Parallel Session Round #4
Keywords: Diversity and Inclusion, Mental Health and Well-being, Orientation and Induction, Student Engagement, Support Services, Technology, Enhanced Learning, Transition, Virtual / Hybrid Teaching and Learning
Workshop Session A
Integrating new master’s students through a targeted welcome
HS XII (ATEG036)
Workshop Session B
Foundations for success through personalised microcredentials
SR Architektur 098 (AT01098)
Paper Session A
Opportunities and challenges of the transition from VET to higher education
The University Mental Health Charter – supporting whole university approaches
HS VI (ATEG142)
Paper Session B
A FYE-network in your own country – How to establish, organize and manage
“Same, Same but Different” – Mapping First-Year Support Services
HS VIII (AT02002J)
Paper Session C
The aberrant admission test to HE: is it selecting the right students?
Onboarding in academia. How to take off in the first year at university
HS I (ATK1120H)
Show & Tell Session A
Sharing the beauty of STEM with prospective students
Online Self-Assessments (OSAs): Is My Chosen Degree Course a Fit?
SR Architektur 104 (AT01104)
Show & Tell Session B
A personalized 100-days program for all prospective and starting students #getreadytostudy
HS II (ATK1008H)
Workshop Session A
Workshop Session A
Integrating new master’s students through a targeted welcome
Keywords: Beginners, Orientation and Induction, Transition
Sara Barbou des Places and Line Ellemann-Jensen
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Every year we welcome master’s students from very different educational backgrounds and nationalities at the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen. They all have different needs for information and introduction to settle in at their MSc programmes.
We strive to support the integration of the different student groups so that a new academic community embracing the variety of backgrounds may emerge through the introductory activities and resources.
In the workshop we address the question: How do we organise a welcome that makes the students come together while at the same time addressing their different backgrounds and needs?
The workshop is structured around a brief presentation of our MSc welcome programme and the user journey for our international and domestic MSc students. We will elaborate on the thoughts behind it as well as our current experiences and ideas for the future with a special emphasis on the integration of online resources. We will invite the workshop participants to discuss and develop ideas and initiatives that are realistic and easily applicable at their own institutions through plenum sessions, group discussions, and brainstorms.
Workshop Session B
Workshop Session B
Foundations for success through personalised microcredentials
Keywords: Beginners, Diversity and Inclusion, Transition
Dr Luke Millard
Abertay University, Scotland
This session will showcase Abertay’s decision to develop a personalised micro-credential approach to setting student expectations, behaviours and sense of belonging upon joining Abertay. These newly launched microcredentials focus on helping the new first year undergraduate to develop their own academic and social curriculum from within a suite of credit bearing options. Drawing upon theoretical underpinning (Lizzio, 2010; Thomas, 2012; Kift, 2015) and qualitative and quantitative data captured from the implementation, the session will discuss how students’ engaged with the opportunity , what lessons have been learned and how it might be adapted for your institution.
Paper Session A
Paper Session A
Opportunities and challenges of the transition from VET to higher education
Keywords: Prospective Students, Diversity and Inclusion, Transition
Magdalena Fellner
University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria
In further education programmes offered at Austrian higher education institutions, students can be admitted to a master’s degree course via an assessment that takes competences equal to level 6 according to the European Qualifications Framework into account, even if they have not completed an undergraduate course yet. So far, there are no empirical studies on the question of how professionally qualified first year students with equal qualifications experience the induction period. Based on qualitative interviews with students and study programme leaders, this study shows how students without prior academic knowledge manage the transition to Master courses and deal with the new and unknown academic settings. Results show that students need to balance their expectations between their living environments, educational goals, and institutional conditions. This explorative study further reveals challenges students need to face in this process and the type of support they receive on an institutional level.
The University Mental Health Charter – supporting whole university approaches
Keywords: Beginners, Mental Health and Well-being, Transition
Gareth Hughes
Student Minds, United Kingdom
Research demonstrates a clear relationship between transition into university and student mental health and wellbeing. Increasing concerns about student mental health in the UK, have led to calls for universities to take whole university approaches to supporting students. This recognises that transition and mental health are impacted by every element of student life. The University Mental Health Charter provides a national framework to support universities in this work. Created from large scale research, this evidence informed framework guides universities through a principles led approach, to improve the mental health of the whole university community – staff and students. A programme has been created to support universities to apply for a Charter Award and 41 universities have joined the first cohort. It is supported by Government and has a key role in shaping sector practice and discourse. This session will outline the relationships between mental health and transition, student learning and student experience. It will also introduce the Charter and explore its role in supporting universities to better support students.
Paper Session B
Paper Session B
A FYE-network in your own country – How to establish, organize and manage
Keywords: Beginners,
Vilde Henningsgård, Harald Åge Sæthre
University of Bergen, Norway
The EFYE-network is great, but we often find the need to discuss with colleagues in our own language and national context. In this presentation we will talk about our Norwegian network, how it was started, and how it is organized.
From January 1st of 2017, we established a network in Norway, with the aim of making staff and students in all Norwegian institutions of higher education and student welfare organizations, share their experience and knowledge about how to help students succeed in higher education. The network is using the web (articles, discussions), newsletters, seminars, and workshops, in addition to hosting a yearly national conference. All events and written materials are in Norwegian and deal with cases and issues in a Norwegian context.
“Same, Same but Different” – Mapping First-Year Support Services
Keywords: Beginners, Orientation and Induction, Support Services
Dr. André Biederbeck, Dr. Elke Bosse, Kim Leslie Neumann, Michael Weckop
FernUniversität in Hagen, Ruhr University Bochum and University of Duisburg-Essen, HIS-Institute for Higher Education Development, Germany
As the first year of undergraduate studies sets the foundation for academic success, many universities in Germany have implemented a wide variety of support services to facilitate students’ transition into higher education. The full range of services is difficult to determine at the institutional level, thus making comparisons to other universities even more complex. To gain a clearer view, a network of 8 universities in the Ruhr area of Germany collected detailed data on all their first-year support services, such as orientation weeks, mentoring programmes, bridging courses etc. The results of this mapping (i.e. the definition of different types of support and good practice examples) will be incorporated into a joint orientation framework in order to facilitate the exchange of experiences and knowledge transfer among the network partners. Providing insights into the current portfolio of support, the framework may also encourage other higher education institutions to engage in systematic, cooperative further development of their first-year services. The presentation will focus on the mapping process and its results as well as the implications for academic development.
Paper Session c
Paper Session c
The aberrant admission test to HE: is it selecting the right students?
Keywords: Prospective Students, Academic / Learning Analytics, Transition
Amber Hoefkens
AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Belgium
The current study assesses the link between The Flemish aberrant admission test to level 5 programs in Higher Education (AAT) and study-success. These research questions were posed: (1) Are students who enter HE based on AAT equally successful in HE, compared to regular students? (2) To what degree are subtests (vocabulary, reading comprehension, calculus and numerical series) predictive for study success? (3) Can the AAT be improved by tweaking the weights of the subtests or the admission caesura? 642 candidates from 5 HE-institutions filled in the AAT. Background variables (gender, age, program domain) and study efficiency were obtained from all students entering the level 5 programs at these institutions. The first two research questions were answered using linear regression. Results showed significant differences in study efficiency between the two groups but also pointed out that these differences were mostly due to background variables. Vocabulary was the strongest predictor, while calculus and numerical series lacked predictive power. Adaptations to the weights and an increase of the general caesura to 55% resulted in a comparable level of study efficiency for both groups.
Onboarding in academia. How to take off in the first year at university
Keywords: Beginners, Orientation and Induction, Support Services
Irene Beckmann, BA MA / Mag. Zuzana Kobesova
University of Vienna, Vienna
The University of Vienna funded projects in the “Active Studying” program to develop targeted packages of measures to increase the study success. The Department of Education identified a need for action concerning the introductory- and orientation period. Based on statistic data from the Multimedia Information Systems research group a project that supports the onboarding process of first-year students followed with the goal of increasing positive exam completion and exam activity. The initiated courses provide activities for successful study practice and are accompanied by quantitative recording of the actual examination success and evaluation of the project during and at the end of the semester – questionnaires, clustering of activities that first-year student’s see as purposeful, a self-test, exercises via e-learning. The development of statistic data shows that the courses contributed to the increase in positive exam scores and exam activity. The project makes it clear that the first-year students benefit from the different learning strategies to prepare for their exams. Through interaction in the courses and learning in groups, they see added value for their learning processes.
Show and Tell Session A
Show and Tell Session A
Sharing the beauty of STEM with prospective students
Keywords: Prospective Students, Orientation and Induction, Student Engagement
Markus Orthaber
Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria
MINT@Leoben (MINT = german for STEM) is an online initiative at the Montanuniversitaet Leoben focusing on prospective students. It covers Mathematics, Informatics, Physics, Chemistry, and Mechanics in interactive live sessions combined with a Moodle course. Target audiences are pupils wondering what to study and soon-to-be students already enrolled. Interactivity is a vital part of the event, with live quizzes and games during the streams and quizzes and forums in Moodle.
However, MINT@Leoben is also about student life and study-life balance. Topics are the digital campus, life as a student, music, sports, or language offerings
One unique point about MINT@Leoben is that higher-semester students moderate all the live streams and present the topics, being the go-to persons for participants. This small fact tremendously helps with the acceptance of often complex subjects.
Two completions of MINT@Leoben show that participants’ feedback is highly positive. In this contribution, we aim to discuss the event’s details and how we think it helps with prospective students’ acceptance of STEM subjects and their general view of the university.
Online Self-Assessments (OSAs): Is My Chosen Degree Course a Fit?
Keywords: Prospective Students, Orientation and Induction, Support Services
Iris Zechner, MA MSc
University of Graz, Austria
What if you already know your interests but are not sure whether a specific degree course is the right fit? We are developing new online self-assessments (OSAs) that seek to address prospective students hovering in exactly this liminal space: stuck between having an idea about what they would like to do but not quite knowing what this idea might entail. A respective OSA will be available for each bachelor’s degree course offered by the University of Graz, leading prospective students interactively through a selected field of study. The measure’s main goals are (a) supporting individuals in choosing their degree course, and (b) advertising the University of Graz as an attractive place of study. The flexible OSA structure, including image, text, and video items as well as a variety of interactive elements, allows each university department to pursue specific course-related objectives, too. While not representing a psychometric test, our OSAs give vital insights into different disciplines, providing prospective students with valuable information regarding course content, structure, and future perspectives as well as giving them the chance to try out sample questions themselves.
Show and Tell Session B
Show and Tell Session B
A personalized 100-days program for all prospective and starting students #getreadytostudy
Keywords: Beginners, Diversity and Inclusion, Transition
Rilana Prenger, Elke Tijhuis
Saxion University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands
The #getreadytostudy- program supports and guides prospective and starting students in their road to and during their first period in higher professional education (hbo). Saxion started with a ‘100-days program’ (2019) in order to reduce the high dropout rates among hbo-students. Within this program students received evidence-based support on language-, study skills and sense of belonging. Results showed that the program had not fully fit the individual students’ needs and did not account for students’ personal characteristics.
The #getreadytostudy-program is an innovation of the former program and frames it into a personalized learning route for all prospective students. Personalized learning enhances sense of belonging and intrinsic motivation. This demands metacognitive and self-regulatory skills of students which they will also need in hbo. Therefore proper and timely preparation for personalized learning, and the associated skills, has been given a prominent place. The support’s pace, content and design within the program are adapted to the students’ needs. The program aims to improve the students’ fit to hbo and, ultimately, increase students’ chances on success.
“K.I.C.K. Start: Well Begun is Half Done” – A Summer Bridge Programme for Upcoming First Year Student(s)
Keywords: Beginners, Diversity and Inclusion, Transition
Madelon Gijzel, Gönül Dilaver, Maud van Beek
UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands
The transition phase to university is an extremely important period for the well-being and study success of first year students. To offer a good start to the study and to guarantee the experienced Adjustment to College (Credé, Niehorster, 2012), the Diversity and Inclusion platform of the University Medical Centre Utrecht, in close collaboration with educators and students of the faculty, developed a two-day summer bridge programme for all upcoming first-year students who want to participate. The programme is called ‘K.I.C.K. Start’. Its design is, amongst others, based on the four principles of successful support programmes according to Cueso (2012).
The purpose of this programme is a good (mental) preparation for the student life so that all first-year students can start their education as well as possible. Through all the lectures, workshops, and social encounters, ‘K.I.C.K. Start’ should lead to a reduction of fears and insecurities, an increase in the students’ sense of belonging and authenticity within the faculty/study programme and the (further) development of their academic capital.
