NTU First Year Tutorial Initiative

Student Writing In Transition Symposium 2011 13 September 2011

Helen Puntha, Centre for Academic Development and Quality

Theoretical Underpinnings

Transition

•1st year students require time and support to succeed in new learning environment and begin acculturation into discipline/profession

•Social transition is as important as academic transition

Engagement

•Engagement is the next most important factor for predicting student progression and achievement after prior qualifications

•For students with lower entry qualifications the effect is increased (Kuh 2008)

•Active participation in ‘educationally purposeful activity’ (Hu and Ku 2001)Learning as Participation

•‘Communities of practice’(Lave and Wenger 1991)

Principles

Cohesion Relationships between students and student-tutor relationships

Identity Disciplinary / professional identity

Purposeful activity

Educational tasks with ongoing feedback built-in feedback

Focus on process

Supporting students with learning processes, not content

Programmed and distinctive

Distinctive system with a programme of activities to encourage effectiveness

System Requirements

Full tutorial system will be implemented in 2012-13. Interim position for 2011-12 is as follows:

• All first year undergraduates to receive, in Welcome Week, the names of a personal/academic tutor and the members of their tutorial group.

• Each tutorial group (of 8-12 students) to meet twice in the first term and three more times, across terms 2 and 3.

Guidance on Tutorial Session Content

Timing Tasks which encompass the following

– Induction week Students are provided with the names of their tutor and of other members of their tutor group

1 Term 1 (early) Getting to know peers and tutor Expectations about learning at university; future goals Reassurance about fitting in and being in the right place How learning at NTU will be different/similar to previous learning

context (school/FE college), the importance of dialogue for effective learning

2 Term 1 (mid-term, before major assessment deadlines)

Understanding the curriculum – a sense of connectedness Assessment and feedback in HE, including expectations for the

programme, foregrounding of development across years Progress so far

3 Term 2 (early) Learning from and working with feedback: engaging with the feedback that students will have encountered to this point

4 Term 2 A short task based around what it means to be a member of the disciplinary/professional community, eg profiling an expert practitioner

5 Term 3 Review of the year, including:o Identifying/revisiting future goalso strategies of an effective learner (lessons learnt) Looking forward to Level 2

References

Hu, S. and Kuh, G.D. Being (dis)engaged in educationally purposeful activities: the influences of student and institutional characteristics. Research in Higher Education 43(5) pp. 555-575. 2001.

Kuh, G.D. et al. Unmasking the effects of student engagement on first-year college grades and persistence. Journal of Higher Education. 79(5) pp. 540-563. 2008.

Lave, J. and Wenger, E. Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1991.