Chapter1 - CiteSeerX

Foreword…………

………….Version: Sept 2007

This is a manuscript which should have been be published by the time the book comes out Student Transition: Practices and Policies to Promote Retention

Anthony Cook and Brian S. Rushton The STAR Project University of Ulster

Until the student learns to speak, The tales of learning will be weak. Adapted from Warsame (2005)



Contents

Forward Chapter 1

Student Retention in Context

Chapter 2

Student Transition

Chapter 3

Student Recruitment

Chapter 4

Student Induction

Chapter 5

Promoting Independence

Chapter 6

The Role of Tutorials in Supporting New students

Chapter 7

Peer Mentoring: Students Supporting Students

Chapter 8

Supporting International Students

Chapter 9

Supporting Students Through Course Design

Chapter 10

Provision of Support for Students with Special Needs

Chapter 11

Learning from Audit

Glossary References



Foreward A student undergoes a personal journey from his or her background into their higher education experience. When a relatively low proportion of the population went to university and when even that proportion was largely school leavers then most moved through the educational system with ease. With the proportion of 18-30 years olds with a higher education experience set to rise to 50% by 2010 (NAO, 2007) and an increasing proportion of these not coming from a traditional secondary/A level background the management of the student journey through the system is coming to pre-occupy educational developers in many institutions. A National Audit Office report puts the problem very well. “The sector has been seeking to both increase and widen participation to include more students from groups that have been less well represented in higher education, while bearing down on non-completion. There is a balance to be achieved between these priorities as increasing and widening participation brings in more students from under-represented groups who may need more support to complete their courses. (NAO, 2007) In short we can widen participation or we can increase completion rates, but to do both at the same time requires institutions to change from an attitude of providing opportunity for anyone who wants to seize it to one of proactive recruitment and preparation of new students and overt support for the new students recruited. To divert financial and staff resources to these unfamiliar tasks requires management commitment and staff flexibility especially at a time during which an emphasis has been placed by many on maximising research performance and income. In 2003 the STAR (Student Transition and Retention) project was funded through the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (Phase 4) with the objective of identifying good practices that might result in increased student retention and to disseminate accounts of these practices through the Higher Education Sector in the UK. The project team reviewed the available literature and established a set of guidelines the achievement of which would, in theory at least, assist in the management of the transition of students into higher education and thereby improve student retention (Cook et al., 2005).

The guidelines were initially

presented without detailed advice on how they might by achieved. The STAR booklets that followed were accounts of evaluated practice focused on addressing those guidelines. These booklets were distributed to UK Bioscience departments and to UK university libraries, and thus should be widely available. The following chapters give a summary of many of the practices described and advice on how they might be implemented. Clearly those who will be implementing these changed practices will have to be those academic and non-academic



staff who interface directly with students. They however, often rely on the support and advice from staff in educational and staff development units.

There is an introductory chapter in

which we discuss the background to transition issues and this has been included to support the teaching of transition issues in courses designed to develop academic staff in their roles as teachers. The other chapters are more or less self-contained so that information about practice can be gleaned without having to read the whole volume. None of these findings are counter-intuitive. Individuals and institutions who are prepared to spend time and resources both to prepare students for their courses and to deal with their needs and aspirations during the course will have higher than expected retention rates. It is not always obvious however, how best to spend resources in pursuance of improving the experience of students and their retention.

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 Chapter 1 Student Retention in Context

Take home messages •

The UK has a selective higher education system and although non-completion is seen as a growing problem it is relatively good compared with other countries.

•

Students are leaving UK universities before completing their degrees in increasing numbers. They leave early largely because they change their minds about the course being studied or the institution attended.

•

Student retention has a strong theoretical background that can inform decisions related to the adoption of practical measures to increase it.

Introduction Why is there a problem of student retention in higher education? One could argue that it is a government inspired problem, since it only became an institutional issue when it was measured and publicly disseminated. Twenty years ago a minority of non-traditional students were admitted to universities and colleges in order to satisfy a demand for opportunity, especially for mature students. If the student failed to grasp the opportunity offered then he or she left and, although it was disappointing, there were no recriminations. More recently, however, with the widening participation agenda coming to the fore and a government commitment that 50% of 18 to 30 year olds will attend some form of higher education by 2010, student retention has become a strategic issue for many institutions. This has led to adverse publicity for institutions with high attrition rates and in some cases financial penalties being visited on courses and schools that fail to retain their students. Clarke and Crome (2004) I have emailed them have summarised the drive towards the maximisation of retention thus: Concerns [about retention] arise not from a student perspective, but from the competitiveness that results from universities becoming driven by academic capitalism which has shifted their ethos ... from the client welfare of their students to the economic bottom line. Student retention data are published each year by HESA (HESA, 2007) as “non-continuation rates”. These show the numbers of students in each institution who were registered as students on December 1st but who were no longer in any form of higher education a year later. For 2004-5 the non-continuation rate for all full time, first degree students in the UK was 8.8%. Although this is a relatively low figure it conceals variations between institutions, the range being from 1.2% to 25.4% of students who do not continue. The retention data for the UK compares favourably with that from other industrialised countries and comparisons compiled by the National Audit Office (NAO, 2007) shows the UK to have the 5th highest

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 student survival rate (percentage of undergraduates who subsequently graduate). Even the least well performing UK institution is performing better than the average of about half the countries in the table. Student retention therefore is not as great a problem in the UK as elsewhere but it still represents a loss of opportunity for individual students and a loss of income for individual students. Retention is to some extent a riddle. Universities work hard to recruit suitable students and students have a vested interest in graduating. Why then do students leave and why do they fail? Many of the possible solutions lie with the development of more appropriate teaching and assessment techniques and in the refining of student support procedures and these are properly the subject of the development of academic and support staff. In addition, however, some of the causes of attrition lie with recruitment processes, institutional publicity and with schools liaison since the image of the university and of university life sometimes attracts applicants through the promotion of unrealistic expectations. Research into the experiences of new university students is confined mainly to the study of dropouts from courses in higher education. Such studies have been carried out largely in North America in institutions that have had much higher drop out rates than those commonly experienced in the UK. Whilst this remains the case in general terms, the trend towards widening participation in UK higher education has not only raised concerns that standards might fall but also that problems associated with attrition will become more evident in the UK. These problems may be manifest, not only in increased rates of attrition, but also in changes in student preparedness and attitudes resulting in disengagement from social and educational processes and academic under-performance. In this chapter we will discuss: •

conceptual frameworks within which preparation for university might be considered; and

•

the practices, mainly in the USA, which have proved effective in meeting the needs of students who might otherwise have dropped out;

Conceptual frameworks Most students enter higher education along a predictable time-line, representing the various stages of transition. Many of their experiences and the circumstances in which they will find themselves are, therefore, predictable and, as a consequence, potentially manageable. Success for the first year student is more than merely gaining sufficient academic credit to progress to the next year of the course but also involves educational and personal development (Upcraft and Gardner, 1989). Specifically, this includes developing academic and intellectual competence, establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships and career goals and developing a balanced lifestyle. Many factors associated both with the student and with the institution influence the success with which individuals complete the transition to university life. Retention and student

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 performance are enhanced if institutions create an environment that bridges the gap between secondary and tertiary educational experiences. An appropriate university environment is vital in shaping the personal development of the student. A number of models designed to illuminate the process of transition have been developed. Each has its own individual strengths and weaknesses and all are predicated to some extent on the traditional student leaving school and entering university as a sub-adult. Campus Ecology A Campus Ecology Approach (Banning, 1989) focuses on the impact the university environment has on student development. This approach identified the benefits of change in promoting student development. There is, however, a fine balance to be achieved. If the “sending environment” (traditionally a school) is significantly different from the “receiving environment” (the university) the degree of stress will be higher and the likelihood of failure greater. If the receiving environment is nearly the same, on the other hand, there will be less transition required but also less potential for student growth and development. The degree of fit between the new students’ aspirations and the experiences provided by the institution can affect student satisfaction, academic achievement and personal growth. The conditions that have the most positive influence on student success are high levels of interaction among students, strong staff-student contact, the availability of accommodation in halls of residence and extensive extra-curricular activities (Banning, 1989). Theory of student integration Tinto’s (1987) Theory of Student Integration is the most widely accepted and used model of student transition. Tinto explains a decision to withdraw or persist as the culmination of a longitudinal process that determines the ability of the student to integrate into academic and social aspects of university life. He underpins his theoretical model by likening entry into university to a traditional “Rite of Passage” with its phases of separation, transition and incorporation. In order to be successful at university a student must first separate from his/her former environment. The transition period is the time of adjustment into the new environment and is a time of risk, anxiety and new experiences. Stress and a sense of loss and bewilderment can result in withdrawal from university early in the year. The final stage of incorporation marks the time of full integration and acceptance of and by the new environment. Key factors in Tinto’s model concern the attitude of the students before entry, viz., their intentions (career and other personal goals) and level of commitment (how well motivated they are towards the course and/or institution). These factors interact with a student’s early experience at the institution to determine that student’s persistence. The factors that influence this persistence after entry include flexibility (how adaptable a student proves to be), congruence (the extent to which the institution provides an acceptable match to the student’s prior academic and/or social expectations), difficulty (the extent to which the student attains

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 appropriate academic standards) and isolation (the extent to which the student is included in social activities and integrates through friendships and relationships with staff and peers). Draper (2002) expands some of the elements of Tinto’s model by discussing notions of ‘fit’. Is the student comfortable with the role of being a student, either in its social or academic dimension? How does a student’s actual achievement fit with their aspirations? And, finally, how well aligned are the necessities of study (asking questions, using computers, etc) with a student’s comfort zone. Draper summarises these as follows: “We have three fields for integration: [A] Academic, and social [integration], inside and outside the university. [B] Fit (or conflict or dissonance) might be divided into arising from goals (or wishes, or desires), from methods (or skills or capabilities or habits), and from effectiveness (or measurable achievement). [C] There are always two aspects of fit: with the individual's own internal self, and with external demands on them. Draper (2002) The message from Tinto (and as interpreted by Draper), therefore, is that students leave university early for a broad set of reasons some of which they may have brought with them to the institution, some of which arise from the institution’s behaviour and others that are a product of a lack of congruence between individual students and institutional structures, personnel and procedures. It is in the identification and resolution of these causes of poor student commitment where the solution to the retention riddle lies. The actions thus follow a student time-line that has its origin well before the student arrives at the university and extends for as long as that student has the potential to disengage. Student/institution negotiation model Ozga and Sukhnandan (1998) developed a model of non-completion from qualitative data derived from studies of UK institutions. They criticised many previous attempts at explanatory models as being too focussed on the student, i.e. seeking faults in students and their behaviour to explain their non-completion. They reasoned that the cause of non-completion was shared equally between the student (who did not fit academically and/or socially) and the institution that was not suitable for that student (either academically or socially). The main elements influencing decisions to leave are clustered under the headings, “student preparedness” and “compatibility of choice” both of which involve elements of student and institutional characteristics. Clearly, this model has much in common with the Campus Ecology Approach (Banning, 1989), but is also compatible with Tinto’s student integration

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 model. Poor student preparedness is concerned with inaccurate perceptions of what life at university will be like. This is associated with indirect and out of date sources of information such as teachers, friends, etc., and promotional literature produced by universities for the purposes of marketing courses. A poor choice has its effects throughout a student’s university career and derives from unfulfilled or incompatible student expectations of the institution and the disappointment of staff in the students they have admitted. Ozga and Sukhnandan (1998) identify different factors involved in the failure of mature and traditional students to complete their studies. While mature students have normally entered university with a better appreciation of the academic and social demands that their studies will place upon them, they are more prone to sudden, post-entry, changes in their personal circumstances. Beatty-Guenter model Beatty-Guenter (1994) classified the components of institutional retention strategies. She was less concerned with the causes of student dropout than with an analysis of the actions that might be taken to ameliorate it. Strategies can be considered to have a number of potential elements that need to be properly balanced for the strategy to have the maximum benefit. These she categorized as Sorting, Supporting, Connecting, Transforming students and Transforming institutions. Not surprisingly these strategies have resonance with the Tinto’s model in that they imply that both students and institutions need to adapt to each other to maximise student retention. These classifications readily lend themselves to interventions (Pérez, 1998). Sorting: Sorting strategies identify critical points in the student time line and address the potential problems arising at each. Thus they include pre-entry strategies such as marketing and promotion, the admissions process, diagnostic assessment, attendance strategies and the identification and support of ‘at risk’ students. Supporting: Supporting strategies assist students to persist as students by removing nonacademic barriers. Thus such strategies might include increased pastoral care, financial support and child-care. Connecting: Connecting strategies encourage students to identify more closely with the institution or some sub-set of it. This roughly parallels aspects of Tinto’s integration. Thus connecting strategies include developing relationships with personal tutors, course events, student mentoring, advisors of study and attendance monitoring. Transforming students: Student transformation strategies attempt to change student attitudes and behaviours, e.g. from passive learners to active learners, changing student study skills and expectations, etc. This type of strategy includes learning support, study skill development and tutorial support.

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 Transforming the institution: Institutional transformation strategies address the institutional learning environment. Thus the curriculum might be redesigned to better suit student needs and attributes, additional resources might be devoted to changing teaching methods and the evaluation of such changes. Typical strategies include curriculum redesign, action research programmes, staff development programmes, teaching and learning innovations and, where necessary, changing staff attitudes towards teaching. These components of strategies can themselves be categorized. Sorting and Supporting are essentially reactive in that they can be seen as short-term responses to a retention problem. Connecting strategies are integrative. They serve to incorporate students into the social and academic framework of the university. Transforming strategies are proactive. They attempt to accomplish long-term changes in the behaviour of both the institution and its students so that each naturally serves the needs of the other. Practical problems faced by new university students The conceptual frameworks described above view transition as a process with interactions between students and between staff and students at their core. Many of the problems of transition are associated with the stresses arising from adjustment from a teacher-dependent, over-supportive, risk-averse secondary school environment to a more independent and adventurous approach to life and to learning. They will affect all students to a greater or lesser extent and will have their greatest effects in the months after entering university when students are making early adjustments (Maxwell, 1996). Those most seriously affected are unable to engage with their new environment and lack confidence in their ability to cope with the new personal and academic demands imposed upon them (Rickinson and Rutherford, 1995). Academic and social integration For a transition into university to be made smoothly, students need to integrate socially and academically. If these are not achieved initially they can have effects penetrating far into the undergraduate life of the individual. Academic integration is dominated by the student’s academic performance and the quality of formal and informal interactions with academic staff. Social integration, on the other hand, refers to the ease of making friends on campus and the presence of sizeable numbers of students with similar lifestyles and values (Grosset, 1991). If the quality of either form of integration is low, the commitment made by the individual to the institution will also be low. In turn, this will result in academic underperformance or failure, dropping out, or simply a much-diminished quality of undergraduate life. The consequences of a lack of academic integration include a dislike of the course of study, dissatisfaction with university staff and quality of teaching and difficulty with the academic level and workload of programmes of study. Misjudgements by otherwise competent students of the quality and quantity of work required also contribute to poor academic integration. Farr (1994) found that course-related variables such as levels of interest, satisfaction with course content, the standard of teaching and the extent to which the course met expectations were significantly

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 related to non-completion. It is clear that university staff have some control over the conditions for academic integration and the ability of the student to make a commitment to the institution (Pascarella and Terenzini, 1980; Grosset, 1991). Students who are not socially integrated may experience emotional problems through not being able to adapt to the emotional task of leaving home and attaching themselves to a new life at university. They find themselves having difficulty making friends; they experience homesickness, disorientation, isolation and feelings of being lost (Rickinson and Rutherford, 1995). Students are increasingly living at home while studying at university and many models are based on students who have essentially left home to attend university. Home based students have additional problems in that they may neither integrate fully with campus based students nor leave the attitudes and expectations of home. Lack of preparation Students who lack the appropriate preparation for life as a university student will find it more difficult to make the necessary personal and academic adjustments. Such a lack of preparation is evidenced by the persistence of study and learning methods associated with secondary education (Cook and Leckey, 1999). Students who have not developed independent study habits in their first year will experience difficulties in subsequent years when they will still be affected by a lack of ability to carry out intellectual tasks such as analysis and critical evaluation (Harris and Palmer, 1995). Associated with this is the concern that A levels are too narrow a preparation for the demands of higher education with little or no emphasis on teamwork or independence of approach. While we must acknowledge that the educational systems in the UK and USA are not the same, we have much to learn from the American approach to student preparedness. Conley (2003a) reports on a study of “Knowledge and skills for student success”. The standards developed describe a set of student attributes associated with success at college. There is an implicit, but idealistic, assumption that students should acquire these attributes prior to entry. For English these are: Reading and Comprehension Successful students: •

Employ reading skills and strategies to understand literature;

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Use reading skills and strategies to understand informational texts;

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Are able to understand the defining characteristics of texts and to recognize a variety of literary forms and genres;

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Are familiar with a range of world literature;

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Are able to discuss with understanding the relationships between literature and its historical and social contexts; and

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 •

Are able to read and interpret visual images, including charts and graphs.

Writing Successful students: •

Apply basic grammar conventions in an effort to write clearly;

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Know conventions of punctuation and capitalization;

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Know conventions of spelling;

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Use writing conventions to write clearly and coherently;

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Use writing to communicate ideas, concepts, emotions and descriptions to the reader; and

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Both use and prioritize a variety of strategies to revise and edit written work to achieve maximum improvement in the time available.

Research Skills Successful students: •

Understand and use research methodologies; and

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Know how to find a variety of sources and use them properly.

Critical Thinking Skills Successful students •

Demonstrate connective intelligence; and

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Demonstrate the ability to think independently.

Other standards apply to Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Second Languages and the Arts. Each standard is elaborated such that its achievement can be tested against the aims and objectives of prior to entry assessments and a judgment made concerning the preparedness of individual students for a successful higher education experience. Such a comparison shows that few State examinations were congruent with these student success factors in English and Mathematics (Conley, 2003b). While assessment tasks prior to entry might serve the limited needs of those who set them, they do not necessarily serve the broader needs of those who sit them especially in terms of their preparation for higher education. This is line with findings in the UK concerning the effects of studying A level (Cook, 2005) and reinforces the notion that much student learning in the current target-driven educational climate is determined by the assessment regime. In short, students are taught and acquire that knowledge and those attributes required to complete assessments to a pre-determined standard. This is instructional alignment at its simplest and does not serve the wider needs of the learner well but is rather determined by

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 the need for the teacher to be measurable and therefore accountable (Jervis and Jervis, 2005). Lack of realistic prior perceptions of higher education Perceptions of higher education tend to revolve around stereotypical assumptions such as moderate academic demands and an exciting social life (Ozga and Sukhnandan, 1998). Indeed, many students still measure their first year success in meeting their expectations for a rich social life. The most rewarding experiences appear to be meeting new people, making new friends and getting away from home. Other inaccurate prior perceptions relate to the amount of time spent in lectures and study and the belief that the nature of learning would not differ too much from that experienced in secondary school (Cook and Leckey, 1999). Many prefer a teaching style that promotes surface learning only, involving accepting and recording specific information. Personal characteristics Academic ability is the most important determinant of success, but other factors such as age and gender also make significant contributions. Yorke (1997) for instance, has shown that males are more likely than females to report having difficulty with aspects of studying. Such difficulties concern a lack of study skills, a low commitment to study, difficulty with the programme of study and a lack of academic progress. Furthermore, age has also been shown to influence the problems experienced (Johnson, 1994; Yorke, 1997; Ozga and Sukhnandan, 1998;). In general, older students tend to make better choices of course and tend to be more focussed than students of school leaving age. On the other hand, they are more likely to be adversely affected by sudden changes in their domestic circumstances (Farr, 1994; Ozga and Sukhnandan, 1998). Younger students tend to be more dissatisfied with the quality of teaching and with aspects of the environment in which they study (Yorke, 1997). School leavers have been found to be less diligent in their study habits and less academically orientated than older students. Youth and inexperience characterise those students who leave through academic failure (Johnston, 1994). A further influence on the level of commitment felt by an individual to the institution is the initial preference expressed in applying through the University and College Admission System (UCAS). Johnes (1990) found a negative relationship between dropout and ranking the university first in applying through UCAS. Yorke (1997) has clarified this relationship since he found that those who obtained a place through ‘clearing’ were less likely to have their expectations met concerning institutional facilities and thus had less institutional commitment. Students who live at home also find it more difficult to integrate into campus life (Woodward and Bradshaw, 1989). Bringing the models together it is clear that the actions that could be taken are wide ranging and should effect lasting change on the institution in such a way that it provides a welcoming face to its students while maintaining the aspirations of both the students and staff.

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 Strategies for student retention Detailed retention strategies take many different forms but most will have a selection of the following elements. Raising aspiration and attainment:

activities in feeder schools designed to encourage

application to appropriate courses; dissemination of information. Better academic preparation: pre-entry activities to give incoming school leavers and others experience of the university environment and the development of appropriate study skills before coming into higher education. Fair admissions: removal of any barriers to the entry of under-represented groups. This includes staff development for admissions staff. Initial induction: improving the student experience in the first few days of the first year. Students should be made aware of their obligations to both themselves and the institution and the commitment of the institution to their progress and support. Extended induction:

mentoring schemes, tutorial schemes, activities based on inclusion

rather than selection. Pastoral care: monitoring and support of student progress; attempts to identify early those students at risk of dropping out. Fair treatment: development of policies that ensure that no student is at a disadvantage through institutional policies procedures and structures. Flexible progression: encouraging direct entry into later years of courses; bridging courses, summer schools; the availability of switching between full- and part-time studies. Curriculum development: the development of programmes of study that facilitate access to higher education and progression within it. The adaptation of curricula to suit the students who actually enrol on the course. The modification of assessment: it is clear that the forms of assessment used in the qualifications for entry into higher education are no longer aligned with those actually used in higher education itself. Assessment moulds the ways in which students behave (Biggs, 2003). It is important therefore that the methods used in year one of university courses are familiar to new students and also act to prepare new students for the more independent forms of learning and assessment common later in university courses. Student success strategies: transferable skills training; work based learning opportunities; personal development planning; remedial (sometimes called developmental) teaching systems, often focused on central support for mathematics and literacy. Staff development: raising awareness of the consequences of widening participation; sharing and disseminating good practice. Developing expertise in small group teaching and the promotion of student independence.

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 Institutional research: the collection of accurate data and monitoring student opinion. These activities allow rational decisions to be made about the proper allocation of resources. Attendance monitoring: the development of procedures that monitor student attendance. This acts to identify students with difficulties early and also to demonstrate to students that the institution has an interest in their attendance. Academic staff are often ill equipped to deliver many of these desirable outcomes. Few academics joined universities primarily because they had a desire to teach. The proportion of academics trained for their role as teachers is still relatively low and the rewards in universities for excelling at teaching are still obscure. The motivation for devoting time and effort to teaching is rarely extrinsic despite many universities developing teaching friendly promotion policies. Discussion Theoretical models of the transition between the secondary and the tertiary phase of education help us to formulate policies and practices that can facilitate that transition. It does not matter whether they are “true” or not. They only matter because they can prompt action whose effectiveness in achieving desirable outcomes can be evaluated. UK policy is moving universities towards a tertiary education system in which participation rates are high, in which many students will be the first of their family to attend university, in which higher education will be a significant financial burden and in which higher education institutions will be competing to recruit relatively scarce, well qualified students. It is thus clear that tertiary institutions in the UK will have to pay greater attention to assisting students manage this transition if high attrition rates and under-performance are to be avoided. The theoretical perspectives described in the early part of this chapter indicate a variety of reasons for students leaving or under-performing, which in turn suggest a basis for institutional action to reduce attrition. The process of transition into university involves some stress and personal upheaval, but most students will possess the personal resources to overcome the challenge. For others, the long-term desire to succeed (especially in some high-demand courses) will be sufficient to offset the stresses involved in transition. There will be, however, a proportion of students for whom the stress of transition will be more than they are equipped to deal with unaided and will result in isolation and personal anxiety. The experience of the first semester is critical to the success of these students. This is true not only concerning decisions about staying but also in determining their level of performance, personal development, confidence and motivation. Ozga and Sukhnandan (1998) have suggested that appropriate institutional responses to the threat of greater attrition should include more responsible marketing strategies and better support for mature students coupled with more refined processes for identifying students at risk, the early promotion of active learning and early formative assessments. This, however, neglects the social integration of students into the institution that has been identified as a key

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 factor by Tinto (1987) and the development of the peer support that supersedes the staff support with which students will be familiar at school (Cook and Leckey, 1999). It is difficult to be prescriptive about the ways in which an institution should deal with individual students. It is clear, however, that there are general elements of good practice that will promote student well being, increase the likelihood of their staying to complete their course and maximise their personal development. These are summarised below (Table 1.1) to provide a checklist against which current practice might be audited. Table 1.1. Good practice in student induction. Good practice Support prior to entry Sensitive period (decision making)

September to Easter prior to entry

Contact

Continued contact throughout the application process

Information

Information focussed on preparation for higher education and not just recruitment

Initial Induction Sensitive period (support)

2-6 weeks into semester 1

Duration

Throughout the first semester

Academic orientation

Information concerning structure of course, teaching and learning methods and means of assessment (avoid information overload)

Facilities

Library orientation Computing orientation

Services

Involvement of Counselling Service and Careers Service Information for the disabled

Social integration

Informal meetings with academic staff Opportunities to meet peers in informal surroundings facilitated

Extracurricular activities

Wide range of clubs and societies

Status

Compulsory or so attractive that few students miss it

Extended induction Duration

When necessary

Content

Support for study skills development. Avoid introducing topics to far in advance of need. Adopt JEEJIT – Just Enough Education Just In

Chapter 1 Student retention in context ………………….Version: Sept 2007 Time.

Attrition and the processes that underlie it apply to all students in all courses. There is much excellent practice in the sector but it is seldom widespread and the majority of incoming students do not experience it. It is always easy to point to good practice but less easy to promote its adoption. Thus although induction will be a feature of most courses it is often seen as an event during which information is given rather than as a process in which students actively participate in the promotion of academic and social integration. The emphasis for most induction programmes is firmly on the course rather than the needs and concerns of the student. The evidence from a STAR survey would suggest that academic staff do not attach a high priority to the development of study skills (Cook, 2006a). Although the contextualisation of these skills through embedding them into subject specific modules would seem to be good practice, the rarity with which these skills are assessed would suggest that the process remains undervalued. It must the remembered that each student drops out for his or her own individual reasons. Attempts to solve problems of student attrition by addressing these individual reasons are probably doomed to failure. Rather, the problems of attrition should be viewed as the factors encouraging students to leave outweighing the factors encouraging them to stay. Institutions might be better served by identifying those factors associated with staying and promoting them to the whole student body rather than concentrating on the identification of the problems of individuals and applying solutions, after the event, to the few.

Chapter 2 Student transition

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Student Transition Take home messages •

Students leave university early for a variety of reasons some of which are the responsibility of the institution.

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The differences between prior educational experiences and the expectations of institutions in year one are too great for a minority of students.

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Many students perceive academic failure as a failure of strategy rather than a deficit in competence.

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Well-evaluated solutions are available.

Introduction The STAR (Student Transition and Retention) project was conceived as a means of providing evaluated examples of good practice in managing student transition. The issues surrounding the withdrawal of students from higher education inevitably provide the backdrop to the practices and have been well described by Yorke (1999) in the UK and Tinto (1993) in the USA. They were discussed in detail in Chapter 1. Martinez (2001), discussing student retention and achievement, largely in the further education sector, provided the following list of changes that had the potential to improve both retention and the first year students’ experience: •

Improving and extending advice and guidance services;

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Recruiting with integrity;

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Paying particular attention to the early stages of programmes of learning;

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Establishing a close relationship with students through tutoring;

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Closer monitoring and follow up of poor attendance;

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Early identification of students who are ‘at risk’;

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The early diagnosis of student requirements for basic skills and additional learning support and the provision of such support;

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The development of a curriculum framework designed to meet the needs of those students who enrol;

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A variety of mechanisms to maintain or improve student motivation;

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Involvement, peer support and prizes and ceremonies;

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Target setting allied with formative assessment and feedback; and

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Improvements to teaching practice.


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These also apply to the higher education sector. The different context, however, might lead to a greater explicitness of the promotion of independent learning as a basic skill and better advice and guidance directed at the parents of students. There is a lack of detailed examples of good practice available directed at practitioners. The theoretical background is rich (see Chapter 1). In promoting a bottom up approach to the solution of the retention riddle we are following the early work of Pargetter et al. (1998) in Australia who reported: “… programs which will most effectively meet the range of transition issues … must be grounded and nourished within the ‘everyday life’ of universities, in their teaching and learning environments and in their student support services, rather than developed and implemented from above. Qualitative data suggest that the quality of face-to-face teaching, the extent to which students are ‘welcomed’, their social interactions with teachers and other learners in classrooms, and their early experiences of course advice and support services are the most crucial variables in successful transition…” In essence one of the key issues surrounding non-continuance is ‘Who’s problem is it anyway?’ It is undoubtedly an institutional problem since students who do not continue represent a financial loss. But leaving early is a student’s solution to their problems and a common reaction of staff when faced with a student who wishes to leave a course is to help them to go. An institutional problem with which neither staff nor students identify as individuals is difficult to solve. In a real sense then ‘non-continuance’ is not a soluble problem since neither the students nor the staff who are most intimately involved have an immediate and vested interest in the student staying. We need to rearticulate the problem such that it becomes a shared issue. Such an issue would be ‘student success’. All components of the organisation have a vested interest in students being successful and although it is not an exact corollary of ‘non-continuance’, it is close and applies both to students and staff. Those who are not successful in their first year fall into two groups – students who leave early and those who fail academically. Assuming that entrance procedures are sufficiently rigorous to ensure that all who are admitted to university in the UK have the ability to be successful, then these unsuccessful students can be said to have failed in their transition to higher education for some reason. The dimensions of transition therefore are of great interest since they can point the way to effective changes in practice. Dimensions of transition Students progress along a timeline starting with the choice of specialist subjects at school and ending, say, at the end of year one. Changes occur along this timeline in a predictable way for most students and the ways in which they cope with these changes will determine their success in higher education. These changes can be summarised as follows. Subject content



Although the choice of subjects at school can be limited it may open out again at university. Chemistry is needed to support biology, mathematics to support engineering, statistics to support psychology. Students who have avoided topics at school may have to address them later in their university career and will be ill prepared to deal with them. Many university programmes have individual components that most students find difficult. Maturation The years between 18 and 21 are particular formative ones in terms of the establishment of a great range of interpersonal relationships. The transition to adulthood can be problematic for some and it coincides for many with their transition to higher education. Independent living Many students are living away from home for the first time. They have to cope with many issues that they will eventually come to consider trivial: laundry, cooking, travel, work-life balance, loneliness, the abuse of alcohol and other social drugs. Dependent living More students are choosing to live in the parental home while at University. For some Universities the majority of students live this way and many students incur a large cost both in terms of time and money by commuting. A hidden cost however, is the added difficulty of joining in campus-based activities with residential students. Such commuting students may have therefore experience problems integrating with their classmates socially. Teaching styles University teaching is typically through the lecture to large groups of students, although the traditional monologue is diminishing in frequency. Some small group teaching will support this. The difference between this and the teaching styles at school characterised by small class size and more interactive teaching sessions will vary between students as will their ability to cope with the change. Independent learning Many students will not have had to make decisions about what to study when, nor about how far to delve into particular topics that interest them. They may have been guided through their assessment regimes in a way that is considered inappropriate at university. They will undoubtedly have been taught to a highly defined syllabus both in terms of its subject content, the depth of treatment and skills required. Group work



The concept of group work is unfamiliar to many new students and some worry about mark allocations to whole groups as opposed to individuals. Learning and performance at some schools may be seen as competitive and sharing may not have been promoted. At university, group work is often encouraged (and, in some subjects may be ‘compulsory’, e.g. practical classes in the sciences) and this can make some students uncomfortable. Care should be taken, therefore, to explain how groups work and why they are important if students are to participate fully. Motivation Many students will always have been intrinsically motivated, i.e. worked for their own reasons. Some, however, will have had extrinsic motivation (parental, teacher or peer pressure). This may be removed or diminished when at university. University staff will not put undue pressure on students to work, much less achieve their full potential. Most students, therefore, will have to become intrinsically motivated very quickly when at university. Responsibility When asked why they failed many students will find some reason why they have been victims of the system. This adoption of the role of victim is typical of those who do not feel themselves to be in control of their own circumstances and yet academic staff often stress the need for students ‘to take responsibility for their own learning’. The taking up of this responsibility is not easy for many students, especially school leavers. These dimensions of transition all have to be negotiated in the first few weeks at university. Some will represent major changes for some and others will be trivial. They all have the potential to stimulate through broadening experience and presenting challenges to students and all have the potential to present such sudden changes that students cannot cope. The STAR studies The studies contained in the STAR booklets and available from the STAR website (www.ulster.ac.uk/STAR) are all intended to provide enough information for practitioners to implement the practice in their own institution or at least to frame an argument that they should be taken up at a management level. They have been evaluated through using staff and student opinion and thus are considered to be good practice not only by staff but also by the students who have experienced them. All studies are presented with the context in which they were implemented. What works for one university may not work for another and what works for one individual member of staff may not work for another. Thus in designing any change in practice care must be exercised in the selection and adaptation of other practices so that the resulting change both fulfils the intentions of the implementer and meets the capacity of the staff to deliver it.



A compendium of innovations should be viewed as a supermarket shelf. Some items will be ready meals and can be used as they are. Other items, however, are ingredients and will have to be selected and mixed together in various ways until a suitable outcome is achieved. Evaluation and recording is, therefore, an essential feature of educational change if such change is to be progressive. The national background Current practice in induction All bioscience departments in the UK were surveyed asking about their current induction practices. In particular staff were asked what they thought was the most effective practice which informed students about the course and which retained them on it. The most significant finding from this survey was the focus on the tutorial as a means of engaging student interest and on open days as a means of informing student opinion (Cook, 2006a). It was also clear that there was no pattern of effective practice associated with good retention statistics. Thus universities that had high student retention were not necessarily doing anything different from those with poor retention statistics. The lack of correspondence between retention and practice is perhaps not surprising given the strong relationship between retention and entry qualifications. Pre-entry qualifications A frequent refrain from academic staff is that the quality of students has declined over recent years. New students have often experienced extended periods in secondary school or college and an examination of the qualifications being taken in these establishments has led to ideas of teacher dependent and risk-averse teaching strategies. An examination of past A level papers and AVCE assessment procedures highlights differences in the expectations of school leavers in their pre-university assessments and those on entry to university (Cook, 2005). Thus students are strongly supported during their pre-university qualifications by teachers not only through the teaching of relatively small groups but also by their control of and focus on a prescribed syllabus. The A level examination system is essentially a closed one in which all that a candidate is expected to know has been written down as support for those teaching and is available to candidates. This approach favours superficial learning and the modular schemes now in place facilitate the short-term memory that it engenders. The A level syllabus then, is essentially a set of instructions to the examiner and defines the maximum that can be examined at any one time. Although the AVCE assessment scheme is, in some senses, less constrained than that at A level it is also well documented with the qualities expected in the work being well defined and differentiated as to level. Further, in vocational qualifications most assessed work is coursework and the level of assistance received from teachers and others is obviously unknown. Thus the new explicitness in demonstrating to teachers and students the maximum requirements shows to many how little they have to know and do. There is no point in doing any more since there will be no credit for it.



In universities the curricula are also defined in module descriptions but learning outcomes are written as the minimum required for a student to pass rather than the maximum examinable. Further, the teacher is also the examiner and this changes the relationship between instructor and learner as well as prevents both a free discussion of the potential contents of an examination paper and any detailed support in the preparation of coursework. Most new traditional students have lived, therefore, in a culture of a maximal curriculum description, dependent learning and repeated assessment for at least the previous four years (GCSE and A level). It is unreasonable to expect them all to be able to switch seamlessly to a university culture that describes only the minimum requirements, that expects independence and one-off assessment within the first 12 weeks of attendance. It is clear that some adaptation of practice is required to bridge the cultural gap at least in year one. Why do students think they fail? The reasons students do not persist on courses are two fold. First they leave of their own accord. The reasons for this have been well documented by Yorke (1999) and Nutt (2005) and the theoretical background to this was provided in Chapter 1. The second reason for leaving, however, is academic failure. The reasons for academic failure are less well understood. Good guesses would relate to a failure of time management skills, balancing work, study and a student social life or a lack of motivation. In addition, of course, the clear inverse relationship between non-continuance and the grades gained at A level (Cutler and Pulko, 2001) indicates that a history of failure and poor performance can be continued into a university career. Scott and Graal (2006) surveyed student views after academic failure. What do students say when you ask them why they failed? The answer is very often that the standard required was unexpected and that in any case they were only aiming just to pass since that is all the current system requires. Thus the student view of academic failure is that it is a failure of strategy rather than of competence. Clearly one of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) characteristics of good undergraduate teaching and learning practice (the communication of high expectations) is not being met. Asking students how their experience could have been improved is not always helpful since they seldom look to improve their own practice and performance. Thus the suggestion of Scott and Graal’s students included: “Have an easier first term to give students time to get used to things!” “Have an overall syllabus that can be used as a revision check list.” “Do not schedule help sessions at the end of the day (4.30 p.m.) when students with child care arrangements have to rush home.” and “Provide a peer support system for first years.”



The first two imply the persistence of the culture from which the students arrived and, although the last two may be sensible short-term arrangements to support new students, they do not promote independence. The student response to academic failure is also one that implies dependency and their solutions are often ones that involve further support. Thus common reasons would be a lack of time, a lack of a relevant curriculum, poor teaching but rarely a lack of appropriate study skills. Failing students, therefore, often see themselves as victims of an unjust system and improvement is not seen to be in their control. Remedial actions must encompass ‘student empowerment’ so that students see themselves, at least partially, in control of what they do and how they are rewarded for what they achieve. Why don’t we do what they do? In the USA the retention problems are much greater than in the UK. This is partly because many colleges have open enrolment. Any citizen with a high school diploma has a right to attend until they can no longer proceed within the regulations. The First Year Seminar, some form of which can be found in many US institutions, is credited with substantially reducing student dropout in the USA (Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991). It does this by increasing student commitment to the subject and institution and enhancing generic study skills. The First Year Seminar typically involves one hour per week contact time in groups of less than 20. The more effective ones are assessed. Such seminars are rarely subject based and address issues of common interest or the specialized interests of the staff who elect to take them. Thus central themes might be the moon landings or the work of a popular science fiction author. Their value appears to lie in the social interactions that form around small groups of students engaged in a common activity and acquiring basic academic research skills and verbal and written communication skills. This curricular innovation has not appeared in the UK. Cook (2006b) has argued that the reason for this is the perceived lack of freedom to rebalance curricula in favour of those aspects of academic and social development that do not directly support the subject being studied. It is the social aspects of student development in particular that are most often kept strictly separate from academic modules and, although social ends may be achieved, they do not appear in formal university curricula or appear as explicit objectives. The First Year Seminar is associated with a liberal arts philosophy of many US institutions in which the focus is on the broad benefits of education to individuals rather than the manpower-planning approach of many UK courses. This is also a thread that runs through restrictions in module choices for UK students such that, whereas in the US modularisation encouraged diversity of choice for students, in the UK modularisation has lead to increased specification and the restriction of choice and has be exacerbated by the need to make teaching more ‘efficient’ These differences are reflected in the strategic attitude to learning adopted by many UK students that has resulted in an unwillingness to devote time to matters that are not focused on the degree subject. Implications for staff developers



While most academic staff are active teachers they are not necessarily active researchers into their teaching nor into its wider context. They will be highly specialized in the content of what they teach but may not necessarily possess either the time or the skills required to investigate how to teach it more effectively or how to investigate the background and attributes of those to whom they are teaching it. Teaching staff, therefore, need to be made aware of issues associated with student transition in general and, in particular, with the population of students with whom they are faced. The most critical aspect of awareness that staff developers can address is the notion that the institution and its staff are responsible for the adaptation of the teaching and assessment to suit the students it recruits. Two attitudes are prevalent among staff. The first is that their prime allegiance is to their subject and its delivery. This leads to the content being delivered whether students are learning adequately or not. Further, in focusing on the perceived needs of teaching the subject, the attributes of the students are easily neglected. It is thus important that staff are made aware of the nature and content of the qualifications with which students have entered and what it is reasonable for staff to expect of them in terms of the assessment tasks with which these new students will be familiar. This is particularly important in the first semester of the first year when higher education demands the greatest changes in its students. Recent and rapid changes in second level assessment systems (A levels, AVCEs, NVQs, etc.) will mean that few staff will be teaching students with whom they share a common educational experience. Most students adapt rapidly and cope well with the changes but this should not be allowed to conceal the minority for whom the early transition is difficult and stressful. Institutional research can inform staff of the backgrounds of their students but the research into the nature of their entrance qualifications requires to be completed and communicated locally by those with subject-based experience. The second staff attitude is that a measure of the rigour with which standards are maintained is the numbers of students who fail. It is held that standards must be low if no one fails or if all students do well. In a criterion referenced assessment system this notion is clearly fallacious but nevertheless it is still common. Some initiatives aimed at improving student success, particularly those that smooth the transition from secondary teaching are therefore perceived as ‘dumbing down’ since they erode ‘standards’. Such staff need reminding that graduate standards apply to graduates. Changes made to teaching and assessment methods in years one and two do not directly affect graduate standards and should be considered as transitional arrangements leading to the development of the qualities required at graduation.

Chapter 3 Student recruitment

…………………….Version: Sept 2007 Chapter 3

Student Recruitment Take home messages •

Increasing the numbers of non-traditional students will increase student attrition unless it is accompanied by the adaptation of year one to meet the needs and expectations of these new students.

•

Students who leave early do so in the first few weeks. This can be interpreted as ‘buyer’s remorse’.

•

Recruitment information and activities must portray a complete, open and accurate view of student life. The most powerful source of such information is existing students.

•

All the activity of institutions in relation to new students should be aimed at their successful graduation and not only at their successful recruitment.

Introduction Widening participation initiatives encourage applications from students who would perhaps not have applied previously for a higher education course. In 2003-04, 23% of new students were mature (over 21 on entry), 13.9% from low participation neighbourhoods and nearly 29% from socio-economic classes four, five, six and seven (HESA, 2006a). All these student attributes can be expected to increase in the coming years as an instrument of government policy. Unfortunately they are also associated with increased student non-continuance. Many of the mature students would not have aspired to enter higher education a decade ago when many of the staff who now teach them would have been at university. These new students may have previously lacked the opportunity or may not have had appropriate entry qualifications. Many of these new students have little personal experience of higher education or come from backgrounds with no familial history of higher education. Even prospective students in the secondary education sector but from lower socio-economic groups may come from an environment in which attendance at an institution of higher education is deemed unusual or unlikely. The factors that encourage these students into higher education include rather unspecific career goals as well as a desire for personal development and the more traditional subject based interests. Discouraging factors include the fear of incurring debt, a lack of self-belief in their ability to succeed academically, a belief that they cannot make good career decisions and personal issues related to managing time and families (Connor and Dawson, 2001). Attracting non-traditional students Attitudes of potential students can change both quickly and positively. The Step-Up programme at the University of Ulster, for instance, works with schools drawing pupils from low participation neighbourhoods and provides taster sessions at university and a programme



of university-led support whilst still at school. This programme has reported that whereas at the beginning of their intervention only 2% of sixth form students in these schools had considered going to university after two years 98% were considering university as their next step (Anon, 2006a). Increasing the participation of students from under-represented groups, therefore, is a realistic objective since many have formerly lacked opportunity rather than ability. Many, however, are from lower socio-economic groupings and, as a consequence, may have poor entry qualifications and be under-prepared (See Chapter 1). The reasons for the relationship between lower socio-economic group and performance prior to entry are not clear but it appears likely that it is more to do with student background than with ability. Thus Gorard et al. (2006) state: “Families are universally acknowledged as a key determinant of educational performance in primary and secondary schooling and, by extension, in higher education too.” A further complication is that without the family and cultural history of higher education it is inevitable that a proportion of such applicants will be drawn into institutions and courses to which they are not ideally suited. A range of initiatives has been taken to equip students both with the information they need about the university system but also with the skill to balance the various factors involved. While these initiatives could have descended into a crude recruitment drive some more enlightened practices have developed into community outreach initiatives in which prospective students can discuss their options and review a range of decisions without coming under pressure to make an inappropriate decision. The Udecide project was based in the University of Glasgow but served a regional base (Cormack, 2006). It had the aim of supporting learners in making decisions appropriate for them and thus to improve the retention of learners in higher education. Their work was particularly focused on prospective students coming from lower socio-economic groups where participation in higher education was low. Workshops were organised in HEIs and Further Education Colleges and covered key areas including level of entry and the implications of entering beyond year one; the implications of part-time and full-time study; the level of preparedness; choosing the right programme; and the financial implications of the choices made. The discussions were supplemented by a series of case studies of prospective students that were diverse enough to cover most combinations of difficulty encountered by aspiring students. The approach shows how students overcame particular difficulties rather than one which stresses the problems involved. The overriding objectives of the Udecide project were to: •

Help prospective students make SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time specific) decisions;



•

Know who to approach and what to find out to help them make their own decisions;

•

Assess the appropriateness of their current qualifications compared to the sort of course they might wish to undertake; and

•

Evaluate their choice of programme.

Attendees followed a typical workshop pattern with an initial emphasis on building familiarity between the participants and then disseminating information and the development of themes through discussion of case studies. Individual advice was also available. Participant evaluation of the workshops was particularly positive and all felt better informed of their options in higher education. It is a feature of this initiative that the guidance roles are proactive and community-based. Further, the project staff occupied positions in their host institutions such that they could feed information about the needs of the sorts of student who they meet back into the university system. Thus prospective students benefit from objective advice and, in some cases, training, while the host institutions benefit from a growing body of knowledge related to their prospective students. The Udecide project in Glasgow is not unique and similar initiative have been taken elsewhere (e.g. Worcester – Watson, 2006) Influencing choice The retention of students within higher education institutions is governed by a multiplicity of inter-relating factors including the quality of the student academic experience, an inability to cope with the work and with changed social circumstances as well as false expectations, money, housing, etc. (Yorke, 1999). Broadly, the issues can be sub-divided into two distinct areas: those issues that are present prior to entry and those that arise after entry. The preentry issues relate to the quality of the qualifications attained and the quality of the decisions students make about the institutions to attend and courses to follow. The decision about which course to attend is based on a variety of factors, many of which are outside the control of individual higher education institutions. To the extent that institutions do control their own corporate image and the publicly available details of their facilities and course details, they have both a responsibility and self-interest in ensuring that this information accurately reflects the treatment that a potential student will experience. The national data for higher education show that about 3% of those who discontinue are transferring between institutions (HESA, 2006a). These data, however, only refer to students who transfer between institutions after December (the HESA census date), and join new ones within the year. Institutional data would indicate that transfers between courses and between institutions are more widespread in the first few weeks of the academic year. At the University of Ulster for instance, about 40% of students who leave the institution do so before the HESA census date. Retention data constitute important information and the media are not sensitive



to the nuances of meaning in terms like ‘benchmarks’ and ‘census dates’. Further, there is no general agreement at an institutional level about what retention actually means. Thus retention within HE after one year and collecting data in December does not equate to institutional definitions involving all students who register and who then do not progress to year two in the same programme. Institutional data on non-continuance, therefore, tends to be higher than the national data. At the University of Ulster internal non-continuance has remained steady over the course of three years, varying by less than 0.5%. HESA figures on the other hand have risen in the same period. It is thought that students staying longer before deciding to leave and therefore being present on the HESA census date could have caused this difference. From the viewpoint of the public perception, therefore, it is more advantageous for an institution to encourage wavering students to leave before December rather than to attempt to retain them. Some institutions ‘clean up the data’ by ensuring accurate records are kept of students who have left before the HESA census date. These represent easy but short term gains in the student retention figures. Locally collected data, which include many students that the HESA data do not, can give further insight into the factors associated with early leaving. Thus at the University of Ulster in 2003-04, of the 379 students who gave a reason for withdrawing, 41% considered the course unsuitable, about 20% cited personal reasons and another 15% changed to another course within the institution. About 7% of the early leavers changed institutions and another 7% took up employment. Research conducted by Yorke (1999) identified the main causes for student withdrawal as: •

Poor quality of the student experience;

•

Inability to cope with the demands of the programme;

•

Unhappiness with the social environment;

•

Wrong choice of programme;

•

Matters related to financial need; and

•

Dissatisfaction with aspects of institutional provision.

Some, if not all, of these contributing factors could be addressed before a student even applies to a course. More recent data (Yorke, 2007; personal communication) shows that students who leave tend to agree with statements like ‘I simply realised that I had chosen the wrong field of study’ and ‘The programme was not sufficiently relevant to my career’. Poor decision-making then is a key factor in student attrition and there is accumulating evidence that many students who leave courses do so in order to do something preferable, and since many leave early in their course we need to ask:



“What have they learned in the first few weeks that they could not have learned before they made the decision to join the course in the first place?” It is self evident that the better equipped a prospective student is to make the decisions associated with applying to a university course, the more likely that student is to make the right decision for himself or herself and not to be disappointed with the eventual outcome. Most students come to university directly from a secondary education system within which most students are comfortable and which has nurtured and supported them up to the point at which they transfer to university. This extensive support is in the interests of both the school and the pupil because it helps to maximise pupil performance and school performance, since schools are judged on the performance of their pupils. Universities seek deliberately to achieve an independence, both of thought and action, for their students which would not be entirely appropriate at school. The support and guidance, therefore, offered at university is aimed at making students independent rather than primarily directed at achieving the highest student performance. Furthermore, university performance and reputation depend more on the employability of its graduates rather than the marks awarded at graduation. There is thus, a transitional period during which the nature of support must change and the extent to which both students and staff understand the nature of this transition and successfully manage it, is central to student persistence. This poses the question: ‘How can we best prepare students for the changes to come?’ The importance of delivering accurate information to students prior to entry is emphasised by the times during the first semester when withdrawal from university is most frequent. Every student who voluntarily leaves the University of Ulster is requested to complete a withdrawal form on which the reasons for leaving are stated. About half the students who leave complete this form. The date that the form is completed is also given. Reasons for leaving and the leaving dates for the year 2000-01 are given in Table 3.1. Table 3.1: Reasons for leaving the University of Ulster 2000-01. Percentage of students giving the reason Reason given

Oct-Nov

Dec- Jan

Feb-Mar

Apr-May

Jun-Jul

Health

2

0

1

0

0

Financial

2

0

1

0

0

Personal

18

7

2

2

3

Course unsuitable

8

10

2

2

2

To go elsewhere

11

6

10

4

5

Chapter 3 Student recruitment Total

41

…………………….Version: Sept 2007 23

17

9

11

It is clear that students tend to leave rapidly (64% of those who left had done so by January of 2001). The predominant reasons specified for withdrawal are personal (32%, mostly by January). Personal reasons probably equate to an unwillingness to discuss the true reasons. Taken together ‘course unsuitable’ and ‘to go elsewhere’ probably equate to an expression of disappointment in the course or institution. This accounts for 60% of the leavers. Many of these students leave before they have had the opportunity to fail and this indicates dissatisfaction with their early experience. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that this pattern of leaving is replicated in other institutions. The provision of more accurate information during the application and admissions processes enables students to make better decisions and minimise the disappointment evidenced by early leaving. Although institutions do not have control over all the information on which applicants make their decisions they do have total control over their prospectuses, open days and school visits, etc. These are among the most influential factors in determining student choice (HEFCE, 1999). These, therefore, should be as broad as possible and focus on being realistic and appropriate to the decisions being made by applicants rather than conceptualised as advertising for recruitment. In a pre-entry survey of students going to the University of Ulster the top ten reasons for going were recorded. These are listed in Table 3.2, in descending order of popularity. Table 3.2: Top ten reasons for going to the University of Ulster. Statement agreed with

Aspect classification

To develop new or existing skills

Personal

To gain a recognised qualification

Career

For intellectual growth and stimulation

Personal

To broaden horizons

Personal

To expand knowledge and skills

Personal

To study a subject of interest

Personal

To learn about and discuss new ideas

Personal

To meet new people

Social

To get better job

Career

Chapter 3 Student recruitment For personal development

…………………….Version: Sept 2007 Personal

Seven of these ten are related to personal development; two are related to career development and only one to the social aspects of being a student. It could be argued that students, being asked why they want to go to an institution by that institution, might be expected to stress those benefits which they expected to be valued. Nevertheless the emphasis on medium term, personal, rather than long-term, career goals indicates the importance of ensuring that applicants make personal decisions based on what the institution and course offers, rather than the potential longer-term benefits. Although some students may make selections based on the potential social life this is evidence that these are rare and emphasising the social distractions available near campuses may well be counter productive. This and other evidence suggest that withdrawal or failure tend to be more probable when: •

Students’ expectations are not met;

•

Students find themselves on the wrong programme; and

•

The student lacks commitment to, or interest in, the subject. Yorke (1999)

Yorke also recognised the breadth and depth of information that is required by a student to reach a well-informed decision regarding the most appropriate higher education course or courses. Information concerning the study programme itself was not deemed sufficient to provide a base for a sound decision. Instead students and parents/guardians sought further information in relation to aspects such as: the geographical environment; finance; the institution; course structure; and teaching methods and assessment. The need for informative pre-entry material has also been acknowledged by the Student Progression And Transfer (SPAT) project, a HEFCE funded FDTL project (http://www.spat.ac.uk.). Davies et al. (2007) further emphasise the need for parents to be involved in accumulating and interpreting information for potential students. Institutions can promote and nurture academic preparedness of the student during decisionmaking, thus potentially improving retention in the medium term. To develop the long-term commitment required for completion of courses students need to understand why they want to embark upon a higher education course and what is expected of them within it. Moxley et al. (2001) advocate that pre-entry literature and activities should help students prepare for a successful university career and develop a self-awareness that will support their understanding of the relevance of higher education to their lives. In short, an institution’s preentry activity in relation to new students should be aimed at their graduation not only at their entry. The STAR project has published five case studies related to the communication with students during application (Macintosh et al., 2006).



The provision of quality information was addressed by the Department of Biology at the University of York. (Davies et al., 2006). In addition to the general information contained within the institution’s prospectus, a leaflet is distributed to all who enquire about courses. The leaflet delivers an informal but comprehensive account of the specific courses, detailing aspects such as: course structure; teaching methodology; assessment rationale; teaching quality; career opportunities; research potential; and admissions procedures. The leaflet is produced in an informal friendly style that contrasts with the official university prospectus and communicates some of the informality of the relationships between staff and students. Nevertheless students felt that even that information did not convey sufficiently accurately the extent of tutorial support offered nor the extensive practical work involved. Preparing information for the benefit of potential students with an input from existing students can serve to enhance the relevance of the information and its accessibility. Staff may not be familiar with the current teaching and assessment methods in schools, (e.g. the assessment schemes deployed by examination boards). They are not always aware, therefore, of the transitions involved. Equally, existing students may have an insight into what the student experience of the first year at university is like which is unknown to staff. The benefits of university visit days were explored at the University of Manchester (Cook et al., 2006). The process of interviewing applicants prior to an offer being made has been utilized within the School of Biological Science at Manchester for several years. This procedure is dual purpose; firstly, it improves students’ ability to make informed choices and, secondly, it allows admission tutors to make appropriate decisions in relation to offers. Visit days also provide an opportunity for applicants and their families to see round the institution and its facilities and to get a feel for the surroundings that may be their working environment for the next three or four years. Existing students participate in visit days as tour guides so that applicants can discover at first hand, personal experiences of being a student at the institution. The utility of visit day experiences is supported by the research of Tinto; he argues that the greater the extent of student interaction with other students and staff, the more probable they are to persist (Tinto, 1987). Although interviewing applicants may be viewed as too time intensive in some institutions, it appears to be worthwhile in others. A component of the visit day activity is the interaction with parents and other family members (Norton and Cook, 2006). School leavers tend to select higher education institutions based on refining initial advice from peers, parents and teachers (HEFCE, 1999). These individuals influence future decisions made by applicants and provide a potentially supportive environment during a student’s time at university. The support that can be offered by parents has been dealt with elsewhere in detail (Davies et al., 2007). At both Manchester and Liverpool Hope Universities a separate programme is organized for parents and family members who attended the visit days with the prospective students. This enables the requirements of both parties to be catered for simultaneously within the context of one visit. In particular the separation of prospective students from their parents during visit days frees



both sets of participants to ask those questions which they might not ask in the presence of the other. Thus prospective students tend to ask about the social life and their parents about the financial aspects of study. Increased flows of information between the institutions and prospective students not only serve to encourage appropriate decision-making but can also serve to keep them informed of institutional expectations. The University of Ulster, aiming to increase the number of students who enrol once they have been accepted onto postgraduate courses in Biomedical Science, initiated an e-newsletter to students between acceptance and enrolment (McKillop and Walker, 2006). Letters of offer to join this programme are distributed early in the year and previously contact was not renewed until the month prior to entry. This break in communications contributed to the difference between the numbers of students accepted onto the course and those that actually enrolled, perhaps a form of buyers’ remorse. The enhanced communication through a monthly newsletter improved student preparation between acceptance and enrolment and enhanced enrolment through the provision of realistic information related to course content and structure. In essence induction started as soon as students had accepted a place on the course. At the University of Sunderland bridging programmes provide pre-entry support through a generic bridging module and other introductory materials. The bridging module is assessed and takes place during the summer prior to entry. It encompasses areas such as: transition to higher education; academic writing skills; critical thinking; and research. The response of incoming students to being invited to participate in a course prior to entry is relatively positive as it allows advanced insight into the nature of the subject and, more importantly, an early introduction to peers and staff. The comments below show that the system serves to allay understandable fears attendant on the first few days at university: “Encouraging to hear other student’s worries as well as receiving help and advice from tutors.” “A positive feature was meeting other students and finding we were all in the same boat.” The success of the bridging module led to the introduction of a ‘Getting Started’ module that has been tailored to meet the needs of all student groups in the University. Through ‘Getting Started’ new students can receive, while still at home, introductory videos from course team members, advice on preparatory work and study skills as well as contribute to discussion boards with both staff and student contributors. Evaluation has been extremely positive and has particularly reinforced the idea that communication between students prior to entry is reassuring for many and in particular can reaffirm the correctness of the student’s original choice of programme (Hills, 2006). The decisions made by applicants about institutions and courses should be supported by the provision of accurate information. Enticing students into inappropriate institutions and courses



is probably counterproductive in the longer term since, although it may contribute positively to recruitment targets, it almost certainly makes a negative contribution to retention figures. Contact between applicants and between applicants and current students is reassuring for new students and is capable of answering queries which applicants would not necessarily ask of staff. Discussion Institutions recruit, accept and register students onto their courses. Often the teaching and learning starts after that initial process. Recruiting students from ever widening educational, social and economic backgrounds inevitably means that a proportion of new students are ill prepared for their university experience. With this increasing mismatch between the expectations of students and what higher education has to offer, there is clearly a role for institutions starting their learning processes ahead of enrolment. There are two stages at which potential students can be better informed about the expectations of higher education and about the nature of the decisions they are about to make. First, there is a population who do not yet aspire to a higher education. Community outreach projects such as Udecide in Glasgow (Cormack, 2006) and the Guidance Project in Worcester (Watson 2006) that have worked in local communities and STEP-UP in Ulster that has worked in local schools (Anon, 2006a) all help to raise aspirations among those who formally might not have attended university. It is clearly important that expectations have to be realistic if the obvious problems associated with student attrition are to be avoided. Higher education programmes require to be developed and supported that work with these qualified but non-traditional groups. Raising aspirations is counterproductive if the degree courses on which non-traditional students subsequently enrol ignore the background from which those students have emanated. This applies particularly to group size and to assessment methods. The second stage at which students can be influenced is at the time of their application. Induction (dealt with in later chapters) normally starts after enrolment but those students are accessible as soon as their UCAS form arrives at the institution. Influencing students while they are still choosing what to study and where to go should help to improve decision-making. The preparation and distribution of early informative documentation and on-going communication with potential students helps both to maintain contact with new students and to inform them of the values, expectations of the institution and the experiences of existing students. It goes without saying that information and advice should be accurate and to the benefit of the student. The excess of university places over student applications, however, often leads to stress on filling the available places and this may not be in the best interests of individual students. During the STAR project, discussions at various institutions revealed students being encouraged to accept places on one course on the basis that after a year they could transfer to another; a transfer which was eventually found to be fraught with difficulty because of limited numbers of places on the second course (which, incidentally, is why they could get



onto it in the first place!). Further, some places on courses have been offered on the assumption that professional recognition was imminent. When this did not occur students on the course were left without the prospect of the professional qualification that they thought they would get. This is obvious bad practice but symptomatic of recruitment taking precedence over retention. The priority of staff involved in recruitment has to be to fill the places available with the right students. The increasing trend of using non-academic staff for recruitment purposes is probably efficient but may be counter-productive in terms of retention. Successful recruitment therefore should be measured at graduation rather than on entry.

Chapter 4 Student Induction


Chapter 4 Student Induction Take home messages •

Induction is a process not an event.

•

Induction can start when an application form is received and may need to continue throughout the degree programme in various forms.

•

Early induction needs to be co-ordinated between local and central providers with an emphasis on social events and information being provided as and when necessary.

•

It is unsafe to assume that students will remember anything about early induction other than who they met and whether they were friendly.

Introduction Dictionary definitions of educational processes are not often very helpful. Induction can mean many different things ranging from the practice of hazing (initiation through abuse) in some American colleges to formal addresses of welcome from university senior officers. The meaning of induction adopted here is deliberately vague. We have divided it roughly into two sorts of processes. The first, which is addressed in this chapter, refers to the arrival of a new student – early induction. This is probably the conventional meaning of induction and is sometimes called ‘orientation’. The second process is a longer-term assimilation of new students into the ways in which the institution operates, particularly as it relates to its teaching and learning methods – we call it extended induction – and it relates particularly to processes through which students are encouraged to become independent learners. This is the subject of Chapter 5 entitled Promoting Independence. The differentiation is entirely artificial and the processes of introducing new students to the ways of higher education should be seen as continuous. A well-constructed early induction process has much in common with traditional rites of passage. These consist of a number of phases: •

Separation (removal from former habits and habitat);

•

Transition (learning behaviours appropriate to a new circumstance); and

•

Incorporation (acceptance into a new society).

Universities are excellent in managing the rites of passage associated with leaving. We prepare students for the world of work, careers offices help students to find appropriate new roles and we celebrate graduation in elaborate ceremonies. Universities are less good, however, in organizing and celebrating the rites of passage associated with joining the institution.



Forrester et al. (2005) working with distance learning students identified the generic aspects of effective induction as encompassing: •

An encouragement to communicate and socialize both with staff and peers;

•

Information about administrative procedures, the course and the institution;

•

Information about support services; and

•

Support for the transition to new methods of working.

This has to be achieved against a background of the impressions that students have acquired from a variety of sources about the course and institution and the nature of study in higher education. Students’ first impressions of institutions are probably formed prior to entry during open days and visits during which they are the focus of much attention. Special displays, welcoming addresses, close contact with staff and current students and other tailored events can give an impression that teaching will be personal and intensive. Different impressions are formed on entry during which activities are often dominated by administrative rituals associated with enrolment on courses and the payment of fees. Brief but inspirational addresses from ViceChancellors, Provosts, Deans and Heads of Department may be supplemented by informative talks from careers advisors, accommodation officers, student counsellors, course administrators, Presidents of Student Unions, etc. which provide a surfeit of information. Contact with academic staff may be limited to the rather formal administrative process of enrolment on modules. A Freshers’ Fair typically displays a bewildering variety of student clubs and societies all demanding attention. These periods of high excitement are punctuated by interludes of inactivity during which parents and friends may depart and new students may sit isolated in new accommodation and wander, seemingly lost, along unfamiliar corridors. The organization of activities during this initial period is critical in the formation of new students’ impressions of the institution they have joined and the behaviours of both staff and existing students can influence student persistence. Despite the potential pitfalls in week one most students manage their activities well. A question remains, however, about how much is learned in those first few days. Thus students interviewed during the course of the STAR project commented: “It’s very overwhelming when you come to university for the first time, even for a mature student; it’s so big and everyone else seems to know what they’re doing and where they’re going.” “What I remember about induction week was: I didn’t feel a whole week was necessary; it was a good icebreaker; it showed the ‘human’ side to lecturers; and it showed us where to find buildings and lecturers.” Tinto (1993) proposed that students left early because of a number of factors related both to the students’ prior experience and to institutional characteristics. Where the experiences of a



student early in a course fail to promote that student’s academic or social integration into their new institution then the student commitment to the course or institution decreases and persistence is unlikely. The solutions to this lack of integration lie both prior to entry so that students are better prepared to meet the challenges of the institution they choose to attend, and also soon after entry so new students do not feel alienated from their new institution at the outset. It is clear that the experience of students early in their course leaves a significant impression that may influence later decisions. Practices elsewhere The orientation (= induction) of students in American universities is more co-ordinated and socially oriented than is common in the UK. As we have mentioned before the American system is geared more towards student retention firstly because early leaving is more frequent and secondly because the financial consequences of losing students are greater. Given these factors it is inevitable that more resources are dedicated to the organisation of both academic and social integration of students. Searching the web under ‘welcome week’ can be informative in this respect. Below is an introduction to an ‘orientation week’ It has been anonymised and generalised somewhat but is representative of both the content and tone of such documents. Orientation week Orientation Week is a week set aside just for you, the new students. Our mission is to assist new students in the transition to academic and social life at this university. It has two primary functions: to provide academic advising and to introduce and incorporate new students into their new academic communities. Informative presentations, small-group discussions, academic advising and class registration are designed to help you enter the university informed and confident about your upcoming years. New Student Orientation is coordinated through the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs, and hundreds of student leaders are hard at work planning for your arrival. The orientation coordinators stay on campus all summer to ensure that everything is ready to make this week the best that it can possibly be. The coordinators are responsible for the student handbook you will receive in the mail. Last spring we selected a group of amazing people to serve as advisors for Orientation Week. In every small group, there will be at least one advisor from your subject and one advisor from another, so that you know at least one person from somewhere else on campus! Your advisors will be sent some of your personal information from the non-confidential form that you will return to us. (This is how they will know things like your name, your face and your fantasy celebrity crush.) Basically, Orientation Week is generally such a blast that people get excited about being an advisor for another freshman class. We are all excited about your arrival and are here to help



you with your transition to life at this university! Although this example cannot parallel the features of any one UK institution, there are a number of aspects of this process from which we can learn. 1. A whole week is set aside just for new students. It is fairly intensive and precedes formal teaching. There is an expectation of attendance. A review of the actual programme shows it to be intensive and to have a bias towards social events. 2. The purpose of the week is two fold – academic advice and ‘incorporation’. The establishment of supportive peer groups early in a student’s career is seen as critical and these groups also include students from other areas of the university. 3.

The events are diverse and include a mix of staff led presentations, small group discussions, individual advice from academic staff and administrative procedures. Social events such as lunches with staff, barbecues and concerts are common features of such programmes.

4. The process is centrally co-ordinated through a dedicated office and involves ‘hundreds’ of student leaders. Events are scheduled in a co-ordinated way such that there is a full programme of administrative, social and academic activities. In most institutions administrative procedures are organised to an alphabetical/course based timetable so that students and their parents are seldom queuing for long. In many institutions provision is made for separate activities for parents and siblings. 5. The outline communicates excitement and more importantly it communicates that new students are welcome. Practices in the UK A range of early induction practices in the UK have been reported in detail elsewhere (Frame, 2001). They vary in organization from being institution wide to being locally based but they all share the common purpose of rapidly integrating new students into the practices of the institution at various levels. The practices outlined here deal with isolated aspects of early induction and some could be seen as components of an integrated approach to the management of the early experiences of students. None in isolation would provide an adequate induction. The first week at university can have the appearance of confusion with many seemingly unrelated tasks being completed rapidly punctuated by periods of inactivity. At the University of Huddersfield (Mortimer and McLaughlin, 2006) the procedures in the first few days are well orchestrated so that the necessary formalities are completed efficiently and relieved by subject based activities. These are aimed at initiating both social and academic integration. The pattern of the central provision of a framework of activities (registration, finance, campus wide social events, etc), individual contributions from centralised student support units and local departmental and course contributions is widespread (e.g. Barton, 2001) but it does



need to be organised locally to achieve a full, relevant and interesting programme with a balance between necessary information giving and student participation. The induction as organised by Biology at Huddersfield (Table 4.1) is not packed with events and allows students time to find their feet by themselves. Importantly it has provision for parents at the outset and a full introductory day at the beginning. There is little mention of social events organised in order to establish good rapport within the cohort but these ends may be achieved through the camaraderie that often pervades practical sessions in science classes. Table 4.1 Registration week activities in Biology (University of Huddersfield). Day 1

Open day. A general tour of the campus and residences for both students and their parents. Parents are only expected on this day.

Day 2

Student welcome, all subject staff involved Completion of departmental registration forms Talk from student services Talk from University Learning Centre Talk from Head of Department Choosing modules: students complete forms on advice from tutors Visit Learning Resource Centre

Day 3

Student enrolment.

Day 4

Freshers’ Fair

Day 5

Laboratory safety: distribution of safety handbook and safety related test. Laboratory class: exercises to get students familiar with laboratory procedures and the start of study skills development

Day 6

Data discussion: discussion of data collected in previous laboratory exercise Tutorial: introduction to personal tutors who will be responsible for study skills development

The social aspects of induction cannot be underestimated. When students are asked in year two what they remember of their year one induction, their recollections are often confined to who they met rather than what they learned. The Biology programme at the University of Plymouth (Pearce and McLaughlin, 2006) takes new students off campus to a field site where they are given some elementary tasks to



complete and left to their own devices to return. Student feedback from even such a brief excursion is extremely positive: “This was where I met a group of five or six students which I got on really well with which was vitally important in that first week.” University of Plymouth student An example from the University of Ulster (McLaughlin et al., 2006) was of an off-campus residential experience where the academic component was more pronounced. Some students found an assumption of independence off-putting and some student feedback was fairly negative. “I was just thrown in at the deep end. You were expected to know everything and I just didn’t.” “I come from a large family and being away from them and having no contact at all was just dreadful.” University of Ulster students This was not widespread, however, and another participant commented: “Well if you ask me personally, I enjoyed it because I really got to know everybody, because I know lots of other girls who still know nobody in their class, whereas I’m confident that I know the majority in my class.” University of Ulster student Meeting other students is not the only benefit and surveys of all participants showed that nearly 90% of students knew between 2 and 5 staff after the event compared with only 25% before. Whether students are taken away for an afternoon or for a few days the effect is largely a social one with most students becoming familiar with a range of staff in an informal setting and, perhaps most importantly, with each other. It is clear that these events have to be well organised and that staff should not expect too much of new students immediately. Although academic objectives can be attained the novelty of being with strange staff and new peers mitigates against the achievement of significant learning. The added benefit is that the staff get to know some of their students early in the term and most become more approachable as a consequence. For most students, therefore, off-campus induction works well although it has to be managed sympathetically if it is not to be off-putting for some. Students in residences benefit from the proximity of other students and organised events. The Homestart project at the University of Manchester (Sheader and Richardson, 2006) aimed to integrate students living off campus by providing events at which they might meet students with similar problems and outlook. It involved a pre-registration workshop followed by a series of events through the first semester. Attendance over the three years it has run has been



good with relatively little drop-off through the term. Again the evaluation was extremely positive with the main comments relating to the advantages of being introduced to the university early and meeting other students with similar backgrounds. Thus a common type of comment was: “Homestart was a really good introduction to the University! It helped me settle in as I was able to find people in the same situation as myself!” University of Manchester student It provides a social grouping for students who might otherwise become isolated outside class. There is increasing emphasis on distance learners and the need to treat them in similar ways to residential students has led to the development of a variety of practices such as e-tutoring and e-mentoring. In particular the socialisation of new distance learners has been emphasised (Forrester et al., 2005). At the University of Ulster an e-induction has been in place for some years but for most students this merely involved an introduction to the Virtual Learning Environment and associated resources. Little attention was paid to the non-technical aspects of being a student. Staff involved in the postgraduate provision in Biomedical Science introduced an e-mentor scheme to assist students through a pre-teaching induction programme (Mitchell et al., 2006). E-mentors were appointed to take students through a structured induction covering the use of the technology involved and aspects of study skills such as the use of the library, plagiarism, participating in online discussions, etc. They also were on hand to respond to student queries prior to the start of teaching. Relatively few students participated, although the materials provided were excellent and the support intensive. The poor response was attributed to: poor student awareness of the availability of the additional support; difficulties in getting access to WebCT before the start of teaching; and a ‘need to know attitude’ among students which dictated that they would not acquire skills until they needed to use them. A revised scheme integrated the support into the first weeks of module delivery and this has worked better. In general it appears that skills are best acquired immediately prior to their use. Implications for staff development For staff involved largely with subject based teaching, student induction has not been a priority. Surveys of induction practices have shown them to be relatively poorly organised from a holistic viewpoint (i.e. events happen but they are seldom joined up – students are often the only group of individuals who know what the induction process actually consists of in its entirety). As participation widens and more students with no prior familial contacts with higher education go to university it will be increasingly important to ensure that the early experience of university is a good one and is well organised. Experience and student feedback shows that little is gained by overloading the first week with information. Students do not remember it and non-participatory activities are counterproductive. It is more important for students to become known to each other and to staff as individuals. Appropriately



structured induction groups can promote cohort identity. This is especially true where students in year one attend large modules. Induction is a means by which staff can ensure that big institutions can seem to students to be small, or at least on the same scale as the teaching environments which many have just left. The staff development needs therefore are related to the holistic organisation of the preteaching period, the dividing up of large student groups into manageable sub-units and the development of personal relationships. Thus sessions need to involve administrative staff as well as academics. Information that is needed immediately and is absolutely essential must be transmitted but staff should not be under the illusion that it will be remembered for long. It and other, less time sensitive information, will need to be made accessible in a variety of other means such as the university web site, student handbooks and other follow up induction sessions. .

Chapter 5 Promoting independence

…………….Version: Sept 2007

Chapter 5 Promoting Independence Take home messages •

Many new students arrive from a teacher dependent culture and cannot be expected to be independent learners immediately.

•

Learning by trial and error will inevitably result in some errors. The remediation of these errors should be rapid and supported.

•

Communication with students is critical and all mechanisms should be exploited.

The traditional, modern new student has arrived at university through a teacher-dependent, risk-averse teaching and learning system that inevitably promoted a culture of strategic learning (i.e. learning dictated by the needs of assessment). Of course the majority of students will not have had their curiosity and independence damaged by this process but there will be some who will be teacher dependent and who will persist with those attitudes and study habits which served them so well at school (Cook and Leckey, 1999). In the past, students learned how to study without overt and specialised support from staff. Learning such things was through trial and error and the assumption was that the errors were small and unimportant relative to the gains made. This problem-based-learning approach to the acquisition of study skills depends, however, on two assumptions. The first is that critical assessments will not occur during the initial learning period. This is no longer true. Modularisation has led to many institutions having an examination period just after Christmas of the first year and coursework within a few weeks of entry. Although coursework may be intended to be diagnostic and/or formative it often contributes to the end-of-module marks and is, therefore, used summatively. This is inevitable in a system in which students are pressed for time and assessment is used to shape student learning through instructional alignment. There is, therefore, no time to learn from the mistakes which were the luxury of former generations of students. The second assumption is that all that is required later in the course is experienced and learned early. This is not true either. Recent experience of the application of a plagiarism policy, for instance, has shown that some students do not even get the opportunity to plagiarise in year one. There are no pieces of extended writing in which plagiarism can occur. This is because staff do not have time to mark such assessments for large classes and therefore have adopted more objective assessment techniques. Informal problem based learning therefore does not work in time because the problems do not arise naturally. They have to be constructed. Most students who leave university early do so in the first six to eight weeks and the commonest cause given for leaving relates to the suitability of the course (Chapter 2). This



coordinates well both with the theoretical framework of Tinto (Tinto, 1993) and the findings of Yorke in national surveys (Yorke, 1999). Tinto (1993) proposed that students left early because of a number of factors related both to the students’ prior experience and to institutional characteristics. Where the social or academic experiences of students fail to integrate them into their new institution then the student commitment to the course or institution decreases and persistence is unlikely. The solutions to this lack of integration lie both prior to entry so that students are better prepared to meet the challenges of the institution they choose to attend and also after entry so that the transition from students’ previous practices to those considered desirable is a gradual one. Good practice prior to entry was considered in Chapter 2. Yorke and Longdon (2004), in an analysis of students who have withdrawn from a range of UK institutions in the mid 1990s, presented four critical factors contributing to withdrawal: •

Flawed decision making about entering the programme;

•

Students’ experience of the programme and institution generally;

•

Failure to cope with the demand of the programme; and

•

Events that impact on students’ lives outside the institution.

The institution itself can influence the first three of these factors. The first was discussed in Chapter 2. The experience of students early in their course leaves a significant impression that may influence later decisions. In many institutions, induction is seen as an event designed to introduce new students to the course and the institution and is dominated by information giving. While this is a potentially valuable exercise many students either miss it entirely or barely remember most of it. Thus students interviewed at one institution recalled: “One thing I remember about actual induction was that we met our personal tutors. And we were given a library tour and were told what we would be doing and given a bit of introduction that way. That was probably the biggest impression of settling in and getting to know the area.” and “I remember the library tour and that was how you got to meet your tutor group and that is how I got to meet everyone. I think they should make a bigger thing of the library as when you get to second and third year you really need it then.” For some students their first week at university will be the first time they have spent an extended time away from home and family and the first time they have had to fend for themselves in a strange town. The initial induction is an important component of welcoming these students into the institution and helps them cope with change. It may not be the best time however, in which to compress a great volume of vital information. Activities in this first week are critical for the future of some students and were considered in Chapter 4.



As has been highlighted by Thomas et al. (2005), academic induction should be an extended process with information and activities spread forward through at least the first term to allow students to keep pace with the flow of information and back prior to entry to ensure that students are well prepared. Indeed, we advocate that induction should start when a student applies to the institution and aim for students to attain a set of goals by the end of year one. These goals should encompass being skilled in all aspects of student life and should include at least: •

Independent learning (the development of research skills);

•

The balancing of study, work and a social life;

•

Assessment techniques including how not to plagiarise;

•

Verbal and written communication;

•

IT skills; and

•

Independent living.

When students are asked about why they fail examinations their answers are related to two aspects of study. The first is time management and the priority they gave to academic work as opposed to supporting themselves or socialising. The second is related to poor judgement of the standard of work required (Scott and Graal, 2006). The solutions they propose are invariably changes in teaching and assessment structures rather than modification of their own behaviour. Although the management of time is a student’s personal responsibility, the appreciation of standards is an academic one and no student should be in doubt about what is required in assessments. Not knowing or understanding the subject is a ‘valid’ reason for failure but not understanding how much to write or how to write it is not. The acquisition of these academic skills and the development of social contacts can be accomplished neither quickly nor easily and the STAR project divided induction into early induction (essentially the first week which was discussed Chapter 4) and extended induction which is a continuous process starting on receipt of an application and extending through at least the first year. Activities encompassed by the notion of extended induction include all those designed to support students through the early part of the course and which are eventually aimed at promoting independence. These are in addition to curricular interventions that are considered separately in Chapter 8. Maguire (2006) considered a series of questions asked at departmental level related to the process of transition. This is a form of audit, a more detailed version of which is discussed elsewhere (Chapter 11). Audits are useful staff development tools since they promote reflection and point the way to changed practices. Maguire’s questions included: •

How do we support social and academic integration through social events?

Chapter 5 Promoting independence •


How do we identify and support those particularly at risk, e.g. monitoring performance, study skills, remediation of knowledge gaps?

•

How do we adapt to a more diverse intake?

•

How do we support the development of independent learning skills?

•

How do we induct them into the changing requirements/standards of year two?

•

How do we induct direct entry students?

•

How do we prepare students for going on placement?

•

How do we prepare students for honours project assessment?

•

How do we induct them into the changing requirements/standards of year three?

•

How do we induct the students into the world of work/further training?

Thus the need to induct students is highlighted at any stage at which they are entering a period of transition. Most students may not need this support but it is critical for those that do. Study skills guides abound and schemes in which the material is interdigitated with subject based content (i.e. contextualised) is advocated by some whereas others advocate a more explicitly identified mode of delivery. The advantages of contextualisation are that students learn how to deal with their own subject, that they are motivated because exercises use examples drawn from a subject area in which they have a pre-existing interest and it is easier for staff who are subject based to deal with study skills in the context of their own expertise. Having a study skills development programme which is independent of the subject, however, also has advantages. First, such a programme often justifies a specialist teacher who is committed to promoting the development of student skills; second it is unlikely to be watered down in favour of factual material; third, free standing modules have free standing assessment and the performance of the skills is more likely to be assessed in these circumstances than if they are embedded in the subject; and, finally, there is often central support for independent modules. Decisions about how to deliver a study skills agenda therefore will vary between institutions and even between subjects within institutions and are often based on perceptions of the amount of ‘space’ in the curriculum, the expertise of those who teach the subject in year one and the extent of central support for generic study skills. Study skills programmes which promote independence and those study habits suitable for higher education are variable but the often cover several of the following: Efficient reading Essay writing Making academic writing more readable Using lectures: note taking, annotating and reading around



Assessment policy and practice Sitting examinations A strategy for study Group work and its assessment Giving presentations Referencing and the meaning of plagiarism Reflective learning through personal development planning Using SMART Targets The use of IT packages such as Microsoft Office is a less frequent feature. Many students now come to University already well versed in their use. Nevertheless it may be necessary to support these (especially PowerPoint and the preparation of graphics) with sessions tailored to the needs of non-traditional students. New students have come to university from a system that permitted resitting assessments for more marks (i.e. to improve grades) and where there was an explicit maximum to what a student had to know and be able to do. Many students are slow to adjust to the fact that successfully resitting in higher education only expunges a failure and a pass mark (normally 40%) is entered even if a higher mark is awarded for the work. It may appear counterproductive not to be able to encourage resitting students with a consideration for higher marks after resitting. One reason put forward for this policy is that it prevents students deliberately failing in order to gain the benefits of dividing up their examinations into two or more groups. The methods of assessment that are components of pre-entry qualifications mould the new student’s attitude towards the assessment in higher education. Students have little time to adjust to any changes in methods since summative events may occur only a few weeks into the first semester. To ease this type of transition the University of Wolverhampton has instituted the practice of rapid re-assessment, which supports students who fail assessments in the first year by permitting re-assessment after a few weeks during which they can benefit from additional tutorial support (McLaughlin and Sutton, 2006). The practice at Wolverhampton (McLaughlin and Sutton, 2006) of facilitating students to expunge failure rapidly serves both to remove anxiety and to boost confidence. Furthermore it allows sessions to be planned and timetabled in advance to support those students who have not done as well as expected. This may seem like planning for failure but if we advocate that students should be encouraged to be independent and take risks (in essence to participate in trial and error learning) then we must also plan for its consequences. Thus students commented:



“Doing these modules, I’m passing them, it’s giving me confidence and I’m thinking, I’m passing them so I think it’s beneficial.” “I find tutorials brilliant as my progress is constantly assessed and I am given the chance to rectify my mistakes.” A more pro-active approach is taken at the University of Kent (Theobald, 2007) with the VALUE programme. This identifies students at risk of failure or of underachievement and attempts to support them through a programme of intervention. Typically this consists of: •

The identification of specific problems such as uncertainties related to programme choice and non-academic problems (undisclosed disability, family problems, finance, etc.) These problems are addressed through academic advice, variations in assessment arrangements and counselling services.

•

Academic support such as 1:1 subject based tutorials, study skills development including concentration and memory training, critical thinking and assessment strategies.

•

Confidence building including peer support, team work, stress management, etc.

The scheme depends on commitment from the students selected, from central support services who provide the framework and expertise and from the participating academic schools who provide the subject specific academic support. The 2006 VALUE report (Theobald, 2007) shows that 158 students from ten departments participated in the scheme. These students were either referred by their departments or selfreferred after a brief introductory talk given by members of the University Enhancement of Learning and Teaching team during normal class time. Students were then selected to participate in the scheme after an in-depth one-to-one interview that took into account students’ academic needs, their commitment to study and commitment to all aspects of the VALUE programme. This is, therefore, not a random selection of failing students. Nevertheless the retention rate of 96% is commendable. The University of Brighton offers more continuing and immediate support to students. Staff use a variety of means of communication with students. There are announcements in class, notice boards, e-mail, letters and text messages. Harley and colleagues (Harley et al., 2006) describe the use of text messages to maintain communication with students through their mobile phones. A detailed evaluation shows that students use text messages more extensively than other modes of communication and that they benefit from the immediacy of information received in this form. Notice boards and class announcements require the presence of the student on campus; e-mail and electronic communication through Virtual Learning Environments require that the student log on to the system. Further, traditional electronic communication assumes students are familiar with the particular systems in use by



the institution. One University of Ulster student ruefully commented in the November following entry: “Getting notes from Web CT is not always straightforward. It needs to be clearly explained and demonstrated.” Access by students to means of communication thought routine by staff is not, therefore, guaranteed. While all students now have e-mail addresses some have many and it may not be the university address that is regularly checked. The advantage of text messaging is that it is immediate and proactive. Students do not have to seek the information; it seeks them. Clearly sensible use has to be made of it and in Brighton only designated staff send messages. Students appreciate the convenience. Thus one University of Brighton student commented: “I don’t know what everyone else is like but I am terrible at checking my e-mail and some people are terrible at checking the VLE [the Virtual Learning Environment] for any information like that, so to get these texts straight to your phone, because we have always got our phones on us no matter where we are.” They also appreciate being treated like an individual: “It was nice. I don’t know, because university is such a big place, you sometimes feel a bit de-individualized so it is quite nice to know that someone is thinking about you or, if you have got any worries, when your drop in times are.” Students vary and some may be sceptical about the university using mobile phones to contact them. Nevertheless communication with students is important if independence and freedom for the many is to be balanced with the support required by the few. Professional Development Planning (PDP) is being introduced nationwide and an extensive evaluation of an electronic version by the University of Manchester shows that it too allows continuing unobtrusive support to be offered to students as they migrate from the focused academic and social support available at school and college to the greater independence and freedom expected at university (Richardson and Hagan, 2006). Personal development planning can promote student learning through its use in reflective practice. Its early introduction and encouragement is a key feature of many extended induction processes, but it is extensively advocated and discussed elsewhere (Cottrell, 2003).

Chapter 6 The Role of Tutorials

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The Role of Tutorials in Supporting New Students Take home messages •

Staff consider the tutorial to be the most effective means of integrating new students into their subject community. There are pedagogical advantages to tutorial work provided the group is kept below about ten students.

•

To be effective tutorials need to be integrated into the modules and their assessment. They need to have a clear purpose and staff may need to be provided with support materials to use.

•

Small group teaching is a specialised form of teaching and staff may require training in order to fully utilise its potential.

In a survey of BioScience departments across the UK the STAR project identified the tutorial as the most commonly cited means of integrating new students into the academic life of schools and departments (Cook, 2006a). There appears, however, to be little agreement in the UK’s Higher Education System about what a tutorial actually is and what it is for. The personal tutorial system has been a mainstay of student support in the UK for generations. It is apparent in at least three guises: ‘Pastoral’ with each student having a specific tutor to guide them through all aspects of their university career; ‘Professional’ in which the role of the academic staff is to pass a student on to the centralised professional care of counsellors and advisors; and the ‘Curriculum model’ in which support is integrated into the teaching (Owen, 2002). The curriculum model of academic support is common in the UK but the tutorials have to be integrated not only into the teaching and learning but also into the assessment practices (Cook and Naughton, 2006). For the purposes of this chapter we consider the tutorial to be a small number of students (as few as four but sometimes rising to 20) discussing a subject with a tutor. With the increasing number of students entering tertiary education in recent years, small group teaching of this nature has been difficult to maintain since such teaching obviously involves a greater commitment of staff time, more space, increased timetabling problems and the potential for inequality between the experiences of different groups on the same course. Further, as has been pointed out by Griffiths (1999a) small group teaching is “among the most difficult and highly skilled teaching techniques”. It thus requires tutors to be competent in an area of teaching that is not commonly practised in the other areas of academic work such as research, administration and conventional lecturing. In a review of American institutions, Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) concluded that where the goal of instruction was the mastery of factual material then class size was not a critical factor. Even when student satisfaction is used as a criterion, there appears to be no improvements until class size falls below about ten (Mateo and Fernandez, 1996). Indeed a bimodal phenomenon has been observed, one interpretation of which would be that there are


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benefits in small group teaching (less than ten) by virtue of the increased interaction between staff and students and benefits in very large group sizes arising from the increased effort that staff put into the decreased contact time commitment. Despite the evidence that group size has little influence on the acquisition of knowledge, there is no question that good small group teaching is effective in improving the relationship between staff and students, in encouraging a collaborative approach to learning and in modelling the teamwork common in the workplace (Griffiths et al., 1995). Further, the use of small group teaching as a component of a varied diet of teaching methods facilitates the fulfilment of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven principles for good practice in undergraduate teaching. Thus it potentially: •

Encourages contacts between students and staff;

•

Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students;

•

Uses active learning techniques;

•

Gives prompt feedback;

•

Emphasizes time on task;

•

Communicates high expectations; and

•

Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

The practices reported here have largely been developed in response to two imperatives; first the need to retain students and second to address a study skills agenda. Huxham’s tutorial system at University of Napier (Huxham, 2006) was introduced only for those students who showed those characteristics associated with students who left early and/or failed at Napier. This system has the advantage of targeting the most vulnerable group and focussing on their different and specific needs. The tutorials thus support academic progress, student’s individual needs and issues of assessment. They also serve to promote social integration among this group. Small group teaching has the traditional advantages of making students feel valued by treating them as individuals. Thus evaluative responses included: “It gave you confidence to speak up and ask questions.” and “It was a shame it was only for an hour … I’d like it to continue for next term.” University of Napier student While providing an efficient means of supporting students at risk of failing, the selective treatment of students raised equality issues. Further, it is deemed better practice to target failing modules rather than failing students since all students can benefit. Further, weak students can learn from their successful peers in a system based on the whole module.


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In contrast to the practice at Napier the tutorial system introduced in the University of Ulster (Cook and Naughton, 2006) was a school-wide initiative and available to all students. This system was introduced initially in the context of a common first year in which students from a variety of life science based programmes attended a common set of modules. Such a common first year has its advantages in terms of the efficient delivery of content to classes approaching 200 students. It suffers, however, in that the students can remain anonymous and may never meet those enrolled on the same programme until the second year. The tutorial scheme was introduced in response to a deterioration in progression statistics with only about 40% proceeding without resits after the summer examinations and 8% leaving early. One of the key objectives, therefore, was to establish a cohort identity early and to link that cohort with a group of staff. Thus tutorial groups were formed from those enrolled on the same programme and tutorials were led largely by staff who would later be teaching that programme. In its first iteration the scheme worked well as a set of academic exercises and covered the following topics: •

Teaching and assessment methods, PDP, attendance;

•

Learning styles;

•

Research skills, plagiarism;

•

Graphics;

•

Poster preparation;

•

Writing skills; and

•

Examination preparation.

Written support materials were developed and distributed to tutors. Although the materials developed worked well, attendance steadily dropped off through the term. This was associated with: a growing assessment load in the modular provision; the attitude of some individual tutors; a perceived lack of relevance to concurrent needs; and a widespread rumour that attendance was not compulsory. In subsequent iterations of the practice a student workbook was developed which contained exercises for students and advice that would not necessarily be covered in the tutorials. The workbook also assured that every student had access to the same minimum set of information. The tutorials were embedded in a specific module and were assessed as part of that module. More emphasis was placed on group work with even smaller groups of students (typically three) working together on assessment tasks. The reorganisation facilitated the allocation of marks to these group work exercises and the integration into a module based attendance-monitoring process.


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With this new emphasis on group work and study skills it better promoted social integration and the development of research skills. It received positive feedback from students. Thus typical responses from participants included: “The smaller group made it easier to ask questions and to have the answer explained.” There were still some problems however with non-attendance. Further since the assessment is dependent on group work some students who are not entirely comfortable with peer assessment are at a disadvantage. “I am not happy being asked to assess the contribution of my friends in the group with whom I have worked.” University of Ulster student Problems therefore remain in the minutiae of the scheme but the progression problems that it was introduced to resolve have improved (about 75% of student proceeded after first sit in 2004-05 but the early leaving remains at about 8%). Tutorial schemes then, work well and can achieve the twin objectives of making big organisations seem small and promoting appropriate study skills. They do, however, need continuous attention to ensure that they fulfil their purpose and that the staff involved are competent both to conduct small group teaching and to support the development of student skills. They can also be used to reinforce specific subject based content. Their prime value in the context of student transition is in establishing closer relationships between students and between staff and students in an academic context. There are, however, other groups of students with common problems whose needs can best be served by grouping them together in tutorial groups. In Chapter 4 the grouping together of home based students for induction was discussed (Sheader and Richardson, 2006). In Sheffield University a tutorial scheme was introduced specifically for mature students. This group had specific difficulties in year one associated with the time gap since they had last studied and in dealing with a timetable which was often unsympathetic to the needs of families. ‘Bread and Butter’ (Linehan, 2006) was a scheme that attempted to bring together mature students in a specific subject area to address their specific study needs at a convenient time (over lunch). Students were able to discuss the content of the sessions in advance and felt they had some influence over the scheme. Thus one student commented: “Being able to set the agenda for the sessions was empowering and helped me feel as if what I said was important.” University of Sheffield student The ability of small group tutorials to re-balance the power relationship between staff and students should not be underestimated. Their content need not be fixed by the rigors of a


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module description nor totally driven by the needs of assessment and can serve to integrate students into the teaching process. This provision of specialised support for a minority of students was generally well received by both staff and students to the extent that the practice has now been made available to all students and extended to other departments. This, of course, may diminish its effectiveness for the group of student for whom it was originally designed but the principles of family friendly timetabling, encouraging students to set the agenda and coherent groupings of students will persist. Discussion There are at least three issues that deserve consideration when introducing schemes like these: Selectivity Some schemes are directed only at those who need support. Thus sessions in remedial mathematics, writing, study skills, etc. can be provided for those students who decide for themselves that they need help. In two of the cases above (Napier and Sheffield) it is the staff who decide that help is required either by virtue of a student’s age or some measure of ‘risk’ that might lead to early leaving. Both schemes provide support for study and course content as well as directed support for the problems, which identified the group in the first place. Are these fair and equitable practices? Some students who might have benefited from the support but who were not in the target groups were excluded even though they were enrolled on the same course. On the other hand, at Ulster, all students were included and the attendance was very poor until it was more focused and subject to assessment. There are considerations, therefore, of striking a balance between offering universal support which may not suit all and focussed support which might exclude some who need it. There are advantages to each approach and the art will be in achieving an appropriate balance between the specialised needs of a few, the benefit to the many and costs in terms of time and other resources. The VALUE project at the University of Kent is a more extensive system (see Chapter 5) and we consider it as a form of extended induction. Students are referred by their academic departments or can self-refer for participation in this broad based scheme. About one hundred and fifty participants per year are selected on the basis of their needs and commitment. In a sense the programme selects only those who are willing to be helped. Although mature students are more likely to be among those not progressing they are only very slightly overrepresented in the VALUE participants (about 7% of mature entrants entered the VALUE programme compared with being 6% of total entrants). Nevertheless the University of Kent consistently retains students in excess of its benchmark especially its mature students (e.g. in 2004-05, 6.0% of young entrants were no longer in higher education compared with a benchmark of 7.1% and for mature students 12.3% of entrants were no longer in higher education compared with a benchmark of 16.2%, HESA (2007)).


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Purpose What are tutorial schemes for? When used appropriately they are well suited to promote the social integration of new students, to promote group working and to deal with individual problems. In circumstances in which new students can get lost in large anonymous modules the use of small group teaching can promote a feeling of identity with the course on which a student is enrolled. As found in the universal scheme in Ulster, however, a few tutors were not highly skilled and, in fact, used the tutorial as an opportunity to lecture. It takes a good deal of confidence for a lecturer to hand control of a class to his/her students. A lecture to a small group is not a cost effective way to promote the acquisition of knowledge and defeats the social and individual support purposes of the scheme. As outlined above, tutorial groups, which expand too much above ten students per tutor, start to lose any special purpose since they are too large for effective individual student contributions and too small for the efficient transmission of information. Tutorial groups above ten can be effective if that group is further divided and students set individual group tasks and this is illustrated by the practice in Ulster, which used the larger groups as a vehicle within which to promote the development of collaborative learning. Large groups undoubtedly lose their effectiveness if the prime purpose is in establishing cohort identity or ameliorating the anonymity of students. Training It is inevitable that the quality of tutors will vary. Small group teaching is a highly skilled task and the effective use of this teaching technique, which is expensive in terms of staff time, requires the deployment of well-motivated and well-prepared staff. An effective tutorial system will require staff with the commitment and experience to perform these tasks well. These may not always be the most experienced teachers and it will be important to select staff for these roles on the basis of their training and skills. Potential participants can be identified and supported through their participation in staff induction and courses designed to support them in their role as teachers.

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Chapter 7 Peer Mentoring

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Peer Mentoring – Student Supporting Student Take Home messages •

All incoming students are fearful of some aspects of university life. Most overcome these fears rapidly. Pre-occupation with non-academic issues distracts new students from their studies.

•

The most effective support for new students is probably provided by fellow, but more experienced, students.

•

If peer mentors are employed by the institution then they should be trained so that they know the boundaries of the role, and to whom to refer difficult cases.

•

Peer mentors themselves benefit for the experience but may need the support of central services to fulfil the role effectively.

Introduction Surveys of student opinion prior to entry show that many new entrants harbour anxieties about virtually every aspect of university life. These range from whether they will be able to cope with the academic work to how they are going to manage their money. Follow up surveys a few months after entry, show that virtually none of these fears were realised. The most persistent fear is that that they will not be able to work independently (Lowe and Cook, 2003). Most students adapt rapidly to their changed circumstances but during that time of adaptation there will obviously be worries and preoccupations which will divert attention from their academic work, the prime reason for attendance at the institution. Staff can be preoccupied at start of a new academic year and support can be limited during the crucial early days and weeks of the first year. There is a growing body of evidence (e.g. Griffiths et al., 1995; Race, 2001; Orsmond, 2004) that peer-tutoring and peer assessment are important in developing critical skills in higher education, for example a deep approach to learning, encouraging discussion, improving a student’s confidence, critical evaluation and so forth. However, there is also now a realisation that students can play a very significant role in helping to support new students to settle into university life. For new students this will be their first experience of living away from home and, as Macintosh (2006) has argued, this places additional responsibility on institutions not only for their success in higher education but also for their personal well-being. Induction aims to help students settle into university life but this is usually organised around an introduction to administrative and academic processes rather than addressing the arguably more important process of social integration and the allaying of unfounded fears. As Tinto (1993) has noted, effective academic and social integration of students into higher education is critical to student success.


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The benefits of mentoring Some universities and individual courses have chosen to address such issues through events where social integration is central. For example, residential induction at the University of Ulster (McLaughlin et al., 2006) and the away day induction at Plymouth (Pearce and McLaughlin, 2006) were discussed in Chapter 4. Although there is no formally recognised student mentoring scheme at such events, students do support each other and strong friendships and collaborative working relationships can be formed early in a students’ university career. Informal student mentoring does occur even in the absence of a formal structure to support it or to deliberately introduce it. Other universities have more formalised peer support schemes where year two and year three students support year one students through the pre-entry weeks and particularly those intimidating first weeks of semester one. Peer mentoring schemes offer advantages for both mentees, mentors and the institution (Macintosh, 2006) and as Moxley et al. (2001) have observed, retention rates are improved as new students feel accepted and valued. Benefits to the mentee include: •

Facilitated transition into higher education;

•

Enhanced relationships and student networking;

•

Increased motivation due to a sense of belonging;

•

Friendly support and encouragement;

•

Academic study advice;

•

Social integration; and

•

Improved self-confidence.

Benefits to the mentor include: •

Development of leadership, management and support skills;

•

CV enhancement;

•

Increased employability;

•

Personal satisfaction;

•

Input into the university;

•

Learning experience; and

•

Dissemination of personal knowledge and skills. (Taken from: Anon (2006b))



STAR case studies The STAR project examined two practical schemes of peer-mentoring, one at the University of Wales, Bangor (McCormick et al., 2006) and the other at the University of Sheffield (McLaughlin et al., 2006). The scheme at the University of Wales, Bangor is university-wide and was started in 1994. It is described as a ‘peer guiding’ scheme and each year approximately 400 year three and year four students are trained to support new students in the pre-induction, induction and postinduction period. Although the scheme is organised at a university level, each academic department is able to put its own ‘spin’ on the details of how it runs in order that it can be tailored to the particular demands of the department. Thus there is a Central Peer Guide Coordinator in the Academic Registry responsible for the overall scheme with each department having its own Peer Guide Coordinator. Importantly, the peer-guiding scheme does not aim to substitute for the other support systems; on the contrary, the support is designed to supplement support mechanisms such as those available to disabled students, international students, counselling services, accommodation and so forth. The mentors are available prior to induction week (‘Welcome week’) and are available to the mentees for as long as is necessary though the majority of students require little help after the initial contact during induction. The peer mentoring scheme at the University of Sheffield (McLaughlin et al., 2006) is also centrally organised and operates across nine academic departments though there is diversity in the level of involvement from department to department. The mentors are encouraged to contact their mentees prior to induction week so that a ‘friendly face’, albeit, usually a ‘virtual face’ is available to answer questions right from the start. The mentors, their role and recruitment At the University of Wales, Bangor, the recruitment of peer guides begins in December with a series of briefing sessions from the Centre for Careers and Opportunities. Significant milestones from then until induction are outlined in Table 7.1. It should be noted that trained peer guides are used at other times during the year particularly for recruitment events at both departmental and university level. However, their primary role is prior to and during induction. Around the time of the summer examination period (May, June) peer guides help the Departmental Peer Guide Coordinators plan the induction (‘Welcome Week’) activities for the incoming students; at this time they also receive training on their role. They are ‘contracted’ for a minimum of 15 hours to help in their departments.



Table 7.1 Peer Guiding Calendar for students in the University of Wales, Bangor. December

Recruitment starts with a series of briefing sessions.

January

Application forms completed and sent to co-ordinators.

February and March

Compulsory training takes place. Training includes issues such as ensuring personal safety and stresses where responsibilities end. They are not expected to be able to solve every problem but they are expected to know to whom year one students should be referred for more formal and/or professional advice.

April and May

References are requested for all who complete compulsory training before they are considered peer guides. Disciplinary records are accessed.

May and June

Peer guides help the Departmental Co-ordinator plan the Welcome Week activities

September

All peer guides receive a handbook containing useful information to help them cope with enquiries, etc. They also receive a distinctive sweatshirt/tee shirt so they are easily visible and recognisable. Wearing the sweatshirt/tee shirt means they are on active duty.

Welcome Week

Peer guides are at their busiest and typically spend 15+ hours helping out in the department as well as attending social events.

Throughout year one

After Welcome Week peer guides continue to offer support for as long as the new students allocated to them feel they need it (normally only for the first few weeks). On specific days during the year peer guides help at recruitment events and open days, both within the department and generally.

January/February

Peer guide ceremony (including Peer Guide of the Year Award) to thank the peer guides for their hard work and to award them certificates for their professional portfolios.

In the University of Sheffield, the scheme is organised in a similar way to that in the University of Wales, Bangor. Application is through an on-line application form including a statement of why the applicant wants to become a mentor. Mentors are responsible for between two and four mentees each and such a low ratio contributes to the excellence of the support provided. Training, also in the May-June period, emphasises their responsibilities and covers aspects such as: •

What a mentor is (and is not);



•

Outlining issues relating to personal safety;

•

Information on the University and support services available; and

•

What to do if getting ‘out of your depth’.

Two aspects in particular are stressed – safety issues and care about divulging sensitive information either about themselves or about others. These and other pieces of advice are covered in the training materials provided to mentors by the University of Wales, Bangor and the University of Sheffield; Alred et al. (1998) provide similar, extensive advice. In both these cases the peer guides made contact with their mentees prior to their arrival at university as a way of reducing any pre-arrival anxiety. Like the peer guides in Bangor, the Sheffield mentors are there to provide help with understanding timetables, module choices, finding their way around the campus, etc. To help with this process, the mentors have roleplay scenarios in their training and they are also made aware of differences in their mentees backgrounds with exercises on cultural awareness as well as the specific needs of mature students and those who have chosen to commute to the campus rather than stay in campusbased accommodation. Effectiveness of peer mentoring schemes Peer guides can be a vitally important in helping some mentees through difficult times and there is evidence that they can help with issues of retention. A recent evaluation of the scheme in Bangor showed that: •

75% of first years rated the peer guides’ hard work in Welcome Week as good or very good;

•

14% of peer guides were helping students with serious welfare issues; and

•

16% of peer guides were helping students considering withdrawing, all of whom did stay at University of Wales, Bangor.

Indeed, 13.7% of mentees had considered leaving Bangor and nearly a quarter of those discussed leaving with their mentor. Out of those, three students who had considered leaving would have left but for the support offered by the peer mentor which helped to persuade them to stay. If this were repeated over the whole scheme (and therefore including the students who did not return the evaluation questionnaires), about 20 students would have been retained just by the peer guiding scheme itself. Thus, one of the lectures in Bangor commented: “Some of the peer guides said they had first years coming to them to discuss issues connected to withdrawal and have actually managed to talk to them or refer them on for help so that they didn’t leave. Sometimes it’s much easier to talk to someone who’s been through it.”



The mentors in both schemes clearly valued the opportunity to develop their communication skills and saw it as an opportunity to enhance their CVs. Typical comments were: “Being a peer guide helped improve my self-confidence.” “I want to become a teacher, being a peer guide has given me some experiences of helping students.” The experience of having had a good peer guide themselves was also a significant factor for some students in deciding to volunteer as a peer guide. Thus one student commented: “I decided to become a peer guide because my own peer guide was so good. I come from Finland and I was really nervous about coming to Wales and worried that my English wasn’t good enough. My peer guide contacted me by letter before I got to Bangor and it was really good to know that someone would be there waiting to help me settle in. It’s comforting to know that someone is always there and that’s what I want to be able to offer new students this summer.” The ‘customers’, the level one student, seem generally to welcome the support: “I was worried about coming to university. My peer guide was really useful and helped me settle into life at Bangor.” “The peer guides make sure you are joining in during Welcome Week so you don’t have time to sit in your room and be homesick.” And this was echoed by the Central Co-ordinator at the University of Wales, Bangor who commented: “It’s important that these Freshers are greeted with a friendly face. A lot of students feel alone when they arrive. The peer guiding scheme means someone will be there encouraging them to take part in social activities and to answer any questions they might have.” For the majority of year one students, the fact that there is another person there who has been through exactly the same feelings of insecurity, possibly loneliness, homesickness, isolation, etc. as themselves can be a huge comfort. Both schemes described here emphasise the early contact that is made between the mentors and mentees, this being prior to induction itself. Year one students seem to find this of significant benefit. The role of staff development A university-wide fully implemented peer-mentoring scheme requires various levels of support. The administration of the scheme is clearly a major organisational operation that includes a particularly hectic time in the run up to enrolment in which mentees are linked to mentors. Additionally, before that, there has to be the advertising, recruitment and training of the mentors. These require particular skills in order to avoid potential pitfalls.



Of particular importance is the training of the mentors and the development of support materials to enable them to undertake a particularly sensitive role. Whilst staff development might not be involved with the training of the mentors directly, there is an important role for staff development in preparing departmental staff (possibly academic staff and/or administrative staff) for their role in training mentors. Mentors have a very difficult role to play and need to be well trained so that they know how far they should go and when to refer mentees on for more professional support. Whether this training is carried out by staff development personnel directly or through departmental staff who have been trained by staff development in turn there is clearly a substantial task to fully implement such a university-wide scheme. On the other hand, the rewards, in terms of student retention would seem to amply repay such investment.

Chapter 8 International Students

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Chapter 8 Supporting International Students Take home messages •

International students are an increasingly important component of the university population.

Some British resident students have some of the characteristics of

international students. •

Students from different backgrounds require different support.

•

Support may be required in the use of English but entrance qualifications may vary both in subject coverage and academic standard.

•

Groups of international students tend to stick together and it is appropriate to construct opportunities for social mixing with local students or local communities.

•

Bridging courses are useful both to bring international students together and also to prepare them to join mainstream classes.

Introduction In the UK Higher Education system, the future of the ‘traditional’ science subjects, particularly physics and chemistry has recently been questioned (Anon, 2005a) and this has become the centre of media attention on a number of occasions in recent years. The data certainly support the view that school-leavers are disenchanted with the sciences and that a career in science is unattractive. For example, 28 higher education institutions have ceased teaching undergraduate chemistry degrees since 1994 – and recently, five universities have indicated their intention to close their chemistry departments (Cookson, 2004); the latest closure that was announced was that of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Sussex (Hackett, 2006) though this threat has now been withdrawn. Physics has not fared any better and the Institute of Physics recorded a 30% reduction in the number of university physics courses since 1997. The perception of pupils in schools is that physics and chemistry are ‘hard’ sciences and this has a ‘knock-on’ effect when these pupils apply for university entrance – from 1997 to 2003, chemistry applications fell from 3,900 to 2,700 whilst physics applications declined from 3,500 to 3,200 (Cookson, 2004). Chemistry has a particular ‘image’ problem and it is often seen now as just a means of entry into medical and the veterinary sciences rather than as a means to enter chemistry-related degrees (Byers et al., 2004). This has forced many institutions to critically examine their science provision and, in some instances to ‘re-badge’ traditional science courses to make them appear more attractive, e.g. Molecular Science or to incorporate elements of chemistry in newer degree programmes such as fashion (McFarland, 2004). Increasingly, however, universities are turning to the recruitment of overseas students to ‘fill the gap’. Jaggi (2004) pointed out that: “If science and research in UK universities has a



problem, then overseas students are very much part of the solution – both financially and academically.” This is evident when the finances of higher education courses are examined: the total higher education course fees for 2002-03 were £3.4 billion – 31.8% of this total came from overseas (non-EU) students even though they represented only 8.5% of the student population (Jaggi, 2004). The number of EU (non-UK) science students has remained more or less unchanged at about 40,000 over several years (1999-00 to 2002-03) but the number of science students from overseas, (non-EU) has increased from about 45,000 to over 70,000. The result of this is that in some universities, international students now make up a significant part of the undergraduate population. Within the Russell Group of universities, for example, about a third of the undergraduate population is international (Jaggi, 2004). As the pressure on science departments to recruit students against a backdrop of declining school pupil interest in science subjects increases, this inevitably means that the size of the international student cohort will continue to grow. Until recently, China has been the major country targeted by UK universities in their drive to maximise recruitment from overseas but recent data suggest that this source may have peaked. For entrance in September 2006, UCAS data indicate a fall of 13.6% of Chinese student applications (Tysome, 2006). However, this fall in the number of students from China has been compensated by a corresponding increase in the number of students applying from India. For 2005-06 there has been an increase of 7% in the number of Indian students and between 2002-03 and 2004-05 the numbers increased by 31% (Tysome, 2006). This appears to be a very lucrative recruiting market so much so that many universities, for example, the University of Oxford, have been sending substantial delegations to India to support this recruitment, and the University of Wolverhampton has opened an office in New Delhi. At a more global level, The British Council is also funding an education and research initiative (Tysome, 2006). This will, of course, pose significant problems for front-line academics, course directors, administrators, resource providers, technicians, etc. as they have to adjust to the cultural and academic differences between home and international students and the complexities of having classes with both indigenous and international groups. This problem is further exacerbated by the differences between international students since they cannot be treated as a homogeneous cohort. For example, at the University of Ulster there is a sizeable group from English-speaking countries (particularly the US), students from central Europe (particularly Germany, France, Italy and Greece) and from the East and Far East. In this latter group, students from Taiwan, mainland China, Japan and Hong Kong are well represented but even they do not form a homogeneous group. An additional problem that may now need to be addressed is the switch from a support system focussed on one group (e.g. the large influx of Chinese students in recent years) to the different needs of students from another country (e.g. the large increases being seen now in students from India).



Thus, international students present a suite of problems to teaching, administrative, resource and technical staff over and above those associated with ‘home’ students. Personal experience of staff from the University of Sunderland (which is echoed elsewhere) is that: •

Many international students have not been achieving a smooth transition to the

UK Higher Education system; •

The difference between the level of achievement of some of these students at

home and in the UK can be quite marked, notwithstanding the different grading conventions used; and •

Students often struggle to flourish in the new environment both academically and

socially. (Devlin, 2006) Such problems include not just language difficulties but also cultural and social aspects, which provide a real challenge to university staff. Therefore, with the increasing importance of the overseas student population, it is imperative that policy and practices are developed to meet their specific needs. The dimensions of transition from secondary to tertiary education are outlined in Chapter 2. International student undergo similar transitions and obviously those initiatives that have been applied to the transition of home based students also apply to international students. The University of Sunderland for instance has a peer mentoring system for international students called ‘Happy Families’ and the benefits of peer mentoring that are discussed in Chapter 7 also accrue to international students. When considering international students, therefore, they present traditional problems but to these difficulties we also have to add others. For example, in some cultures it is inappropriate to question the authority and knowledge of the lecturer. This reverence for authority can result in problems in developing critical thinking. Other cultures may value silence in class inhibiting active participation whilst others consider plagiarism as a complement to the original author and therefore an acceptable practice (Southall et al., 2006). Added to these are the social niceties of diet and cultural norms. The challenge is, therefore, to provide the international student with the facilities and opportunities to overcome the language, cultural and social barriers to inclusion to ensure that they are able to reach their full potential. These opportunities should be designed to support international students to ensure that they become well integrated into both college and academic life. STAR case studies The STAR project identified two initiatives, a series of proactive measures at the University of Sunderland and another at the University of Ulster, which demonstrated good practice. These were very different practices; that at the University of Sunderland was developed from work within a single school, the School of Computing and Technology whilst that at the University



of Ulster was concerned with an all-university initiative. Since these simultaneously address the academic, social and cultural needs of international students it is not possible to select any particular practice as benefiting, say, the social needs of the students; consequently, the practices are described as they happen and comments are made on their particular benefits. Additionally, the two case studies tackle the three ‘time-zones’ of student support – preenrolment, early induction and extended induction. University of Sunderland Within the School of Computing and Technology, international students form a significant cohort with almost one-third of the students of the total on-campus population of 1,700 being non-home or non-EU origin (Devlin, 2006). Work with international students in the School is concerned with the integration of the students socially and culturally into the university and wider community. The exemplars reported here focus largely on the support given to students throughout their academic career effectively as part of extended induction. The International Student Forum It can be easy for international students to feel isolated and a Student Forum was set up to deliberately bring them together. (cf. the Bread and Butter project, Lineham (2006)). This is a two-hour weekly meeting of international students led by a member of staff – in the case of Sunderland this has been either a seconded member of academic staff or a school administrator. Although aimed initially at just Chinese students, it was not uncommon in the first year for students from other nationalities to attend and, after the first year, the forum did indeed become fully international. Whilst the ‘agenda’ of the forum is not fixed or formal there were three underlying formats – invited talks, study skills and surgery sessions. Invited talks covered a variety of topics but included sessions on: the Students’ Union and international student issues; information services; opportunities, both voluntary and paid; welfare issues; counselling; healthcare; and the HOST System – through which international students can visit the homes of British families for short stays (Devlin, 2006). The study skills sessions covered a variety of topics including: understanding assessment; writing reports; group work; presentational skills; and understanding university regulations (Devlin, 2006). Surgery session tended to be time-dependant; for example, when students were about to present their dissertations the sessions were often used as advice sessions helping the students prepare the final write-up and prepare for their vivas. The nature of the meetings was such that often the students simply want to talk about anything that was current or that was affecting their studies or social life. The forum was an excellent place for students to meet and talk to others in an informal fashion and attendance at the forums in Sunderland was good and feedback positive



reflecting the benefit that these students derived from the experience. Indeed, feedback from the forum has allowed the staff to identify just exactly what it is the international students want. These requirements are: •

“The chance to integrate in the academic and larger society;

•

The chance to practice speaking English;

•

Help in adjusting to new styles of teaching, learning and assessment;

•

Help in organising their time/studies;

•

Information about where to go for help;

•

Making sure that lecturers are aware of them – in course preparation and delivery;

•

A safe and welcoming society;

•

More English classes that are more finely tuned to their needs; and

•

Better information on accommodation.” (Devlin, 2006)

Running in parallel with the actual forum is a web-based forum mediated through WebCT and whilst potentially an important vehicle for reaching a wider audience the staff have been disappointed by its effectiveness. Its main strength seems to be in disseminating information, such as publicity for events. Interestingly, there may be cultural reasons why students will not engage with such delivery (e.g. Marcus and Gould, 2000; Tylee, 2001; Miah, 2004). SLANG (Sunderland Language and News Group) The major difficulty faced by international students is that of language proficiency. Whilst formal language classes are an important component in improving students’ language ability it is extended informal practice that will bring the most benefit. To meet this need SLANG (the Sunderland language and News Group) was established. SLANG is based around discussion of newspaper and magazine articles contributed by the students themselves. To help with the informality, refreshments were provided and thus the meetings became not just language sessions but also social events. SLANG is open to all students and their families, not just international students and the sessions have a real international flavour and provide a meeting place for all who wish to participate in an international discussion. Weekly attendance is about 20 students with some students attending regularly but not every week. As the SLANG meetings are at weekends this might mitigate against a larger attendance. SLANG has been successful for a number of students; typical comments included: “Every Saturday morning there is a group meeting for both international students and local students. We shall pick some our interested topics from the newspaper such as from Royals wedding to the Pope’s funeral, from top chef Jamie Oliver’s TV program to North East children top junk food eating league. We could expose



our own opinion or experience and/or what’s the difference between UK and our own countries. When I stay in UK, I get used to drinking tea, travelling on English buses and handling English money. In the meeting, I get used to speaking English and before long I could understand almost everything that people said to me.” Community Outreach In order that some local secondary school teachers were better prepared for a visit to Beijing some Chinese students began to visit the school to work with the members of staff and also the school children. From this initial contact, a number of other schools requested similar contact and now students from China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Vietnam, Africa, Spain, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Iraq, Mexico, India and Pakistan visit six different schools – and it has been necessary to establish a waiting list. Clearly, such an initiative provides the university students with ample opportunity to develop their language skills but, at the same time, it helps develop a true sense of multiculturalism. For their volunteer work within the community the students gain a certificate as well as enhancing skills appropriate to their Personal Development Planning. The students recognised the enormous benefits to accrue from such a scheme: “The project has given us a lot of benefits. All of the skills are now really useful in our study, in life and in the future job market. We are not afraid anymore to do presentations in front of people, and we know how to manage our time.” The schools themselves were highly appreciative: “The project has added much value to our pupils’ experiences, and to our efforts to enrich our curriculum, and we feel the students deserve recognition for their valuable efforts. The pupils gained first-hand experience of another culture, which is immensely valuable in eradicating prejudice. We value this link and look forward to it continuing.” The University of Ulster Elsewhere in this book (Chapter 4) we have noted the importance of pre-entry support for students and this is of critical importance for international students who have to readjust not only to educational differences but also to social and cultural differences between their home country and the UK. At the University of Ulster this is tackled in a number of different ways. Summer bridging course Summer bridging courses ensure that international students are ‘up to speed’ and attuned to the ways of the UK Higher Education system. Differences in the teaching and learning styles are many and complex. For example, in some cultures (and particularly the Far Eastern cultures) the lecturer is an authority figure and it is deemed



to be inappropriate to question that authority or its accuracy, thus inhibiting the development of critical thinking. Similarly, silence in class is often valued which inhibits some international students participating actively in classroom situations. This can lead to significant problems in small group teaching like seminars where student contributions are expected. Thus such students arrive in the UK academic system without the ethos of independent learning or confident communication in class or small group situations and whilst this may be partly true of home-based students as well, the difficulties faced by international students are exacerbated by differences in climate, living costs, health care, social activities, etc. It was against this background that a summer bridging course was developed. The course is targeted towards those students who have come from educational environments dominated by teacher authority and in which student participation and critical reasoning have not been encouraged. The bridging course is for students who enter the final year of courses within the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences after completing a higher diploma elsewhere – the final year is thus a ‘top-up’ for an honours degree. The course lasts for three weeks starting in late-August and is for ten credits (100 student effort hours). The focus is on transferable skills (e.g. research and report-writing skills, location and use of IT equipment and Library resources, etc.) but the course is also designed to assist students in making the transition into the life and culture of Northern Ireland. The course integrates small-group teaching sessions with visits to the coast, local foodproduction firms, Belfast, etc. The course is assessed through written reports based on the visits and an examination. These forms of assessment allow all students some practice at the types of assessment they will meet in the course proper (Mitchell, 2006). English language provision The cornerstone of success for many international students is proficiency in the English language, as one lecturer commented: “Right from the start the important aspect is their level of English. If their English is weak it is going to be a difficult year for them. So in terms of settling in it is an important aspect to support them from day one.” English language provision at the University of Ulster is offered both as a term-time course but also, and significantly, as a pre-session programme, ELAS (English Language for Academic Study programme). The course is compulsory for any international student offering an IELTS (International English Language Testing System, http://www.ielts.org/) score of below 6.0, the level required for entry into most degree programmes. Failure to achieve that level by the end of the course means that the student cannot continue on to the degree programme. Attendance by students who have already attained a level of 6.0 is permitted as the programme covers not just



English language provision but also important independent study skills. Small-group work is a feature of the programme and this encourages interaction and debate. The groups are multi-cultural and are formed on the basis of the students’ level of English and although the groups follow the same curriculum the speed of delivery and intensity is suited to the groups’ needs. Assessment is by a written report and a presentation and for those that have to attain an ELAS of 6.0 (i.e. those depending on the course for entry into their programme of study) there is also examination of the four skills of Listening, Reading/Use of English, Writing and Speaking. Student Assistants help to plan cultural and social events during the six-week period and some social events are organised by the participants themselves. English language tuition is continued through the first semester with a series of English language workshops that allows the students to practice particular skills – these are optional and limited to a maximum of three workshops per student. Whilst programmes such as this obviously help students develop and practice their English language, the social aspects are probably just as important. As one teaching fellow from the International Office/Centre for English Language Teaching comments: “In the time available we have to incorporate and develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. This is difficult; we do make a 0.5 IELT band progress but they also gain confidence and get nestled into society and life in NI. They get bank accounts opened, make friends, get to know their way around the University and people and places to go for help. They can then act as an unofficial buddy for other incoming students at a later date.” The English language support is provided in the interval after the students arrive on campus but before the start of the formal teaching on the programmes for which they originally applied. In many cases it then continues through at least the first year. Student motivation and enthusiasm partly compensate for their language deficiencies. Orientation programme An orientation programme is tailored to meet the needs of all international students (those completing the summer bridging course, those on the ELAS course and those joining just at registration). This is a full programme of cultural and social events including a Provost’s Reception and a Mayor’s reception as well as induction to the administrative aspects of a student’s life. International students also have the opportunity to meet and stay with local families through International Friends, a group dedicated to helping international students integrate with the local community. This programme is valued by staff and students alike but there is also the acceptance that induction is an on-going process. A member of the International Office commented:



“We take the view that orientation does not stop at the end of that week, it continues throughout their time here. Initiation and familiarisation is very gradual for them.” But the process is generally welcomed by the students: “This is my first time studying at the University of Ulster so a welcome event for international students provides a great introduction to the University and to the cultural attractions of Northern Ireland.” Staff Development This chapter has explored a number of mechanisms for the support of international students pre-entry, at induction and throughout the year. Which parts of this array an individual programme needs will obviously vary but there are probably some general areas where academic staff might need support. One specific area is in recognising the differences between the educational system in the student’s own country and that in the UK. A survey within the School of Computing and Technology at the University of Sunderland revealed that 98% of staff believed that Chinese students experienced problems over and above those presented by UK students and 58% felt that the Chinese students presented such problems largely because staff found it difficult to obtain meaningful feedback from them (Devlin, 2006). There are substantial cultural and social differences that make it exceptionally difficult for Chinese students to ‘operate’ successfully in the UK educational system and many academics are unaware of these or are unsure what strategies to employ to support the students. The same survey found that 55% of staff knew nothing about the Chinese educational system (Devlin, 2006). As a University of Ulster member of staff observed: “A programme to help know the right approach to encourage the students to participate. That could help.” Another member of staff hinted that strategies designed to help members of staff to support these students need to be developed: “We can help somewhat but their value and behaviour systems are different from the ones here and it is hard to change. We can encourage them to ask questions openly and express opinions but I don’t think we can change that a lot. In my experience cultural differences need more than one year.” The range of activities contained within the two case studies discussed here provide ample evidence that proactive support is available for international students and that there are good models that can be applied relatively efficiently and effectively. However, there does remain a lack of support for the academics and administrative staff and there is probably an important role here for staff development. Some of the comments from academics highlight their own inadequacies and those of their colleagues in dealing with international students:



“We have to get across the message that we need interactivity and discussion and I think the English classes help get this across. We also build in discussion sessions throughout the bridging course; we need to try to get them to participate. There can be limitations in terms of the lecturer – some are better than others at encouraging discussion.” Useful websites include: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/international-students/ A comprehensive website though you do have to avoid the rhetoric … “Innovative, original and with an amazing history, the UK’s courses and qualifications are as varied as its landscape” http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/ The Council for International Education. This site provides information for both incoming students and home students contemplating study abroad. Additionally, it has valuable information for staff supporting such students. http://www.ucas.ac.uk/studyuk/index.html Largely practical guidance for students wanting to study in the UK on full-time degrees. Some parts, for example the section for parents, are underwhelming. http://www.internationalstudent.com/ Potentially a very useful site though oriented towards the US ‘market’. Focuses on practical help and advice about studying in the US, the UK and Australia though with links to opportunities

in

other

countries.

Other

links

available

at:

http://uk.internationalstudent.com/links/ http://www.hero.ac.uk/uk/studying/information_for_overseas_stude262.cfm Some practical advice and lots of very useful links. http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-study-in-the-uk.htm An information site for students wishing to study in the UK, but useful to see how the UK is promoted. http://www.hostuk.org.uk/home.asp The HOST organisation has a database of residents (hosts) in the UK who are prepared to take international students for short visits in order to give them “an experience of the culture and way of life in Britain”. A Yugoslavian student commented on his short visit: “I learnt more about British people during that weekend, than in three months living as a student in London.” http://my.sunderland.ac.uk/web/support/equality/a_home Equality and Diversity website, University of Sunderland.



http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/~slang/ SLANG Sunderland Language and News Group website, University of Sunderland.

Chapter 9 Course Design


Chapter 9 Supporting Students Through Course Design Take home messages •

The development of undergraduate study skills may be achieved within subject-based modules, appended to modules as tutorials or in specific study skills modules. There is no best model.

•

Well-managed small-group teaching works well.

•

Service subjects pose specific problem that may require intensive tutorial support, specialised support materials and additional teaching.

•

Where problems are predictable the use of pre-entry bridging courses should be considered.

•

Problem modules should be addressed, not problem students.

•

Action research should be promoted but many staff will find the technique unfamiliar and will need reassurance and support.

Introduction In recent years, all programmes of study in institutions of higher education have had to conform to the benchmark statements issued for 46 subject areas by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). These statements set out the overall content and outcomes that a programme of study should have; they: “… set out expectations about standards of degrees in a range of subject areas. They describe what gives a discipline its coherence and identity, and define what can be expected of a graduate in terms of the techniques and skills needed to develop understanding in the subject.” QAA (2006) The benchmarks are not, however, prescriptive and they allow course designers a wide degree of freedom in how they prepare the course and its assessment. QAA (2002), for example, describes the benchmarks as an “overall framework”. The central focus of all the benchmarks is that the course, as well as individual pieces of teaching within the course, should have clear learning outcomes. Although these should be subject specific there is also a requirement to address more generic skills – ‘graduate skills’. Thus each course team has developed its curriculum to meet both subject based and generic objectives within the appropriate framework and within the staff and physical resources it has at its disposal.



The challenge facing academics is in designing and developing curricula against a back-drop of widening participation which brings with it highly diverse classes. Such diversity is evident in socio-economic factors, ethnicity and disability but also, crucially, in academic background and attainment. Thus the uniform pattern of university entrants of 20 years ago (three A levels or four Scottish Highers) no longer pertains and increasingly students are admitted on the basis of a wide diversity of entrance qualifications, many focussed on vocational areas rather than traditional academic ones. It is critically important to create a ‘level playing field’ (e.g. Eales-Reynolds, 2003) as quickly as possible within a course so that all students can progress and achieve their full potential. Ensuring that support is available within the curriculum either formally within modules or informally in meetings such as tutorials is important for many students and essential for others. The scale of the problem may not be large but it is significant. For example, Lowe and Cook (2003) surveyed year one students prior to enrolment and then again at the end of their first term and found that although anticipated academic problems did not materialise for the majority of students, for between 15-20% of respondents academic difficulties were worse than expected. It is, presumably, this very group that can be helped by subtle changes to the curriculum or by the use of support mechanisms within modules. Unfortunately, this support may not always be forth-coming – Lowe and Cook (2003) also report that 35% of their sample did not find teaching staff ‘helpful and friendly’ and 41% did not see teaching staff as ‘sympathetic and reassuring’. The STAR project attempted to identify good practice in curriculum design, particularly where this was designed to support particular groups of students and broadly these were in three different areas, modules developed for the specific needs of year one students, bridging courses and support for work-based learning. The first year curriculum – skills Inevitably, the major input for student support is focussed at the first year– it is here that the diversity in student intake is at its most acute. All courses are now having to address the ‘skills agenda’ and there are a number of models that are being trialled. Some courses have integrated all the necessary skills into existing modules and this has advantages although it does require significant organisation and monitoring to ensure that changes within modules and changes of personnel do not result in a skill being inadvertently ‘dropped’. Other courses have adopted a different approach where the skills are delivered within a tutorial context (e.g. Cook and Naughton, 2006). This has many attractions, not least of which is the adoption of a small-group teaching framework which itself has a variety of advantages. Attendance however can be a significant issue, particularly if the acquisition of the skills is not formally assessed (either as part of the tutorial system itself or within the ‘normal’ curriculum). Additionally, the fact that the material is, of necessity, delivered by a number of tutors (often



not academic staff) means there might be issues of inequality both of coverage and of tutor competence. A third model is a dedicated ‘skills’ module where all the skills are delivered in a subject based context (and therefore the students do not lose sight of their importance) but also within an identifiable teaching block so that all staff can assume that all students have at least been ‘exposed’ to an identified range of skills and probably assessed on most of them. Thus all three models have their strengths and weaknesses and which model a course team chooses to adopt may well be dictated by the staffing resources and the demands of the rest of the curriculum. Courses where a body of knowledge has to be delivered might well adopt an embedded or tutorial model rather than sacrifice time to a dedicated module. The study skills module The School of Applied Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton has recognised the need for small group tutorials in ameliorating the effects of the very large class sizes that are now common throughout the higher education sector and which encompass an ever-widening social, economic and academic background. They have, therefore, instituted a dedicated study skills module and, interestingly, this module had its roots in a skills tutorial system. The Professional Skills Tutoring System is a 15-credit point, first semester, year one module. The content includes basic laboratory and study skills related to the study of the biosciences and basic numeracy and research skills. In addition the module introduces career planning and Personal Development Planning. A significant strength of the module is in the development of diagnostic testing that underpins the basic scientific skills that form the core of the module. There are a number of diagnostic tests in IT skills, basic scientific numeracy and literacy that assess students’ abilities and the results of these assessments are then used to inform one-on-one tutorials with a professional skills tutor. An outline of the tutorial scheme and an exemplar diagnostic test (for units and measurement) are given in Sutton and McLaughlin (2006). The tutorials are designed to support individual students; thus a student who scores well on a diagnostic test needs little more than a reassurance whilst a student who performs badly will be offered extensive opportunities to remedy deficiencies. The module also provides the opportunity to introduce work-related competencies and career development and, related to these, the student’s own Personal Development Plan (PDP). So that the subject context is not lost, the skills development is continued in bioscience modules in the second semester. Qualitative feedback suggests that the approach is valued by students and this is supported by quantitative evidence; e.g. overall progression rates from year one to year two rose from the mid-80% to over 90% for the first two years after the introduction – though the introduction of other initiatives (e.g. McLaughlin and Sutton, 2006) may have had an effect. A purely skills dedicated module, a module in ‘Study in Higher Education’, has been developed in the School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences in the University of



Plymouth (Harwood and McLaughlin, 2006). Whilst this is aimed at students entering the first year of a foundation degree (Extended Science, level zero, ten credit points) the principles enshrined in its development would apply to any such module for a first degree. It is, however, limited in the range of skills taught and developed. The syllabus covers: •

Writing scientific reports;

•

Approaches to finding information and referencing sources;

•

Note taking in a lecture context and how to follow these forward to create a useful resource; and

•

A skills audit.

Whilst delivered by one member of staff within science, the other staff are aware of the content and ethos of this module and are able to build on its work in their own teaching and the material is thus contextualised. For example, the ability to seek out and use electronic sources of information is expected when the students come to write laboratory reports in Chemistry, Physics and Biology and this forms part of the assessment criteria for the assignment. An added feature of this skills module is the use of the last part of each session (about 30 minutes) to allow the students to talk informally about the course, their concerns, progress, difficulties with specific modules, and so forth. As well as providing useful feedback on how the course and the students are progressing, it is also an ideal opportunity to enable the staff to identify students who are ‘at-risk’. Such students are discretely directed towards support that is available. This might range from on-line tutorials, specific tutorial support, the Mathematics Drop-in Centre, etc. Skills modules, therefore, do not only develop the specified skills but, because of the individual attention often given to students they often serve to identify students at risk and provide a measure of informal pastoral care. The first year curriculum – problem modules Many subjects have areas where students have traditionally struggled despite previous work at school. Literacy (Luck, 2004; Marrin, 2006; Spurling, 2006) and numeracy (Tariq, 2002) are two currently causing general concern whilst chemistry has been a significant problem within the biosciences for well over a generation. At the University of Ulster, a major redevelopment of the chemistry curriculum has helped to address this problem (McClean et al., 2006). The diversity of the class itself was a major difficulty – the year one module (20 credit points) was compulsory for courses in biology, biomedical sciences, dietetics, food and nutrition, human nutrition, molecular biosciences, optometry and pharmacology. Several changes were made at the same time. The curriculum was examined carefully to ensure that the subject material was clearly relevant to later studies and was coherent. The delivery was supported with extensive printed handouts. On-line support materials were also available. With class sizes of over 150 it was not easy to achieve interactive sessions. Weekly assessment and return of practical work with standardised proformas to assist in streamlining the feedback was



introduced (this was also a feature of the Study in Higher Education module at the University of Plymouth). There was regular assessment of the theory through summative computerdriven tests with opportunities for the students to complete practice questions for formative purposes prior to taking the ‘real’ test. A parallel tutorial system was established within the module in which each tutorial was tailored to meet the expressed difficulties of the students. Finally, a communications network was established using both a web-based message board and a text-messaging service (Harley et al., 2006) in order that a flow of module information could be established including items on the timetable and reminders about class tests. A full module outline is provided in McClean et al. (2006). Staff and students alike have welcomed these enhancements. Staff, particularly course directors, have commented on an increase in student satisfaction with the chemistry teaching. Similarly, students have commented positively. For example, with reference to the studentdirected tutorials: “When you’re in a big lecture group it is very hard to put up your hand to say if you have a problem.” “… mine [the tutor] told us to write any problems we had on the back of the attendance sheet and that was good because you didn’t have to say in front of everyone that you had a problem.” The role of bridging courses The examples discussed above illustrate the importance that curriculum design, delivery and assessment can have on supporting students through the difficult transition between preuniversity and university education. Another aspect of this is the role that bridging courses play in easing transitions between different levels of higher education. These may be focussed at helping to improve language skills in incoming students (e.g. Southall et al., 2006) or to remedy subject deficits. At the University of Ulster a bridging course is used to allow students holding Hong Kong qualifications to embark on a final year to top up their qualification to an Honours degree (Mitchell, 2006).

The case study concerns a degree programme in BSc Hons Food

Technology Management where both local students and students from Hong Kong enter to do a ‘top-up’ final year of study – the bridging course operates in the summer, prior to entry. Between 1996-97 and 2002-03, 51 local students and 84 Hong Kong students took this module and 92% of the local students and 100% of the Hong Kong students passed the ensuing honours year. The module is designed for 100 hours of student effort spread over a three-week period and is taught though lectures, tutorials, computer practicals and relevant industrial visits. An important area that the module focuses on is that of study and transferable skills. There are group and individual tutorials that help with literature searching, presenting and interpreting data (including the use of IT skills, particularly Excel and SPSS), the writing of scientific



reports as well as guidance on examination preparation. Of course, for the incoming students from Hong Kong, this introduction to the higher education system in the UK also provides extensive opportunity to acclimatise socially and culturally to the very different environment (see Chapter 8).

One of the major strengths of this programme is the close working

relationship between the bridging course leaders and the commitment of the staff to student support. Work-based learning Personal Development Planning (PDP) is often an integral component of skills modules or skill-based tutorials and is one way that first year undergraduates can begin to focus on careers and life after graduation. Another way of achieving this and also developing workbased skills is through a period of industrial placement. Different models exist for the integration of work-based skills within the curriculum – industrial visits embedded within the curriculum through short (typically four to six week) placements to one-year industrial placements. In these latter cases, it is now widely recognised that students need extensive support and guidance equivalent to the support and guidance that is offered to students prior to entry to higher education and through induction. Thus students who choose to spend an extended period away from the university on an industrial placement must be prepared appropriately for the challenge ahead, given help and advice about making applications to employers, attending interviews, etc., advised about health and safety issues whilst on placement, supported throughout the process and, subsequently, inducted back into university life after placement (Rushton et al., 2006). There is evidence that placement enables students to approach their final year of study with greater confidence and competence. For example, at the University of Ulster, a year’s placement is optional in Environmental Science and Geography and analysis of student performance supports the above contention though it must be acknowledged that students who choose a placement option are often the better students. In these degree programmes, 14 students undertook a placement in the years 2002-03 and 2003-04. Of these, all ultimately obtained either a 2i or a first class degree. Further, there was a significant increase in their marks between year two and year four (after placement) – year two, 61.4% average; year four, 66.4% average (p