Supporting, informing and integrating students in their first

year.

Daniel Ashall

We are asking students to become

aware of, and accustomed to, A LOT!

Previous & current attempts

• Performance in City Hall/Kings Hall– Not interactive– Costly– Not enjoyed- patronising (?)

• Lectures– Given by many services (drain on resources?)– Putting a face to different services. – Plethora of services- can’t all be promoted through the lecture.– Students “afraid to look interested”, “don’t want to think about

things going wrong”, – Not interactive.

Opportunities and services for support not being heard.

?Remit: to consider a new, more strategic way, of communicating information about central services and opportunities available to students.

Resources: student focus groups, staff in academic departments and central services, conferences (good practice in other institutions).

Questions:• What and when?• How? • By Who?

Research strategy

Research highlights• What and when?- Induction not achieved in one event (students feeling lost, apathetic) - Just in time approach? (Cure over prevention?, What do we want students to be doing in their

first year e.g. extra curricular activity?)

• How?- Enabling social integration is vital, not just responsibility of Students’ Union (Field trips, away

days). “get to know course mates and staff”- Engaging and contextualised- “how is this relevant to me?” and “How might it be”. - Accessing information needed to be simple.

• By who? - To meet the dual requirements of:

- An interactive, social introduction to services.- some method of clearly accessing information about different services in students own time.

- The role of other students. - A central online resource for accessing information.

Recommendations (1)

• Mentor-led induction events:- Providing the right conditions for the university mentoring

project to work- building relationships in the first instance. - Opportunity for social integration- suits those who don’t

enjoy “Freshers Week”. - Campus tour- orienteering - Activity days- “Uni-cycle”…

- The authority of more experienced students. - Effective training to fill gaps in knowledge, promoting right

messages (e.g. not being dismissive of services).

Recommendations (2)

• Developing and trialling ‘Uni-cycle’:– From MMU’s “Staying the Course”– Contextualises information- raises awareness. – Social dimension– Gentle introduction to appropriate “ways of being a

student”- services for when things go wrong and opportunities to make the most of experience.

– Currently being trialled across faculties within Combined Honours, Biomedical Sciences and Computing.

Recommendations (3)

• A student-written, central authority website:- A “one stop shop” for students to access from pre-induction

and throughout the rest of their degrees.- Current pre-arrival site- not inviting/interactive and student

homepage confusing with broken links- largely accessed for blackboard and email.

- Main elements:- Student testimonials- Talking heads from staff- Direct links and specifc details - Simple easy to digest info: Who? What? Where? When?

Conclusion: highlights and other things to consider.

• Current attempts to promote services are manifold but a more cohesive, considered approach is needed.

• Information needs to be specific and contextualised- the game & role of mentors.

• Social induction should, ultimately, be central. • Reflecting different needs- opportunity to find out information at

any point- the website.

• Question: Does this meet the requirements of ALL students?• Personal tutoring?• Social Media? App?• Induction/Re-induction for other stages?