The Journey Begins: A Holistic Institutional Approach to Reviewing - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Journey Begins: A Holistic Institutional Approach to Reviewing and Enhancing the First Year

Ginny Saich (email v.a.saich@stir.ac.uk) Derek Young (email derek.young@stir.ac.uk) University of Stirling

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Aims of the Session

• to share experiences to date and gain feedback on progress

made (at an early stage of development);

• to draw upon the experience/expertise of colleagues

working in the field;

• to enter into a dialogue about the approach being taken and

the influence of various contextual components and institutional constraints;

• to discuss future potential opportunities for further

enhancement and any related requirements (including resources)

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Themes Addressed

• Context
• Drivers and influential factors
• Challenges faced
• Approaches taken
• Future potential development

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UK Context

• Widening Participation Agenda (50% target)
• Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) require Progress Files

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/progressFiles/guidelines/progfile2001.asp#what

– the transcript (record of a student’s learning and achievement) – a student’s personal records of learning and achievements, progress reviews and plans used to clarify personal goals – Personal Development Planning (PDP) – structured and supported processes to develop the capacity of individuals to reflect upon their own learning and achievement, and to plan for their own personal educational and career development

• Increasing research on the First Year and Retention eg. commissioned

by The Higher Education Academy (HEA) (http://www.hea.ac.uk)

• Maturation of HE agenda of widening participation, shifting focus from

initial access to student retention and progression

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Scottish Context

• Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework (SCQF) (

http://www.scqf.org.uk) – 2001

• QAA in Scotland (http://www.qaa.ac.uk) new Quality Enhancement

Framework (QEF):

– Public data set – Enhancement-led Institutional Review (ELIR) – Subject level review by institutions – Student participation (national development service - SPARQS – Student Participation in Quality Scotland – http://www.sparqs.org.uk) – Sectoral-wide enhancement themes ( http://www.scottishenhancement.ac.uk) (No ring-fenced funding for enhancement initiatives)

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Scottish Enhancement Themes

2003/4:

• Assessment
• Responding to Student Needs

(Induction, First Year curriculum, Personal Tutoring, Integrating Support Systems)

2004/5:

• Employability (including PDP)
• Flexible Delivery

2005/6:

• Integrative Assessment
• The First Year

(literature reviews, ‘live’ case studies, institutional events/debates, engagement by the Steering Group with senior management within institutions)

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External Facilitators

• Increasing research evidence on the

importance of the first year

• UK widening participation agenda shifted

towards retention and progression

• QAA directives and guidance
• July 2006 HESA Statistics show 1 in 10

Scottish students drop out of university and college in the first year

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=58&id=1975792005

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Institutional Context

• Four year honours degree programmes (3 year bachelors

and general degrees)

• Modular, flexible, degree structure
• Campus-based institution (~ 8000 FTEs)
• Nearly all students work during semester time (including

in their first year)

• Active in widening participation – diverse student

population (except in ethnicity)

• Institutional strategy of internationalisation (emphasising

recruitment)

• Organisational development – restructuring underway

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Institutional Challenges 1.

• A ‘first year curriculum’
• Implementation of SCQF → modules largely assigned to

levels 8 and 10

• Institutional policy to maximise flexibility within the

curriculum to maintain student choice

• Resistance to ‘competing’ modules
• Few truly interdisciplinary modules
• Increasing institutional and departmental emphasis on

research

• Finances tight - very limited resources for enhancement

initiatives

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Institutional Challenges 2.

• Few rewards for engagement with students and

enhancement of the learning experience

• Most prestige for honours/postgraduate teaching
• Little synergy between pockets of innovation and

institutional policy and practice

• International students particularly tend towards

minimal socialisation – tending to retain cultural groupings (possibly linked to linguistic limitations)

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Institutional Facilitators

• Pockets of excellence, innovation and expertise
• Web Portal with increasingly personalised ‘views’.
• New student system (integrating systems)
• Highly collaborative ethos institutionally
• High level of student participation in institutional

activities and decision-making

• QAA ELIR in October/November 2006

– reconsidering some of its processes and revisiting structures and processes (including use of SCQF levels and credit rating) – preparation involves critical self-reflection including on engagement with sectoral quality enhancement themes – Institutional debates/consultations (including input from international, external expertise - Betsy Barefoot from the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition in Brevard, South Carolina)

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Institutional Developments 1

Institutional consultation/debate – including student voice – issues identified:

– Identity and student cohort – Flexibility vs confusion over curriculum – The notion of a ‘programme’ and ‘first year’ – Widening participation, support needs and the need for appropriate support – Internationalisation and related support needs (socialisation/acculturation and support for language development) – Core curriculum components – ‘fitting them in’

Induction/Orientation Working Group

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Institutional Developments 2

Enhancing connectivity and collaboration:

– integrated student support and reduced ‘referrals’ eg. one-stop shop Information Centre established in the Library, student support services linked under one Director – joint appointments eg. disability and learning support advice, library/IT support – peer support among first year advisors/personal tutors (regular meetings to share/discuss issues) – collaborative curriculum developments (academic staff, support staff and students)

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Institutional Developments 3

Enhancing student ‘belonging’ to:

• the University and its wider community

– Pre-entry visits/assessment/support for students with disabilities (follow-up on entry) – Community service learning and active learning in the community credit- bearing modules (engaging with the local external community) – Developing credit-bearing module on “making the most of your university experience” - reviewing options, critical reflectin, development

• f personal development plan (PDP)
• a cohort of students/peers

– Developing credit-bearing module providing relevant training and enabling recognition/reward for student engagement with enhancement

• f the university experience through
• peer tutoring
• peer mentoring (international?)
• course representation
• ambassador roles
• personal learning assistants etc.

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Institutional Developments 4

Enhancing student engagement and empowerment through the curriculum:

– Improved marketing of learning strategies modules (and the Student Learning Service) to first year students – ESL support sessions (including cultural issues) – Provision of support and reinforcement (not just handbook) on academic expectations and practices eg. plagiarism, attendance at lectures, use of email etc. – PDP Working Group – Staff development opportunities on engaging students with their learning through the use of peer and self assessment

Supporting the development of staff expertise with first year students:

– Review of advisor of studies scheme – departmental team based approach, regular team meetings to be held – Explore opportunities through the teaching-research nexus for introducing students to the culture of a research university (exploratory, enquiry-based learning etc.)

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Institutional Developments 5

Inclusive, collaborative mechanism for self-study and evidence-based decision-making (Stirling Institutional Research Network - SIReN)

– Identify student expectations and experiences on entry – Explore:

• curricular choices (influential factors?)
• awareness of departmental and university facilities/support
• use of departmental/university facilities/support
• decisions made by students (influential factors?)

– Develop an awareness of how students spend their time – Analyse data by specific groups of students eg. international students, mature students, first-generation students, student parents, students with disabilities etc. – Contrast with staff views/perceptions

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Institutional Developments 6

Developing strategies for eliciting the student voice on the student experience (particularly in the first year)

– a student competition to relay information about their student experience (particularly their first year). Specific themes may be suggested eg. making choices, residences, outside the classroom, settling in etc. Open format to encourage creativity eg. essay, film, poem, song etc. Elicited information to be used to inform future developments and enhancements to the first year

Developing new level 7 modules (and/or realigning existing modules to level 7) Bridging/Access programmes, Schools programmes and FE/HE articulation agreements

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Desirable Developments

Requiring cultural/institutional change:

– Enhance prestige/recognition/reward for teaching and supporting first year – Enhance student ‘belonging’ to their discipline/department through departmental ‘events’, greater staff/student interaction

• ut of class

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Possible Future Developments

• Developing a core interdisciplinary first year module

(with delivery and income shared by a number of departments), exploring the same key issue/theme through a diverse range of disciplinary lenses

• Expansion of emerging web site for first year students to

include more guidance and support required beyond admission/registration and the first few weeks of the year

• eg. development of FAQs
• Living-learning communities – making use of campus-

based student residences