scholarly journals Addressing the Anxious Reality of First Year Experience (FYE) In Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Research-Informed Student Support Models in Two UK Business Schools

1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-59
Author(s):  
Carol Brown ◽  
Katharine Brymer
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Business Studies ◽  
Coaching Process ◽  
Integrative Curriculum ◽  
Uk Higher Education

This paper evaluates the reality of first year experience (FYE) in two UK Higher Education Institutions, highlighting a gap between reported versus experienced anxiety amongst students. The paper draws on contemporary literature exploring the value of high quality discourse, via personal tutoring and coaching models, advocating ‘a whole-of-student, whole-of-organisation’ approach to FYE support within undergraduate business studies. The merits of contrasting an integrative curriculum model of personal tutoring and a coaching process model are considered. Informed by secondary and primary research, both approaches situate rich student-led dialogue central to fully understanding student issues, supporting them through their challenging and transformative first year of study, thus enabling more effective engagement with their learning and support.

scholarly journals Analysis of Tinto’s student integration theory in first-year undergraduate computing students of a UK higher education institution

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 97-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Chrysikos ◽  
Ejaz Ahmed ◽  
Rupert Ward
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Higher Education Institution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Student Integration ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Uk Higher Education

Purpose Retention is one of the key performance indicators in university quality assurance processes. The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes leading to low retention rates for first-year undergraduate computing students in a UK higher education institution (HEI). Design/methodology/approach The study applies Tinto’s student integration theory, and connects it with the behavioural patterns of students. Data were collected from 901 students using Pascarella and Terenzini’s questionnaire (integration scales). This data were combined with student enrolment information and analysed using the structural equation modelling technique. Findings The study results indicate that Tinto’s student integration theory is useful in analysing student retention, but this accounts for only a modest amount of variance in retention. Nevertheless, important relationships amongst student’s initial and later academic goals and commitments have been identified through this new approach to analysing retention. The largest direct effect on retention was accounted for by initial goals and institutional commitments, followed by later goals and institutional commitments. In addition, the results show that academic and social integration constructs can have an influence on the student retention processes. When all, or some, of these relationships are operating towards students’ benefits, appropriate services or programmes, such as student support systems, can have their maximum benefits. Originality/value The authors mapped behavioural-related retention factors using a learning community lens. The study explored students’ social and learning experiences within the context of a UK HEI by employing Tinto’s model. This is the first time the model has been tested in this context.

scholarly journals Selective Planning of the First Year Experience in Higher Education: A Sweden-Australia Comparative Study of Support

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Michael Christie ◽  
Sorrel Penn-Edwards ◽  
Sharn Donnison ◽  
Ruth Greenaway
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Satellite Campus ◽  
First Case ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The University

Literature on the support of the First Year Experience (FYE) in institutions of Higher Education provides a range of modelled approaches. However, we argue that institutions still need to selectively plan which approach/es and attendant strategies are best suited to their particular contexts and institutional policy and practice frameworks and how their FYE is to be presented for their particular student cohort. This paper compares different ways of supporting students in their first year in two contrasting universities. The first case study focuses on a first year course at Stockholm University (SU), Sweden, a large, metropolitan, single campus institution, while the second investigates a strategy for supporting first year students using a community of practice at a satellite campus of the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), a small regional university in South-East Queensland, Australia. The research contrasts a formal, first generation support approach versus a fourth generation support approach which seeks to involve a wider range of stakeholders in supporting first year students. The research findings draw conclusions about how effective the interventions were for the students and provide clear illustrations that selective planning in considering the institution’s strategic priorities and human, physical, and resource contexts was instrumental in providing a distinctive experience which complemented the institute and the student cohort. (212 words)

scholarly journals 9. Using Communities of Practice to Foster Faculty Development in Higher Education

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Teeter ◽  
Nancy Fenton ◽  
Karen Nicholson ◽  
Terry Flynn ◽  
Joseph Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Faculty Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Academic Communities ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Faculty And Staff Development

Communities of practice are becoming more widespread within higher education, yet little research has explored how these social learning networks can enhance faculty development. The focus of this paper is to describe the first-year experience of a community of practice initiative at McMaster University that was designed to engage groups of faculty, staff, and students to share ideas and foster learning. Four communities were initiated: Teaching with Technology, Teaching Professors, Pedagogy, and First Year Instructors, all of which provided a forum of safety and support, encouraging new ideas and risk taking that in turn contributed to individual and collective learning. Though in its early days, we consider communities of practice an innovative way to regenerate current learning and surface teaching practices that can build dynamic academic communities to foster faculty and staff development. Communities of practice have enabled us to reach beyond formal structures (e.g., classrooms) to create connections amongst people from different disciplinary boundaries that generate learning and foster development.

scholarly journals Making the second year count: embedding learning development in a progressive student journey

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat Hill ◽  
Amanda Tinker
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
First Year ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Perceptions Of Students ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Learning Development ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Uk Higher Education

In over a decade of working on embedding skills within the curriculum, it became apparent to us that the second or intermediate year was rather neglected in terms of intervention.  Across the UK higher education sector, focus has been on supporting first year transition and final year projects (Yorke, 2015; Whittle, 2018). The aim of this paper is to explore a progressive approach to learning development within the curriculum which ensures that the second year is fully exploited in terms of bridging the gap between first and final years. Focus groups were used to investigate perceptions of students, subject specialists and learning developers and the subsequent issues are thematically analysed and discussed. Two case studies are then used to demonstrate the design of a curriculum which supports a collaborative and progressive approach to student learning in which learning developers can play a key role. 

scholarly journals Articulation and Continuities: First-Year Experience in Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Schreiber ◽  
Thierry Luescher ◽  
Teboho Moja
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year

scholarly journals International students’ transitions to UK Higher Education – revisiting the concept and practice of academic hospitality

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Ploner
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
International Student ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
First Year ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Student Transition ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
Uk Higher Education

With the increasing mobility of international students to UK universities, the appropriate facilitation of their transition remains a critical issue in terms of higher education practice and research. Much existing research and practice is characterised by assimilationist approaches to transition where international students are seen to ‘adapt to’ and ‘fit in’ seemingly uniform host environments. This study however draws on the concept of ‘academic hospitality’ (Bennett, 2000; Phipps & Barnett, 2007) to develop a more nuanced stance which emphasises reciprocity between academic ‘hosts’ and ‘guests’. The findings presented here emerge from semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of international students who spent their first year abroad at a well-established UK university. Elaborating on different experiences and forms of academic hospitality (material, virtual, epistemological, linguistic and touristic), the paper contributes to a refined theorisation of international student transition. It also offers valuable insights for academic practitioners and policy makers who seek sensible approaches to internationalisation.

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