Track and Connect: Enhancing student retention and success at the University of Sydney. A Practice Report

Barnes, Sophia; Macalpine, Grace; Munro, Ana

doi:10.5204/intjfyhe.v6i1.266

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…A further implication evidenced by the improvement in the 2017 CFY cohort's WAM is that holistic, integrated support is more beneficial than a subject-based approach, although any intervention appears to be better than none, including contact via SMS and email. The integrated model described here provides an important point of difference to similar programs used at other universities (Barnes et al, 2015;Nelson et al, 2009;Potter & Parkinson, 2010;Tower, Walker, Wilson, Watson, & Tronoff, 2015), which typically identify and support students on the basis of individual subjects. Even those examining the student experience across multiple subjects typically report their data on an individual subject basis, which we believe may conceal the benefits that come from taking a whole-ofstudent approach to appreciative advising modelled here in the CFY example.…”

Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-university partnerships improve student success in a first-year success and retention outreach initiative

Cox

Naylor

2018

SUCCESS

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La Trobe University faces multiple challenges in responding to attrition and providing a positive student experience among an increasingly diverse first-year cohort. As in many institutions, La Trobe has developed a transition and academic outreach program, Succeed at La Trobe, to support retention, academic preparation and sense of belonging, using an appreciative advising theoretical framework. Although similar programs exist at other universities, these initiatives are often dissociated from day-to-day academic activities and curricula, outsourced to third parties, or focused on specific subjects. Succeed at La Trobe, however, takes an integrated, partnership-based approach, and in 2017 adopted two models of practice which are contrasted here. The established model, of partnerships with individual discipline academics, successfully improved retention rates and student outcomes, with student weighted average marks increased by 3.8 points. In a fully engaged partnership model with first-year Health Science staff and other student-focused areas of the university, a whole-of-student-experience approach was possible, including a more holistic approach to the identification and contact of at-risk students. Deeper engagement and integration with academic business resulted in several benefits, including an increase in contacted students’ weighted average marks of 8.5 points. This paper outlines the collaborative approach taken to develop the intervention and the resulting benefits and implications for practitioners that may apply to other institutions.

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Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-university partnerships improve student success in a first-year success and retention outreach initiative

Cox

Naylor

2018

SUCCESS

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“…The transfer from the Outer to the Inner Core must be completed successfully within a short time frame as first-year students engage and connect, or conversely, disconnect with their tertiary institution within the first two to six weeks of study (Barnes, Macalpine, & Munro, 2015). These Inner and Outer Cores both currently function at the institution, yet a disconnect of how to best utilise the cores cohesively had been identified in the review of the SOE.…”

Section: Current First-year Transition Process For Soe Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So, I will engage in discussion boards and also work to highlight the importance of academic literacy skills  I monitor any emails/posts where students indicate that they are not feeling confident in their ability to do something or unsure about their understanding and I follow-up with those students, usually through Moodle to encourage others to follow suit if they feel the same way What was apparent from the participants" responses was that there was no standard approach available and used within first-year units in relation to early diagnostic assessment, where students who may be ill-prepared to engage with their study were able to be identified at an early stage and provided the support they may require. The importance of the first six weeks of university study after commencement has been identified as a period of high vulnerability for students (Barnes et al, 2015), particularly those from a non-traditional background (P. Whannell, Whannell, & Allen, 2012).…”

Section: Importance At the Institutional Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Signature Pedagogy and Integrated Support Model for First-Year Teacher Education Students Studying at a Regional University

Harrington¹,

Whannell²,

Bartlett-Taylor³

2021

IJHE

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The article presents the outcomes of the research project supported by Linköping University, Sweden. The research project constitutes a part of an umbrella project called Pedagogiska Utvecklingsmedel för E-lärande 2019 (Pedagogical Development Tools for E-learning 2019). The research project focuses on the International Master's Program “Gender Studies - Intersectionality and Change” offered at the Unit of Gender Studies, Department of Thematic Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden. The main aims of the research project are to determine which teaching content, teaching methods, learning activities, teacher’s role, and students’ own strategies matter for learning i.e., for acquiring knowledge and skills/competences in an international blended, face-to-face and online, Master’s Program, and to present students’ experiences with face-to-face and online education in the Program. The project is based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with the 2nd year students and alumni who have participated in the Program. The interviews were conducted online in November and December 2019. The article presents which content, teaching methods, learning activities, teacher’s role, and students’ own strategies matter for the acquirement of knowledge and skills by the students in blended education. It describes how Campus and online phases of the Program matter for students’ learning. Next to that, it indicates the challenges related to online study, but also educational methods that may help to overcome them.

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“…Graduating students were trained to be mentors as part of a final year capstone course after which they started attending first tutorials to engage first year students in learning, encourage them to take a reflective approach, and enhance skills in both individual and group-based learning. Another example that utilizes peer-support is the "Track and Connect" program (Barnes et al, 2015). This program depends on the "at-risk trends" identified by faculty, such as a lack of assumed prior knowledge to identify the students who may be struggling in the university.…”

Section: School Of Electrical and Information Engineering The Univermentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolving the Design of a Mobile Application to Support Transition to Tertiary Education

Zhao

Pardo

2017

Front. ICT

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Students' transition to tertiary education plays a critical role in their overall postsecondary experience. Even though educational institutions have designed and implemented various transition support programs, most of them still struggle to collect detailed information and provide tailored and timely support to students. With the high adoption rate of smart phones among university students, mobile applications can be used as a platform to provide personalized support throughout the transition, which has the potential to address the shortcomings of existing programs. Moreover, the use of mobile applications to support the transition to tertiary education can benefit from emerging techniques to design applications to support individuals through transition processes. In this paper, we present the design and development process of myUniMate, a mobile application that allows students to track and reflect on information from multiple aspects of their university lives. The paper describes the user-centered design approach used in the design, the implementation process, and how the initial version evolved based on our previous study. We conducted a 4-week field trial with first year university students to validate our design.Keywords: transition, mobile, tertiary education, user-centered design, transition to higher education inTrODUcTiOn For a significant percentage of the young population, being admitted into universities is one of the many milestones in their lives (Krause et al., 2005). However, this achievement comes with challenges, as starting tertiary education requires students to conduct considerable adjustments in many aspects of their lives. It is for this reason that the first year experience is considered of critical significance to students (McInnis et al., 1995(McInnis et al., , 2000. In Australia, over one quarter of students in higher education are considering deferring study or discontinuing (Krause et al., 2005), and approximately half of the students who failed to graduate from university withdraw in their first year (Australia Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, 2000). During the first semester, withdrawing from university is considered by one-third of first year students (McInnis et al., 1995(McInnis et al., , 2000, and events that occur in the first year also lead to withdrawals at second and third years (Tinto, 1995). The reason for withdrawal from university are diverse, however, there is a general agreement in the literature that it is the failure of adjustment to the university lifestyle or environmental factors that lead to the majority of withdrawals (Williams and Pepe, 1982;Tinto, 1995). The factors of first year students' withdrawal from university are summarized as (Tinto, 1995): -a lack of clearly defined goals on the part of the student, -a mismatch between the student and the course or university culture, and -a feeling of isolation. These results suggest that a successful integration of first year students should occur in both academic and social domains, as both a...

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Track and Connect: Enhancing student retention and success at the University of Sydney. A Practice Report

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

Intra-university partnerships improve student success in a first-year success and retention outreach initiative

Intra-university partnerships improve student success in a first-year success and retention outreach initiative

Developing a Signature Pedagogy and Integrated Support Model for First-Year Teacher Education Students Studying at a Regional University

Evolving the Design of a Mobile Application to Support Transition to Tertiary Education

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