The Student Lifecycle: Evolving value propositions and touch points.

Who are you…..really!?

Professor Alf Lizzio

Dean (Learning Futures)

Griffith University

Which university tribes are we from?

Student Lifecycle

Student Lifecycle

Student Lifecycle

Student Lifecycle

What makes a difference to our students across the lifecycle?

• Touch points ............often undervalued

• Crunch points ............often invisible

• Service points .............often perfunctory

• Performance points ......often lonely

STUDENT LIFECYCLE: Progression , Exit and Recycling

Aspiring &

Exploring TRANSITION TOWARD UNIVERSITY

STUDENT LIFECYCLE: Progression , Exit and Recycling

Aspiring &

Exploring

Clarifying &

Choosing

TRANSITION TOWARD UNIVERSITY

STUDENT LIFECYCLE: Progression , Exit and Recycling

Aspiring &

Exploring

Clarifying &

Choosing

TRANSITION TOWARD UNIVERSITY

STUDENT LIFECYCLE: Progression , Exit and Recycling

Misconceptions and mis-apprehensions ?

Choosing my degree...how did I get here?

Clouded Conformed

Casual Calculated

Choosing my degree...how did I get here?

Clouded Conformed

Casual Calculated

ClearConsidered

ConvictedCongruent

Why is this important?

A range of social,

academic and economic

factors

Student’s Academic

Performance

Student Retention

Sense of Purpose is Protective

A range of social,

academic and economic

factors

Student’s Sense of Purpose

Student’s Academic

Performance

Student Retention

Sense of Purpose

A sense of purpose is not something that resides within a student or that they arrive with fully formed, but rather it is most certainly an interactive and emerging construct.....can be seen as the sense of fit between an individuals and an institutions goals.

Aspiring &

Exploring

Clarifying &

Choosing

Joining &

Engaging

Committing &

Preparing

TRANSITION IN

TRANSITION TOWARD

STUDENT LIFECYCLE

No Shows False

Starts & Alternative

Realities

Orientation Efficacy

Only one-half of commencing students agreed that their orientation program prepared them well for university!

The ‘Five-Senses’ of Student SuccessDesign principles for transition

Sense ofIdentity

Sense of Connection

Sense of Capability

Sense of Purpose

Sense of Resourcefulness

Take a breath….

30 seconds to chat with your colleagues about the story so far….

Aspiring &

Exploring

Clarifying &

Choosing

Joining &

Engaging

Committing &

Preparing

Working for

Early Success

TRANSITION IN

TRANSITION TOWARD

TRANSITION THROUGH

Sorting, questioning and juggling

Years end.......watersheds, wonderings and wanderings.....

Student Stickability

I identify with my School

I....

I....

I....

Student Stickability

I identify with my School

I am sure this degree is a

good career investment

I........

I.....

Student Stickability

I identify with my School

I am sure this degree is a

good career investment

I have a sense of connection & partnership

with staff

I.....

Student Stickability

I identify with my School

I am sure this degree is a

good career investment

I have a sense of connection & partnership

with staff I find my degree

meaningful and engaging

What type and level of needs do students express at the end of their

first year of university?

Sense of Resourcefulness

Two-thirds of students reported some level of unmet need for assistance

One-fifth of students reported a major level of unmet need for assistance

What needs did students express at the end of their first year of university?

Crunch Choice Point:

Getting advice on whether I should continue studying 20%

Performance Reflective Point:

Getting advice on better planning my life and study 55%

Sense of PurposeDegree Coherence

Just half of students agreed that the structure of their degree programs made clear sense to them.

What needs did students express at the end of their first year of university?

Service Points Getting advice on planning my degree

and choosing courses and majors 60%

Getting career advice about my job opportunities or prospects 75%

Touch PointMeeting alumni and senior students to better understand

my future 55%

How might we make sense of this student feedback?

Less a remedial narrative of student retention

How might we make sense of this student feedback?

Less a remedial narrative of student retention

More a engaging narrative of student re-recruitment

Aspiring &

Exploring

Clarifying &

Choosing

Joining &

Engaging

Committing &

Preparing

Working for

Early Success

Building on

Success

TRANSITION IN

TRANSITION TOWARD

TRANSITION THROUGH

Benchmarking, drifting and

settling?

What do our senior students tell us?

Senior Students’ Qualitative Feedback: Continuing the message!

Best Aspects Needs Improvement

Professional & Practical Focus

38% 54%

Program Design and Coherence

22% 15%

Program Relational Climate

15% 10%

Staff Capability 6 % 3%

Learning Support 3% 4%

Graduates’ (CEQ) Qualitative Feedback: Confirming the message!

Best Aspects Needs Improvement

Professional & Practical Focus

30% 34%

Program Design and Coherence

21% 18%

Program Relational Climate

20% 15%

Staff Capability 11% 8%

Learning Support 3% 5%

SO.... WHAT IS THE BIG MESSAGE?

Design

How do we learn?

Narrative

How do you weave ittogether?

Culture

How do you treat us?

Valued OutcomesWhat can I take

forward?

Aspiring &

Exploring

Clarifying &

Choosing

Joining &

Engaging

Committing &

Preparing

Working for

Early Success

Building on

Success

Partnering &

Continuing

Focusing

Future Success

TRANSITION IN

TRANSITION TOWARD

TRANSITION THROUGH

TRANSITION UP

Delayed Learning and

DiffuseTrajectories?

Take a breath….

30 seconds to chat with your colleagues about the story so far….

Identity evolution across the lifecycle

Student Identity

Identity evolution across the lifecycle

Student Identity

Identity evolution across the lifecycle

Student Identity

Graduate Identity

Aspiring &

Exploring

Clarifying &

Choosing

Joining &

Engaging

Committing &

Preparing

Working for

Early Success

Building on

Success

Partnering &

Continuing

Focusing

Future Success

Student Identity

Potential Student Identity

Graduate Identity

Professional Identity

Do you want to grow up?

Contested IdentitiesNegotiating ontological space

Contested IdentitiesNegotiating ontological space

• Ascribed identity: what we allow/tell/position our students to be/become

•

Contested IdentitiesNegotiating ontological space

• Ascribed identity: what we allow/tell/position our students to be/become

• Habituated identity: what our students expect to be/have become comfortable being

Contested IdentitiesNegotiating ontological space

• Ascribed identity: what we allow/tell/position our students to be/become

• Habituated identity: what our students expect to be/have become comfortable being

• Claimed identity: what our students may wish to be/want to become

•

Contested IdentitiesNegotiating ontological space

• Ascribed identity: what we allow/tell/position our students to be/become

• Habituated identity: what our students expect to be/have become comfortable being

• Claimed identity: what our students may wish to be/want to become

• Required & encouraged identity: what we know our students will need to be/what the wider and future context requires them to become.

Profiles of identity negotiation

Profiles of identity negotiation

Staff Ascribed and Student HabituatedPerpetual student

Ascribed identity: What we allow/tell/position our students to be/become

Identity development...or not??

Profiles of identity negotiationHabituated identity: What our students expect to be/have become comfortable being

Student Habituated and

Staff Encouraged

Developmental Tension

Ascribed and Habituated

Perpetual student

Constructive stretching of our working relationships with students

Students may not necessarily ‘get it’ initially.....

Profiles of identity negotiation

Habituated and Encouraged

Developmental Tension

Staff Ascribed and Student

ClaimedFrustrated

Professionalism

Ascribed and Habituated

Perpetual student

Claimed identity: what our students may wish to be/want to become

Students as demanding

Profiles of identity negotiation Required & encouraged identity: what we know our students will need to be/what the

wider and future context requires them to become.

Student Habituated and Staff Encouraged

Developmental Tension

Staff Ascribed and Student Claimed

Frustrated Professionalism

Student Claimed and Staff

EncouragedPartnered

Professionalism

Staff Ascribed and Student Habituated

Perpetual student

Staff and Students as partners...

Our educational task:Intentional development of identity and

capability

Identity is the energy source of the lifecycle......

But we have to get our heads right about ‘who we are’ and ‘who our

students are’...

Identity narratives: Who are you?

Student

Identity narratives:

Student Learner

Identity narratives:

Student

LearnerCustomer

Student as CustomerHe whose name cannot be spoken!

Identity narratives:

Student

LearnerCustomer

Citizen

Identity narratives

Student

LearnerCustomer

CitizenFuture

Professional

Back to the Student Lifecycle......

Lifecycle Informed Thinking: The Meta Design Question

How well do our programs facilitate or constrain our students’ identity development, and meet their evolving learning, personal and professional needs?

Not to be answered today......

So....how sensitive are we to evolving student needs across the degree lifecycle?

How can we help them grow?

Implications of student lifecycle thinking

1. Students’ identities, needs and expectations evolve and mature.

2. The markers they use to judge ‘quality’ correspondingly change.

3. Effective programs are responsive to and facilitate student maturity.

4. Effective programs monitor and address students’ changing needs

Lifecycle-informed design and thinking can profoundly change how we work with our students and seek to

facilitate their success

At the program level Vertical and horizontal integration are key templates

At the institutional level Optimal progression is achieved through aligning

administrative, professional and academic systems across the lifecycle

At the student experience level Providing a seamless and scaffolded process which

synergises progression through recruitment, enrolment, transition, through to graduation and beyond.

THANK YOU

Thank you for your time and attention

I wish you well with you efforts to enhance our students’ success and well-

being.