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Supporting students transition to H.E

Why? Who For? How? What Effect did it have? Problems & Successes

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Working towards improving student retention, progression & satisfaction

Working towards improving the first year student experience

Working towards EQAL (Enhancing Quality & Assessment for Learning)

2011 Curriculum Structure

Why?Why?

FDT PORTAL FDT PORTAL Provision of pre-entry transitional support Provision of opportunity for early social & academic integration

Encourage early engagement

Encourage pre-entry academic preparation

FDT PORTAL FDT PORTAL Studies investigating into the student experience of induction have found a tendency towards information overload (Edward,2003; King and Wessel, 2004, Purnell, 2004).

FDT PORTAL FDT PORTAL 2009/10 first year student cohort - BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Technology program 45 students with a gender ratio 8:1 (female to male)

Students arriving from a range of educational experiences including: ‘A’ level, Art Foundation, BETEC & HND courses

Age range 18 - 25

Who for?Who for?

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“The first year is really hard I think to deal with like being away from home and being with these people you don’t know and stuff. I found it really lonely”

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“I think the web page would be really good…I never talked to anyone for the first few days” “There was a lot of negativity in our course in the first year…i think that’s why so many people end up quitting or not coming in”

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“I just bought saucepans…and bed sheets I didn’t do anything else” “I shopped at IKEA”

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“Be prepared…not for anything to be spoon fed to you like it was in college or on foundation” “Everything is not given to you anymore. It’s like you’re an adult now your kind of expected to do everything for yourself”

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Online survey sent to students via their private email address before arriving at uni – to further support content design of the portal

‘Adjusting to life at university: help in early preparation’

www.surveymonkey.com

Students acknowledged

interest in a number of

areas

Just 3% of students

expressed feelings of

stress

94% of students

were excited

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Designed using Adobe Golive (HTML authoring application)

Adobe Photoshop (image manipulation app.)

Adobe Illustrator (graphics app.)

Forumotion (app. to build chat room)

Uploaded to Art & Design server (web development staff)

How?How?

Designed by

Julie Haslam 2009

www.artdes.mmu.ac.uk/fdt/welcome

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An invitation to the portal was included in a welcome letter sent out 3 weeks before students were due to arrive at university

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Online survey - two weeks in

‘Transition to University: how is it for you?’

What effect did it have?What effect did it have?

77% of responders felt meeting tutors within the portal before arriving at

uni made the first day less

daunting

80% of students felt the portal helped them

understand the course better

83% of students felt they had peer

support to help with study problems

70% of students had made social friendships after two weeks at uni

After two weeks 82% of students

acknowledged course friends

helped them cope in times of

stress

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Online survey - six weeks in

‘Adjusting to uni: how are you finding it six weeks in?’

65% of students now had feelings

of stress

a rise of 62%

Despite a rise in stress levels

51% of students were

still excited

Reasons for rise in stress levels:

70% were finding the workload more than expected

92% acknowledged concern about their time management skills

69% of student responders expected to receive more help from tutors

84% were finding lack of money a real problemIllustration adapted from ‘Nemi’

comic strip, written and drawn by Lise Myhre

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It is now widely suggested that friendship networks work as essential support during periods of difficulties and indications are that peer engagement and support improves the first year experience

(Anderson and Boud, 1996; Austin, 1984; Heagney, 2008; Keenan, 2008; Morda et al., 2007; Sampson and Conhen, 2001; Thomas, 2002; Tinto, 1997; Trotter and Roberts, 2006; Urquhart and Pooley,1991; Yorke and Longden, 2004)

82% of survey

responders use peer friendships

to help them cope in times of

stress

71% were still enjoying the

challenge of university study despite the

large rise in stress levels and

changes in course expectations

Analysis of qualitative research found the portal has served in

supporting social integration and in

gaining peer friendships

Illustration adapted from ‘Nemi’ comic strip, written and drawn by Lise Myhre

These friendships provide an emotional buffer during what is

evidently a highly stressful and emotional

experience

Illustration adapted from ‘Nemi’ comic strip, written and drawn by Lise Myhre

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The study allowed a thorough understanding of transitional difficulties students face

The study allowed a deeper understanding of students expectations

The study allowed the discovery of a wide range of information to support immediate & future management of transitional support

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Not all students received an invitation to the portal

Some students experienced difficulties:

“I found the portal confusing to use”“wasn’t sure how to use it and couldn't get on”“ I didn’t use it before I came to uni”

Problems facedProblems faced

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Disparity within ICT staff support

Time consuming

Needs staff commitment – monitoring, updating etc Despite the pre-entry support misconceptions towards study at H.E. were still very evident - clearly an area for continual study & development

Problems facedProblems faced

FDT PORTALFDT PORTALSupport provision is not always utilized to its full advantage (Harvey et al., 2006:online)

Institutions may need to take a more proactive manner (Cuseo, undated:online)

MMU pre-entry information guide lines set out for 2010 should help with this

Problems facedProblems faced

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Findings from the study agree with the concept that student induction needs to be a long & thin series of processes delivered throughout the entire first year experience.

Although students did still experience difficulties during transition to H.E. study - the portal clearly supported students friendships and positive attitude towards this challenging period of adjustment