research that informs the themes that are used to underpin the bid process below. Each academic year the Learning and Teaching Development Unit invites individual programme teams to apply for assistance to enhance/redesign their induction period. In March, programme leaders are asked to submit bids in relation to different themes relating to induction, ranging from activities that target mature students to activities that promote social cohesion, extended inductions, peer support and students as partners. The successful bids have ranged from the inclusion of one-off activities within a set programme, to a process that has lasted beyond the first term and also complete redesigns of induction plans. Staff were also asked to comment on any changes they felt were necessary and also how they felt the work could continue from a sustainability point of view. The BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) staff had a bid accepted which would be incorporated into part of their ongoing attrition strategy. The aim of the project would be to see a number of student-driven initiatives incorporated into pre-entry and induction activities. A meeting was held with three students coming to the end of their first-year experience, an institutional student retention officer (based in the Learning and Teaching Development Unit) and an academic member of staff responsible for Year 1 induction. This meeting and those that followed were used to review the feedback forms from the previous inductions, highlight research from within the university and the sector, and to ask the students for ideas about what they felt would have 37
Page 1 and 2: Compendium of effective practice in
Page 3 and 4: Contents Section Page Contents Fore
Page 5 and 6: Introduction The UK higher educatio
Page 7 and 8: ‘Academic and social survival gui
Page 9 and 10: Evaluations of the pre-arrival guid
Page 11 and 12: Information about Startonline is di
Page 13 and 14: Lowe, H. and Cook, A. (2003) Mind t
Page 15 and 16: university email accounts. The grou
Page 17 and 18: Thomas, L. (2011) Do pre-entry inte
Page 19 and 20: The sessions themselves combine tra
Page 21 and 22: References Boyle, A. et al. (2011)
Page 23 and 24: The majority of the week consists o
Page 25 and 26: Supporting the transition of founda
Page 27 and 28: As a team, we have been able to fee
Page 29 and 30: Links are made with staff to suppor
Page 31 and 32: The opportunity to communicate priv
Page 33 and 34: Figure 2: ‘Snakes’ cards Each g
Page 35: The workshop reflects a constructiv
Page 39 and 40: together. This information will now
Page 41 and 42: Moving Forward showcases taking res
Page 43 and 44: Although this only provides a snaps
Page 45 and 46: Research methods teaching in the so
Page 47 and 48: Student evaluation of the modules h
Page 49 and 50: How the intervention engages studen
Page 51 and 52: Enhancing the quantitative skills o
Page 53 and 54: X1 The chart shows that the majorit
Page 55 and 56: An inquiry-based approach to teachi
Page 57 and 58: ecommend them to other students. Th
Page 59 and 60: Description of intervention Aimed a
Page 61 and 62: Using role emerging placements to e
Page 63 and 64: Theme Category Codes Professional d
Page 65 and 66: Thomas, Y. et al. (2005) Australian
Page 67 and 68: Self assessment Tutor assessment De
Page 69 and 70: 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1
Page 71 and 72: Swansea University Department of Cr
Page 73 and 74: processes such as the SSC, the Stud
Page 75 and 76: Lecture recordings support student
Page 77 and 78: comprehensively throughout the prog
Page 79 and 80: Phillips, R. et al. (2007) Staff an
Page 81 and 82: were difficulties for staff in meet
Page 83 and 84: Conclusion Formative feedback forms
Page 85 and 86: Neutral facilitator The facilitator
Page 87 and 88:
Conclusion The examples described (
Page 89 and 90:
Have academic conventions been cons
Page 91 and 92:
Section 3: Supporting students In t
Page 93 and 94:
How the intervention engages studen
Page 95 and 96:
The impact of Academic Skills Centr
Page 97 and 98:
Students Attendance at Business and
Page 99 and 100:
End-of-week reflective meetings to
Page 101 and 102:
Informal learning outcomes Students
Page 103 and 104:
How the intervention engages studen
Page 105 and 106:
Retaining non-standard students in
Page 107 and 108:
ecause until needed, they are unkno
Page 109 and 110:
Supporting “complicated” traine
Page 111 and 112:
This first group continues to flour
Page 113 and 114:
Curtin University mentor programme:
Page 115 and 116:
My Mentor. . . Strongly Agree Agree
Page 117 and 118:
Engaging with students as partners
Page 119 and 120:
However, as noted in the report its
Page 121 and 122:
The impact of a robust peer mentori
Page 123 and 124:
Of the total 29 mentees who took pa
Page 125 and 126:
Section 4: Participation and belong
Page 127 and 128:
needs that students brought to us,
Page 129 and 130:
Embedding mandatory personal tutori
Page 131 and 132:
Conclusion The previous personal tu
Page 133 and 134:
In Civil Engineering and various bu
Page 135 and 136:
helped to further illuminate “wha
Page 137 and 138:
Whatever challenges are presented t
Page 139 and 140:
Using Twitter to increase engagemen
Page 141 and 142:
Well-timed and appropriate media: T
Page 143 and 144:
Engaging students to engage the cam
Page 145 and 146:
Evidence of effectiveness/impact Si
Page 147 and 148:
Section 5: Utilisation of data and
Page 149 and 150:
Key recommendations made by student
Page 151 and 152:
use of available online/VLE resourc
Page 153 and 154:
An academic mentoring pilot scheme
Page 155 and 156:
HERE project toolkit: A resource fo
Page 157 and 158:
Students ranked their response to f
Page 159 and 160:
References Lane, P. L. et al. (2002
Page 161 and 162:
using appropriate technologies crea
Page 163 and 164:
Higher Education Funding Council fo
Page 165 and 166:
The strategies introduced were in a
Page 167 and 168:
Conclusion The success of this inte
Page 169 and 170:
Senior Academic Support Tutors: Fos
Page 171 and 172:
Service use SAST continues to exper
Page 173 and 174:
Thomas, L. (2011) Do pre-entry inte
Page 175 and 176:
assessment using volunteer members
Page 177 and 178:
References General Pharmaceutical C
Page 179 and 180:
student volunteering on a number of
Page 181 and 182:
The Recruit, Retain, Employ group:
Page 183 and 184:
Evidence of effectiveness/impact Co
Page 185 and 186:
Developing staff capacity for stude
Page 187 and 188:
“Yes, wide range from understandi
Page 189 and 190:
Synergy, variety and relationships:
Page 191 and 192:
needed to be put into place - with
Page 193 and 194:
Concluding Remarks Following the su
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