‘Get Ready’: Improving the Transition Experience of a Diverse First Year Cohort Through Building Student Agency

Abstract

A great deal has been achieved in recent years in understanding how universities can best support the transition to higher education of an increasingly diverse student body (Kift, 2015). Numerous studies have identified transition program elements that correlate with improved success and retention for commencing students. Lizzio’s ‘five senses’ model (2006) rationalises these diverse features into a framework consisting of five affective domains that need to be developed in students to ensure successful transition. To assess how well a program based on the Lizzio model supports transition in practice, we evaluate our Get Ready transition program, developed for a large-enrolment first year Human Physiology subject with a highly diverse student cohort. We conclude that embedding the development of Lizzio’s five senses in a performative way is the key to building students’ agency and nurturing their identity as thriving members of a new academic community.

Lost in transition: Student journeys and becoming—Deliberations for a post‐COVID era

“…The concept of the development of student agency and transition is not new (Gale & Parker, 2011; Larson et al, 2020). Agency provides students with the capabilities and skills needed to navigate the change that university throws at them.…”

Acolhimento, diversidade e implementação das diretrizes curriculares nacionais no Campo de Públicas

“…Essas questões, juntamente com outras mais específicas, como falta de familiaridade com as práticas, normas e discursos da academia (Devlin & McKay, 2014), são potencializadas na parcela de estudantes que a literatura chama de não tradicionais: aqueles que obtiveram as menores notas nos exames de admissão, imigrantes ou que são provenientes de estratos sociais mais baixos (Larsen, Horvath, & Bridge, 2019) e caracterizados como estudantes com desvantagens socioeconômicas (Almeida, 2007). Segundo Larsen et al (2019), esse grupo de estudantes não tradicionais sente-se insuficientemente preparado para a educação superior, e os estudantes com desvantagens socioeconômicas tendem a experienciá-la de forma relativamente precária ou insuficiente (Almeida, 2007;Abdal & Navarra, 2014).…”

“…Tal alteração do perfil fomentou a criação e a disseminação de um discurso de déficit, segundo o qual o corpo discente estaria cada vez menos preparado para a educação superior (McKay & Devlin, 2016;Larsen et al, 2019). Esse discurso, entretanto, vem sendo combatido: o problema não são as alunas nem os alunos, mas as instituições.…”

Insights of Instructors and Advisors into an Early Prediction Model for Non-Thriving Students

“…As we have seen, some participants in this study explicitly support this notion. Moreover, it may emphasize that thriving, which is a student's inner state, is also dependent on students themselves, hence promoting it should be considered a dual effort by both students and institutions (Larsen et al, 2019). This echoes O'Shea et al's (2016) suggestion of changing the discourse regarding diversity in the student population; instead of talking about disadvantaged students, they suggest talking about inclusion, which also highlights that both parties -students and institutions -should take part in this process.…”