Transcript An online ‘Headstart’ Emily Danvers and Dr. Courtney Hopf Supporting Transition in the Digital Age.

An online ‘Headstart’
Emily Danvers and
Dr. Courtney Hopf
Supporting Transition in the
Digital Age
Headstart
 Headstart: a pre-induction week for underrepresented students
 Delivered in partnership with Widening Participation
and Academic Skills to ensure successful transition,
progression, retention and success – (Yorke and Longden,
2007 Cook and Rushton, 2008)
 35 students were invited to join an ‘Online
Headstart’
Online Headstart
 Ning platform - social networking features, ease of
use and low cost
 The site was created by 2 academic skills advisors
and a part-time e-learning advisor in Summer 2011
(total project time 1 month FTE)
 Subject specific route for Occupational Therapy
 Students were invited by email at the end of August
and sent reminders the week before and daily
throughout the week
Online Headstart
Reception
 35 students were invited and 32 signed up
 The video tutorials and the blogs both had an
average of 10 views
 3 students participated in the OT forum discussion
 1 person participated in the online chat
 We wanted to know why participation was low and
what we could learn from this so we arranged focus
groups and an online survey
Key Comments
1. ‘I know that before I came to university I had a pretty good
idea about what it would be like to live there but was
worried about what the actual learning would entail.’
2. ‘It is difficult to offer a like-for-like without actually being
there in person, however… [it] starts to get students
thinking’.
3. ‘I found that the Brunel website and Open Day gave me
most of the information I needed; and if there was
anything I didn't know I would have asked on the Facebook
Fresher's group…since I already have Facebook. I would
probably not have found the website very useful as I found
the information elsewhere’.
4. ‘Perhaps introduce a feature that allows Freshers to speak
with second and third year students (volunteers) on the
same course’.
Our Conclusions
1.Transition:
They don’t know what they don’t know.
2. Digital Transition:
You can’t force a social network.
Social transition
• Social, rather than academic, transition is at the
forefront of many student’s minds
• Known unknowns (course handbook) and unknown
unknowns (referencing)
‘You could maybe put more emphasis on reassuring
students that university isn't always easy and as fun as
most people make out… there should be short stories
from current Brunel students who did struggle at the
start …with making friends or settling in the course and
how they turned their experiences around.’
Motivation to address transition
• Harvey et al 2006 – tendency for first-year students
to overestimate their knowledge and abilities (or the
opposite might be true that students might be
terrified and ignore it)
‘It is very informative and will leave students
feeling better prepared for university life so that
they are able to settle in better when they do
come rather than not knowing what to expect
and learning things the hard way.’
Building a Community of Enquiry
Garrison et al, 2000
http://thinkcoremedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Community.png
Digital Transition
You can’t force a social network – a similar
case with BBC Blast
‘Teenage delegates to the Blast workshops rarely
validate interest based on technological facilities,
enthusiasm or competency. Instead, it is peer groups
and social alignments which shape declarations and,
more importantly, enactments of interest.’
(Thornham and McFarlane, p. 258)
Digital Transition
Social validation and social alignments
Findings indicate that just the presence of technology
does not engender interest or engagement.
‘Young people’s lives are increasingly mediated by
information and communication technologies, yet
their use of these technologies depends in turn on the
social and cultural contexts of their daily lives.’
(Livingstone 2002, p. 30, emphasis added)
What next
Discussion
• What have been your experiences with
engaging students (or not) before their arrival
at university?
• What have been your experiences with
engaging students digitally?
References
• Cook, A. and Rushton, B., 2008. Stu-dent Transition: Practices & policies to
promote Retention. UK: Staff & Educa-tional Development Association.
• Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a textbased environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The
Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.
• Harvey, L. and Drew, S. with Smith, M. (2006) The first-year experience
[Online]. York: The Higher Education Academy. Available from:
www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/york/documents/ourwork/research/literatur
e_reviews/first_year_experience_full_report.pdf [29 March 2012]
• Livingstone, S. (2002) Young People and New Media. London: Sage.
• Thornham, H. and Mc Farlane, A. (2010) ‘Discourses of the Digital Native’,
Information, Communication & Society, 14 (2), pp. 258-279.
• Yorke, M. and Longden, B., (2007) The first-year experience in higher
education in the UK [Online].York, The Higher Education Academy. Available
from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/research/surveys/fye [29
March 2012]