School of Earth and EnvironmentFACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

Inspiring Pre-entry Undergraduate Students in Research & Teaching – an interactive approach

“Countdown to University Study”

Dr Andrea Jackson

a.jackson@see.leeds.ac.uk

My background

Motivation

Project development

View the resource

Evaluation of the pilot year

Next steps

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHEROutline of presentation

• the engagement of students with HE is influenced by a number of factors, with their expectations of the teaching and learning environment being partly driven by :– their previous educational experiences

– their life experiences

– their level of pre-university preparation

• mismatch in expectations & lack of preparation means that students can find the transition from secondary education to HE difficult

• working at Leeds to try and align prior expectations and perceptions of students with the reality of the academic experience

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERMotivation

• Experience & focus groups with incoming undergraduate students

– Induction information overload – can’t process most relevant info

– Lack of institutional awareness – teaching & research

– Lacking of independence / responsibility for self

– Lack of critical thinking & problem solving skills

– Unaware of the many opportunities available

– Unaware of all support networks

– First year exam results

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERTransition issues in our School

Preparatory work - Roundhay School focus groups6 A-level students questioned in May 2008 about their expectations of University.

• How do you think University is different from School?

• What worries you about going to University?

• What are you looking forward to about going to University?

• What would you like to know about before you went to University?

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHER

Understanding expectations & perceptions?

How do you think University is different from School?

• More freedom / more responsibility / cost / being busy / lots of money / more attractive men / no uniform / no small annoying people / chance to meet new cultures

• More opportunities / specific learning / independent learning / less contact time / harder subject / less rules / longer exams / less structure to days / better resources / don’t know all teachers – less personal / shorter terms, more holidays / more independence / bigger / more trips / different ways to learn / people want to learn / less spoonfeeding / less intense /

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERResponses

What worries you about going to University?• not settling in / not having a security network / money / people won’t like me /

stress / getting fat / not time for self or friends / not enough time to party / not making friends

• not being able to work independently / work being too hard / getting lost / not having a security network / not enjoying the course /

What are you looking forward to about going to University? • Cooking / living away from parents / find new places / new friends / social life /

having fun / getting drunk / new activities / new city / shopping /

• Studying / getting a degree / studying a subject I enjoy / working towards my career / learning / independence / being able to tell people I’m studying for a degree (prestige)

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERResponses

What would you like to know about before you went to University?

• Cost / price of food and drink / plans for freshers week / where nearest supermarket is / price of a pint / ratio of male to female / help in case of emergency / advice on transport

• How many field trips I get / teaching methods / student honest thoughts / who’s teaching us / how many tutors / module choices each year / what support is there? / teacher’s specialist subjects / suggested reading / how much contact time / how much suggested reading / breakdown of course / what exams you have / what grades you need / opportunities for study in another country / size of tutorials and lectures / contact time / any books lecturers have written / career advice

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERResponses

If there was a web-based resource to introduce you to your subject and the University before you arrived, what would you like to see on this?

• Facebook (meet people on course ) / tips on how to survive / forums (to ask students questions) / checklists / hear from students already on course / interviews with current students and tutors / maps / podcasts

• Exam examples / statistics on how people enjoy the course / advice on independent learning / visual tour of resources / reading lists / video-clip of lectures / FAQs / timetable of plans for freshers week / outline of course content / statistics on pass rates and employability

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERResponses

• January 2009 obtained Academic Development Funding from the University

• Aimed to produced an on-line resource, available to students from the time

their place was confirmed at Leeds : • both supportive and informative• interactive and visually appealing• could be tailored for use by any School within the University (generic

and subject specific elements)• would also be of use to prospective students

• Available to pre-entry undergraduate students (approx 400+) within the Faculty of Environment (Schools of Earth and Environment, Geography, and Transport Studies) from autumn 2009

An aid for students….

• To enhance Institutional awareness– Difficulty in adapting to University life: overwhelming size of the institution;

anonymity of large class sizes; not understanding the wide range of support networks available; induction information overload etc.

• What is it like to be a student studying here at Leeds? Who will I meet?

• What will I need to do before, and then when I arrive?

• To inspire independent learning / critical thinking; – Misunderstanding of the different academic style; not understanding what is

meant by independent learning; misconceptions about the discipline; unfamiliar learning patterns etc;

• What is expected of me within my discipline?• How and what will I learn about on my course?

• To enhance academic community awareness; – Limited understanding of academic research: a need to convey the excitement of

research, the contributions it makes to society, and how it translates into teaching;

• What does ‘research’ mean? What goes on in my School?

• How does that impact on me and my learning? • What are the opportunities available within my discipline & the institution?

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERAn aid for students…..

November 2009 to July 2009– Working with staff across University to write, film and develop content

• School & Faculty staff, Students, Skills centre, Media Services• 2 versions produced (School of Earth and Environment, School of Geography)• Trials of resource (staff and students)

• August / September 2009– Incoming students to School of Earth and Environment were sent an e-

mail on August 26th inviting them to join up to a School Facebook site which included a link to the resource

– ALL students received invitation to visit the site either via web or VLE in letter sent at end of August / beginning September

• October 2009– Focus groups with incoming students to evaluate usefulness and

effectiveness of the resource

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERResource development

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERWhat we produced………

Home page

What to do now

Your course

Learn about Research

– Please log on and visit a web based version of the resource

www.see.leeds.ac.uk/countdown/SEE

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERView the resource

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHER

Evaluation – number of visits (Aug 21st until Dec 31st)

School of Earth and Environment (212 UG intake)

181 unique visitors have visited 390 times and viewed 2656 pages, 6.8 pages per visit.

School of Geography (203 UG intake)

102 unique visitors have visited 178 times and viewed 1355 pages, 7.6 pages per visit.

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHEREvaluation – origin of visits

School of Earth and Environment

Visits from 13 countries including UK, Malaysia, US, Thailand, Brunei, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Portugal.

School of Geography

Visits from 4 countries including UK, Oman, Ireland, Australia.

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHEREvaluation – top content

School of Earth and Environment

What Now

Course

Freshers’ Week

Kit List

Research

School of Geography

What Now

Freshers’ Week

Course

Research

Kit List

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHEREvaluation – Facebook

•Conversation focused around where students were going to be living.

•Current students used the site to advertise RocSoc and helped answer questions that students had about fieldtrips, choosing modules etc

New students

(65%)

second years (12%)

third years (3%)

PGT (3%)

non Leeds (17%) Based on sample of 78 out of the 188

members.

Implies 122 members are new students

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHEREvaluation – Focus groups

What students liked

• Key dates• Kit list• What to do now• Freshers’ Week page• Personalised message from programme manager• Seeing the staff that were going to be teaching them• Case studies / what students say• University life pages• Galleries and storyboards• Information on peer mentoring• It was good for Foundation Year students, didn’t feel excluded.

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHEREvaluation – Focus groups

What students would have liked additionally

Subject based Information– Link to modules / more information about specific modules– More photographs of fieldtrips so know what to expect– Videos about research projects / make research pages more interactive– Day or week in the life of a student and an academic

Skills and employment– What to expect in lectures e.g. how to take notes, and tips for preparing

for a change in teaching style– Example of a lecture e.g. Dynamic Earth– more information on employers and hear from graduate students– Examples of jobs that students do outside of their study

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHEREvaluation – Focus groups

Social– Facebook (Geography) & link to GeogSoc– Greater EnviSoc and RocSoc involvement– Photos depicting more ‘social’ and ‘community’ aspect of the school – Virtual tour of School building

Generic information– A set of pages dedicated to the first two weeks of term and what to

expect– More information on the Freshers’ Week page – actual links to

shopping, tourist locations rather than just images– More information about accommodation and fees– More explanation of credits & modules – how they add up– Explanation of the week numbers and of the timetable (what means

what)– Elective fair information as don’t really understand what this is

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERJanuary 2010…next steps…..

• Advertising to prospective students

– Leaflet produced

• PGT version?– ‘Step up to Masters’

• Greater involvement of students in creating content

– Student interns

• Build upon as induction guide providing support beyond initial transition period

• UTF project

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERFinally……

Interested to hear from & work with others working in similar area

Transition / Induction

Academic community building

Thanks for listening!

Any Questions?