star@ulster.ac.uk tony cook helen richardson star@ulster.ac.uk strategies for student transition and...

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Tony CookHelen Richardson

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Strategies for Student Transition and Retention

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

STAR: what, who and why?

• HEFCE/ DELNI funded FDTL-4 Project • To identify and disseminate effective practices

to promote student retention

• Universities of Ulster (lead institution), Brighton, Sunderland, Manchester, Liverpool Hope

• Much existing literature on student attrition, but little on strategies to manage these challenges.

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

The STAR products

• Guidelines• STAR Studies• STAR Audit• STAR Website (www.ulster.ac.uk/star) • Active dissemination

• We will talk to anyone, anywhere if we can fit it in.

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

NAO recommendations• Monitor retention• Monitor why students leave.

• Routine tutorial support• Improve uptake of disability

allowance• Identify and take up “good practice”.

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Yorke and Longden recommendations

• Focus on student success rather than retention

• Assist students to make wise choices; • Be clear about what is on offer;• Make our expectations clear and

support students to meet them; and • Ensuring adequacy of resources.

Buyers

Remorse

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Take home messages• Students have to change quickly and in

many different ways

• Some of the problems are of our making

• Solutions can be applied before and after entry

• Early leaving is an institutional problem but a student’s solution

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Need to monitor but this is not a substitute for change

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Dimensions of Transition

• What changes do we expect of our first year students?– Social changes– Work/study/student lifestyle balance– Curriculum changes– Assessment changes– Cope with staff relationship changes

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Social changes• People do not leave clubs where

they feel they are welcome members.

– Induction as a process rather than as an event;

– Well managed group work, field work, social events;

– Cohort identity -teach small groups together;

– Student mentoring systems to assist rapid integration

• rites of passage- separation, limbo, inclusion

– More contact with fewer staff

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Pedagogic changes• Broader curriculum

– Support for ancillary subjects• Assessment changes

– Resits– Exam duration, style

• Teacher – student relationship• Class size

– How do you make the big seem small?

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Student baggage

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Why do students fail?

• ‘I went into the exam blind’’

• ‘The first year doesn’t count towards your degree’

• ‘Failing was my wake up call’’

• ‘I just didn’t like that module’

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Putting it together

Non continuance has two components

• Early leaving- characterised by poor decisions prior to entry.

• Academic failure- characterised by poor preparations/ false expectations.

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Short term solutions• Better information to applicants

• Courses should deliver what is advertised

• Developmental teaching of literacy and numeracy

• Better communication of standards through formative assessment.

• Facilitate and encourage students to return.

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Longer term solutions

• Merge full-time and part-time students

– Accounting at the module level

– Are we a modular or course based system?

• Post Qualification Application

– Start at Christmas?

• Design a course to suit those who attend it

• One size does not fit all

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

And finally• Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's

the transition that's troublesome." – Isaac Asimov

• Of course there's a lot of knowledge in Universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the graduates don't take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates

– Lawrence Lowell

STAR@ulster.ac.uk

Managing transition

End point

Start point

Independent, enthusiastic, involved, communicative, present,

?

sober

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Tension we put in the system

• Widening participation v retention.

• Diverging teaching practices in secondary and tertiary systems

• Perception of increasing financial burdens -> work/. Part-time full-time