scholarly journals Building Connections in the First-year Undergraduate Experience

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
June Countryman ◽  
Andrew Zinck
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The Past ◽  
Core Courses ◽  
Big Ideas ◽  
Undergraduate Experience ◽  
New Students ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Transition From High School ◽  
Support Students

Concerned about the success rate of new students in our program we designed and implemented a compulsory set of experiences which aim to support students in their transition from high school to university by 1) developing their sense of belonging to a community of learners and by 2) articulating with them the interrelationships among their first year core courses. We initiated various strategies which we have refined in response to student feedback over the past three years. In this paper we describe the pedagogical moves that constitute our initiative and the lessons we learned. We explore essential academic and personal issues that first-year students in all programs face. We share our research findings and address the big ideas that could be applied to any discipline or multi-disciplinary program. Préoccupés par les taux de rétention des étudiants de première année, les auteurs ont conçu et mis en oeuvre un ensemble d’expériences obligatoires dont le but est d’aider les étudiants à effectuer la transition entre l’école secondaire et l’université. Ils ont établi deux objectifs : (a) développer chez les étudiants le sens d’appartenance à une communauté d’apprenants et (b) démontrer les corrélations qui existent entre les cours de base de première année que les étudiants suivent. Diverses stratégies ont été entreprises et plus tard améliorées, à partir des rétroactions fournies par les étudiants au cours de l’étude de deux ans. Cet article présente une explication des actions pédagogiques de cette initiative et explore les questions essentielles académiques et personnelles auxquelles sont confrontés les étudiants de première année dans tous les programmes. Les résultats de cette étude sont résumés et les idées générales qui peuvent s’appliquer à n’importe quelle discipline ou à des programmes multidisciplinaires sont présentées en détail.

The Power of Proactivity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Duckworth ◽  
Keyword(s):  
College Campus ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
New Students ◽  
Taking Action

Ten years ago, this thought went through Alex Freid's head as he watched the sofas and microwave ovens, the dinner plates and coffee mugs, the refrigerators and rugs piling up and around the dumpsters on his college campus. Graduation was around the corner, and hundreds of seniors were busy purging their apartments and dorms. So much waste, Alex thought to himself. Only a few months later, hundreds of first-year students would be arriving and, almost immediately, going out to buy new versions of what today was being carted off as trash. Somebody ought to store all this stuff over the summer, Alex thought. And then sell it back cheap to the new students come fall. In a flash, Alex realized that he was the “someone” who should do something about the heartbreaking waste. Taking action is what turns well-meaning bystanders into inspiring heroes.

scholarly journals Reception of Natalie's Ramonda, Armistice Day Symbol in Serbia

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Senka Kovač
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
First Year ◽  
World War ◽  
World War One ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
The Past

Nataliе’s Ramonda, a symbol of Armistice Day – November 11 in Serbia, is a new memorial symbol constructed and promoted by politicians in 2012. The Armistice Day was celebrated then as a national holiday in Serbia. The reception of this symbol has been explored over a five-year period, both in a public discourse and on a representative sample of first year students at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. In public discourse, as well as among students of the Faculty of Philosophy, Natalie’s Ramonda is perceived as an emblem, a badge, and most often as a symbol. It was seen as an emblem on the lapel of public and media figures, inaccessible to broad commercial promotion and sales. In public discourse and among students at the Faculty of Philosophy, Natalie’s Ramonda was perceived in several answers as a medal, and is also recognized as a flower that symbolizes the suffering of the Serbian people in World War One; symbol of the nation’s rebirth – the flower phoenix, as a mark of peace and freedom. As a newly constructed symbol of the Armistice Day in Serbia, for the past seven years, Natalie’s Ramonda has been a mediator in the public culture of remembrance and in the ongoing process, by becoming a part of cultural memory.

Blended Collaborative Learning through a Wiki-Based Project

2013 ◽  
pp. 130-145
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Roussinos ◽  
Athanassios Jimoyiannis
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Collaborative Tools ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
On Line ◽  
University Course

Wikis are currently gaining in popularity in schools and higher education institutions and they are widely promoted as collaborative tools supporting students’ active learning. This paper reports on the investigation of university students’ beliefs and perceptions of a wiki authoring activity, designed to support blended and collaborative learning. The study was administered in the context of an authentic coursework project activity in a first semester university course on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), attended by 47 first year students. Research findings indicated that the students in the sample were generally positive about the collaborative experience offered through the wiki and the consequent learning outcomes. Students’ perceptions of the functionality and usability of the wiki environment were also positive. They considered the wiki as an effective and easy to use technology. In overall, they evaluated positively the wiki assignment, as well as the technical and learning support they received on-line, through the wiki pages, and by their instructors during the class sessions.

Blended Collaborative Learning Through a Wiki-Based Project

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Roussinos ◽  
Athanassios Jimoyiannis
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Collaborative Tools ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
On Line ◽  
University Course

Wikis are currently gaining in popularity in schools and higher education institutions and they are widely promoted as collaborative tools supporting students’ active learning. This paper reports on the investigation of university students’ beliefs and perceptions of a wiki authoring activity, designed to support blended and collaborative learning. The study was administered in the context of an authentic coursework project activity in a first semester university course on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), attended by 47 first year students. Research findings indicated that the students in the sample were generally positive about the collaborative experience offered through the wiki and the consequent learning outcomes. Students’ perceptions of the functionality and usability of the wiki environment were also positive. They considered the wiki as an effective and easy to use technology. In overall, they evaluated positively the wiki assignment, as well as the technical and learning support they received on-line, through the wiki pages, and by their instructors during the class sessions.

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)

Forging Connections: An Investigation of New Students' Perspectives of Their Transition to the University

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Baruch-Runyon ◽  
Zark VanZandt ◽  
S. Auguste Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Minority Students ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Transitional Experience ◽  
University Life ◽  
New Students ◽  
The University

We studied first-year students through an integrated group workshop and longitudinal interviews that focused on students' transitional experience at the university as well as the strategies they developed to adjust to university life. Four themes emerged: the challenges of forming connections to other students with similar interests during the first few weeks on campus, the need to balance competing demands, varied experiences of connection with faculty and staff, and the need for translation of university life for minority students. To address the issues and concerns that emerged from our findings, we offer a number of advisory recommendations and programmatic initiatives. Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory

Becoming a student of English: Students’ experiences of transition into the first year

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Alder
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
New Students ◽  
Uk Higher Education

This study explored the transition to university as experienced by first-year students of English studies. The first year has been identified by existing research as a critical time for new students in terms of their persistence and success on their degree programme. However, there is a need for further research in the current UK higher education climate, especially within subject disciplines. Attempts to account for successful transition have investigated students’ social integration, the institutional environment, and theories of approaches to learning. In particular, the study drew on research into academic socialisation and academic literacies to examine students’ accounts of joining first year and their development of student identities. While describing anxieties and concerns about adjusting to the new practices and discourses of English literature at university level, students’ identification with their chosen subject appeared closely implicated in their engagement with university study and their academic identity formation. The study adopted a phenomenographic methodology suited to suggesting interpretative narratives of the experiences of small groups of participants.

scholarly journals A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Presentation Formats for Instruction: Teaching First-Year Students

2000 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Anne Germain ◽  
Trudi E. Jacobson ◽  
Sue A. Kaczor
Keyword(s):  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Class Session ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
New Students ◽  
Presentation Formats ◽  
The University

First-year experience (FYE) programs offer librarians opportunities to teach new students in a comprehensive fashion. However, large FYE programs can place demands on user education programs that are difficult to meet. Instruction librarians at the University at Albany sought to address this dilemma by developing a Web-based instructional module for one class session. The module was used by a segment of students in the Project Renaissance FYE program, whereas another segment received instruction by a librarian. The effectiveness of the two instructional methods was compared using pre- and post-tests, and was found to be equal. Analysis of the test scores also showed that instruction, regardless of format, makes a significant difference (p < .05) in the number of correct test answers.

scholarly journals Using a VLE to enhance a Foundation Chemistry laboratory module

2006 ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Gareth J Price ◽  
June Chalmers ◽  
Clare Goodfellow
Keyword(s):  
Chemistry Laboratory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
The Past ◽  
Short Video ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The University

For the past few years, we have been experimenting with an e-learning approach to our introductory laboratory classes for first year students. Our overall objective was to maximise students’ useful time in the laboratory. We considered that time spent with students gathered around a desk watching a demonstration is not an efficient use of staff or students’ time.It is well recognised that students’ performance in the laboratory can be enhanced if they are familiar with the background of the experiments which will be conducted, hence the use of ‘pre-labs’. We have been delivering our ‘pre-labs’ electronically by requiring students to work through a package before coming to the laboratory. As well as covering the theory and background to the experiment, short video clips have been included so that students will also have seen the experiment being performed. They should at least recognise the apparatus! The package concludes with a short assessment quiz which must be completed.The packages were mounted on the University network using WebCT and meant that students could undertake the exercises at a time (and place) of their choosing rather than being confined to set laboratory hours.This communication will describe the packages and our experiences as well as an initial evaluation of our approach. Although largely anecdotal, staff felt that they spent less time on more mundane aspects of laboratory work and more time discussing chemistry.Students also felt that they were better prepared for the experiments before they came to the laboratory. Some of the pitfalls and technical problems that had to be overcome willalso be described.

scholarly journals “I Feel Like a Guinea Pig”: Emotional Responses to the Online Pivot

2021 ◽  
pp. 303-311
Author(s):  
Elaine Beirne ◽  
Mairéad Nic ◽  
Mark Brown
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
First Year ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Institutional Strategies ◽  
Support Students

This paper reports on the emotional experiences of first year students as they prepared to start their higher education online because of Covid-19 public health precautions. Emotion research holds important insights for the development of pedagogical and institutional strategies to support students adapt to the increased focus on online learning both now and into the future. Students’ responses to a survey embedded at the beginning of an online learning preparatory MOOC were analysed to identify (a) the anticipatory emotions they were experiencing towards online learning, and (b) what they perceived to be the sources of those emotions. Findings revealed that anxiety was the prevailing emotion, although positive emotions, such as excitement and hope, were also reported. A thematic analysis identified seven over-arching sources of those emotions as described by the students. This paper concludes by briefly discussing the implications for educators.

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